Just like that

Weird!!! But sounds logical!!! INDIATIMES NEWS NETWORK FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2004 08:28:59 AM NEW DELHI: Top astrologers in the country are hinting that the tsunami strike might indeed be a step towards Nostradamus' prediction - End of the world in 2010. Minutes after panic gripped southern India following warnings of a fresh tsunami strike on Thursday, one of India's top astrologers, Kewal Anand Joshi, warned: "It's not over yet." "We (a group of astrologers) are currently diagnosing the calamity. There's going to be another major strike in June 2005, somewhere in the world. It will continue in 2006 and even in 2007 taking millions of lives," Joshi almost assured. "And we have reason to believe, besides tsunami strikes, there'll be a series of natural catastrophes which could destroy parts of the world," he added. Toll in Saturday's tsunami-strike has already reached 80,000 of which 13,500 were killed in India alone. Experts ...

REUTERS Posted online: Friday, December 31, 2004 at 1127 hours IST JOHANNESBURG, DECEMBER 31: Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami, adding weight to notions they possess a 'sixth sense' for disasters, experts said Thursday. Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found. "No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening," HD Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department, said Wednesday. The waves washed floodwaters up to 2 miles inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. "There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcan...

The ever extant ,urban-rural divide, seems to have seeped in providing relief for tsunami victims too. For, the folks in the urban areas are better placed in terms of access to relief materials that there were even reports of they exercising choices about what to eat and what not. Its not that they don't have a right to choose the food of their choice; but certainly not when they themselves are homeless and are wholly dependent of such good works of a few voluntary groups. The quote of a local fisherman in one of the dailies was quite irritating. He said: "I am fed up of eating puliyodarai and pongal and so I opted for puris instead. Though I'd like to have some meen kozhambu, I know that these relief people will not give non-veg." Isn't it ironical that jus about three days ago, he had lost all his belongings and was right now sheltered in a corporation school and yet such comment. Whereas the same tsunami victims in an interior hamlet of Kalpakkam, far away f...

It takes a tsunami to let the world know about the numerous good samaritans that it harbours. The aftermath of the tidal tragedy has left many dejected and directionless. But amidst this mayhem, is a group of people who have managed to recover themselves from the tragedy and extend a helping hand to the victims. Numerous voluntary and non-governmental organisations have sprung into action to provide succour to those bereft of the basic needs - food, clothes and shelter. But a major problem that many of them seem to be facing is the lack of communication. Most of them are ready to help but do not know where to begin and how to go about it. The State Government, undoubtedly, is now burdened with a mammoth task of saving all these people and is quite busy with this task. But, surely it can provide some sort of guidance and information to all these voluntary groups who are share its burden. The lack of communication has left most of these groups in a soup and many are dejected with the go...

Its a gory display of nature's fury reminding us once more that not all are automated or computer-controlled. The devastating tsunami has left everyone spellbound. The fact that Chennai, considered to be a safer haven among all the Indian metros, could be rocked by something so natural was quite unnatural. Unfortunately, the year has been a sad one for all young ones. Even in this tragic tidal terror, it was the women and children who have been hit. Young ones who had been playing a game of cricket or hockey, who were jus building castles on the sand, who were simply waiting for their fathers to return or those who had religiously gone off with their mothers to offer prayers at the Velankanni church were sweeped away in jus no time. After the Kumbakonam tragedy and the Beslan massacre, this is the third time in 2004 when the young ones had been affected in huge numbers. It's heart-rending to hear the tales of anguished parents with the dead bodies of their wards in their han...

I really enjoyed reading this..!! Karnataka film ban A cosmopolitan culture going nuts SUJATA SRINIVASAN Posted online: Thursday, December 23, 2004 at 0000 hours IST Every nation has its share of nutcases. But Dr Chandrashekar Kambara, a venerable gatekeeper to Kannada literature, certainly deserves the epithet Chief Nut. ‘‘Everybody should join hands to protect the Kannada language,’’ he declared grandiosely, in a display of solidarity with a breed of fellow nuts—protectionists in the Kannada film industry who have ‘‘restricted’’ the viewing of other language films, including Hindi, Tamil, and English, in the state of Karnataka. In a sickening web of double standards, a section of producers and directors has launched the pro-Kannada language Kannada Film Chamber of Commerce, to take over the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce! We all know why this jittery bunch want to ‘‘ban’’ competition—the lot doesn’t have stomach enough to gulp a good, strong dose of fair play. And what...

He begged to be killed. But, not out of fear or pain, out of his sincere desire to help at least five other patients who were in need of various organ transplants. However, the last wish of the 26-year old Hyderabad chess player, K. Venkatesh, reamined unfulfilled. Venkatesh, who was suffering from Duchenne's muscular dystrophy, begged for euthanasia so that his organs can be harvested in good condition. Despite his mother's best efforts, she was unable to win the legal battle to fulfil her son's last wish. The Hyderabad high court had rejected both her pleas of advancing Venkatesh's death to enable organ transplant and for including non-heart beat deaths in the organs transplantation act. Despite his sincere desire to help five more patients, none of his organs, barring eyes, were useful for transplant as Venkatesh had been on a ventilator for a long period. The courage and compassion displayed by this sportsman, even at his death bed, is something truly awe-inspirin...