Chacha Nehru's Inspiring Anecdotes

Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, was born on November 14, 1889. As a tribute to this great man and his genuine love for children, his birthday is celebrated all over India as ' CHILDREN'S DAY' since 1954. A celebration of ‘childhood’, ‘innocence’, and ‘future’ is what Children’s Day is all about. His passion for the youngsters and his love for the little kids is the reason why his birthday was chosen as a day of celebration for the young ones. Chacha Nehru (Uncle Nehru), the children called him and his face glowed as he watched them, the future hope of India. Their continued faith in him was also a source of happiness to him and he responded with spontaneous affection. Time has not dimmed his appeal. Age has not made him distant. None of today's children have seen him in flesh and blood. Yet they know him. They know him as a friend of children. They know his love for children; and they reciprocate with an abiding love for their dear Chacha Nehru. He remains a friendly spirit, hovering around, befriending children, laughing with them, tossing roses and jasmines at them, dancing with them, whirling around, singing songs. This image is sustained by anecdotes, drawn from his life, anecdotes that bring out the fact that Nehru's love for children is immortal.

Strolling In The Garden!
He was taking a stroll along the path that ran around the trees and the shrubs of the open grounds in Teen Murti, the official residence of the Prime Minister. Then he heard the cry of a baby. Where did it come from? Nehru stopped, looked all around. His eyes focused on a baby of two months, howling at its top. Nehru went closer. Where was the mother? She was nowhere around. Nehru guessed that the baby's mother must be working on the grounds. She must be a member of the team of gardeners who worked at Teen Murti. She must have put the baby to sleep and gone to the work spot. More he went on with the guessing game, louder and louder became the cry of the baby. Nehru decided to play mother to the child. He walked close to where the child lay, bent, picked the baby in his arms and rocked it gently. The child's wails ebbed and petered off. A toothless smile lit up its lips. That was a smile that cheered Pandit Nehru. He played with the baby, tickled it, had fun time till the baby's mother, covered with dust and sweat ran in. She could not believe her eyes. Her beloved child was in Pandit Nehru's arms. And he was having fun time in its company. For the mother, it was her proudest moment ever. Her baby had been rocked and soothed by none else but the Prime Minister of India.

The Baloon Seller!
Pandit Nehru was on a tour of Tamil Nadu (then known as Madras). Large crowds lined the roads to have his darshan. Many children had climbed up the trees that lined the roads to get a glimpse of their beloved Chacha Nehru. Set behind the crowd was a balloon seller. The strings of the balloons were gathered in his hand, but the balloons, of all shapes and sizes provided a colorful panorama, a sort of drifting halo behind the crowd. On an impulse, Pandit Nehru instructed the motorcade to stop. He jumped out of the open jeep, signaled to the balloon seller to his side. The man came, hesitantly. Had he earned the wrath of the Prime Minister? What would happen to him now? He bowed, held his head bent. "Buy up all his balloons. Give them to the children," Nehru told his aide. The news was conveyed to the balloon seller. He could not believe his ears. He bowed again, ran back, distributing the balloons among the children. Nehru walked to a plump girl, happily watching the balloon in her hand soar far above her head, pinched her cheek gently and returned to the jeep. The children screamed happily, "Chacha Nehru, Chacha Nehru!”


Not The Occasion For Speech!
One hundred and thirty children of Balkanji-Bari, who had come to Delhi in response to an invitation by the Prime Minister, heartily enjoyed a reception given by him at the lawns of his residence, Teen Murti. Mr. Nehru who came to meet them in the evening after a strenuous four-hour meeting to select Congress candidates, was instantly refreshed seeing the little ones who sat in neat rows enjoying fruit drink and sweets. As soon as he appeared, they rose with joyous shouts of ``Chacha Nehru Zindabad.'' A representative of Balkanji-Bari requested Mr. Nehru to address the boys and girls, but the Prime Minister said, “you do not make speeches on occasions like these.'' Instead, he went round, and made each of his little visitors feel completely at home, patting, caressing, saying kind words, making pleasant simple conversation and cracking jokes. Some children asked Chacha Nehru if he remembered having met them at Santa Cruz airport three years earlier on his way to the U.S.A., and Nehru readily responded indeed he did. Nehru asked the children what they had seen in Delhi. The children mentioned the names of Red Fort, Juma Masjid, Rashtrapathi Bhavan, Qutub Minar and Jantar Mantar. When their host wanted to know what was the most wonderful thing they had seen in Delhi, back came their answer in a piped chorus, ``Chacha Nehru.''

Language Of Your Liking!
At the above Balkanji-Bari get together, a boy, extending autograph book, asked Chacha Nehru,
“Chachaji, can I have your autograph?”
Nehru obliged him. The boy looked at the autograph and pointed out to him,
“Chachaji, you have omitted to put the 'Tarik' (date).”
Nehru put the date also. The boy again said,
“Chachaji, you have not written any 'Sandesh' (message).”
Nehru smiled and wrote a small message. When the boy looked at the autograph book, he was surprised. Nehru had written his signatures in English, the date in Urdu and the message in Hindi. When the boy looked at Nehru questioningly, he, with a broad smile, said,
“My dear kid, you asked for my signatures in English, the date in Urdu and the message in Hindi, and you have them thus.”


In No Hurry!
As official of the International Cultural Forum, India, I had the pleasure of taking a group of children to Prime Minister Nehru's residence for his blessings before the children were to leave for a Summer Camp in the then Soviet Union. Mrs. Indra Gandhi, the PM's daughter, received and rushed us to Mr. Nehru's study for a hurried audience with him as per appointment. However, Mr. Nehru was in no hurry and asked Mrs. Gandhi to arrange for some snacks and soft drinks for us. In the meanwhile he made us feel at home by shifting from the sofa to the carpet to show us on the atlas the summer camp site along the beautiful Black Sea where the children would be spending the summer months. When the 15-minutes allotted time for our appointment was over, Mr. Nehru was still absorbed in giving the children orientation lessons for their participation in the international camp. Mrs. Gandhi had a hard time engaging Ministers and other important persons who were waiting for their turn to meet the Prime Minister as per their respective appointments. Indeed, it is beyond imagination how extraordinary we all felt when we came out after spending the most wonderful time of our life with one of the greatest world leaders, for full one hour.

This Beautiful World!
When the famous cartoonist Shankar started the international competitions for children, Nehru addressed a letter through Shankar's publication to children of the world. It brings out Nehru's abiding love for children:

Dear Children,

I like being with children and talking to them and, even more, playing with them. If you were with me, I would love to talk to you about this beautiful world of ours, about flowers, trees, birds, animals, stars, mountains, glaciers and all the other beautiful things that surround us in the world. We have all this beauty all around us and yet we, who are grown-ups, often forget about it and lose ourselves in our arguments or in our quarrels. We sit in our offices and imagine that we are doing very important work.

I hope you will be more sensible and open your eyes and ears to this beauty and life that surrounds you. Can you recognize the flowers by their names and the birds by their singing? How easy it is to make friends with them and with everything in nature, if you go to them affectionately and with friendship.

Grown-ups have a strange way of putting themselves in compartments and groups. They build barriers... of religion, caste, color, party, nation, province, language, customs and of rich and poor. Thus they live in prisons of their own making. Fortunately, children do not know much about these barriers, which separate. They play and work with each other and it is only when they grow up that they begin to learn about these barriers from their elders. I hope you will take a long time in growing up...

Jawaharlal Nehru
December 3, 1949

Chacha Nehru loved flowers as much as he loved children. In his most familiar photograph he is always wearing a red rose close to his heart. The story goes that he started to and eventually got accustomed to tucking the flower to his jacket when a little girl courageously came too close and tucked it on his jacket at a function. In fact, he often compared the two saying that children were like the buds in a garden who needed to be cared, nurtured and loved, as they were the future and foundation of a nation. Since the foundation of a strong future of the country lies in the hands of the children of today, they need to be shown a direction. What better way to show them the way than through Chacha Nehru's inspiring anecdotes.

Reunited After Ages!

A TALE OF TWO GARDENS is a slim collection of poems Octavio Paz wrote, while Mexico’s ambassador to India. These poems provide a spirited view of Mexico and India as complements, and the two gardens of the title are his childhood garden in Mexico and the garden of his home in India. “A Tale of Two Gardens” is a fluid, transcendent poem, defining what makes for a sense of place while describing these two particular gardens which, conflated, transcend time and geography. The poems of Octavio Paz draw our attention to the fact that no two people are so passionately and naturally attracted to each other, and no two countries are ever so close to each other culturally, as India and Mexico.

Historians and researchers have been working hard to get to the bottom of the affectionate bondage between Indians and Mexicans, and come out with startling conclusions that the Mexicans are our own kith and kin who wandered out ages ago to the other side of glob. There is definitely an important connection between the old Vedic people and Mexico's Maya-ancestors. The Mayans are actually referred to in the Mahabharata, as a tribe having left the Indian subcontinent for Ceylon where they inhabited the province of Maya. Later, they went to the Americas. The Mayans were excellent international shippers and traders, builders and astronomers. Recent studies suggest a link between Indus Valley civilization and Mayans of Central America. The studies focused on the calendars of the two advanced civilizations. The Indus Valley inhabitants followed a calendar based on the movements of Jupiter, and the Mayans followed one based on the Venus. In the Puranas, a secondary Hindu scripture, the texts further state that they lived on opposite sides of the Earth. Mexico and India are at opposite sides in longitude. The Hindu story of the churning of the ocean has been found in carvings in Mexico, as well Mayan representations of a tortoise carrying twelve pillars similar to Indian illustrations. Mayan structures in Central America had many similarities between the design and construction methods of the Mayans and that of the ancient Hindus.

Language is one of the major keys to determining the movement and migration of races. Two-thirds of all the aboriginal regional names of Mexico are either variations of the name of Lanka or Tamil names of West Indian regions. This is a major key to the understanding of their ancient Sri Lankan and Tamil India origins. A Mayan culture hero was Ishbalanka (Xbalanca) meaning in Tamil, "Shiva of Lanka" who was supposed to have made the footprint on top of Adam's Peak in Sri Lanka; modernly, in line with the prevailing Buddhist culture, it is known as (Gautama) ‘Buddha’s footprint.’ Palenque, the ancient capital of Guatamala, derives from the Tamil Pal-Lanka, meaning "Protectorate of Lanka." Guatemala (the main habitat of the Mayans) may derive from Gautemala, meaning "A Subsidiary Land of Gautama Buddha." Ceren was a name of Ceylon, some Mayan ruins in El Salvador are called Ceren. Mayon was one of the names of Ceylon's cult religions, still existing among a few aboriginals living on the island.

The Mayans are well known for their astronomical accuracy through their studies of the cycles of Venus, yet their whole system of astronomy and cycles derives from their ancient Hindu past. Astronomy played a significant role in Mayan culture. Venus in particular had a pre-eminent status. Testimony to this rich tradition is borne out by Mayan temple art and the few available Codices, or sacred books, of the Mayans. The sidereal Mayan astronomy is akin to the Hindu system . There are also the similarities between the Maya rain-god Chac and the Vedic Indian Indra, and the Maya monkey-god and the Vedic Hanuman. The Vedic origin is further enhanced by the frequency that the elephant motif is found in Maya art, especially the earlier works of the Maya, such as at Copan, although the elephant never existed in the region. Like the Vedic culture, the Maya had a pantheon of demigods, many of which have similarities to the Vedic deities. Mayan gods like Xiuhtechutli and Xipe Totec have their Vedic counterparts in Indra and Agni. Indra, like Xiuhtechutli, was the rain god and guardian of the Eastern Quadrant, and Agni, similar to Xipe Totec, was the god of sacrificial fire, born in wood and the life force of trees and plants. You can keep counting the similarities and there seems to be no end.

Punjabi-Mexican Families

Jayasri Majumdar Hart's ROOTS IN THE SAND is a multi-generational portrait of pioneering Punjabi-Mexican families who settled, a century ago, in Southern California's Imperial Valley. Through the use of sound footage, archival and family photographs, personal and public documents, Hart tells the touching and inspirational story of a community that grew out of a struggle for economic survival in the face of prejudice.

By 1910, close to 5,000 men from Punjab found jobs in the American West. These men had journeyed across the ocean, not to settle in this country, but to earn money enough to return to their home country of India. However, poor wages and working conditions convinced them to pool their resources, lease land and grow their own crops. A number of the men settled in the Imperial Valley, just north of the Mexico border, where they used water from the Colorado River to irrigate the desert, a way of farming familiar to them from their homeland. As the men prospered, they wanted to marry and settle down, but immigration laws forbade importing brides from India. So the men turned to the Mexican women working in the fields who, much like the women back home, covered their heads and bodies from the blazing sun. Valentina Alvarez married Rullia Singh, Rosario Perez married Purn Singh and Silveria Jill married Phoman Singh. They were among the earliest couples in a cross-cultural wedding boom born out of necessity in the Imperial Valley. It is these resilient and innovative people and their stories that ROOTS IN THE SAND explores. The film goes on to document the Punjabi-Mexican families' resourcefulness in overcoming political and economic obstacles placed before them time and time again. The stories are told with affection and pride by children and grandchildren.

There were perceptions of similarities that the men expressed about their new lives and that their descendants continue to voice. These perceived similarities, the senses in which the descendants in California today feel about Punjabi and Mexican culture, language, and religion. There were similarities of physical appearance and even of language (“Spanish is just like Punjabi, really”), as Moola Singh of Selma, California, who has thirteen children from three marriages with Mexican women says:

“ I never have to explain anything India to my Mexican family. Cooking the same, customs and the way of living in India same as in Mexico. Everything same, only language different. . I went to Mexico two, three times, just like India. They sit on floor there, make tortillas (roti you know). All kinds of food the same, eat from plates sometimes, some places tables and benches. India the same, used to eat on the floor, or cutting two boards, made benches.”

Isabel Singh Garcia said that the Mexican-Hindu children had their own little community during her childhood. The marriage of her parents, Memel Singh and Genobeba Loya, was a good one, she said. Her father and her mother have been dead for more than 30 years, but she clearly remembers them and her Sikh uncles. Growing up on a peach orchard with her parents and sisters provided a mixing of cultures. They attended Catholic services and had regular visits to the Sikh temple in Stockton.

"The Mexicans and the Hindu were compatible," she said. "They had a lot in common. The Mexicans had tortillas. The Hindus had rotis, a bread that is like a tortilla. We took the best of two worlds and made one world. We became one big, close family. Actually, we felt we were always a one family, somehow separated and now reunited after ages."

Turban Triumphs in USA

“Washington, Oct 21 (IANS) In what is seen as a landmark civil rights victory for the Sikh community, the US government has allowed Sikhs to serve as federal security officers while keeping their turbans and beards. The reversal of a ban comes after a discrimination case filed by a Sikh security officer who was told that he could not keep his turban and beard on the job, Sikh Coalition, a community advocacy group said Tuesday. The lawsuit settlement and change in policy are a major civil rights victory for the Sikh community. It marks the first time that a federal law enforcement agency has changed policy to accommodate the Sikh articles of faith, it said.”

The news spread like recent wild fire of Southern California in over 500,000 strong Sikh community in U.S.A., and there was spontaneous jubilation amongst them, justifiable too. This triumph of the turban has come after a prolonged struggle by the community to establish and advance themselves in this country, half the globe away from their great love - Punjab, the land of their origin. Prejudice and stereotyping were a part of the Sikh experience ever since the earliest immigrants from India arrived over a century ago in USA , who were all from Punjab with majority of them from this adventurous and courageous community.

In 1849, the British annexed the Punjab region into the rest of its colonial holdings in India. The subsequent land reform laws disenfranchised many Punjabis, and younger sons were encouraged to find work abroad. Their destinations ranged from British territories in Africa to the Caribbean to Hong Kong and Singapore to Canada. Many made their way to Vancouver, Canada. They found employment in the burgeoning lumber industry, and, as subjects of the British Commonwealth, they were able to travel freely. But as their numbers grew, discrimination against them by Canadian workers of European descent also grew. Indeed, European Canadian worker protests became so strong that, eventually, ships carrying Indians to Vancouver were barred from landing. These workers found their way further south, into the northwestern United States, where an economic boom was in the works. When the first Indian immigrants arrived in California's fertile Central Valley more than a century ago, they were reminded of the plains in their homeland, the Punjab. Their farming skills, their willingness to work, and their drive to get ahead ensured their rise in status from humble migrant laborers who picked fruit in the hot sun to significant landowners who today control much of the agriculture in California. However, like the Indian immigrants in Canada, they too received an acrimonious reception from workers of European descent not wanting to compete against them for jobs.

The California Alien Land Law of 1913, revised in 1920, prevented immigrants from owning and leasing their own land, making it a difficult struggle for those who made their living as farmers. Barred from owning land due to anti-Asian laws, many married Mexican women and forged a fusion culture that flourished in California's Yuba City and Imperial Valley. A small "Mexican-Punjabi" community formed in California when early male Punjabi immigrants married Hispanic women. Many of the men were unable to retrieve their family members from India, and thus were forced to seek new relationships in the United States. The two cultures experienced different rights under the law. Punjabi men were unable to legally own land. The Mexican women, however, could own land, as they were unrestricted by discriminatory laws targeted at Asian immigrants. Later, they also put land in their children's names, who were American citizens. This helped them to legally own land holdings and push their economic progress, particularly in Yuba City and areas around it in Northern California, but troubled time for the turbaned immigrants from Punjab was far from over in some other parts of their adopted country.

Immigrants from India continued to face resistance from European and American laborers who were in competition with them for jobs and who feared they would be willing to work for lower wages. This resistance assumed tangible form in racist organizations such as the Asian Exclusion League. The group was responsible for violent incidents in Canada and the U.S., such as the "Anti-Sikh" riot in 1907 at Bellingham, Washington. On the night of September 4, 1907, a mob of between 400 and 500 white men attacked Bellingham's Punjabi colonies. Many of them were beaten. Some escaped from their quarters in their night clothes. Several sought refuge on the tide flats. Others were driven toward the city limits or jailed. During the course of the disturbance, the indignation of the crowd was fanned to action by speakers who addressed impromptu audiences on the street corners and incited citizens to "help drive out the cheap labor." Unfortunately, the Bellingham riot was mirrored by similar assaults in California during the months that followed in Marysville, Stege, Live Oak, and other communities where the immigrants had settled.

These incidents, however, didn't reflect the attitude of the whole community. As the immigrants continued to work hard and achieve success some of their neighbors began to accept them. A retrospective account in the Daily Astorian gives an idea of how Indian workers were viewed in Astoria, one Oregon mill town. "We thought they were terrible coming with their turbans. We were afraid of them at first. But then we realized, they have to make a living same as the rest of us. We are foreigners too. And they never undercut wages -- they wouldn't work for less than the other employees. And most of the Astoria community considered the Sikhs vastly interesting and peaceable." There were cracks in the great white wall, which eventually went down with the emergence of some highly honored and successful Sikh immigrants.

Early in the 20th century, Indian students began coming to the United States to study engineering, medicine, agriculture, and manufacturing. The students represented all parts of the subcontinent, particularly Punjab. Most Indian students chose institutions on the Pacific Coast -- the University of Washington, agricultural colleges in Oregon, Stanford, and, above all, the University of California, Berkeley. The University of California was really the best for them on this coast. Tuition was only $15 a year and living expenses about $250. Opportunities were plentiful in Berkeley for self-support. During the summer months students could make $125 a month as agricultural laborers. The students found many sources of support. The Pacific Coast Khalsa Diwan had purchased a hostel where Indian students could stay rent-free.

Dalip Singh Saund earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. Over the next 20 years of his life, he worked in agriculture and became a successful businessman too. He was the first Asian American to be elected to the US Congress. He was elected in 1956 from 29th Congressional district comprised of Riverside and Imperial Counties of California and reelected twice. While contesting in 1964 for his fourth term in the U.S. Congress, he suffered a stroke and became incapacitated. However, he did set a precedent for many Asians to follow in the U.S. Congress. He remains a beacon of hope and an example for many Indian Americans to succeed him.

“One day, just three days before the election, a prominent citizen who was opposing me bitterly saw me one morning in the town restaurant. There must have been some fifty people in there having their breakfast when he came up to me and said in a loud voice: "Doc, tell us, if you're elected, will you furnish the turbans or will we have to buy them ourselves in order to come to your court?" "My friend," I answered, "you know me for a tolerant man. I don't care what a man has on top of his head. All I'm interested in is what he's got inside of it." All the customers had a good laugh at that and the story became the talk of the town during the next few days. -- Dalip Singh Saund on his 1952 campaign for judge in Westmorland.

Fifty years ago, Didar Singh Bains came to America with $8 in his pocket with the belief that money grows on trees. He was right. Bains was a young "jat" - A Sikh farmer from Punjab, where farming is next to godliness. Driving tractors and irrigating orchards for 75 cents an hour, he did the work of four men, and soon bought his first peach orchard. He bought another, then another, and by 1978, had become the largest peach grower in California. By 1980, Bains owned 12,000 acres in California and Canada.

Sikhs have been a part of the American populace for more than 130 years. When everything was going great for them came September 11, 2001. In the wake of 9/11 attacks, there was an upsurge in anti-Sikh discrimination across the United States, including a number of incidents that involved physical attacks on Sikh individuals who were wearing turbans. They were blamed for something they had nothing to do with. But rather than getting mad at the people instigating hatred against them, the educated amongst the community felt it was their obligation to help common Americans understand their cultural traditions. They wrote articles, gave speeches and sent e-mails. They raised seed money for a documentary film, Mistaken Identity: Sikhs in America, that has been screened at film festivals, police departments, schools and colleges. The newspapers aided the outreach effort by running informative articles. The result was the attacks on turban wearing Sikhs stopped, eventually leading to the decision of the U.S. administration to reverse the ban on Sikhs wearing turbans in the federal security services. The decision is seen and celebrated by Sikhs as the day “Turban Triumphs in USA”.

Outsourcing Surrogate Pregnancy

Mention surrogate mother, and the mind goes back to the high-profile Baby M case in the U.S., the first of its kind, in which the surrogate was the baby's biological mother and unsuccessfully sought custody after the birth. Or to the controversial but bold Bollywood movie of its time, in which Preity Zinta playing the surrogate mother to the child of the married couple, Salman Khan and Rani Mukherjee, gives up custody of her child, though very reluctantly, to create happy ending for the film. For many years, surrogate pregnancy was a somewhat immoral method by which intended parents could attempt to have a child. The surrogate mother was always the biological mother, pregnant from another person, but with the intention of relinquishing the child to be raised by the biological father and his spouse. Much has changed since then the way surrogacy is practiced now. In gestational surrogacy, commonly used instead of the traditional, the surrogate becomes pregnant via embryo transfer with a child of which she is not the biological mother. It is no longer considered unethical or immoral, as extramarital relationship between the surrogate mother and the biological father is not involved. As such, the practice is now not only legal and widely accepted, it has become a big commercial opportunity for the agencies involved in it. Indian women earn more than they otherwise could, and infertile couples get a genetically related child. The clinics in India feel that this vital service they are providing is a ‘win-win’ situation for both the parties, ” we are facilitating each one of them to achieve what none of them could achieve on their own.” More importantly, staying detached from the genetic parents, helps surrogate mothers give up their babies and get on with their lives - and maybe with the next surrogacy.

These days U.S. outsources everything to India. So why not pregnancy? Especially when a growing number of Indian women are willing to carry an American child. By some estimates, Indian surrogacy is already a $445-million-a-year business. Commercial surrogacy was legalized in India in 2002. The cost comes to about $25,000, roughly a third of the typical price in the United States. That includes the medical procedures; payment to the surrogate mother, which is often, but not always, done through the clinic; plus air tickets and hotels for two trips to India (one for the fertilization and a second to collect the baby). Surrogate mothers in India, under commercial surrogacy programs are usually cared for with amongst the best highly advanced medical, nutritional, and overall care available in the field anywhere in the world. Having English speaking doctors available in India is another reason for people choosing to go with this option. This makes people feel far more comfortable with the doctor understanding them and the concerns that they may be having.

In Anand, a city in the western state of Gujarat where the practice was pioneered in India, surrogate mothers are pregnant with the children of couples from the United States, Britain and elsewhere. Most of them live together in a hostel attached to the clinic there. The Akanksha clinic is at the forefront of India's booming trade in so-called reproductive tourism — foreigners coming to the country for infertility treatments such as in vitro fertilization. The clinic's main draw, however, is its success using local women to have foreigners' babies. The business has taken off beyond anything it imagined. At any given time, it has about 150 foreign couples on its waiting list, and every week three new women apply to be surrogated, including clients from Taiwan, Japan, the U.S., Europe, and Australia.

The government is actively promoting India as a medical tourism destination. India now has about 350 facilities that offer surrogacy as a part of a broader array of infertility-treatment services. Last year about 1,000 pregnancy attempts using surrogates were made at these clinics. This year, it is estimated the figure will jump to 1,500. Since 2005, the practice of surrogacy has been operating under guidelines established by the Indian Council of Medical Research, a government body. But a new law is in the works that aims to regulate the surrogacy industry by standardizing such things as contract terms and surrogate compensation. To avoid potential legal disputes, it will also govern what parental information is given on birth certificates. What's more, the new law, which could be introduced in Parliament as early as December, would require clinics to register surrogacy cases and report their outcomes. At the end of the day, we're going to have statistics, which is very important, partly because of the implications for India's burgeoning medical-tourism industry.

Surrogate pregnancy is a rising trend that will most likely only gain in popularity. While there are many positive things to be said about outsourcing pregnancy, there are also other issues to be considered. The most difficult issues to face when considering outsourcing surrogate pregnancy are and will continue to be the ethical ones. While surrogacy can be viewed as a paid job, it may still be unethical to think of the mental and physical strain of childbirth as a simple rental of a human body. Some would argue that outsourcing pregnancy is exploitation at it its worst. On the other hand, surrogacy is the only option for some childless couples. With the exorbitant costs of in vitro fertilization and other treatment methods in the U.S., India seems like a dream come true for some couples. Both sides do benefit, and as long as standards are in place, the best option for the childless couples in the U.S. continues to remain outsourcing surrogate pregnancy.

Moonstruck to Moon Struck!

Ever since the earliest memories of our childhood, we have always been moonstruck. Nobody knows when moon became our 'Chanda Mama', but this is one loving uncle we all have in common. It all started with Moms singing this song to cox their kids to eat. :

chandaa maama door ke, puye pakaayen boor ke
aap khaayen thaali mein, munne ko den pyaali mein
pyaali gayi toot munnaa gayaa rooth
laayenge nayi pyaaliyaan bajaa bajaa ke taaliyaan
munne ko manaayenge ham doodh malaayi khaayenge....

Or when mothers sang one or the other Chanda Mama lullaby to put their children to sleep:

Nanhi kali sone chali hawa dhire aanaa
Neend bhare pankh liye jhula jhulana
Chand kiran si gudia naazon ki hai pali
Aaj agar chandania ana meri gali
Gun gun gun geet koi haule haule ganaa

As we grew up, cutting through the ages, innumerable number of those 'Moon' melodies from Bollywood movies gained immortality in our hearts, including some of these most favorites:

Chaudhvi ka chaand ho, ya aaftab ho
jo bhi ho khuda ki kasam, lajavaab ho

Dum bhar jo udhar muh phere, O Chanda
Mein unse pyar kar lungi, batein hazaar kar lungi

Ruk ja raat theher ja re chanda, beete na Milan ki bela
aaj chandni ki nagri mein, armaano ka mela

Khoya khoya chaand, khula aasmaan
aankhon mein sari raat jayegi, tumko bhi kaise neend aayegi

Chaand jaise mukhde pe bindiya sitara,
nahin bhulega meri jaan, ye najara , vo banjara

Ye raat ye chaandni fir kahan,
sun ja dil ki dastaan

Yeh Chaand Sa Raushan Chehra
Taareef Karoon Kya Us Ki

Mysterious, mystical, magical, the moon has been a symbol of faith, love and remembrance over centuries. The Moon is one of the heavenly bodies that has always cast its magic spell on our lives, making us the most Moonstruck nation. The Moon gives knowledge of time with its waxing and waning, closely connected with spiritual knowledge. Most Indian festivals are based on the lunar almanac, a sacred device to encourage people to become attuned to the natural tides in the universe at their great highs, and to share the joy and spiritual blessings with others in the community. India is a land of festivals, and no month passes by without a festival being celebrated. All these national festivals and many more celebrated locally in different parts of the country are based on sighting of the Moon in its particular waxing or waning position: Makar Sakranthi, Pongal, Vasant Panchami, Maha Shivratri, Holi, Ram Naumi, Baisakhi, Budh Poornima, Mahavir Jayanti, Raksha Bandhan, Janma Ashthmi, Ganesh Chaturthi, Onam, Durga Puja, Vijaya Dashmi, Karwa Chauth, Deepavali, Gurpoorav and the biggest Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Fitr.

Then came the time when the two super powers became moonstruck. The Cold War-inspired space race between the Soviet Union and the U.S. led to an acceleration of interest in the Moon. Unmanned probes, both flyby and impact/lander missions, were sent almost as soon as launcher capabilities would allow. The Soviet Union's Luna program was the first to reach the Moon with unmanned spacecraft. The first man-made object to escape Earth's gravity and pass near the Moon was Luna 1, the first man-made object to impact the lunar surface was Luna 2, and the first photographs of the normally occluded far side of the Moon were made by Luna 3, all in 1959. The first spacecraft to perform a successful lunar soft landing was Luna 9 and the first unmanned vehicle to orbit the Moon was Luna 10, both in 1966. Moon samples have been brought back to Earth by three Luna missions (Luna 16, 20, and 24) and the Apollo missions 11 to 17 (except Apollo 13, which aborted its planned lunar landing). The landing of the first humans on the Moon in 1969 is seen by many as the culmination of the space race.
Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon as the commander of the American mission Apollo 11 by first setting foot on the Moon at 02:56 UTC on July 21, 1969.

After some years of Neil Armstrong's unbelievable walk on the Moon followed the most amazing Moonwalk by Michael Jackson. On March 25, 1983, Michael Jackson took one small, backward step onto a television stage — and one giant leap into dance-floor history. The thin, angular pop star was only 24 years old when he took an obscure break-dancing move and transformed it into one of the most recognizable routines of all time. Jackson debuted the Moonwalk during his performance of "Billie Jean" on the ABC television special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. It not only became his signature move but also one of the best-known dance techniques in the world, injected into world's pop-cultural consciousness. The youth throughout the world became Moonstruck as never before.

And now the bombshell that ended much of the sentiments and sensitivity around the Moon in one stroke. Astronomers and space enthusiasts around the world watched as Nasa sent a rocket into the lunar surface. The rocket hit the Moon at the speed of about 5,600mph. The probe searched for ice and water on the Moon. The event came just weeks after exciting research revealed widespread water on the surface of the Moon. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper on board India's Chandryaan-1 picked up the electromagnetic radiation signature of water on and a few inches below the surface. No one ever imagined that the Moonstruck world would one day wake up with this shocking worldwide news headline, “Moon Struck!” What a tragic end of the journey of the Moonstruck to Moon Struck!

Afghanistan - Practice What You Preach!

As America grows weary of the war in Afghanistan, Obama administration must be looking at its goals and giving a renewed thought to why they are there. The national mood on the Afghanistan war has soured fast, and it’s not hard to see why. American combat deaths are exceeding by the day, the recent Afghan election was tainted by accusations of intimidation and fraud, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen says the security environment there is “deteriorating.” Antiwar groups are starting to talk about “another Vietnam.” The questions and concerns being raised are legitimate. The initial attack removed the Taliban from power, but Taliban forces have since regained some strength. The war has been less successful in achieving the goal of restricting al-Qaeda's movement than anticipated. Since 2006, Afghanistan has seen threats to its stability from increased Taliban-led insurgent activity, record-high levels of illegal drug production, and a fragile government with limited control outside of Kabul. Clearly, the mission is far from succeeding so far.

The idea of permanent U.S. military bases vexes many people in Afghanistan, which has a long history of resisting foreign invaders. A few examples of such resistance in recent history should be enough for President Barack Obama to learn his lessons for any actions in future:

During the 1800s, British armies from India outright invaded Afghanistan in attempts to install puppet governments amenable to British economic interests. The British seized most of the major cities in Afghanistan with little resistance, but their heavy handed rule soon resulted in a popular uprising by the people which resulted in the massacre of the entire British army of 15,000, save one.

The Soviet Union invaded in 1979. They were able to occupy and hold all of the major cities, just as the British imperialists had been able to the century before, but they were unable to subjugate the countryside. Soviet causalities began to mount dramatically, and in 1989 the Soviets withdrew, leaving the puppet government to fend for itself. It wasn’t until 1992 that Mujahadeen fighters were able to topple the remnants of the government – ending the Soviet attempt to bring revolution to the people of Afghanistan at the point of a gun.

In May 2005, riots and protests that had started over a false report in Newsweek of U.S. interrogators desecrating the Koran and turned into the biggest anti-U.S. protests in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion included demands that the Kabul government reject U.S. intentions to create a permanent military presence in Afghanistan. The deaths of thousands of Afghan civilians caused directly and indirectly by the U.S. and NATO bombing campaigns is also a major underlying focus of the protests.

The U.S. will never have victory in Afghanistan unless it occupies it forever. People will never accept the American democratic/Christian way of life. They would probably never prefer foreign dominance over Taliban presence, and may even think that the Americans are fighting the Afghan people to keep them from owning their own country. For eight years, we've heard leaders in USA talk about setting conditions for a democratic central government in a country — really a bunch of tribes and clans — that's never had such a thing in 2,000 years and seemingly doesn't want one now.

The security of America cannot be equated with the war in Afghanistan. The same argument was made in Vietnam, and it clearly was not true. America does need security, but the Al Qeida groups do not need a whole country like Afghanistan to launch attacks across the globe. The stated goal is to deny any future sanctuary to al Qaida in Afghanistan - but al Qaida isn't based in Afghanistan any more and hasn't been for years. There are several other wild places where al-Qaeda might also set up shop, such as Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, the Philippines or Uzbekistan, besides, of course, Pakistan from where they are presently operating. Ironically, the U.S. Senate this week approved legislation to triple aid to Pakistan to about $1.5 billion a year for the next five years as part of a plan to fight terrorism, despite the fact that Pakistan's record of diverting international financial assistance to military purposes is well known. Just a few days back former President of Pakistan Parvez Musharraf had admitted to misuse of the aids.

The U.S. clearly cannot afford to wage protracted warfare with multiple brigades of American ground forces simply to deny al-Qaeda access to every possible safe haven. The immediate thing would be for the United States government to end its bombing, withdraw its troops, and respect the Afghan peoples' right to self-determination. As for its security, there is no better way for U.S. than to secure its borders, safeguard its airports and ever remain vigilant inside the country against any attempts to create violence by home grown terrorists of any origin. Isn't this the exact advice U.S. gave to India when it was confronted by terrorists coming from Pakistan soil and even sponsored by it. What is good for India vs Pakistan should be good for the U.S. vs Afghanistan. What is your say on it President Obama? Shouldn't you try to practice what you preach.

A Matter Of Faith

A very famous Guru-Ma, having a huge following in India and abroad, had come to Delhi for the first time at the request of her devotees. After reading a beautiful write up on her in the newspaper, my wife wanted to see her personally. We both went to attend her discourse, being held at the Modern School auditorium in New Delhi. Although we went early to have better seats near the dais, we were very much disappointed to find that the auditorium was already full and no further admissions were allowed. Even the lawn outside the auditorium, where they had installed a TV, was also almost filled up with devotees, and we got seats toward the end of the lawn from where we could not even get a good view of the TV screen.
“I had wished to see Guru-Ma but not like this. On TV we could have seen her while sitting at home, watching news coverage of her discourse.”
Soon after, we saw a female volunteer of foreign origin coming towards our direction from the distant corner of the compound.
“If she comes nearer, I'm going to request her for seats inside the auditorium,” she said still having some hope to have Guru-Ma's 'darshan' from within the auditorium.
The volunteer, crossing through the entire lawn came straight to her and said, “There is a seat for you inside the auditorium, please come with me.”
“Seats inside for us?” My wife asked disbelieving her ears.
“Only for you,” she answered and led her through the lawn into the auditorium. I could hardly trust my eyes watching the discourse on the TV, set up in the lawn, when I spotted my wife sitting right in front of Guru-Ma in the very first row, generally reserved for VIPs and other prominent persons.

Since that astonishing incident, unbelievable yet absolutely true, we both have developed unusual belief, respect and reverence for religious and spiritual swamis, yogis, gurus and god-men, although we are not active followers of any particular one. We are no longer surprised at the phenomenal popularity of some of these exotic spiritual mentors in India and abroad, especially in the United States where they have enthralled Americans like no one could ever imagine. Since the sixties a virtual wave of Indian gurus has washed upon the shores of North America. And seemingly gullible Americans have proven over and over again that they are only too willing to welcome these “god-men” and a few “god-women” too. The list of such spiritual gurus keeps growing:

There was Swami Satchidananda (now deceased), Guru Sri Chinmoy (still carrying on in Queens New York), Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (perhaps the richest guru on earth), Guru Maharaji (a boy wonder), Swami Prabhupada (deceased founder of “Krishna Consciousness”), Sai Baba, Swami Muktananda (deceased founder of Siddha), Yogi Bhajan of 3HO, Swami Rama and let’s not forget Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh who was deported before he died. A new female “guru” is breaking into the American hearts named “Chalanda Sai Ma.” She is apparently a former pupil of Sai Baba and others, but is now touring solo.

Of course the United States appears to have plenty of homegrown Gurus, which includes an assortment of psychics, faith healers, mediums and even snake handlers. Still, despite easily accessible homegrown holy men, there seems to be something about flowing saffron robes, mantras and exotic India that excites the imagination of many within the US spiritual environment. Many “god-men” seem to know how to tap into the U.S. self improvement market, and make the best of it.

The historic success of Indian gurus in the US seems to have inspired a growing list of American wannabes that have taken on Indian names and titles. Frank Jones from Brooklyn is now “god-man Adi Da,” Fred Lenz was called “Zen Master Rama,” a former New York housewife Joyce Green calls herself “Ma Jaya Sati Bhagavati,” Mike Shoemaker became “Swami Chetananada” and Donald Waters became “Swami Kriyananda,” just to name a few.

In India many families are great believers in some god-man or the other. Every second day there’s a grand procession and a yatra happening somewhere with lakhs of devotees thronging for darshan of a god-man or something associated with him. TV is the god-man's biggest ally. The religious channels have been a god sent for the god-men, getting them entry into each and every household. Even mainstream channels have more than a fair share of god-man content. You no longer can ignore them as you invariably run into them every time you flick TV channels. Most of the god-men are quite captivating, with their flowing beards, special suits and forceful voices. The key selling point of the god-men is their talk about things that make sense to many. Stories that had their foundation in magic and ‘chamatkars’ always appeal to people. The stories are remarkably simple and straightforward that really could improve people's lives. Some of these god-men also teach exercises and relaxation techniques that are very effective. The god-men seem to have mastered the art of making a miracle mixture of religion and reality that promises to take care of real life worries like stress, loss and failure. They would invariably end with the god-man blessing the devotee and saving the day. It is, therefore, no surprise that the number of followers of these god-men just keeps rising. They have full faith that only a certain guru or god-man can tell them the right path or fix their lives. They must have experienced some good from that faith or waiting for that good to happen. You may disagree with them, but for them it is a matter of faith.