– Patterson pledges accompanying street lightsThe Diamond-Grove Lions Club recently commissioned the new bus shed that was erected in front of the Diamond-Grove Primary School, in Diamond, East Bank Demerara.In a small ceremony attended by Public Infrastructure Minister David Patterson and students of the School, the Lions Club’s Committee did the honours.According to the President of the Committee, Eric Benjamin, the decision to have the first bus shed situated at this location was made toPublic Infrastructure Minister David Patterson, Members of the Lions Club, teachers and students under the newly-constructed bus shedguarantee the self-respect of the children, as it serves to provide shelter and security for every student who would use the facility.He said that through the combined resources of the Committee, two sheds adjacent to each other were designed, adding that border lines in the form of posts were added as an extra safety guide measure for vehicle operators.Benjamin further highlighted that the Committee planned to have other bus sheds erected in the First and Sixth Avenues area in Diamond.In his congratulatory speech to the members of the Lions Club, Minister Patterson noted that the number of road fatalities has increased annually, with the recorded number for last year being 118.He used the opportunity to emphasise that there was a need for children to be knowledgeable about crossing roads.Patterson also said that there has been a tender placed for the construction of street lights along the carriageway to guarantee proper illumination for the bus sheds and nearby areas. read more

The $85 million bridge that was under construction in Kumaka, Mabaruma, Region One (Barima-Waini), is said to be completed and will be commissioned today.The new 60-foot bridge replaced another wooden structure which caused flooding in the Barabina Hill community at Mabaruma.According to the Regional Executive Officer (REO), Randolph Storm, the structure has been completed and is being cured for a few days.The new structure was built on a steel frame while concrete works were subsequently undertaken. The bridge is said to be a critical link between several areas.He stated that the old wooden structure was replaced by the concrete bridge, which was built without a conduit for the water from a nearby creek to pass.Storm further indicated that a number of projects will be commissioned, including the Canal Bank Primary School at Port Kaituma and another school at White Water Village, North West District. read more

Below is the alert from Environment Canada.B.C. South Peace River9:28 PM PST Friday 08 January 2010Freezing rain warning for B.C. South Peace River issued- Advertisement -Freezing rain tonight across the Southern B.C. Peace, Fraser Canyon, Similkameen, 100 Mile, Chilcotin and Cariboo regions.This is a warning that an extended period of freezing rain is expected or occurring in these regions. Monitor weather conditions..Listen for updated statements.A weather system moving across the British Columbia interior will give areas of freezing rain over the Southern B.C. Peace, Fraser Canyon, Similkameen, 100 Mile, Chilcotin, and Cariboo regions tonight and early Saturday. Ice accumulations of 2 to 4 mm are possible.  Advertisement read more

The report did not reveal what types of products Matthews ordered, if any, although he was labeled a customer by the newspaper. Matthews had two at-bats in an intrasquad game Tuesday. In November, Matthews signed a five-year, $50 million free-agent contract with the Angels. Kelvim Escobar pitched well, John Lackey looked rusty and Dustin Moseley was roughed up. Nobody was worried about the results, though, as the Angels took the field for an intrasquad game. Pitchers only worked an inning. “As you move on in the spring, you’ll probably be drawn more toward results than you are now,” Scioscia said. Casey Kotchman had a two-run single while Mike Napoli hit a home run to center field off Moseley. Hector Carrasco, 37, has emerged as a starting candidate in case Jered Weaver is not ready to go at the start of the season. Scioscia said Weaver continues to make progress in his long-toss sessions but he still hasn’t thrown from a mound. Bartolo Colon threw long toss from the 120- to 130-foot range and Scioscia continues to speak positively about the right-hander’s progress. doug.padilla@sgvn.com (626) 962-8811, Ext. 2731 160Want local news?Sign up for the Localist and stay informed Something went wrong. Please try again.subscribeCongratulations! You’re all set! “We talked to Gary and made him aware of the article and right now there are no details,” manager Mike Scioscia said. “We didn’t really know what happened or what’s going on. We have to see what’s going on.” Matthews was not the only athlete linked to the investigation. Former heavyweight Evander Holyfield also was named and allegedly used the name “Evan Fields” when placing orders. Admitted steroid user Jose Canseco also was named by the Times Union as an alleged client of Applied Pharmacy Services. A number of unnamed NFL players also were linked. The Albany County district attorney pursued the case because the Orlando pharmacy did an estimated $10 million of business in New York. Matthews had a breakout season in 2006 with the Texas Rangers at age 31, when he batted .313 with 19 home runs and 79 RBIs. All the numbers were career highs. TEMPE, Ariz. – Gary Matthews Jr.’s name has surfaced in the investigation of a Mobile, Ala.-based Internet pharmacy accused of illegal distribution of prescription drugs, including human growth hormone. In a report Tuesday in the Albany (N.Y.) Times Union, the newspaper credited “sources with knowledge of the investigation” for linking the Angels’ new outfielder to the situation. read more

DONEGAL champions Glenswilly have beaten Antrim champions St Gall’s in an epic senior Ulster championship clash in Ballybofey.The Glen won by 3 points – 1-10 to 0-10 – with a first half Michael Murphy penalty proving decisive.The Belfast side however will go home this evening believing they could have and should have won – hitting more than a dozen wides when some of them seemed easier to score. In the Intermediate clash at Celtic Park in Derry Naomh Muire have been knocked out by Derry champions Forelgen – with a goal again the difference.The Lower Rosses lads had raced into an early lead, but the County Derry team came back well and eventually won 2-11 to 1-11.In the junior Ulster clash Milford were locked at 0-17 to 2-11 – a draw.The match was in extra time and Belfast side Davitts have had a second man sent off. Milford went on to win 0-22 to 2-13.  GLENSWILLY THROUGH, NAOMH MUIRE OUT AND MILFORD WIN AFTER EXTRA TIME was last modified: November 3rd, 2013 by John2Share this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) read more

Michael Murphy scored SEVEN points as Donegal hammered Tyrone in Ballybofey.DONEGAL delivered a simply awesome display in their finest performance of the season to run out utterly convincing and comfortable winners over a toothless Tyrone.Mickey Harte’s men had no answer to Donegal and were simply outplayed all over the pitch by a hungry, determined and rampant Donegal.We’ve exhausted all the superlatives possible about Michael Murphy but he is the gift that keeps on giving. Murphy was simply sensational and was the major difference between the two sides, who scored SEVEN points in a masterful display from arguable the best player in the country.He ably assisted by his colleagues with Karl Lacey, Martin McElhinney and Odhran MacNiallais who also enjoyed superb matches for Rory Gallagher’s side.A goal from Ryan McHugh just a few minutes before half-time was a real body blow for Tyrone and they never recovered from it.They trailed by FIVE points at that stage and as soon as McHugh netted the game was more or less over as a contest. The second-half was a niggly and scrappy affair as Tyrone huffed and puffed to try and get back in the game.Peter Harte scored a couple of nice points but they never threatened Michael Boyle in the Donegal nets.Murphy added another two in the second-half before he was harshly black-carded by referee Joe McQuillan.Murphy will now MISS the game with Mayo next weekend.Donegal saw out the game with ease and recorded their best result and performance of the campaign which almost certainly ensures they will be playing in Division One next season. A superb result and a sensational performance from Donegal, Rory Gallagher will be hoping his side can repeat this again when the sides meet in the Ulster Championship on May 17th.Final score Donegal 1-13 Tyrone 0-06 ALLIANZ NATIONAL LEAGUE: OUTSTANDING DONEGAL JUST TOO GOOD FOR TYRONE was last modified: March 29th, 2015 by Mark ForkerShare this:Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window)Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)Click to share on Skype (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Tags:donegalGAAnewsSport read more

The heart of Delhi is sore. Lutyens’ Delhi, the 26-square-kilometer hub of India’s political elite, bureaucrats, media moguls, journalists, top academics and writers, public intellectuals, as well as the wealthiest corporates, lobbyists, political PR brigade, connected lawyers, dynasty hangers-on, and bleeding heart liberals, is undergoing a tectonic shift. The deep roots it had grown since the dawn of Indian Independence, nurtured by the might of the Queen’s English, are being uprooted at a frenetic pace. Call it it the Modi effect.In July this year, an official circular from the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government asked ministers and bureaucrats to “prioritize” communication in Hindi, instead of English. It not only directed government officials to use Hindi during official electronic relays, to spruce up hitherto neglected Hindi versions of the government websites, but also to tweet in Hindi, as a part of the organized attempt to boost the “national language.” Its advocates assert that Modi represents “Bharat” while the previous government was the face of a lopsided “babalog” culture, represented by the insular Lutyens’ elite that has been perpetuating colonial-era privilege over generations, with plum English as its rude source of strength and class marker. This shift to Hindi has been paraded as a coming of age of a self-confident India, for whose teeming multitudes English exists as an omnipresent chimera and an instrument of discrimination.With the rise and rise of Narendra Modi, India’s first truly post-Independence prime minister, who also happens to be its least “classically educated” one, Lutyens’ Delhi is confronting a brand new reality. The man they had long dismissed as a provincial parvenu from the western state of Gujarat is now the most powerful man in the country, leaving his firm imprint on the territories that had been under their thumbs for over six decades. Delhi’s pride and the British-designed, sprawlingly landscaped Lutyens’ zone (named after the famous architect Edwin Lutyens), that boasts of the president’s residence or Rashtrapati Bhawan, Central Secretariat, which houses most of the ministries and government offices, including the Prime Minister’s Office, is now home to the strongman from Gujarat and Hindi heartland, a far cry from the Oxbridge-educated ministers peopling the grand old party, the 129-year-old Indian National Congress, and the posh bureaucrats they presided over.With a chaiwallah prime minister now at the helm of affairs, it is not just the traditional political elite, but also the enormous English-educated urban middle class that has woken up to a changed circumstance. What is at play is a definitive battle for, if not the soul of India, but certainly, its seat of power, the deep state, its tools and instruments of wrenching and retaining political, economic, ideological and cultural supremacy.The old swaggering in English has lost its charm. Now it’s the confident, muscular utterances in Hindi, or some of the regional languages, such as Bengali, Tamil, Gujarati, that will do the trick, nationally and even internationally. This was most evident when Narendra Modi, India’s 15th prime minister, addressed the 69th United Nations General Assembly in New York City in Hindi to rapturous applause.Modi has certainly made the vernacular very cool, both in India and abroad.But this is not just individual bravura. Under Modi, there’s a more than active push to not just promote Hindi, one of the two official languages used by the federal government in its everyday activities and communications, but in fact, to root out English and its sphere of influence. Under the garb of promoting “rashtrabhasha,” or national language, Hindi is getting a boost it hasn’t witnessed since former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee encouraged its usage a decade earlier. However, this move has come under attack since no such provision for a national language exists in the Indian Constitution, and even though Parliament could so legislate, the Hindi belt faces formidable opposition in the Southern states, which bitterly resent the imposition of the North Indian language. Its civil servants, conversant in English and their state languages, scoff at Hindi, while its politicians, when visiting Delhi, doggedly stick to English, despite attempts to popularize Hindi through Bollywood and cultural centers for decades.However, for Lutyens’ Delhi, the abode of India’s traditional elite, especially those who inherited the massive administrative mantle from the British, preserving each piece of architectural marvel, ritual and procedural whims as well as the general Raj hangover in its extreme Anglophilia (which over the last two decades has translated into a love of everything American), this is a traumatic transition. Accepting the sudden indisposition of English language, and all its habitual benefits, including occupying the cushy posts and minting the benefits of crony pseudo-socialism of former Congress-led central government, is proving to be delirious for the Lutyens’ brigade. It’s oscillating between complete denial and absolute volte-face, either dismissing the Modi phenomenon as a temporary hiccup in a long innings of governance by the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, or embracing the change without its caveats. It is not criticizing the ever-growing baggage of hardline Hindu nationalism that is piggybacking on this push for a highly Sanskritized Brahminical Hindi, and not the common parlance Hindustani, which is really a mix of Hindi languages and Urdu, as well as a smattering of English at this present juncture.Planting the English SeedFrom being Macaulay’s Minutemen to Global Indians, the story of English in India was a journey from an imposition to an addiction, at least for its power elites. “Who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia [?].” In the universal disparagement handed out by Thomas Babington Macaulay, this (half-)sentence remains the most-quoted verbal proof attributed to the nineteenth century British historian and bureaucrat’s typical racism and his prescient anticipation of English as the next world language. Every educated Indian, whether residing in India, or in the innumerable diasporic communities across the world, is aware that had it not been for Macaulay, and his (in)famous “Minute on Education” presented on February 2, 1835 before the Governor-General’s Council in erstwhile Calcutta, their uses and abuses of the English language, as much as the casualness with which the proximity to English is taken for granted by Indians all over, would have perhaps never happened.“Bleddy Macaulay’s minutemen! … English-medium misfits … Square-peg freaks” — thus screams a character in Salman Rushdie’s novel The Moor’s Last Sigh (1995) in his effort to describe the class of people that Tom Macaulay, and indeed much of the liberal-imperial British establishment of early 19th century, had sought to create. In Macaulay’s own words, they were to be “a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect.”“Macaulay’s Minutemen,” as this band of Westernized Indian elite came to be called, were the product of that primordial linguistic miscegenation that grafted English on the top of the language tree of the subcontinent and made the language the “grandmother tongue” of all subsequent generations of Indians.Whether it was at all necessary to install English as the official language of governance and education and immerse India in an up-to-date version of liberal British education, are considerations and speculations that eat up a serious chunk of academic writing in the departments of South Asian studies in leading global universities. Nevertheless, the primal English-ing of India and, the later “desification” of British and American cultural landscapes by the Indian-origin literary architects in the last quarter of the twentieth century, were indisputable and complementary essentials that guide our understanding of the broader and greater Indian consciousness in present times.So much so, that even Bollywood film scripts are written in English, the Hindi dialogue is transcribed in English, the instructions on the set and the pre-release interactions with media occur in English. What started out as a colonial era administrative apparatus is now the link language, connecting the Hindi/Punjabi/Urdu-speaking North with the Tamil/Telegu/Konkani/Kannada-speaking South, or the Bengali/Oriya-speaking East, or Gujarati/Marathi-speaking West. With 22 official languages, it was difficult to pick a national language, even though Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister and undoubtedly one of the chief architects of modern Indian political consciousness, had put his weight behind Hindi. However, the backlash from the southern states had forced his government to relent and give primacy to English.Making it OfficialAlthough the Indian Constitution, during its unveiling in 1950, provided that Hindi would gradually replace English as the language of administration and empowered Parliament to legislate to such effect when the time is right, it proved to be a Herculean task that could never be accomplished. So staunch and violent were resistances from the South and East of India, particularly, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, that the Official Languages Act (1963) designated Hindi and English as the two official languages for the federal government, while various state laws, rules and regulations made subsequently framed English and the state language to carry out a similar function in regional provinces. However, certain core functions, such as legislating, arguing in Supreme Court (and several High Courts), as well as handing down judgments, were designated for English and only English. The justification for this was obviously to maintain continuity with the past, given that Indian Penal Code, written in 1860, was, along with Indian Civil Service, another gift of Lord Macaulay, and the Indian federal government was too steeped in Western liberal education to opt for a sudden termination of the apparatus. However, parliamentary proceedings could be conducted in Hindi and English, as well as, with the Speaker’s permission, in the member’s mother tongue, usually one of the 22 official languages accepted in India.While state governments dabbled in both English and the regional official language, Lutyens’ Delhi was heavily indebted to English, segregating its political and executive class from the vast expanse of suburbia, inhabited by refugees from West and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). While Lutyens’ Delhi, including the North and South Blocks where the ministries and departments of the Government of India are housed, as well as Raisina Hill (with the famous Lutyens’ bungalows), Janpath, Sujan Singh Park, Connaught Place, Sansad Marg (where Parliament House is located), belongs to the political, economic, social and intellectual top brass, the rest of Delhi remains almost cut off from this sanctum sanctorum, save for occasional public places like India Gate that still attract occasional strollers and lovers out for a happy time.But they cannot claim Lutyens’ Delhi, which happens to be one of the most expensive slices of the real estate pie that is sending land prices through the roof in India. Moreover, Lutyens’ Delhi, which is contiguous with landmarks of affluence, such as the Delhi Gymkhana Clun, the Diplomatic Enclave, Lodi Gardens with its magnificent Lodi-era tombs, Delhi Golf Club, National Zoological Park, Old Fort, Humayun’s Tomb, Jho rBagh, Khan Market, is the last bastion of decadent aristocrats, only recently fawning at the now out-of-steam Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, flaunting their political connections with as much ease as the newest acquisition — Lois Vuitton handbags, Jimmy Choo shoes, Gucci sunglasses, highest-end iPhones and gadgets.Over the past two decades, since the time of late former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, the socialist restraint and educated austerity that came to be identified with Congress and Delhi’s political elite during the first 40 years since Independence, was gradually replaced by a thirst for Euro-American bling. The halting giving in to overt markers of money that started from Rajiv-Sonia’s drawing room at 7 Race Course Road during mid-1980s, was emulated and accelerated after 1991, when India liberalized its economy.English Augusts of DelhiWith globalization of capital, came the cultural tow. English was more widely spoken now, but the regional languages infused in English an enriching “glocal” flavor. Migration to Delhi escalated to astronomical levels, more than tripling its population in the last 30 years. Delhi was a veritable cauldron, bubbling with tongues, languages, people, customs, but somehow everything was sublimated into the officiousness of English within the Lutyens’ zone. Nothing could escape its grand snigger, and no amount of brilliance could outmatch the entrenched value of hereditary privilege, passed on through generations.Until now, Lutyens’ Delhi guarded its walls with a ferocity that was both casual and vicious, half-hearted and zealous. This traditional elite replicated itself in politics obviously, with more than half of Congress party leaders being sons and daughters of earlier stalwarts, but also in every other conceivable sphere of influence. Be it bureaucracy, judiciary, media, academia, business and commerce, public sector industries, lobbying sector, banking and finance, advertising or publishing, the coterie was tightly maintained and only selective entry was allowed to a chosen few outside this hallowed coven. Because the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty had ruled India for 50 years of its 67-year-old Independence, there was no question of this status quo being challenged, at least not in its inner echelons of well-groomed power emanating from a pseudo-socialist aristocracy.While most of the Congress old guard could be said to be belonging to this category of uber-erudite, but distressingly delusional men and women, flaunting their proximity to 10 Janpath (the residence of Congress president Sonia Gandhi) or 7 Race Course Road (the Prime Minister’s residence), nothing beats the antics of the glib talkers of the St Stephen’s Club, such as Shashi Tharoor, and Mani Shankar Aiyar. Both are highly educated diplomats turned politicians, whose globe-trotting had endeared them to the inner chambers of Lutyens’ Delhi as well as the international circuits of political “soft power,” where smooth talking ambassadors discuss national fates over Scotch whiskeys and French wines.Aiyar, for one, had charted the entire arc that groomed and ushered in a typical Lutyens’ member: he attended Welham Boys’ School, The Doon School, St. Stephen’s College and University of Cambridge, where the crème de la crème of India’s top brass have been sending their children to become emissaries of the “babalog” culture. Aiyar had, in addition, the distinction of being close to Rajiv Gandhi, who was his junior in both Doon and Cambridge, and his proximity to Sonia Gandhi was unquestionable until, in the later half of UPA-II, he became something of a loose cannon. Forever dismissive and intellectually arrogant, he wore the sobriquet with pride. During Modi’s robust campaign to claim the top job in Indian government, the swashbuckling Aiyar taunted that Modi should distribute tea outside the Congress Party office in Delhi. The BJP strongman turned this jibe, reeking of class bias, into another campaign inviting people to debate issues over cups of tea (chai pe charcha). Aiyar lost his parliamentary seat, while Modi went on to claim Delhi in a landslide victory, ending the coalition era by gaining simple majority in Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament.Another IndiaFollowing the Emergency-era Janata movement and its short-lived stints during 1977-80, 1989-91, 1998-2004, India witnessed an era of ramshackle coalition governments that were propped up by unruly allies unwilling to tow the government line. Each time though Hindi made a temporary comeback as an alternative to the insular, mai-baap culture of Congress-led political and bureaucratic class and their appendages in the public sphere. But never did it make a re-entry as colossal as it did during the buildup to Modi’s campaign. There were regional politicians like Mulayam Singh Yadav in Uttar Pradesh or Lalu Yadav in Bihar, who spoke in the only language they knew: Hindi. Yet neither did their ambition pave the highway to Delhi, nor did they ever enthuse a whole generation of Indians in the manner that Modi managed to achieve, and that too within a period of just one and half years.From a déclassé strongman with the stellar sobriquet “Butcher of Gujarat,” Modi reinvented himself into the messiah of millions of aspirational Indians who had to fight it out from scratch. This was the India that thrived in its villages itching to partake of India’s miraculous growth story, and, according to Modi, not to be burdened by Congress’ politics of “welfare patronage.” Modi gave his rousing speeches in Hindi, wearing headgears from states, attacking the leaky schemes that the previous Manmohan Singh-led UPA government had legislated.Modi alluded to the son of the soil idea, attacking the “Italian widow” in Sonia Gandhi, the “pappu” in son Rahul, and the corrupt Congress corroding the idea of India. In all this, Modi’s strongest pitch was to sever the umbilical chord that attached India to Nehru and his idea of statist welfare, non-alignment, liberal education and secularism. Moreover, it was an idea that accepted that a country as vast as India would be ruled by a tiny minority of foreign-educated elite who wrote and spoke English with greater ease than any other language. After denuding English of its traditional sublimity, Modi rushed Hindi in to fill up the void.From his inaugural speech as prime minister to all the significant addresses, Modi has used Hindi, a language he’s comfortable in, to brilliant effect. With his penchant for high drama and inclination toward political bling, Modi heightens and modulates the pitch and tone of his rousing speeches in Hindi, at national and international podiums. During his maiden trip to the USA after nine years of visa denial over the Godhra riots, when Modi addressed Indian Americans at Madison Square Garden, before the 20,000 present at the venue and another three million tuned to their television sets, Modi was embraced by the diaspora like never before.Modi-fication of Lutyens’ DelhiSince 2012, with a perceived resurgence of the regional languages and the increased penetration of Hindi-language news and television channels, media houses began pursuing an active policy of pumping in more money to the Hindi siblings of prominent English-language national dailies, such as Times of India and Hindustan Times. The regional language press is growing rapidly and becoming a greater source of revenue against a dwindling market for English dailies. National and assembly elections became platforms to launch or overhaul publications, and the vernacular press is having a field time making its presence felt even in the tightly-sealed corridors of Delhi. During the national elections this year the Gujarat model was much flaunted (even though by most measures it is just average), the highly effective public relations machinery at work, catapulted everything Hindi and Gujarati to a starry fame.After Modi won a massive mandate in the April-May 2014 general elections, Hindi returned with an unprecedented gusto. Lutyens’ Delhi watched in awe and felt a shiver down its spine as Modi invited topmost leaders and dignitaries from SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries to attend his swearing-in ceremony. Since then, Modi has regaled audiences in Hindi, during televised addresses abroad, or during his monthly radio address Mann Ki Baat broadcast on All India Radio.But the push came to shove when the government directed ministers and bureaucrats to switch to Hindi in official correspondence as well as prioritize Hindi while communicating with the world at large over social media. Reflective of a resurgent India, as well as emulating the biggest world powers, such as Russia, Germany, France, China, and Japan, that resolutely use their own language, the embrace of Hindi is being viewed as India finally shedding its colonial baggage and asserting its homegrown pride on the international dais. While critics charge that Modi’s Hindi push is part of its larger Hindutva bogey, they are far outnumbered by those who see in this an expression of newfound self-confidence, minus the crutch of British-aided language or statecraft.But Lutyens’ Delhi, the bastion of providential privilege, is shaken, stirred. While many still are batting for English, and even the government has since backpedalled, saying the circular to prioritize Hindi was meant for the Hindi belt only, bureaucrats are brushing up their written and spoken Hindi. Grapevine in the political corridors of India is that high-profile appointments are now being made keeping fluency in Hindi in mind, even though no overt discrimination against English has been cited so far. Bilinguality is being seen as an asset, while scientists are getting research papers translated into Hindi for broader appeal. Public servants in North and South Blocks are now presenting a different face, one that is less couched in imported tradition and more steeped in the miscegenation of here and now. Several reports in the Indian media have quoted former and current bureaucrats expressing either umbrage at the ongoing change in style or grudgingly welcoming it. Subhash Kashyap, a former official in Parliament, admitted that India was run on the colonial model that relied on English, but if Hindi was making a comeback on the national stage, it should not be resented, adding a caveat, “It should be a slow, natural process. It should take its own time, there should be no feeling of any language being forced.”Yet, as is clear in Nripendra Mishra, the principal secretary to Prime Minister Modi, a formidable knowledge of Hindi, particularly in its Sanskritized avatar, is an asset to anyone seeking to quickly rise in the current regime. Mishra, a former chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, is as much a votary of no-nonsense bureaucracy as the prime minister himself. Hailing from Uttar Pradesh, the heart of the Hindi belt, his Harvard background and rapport with ministers, he’s the perfect embodiment of the kind of India and Indian that PM Modi wants to bring about.Sanskritizing IndiaThe push for Hindi has been coterminous with a prioritizion of Sanskrit over German in the Kendriya Vidyalayas (Central government-run schools) across India. A sudden diktat by the Ministry of Human Resource Development announced that Sanskrit would replace German as the third language in all these schools, and there are thousands of them, to promote greater understanding of Indian culture. Despite major protest from the left-leaning liberal intelligentsia as well as the secular opposition, the language wars seem to be mirroring and facilitating each other. And behind all the linguistic shenanigans, there is the looming shadow of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), the twin think-tanks that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party draws heavily from.The project of rewriting destiny and revisioning history has claimed the very soul and idea of India, at least the way it was envisioned by the founding fathers. From Nehruvian secularism and non-alignment and sublimating the religious, class, caste, language identities under the rubric Indian, it has now come to asserting  and flaunting one’s own identity, including religious.As the Modi regime appropriates neglected Congress-era icons, such as Sardar Patel, B R Ambedkar, to give Hinduism a push, the many ironies and nuances die several deaths. For example, trying to circulate Ambedkar as a Hindu, non-Congress icon is an affront to very cause that he lived for: to end the tyranny of caste within Hinduism.The strong Dalit movement has always defined itself against the Brahminical rule of upper caste Hindus, and no amount of political mollycoddling has until now yielded dividends to unite Dalits and caste Hindus against a religious other – such as Muslims and Christians.While novelists like Aatish Taseer, and his mother, journalist Tavleen Singh, find in the Modi regime a “civilization reclaiming,” rediscovering’ Sanskrit at Ivy League American universities and linking it back to a new, self-confident (or hyper-nationalist?) twenty-first century India, many fear this regress into a majoritarian straitjacket will completely tear apart the already ragtag fabric of multiethnic, multireligious, multilinguistic India.Tongue-in-cheek DemocraciesGiven that the two largest democracies in the world, India and America, share this historical vulnerability, it is both odd and ironic that in the current context, it is the United States of America, with its three million strong Indian American population, that is courting Prime Minister Narendra Modi most in his international forays. Barack Obama will be the first US president to be the guest of honor at India’s Republic Day celebrations on 26 January 2015. The Modi-fication of Madison Square Garden and of Lutyens’ Delhi, , cannot be understood without reading them together in this tightly knit and fast-paced chapter of contemporary Indianness, both within its territories as well as in its expansive diaspora.   The Snobs of St StephensShashi Tharoor (left) at the Golden Temple in Amritsar.Perhaps no two people better personified the hubris and arragance of the St Stephens jet setters better than Shashi Tharoor and Mani Shankar Aiyar, both former diplomats turned politicians and cabinet ministers in the Manmohan Singh government.Aiyar, a contemporary of Rajiv Gandhi at the Doon School and the University of Cambridge, was particularly outlandish. He was once accused by a politician Amar Singh of taunting Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Hindi-speaking, former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, with the comment: “Oh that bloody Mulayam — he looks just like me. It could be because my father visited Uttar Pradesh at some point. Why don’t you check with Mulayam’s mother.”On another occasion he mocked fellow cabinet minister Ajay Maken, a graduate of a regional college, with whom he had crossed swords: “Firstly, we have to establish the authenticity of this letter. It contains words like ‘dichotomous’ which I cannot believe that a BA Pass from Hansraj College would know…. There are such big big words used that unless Maken had a thesaurus by his side, I don’t believe that he wrote that letter perhaps.”Accosted by students of Hansraj College to apologize, Aiyar was even more defiant, challenging them to bring together BA-Pass students from Hans Raj and St Stephen’s to pronounce “dichotomous,” asserting that “I do not believe the student from Hansraj will be able to do it.”Tharoor, who rose to become an under-secretary-general at the United Nations, was roundly criticized early in his political career after tweeting that he would travel “in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!” In April 2010, he was forced to quit as a minister after his links to the Kochi IPL franchise, which had granted equity to his then girlfriend, later wife, were exposed. Early in the election campaign, Narendra Modi mocked Tharoor’s “50-crore girlfriend,” Sunanda Pushkar. She was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a Delhi hotel in January 2014.Soon after the elections, after Tharoor wrote several columns praising Narendra Modi, a bristling Aiyar derided his former cabinet colleague as a “sychophant” and a “chameleon” abhishek. Related Items read more

Pagasa: Kammuri now a typhoon, may enter PAR by weekend Panelo suggests discounted SEA Games tickets for students PLAY LIST 01:35Panelo suggests discounted SEA Games tickets for students02:49Robredo: True leaders perform well despite having ‘uninspiring’ boss02:42PH underwater hockey team aims to make waves in SEA Games01:44Philippines marks anniversary of massacre with calls for justice01:19Fire erupts in Barangay Tatalon in Quezon City01:07Trump talks impeachment while meeting NCAA athletes Hornets beat Pistons for 8th straight time READ: Bradley hits last-second shot, Celtics stun Cavs in Game 3But James’s miserable outing allowed the Celtics to snatch a 111-108 victory which puts them back in the series at 2-1.FEATURED STORIESSPORTSSEA Games: Biñan football stadium stands out in preparedness, completionSPORTSMalditas save PH from shutoutSPORTSPrivate companies step in to help SEA Games hostingJames’s performance was the major talking point after Sunday’s defeat, with the Cavs star finishing with just 11 points on 4-of-13 shooting.Lue however shrugged off the off night on Monday as he prepared his team for Tuesday’s Game 4 in Cleveland. LATEST STORIES SEA Games: PH beats Indonesia, enters gold medal round in polo “No blame. We’re all to blame,” Lue said Monday of James’s display.“We lost; it happens. For a guy who played great for five straight months, he’s got to have a bad game sooner or later.“He’s human. He didn’t shoot the ball well. It wasn’t his ordinary game. But Kevin (Love, 28 points) and Kyrie (Irving, 29 points) had it going early and they played well, so it kind of got him out of rhythm a little bit in that first half. That’s no excuse.”James’s no-show was all the more baffling considering he had amassed 68 points in the first two games of the series.More alarmingly, James was unable to conjure one of his trademark rallies in the fourth quarter as the Celtics began to sense a vital win.ADVERTISEMENT View comments James took just three shots in the fourth quarter and missed all of them.Cavaliers teammate J.R. Smith backed James to come good in Game 4.“It’s not enough for him. For what he does, what he brings, it’s not enough. He knows that. We know that. Just expect him to be better in Game 4.”Lue also believes Sunday’s game was a blip.“A game like that just happens,” Lue said. “You move on and hopefully be better the next game. It’s not something we’re going to hang our head on. But we definitely understand that this (Boston) team is not going to quit, they’re going to fight, they’re going to compete.” CBBSports Related Videospowered by AdSparcRead Next Man who told immigrant to go back to country asked to write essay 250 enrolled at phony school arrested in immigration scam LeBron James #23 of the Cleveland Cavaliers reacts in the second quarter against the Boston Celtics during Game Three of the 2017 NBA Eastern Conference Finals at Quicken Loans Arena on May 21, 2017, in Cleveland, Ohio.AFPLOS ANGELES, United States — Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue refused to point the finger of blame at LeBron James on Monday, a day after a woeful performance from the NBA star gave the Boston Celtics a postseason lifeline.Cleveland had appeared to be cruising towards a 3-0 lead in the Eastern Conference finals after romping to victory in the opening two games of the best-of-seven series.ADVERTISEMENT Cayetano dares Lacson, Drilon to take lie-detector test: Wala akong kinita sa SEA Games Lillard, Anthony lead Blazers over Thunder Roach trains Pacquiao LOOK: Vhong Navarro’s romantic posts spark speculations he’s marrying longtime GF Don’t miss out on the latest news and information. MOST READ read more

LOOKING SHARP: For those in dread of needle jabs, stick-on designs and paint are a good optionMuch like personalised jewellery, tattoos are considered a sensual asset by those who have them. There’s the exciting suggestion of pain behind the pleasure of sporting a unique handcrafted design literally under the skin,LOOKING SHARP: For those in dread of needle jabs, stick-on designs and paint are a good optionMuch like personalised jewellery, tattoos are considered a sensual asset by those who have them. There’s the exciting suggestion of pain behind the pleasure of sporting a unique handcrafted design literally under the skin that never fails to attract attention. No wonder, more and more people want them. Once confined to the steel-muscled biceps of sailors, truck drivers and the rare adventurous filmstar, tattoos have insidiously made their way into the melting pot of urban Indian society.Opening night at an art gallery? The whisking of a perfumed silk shawl reveals a stylised red sun on a white, untanned arm. A giggly group on a girls’ night out? Gypsy designs or ancient Indian symbols come together to circle the ankles or embellish the beauty of fashionably low necklines. Mysterious, yet trendy. Traditional, yet seductive. Tattoos impart a special aura, making the wearer stand out easily. AN ARMFUL: Arms and legs are favoured spots for contemporary symbols like mermaids (right) or tribal designs”Tattooing is a part of our culture, but the MTV generation is doing it differently,” says Mumbai-based makeup artist and style guru Cory Walia. Though the earliest recorded tattoos in history date back to 2800 B.C. in Egypt, tattoos have indeed been a ritualistic part of India’s tribal culture since ancient times, particularly in the barren wastelands of Kutch and Rajputana (modern day Gujarat and Rajasthan) and the tribal areas spreading east from Madhya Pradesh. These designs – from the three dots on a tribal woman’s chin to intricate symbols of deities covering an entire arm/leg – have now been adopted by tattoo artists who blend them with contemporary symbols from around the world to supply urban India with its growing need for hip body art. So they appear alongside the eagle wings of America’s Hell’s Angels and popular sailor’s symbols like anchors and leftovers of colonial charm like a Union Jack on Indian bodies.While the upper and lower arms haven’t been abandoned, the art has moved to yet unexplored fleshly zones: the midriff, lower back-a byproduct of the low-rider styles in pants-and ankles. The tattoo has also become a popular personalised accessory to the “must have” outfits of the season. “Even lawyers and doctors are experimenting with them, but tattoos look out of place except at a party,” says Walia. “Those done with body paint are fine.”The reassuring impermanence and easy accessibility of body paint has, in fact, helped fuel the craz e for tattoos. A student may not have the Rs 2,000 or so that the basic, monochrome permanent tattoo in a standardparlour costs- more intricate designs in colour can cost upward of Rs5,000-but can be a part of the tattoo-sporting set with the now globally loved henna designs that start at less than Rs 100.  advertisementMaking a Mark Celebrities have traditionally taken the lead in experimenting with body art. Permanent tattoos now grace the well-toned skin of many: MADHU SAPRE, model: A peacock feather tattoo lies gracefully across her back. BHAICHUNG BHUTIA, footballer: Has girlfriend’s name in Chinese characters on his forearm. RAVEENA TANDON, actor: A scorpion symbolising her zodiac sign near the collar bone. ANSHUL PANDEY, film director: None other than Amitabh Bachchan graces his back. NIKHIL CHINAPPA, veejay: Cartoon Hotstuff and Tolkienian hero Gandalf on his arms. The choice includes crystal tattoos and shimmering gold – and – silver – laced body-paint designs to do-it-yourself stencil kits. Says GarimaBhandari, a first-year student at Delhi University: “I love henna andpaint-on designs which look like bracelets, but many of my friends weartribal designs on their faces and midriffs to parties.”Body-paint tattoos were also big at the Lakme India Fashion Week this year, complementing collections by more than one designer. Lakme India’s Business Head Anil Chopra was spotted with crystal tattoos as was the needle-shy Walia.Austrian crystal-manufacturer Swarovski has a special range of tattoos it retails through major stores in India. At Rs 1,500 for a pack of three stick-on designs, they have taken crystals, as distributor Puja Ahluwalia puts it, “as close to the human body as possible” helping the company enlarge its clientele base. But to the likes of designer Aparna Chandra, a tattoo aficionado who got her first one about 10 years ago on her midriff, body paint cannot measure up to the real thing. While admitting to the dangers of being stuck with a design “you may not love after a few years”, Chandra says, “You should have the guts to get a proper tattoo. There’s no point pretending with paint.”Tattooing is, however, no longer such a gut-wrenching exercise. Electric tattoo “guns” not only make the procedure relatively painless, but with threats like HIV and Hepatitis, hygienic as well. The artist loads the colour into a tube, uses the needle bar to puncture the skin and make designs with the dye. Training in the art of tattooing is yet to be institutionalised and most artists learn it as apprentices to established tattooists.”The pain can be minimised by etching it away from the bone,” says tattoo specialist Michael G. Cowasjee. Adds 17-year-old Karan Punn, a Class XI student: “If you go to a reliable tattooist, they warn you in advance. And the pain is worth it.” Punn says the “abstract, spidery something” on his upper arm suits his personality as a basketball player – the NBA players were the inspiration and invites a lot of welcome questions from the girls. Which may be why lawyer Viraj Datar, 31, who has a “regulation marine tattoo” a dagger through a rose with a snake around it all over his right arms planning something “unique, not common stuff like the last time” for his next tattoo.advertisementSHIMMER TRAIL: Crystal tattoos are as in vogue as gold-laced body paintsThough Cowasjee’s parlour has been doing brisk business, this has been the busiest season in his six years as a tattooist. “Going by the global fashion trends, they are probably going to be even more popular next season,” he says. Tattoos have certainly made their mark on Indian runways Madhu Sapre, Nina Manuel and Diandra Soares sport permanent designs even though models are usually shy of body art that may or may not go with the next outfit they are asked to take to the ramp.There’s no denying the growing appeal of tattoos. At a recent party in upscale Mumbai, caviar and crackers came with a tattoo artist flown straight from Thailand. An enthusiastically attended farewell party at Delhi University had the theme “tribes and tattoos”. With models, actors and veejays sporting them, tattoos have become a must-have style statement for urban India’s hip crowd. Even the “regular guys”- professionals like lawyers, journalists and businessmen – are willing to be adventurous.Children too are taking to it with enthusiasm, and a popular bubblegum brand has recently increased its sales by giving away free stick-on superhero tattoos. So who doesn’t have one? Only the potential tattoo wearers, as Cowasjee might say. read more

Stunned by Vikas Krishan’s ouster from the Olympic Games following a reversal of decision by the International Boxing Association, Indian Chef-de-Mission P.K. Muralidharan Raja on Saturday said the country’s contingent will not take AIBA’s decision lying down even though it has “limited options” in the matter.In a stunning reversal of fortunes, Vikas (69kg) was ousted after AIBA overturned the result of his pre-quarterfinal bout, that he had won, following a review.The 20-year-old had won 13-11 over Errol Spence in a thrilling contest on Friday night but following an appeal by his rival’s team management, the AIBA awarded the bout 15-13 to the American citing the fouls committee by the Indian which were not noticed by the referee.Raja, also the Indian Boxing Federation’s Secretary General, said the team will not accept the decision.”I will be meeting the Indian boxing team at 10:00 am (2:30pm IST) and then we will decide the future course of action,” Raja said.”The decision has been overturned but it’s not as if we cannot do anything about it,” he insisted.But Raja admitted that there were not too many options in front of the team after the world body’s review and reversal of the original decision.”In such cases, the jury decision is final. Because they replay the bout and go through it very closely before deciding whether to stick to the original decision or overturn it. Not many options are there but let’s see. We will still try to find a way forward,” he said.advertisementEarlier, the AIBA cited fouls committed by Vikas as the reason for overturning his 13-11 win.”There were a total of nine (9) holding fouls committed by the Indian boxer in the third round alone. However the Referee only gave one caution,” the AIBA said in a statement after a review by its Competition Jury.”In the second round, at the time 02:38, the boxer from India spitted out his gumshield intentionally. However the Referee didn’t give any warning,” it added.Based on these “findings”, the jury members “unanimously” decided to award Spence four points, thereby making him the winner.”Based on the AIBA Technical & Competition Rules 12.1.9, the Referee should have given at least two (2) warnings to the Indian boxer. Although the boxer from India intentionally spitted out his gumshield, the Referee’s view was blocked by the boxer from the USA and was not able to see the action,” the international body said.”…at least four points should have been awarded to the boxer from the USA. Therefore the final score should be 13:15 in favour of the USA. The protest is accepted and the winner of Bout 142 is Errol Spence (USA),” the AIBA statement added. read more