TRAVEL.EXPERIENCE.LIVE.LOVE.

So The Faroe islands, seem to be a dream catch for any avid traveller.

Its mystical beauty manages to resonate through its peoples accounts of the island.

All reviews from backpackers and other families are positive.

The only thing people criticize are the whale and porpoise hunts.

It is very difficult to hate a country like the Faroe Islands.

They say when u you visit the place in order to feel its soul u need to meet the locals, the people of the place. Trust me the Faroe islands are one place where befriending a local would do you well.

If you’re the young musically curious types, then the locals would be able to give the best advice on where to visit, what to see and what killer parties to be at.

If you’ve come with your family then they could show the heritage and the basic culture and beauty of the country.

Another beautiful thing about these islands is that it has the ability to cater to anyone.

Anybody visiting The Faroe Islands would find something to connect with somewhere.

In my opinion we should take back a little something from their lifestyle.

They are so mellow, so happy, so kind and honest and they are all eager to show you the country through their eyes.

So walk into The Faroe Islands with no preconceived notions and I guarantee you will have an incredible life altering experience.

NOTE FOR BACKPACKERS...

So if youre a student and dying to travel, then u should definitely make the faroe islands ur first stop!

They cater to tourism and the youth beautifully,with youth hostels placed everywhere.

They are spread across the islands. The size of the faroe islands makes the placing of the hostels apt as everything is within walking reach.

Accomodation is usually two to six rooms in limited size which are supposedly pretty decent.

They are youth hostels after all...one cant expect 5 star treatment and thats the beauty of it.

There are a few dormitory accommodations,with the exception of Bládýpi which has two dorms and two apartments.The problem with these youth hostels however is that they don’t have a regular reception with regular opening and closing hours so contacting them online before arriving there is incredibly important.The prices vary,youth hostels are known for they cheap prices.They offer discounts etc.

Two of the most popular hostels are Bládýpi and Skansin,they can be reached by their online websites.

So step into backpackers paradise and envelop yourself in the beauty of basics and the magic of music.

WHEN IN ROME....

They say “when in Rome do as the Romans do” .This is a native Faroese pointers on what to say and what not to in the faroe islands. This is because they are sick of being looked down upon for their way of living and believe that if you have nothing nice to sya then don’t say it all principle and it works for them...which is why they are so happy and so connected!

A. Never ever call the faroe islands denmark.

-this is because 1. The faroese do not identify with the danes.

2.the faroese look at denmark as a separate nation

3.danes are looked at as foreign nationals.

B. danish and faroes people do not unerstand each other. The danes see the faroese as culturally backward and feel bad for their way of living.

C. the faroese are very proud of their national heritage. They regard the grindadrap as a very important part of their culture,it is best to avoid strongly cristicizing them,

D. the faroese are known to be helpful and hospitable and they expect you to be the same,

E. If you go and visit the old part of tórshavn around tinganes - don´t bother the people who live there (like peering in through people's windows or ask if you can use the toilet) - the old wooden houses are not a tourist display, and their inhabitants are getting very tired of visitors who fail to understand this and act like they are aliens from another planet.They

understand this lifestyle seems different to you,but gawking is not neccessary to experience it.

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In danger: Belize Barrier Reef

The Belize barrier reef is the second largest reef in the world, after the Great Barrier Reef. It is spread over a total of about 960 square kilometres, and reputedly has one of the most diverse ecosystems in the planet. It is home to more than a hundred species of coral, 500 species of fish and hundreds of invertebrate species. Such is the richness and diversity of it, that the reef has been classified as a United Nations World Heritage Site.

The massive ecosystem consists not only of the reef alone, but also of many small mangrove islands and lagoons, along almost the country’s entire coastline. The reef itself is so large that it had to be divided into seven different marine reserves, so as to be effectively managed by the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System. Needless to say, it is considered the backbone of the country’s tourism industry.

In 2009, it was suddenly discovered that the mangroves had fallen prey to massive deforestation. That the coral reef itself was suffering from global warming and rising sea temperatures had been evident for a long time. Reefs are generally sensitive to changes in climate and temperature- they bleach very easily and fail to support too many life forms thereafter. The Belize Barrier Reef was no exception, but the news about the mangroves sent alarm bells ringing, with environmentalists etc scrambling to chart out the consequences.

The reasons for the damage are many. Global warming and rising temperatures have done the most damage, but there are other factors as well. Direct human intervention has wreaked further havoc on the already fragile ecosystem. Tourism has resulted in frequent and invasive human presence- not many people know how to behave in a delicate ecosystem. Shipping and its impacts have damaged the reef to a large extent, inevitably, since the reef stretches along more or less the entire coastline of the country. Overfishing has also damaged the ecological balance in the reef (which is surprising, since the reef is a heritage site and hence should be adequately protected). The reef depends on the fish for sustenance almost as much as they depend on it.

The biggest avoidable cause of the damage to this large and crucial ecosystem is shoddy coastal development. This reef is a global treasure in many ways, and it is the duty of the Belize government to preserve it, protect it, and spread awareness about it. That duty has obviously not been taken very seriously.

AK 47

As a kid I always wanted to be a spy or an IB agent someday. The idea of seeing Heroes escaping
the villain’s trap and running away with the required ‘blueprint’ seemed very exciting. The fact that I could be able to do those fancy stunts like jumping over buildings and hilltops, handle an AK 47 or an M1A1 Thompson used to move me to a different world altogether. But to my disappointment I grew up to become a nerd and my dreams of being a secret agent saving the nation from it’s enemies continues to be a dream. Well if not for real may be I could just do
something through this piece.
The AK 47 or the Kalashnikov was first developed in USSR by Lieutenant General Mikhail Kalashnikov, a small arms designer. The device was made during the last year of World War II in 1945. The first generation AK was first used in 1946, ever since many versions of the AK have
been made. AK 47 is the most basic form of the device. It is a selective fire gas operated 7.62 by 39mm assault rifle. AK 47 still continues to remain the most widely used assault rifle even after five decades.
It is very durable, less expensive and easy to use. AK is very easy to manufacture, clean and maintain. The AK 47 was initially made to suit the Soviet soldiers fighting in Arctic region. The rifle was intended to be part of mass infantry fire, not long range engagements. The average shelf
life of an AK 47 is 20-40 years depending on its usage.
The basic design of the AK 47 has been used by many countries to create their version of the device. The Israeli Galil, the Indian INSAS and the Yugoslav M76 and M77/82 rifles and the Finnish RK 62/26 rifle are some of the successful versions.
Apparently the OJSC IzMash has claimed that majority of the manufacturers produce AK 47 without a license from the IZH, weapons manufacturers based in Izhevsk. They had acquired
a patent in 1999 making manufacturing of AK rifles by anyone other than them illegal. But older designs like the AK 47 are open for manufacturing to everyone.
The AK 47 is known to be the most smuggled small arms sold to governments, criminals, extremists, military officials and civilians. A lot of illegal trade of the AK 47 takes place all over the world. In many African countries AK rifles are sold at cheap prices. In 1986 a small town in Kenya an AK 47 cost fifteen cows. The weapon has been used for a lot of civil wars. The weapon is widely used by groups in Africa like Hamer.
“The World Bank estimates that out of 500 million total firearms available worldwide 100 million are of the Kalashnikov family and 75 million are AK 47s.”
The Kalashnikov Museum was opened on November 4, 2004, in a city located in the Ural Mountains of Russia. The Museum documents the invention of the AK rifle and also gives a
biography of General Kalashnikov. The museum attracts nearly 10,0000 visitors every month. The museum is devoted completely to the making and use of the AK rifle.

When teachers are killed

On March 31, 2011, the Perifirio Lobo led Honduran government passed a law opening its education system to privatization. The legislation had been under deliberation for a long time, and protests had been long and violent. This move was the latest in a series of legislations opening up the most basic of country’s services to private players.

The teacher’s struggle has been the strongest and the most prominent among many different struggles that together make the Resistance movement in Honduras. In most of the protests, in most of the brutal police backlashes, teachers have been in the forefront. There have probably been more teachers killed in the past two years, than there have been journalists and policemen.

The plan and structure of private education was actually worked on during the Presidency of Ricardo Maduro (2002- 2006). Maduro had the reputation of a neoliberal, and it was under him that global private corporations received the maximum Honduran encouragement. It is a sign of the awareness and solidarity within the Honduran people that despite the glamour attached to global entrance in any market, protests movements were coordinated and consolidated and the Resistance took shape at such a massive scale. Moreover, socialist Manuel Zelaya was elected in 2006.

Regardless of such immensely strong public opposition, however, the legislation did get passed. Honduras will now have private, profit- motivated schools, despite many teachers having died to prevent it.

When teachers are killed

On March 31, 2011, the Perifirio Lobo led Honduran government passed a law opening its education system to privatization. The legislation had been under deliberation for a long time, and protests had been long and violent. This move was the latest in a series of legislations opening up the most basic of country’s services to private players.

The teacher’s struggle has been the strongest and the most prominent among many different struggles that together make the Resistance movement in Honduras. In most of the protests, in most of the brutal police backlashes, teachers have been in the forefront. There have probably been more teachers killed in the past two years, than there have been journalists and policemen.

The plan and structure of private education was actually worked on during the Presidency of Ricardo Maduro (2002- 2006). Maduro had the reputation of a neoliberal, and it was under him that global private corporations received the maximum Honduran encouragement. It is a sign of the awareness and solidarity within the Honduran people that despite the glamour attached to global entrance in any market, protests movements were coordinated and consolidated and the Resistance took shape at such a massive scale. Moreover, socialist Manuel Zelaya was elected in 2006.

Regardless of such immensely strong public opposition, however, the legislation did get passed. Honduras will now have private, profit- motivated schools, despite many teachers having died to prevent it.

To pay for water

Imagine you are a farmer, or a daily wage laborer. You have a family of six to support. You have two children to be educated, and two old parents getting weaker and more dependent on you every year. You earn $1 after a good day’s work. What do you do with it?

Elsewhere, you would probably worry about your parents falling health, and your child’s neglected future. Then you would shove those worries aside for another day, for the sake of sheer peace of mind, and buy some food for home. You would go home, give it to your spouse, and wash up and be glad of the bite to eat and the mattress to sleep on.

In Honduras, even this basic choice is not simple. Because in Honduras, $1 can get you either a bag of beans, or a barrel of water. In most cases, you would chose the water and forego the food, because water is the single most basic necessity of life, which people like you and I take too much for granted. You can probably make it through the day without a bite to it, but how long can you survive without a drop of water down your throat, that you just can’t afford to buy?

The water distribution system in Honduras was privatized in early 2000, due to pressure from the World Bank on this already indebted country. The gates were opened and scores of private water corporations- mainly from Europe- poured in with proposals. San Pedro Sula, the country’s economic hub, was the first to hand over the distribution part of its waterworks system, DIMA, to a private company.

Water privatization is one of the prime focuses of the Honduran Resistance movement, which has been going on for nearly a decade. But even something as necessary as this has been eclipsed by the coup of 2009, and the resulting violence and protests demanding the return of the ousted president. Manuel Zelaya had many faults, but he was primarily a socialist. He greatly resented the country’s economic helplessness before the global giants, and would talk against the privatization of water and education.

There is a very fundamental wrong in handing over such a basic necessity to the hands of profit- motivated organizations. In the distribution of water, the need for it needs to be the uppermost criterion, and not the people’s ability to pay. For people to survive in a humane manner, water needs to flow from the tap, regardless of where I live or how much I earn.

Ah fraylechin Purim

“Purim is my favouritest festival”, says Shirley, an Israeli friend. It is one of the liveliest festivals of Israel. Purim is celebrated on the 14th or 15th of Adar according to the Hebrew calendar (which comes in February or March).

(Shirley's daughter Shaili, dressed as Minnie Mouse on Purim this year)

The story behind the festival revolves around the Biblical Book of Esther, The Megillah. Esther is a Jewish orphan girl who was raised by her cousin Mordecai. King Ahasuerus of Persia falls for her beauty and crowns her the queen but was unaware that she was Jewish.

Haman, the king's advisor, hated Mordecai, and so, formulates a plot against him. When Haman learned that Mordecai was a Jew, he resolves to kill not only Mordecai, but also Esther and all the Jewish people under the Persian rule. Being the king's advisor, Haman gets the king to, approve of his plan. Somehow Esther learns of this. She fasts for three days with all the Jews in the land. She prepares to approach the king to ask him to spare her and her people. He welcomes Esther, honours Mordecai and

saves the Jews (because the king recalls the time Mordecai saved him from death through the court records). Haman and his ten sons are then hanged on the gallows that were intended for Mordecai.

Purim is a festival with an almost carnival atmosphere. Like all other Jewish festivals, Purim starts in the evening and continues till nightfall the next day (in Judaism, the night always precedes the day. So every holiday begins the night before, and ends at nightfall the next day).

One of the customs associated with the festival is the Synagogue service. The Book of Esther is read during these services. Every time the name of Haman is mentioned, everybody ‘boos’ it down. Traditionally, people used to come all dressed up, and a lot of them with masks and characters from the Purim story (but now, a lot of people just casually attend the synagogue service and meet up with friends at get-togethers dressed up as anything under the sun, cartoon characters, film stars et al.).

Giving charity to the poor (Matanot la'evyonim) and sending gifts to friends and relatives (Mishloach manot) are two other very important customs of this festival.

Purim is like a national holiday in Israel. Food and drinks are given foremost importance in the festival. Plays, pageants and masquerade are performed on the theme of Purim or even otherwise. Wearing masks and various costumes are popular and some communities even allow cross-dressing, seeing it in spirit with the jovial theme of the festival.

People start preparing months before the festival for this one day. Everybody looks forward to the celebrations of this day.

Iran: Forgotten lessons of history

The beating of war drums has begun but for the sake of the many lives that will be affected, I hope the leaders of Israel, USA and the other countries learn from history. Invading a country’s sovereign land will push the people towards a more aggressive nationalism which will only benefit the fundamentalists.

Israel’s need to “protect” itself seems laughable because we all seem to be focusing on Iran and its supposed Nuclear weapons, but nobody questions Israel and its nuclear arsenal, they have not signed the NPT, and they maintain “nuclear ambiguity” about their WMD, neither refusing nor accepting. Not being part of the NPT makes them evade International Atomic Energy Association’s (IAEA) inspections, and while in Iran they conduct them every now and then, they have no legal authority to do so in Israel. A little hypocritical, don’t you think? The argument that they need to protect themselves from the surrounding hostile nations, well, how are they in that situation in the first place? Who asked them to intervene in Lebanon which gave rise to the Hezbollah, or their human rights violations which gave rise to Hamas in Gaza or their intervention in Syria and Iraq’s supposed nuclear program and occupation of the Palestinian lands. As George Monbiot in one of his columns clearly puts it, “Nuclear weapons in Israel's hands are surely just as dangerous as nuclear weapons in Iran's… Iran is not starting a nuclear arms race, but joining one.”

Like most of the people, even I’m not that thrilled about these countries having nuclear weapons, since most of them are in the grips of terrorism, lawlessness and dictatorial governments. But that does not give Israel the right to be a bully and get its way.

Recently, an Israeli diplomat was attacked in Delhi, I remember the hue and cry that the Israeli government made blaming Iran for the attack and that was before any evidence was even established. Israel was already charging Iran as the culprit – innocent until proven guilty? It may have been Iran just as well that it may not have been, but this eagerness that the Israeli government is portraying does more harm than good. Ahmadinejad at home can tell his people, ‘look, they are after us,’ and in this way the fraudulently elected President gains legitimacy, in a previous post on the persecution of Baha’is I gave a few news headlines, what those told us was that Baha’is and Israel have become a convenient bogeyman where there is anything wrong in the country, they are the ones blamed and acts like this by the Israeli just strengthens that position. Oh and I also wonder what happened when those Iranian scientists were assassinated, didn’t hear of it? Don’t blame yourself; the story was given a quick burial.

Whenever there needs to be change in a country, rest assured the people themselves are going to do it, not the Americans not the Israelis, they wanted to ‘help’ Iraq, yeah, we all saw how that turned out. Nobody is going to change the way Iran is today other than Iranians themselves, we can help sure, but bombs and war will only push the country into extremism. History has tons of lessons; the world needs to learn from them.

As Israel repeatedly claims that it has the right to arm itself, since it’s surrounded by hostile nations, then doesn’t Iran have the same right! Let’s look at the facts’, they have Turkey, America’s ally to the north-west, Bahrain to the south which is where the US Fifth Fleet is based, Qatar, hosts the US Central Command headquarters, Turkmenistan to the north-east, which is refuelling centre for American planes since 2002 and Saudi Arabia whose king has often enough called for America to “attack Iran.” The Iranian state is threatened so don’t they have the right to protect themselves, it’s a state whose scientists have been assassinated in their own land, ‘stuxnet’ a computer worm that was used against them has set back their nuclear facilities by “two years”, the economic blockade that has crippled their economy and reduced their market to a barter system. One of the reasons there was no war between Soviet Russia and USA during the cold war was because both the countries had nuclear weapons and for their own good were prudent enough to follow a policy of ‘détente’ where they both knew that it was in their interests to avoid a nuclear war, so they diplomatically worked towards a solution. As Mehdi Hassan in his column in the Guardian puts it, “the fundamental geopolitical lesson that you and your countrymen learned over the last decade: the US and its allies opted for war with non-nuclear Iraq, but diplomacy with nuclear-armed North Korea.”

The biggest question is if the Iranians actually have nuclear weapons or not, a recent report on Reuters makes this question abundantly clear, “The United States, European allies and even Israel generally agree on three things about Iran's nuclear program: Tehran does not have a bomb, has not decided to build one, and is probably years away from having a deliverable nuclear warhead.”  Israel, why all the huffing and puffing!

The US intervention of Iran has already put the country in the hands of the mullahs. It irks me to see the ‘big brother’ attitude that the American government seems to give itself. I don’t like the idea of Iran having nuclear weapons as much as I don’t like the idea of Israel or USA having them, but if they want to engage with Iran for a solution, they need to first question their own hypocrisy in this matter.

This cartoon sums it up quite nicely:

 

The Media in Poland

Under communist rule, media in Poland was under heavy censorship. For nearly four decades, the government controlled every source of news for the public, hence determining exactly what the public should know, and what it shouldn’t. This almost complete censorship lasted till the people’s movement led by Solidarity put forward ‘the lessening of government censorship’ as one of its 21 demands in the Gdansk Agreement of August 1980. This agreement, coupled with Gorbachev’s new policy of glasnost, resulted in the reform of much of the censorship process. Although complete freedom of press was still far from being achieved, the passing of a few legislations ensured that the process of getting a completely free press was underway in Poland in the 1980s. However, this complete freedom was achieved only after the fall of communism in 1989. This initiated the subsequent transformation of the Polish media sphere.

On April 11, 1990, Polish parliament passed an anti-censorship act that modified the Press Act of 1984 implemented by the previous communist administration. With the sweeping economic reforms that were being implemented, the structure of the Polish media also underwent a transformation. In the print media, journalists who had previously worked for state owned newspapers now had the opportunity to take over the ownership of these papers. Also, the government opened the print media up to foreign investment, which soon led to the complete privatization of the print media sector with a majority of the newspapers being owned by foreign investors. The electronic media too, was subject to a number of reforms. The state-owned broadcasting broadcaster “Polish Radio and Television” was broken into separate entities – ‘Polish Radio’ and ‘Polish Television’ and transformed into public companies. Several policies encouraging commercial radio and television channels were also implemented, which led to a great increase in commercial interests in radio and TV as well as the surge in foreign investment in this media. However, the foreign investment in the broadcast sphere was not as high as that in the print sphere because the government had restricted foreign ownership of broadcast channels to 33 percent.

Since the implementation of these reforms, the Polish Press has by and large enjoyed absolute freedom in its reportage. However, there still exist certain laws framed in the Polish Constitution which are seen as barriers to absolute press freedom in the country today. One of the most crucial factors which impact press freedom in Poland is that journalists and editors are liable for criminal prosecution for a variety of acts which are not considered “criminal” in several other countries of the world. For instance, if an editor chooses not to publish a reader’s response, he/she runs the risk of having criminal proceedings initiated against him/her. Recently, the editor of one of the independent newspapers in a rural region of the country was sentenced to nine months of community service at 30 hours a month because he did not publish the reply of a local politician to articles the newspaper had run about him. Another such clause is, if a journalist does not take explicit permission to quote an interviewed person directly, he runs the same risk. Consider this law in the Indian context, and you would have all the reporters who make their day’s story quota by reporting the war of words between politicians fighting criminal cases in courts. Offending religious beliefs is another important clause that journalists are often tried under. In January 2010, the Polish Supreme Court imposed a 500,000 zloty (Rs. 75 lakh) fine on Polsat TV because a feminist activist invited on one of its shows had parodied a well-known presenter from the extremely conservative Catholic radio station Radio Maryja, and this was ruled to be offensive to Christian sensibilities. Apart from these legal restrictions placed on it, the Polish media is also threatened by a lack of objectivity in its reportage, and is characterized by a politically partisan nature. Almost all media, whether print or broadcast, have fairly evident political leanings.

In recent times, however, there have been changes in the media scenario in Poland in terms of the law. The government introduced certain legislative changes towards the end of December 2010 which have provided the media a certain degree of leeway in terms of the laws mentioned in this article. Upon overall analysis, the Polish media certainly seems to be a healthy, free institution. According to the Observatory for Media Freedom in Poland at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, Poland ranked 24^th in the reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index in 2011-12 (as compared to 32^nd in 2010-11), higher than European heavyweights UK (28^th), France (38^th), Spain (39^th), as well as the USA (47^th) which saw a fall of 27 places compared to last year, primarily because of the arrest of journalists following the Wall Street protests. India, on this index, came in only at number 131. While this may not be a completely satisfying Index in terms of its basis and its methodology, it does provide a certain frame of reference. Going by this frame of reference, Poland seems to be taking great strides in terms of the freedom enjoyed by its press; however, that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.

The Central American Drug Trail

The United States of America is the highest consumer of coke and marijuana in the world. Around 12.4 million U.S citizens- roughly 7% to 8% of the country’s population- consume drugs regularly. Columbia, the world’s leading producer of illicit drugs, sells most of its produce to this 7- 8% of the US population. Most of the drugs are delivered across the Mexican border, by drug cartels that weald immense economic and political clout in both Mexico and Colombia.

When a country falls into the hands of drug cartels, corruption and violence is inevitable. For years, Mexico has had the reputation of a country steeped in governmental corruption, murders and gang violence. In recent years, the Mexican government pressuri

sing the United States to take its drug consumption under control and take responsibility for what the drug trade has done to the Mexican system. As a result, Washington is now aiding the Mexican authorities and its police in what is commonly called the “Mexican drug war”, something many critics allege is a step further in the US attempt to hegemonies the western hemisphere through the Pentagon. The past six years or so has seen the Mexican government crack down on cartels and illegal traffickers with unprecedented brutality. The technique is working, but the cartels are now moving south of the Mexican border, into Guatemala.

Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have traditionally been the transit points for the motion of drugs from Colombia to Mexico, on its way to the United States of America. Most of this transition happens via sea, with drugs dropped off or ships refuelled at points

along the Pacific as well as the Carribean coasts in the dead of the night. Sometimes, when boats or ships are being trailed and fear capture, they simply dump the wrapped bundles into the sea, near the shore, where they later wash up for the locals to discover and fall prey to. Moreover, local Central Americans who help with the trafficking out of sheer need for work and money are often paid in kind as much as in cash. This ensures their addiction, and also ensures that they have a stake in keeping the trail running. Such is the power of the cartels that they have managed to buy over powerfuls both in the government and in the police. Drug abuse, violence and corruption are as integrated in these countries as they are in Mexico.

However, with the recent further shifting of cartels into the Guatamala- El Salvador- Honduras triangle, the situation has worsened. In Honduras, it was further accelerated by the coup of 2009, which many now say was influenced by powerful right- wing families with business interests in the drug trade. Regardless of his many faults, ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya had begun a strong crackdown on the corrupt police force, suspending scores of officers with links to the cartels. With the coup, the situation came full circle. Daylight murders and attacks on journalists, NGO workers and honest police officials have become a common occurrence now. Anyone with a strong voice against the police- drug relationship is silenced.

The situation today in Central America today seems desperate and hopeless. So much so that Otto Perez Molina, the President of Guatemala, is pondering the option of legalising the drug trade altogether. While this has created outrage and heavy debate across countries, some realise that he might have a point. Any trade that is legalised is subject to taxation, leading to rise in prices and decline in profits. Moreover, such a move is also likely to bring down the homicide rate, for the simple reason that traders won’t shoot you down for having information about you, if they don’t have to fear the law. Most people, however, see it only as a ploy to seek US attention and intervention, now that the President of El Salvador has also joined the call. There seems to be no other way out.

White Nights Festival

Ever wondered how it would be if evenafter the sunsets the sky is bright and the street lights are not required. This isan annual phenomenon in St. Petersburg, the northern most city in the world. In fact this is known as ‘White Nights’. The day is almost 19 hours long and the longest
white night falls on June 21/22. This occurs due to the northerly geographical location of St. Petersburg, at 59 degrees 57’north which is roughly on the same latitude as Oslo, Norway, the Southern tip of Greenland. St. Petersburg is supposed to be the world’s most northern city where the sun’s rays do not descend below the horizon enough for the sky to glow dark. So it never becomes dark in the night which makes it difficult to distinguish between and day and night.
The whole city celebrates these few days when darkness does not seem to take over the skies. People stay awake all through the night enjoying the events being held in the city. One finds a lot of romantic couples strolling by the river Neva. White Nights is not unique to St. Petersburg, other cities in Russia also experience this from May to Mid-July.
But St Petersburg being the artistic capital of Russia celebrates White Nights through a series of cultural events which takes place all over the city. Musical concerts, ballet performances, opera are held in every part of the city. Dance clubs and beach clubs remain open till 6 am in the morning during White Nights. The ‘Scarlet Sails’ which is tradition that marks the end of the school life takes place sometime in June. This custom is inspired from the book of the same title
written by Alexander Grins. Thus school students come together to celebrate the end of an academic year. Scarlet sails as the name suggests consists of tens of boats full of pirates in the waters of the river Neva, fireworks adorn the sky as these boats cross the river. This tradition began after World War II and still goes on.
The night view of River Neva is one of the best photo spots during this time. The drawbridges of the river Neva rise between 1:30am and 5am to let big ships pass. The south bank of the river
Neva offers the best view of the bridge.
‘Stars of the white nights’ are held annually at the Mariinsky Theatre this is the main highlight of the White Nights festival. This was originally started by the first mayor of St. Petersburg Anatoly Sobchak. Tickets to these festivals get sold out months before the date of performances.
The Palace Square is the central part of the city, it connects the Palace Bridge leading to Vasilievesky island. This place attracts a lot of international musicians who perform during the white nights festival. More than 50 thousand fans gather to witness these events. The recent stars who performed here were Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Scorpions and other stars. A lot of film festivals are held during this time. White Nights festival has added to cultural and literary spirit of the city, all the people of St. Petersburg look forward to this festival after tolerating extreme winters throughout the year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARgiagY0d6k

Free, until the 21st Century

The ancient Mayan civilisation, almost 3000 years ago, was open and tolerant towards homosexuality. Indeed, there is evidence to state that ‘two- spirit people’, or people of the third gender, taking up unconventional gender roles in society, were widely accepted, and played an important part in spiritual worship. Male sex slaves for unmarried young men of elite families were common. Homosexual couples lived comfortably in society, along with heterosexual ones. Gays (if not lesbians), bisexuals and transgenders were, in short, accepted. Ironically, when the rest of the world is finally waking up to the possibility of such acceptance three millennia later, the Mayan descendents are trying to pass laws abolishing gay marriage.

On September 24, 2009, the Congress of El Salvador tried to pass reforms that would ban same sex marriage and prohibit homosexual couples from adopting children. Thanks to the ruling party in power, it failed. Gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens in this country have been enjoying social and legal acceptance in a way that is unimaginable in most other parts of the world. Articles 32, 33 and 34 of the Constitution make it possible for homosexual couples to live and adopt in the country with legal legitimacy, and also recognise their financial rights as partners and parents. El Salvador is one of the few, rare countries in the world to have reached such levels of equality in terms of LGBT and human rights. LGBT citizens in El Salvador, today, even enjoy right to inheritance.

However, in recent years, catholic and evangelical churches have been lobbying and protesting for same- sex marriages to be prohibited by law. They feel that only marriage between a man and a woman should be legally recognised, and that only such (i.e. heterosexual) couples should have the right to adopt and raise children. In their opinion, they are acting to preserve the sanctity of the institution of marriage by working for such reforms. Importantly, unlike in India until recently, they are not calling LGBT relationships “abnormal” or rejecting them from society outright. Their only concern is the institution of marriage, which, they believe, is sacred and only legitimate between a man and a woman.

For the 2009 legislative vote on the issue, the conservative churches had their hopes pinned on the many right wing parties in the assembly. The reforms needed 56 votes in favour to be passed in the Congress by the required two- thirds majority. It didn’t. The leftist Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) is the single majority party with 35 seats out of 84, and hence could stave off the required two- third majority vote through its own strength in Congress. The party had come to power in May 2009, with a strong pro- LGBT stance in its campaigning.

Despite the fact that a pro-LGBT party was voted to power by the people in 2009, the community is facing increasing discrimination in recent years in the country. In the months running up to that crucial vote in Congress, prayer meetings and demonstrations had been aplenty in the streets of El Salvador, and violence against LGBTs suddenly escalated.The catholic and evangelic churches have still kept the pressure mounting, and till date, tensions among the people of the country are only increasing.

Connecting habitats across a continent

The narrow landmass of seven countries that connects North and South America is home to 7- 8% of the planet’s biodiversity. The forest areas that are home to this flora and fauna, together make up only 0.5% of the earth’s landmass, making Mesoamerica (Central America) an incredibly rich biodiversity hotspot. The third richest in the world, to be precise.

The forests and rivers are important to the people here. Tropical rainforests line the Caribbean side of the land throughout most of the stretch, as heedless of national borders as a mountain range would be. Nature and environment are revered assets to a majority of the people in this part of the world, especially to the numerous indigenous peoples descendent from the ancient Aztecs and Mayans. Moreover, these rainforests are one of the biggest carbon sinks in the planet, though they have been shrinking at an alarmingly rapid pace in recent years. Hence, it is in international interests to conserve and protect them. The forests are as much dependent on the diverse wildlife, as vice versa.

Each of the seven countries is battling its own set of development and environmental issues today. The rates of deforestation have skyrocketed in the past two decades, with governments opening their gates to international mining corporations and hydroelectric projects out of sheer pressure from loan sharks like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This has threatened not only their precious forest ecosystems, but also their own human rights, which is why resistance movements have sprung up across the countries, with people protesting everything from the privatisation of water (Honduras) and healthcare (Guatemala) to the mining of gold and nickel. With forest cover reducing drastically conservationists have been frantically searching for a viable method of preserving the biodiversity and making it flourish again. They finally found it in the 1990s.

When forest cover in any given area increases by 100%, the biodiversity within it increases by 300%. This wonderfully encouraging piece of fact inspired scientists and conservationists of the seven countries, Mexico and Columbia to connect their national parks and wildlife sanctuaries through “green corridors”. A green corridor is an expanse of endemic trees and wilderness, some hundreds of kilometres wide (depending on the location), that would connect a sanctuary in one country, say, Panama, to the closest one in, say, Costa Rica. This would make it possible for animals to wander from one park to the other in search of food and habitat. It would be dense and deep enough to prohibit humans and domestic animals from venturing too far inside, and ensure safety for the wild.

All in all, a total of 17,000 species of plants, 440 species of mammals, 690 species of reptiles, 550 species of amphibians, as well as numerous aquatic species have a stake in this corridor. It is explained in this article best, through the story of the monkey that Lobo couldn’t eat. The idea is to connect all the wild habitats from Southern Mexico to Northern Columbia, creating a corridor that would stretch the entire length of Central America and beyond, and reserving it solely for the animals, the birds and the vegetation. But, doing so requires great financial investment, as well as legislation. More importantly, it requires an immense effort at both the local and the governmental level from nine different countries working together. Needless to say, problems are aplenty, and more than two decades later, the corridor is still incomplete.

The biggest reason for this is that the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor is not the only plan in motion for the integration of the Americas. There are three more plans, all on developmental lines and funded either by the World Bank or the IMF, which is what has prompted many critics to shrug off the entire set of plans as an excuse to open up Central America and privatise its resources. The most controversial is Plan Puebla Panama, which looks at integrating four southern states of Mexico (including the state of Puebla), with the Central American countries right up to Panama, via transport, communication and disaster management and mitigation among other things. Many other “corridors”, roadways and highways have consequently been planned, and clash with plans for the biological corridor. Both have international funding, and have been sanctioned by governments concerned.

It all comes down to Earth vs. development.

WHEN IN ROME...

"When in Rome do as the Romans do"....This line applies to anywhere in the world.

Here are a few do's and donts by a faroese national.

A. Never ever call the Faroe islands Denmark.

-this is because 1. The faroese do not identify with the danes.

2.the faroese look at denmark as a separate nation

3.danes are looked at as foreign nationals.

b.danish and faroes people do not unerstand each other. The danes see the faroese as culturally backward and feel bad for their way of living.

C.the faroese are very proud of their national heritage. They regard the grindadrap as a very important part of their culture,it is best to avoid strongly cristicizing them,

D.the faroese are known to be helpful and hospitable and they expect you to be the same,

E. If you go and visit the old part of tórshavn around tinganes - don´t bother the people who live there (like peering in through people's windows or ask if you can use the toilet) - the old wooden houses are not a tourist display, and their inhabitants are getting increasingly tired of visitors who fail to understand this

Hamlet by Boris Pasternak

The murmurs ebb;onto the stage I enter.
I am trying, standing in the door,
To discover in the distant echoes
What the coming years may hold in store.

The nocturnal darkness with a thousand
Binoculars is focused onto me.
Take away this cup, O Abba Father,
Everything is possible to Thee.

I am fond of this Thy stubborn project,
And to play my part I am content.
But another drama is in progress,
And, this once, O let me be exempt.

But the plan of action is determined,
And the end irrevocably sealed.
I am alone; all round me drowns in falsehood:
Life is not a walk across a field.

This is a poem by Boris Pasternak, Nobel Prize winner Russian poet. The poem is written from the point of view of Yuri Zhivago, a ficitous character from his novel, Dr. Zhivago. The poet compares ‘Hamlet’ the protagonist of Shakespeare’s play to Yuri in the poem. There are also
references of ‘Agony in the Garden’ from the Bible. Pasternak had a very different context of interpreting this poem. I connect with ‘Hamlet’ in a completely different way. From my point of
view the first four lines of the poem give a clear picture of the situation I am in. “The murmurs ebb; onto the stage I enter…” As I’m about to graduate there have been lots of people who are
curious to know what next. I’ve asked for and have been bombarded with suggestions and ideas by many. Some said go for a career that pays you well some said go follow your heart, the rest will fall in place.
The second line, “I am trying, standing in the door…” Clouded by others thoughts I try to seek what I want, what I’m interested in,what’s my identity. As I see others already having decided their two year plans, three year plans etc I wonder where I would end up being in the next couple of years. Yes it does get slightly intimidating at times to hear about others and sense the difference between me and them. But then there is this voice that keeps on saying, “You’ll do it well, don’t worry you’ll do it pretty well, you are good enough, believe it, it’s just a matter of time for you and you’ll be there”
“The nocturnal darkness with a thousand
Binoculars is focused on me“

Pasternak refers to Yuri’( the protagonist of his novel Dr. Zhivago, which is about a Russian poet living in Russia during the Russian revolution). Here these lines refer to Yuri Zhivago being closely monitored by the communists. The communists kept an eye on anyone who could be
a threat to them, Yuri was one of them. This also draws similarity with Hamlet (protagonist of the Shakespearean play) where he is being closely watched by Polonius, Claudius and his friends.
The next two lines “Take away this cup…possible to thee” reminds me of the chapter in the Bible where Jesus prays to God the day before he was to be crucified. He knew death was coming and he was born to face the day of his crucifixion. But though he was sent by God, he was human, he was fearful of what was about to come. It was in this moment that he prays to God in the garden asking him to ‘take away his cup’. In fact some scriptures say that Jesus was so tensed that he sweats blood on that day. So the cup basically refers to the difficulty or problem that one is going through. Taking a look at my life, I don’t really have a difficulty or problem as such (touch wood) but this feeling of fear and not wanting to face what comes next is not new to me. The anxiety before an exam that I’m not well prepared for, the fear before a submission deadline that
I’m not done with, the tension before results come out, the heart coming to the throat feeling after reaching home late and knowing that I’m going to be yelled at for the same, happens all the time.
The next four lines of the poem, “I’m fond of this project….And this once, O, let me be exempt” seem to be an extension of the previous four lines. Hamlet and Yuri both of them knew what was going to happen in the future and had no choice but to face it. In case of Zuri it was the communists who were behind him.
The last four lines of the poem, “But the plan of action is determined…Life is not a walk across a field”. Hamlet and Zuri realise this and brace themselves to face whatever comes their way. These lines reinforce the fact that come what may Sometimes situations cannot be avoided , sometimes how much ever you try to avoid something, you are forced to deal with it, there is no running away.

Explore The Mystical Minds of the Faroese Musicians

So I will devote this post to recognising brilliant Faroese musicians who should be billboard hits by now.

The Faroese, my new favourite race of people, are also trying to spread the word about the wonderful talented musicians and that is why they have a wonderful website dedicated to this task.

The website provides an entire list of Faroese musicians, which I must say for a population of about 50,000, is a lot.

You can check it out here

http://musicfromthefaroeislands.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=73

The genres of music are varied, from brass bands, to blues to blends of Faroese folk music and much more.

So many artists signed to six labels and producers.

I wasn’t joking when I said music is very important to the Faroese.

There are of course a few super hit musicians that dominate the Faroese scene....

Budam would be one of them - a singer, songwriter, theatre composer and actor.

His music is as different as his name. The genre he is famous for playing apart from others is "theatrical indie pop".

His performances are compared to those of Jim Morrison, laden with theatrics and what not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2olNm6JnN4 - here watch :)

Eivør is another big Faroese artist.

She started as a young girl at fifteen, dropping out of school to devote her life to music. It has been eleven years since she’s been in the industry and she continues to be a legend to the Faroese.

The reason she stands out is because she’s an all rounder.

All these Faroese musicians are.

Eivor however is painter, a poet, a story teller.

"All this creative energy combines into a spellbinding and remarkable expression on stage, which has the ability to touch the innermost and unexplored emotions in its audiences."- Music from the Faroe Islands.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVimRZ3jScU

The beauty of Faroese musicians is that they manage to inculcate everything they have learnt or experienced in their lives to bring strange sounds and beautiful stories stage.

Since Danish and English are taught predominantly in the Faroese schools, they are well versed in English and have a variety of English and Faroese songs.

Do check out

http://musicfromthefaroeislands.com/

for details on the festivals and the music J

the flip side.

The Faroese follow this tradition of pilot whale hunting.

It involves all the inhabitants of the 17 islands (1 island is uninhabited).

This tradition dates back to the time of the Norse settlers and it because it so culturally significant to the Faroese cultures not much has been done to stop it.

This process of pilot whale hunting is non commercial and is organised at community level.

Around 950 long finned pilot whales are killed annually.

The killing is regulated by Faroese authorities but not by the international whaling commission who has its disagreements with this process.

The hunts, called "grindadráp" in Faroese

A majority of animal rights groups criticize the hunt, calling it cruel and unnecessary.

In 2008 the chief medical officer of the islands stated that pilot whales were no longer fit for consumption due to the high toxins in their flesh.

So how do they hunt these massive whales and it’s not just one that they kill, the entire community gathers together, the men that is, to kill these whales.

So what is the process?

1. The first sighting of the school, calls for a lit bonfire to warn neighbouring islands and messenger who is sent to inform the other Faroese.This system dates back to the Norse settlers. Now of course information is spread through cell phones etc.

2. In order to drive this school of whales towards the shore the men with their boats gather behind the whales and slowly drive them to shore, which is usually a bay or a fjord.

3. The whales then beach themselves and the ones who are still alive are stabbed in the blubber with a sharp hook called a gaff. Allegations of animal cruelty have now forced the Faroese to use a blunt gaff, which they use to pull the whale ashore by their blowhole. Ouch!

Although the Faroese have legal permission to practice this tradition it is heavily looked down upon.

Greenpeace and the whale and dolphin conservation society are active in trying to ban this activity.

Because of the gutting of the whale the sea near the shore turns a bright red from the blood that spews out of the cut arteries of the whales.

Faroese terrain doesn’t allow for a wide growth of vegetables etc so it during the winters the Faroese used to resort killing these whales and dolphins as a way of survival, thus being an important source of nutrition for them.

500 tons of the whale meat is distributed equally to Faroese households, the meat is not sold in supermarkets as it is not a commercial activity.

The whale meat and blubber is then stored and prepared.

(the black meat is the whale meat,the blubber is the stuff in the middle,served with dry fish and potatoes)

Whale meat and blubber are a Faroese delicacy and is prepared in a variety of ways.

If u feel like trying do note that these whales are now considered toxic as they consume a lot of toxic material in the sea.

The "grindadráp" is an important motif in Faroese art and literature.

"The grindadráp paintings by Sámal Joensen-Mikines rank internationally as some of his most important. They are part of a permanent exhibition in the Faroese art museum in the capital Tórshavn. The Danish governor of the Faroe Islands Christian Pløyen wrote the famous Pilot Whaling song, a Faroese ballad written in Danish entitled "A New Song about the Pilot Whale Hunt on the Faroes". It was written during his term of office (1830–1847) and was printed in Copenhagen in 1835.The Danish chorus line is Raske drenge, grind at dræbe det er vor lyst. In English: Tough boys, to slay the grind that's our desire. These old verses are rarely sung by the Faroese today."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXZPmdULIKs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpKxs819Pc0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_AV5HnMF7o

- do watch the videos to get a visual idea of what i am talking about. :)

Iran: After effects of the Coup

With the overthrow of Mossadegh, the Shah, who had been won over by the US on the assurance that he would be get his old throne back was making sure this time around that no one could threaten him off his peacock throne. His needs were extravagant, he could not withstand criticism, any of it led to oppression and brutality and within no time the people had had enough with the result that the anger found voice in the leadership of the Islamic fundamentalists and with them came the dawn of a new regime.

The Shah had mainly survived on US aid which according to some figures was nearly more than $1 billion in the decade following the coup. After he abdicated his throne and ran, he took shelter in the United States. Which mixed with the part the Americans had played in the 1953 coup resulted in a “frenzy of rage” where Iranian radicals stormed the American embassy in Tehran and took fifty-two American diplomats as hostages for more than fourteen months. This was another turning point in American-Iranians relations and have things have only been going downhill since then. Few years down the line we saw a war break out between Iran and Iraq, where the US support was reserved for Iraq which further strengthened the position of Saddam Hussein in the country. It was during this period that the anti-American feeling in the people became intense; the interference by the Americans has been a sour and festering wound all these years. In the US it was also the strengthening of the role of CIA, “covert action came to be regarded as a cheap and effective way to shape course of world events.” The Dulles brothers of whom I mentioned in the last post, were already planning CIA’s second coup d’état, this time it was Guatemala, from then they only moved on to Cuba, Chile, Congo and Vietnam. President Truman who had been steadfast in his opposition to interfering in Iran had warned that any mishandling of the Iran crisis will lead to “a disaster to the free world.”

Obviously the biggest result was the establishment of the Islamic Republic; the fundamentalists who came to power imposed “religious fascism” in the country. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the current Supreme Leader in Iran, at that time said, “We are not liberals like Allende and Mossadegh, whom the CIA can snuff out.” It’s no secret that the new regime in Iran has secretly funded organisations such as the Hezbollah and Hamas. I have already written on a few issues concerning the Islamic Republic, women, media and religion.

James A. Bill an American historian who spent considerable time researching the effects of the coups points them out clearly when he says, “American policy in Iran during the early 1950s succeeded in ensuring that there would be no communist takeover in the country at the time, and that Iranian oil reserves would be available to the Western world at advantageous terms for two decades afterwards. It also deeply alienated Iranian patriots of all social classes and weakened the moderate, liberal nationalists represented by the organisations like the National Front. This paved the way for the incubation of extremism, both of the left and of the right. This extremism became unalterably anti-American…The fall of Mossadegh marked the end of a century of friendship between the two countries, and began a new era of US intervention and growing hostility against the United States among the weakened forces of Iranian nationalism.”

                                                 

The events of that day changed Iranian politics, and as we can see the future of the country. Who knows if the coup of 1953 had never happened, maybe, Iran could have been a secular country with secular laws. 

Ólavsøka (St Olaf's Day )

St Olaf's day or Ólavsøka (meaning Saint Olaf's wake) is festival celebrated on the day when the Faroes parliament opens its session, the 29^th of July. This is called Løgting.

Several Faroese holidays follow a tradition of a vøka which is an opening ceremo

ny held the night before.

On this day, the Faroese gather in the capital of Tórshavn to watch or participate in the national rowing competitions and enjoy art exhibitions, music and the “chain-dance” performance.

Festivities begin days before the event, with a musical concert on the 27^th of July. This concert usually goes on till the wee hours of the morning.The festivities then start with an early morning procession with the important people of the island followed by horses and a band.

Every procession needs a brass band.

Do you see what I mean by music being everywhere on this island?

Then on the 29^th of July the parliament opens again after the summer holiday and the festivities begin again like 'ye old times' there is singing and music, the whole city celebrates.

2009 was the 100^th anniversary of the municipality of Torshavn ,and in celebration a famous Faroese composer Sunnleif Rasmussen composed and directed the olavsoka cantata that depicted the history of Faroese music till now. There was a ch

oir of about 160 people from all over the country.

Here is a link of the “chain-dance”.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cARjYCI-XME&feature=related

It’s beautiful to see so much love and happiness in one place.

People united and happy, living happy lives.

But everything has a flip side....