Beauties

Got an Issue With Indian Post? Tweet About it!

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indian post ..you might be heard

That's right. If you are amongst the millions of people who still use the services of the Indian Postal service, this news might just interest you.

India's Postal Service now has its own Twitter handle now! This makes it the first Government of India enterprise to arrive on the popular social networking platform.

The Twitter account will be used to post updates about various news concerning postal services - apart from addressing grievances of consumers.

Before we move further here's the link to the profile page @PostOfficeIndia. The profile was set up quite a while ago - three months back to be precise.

However, it is now that it has gathered momentum. The account, even within the short span of its existence has managed to solve many a consumers grievances - highlighting the fact that social networks could be effective costumer service medium as well.

The Twitter account is also helpful for users who want to have queries regarding what and how they can send stuff. The only problem with the account seems to be this: As of now, there is only one guy who seems to be in charge of the account. We wonder who that geek at the post office would be!

[ via Techtree ]

Highway to Nowhere

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By Sonia Wahengbam

MAO_GATE_firing The blockade by Naga groups of National Highway 39 to Manipur has sent the prices of essential commodities skyrocketing and started a thriving black market in the state, where you can get petrol for Rs 150 a litre and a gas cylinder for Rs 2,000. Sonia Wahengbam writes on life in times of an economic blockade

These days in Imphal, television dealers have come up with a new offer. Buy a TV set and get a Tata Sky connection or 10 litres of petrol free. With petrol selling for Rs 150 per litre in Manipur and still hard to get, free petrol certainly seems a more tempting offer than satellite TV connection.

It’s been 50 days since National Highway 39 —Manipur’s lifeline where on an average day 300 trucks ply, carrying essential commodities to the state — has remained blocked. When the blockade was first enforced on April 11, many in the state simply shrugged. Bandhs and blockades are routine in Manipur and follow a predictable pattern. They go on for a few days, or a couple of weeks — the exception was the 52-day blockade in 2005 — before an agreement is hammered out and then it’s back to normal. But this time the days have stretched to over a month. It’s hard to shrug now.

What’s surprising is that there have hardly been any protests over the issue. Have Manipuris become so docile that we have forgotten how to protest, or have we become so much of an ‘I-me-myself’ society that we really don’t care about our neighbours as long as we are protected? Or are some of us too rich to bother about skyrocketing prices and scarcity of essential items? Perhaps, as long as our mini-godowns at home remain stocked, we think we’re going to be fine.

But it’s time to worry. Everywhere you go in Manipur, the talk veers towards the economic blockade. And everybody is busy looking for black marketers. Instead of thinking of a solution to end the impasse, a common query is, ‘Where can I find good quality petrol and diesel?’

And even though the price of a bag of cement has nearly doubled from Rs 350 to Rs 600, construction in the state is on in full swing.

The prices are showing no signs of dipping. A cylinder of gas is now costlier by about Rs 1,600 and lighter by about 10 kg. The fare for public transport has increased from Rs 5 to Rs 10. Any vegetable you buy, even if it’s grown in Manipur, comes with the economic blockade price tag.

For the past few months, the government employees in the Manipur have been protesting over the issue of Sixth Pay Commission arrears in the state. But the prices we are paying for essential items are what we should be paying after the Tenth Pay Commission!

Says Th Manglem, a state government employee, “The blockade has hit me and my family badly. We haven’t got our salary for the past two months because of the Sixth Pay Commission impasse and now this blockade. It’s a double blow.”

EVERY year, the NH-39 to Manipur is blocked at least a couple of times, mostly by Naga groups who live primarily in the hill areas in the state, areas they want integrated into what they call Nagalim or Greater Nagaland. The Thuingaleng Muivah-led Nationalist Socialist Council has been spearheading the demand for Nagalim, comprising Nagaland and the Naga-dominated areas of neighbouring Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.

According to a study conducted by the state government, Manipur suffered an accumulated loss of Rs 1,320 crore due to bandhs and blockades between 2004-05 and 2006-07. The state witnessed 110 bandhs and 234 economic blockades during the period — 20 days of bandhs and 60 days of economic blockades in 2004-05, which rose to 48 days and 97 days in 2005-06 and 42 days and 77 days in 2006-07. The study also says the per capita income of the state decreased by 6.10 per cent in 2004-05, 11.79 per cent in 2005-06 and 9.93 per cent in 2006-07.

“In the first few days of any blockade, the economic loss is not much—maybe a crore or so as there are items in stock, but if it carries on, then there is cumulative impact on the economic condition and by the 45th-50th day, the damage is around Rs 15-20 crore. If we talk in terms of growth rate, there is a slowdown of 1.5-2 per cent,” says Prof Amar Yumnam, Department of Economics, Manipur University.

The economic blockade this time has been called by the All Naga Students’ Association of Manipur, opposing the state government’s decision to hold elections to the district councils in the state’s hill districts. It intensified after Manipur refused to let Muivah visit his village in the state’s Ukhrul district on May 4, and the Naga Students’ Federation declared they would not allow any vehicle from Manipur to enter Nagaland.

Every day, we open the newspaper eagerly to see if any goods trucks have started coming in. Every day we are disappointed. But then we think, there’s always tomorrow.

And that fortunate tomorrow came on May 22, when 97 of the 306 trucks stranded after the blockade reached Imphal through an alternative route, National Highway 53, which connects Imphal with Jiribam in Assam. This route is not safe either and the Nagas have called for a blockade of it too. Apart from that, it’s not in great shape.

The remaining trucks reached the following day, getting with them eatables, petrol, diesel and LPG. The trucks were accompanied by State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Y Erabot and a handful of his security personnel. Erabot and his team were assisted by troops of the Assam Rifles, CRPF and BSF. The supplies arrived. The chaos in distribution followed.

After the state government announced it would ration sale of petrol, the queues of vehicles at petrol pumps grew so long that some of them lasted for two days. At all hours, the queues were at least three to four kilometres long.

And there are a lot of people out on the roads at night, outside petrol stations, sleeping inside their cars so as to keep their place in the queue. It must be a bit disconcerting, after getting one’s ration of 10 litres of petrol after such a long wait, to wake up the next day to headlines such as, “After 48 hours in queue, consumers end up buying blue petrol”—the blue referring to adulteration with kerosene oil. There are, of course, ways of beating the queue. Rows of vendors are still selling petrol in mineral water bottles outside pumps for Rs 150-170 per litre.

Says 52-year-old Ibeyaima, a petrol vendor, “Our business comes up only when there is a blockade. When I get news that there is going to be a blockade, I go out and buy as much petrol as I can with whatever little money I have so that I can sell it later at a higher price. The petrol I am selling is what I had stocked before the blockade started. I have made a good profit, but then all this money goes into buying rice and other household items, whose prices have shot up as well. So, it is more of a give and take. If I don’t do this, my family of seven won’t be able to survive in this condition.”

With fuel being scarce, many schools and tuition centres have called pre-summer breaks. Says Sangeeta, a class IX student, “Last year, schools were closed after protests over an encounter death broke out and now this blockade. We are missing out on a lot of classes.”

The worst affected has been healthcare, with many operations being cancelled, life-saving drugs unavailable, and oxygen cylinders out of stock in the hospitals.

The crisis may not be killing us yet, but it’s killing us off in bits. Manipur seems almost like a war zone, minus the sound of bomb blasts and bullets. And yet, when we think things can’t get any worse, it seems they can. After the blockade, there’s now the threat of counter-blockade. The people from the Imphal Valley have declared that since it’s the Nagas who enforced the blockade, sections of the hills of Manipur, where the Nagas live, will not get any supply from the valley.

Of the nine districts in Manipur, the Naga-inhabited districts are Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel and Tamenglong. Bishnupur, Imphal East, Imphal West and Thoubal are dominated by Meitei and Manipuri Muslims and the Kukis inhabit the district of Churachandpur.

There are also reports that Manipuris living in Assam are planning to block the land route to Nagaland. The fire that began in Manipur now threatens to spread in the region.

The crisis grows bigger, but there’s no solution in sight. So, we move on, everyone looking out for themselves, willing to pay extraordinary prices for ordinary stuff. Earning in rupees and paying in pounds and doing what we do best: making the best of a bad situation.

Sonia Wahengbam, a former Express journalist, teaches in the Department of Mass Communication at Manipur University

Chakmas of Three Arunachal Villages Out of Census 2010

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full-india-census Itanagar, May 31 : As country debates the inclusion of caste in the Census India 2011, about 450 families comprising of 2000 people belonging to the tribal Chakma community from three villages under Diyun Circle in Changlang district of Arunachal Pradesh are likely to be left out from the ongoing first phase of House-listing and Housing Census for Census India 2011.

The three Chakma inhabitated villages in question are Modakha Nala, Sukha Nala and Shillongpahar under Diyun Circle in Changlang district of the state. These villages are reportedly not covered in the ongoing census work following a direction from the Extra-Assistant Commissioner (EAC) of Diyun Circle who is also the Census Charge Officer (CCO).

The Census Charge Officer of Diyun Circle has directed the supervisors and enumerators not to cover the three villages of Modakha Nala, Sukha Nala and Shillongpahar in the ongoing census.

The said direction of the CCO has come to light after the residents of Shillongpahar approached the CCO on May 9, 2010 as no enumerator visited their village for data collection. The villagers submitted a written complaint to the CCO for inclusion in the ongoing census. Instead of hearing their grievances the CCO informed the villagers that they will not be included in the ongoing census work. Interestingly, the same direction was written by hand on the complaint by the CCO. The CCO’s direction on the complaint which is available with this writer read as under:

"Under no circumstances people residing in RF/ARF area shall be included in the ongoing Census work. Enumerators have already been briefed about the matter”.

The villagers informed this writer that they have been residing in these three villages since 1966. They further stated that their villages had previously been covered for the House-to-House Child Census under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), the Government of India’s flagship programme for achievement of Universalization of Elementary Education (Order No.ED.SSA/DEV-1/2006-07 dated 6.12.2006, C.R.C. Coordinator, Diyun Circle) and the Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chairperson, District Health Society, Changlang district appointed Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) under the National Rural Health Mission, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Order No.CMD/RCH/ASHA/07/-08/29/2 dated 10.9.2007) from these villages.

The direction of the CCO is not in line with the guidelines issued by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. In its Circular vide No. 9/31/2010-CD(CEN) dated March 3, 2010 (CENSUS OF INDIA 2011 – CIRCULAR No. 16), the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India directed all the census officials in the country to prepare a comprehensive list of villages, towns and sub-districts which should include inhabited as well as uninhabited villages as well as forest settlements, unauthorized colonies, etc. Further, the circular directs the Principal Census Officer to ensure that all habitations have been included without any omission.

The Census in the country is carried out under the provision of the Census Act and Census Rules and the amendments thereafter. The duties of the Census Officers have been identified under Rule 5 of the Census Rules 1990 of the Census Act 1948. There are penalties for failure to carry out the duties under the provisions of the Census Act under the Section 11.

The duties assigned to the Census Charge Officer, among others, include to “ensure full coverage, accuracy and timelines in taking census. ”

The Chakmas, who are already very poor, of these three villages are worried that if they are not included in the ongoing census they will be further deprive of accessing benefits under various welfare and development projects of the government. Any omission in population can be rectified only after 10 years and hence it is important to net the entire population without any omission.

The first phase of House-listing and Housing Census for Census of India 2011 which started on April 15, 2010 in Arunachal Pradesh ends on May 31, 2010. The Census of India 2011 is very important as for the first time National Population Register (NPR) will be prepared. Based on the NPR data, a Unique Identity (UID) Number will be issued to each citizen which will be useful for accessing benefits under various welfare and development projects of the government.

[via Merinews ]

‘Lookout Notice’ Against Publisher Over Jesus Image

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smoking-jesus Shillong, May 31 : A ‘lookout notice’ has been issued against the owner of a publishing house that printed a blasphemous image of Jesus Christ in a school textbook, the Meghalaya government said Monday.

Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh told the state assembly that the notice was issued after the government declared Indra Mohan Jha an absconder.

The owner has been on the run since the Shillong bench of the Gauhati High Court terminated his interim bail March 15 and directed him to surrender to the authorities.

Lyngdoh said that the government had registered a criminal case against the publisher.

The objectionable pictures of Jesus Christ were found in the cursive writing exercise copies at a private school in Shillong and was brought to the notice of the church in February.

The New Delhi-based Skyline Publication had produced books meant for Class 1 students.

The controversial picture created a furore in Meghalaya. Several Church organizations and NGOs denounced the publisher.

Dyson Fan Set To Make a Cool Fortune

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New Dyson bladeless fan set to make a cool fortune in summer as sales increase by 300%

By Lucy Ballinger

He made his fortune from a machine that sucks air in.

But, with a swift change of direction and the first heatwave of the year, Sir James Dyson has a new money spinner – an invention that blows air out.

There was a 300 per cent increase in sales of his ‘fan without blades’, the Dyson Air Multiplier, last weekend.

Dyson Air Multiplier

Cash multiplier: The new Dyson Air Multiplier, a clever gadget that provides a stream of cool air without the finger-catching blades, is proving to be a big hit

Providing a ‘smooth, cooling breeze’, apparently from thin air, the device was launched in Australia in October.

It is now available on high streets here in time for what is predicted to be a barbecue summer.

Not that booming sales are anything new for the Dyson technology empire. It more than doubled earnings last year, according to figures released yesterday.

Dyson reported operating profits of £190million in 2009, up from £90million in 2008. Sales were 23 per cent higher, and have already been boosted in the first three months of this year thanks to the launch of handheld vacuums.

Dyson Air Multiplier

The science bit: Sir James Dyson said he came up with the idea while developing his Air Blade hand dryer, a similarly revolutionary - and cool - device

The bladeless fan appears likely to follow suit. But how does it differ from conventional fans?

Instead of using rotors to chop the air, which causes an uneven airflow and buffeting, the DAM blows out cooling air as a constant smooth stream.

And with the absence of blades, you can safely put your hand through it.

Air is sucked in through the base by a 40 watt electric motor, and then pushed out at high speed through a lip which runs around the inside of its circular head.

As this is forced out, other air is drawn into the airflow, resulting in the epulsion of 405 litres every second.

The fan also has a dimmer-type switch, which means the powerful current can be easily controlled.

Without blades, curious children will not catch their hands in it, and the simple design makes it easy to clean.

The DAM – marketed as a desktop fan – rotates 90 degrees on its base, and can also be tilted to direct the flow of air.

It costs £199 and comes in two sizes and a range of metallic colours.

Sir James said: ‘I’ve always been disappointed by fans. Their spinning blades chop up the airflow, causing annoying buffeting. And children always want to poke their fingers through the grille.

‘So we’ve developed a new type of fan that doesn’t use blades.’

He came up with the idea while developing his Air Blade hand dryer – which forces air through a tiny slit to ‘brush’ water from wet hands – and noticing it draws in air from its immediate surroundings.

The 62-year-old, estimated to be worth around £500million, became one of Britain’s best-known inventors after the success of his bagless vacuum cleaner.

Dyson employs 2,500 people worldwide and is increasing its UK workforce to 1,600, with laboratories in Wiltshire specialising in microbiology, as well as fluid, electrical, thermal, acoustic and software engineering.

[ via Dailymail ]

Kelly Brook Promotes New Toning Trainers

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By Sarah Bull

She has never been shy about showing off her figure.

So when the opportunity arose for Kelly Brook to promote Reebok's new EasyTone trainers, she had no problem stripping to her underwear in a rather gratuitous way of showing off the toning footwear.

Whether it's cooking in a pair of black and white striped knickers and cropped T-shirt, or doing the hoovering in a yellow vest top and lime green pair, Kelly shows whatever you are doing, you can wear EasyTones while doing it.

Kelly Brook

Mind the oven! Kelly Brook promotes Reebok's EasyTone trainers by posing in a black and white pair of knickers

She said: 'EasyTones are brilliant, it's like having a little gym built into your trainers. I wear them all the time especially if I don't have time to get to the gym and then at least I know I'm doing something for my body.

'They make your legs feel toned and bum feel pert, they are like magic shoes! I've been wearing them to tone up for the summer and have really seen a difference, which is why I didn't mind getting my hotpants on for the video.

'I had so much fun re-creating the advert - hula-hooping, trampolining, dancing around in my EasyTones. My dog Rocky even got a guest appearance in the last shot!'

Kelly BrooK

Clean freak: Kelly makes sure her 'flat' is spotless as she does the hoovering in a skimpy underwear set

kelly Brook

Glowing: The model looks stunning in the Reebok advert - showing off her famous figure and sparkling smile

Kelly, 30, isn't the only celebrity fan of the revolutionary new trainers - Helena Christensen, Kim Kardashian, Whitney Port, Miranda Kerr and Bar Refaeli have all spoken about how impressed they are by the fitness shoes.

Kelly, who is currently in Los Angeles with boyfriend Danny Cipriani, has always spoken freely about her weight, and says it's sometimes a struggle to maintain her slimline shape.

She said recently: 'I enjoy healthy food and it makes me feel good. But it’s definitely not a crazy diet, I’m not going to deny myself desserts.

Kelly BrookKelly Brook

Fashion icon: Kelly has been wearing flirty outfits during her time in Los Angeles with Danny Cipriani

'I always try to have three meals a day and don’t snack on bad stuff. I like to make soups, which are healthy, filling and don’t make you feel bloated. I also love making healthy fish or vegetarian dishes.'

Kelly is also the face and body of lingerie brand Ultimo, and has been showing off her amazing figure in a series of flirty outfits while in LA.

After wearing a tight heart-print dress earlier this week, Kelly stepped out in a flowery playsuit to make the most of the LA sun.

[ via  Dailymail ]

72-hr Bandh Paralyses Normal Life in Upper Assam

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assam bandh Guwahati, May 31 : Normal life was paralyzed today in six districts of Upper Assam following a 72-hour bandh called by the All Tai Ahom Students' Union, officials said.

The bandh, which began at 5 am today, has been called in protest against inclusion of Ahom-dominated areas in tribal council areas of different communities like Deori, Thengal Kachari and Sonowal Kacharis, where council polls are scheduled on June six.

The affected districts are Jorhat, Sibsagar, Golaghat, Dibrugarh, Tinsukia and Lakhimpur.
All educational institutions, financial services and private offices remained closed while attendance in government offices was thin.

Road traffic was disrupted due to blockades at different places on NH-37, though rail traffic was not affected as trains were running as per schedule.

Operations at the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited were also affected as employees were unable to reach the plants in different places of upper Assam.

Poetry Finds an English Voice in Northeast India

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poetry Agartala, May 31 : The trouble-torn Northeast’s image as an insurgency-ridden killing field seems to have undergone a makeover with the publication of an English translation of the region’s poetic impulses penned in diverse languages.

English teachers of the North Eastern Hill University in Shillong, Robin S. Ngangom and Kynpham S. Nongkynrih, have edited the 325-page volume published recently by Penguin India.

Dancing Earth, an anthology of poetry of the Northeast, is a treasure of poetic creativity of the region.

Though the volume contains lyrical poems authored by indigenous poets of the eight northeastern states, poetry of Tripura, Assam and Manipur figure in it prominently.

Chandra Kanta Murasingh said poems penned by nine poets of Tripura, including himself, had appeared in the volume.

Besides him, the other poets from Tripura are Kalyan Brata Chakraborty, Nanda Kumar Debbarma, Swapan Sengupta, Shefali Debbarma, Niranjan Chakma Yogmaya Chakma, Ganghini Sorokkhaibam and Sudhanwa Tripura.

“The Northeast’s cultural and linguistic diversity find expression even in poetry composed in Tripura as the nine poets, including I, composed our poems in indigenous Kokborok, Chakma, Bengali and Manipuri languages that have been translated into English for publication in the volume,” Chandra Kanta said, adding Oxford University Press had earlier published a translated version of a collection of poems of the region.

For Chandra Kanta, inclusion of the English version of poems in Kokborok — Tripura’s indigenous language — is another feather in his cap.

As a poet, Chandra Kanta received his first institutional recognition in 1996 when he was conferred Sahitya Akademi’s Bhasa Samman Award meant for poets and authors in non-scheduled languages.

The Akademi had also published the English translation of his Kokborok Loka Sangeet and Kabita in 2007 and Tales and Tunes of Tripura in 2009.

“In these volumes, English translations of my Kokborok poems, indigenous folk songs, ballads, proverbs were published and these portray a concrete picture of Tripura’s multifaceted indigenous culture,” Chandra Kanta said.

He hoped that publication of Kokborok poems in the Penguin India volume would serve the cause of Tripura’s indigenous language.

Jorhat Hosts Voice of Northeast 2010 Audition

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0 Jorhat (Assam), May 31 : The third audition of the "VOICE OF NORTH EAST, 2010" was held at Pitambar Deva Goswami Auditorium here on May 29 and 30.

The Jorhat audition was organized by SMILE, a socio-cultural organization, based in Silchar and supported by PHENIX a cultural organization from Jorhat.

Hundreds of enthusiastic contestant from Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Assam, Tripura and Meghalaya turned up for the fifth phase of the 2010 auditions held at Jorhat.

After two sessions of auditions - an Acappella round and another round of singing with an instrumental accompaniment, and after a lot of scrutiny and criticism from the judges, six contestants finally made it through to the screening round, scheduled to be held in the month of July.

The judges for the auditions were Tsali Sangtam (Naga Idol 2007 contestant), Yutsung and Asem Jamir.

The auditions did go on successfully, with friends and relatives of the contestants turning up to witness the auditions and give moral support.

A strong eleven member Hunting Boots Inc team, the organizer of the Naga Idol 5.10, arrived Tuensang on May 24 evening.

However, the bumpy road, pot holes and the tiring journey to Tuensang was forgotten by the visiting team on seeing the district partners - Tuensang Town Chang Students' Union - who made all arrangements for the comfortable stay of the visitors.

The contestants from Tuensang who made it to the screening round of Naga Idol 5.10 are A Choba Chang, David Ben, Chongshenmongba C. Chang, Yopichem and Mary.

For the convenience of all, the audition for the contestants from Kiphire was held at Tuensang, where the lone contestant from Kiphire, Thsaropi, made it to the screening round.

The next auditions will be held at Japfu Hotel, Kohima on May 29, which will be held for aspiring contestants from Phek and Kohima districts.

With five contestants from Tuensang and one from Kiphire, the number of contestants making it to the Naga Idol 5.10 screening round has now gone up to twenty-five.

Are You Quitting Facebook Today?

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facebook2.jpg

New Delhi, May 31 : The D-day is finally here. Notwithstanding the frantic proclamations made last week by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to reassure its users of their data privacy, thousands of disappointed users are set to bid adieu to the site on May 31.

A website called Quit Facebook Day had set the last day of May as the day when everyone keen to leave the social network should finally take the plunge and hit the Delete key.

According to reports, over 25,000 people of the over 450 million Facebook members have already registered as "Committed Facebook Quitters" via the Quit Facebook Today website.

Over the past few weeks, the world's most popular social networking site has been facing severe criticism globally over privacy loopholes.

The popular Internet social hangout has been accused for exposing users' information without their knowledge thanks to a confusing system for setting privacy safeguards.

Last week, Mark Zuckerberg, the 26-year-old billionaire founder of the site, admitted that it had made mistakes in its privacy policies.

The company promised that it would roll out changes over the coming weeks that would give users more powerful tools to prevent personal information from being accessed by others.

Zuckerberg said that the company would introduce simpler privacy settings as well as a way to block all third-party services.

History in Your Face

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By Patricia Mukhim

‘One has always been intrigued by the claims of “uniqueness” of the Naga people and their history’

If there is one thing the Constitution has granted its citizens, it is the right to freedom of expression. This is a right one holds very dear to one’s heart although it comes at a price. You are always on the wrong side of the powers that be; you are the ant in the pants of the high and mighty; you are a gadfly, nay a pest, the state can do without. And also you are a nuisance to people who thrive on rhetoric because you analyze the rhetoric and expose the shallowness of it.

But you still live to see another day and continue hammering on the keyboard. For this very action is life itself and as natural as breathing. Any threat to the Freedom of Expression is, therefore, a threat to life itself. India is a democracy where dissent cannot be snuffed out just like that, although ever so often there are people who play God and decide who lives and who dies. They also believe that the gun is the only symbol of power.

As a student of history, one has always been intrigued by the claims of “uniqueness” of the Naga people and their history. My Naga friends say this claim is legitimate because the Naga community declared its independence from British-ruled India on August 14, 1947. To that extent, it can be said that unlike other indigenous communities, they never acceded to the Indian nation after it was born on the midnight of August 15, 1947. So if there is no accession there can be no secession either. This sounds like a legitimate argument. History, as memorized by the Naga community and narrated by A.Z. Phizo who led the Naga National Movement during its early stages, is that the Naga people had demanded independence from the British several times but not in writing.

‘Flawed’ facts

Phizo says, “The only written record submitted by our people to the British government was in the year 1929, January 10 when Simon Commission, under the chairmanship of Sir John Simon, came here in Kohima seeking our people’s opinion about the ‘New Reform’, as it was called. Our Naga people demanded independence and said, ‘Leave us alone, and when you — the British — leave us we shall be free and independent again.’”

History and memory overlap as we read of the Naga peoples’ struggle for independence from the Indian state. But history is a narrative of the victors, not of victims. The history of oppression and human rights violation by the Indian state on the Naga people clearly does not form part of modern Indian history. In any case, history never records the processes by which victory is achieved but only tells us the names of war heroes and their heroic deeds, quite forgetting those who bear the scars of war. Notwithstanding the shadowy past about the word “Naga” and how it was derived, at least two generations of Naga men, women and children have suffered indescribable trauma that are yet to be healed.

But is the Indian state the only victimizer? The Naga people cannot gloss over the atrocities committed by them on themselves on account of internecine conflicts and the pursuit of aspirations for superiority and control of resources. These atrocities are as detestable as the actions of the Indian state. Every Naga narrative assiduously builds on the notion that inter-tribal rivalries are a divisive tactic of the Indian state and its intelligence and security outfits.

But is the demonizing of the Indian state not too simplistic? If the Nagas share a common vision and a shared aspiration, how can an alien force succeed in spreading the toxin of divisiveness? Is this the only truth or is there more to the rivalries than meets the eye?

Enemy within

On several occasions, we have seen the NSCN (I-M) use the word “traitor”, perhaps alluding to those who do not share their ideology or believe in doing things differently. How can two million human beings scattered over two or more states share a common vision? And if they do have a dissenting voice they are gunned down as traitors! Are the young and entrepreneurial Naga youths, who have now come up to claim the economic space of Nagaland and Manipur through sheer hard work, able to articulate their options? Or should they not have options but be prisoners of received wisdom?

If there is a shared vision among the two million Nagas, should not all the Naga frontal organisations be treated with equal respect? By this I mean the NNC, the NSCN (K), the Nagaland Baptist Church Council,civil society groups and Naga Hoho(s). Why have some groups been ascribed negative traits?

Is this not the reason why some indigenous communities feel less privileged than others? If the Naga nation-building project is inclusive and tolerant of all aspirations, then why do we have the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) comprising Konyak, Yimchungur, Phom, Sangtam and Chang communities from the four backward districts? The ENPO and its student wing had asked way back in 2008 that unification of the different Naga frontal organizations should have preceded talks with the Indian state. If the Naga people are one, it is difficult to comprehend why the subject of “unification” is such an arduous task. Naga internecine clashes have claimed several lives and there are families whose pain remains alive.

To be deeply hurt by the loss of a loved one is an honest human emotion. It needs to be dealt with at some level. So why is the reconciliation process which is so Christian in its thematic content and principle, jettisoned as a dangerous project? Some of these issues raise uneasy questions in the minds of those who have followed the Naga history closely. While the Indian state as the “enemy” is clearly profiled and every Naga person has an avalanche of the choicest rhetoric to define this demon, it is the enemy within which appears to be more chimerical and slippery.

What’s in store?

If the Indian state plays games with the Naga peace talks, it is only behaving along expected lines. India will perhaps not cede an inch of its territory to an external power, much less to a people who claim to a pre-1947 independent status.

Also what about that section of Naga people who have been co-opted into the corrupt and sleaze-driven Indian bureaucracy and who share the Indian worldview? One can understand the angst of the ordinary Naga men and women who live for the day when they would be citizens of a sovereign nation and leave behind the ordeal they have suffered under the present “Indian” system. But will that new dispensation also give birth to a new generation of Naga people who will begin politics on a clean slate? Greed is a human trait, not just an Indian trait.

As a journalist and student of history, one raises these questions without being judgmental of any group but only as an attempt to understand the future of Naga history. By the way, there is no history that is sacrosanct and cannot be written by “outsiders” — meaning people who are not from within the indigenous community. In fact, real history is shorn of romance and rhetoric. It deals with facts as a writer observes at a particular point of time. As a columnist, one also enjoys the liberty of critiquing not just different movements but also of the life and times of those who lead and inspire those movements. If there are differences in perception, those should be put forward as rejoinders, not as intimidatory tactics.

(The writer can be contacted at patricia17@rediffmail.com)

Patriotic Love for Manipur is Terribly Missing

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By Madhu Chandra

manipur_map Patriotic love is the inspirational factor of any motherland; it is terribly missing in Manipur. Unity in diversity is the beauty of India, but it is terribly messed in Manipur, probably messed one another equally and must fix it together. When love is missing among the society, hatred begins, distances from one another, opinions form into ideological differences. The ideological differences many a time become ideological clashes among the societies that moved further into nerves and muscles. We have seen it enough within the communities of Manipur and the current crisis is this reality.

Manipur has range of love among own clans, ethnic, tribe, village, town, district and it limits and does not cross border. Collective love for the state of Manipur is missing very badly. Until the love for own state and land mounts up in every nerve, sadly, Manipur will suffer now and then like the way the state is facing now.

Where has gone the love, peace, friendship and harmony that bound Manipur among all section of society? Definitely, undoubtedly, some forces have destroyed it. Forces of fascism, fanatic, communalism and sectarian visible and invisible, most dangerous of every society must be eliminated sooner than later, otherwise, forever will destroy the love, peace, friendship and harmony in state. Love, peace, friendship and harmony are strong social fabric. Unwanted communal politic and communal forces time and again took different forms and take birth to attempt to show the seeds hatred among the society and the state. Manipur and its people are reaping its consequences today.

Predicted by Jawaharlal Nehru once, "When fascism comes to India, it will come in a form of communalism," in deed, Manipur is infected by this virus for long enough and should have confronted long ago. Unfortunately neither state government nor central seem less care about it.

America mourned 9/11 attacked, whole nation stood. India stood united during Kargil war. When "Hey mere watan ke logo" was sung in central Parliamentary hall on August 15, 1996, marking 50th Indian Independent day, it moved every Indian with love for the nation. It was more with the additional emotional speech delivered by then the President K R Narayan, remembering those Heros guarding the Indian boundaries at frontal line of Kargil.

What made whole American to stand together and Indians for the nation? It was the love for the nation. There was love for Manipur but it is terribly missing for last few decades. Prevailing situation in the state, lack of development, lack of opportunity and defectiveness of educational atmosphere, might lead people far away from loving owns state. Love for other human beings must maintain in Manipur. Patriotic love for Manipur can not be possible without the love for one another. Harm is done beyond irreparable but need a miracle to heal the hurt, forgive to love.

Bible talks about it powerfully, it must be seen in church and every Christians, hopefully those who do not believe in Bible might able to see the power of love that commanded by Jesus to follow. One among many Heros in Bible is John the brother of Jesus, who talks about love. It is the principle that every Christian holds on. He says, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!" Every Christian is believed to be child of God and it is made out of God's love. He further says, "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother." Last quote but never the least, rather a warning for every Christians, John says, "Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him."

Who should move first to express this love to all humanity? Saying as a Christian and ordained minister, church and every Christian has this mandate to step out first! Accepted or rejected is altogether different issue on part of the receptive. Patriotic love can not miss the love among brotherhood and other human beings.

"Itao" is word for Friendship in Manipuri. It has its own contextual strong meaning and application. If one says, "I have my Ukhrul Itao or Imphal Itao" it means a bound beyond ones own communities. It breaks all social barriers except caste instinct that played important role in destroying social peace and harmony among the society of Manipur.

What is mandate for Government in order to nurture patriotic love for the state? It is late to work on but better late than never! Making Manipur a livable place on planet is a must, if one and all want co-existence of all inhabitants of Manipur. Inability of Manipur government to make Manipur a choice of living by failing to bring socio-economic and educational development is the root cause. Public outrage, intolerance, constant public disturbances and failure to keep the law and order of the state has led to loose the patriotic love for the state. Every parent prefers effort sending their children for education outside Manipur and continues to work there after study.

Attempt to solve the militancy of Manipur through increasing the security forces is seen failure to solve the problem for last 50 years and it should never emphasis on it again. Development, work opportunity, good governance, sincerity, transparency and economic developmental initiative are missing. Absence of these, Manipur will continue to suffer and citizen of Manipur will lack the patriotic love that badly needed for Manipur.

Majority community of Manipur, referring to Meiteis, have bigger role. Pluralistic is the society of Manipur. Majority community can not act as solemn representative of the state. Every tribe or community is part of larger society. Inclusive thinking, consideration, equal affirmative action, equal opportunity, equal rights and equal justice must extend to all communities irrespective or tribe, religion, sect, race and ethnic. When equality is protected, chances of more patriotic love for the state arise.

Madhu Chandra is research scholar and social activist base based at New Delhi. He works as Regional Secretary for All India Christian Council and Spokes Person of North East Support Centre & Helpline.

Women on The Shop Floor Bridge Gender Gap

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No longer a novelty, they are increasingly finding a place for themselves in the manufacturing sector

By Maitreyee Handique

Gurgaon, May 31 : Way back in 1974, a young engineer named Sudha Kulkarni became the first woman to get a shop floor job with the firm that is now Tata Motors Ltd—but only after she posted an angry letter to group patriarch J.R.D. Tata, asking him why the job application notice put up in her college asked women not to apply.

Sudha Kulkarni later married Infosys Technologies Ltd founder N.R. Narayana Murthy and is now a philanthropist and writer in her own right. But few know that she was one of the first women to work on a factory floor in India, a male preserve that is only now becoming a bit more inclusive.

Cut to today. Zothansangi Colney’s parents were worried when she told them she’d be leaving her village in Mizoram to work in a manufacturing plant in Gurgaon, one of the country’s biggest auto hubs, south of south Delhi.

It took three months for the 24-year-old to convince her family, which runs a vegetable business in a rural outpost close to the Mizoram capital of Aizawl. Colney joined Mahle Filter Systems India Ltd, a joint venture led by the Rs3,200 crore Anand Automotive Ltd, India’s third largest auto parts maker.

Mahle produces air and fuel filters for nearly every vehicle that runs on Indian roads. Stationed at the shop floor’s quality section, Colney, dressed in a pale grey uniform of shirt and slacks, checks at least a thousand can-sized filters a day rolling off a conveyor belt.

Colney is still a rarity. Woman workers are far outnumbered by men on the shop floor of factories in India, where they make up fewer than one-fifth of the organized workforce, lower than the proportion in Asian nations such as Thailand and the Philippines.

India’s factory law, which prevents women from working at night has contributed to limiting female workers in assembly line production, too.

Sectors that do hire women in large numbers, such as electronics or textiles, do so mainly because of the advantage offered by their dexterity in performing repetitive functions for longer hours or doing detailed work with their nimble fingers. It’s not out of concern about the gender gap.

Changing times

Such industries helped boost female employment by 11% in the decade from 1998 to 2007, from 4.78 million to 5.31 million, in the organized sector, according to the labour ministry’s latest Employment Review. In the same period, men’s employment fell by 6.1% from 23.4 million to 22 million. As India’s economy expands rapidly, most new jobs are being created in the informal sector.

Times may be changing. A handful of firms, such as Anand Automotive and Cummins India Ltd, an arm of the leading US-based automobile engine maker, are giving increasing preference to women in recruitment.

Both firms have pledged to raise the number of women in their workforce by 30%—a unique initiative for Indian firms where debate on gender inequalities rarely goes beyond the interests of managerial staff.

“We’re going ahead with the plan not because it’s a nice thing to do. Worldwide, our leadership values diversity and we hope that this conscious decision will give us a competitive edge,” said Nagarajan Balanaga, vice-president, human resources, Cummins Group in India.

The Rs6,300 crore Cummins Group in India has an 11,000 strong workforce, just 2% of which is female. But one-third of new hires in the company’s new factory, Cummins Megasite, coming up in Phaltan, Maharashtra, are women, Balanaga said.

Jobs for women grew faster in the private sector than in government-owned enterprises between 2006 and 2007, resulting from increased hiring in the services sector, such as banking, airlines and software.

The number of women in the information technology-business process outsourcing sector alone rose from 421,460 in 2006 to 670,984 in 2008, according to the National Association of Software and Service Companies, the industry lobby.

Experts say that India’s slow manufacturing growth is one reason why women hopped from traditional sectors such as agriculture to work in the services sector including schools, hotels and banks. While employment is expanding for women, they still remain mainly in the low-wage informal sector.

“Many say we need to invest in this ‘missing middle’. In most other industrializing nations, the natural progression of a worker is to move from agriculture to manufacturing, then services. In India, it’s a case of agriculture to services,” says Reiko Tsushima, a gender specialist with the International Labour Organization in New Delhi.

Untapped potential

In India, the problem could be deeper, linked to fundamental social development issues. Persistent gaps in providing access to health and education have undermine efforts to tap women’s potential to its maximum. Women lack access to skills training and equal wages.

India ranks among the lowest at 114 out of 134 global economies in a gender gap study conducted by the World Economic Forum last year, trailing behind other emerging economies such as China, Brazil and Russia in providing healthcare, maternity health services and primary education. The average income of women at $1,185 (around Rs55,102), a year is less than a third of what men earn—$3,698.

Few firms have embraced diversity codes to offer equal workplace opportunities to women. While there is a growing realization that women workers can contribute to efficient production, cultural issues, too, persist.

“The shop floors today are dominated by male managers who lack sophistication and talk to each other in not so gender-sensitive language,” said a former executive of an auto parts company in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

“Women don’t ask for increments, they don’t change job like men do. So companies hold meetings to brainwash them with talks of how they should not marry early and be self reliant just to retain them,” said the person, who requested anonymity.

However, companies such as Anand Automotive, which has plants operating in 39 locations, however, believe that a codified diversity policy and investment in skills training could change the current gender imbalance.


Women make ideal workers because they are disciplined, loyal to the company and less likely to cause trouble or unionise, said K.S. Bhullar, Anand’s group president of human resources.

“We learnt early that women tend to get less bored of their work, they’re good workers. We just need to give them the opportunity,” said Bhullar, who has spent three decades at the company.

Smart strategy

The company provides hostel accommodation at subsidised rates, a neat campus with a library and common room facilities a few kilometres from the factory. Education scholarships are offered to deserving candidates, a smart strategy to check attrition.

In the last three years, the firm has hired around 1,100 women from technical institutes across the country including states such as Mizoram, Assam, Jharkhand and Orissa, for jobs paying between Rs7,000 and Rs10,000 per month.

In many ways, women represent the changing face of India’s workforce—a new symbol of the country’s gradual social transformation as they break away from the strict confines of society to win economic freedom.

Many women said they had resisted family pressures.

Vanita Monga, 24, from Ellenabad village in Haryana, for example, is the first woman in her joint family household to enter the labour force. Pasupulati Radhika, a native of Andhra Pradesh, has forsaken higher studies to help her father, a lorry driver, to fund her sister’s education. Rooprekha Honuwal, 28, the eldest sibling of a railway guard from Assam, is doubling factory duty with academic pursuits; she is attempting to complete a bachelor’s degree in technology with grants provided by the firm.

Parents worried about the safety of their daughters regularly drop by to check their workplace and living quarters. Many women workers have begun arriving on their own, unaccompanied.

On her first day at work, Garima Sharma, a petite 20-year-old, is being taken on a familiarization trip around the Anand Automotive factory in Gurgaon. She has come from Yamunagar, six hours away by road. “Nobody has stopped me from coming,” she says. “I am here because I want to work.”

15 Indian Security Men Killed in Manipur Accidents

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truck-accident Imphal, May 31 : At least 15 security personnel, including 12 troopers of the Territorial Army, were killed and three injured Sunday in two separate road accidents in northeastern state of Manipur, officials said.

A police spokesperson said 12 troopers of the Territorial Army were killed late Sunday near village Kotlen, about 30 km northwest of capital Imphal.

'The soldiers were returning to their base in Imphal from duty when the truck in which they were travelling veered off the road and fell into a deep gorge,' a police official said.

Twelve were killed on the spot and some are injured.

'We are yet to get the full details of the accident. We presume there could be at least 20 soldiers in the truck,' the official said.

Territorial Army troopers are generally deployed to guard vulnerable areas and facilities, and are used for counter insurgency operations only in emergency situations.

In another incident earlier Sunday, a truck carrying soldiers of the India Reserve Battalion fell into a gorge near village Korengei, about 8 km north of Imphal.

'Three of them were killed and as many were injured in the accident,' the official said.

'Facebook For Muslims' Launched in Pakistan

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After real thing is blocked over 'blasphemous' Prophet images

Resourceful IT experts in Pakistan have launched their own version of the social networking site Facebook after the real thing was blocked for showing 'blasphemous' images of the Prophet Mohammed.

MillatFacebook, meaning Nation Facebook in Urdu, was launched on Wednesday and has already attracted some 8,000 users.

Omar Zaheer Meer, one of the six web developers, said their aim was to offer an alternative to Facebook which condemned the contest encouraging users to submit images of the Prophet Mohammed.

Millat Facebook also promises stronger privacy settings than its US counterpart. 

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Pakistani IT professionals Omer Zaheerand Arslan Chaudhry browse their newly created networking site in Lahore

'We are saying that we are technologically independent and that you can't make money from us and then not respect our views' said Mr Meer.

'Millatfacebook is Pakistan's very own, first social networking site. A site for Muslims by Muslims where sweet people of other religions are also welcome,' the website tells people interested in signing up.

The Facebook page 'Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!' encouraged users to submit images of the prophet on May 20.

Muslims argue that any representations of the Prophet are blasphemous. A series of cartoons of the prophet published in a Danish newspaper in 2005 sparked violent protests and death threats against the cartoonists.

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Pakistani Muslims shout slogans and wave placards as they protest against Facebook in Lahore

Over the past ten days, access to Facebook, Youtube, encyclopaedia site Wikipedia and photo-sharing site Flickr has been temporarily blocked in Pakistan.

'The (Pakistani) government action against both Facebook and YouTube after it failed to persuade the websites to remove the 'derogatory material,' the regulatory body said in a statement.

It welcomed representatives from the two websites to contact the Pakistani government to resolve the dispute in a way that 'ensures religious harmony and respect'.

While thousands took to the streets to protest against the 'blasphemous' contest, other internet users simply switched to micro-blogging site Twitter to broadcast their protests against the crackdown to the world, which consequently surged with Pakistani traffic.

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When a Facebook user decided to organise an 'Everyone Draw Mohammed Day' competition to promote "freedom of expression', it sparked a major backlash among Islamic activists

'Sad and embarrassing day in the history of Pakistan. Tough times to be a Pakistani. Questionable decisions in a so-called "democracy,"' one user tweeted.

'What's common to Facebook and Lashkar-e-Taiba?' one user on Twitter wrote, referring to a Pakistani militant group that is believed to have carried out the terrorist atrocities in Mumbai.

'They are both banned in Pakistan, but Pakistanis can still find them if they want to.'

Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have all been at the forefront of anti-government protests in the last few years, most notably during last year's Iranian elections.'.

It remains to be seen how successful the government will be at keeping Pakistan's nearly 20 million Internet users from accessing the blocked sites.

Other countries, such as China, permanently ban Facebook and YouTube. But citizens often have little trouble working their way around the ban using proxy servers and other means.

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Pakistani Muslims burn the effigy of Molly Norris, the American cartoonist who declared May 20th 'Everyone draw Mohammed day' on facebook

[ via Dailymail ]

55 Rhinos Killed in Kaziranga in Last 4 Years

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rhino poaching Nagaon, May 30 : While wildlife lovers around the globe are rallying against rhino poaching, as many as 55 rhinos have been killed in the UNESCO's world heritage site Kaziranga National park, in the last four years.

According to insiders of Kaziranga National Park, a nexus between a section of forest guards and poachers is being suspected to be involved in rhino poaching.

And now, authorities of Assam's Kaziranga National Park, forest guard and security personnel are killing innocent people in fake encounters and producing them as poachers to cover up their failure, alleged by local people who reside near the park.

The incident came to light when villagers of Silveta under Bokakhat Police Station in Golaghat district, some 35 kms from Kaziranga National Park, alleged that, a youth called Rahul Kutum was killed by forest guards in a fake encounter inside the Park on May 21, morning.

Later, the park authorities produced 4 'poachers' killed in the encounter.

Park authorities said, the killed poachers have not been identified.

But the villagers alleged that, the park authorities killed innocent youth Rahul Kutum along with three others in a fake encounter for covering their failure to protect rhinos.

Family members of Rahul Kutum lodged FIR at Bokakhat Police Station and a case (No - 91/2010, under section 302) had registered.

Villagers of Silveta given a memorandum to Golaghat DC demanding a fair inquiry into the incident.

Tileswar Kutum, elder brother of Rahul Kutum told IBNS, "the park authorities producing it as colourful for covering their failures".

It is to be mentioned that, 55 one horned rhinoceros have been killed in Kaziranga in last four years, during the period when Forest Minister Rockybul Hussain took charge of the state government ministry.

Poachers killed 20 rhino in 2007, 16 in 2008, 13 in 2009 and 6 in this year. In this period park authorities killed only 8 poachers and forest department, security personnel arrested 37 nos of rhino poachers.

Over 800 rhinos were killed during the last decade - it is enough to raise a loud alarm on Kaziranga national Park.

In other hand, Kaziranga lost more than 150 rhinos and 40 tigers in natural dead.

AIFF Planning to Expand I-League to 16 Teams

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aiff New Delhi, May 30 : The All India Football Federation (AIFF), its general-secretary to be precise, is desperate to keep the relegated Lajong in the I-League next season, and the reason trotted out to retain them is to promote the sport in the northeast. To resurrect the Shillong club it has decided to make the 14-team league 16-strong.

The move to keep Lajong in the premier league is seen as a ploy by AIFF general-secretary Alberto Colaco to oblige the club owners despite their last-place finish in the 2009-10 season.
It is intriguing that the AIFF is mulling increasing the league strength to 16 next season despite its president Praful Patel making it clear after the executive committee meeting earlier this month that the I-League will continue to have only 14 teams.

The league rules stipulate that the bottom two teams from the top division - Lajong and Sporting Clube de Goa - will have to be relegated and the top two teams from Second Division -- Oil and Natural Gas Commission (ONGC) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) get promoted. But the AIFF wants to retain all the 14 teams from last year and add the two promoted clubs to make it 16.

Of the 14, Mahindra United has been disbanded and the AIFF has decided to field its under-19 team in place of the Mumbai club.

Justifying the AIFF move, its treasurer Hardev Jadeja told IANS that Lajong's presence has revived football in the northeast and the federation wants that the sport is spread in the northeast as the region is throwing up a lot of promising players.

"Thanks to Lajong, soccer has touched new heights in the northeast. From every I-League match at home, the club has earned Rs.1.5 million as gate money. This is a record, which even Kolkata clubs couldn't achieve in the last five years. We want Lajong in the first division for the development of football in the northeast," Jadeja said.

Isn't it a violation of league rule of promotion and relegation? "In the past we have bent rules for the development of Indian football. So why not this time? I have been to several I-League matches in Shillong and was surprised with Lajong's fan following," Jadeja added.

However, some I-league committee members are unhappy with AIFF's move. They feel that the AIFF secretary, who is also the I-League chairman, is arbitrarily taking decisions without consulting them.

Mohun Bagan's Debashish Dutta, a member of the I-League committee, blasted Colaco for trying to change the rules of the league.

"The rule says that two teams have to be relegated, so why change it after the end of the tournament. These things should be sorted out before the end of the league, not after. What is the sanctity of the league committee when members are not consulted or their views are not solicited and all decisions are taken by the league chairman?" Dutta asked.

Meanhwile, Vasco have appealed to the AIFF that they should be promoted as the third team from Second Division to replace Mahindra United.

Vasco president Vinod Parkhot said: "In 2007, AIFF had replaced disbanded Fransa Pax with HAL, which had finished third in the second division. So, here too the same rule should be applied to allow us to play in the I-League in place of Mahindra."

Creative and Amusing Custom Designed Sneakers

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Here, my favorite is V for Vendetta sneakers...and the one with Twitter!

Check out the complete collection here.

I'm kinda bummed out why there's no Facebook flavored sneakers :)

In a Perfect World...

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Catrin Dulay illustrates with great simplicity how life would be in such a seamless flow, without all these tiny annoying moments.

[ via ThisBlogRules ]

Audrina Partridge In Ralph Magazine (NSFW)

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Audrina Partridge is cooking up Ralph and any fan would not bear to eat this…too hot…tooo spicy

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