As India’s old ways change, senior-care homes are on the rise
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, May 15, 2012
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: R. Padmanathan Nair sits on a plastic chair in the entryway of the Heritage senior home talking about the fellow residents who treat him like family, which is helpful seeing as his own rarely visits.
His wife tried to abscond with their valuables, he said, so he gave the house to a niece, who ignored him after she got the property. Now his daughter is the only one who visits the 76-year-old retired teacher here in the capital of the southern state of Kerala, and that’s just a few times a year.
“But she only comes to get money from me,” said Nair, unshaven and dressed in a white lungi skirt-like garment and striped polo shirt, his voice rising in anger. “It’s a blessing there are homes like this.”
India, a nation that prides itself on the inclusive embrace of its extended families, is slowly accepting a feature long common in the West: elder-care facilities.
Social changes find more urban families rejecting traditional arrangements involving grandparents, parents and children under one roof, preferring life without nosy in-laws. Economics is also playing a role as more professionals work abroad or in large Indian cities, too busy to care for aging parents.
As India’s traditional social contract frays, however, seniors are also more subject to neglect, physical and mental abuse and depression. In 2010, 11,100 people older than 60 committed suicide, a 20% increase from 2008. READ….
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Pilot sickout the latest problem to hit India’s aviation industry
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, May 11, 2012
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NEW DELHI — Hundreds of Air India pilots did not report to work Thursday, the fourth day of a sickout to protest their treatment by management, a dispute that so far has resulted in the cancellation of numerous international flights and cost about 45 pilots their jobs.
Officials said the Mumbai-based airline was forced to cancel more than 35 international flights this week, including several bound for New York and Frankfurt, because of the protest. India’s aviation minister called the sickout illegal, the airline said it had fired some pilots, and a high court called for negotiations.
Separately, dozens of Kingfisher Airlines pilots called in sick to protest delays in salary payments, forcing that carrier to cancel some domestic flights.
Air India’s labor problems date to at least 2007, when two troubled government airlines, international Air India and domestic Indian Airlines, announced they would merge into Air India. But there’s been little integration, say analysts and former staff members, in an industry prone to tribalism, nepotism and political meddling. READ…..
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Nepal’s fierce Gurkha soldiers find themselves under siege
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2012
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Deo Man Limbu sat in a veterans hall lined with pictures of old soldiers and reflected on his years of service, his battles and his dreams. The retired major with Britain’s legendary Gurkhas faced the Argentines in the 1982 Falklands War, when being a member of one of the world’s most feared fighting forces had its advantages.
Well before hostilities started, British military planners had encouraged photographs of Gurkhas sharpening their fearsome curved knives — no one seemed to ask why you’d bring a knife to a gunfight — and media stories about their fighting prowess.
The day before the final battle, loudspeakers warned the Argentines that the Gurkhas were coming. “We fired one or two shots and they all flew away,” said Limbu, whose enduring memory of the Falklands Wars is of lots of sheep. “It was very effective.”
Other conflicts were not as easily won. Limbu tells of Gurkhas who were decorated in World War I and II, saw action in Borneo and died in Afghanistan in the 1980s as well as in the last decade.
“We fought many enemies,” said Limbu, 60, who has the air of a dapper gentleman in a blue blazer, checked dress shirt and well-pressed brown pants. “But our politicians in Nepal are the worst.”
Today, the Gurkhas’ proud two-century tradition with the British army is under siege. Some in the communist-led Nepalese government object to the Gurkhas being hired guns for a former colonial power and are proposing to ban the practice, just as the British government makes deep cuts in its defense spending. READ…..
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In pursuit of Guinness records, India man knows no limits
By Mark Magnier, Los Angeles Times, May 2, 2012
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NEW DELHI — As a candidate in last month’s municipal elections, Guinness Rishi didn’t do any campaigning. In fact, he thinks the 30 votes he got were 30 too many. He suspects his wife voted for him out of spite.
Rishi’s real goal was to garner zero votes and become the world’s most-losing politician, complementing the seven Guinness World Records certificates on his wall. There should be 22, the self-described record maniac grumbles, but Guinness has it in for him.
Although every country has its share of glory seekers, India has really taken to this particular form of chest thumping. Guinness says applications from India are up 178% over the last five years, making it the world’s third-most active nation of wannabes, after the U.S. and Britain, with actual records up almost fourfold. Guinness has just appointed a Mumbai-based representative to manage the crowds of record seekers, with plans to open a full office next year.
Among recent Indian records: most consecutive yoga positions on a motorcycle (23), most Mohandas Gandhi look-alikes photographed (485), most earthworms swallowed (200), longest ear hair (7 inches). READ…..
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Where Ramayana recitation continues for 18 years
April 29, 2012, Malayala Manorama
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Achnera (Uttar Pradesh): A Hindu temple in this small, bustling town on the outskirts of Agra is making a record of sorts with the continuous recital of the Indian epic Ramayana for the past 18 years.
The Ram Hanuman temple opposite the Achnera railway station, about 25 km from Agra, has become a major centre of attraction for locals and those visiting the town. The recital of the holy book since 1994 is a feat every resident of this town is proud of.
The ‘akhand paath’ or continuous recital started Oct 21, 1994, and since then the Ramayana has been recited more than 3,440 times, the temple priest claims. The temple is located on the Uttar Pradesh-Rajasthan border.
Vishnu Dayal Sharma, a retired postmaster with a flowing beard, who has read the Ramayana here, told IANS, “How long this will continue only Ramji knows. My children are studying, and I am spending my retired life in the service of Ramayana. After two hours, another person will come, then another and so on. The process will continue.” READ……
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Sachin takes guard in the Rajya Sabha
By Kartikeya Sharma and Kay Benedict, April 26, 2012, Daily Mail
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Catching everyone off guard, Sachin Tendulkar arrived in the Capital ostensibly for the Mumbai Indians hot-button IPL game versus table toppers Delhi Daredevils, but instead was seen entering 10 Janpath to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi with wife Anjali in tow.
Rahul Gandhi was present at the meeting and so was defence minister A.K. Antony. Soon after, news emerged that Tendulkar was headed for the Rajya Sabha as a nominated member.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had shot off a letter to the home ministry on Wednesday proposing the name of Sachin and three others, including one-time Bollywood heart-throb Rekha, in the distinguished members’ category.
Earlier this year Maharashtra chief minister Chavan had recommended his name for the Bharat Ratna. But some in the political circles felt he was too young to be conferred the highest civilian award. Officially the Congress said that Sonia wanted to meet Tendulkar and personally congratulate him on scoring the historic 100 international centuries. READ…..
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Fake notes, real threat
Editorial, The Hindu, April 26, 2012
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The counterfeit currency menace is growing in India. In 2011, the rupee appeared to have emerged as the counterfeiter’s currency of choice internationally, displacing the greenback. By all accounts, Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) continue to be pumped in — much of it from abroad. A recent report compiled by the Financial Intelligence Unit of the Union Finance Ministry estimated a 400 per cent increase over recent years in counterfeit transactions in India’s financial channels. During 2010-11, the agency detected “4,23,539 incidents of FICN with a face value of over Rs 35 crore.” The 2011-12 figures are higher. According to a 2011 report of the U.S. State Department, India faces an increasing inflow of ‘high-quality’ counterfeit currency, produced primarily in Pakistan, and smuggled in through multiple international routes including Nepal and Bangladesh. Terrorist and underworld networks could be using the fakes to finance their activities in India. India has repeatedly blamed Pakistan as one of the major originating points. Porous borders facilitate the flow. The magnitude of the problem has not even been quantified. Economic crimes involving black money, hawala foreign exchange remittances and money laundering are but concomitants. READ…..
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