GK Corner

1. Who designed the "Param Vir Chakra"?
Ans: Savitri Khanolkar

2. What was the name of first electric train in India?
Ans: Deccan Queen (Started in 1929 and travelled from Kalyan to Pune)

3. Name the American President who remained in that Chair for the longest period of time?
Ans: Franklin D Rooswelt ( March 1933 to April 1945)

4. Which is the town lying between two continents?
Ans: Istanbul

5. Who designed the 'Gateway of India'
Ans: George Wittet

March 8 - International Women's Day

The UN theme for International Women's Day 2013 is "A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women,"while International Women's Day 2013 has declared the year's theme as The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum.

In 1869 British MP John Stuart Mill was the first person in Parliament to call for women's right to vote. On 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to give women the right to vote. Women in other countries did not enjoy this equality and campaigned for justice for many years.

In 1910 a second International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen. A woman named Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's Day - to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and thus International Women's Day was the result.

The very first International Women's Day was launched the following year byClara Zetkin on 19 March (not 8 March). The date was chosen because on 19 March in the year of the 1848 revolution, the Prussian king recognized for the first time the strength of the armed people and gave way before the threat of a proletarian uprising. Among the many promise he made, which he later failed to keep, was the introduction of votes for women.

Plans for the first International Women's Day demonstration were spread by word of mouth and in the press. During the week before International Women's Day two journals appeared: The Vote for Women in Germany and Women's Day in Austria. Various articles were devoted to International Women's Day: 'Women and Parliament', 'The Working Women and Municipal Affairs', 'What Has the Housewife got to do with Politics?', etc. The articles thoroughly analyzed the question of the equality of women in the government and in society. All articles emphasized the same point that it was absolutely necessary to make parliament more democratic by extending the franchise to women.

Success of the first International Women's Day in 1911 exceeded all expectation.

Meetings were organized everywhere in small towns and even the villages halls were packed so full that male workers were asked to give up their places for women.

Men stayed at home with their children for a change, and their wives, the captive housewives, went to meetings.

During the largest street demonstration of 30,000 women, the police decided to remove the demonstrators' banners so the women workers made a stand. In the scuffle that followed, bloodshed was averted only with the help of the socialist deputies in Parliament.

In 1913 International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and this day has remained the global date for International Wommen's Day ever since.

In 1975, during International Women's Year, the United Nations began celebrating International Women's Day on 8 March. Two years later, in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by Member States, in accordance with their historical and national traditions. In adopting its resolution, the General Assembly recognized the role of women in peace efforts and development and urged an end to discrimination and an increase of support for women's full and equal participation.

 International Women's Day is marked by a national holiday in China, Armenia, Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Poster of Women's Day, March 8, 1914

Source: http://www.un.org/en/events/womensday/history.shtml

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Reflections

SNOW RAIN IN WASHINGTON DC

The Earth is adorning itself like a bride, at least here in Washington DC. It is a shower of white snow that appeared suddenly from the skies.

I was supposed to fly to San Francisco in the morning to attend the URI Global Council and Staff Meeting scheduled to commence tomorrow, but 650 flights were cancelled.

No other option but to part take in the glorious game of Nature and think of Creation’s amazing blessings. Last time I saw snow like this was in 1988 when I was a student at the BosseyEcumenical Institute, Geneva. It was much fun then as we had plenty of time to play with snow outside in the white garden ground. We were 64 students from different countries. Today I can only watch the play of rosy petals, falling from heaven’s rich gardens. The game will continue for a whole day, it is reported. Soil will be purified. Rivers will be full soon. Trees will start flowering without waiting any more.

Some painful thoughts suddenly started hunting me. How long will be the Nature sportive like this? Will there ever be such showers from above, if the global warming persists at this speed?

Let us not teach the Earth to be angry. Let her be a loving Mother forever.

Dr. Abraham Karickam

WINTER IN WASHINGTON

Most of the times when I arrived in Washington DC, the whole city appeared like a beautiful park, with trees and flowers all over. But today I see only withered branches. No leaves to be seen on any of the trees. Nature is preserving energy! In winter it cannot spend much sun rays for photosynthesis. How cautious is Nature in protecting its reserves! And the trees are all throbbing for a new flowering, a rebirth; getting ready to cover the whole world in glorious hues again. There will be a riot of colors, assures my old time friend and class mate Kunjumone, as he drives me around Maryland.  But will the trees have different souls, when they take a new form in a different season? The soul will be the same. All Scriptures teach us about the immortality of the soul. There are many Holy Books, but the message is the same- the message of peace, love and eternal life.

Nature has its own mechanism to preserve everything good, tiding over the odds of seasons. But how do we people treat our Mother Earth? On the verge of collapse, still we go on plundering the resources; even water is scarce and bottled! Let us turn to Nature in humility and learn new lessons- lessons for a new tomorrow.

Dr. Abraham Karickam

Reflections

KAMAL'S FILM--A POEM IN CELLULOID

Kamal’s film CELLULOID is a poem in the reels. It enchanted me from the very first scene to the last, as it unfolded the life history of J.C Daniel, the first one to champion the cause of a movie in Kerala’s soil. Every great move is  a big sacrifice, but in Daniel’s life it was a sacrifice only as it spoiled his whole life. His pioneering  Movie ‘VIGATHA KUMARAN’ tells the story of a lost child. But this film is centred around a few persons who virtually lost their lives in the process of making a cinema- Daniel, Janet, Rosy etc. Rosy’s case was most pathetic and tragic—the first woman movie actor in Kerala was crucified in the name of her caste and colour.

Art is supposed to bring all purusharthas to the one who weds it. But here it was just the opposite. All the heroes and heroines suffered the fate of Prometheus. But at last, Kamal has given them a re-birth. Finally art justified itself.

Dr. Abraham Karickam

Reflections

BURJ KHALEEFA--DREAMING HIGH

I passed by Burj Khaleefa in Dubai several times yesterday, while traveling to various destinations with Shibu, Jeny, Sanju and Shon. This tallest building in the world fascinates me like anything and I want to have a glimpse of it every time I am here. It symbolizes the urge of human being to rise up to the sky so as to reach out to the unknown recesses of the universe. This insatiable quest has been alive in the humans from the beginning of history. Several world class artists have expressed this angst through their spirited creations--  The Republic, Utopia, Arcadia, New Atlantis, Brave New World and so on. We find many heroes of Valmiki, Kalidasa and Shakespeare wandering to many regions of the world and beyond. Hemingway’s Old Man goes out into the deep sea for eighty days in search of the biggest catch ever. My novel "Super Souls Revisited " is also an attempt in this line. As long as there is life in a being, this journey to the unknown will continue. We go passing the space to unravel the hidden mysteries and one day there will be a new Burj Khaleefa that can really kiss the skies and still we will be searching beyond that point.

Abraham Karickam

GK Corner

February 28 - National Science Day

National Science Day (Rashtriya Vigyan Divas) is celebrated in India on February 28 each year to mark the discovery of the Raman Effect by Indian physicist Sir C V Raman on 28th February 1928.

In 1986, the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) asked the Government of India to designate February 28 as National Science Day. Sir C V Raman worked at Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Pune, West Pimpri, India during 1907 to 1933 , undertaking researches on various topics on Physics, making discovery of the celebrated effect on scattering of light in 1928, which bears his name that brought many accolades including the Nobel Prize in 1930. The American Chemical Society designated the 'Raman Effect' as an International Historic Chemical Landmark in 2013.