Dynamic friends

For working mothers in Jakarta, breast milk couriers are known as the “saviors”, helping keep babies healthy while mother’s are in the office. Amanda Ramdariani, 26, was thankful when she discovered this service existed as she wanted to give her baby exclusive breast-feeding for six months but also needed to work. “I used the breast milk courier service when my baby was five months old because I could not provide enough breast milk for my baby at home while I was doing my job,” the mother of a 1-year-old daughter said. She said her breast-milk shortage was caused by the decreasing production of her breast milk by up to 50 percent while her daughter’s appetite remained high. Amanda said her baby needed at least six 100 milliliter-bottles of breast milk every day, while she could only produce four bottles. “To ensure my baby was exclusively breast-fed for six months, I had to deliver the milk I pumped at the office to home,” she said. “But my office was far from home, it was impossible to get it there in time myself.” The courier usually came to pick up the bottles at her office in Palmerah, West Jakarta, around lunch time and directly delivered the bottles to her house in Bintaro, South Jakarta. She used the courier service almost every day for two months and paid Rp 30,000 (US$ 3.5) per trip. Fitria Adiatri is another mother who has used the breast milk courier several times. “As a breast-milk donor the service has been a huge help to me,” she said. She added that she had used the courier service four times to deliver the milk for the children of her cousins and friends who could not produce breast milk. Breast milk couriers have been around since last year to answer the needs of working mothers who want to breast feed amid hectic lifestyles. Medical research shows that babies who are breast-fed exclusively for six months are more resistant to diseases and allergies such as diarrhea, obesity and diabetes, as it helps form a stronger immune system. During that period, babies’ nutritional requirements are fulfilled for the baby’s development, including its brain. Fikri Nauval, the owner of breast milk courier service Arga Nirwana Express, said his own experience inspired him to set up the business. “My wife, a working mother, couldn’t give exclusive breast-feeding to my first and second children due to her job. “As I had a courier service business, I thought why not just set up a breast milk courier service so she could keep giving our third child breast milk,” he said. Fikri then established a breast milk courier service division at his cargo company in 2010. Now, he employs five men for the specialized task. The couriers are equipped with a cooler box that fits four bottles and ice packs. Each courier delivers the bottles to three to five addresses a day. Customers in Jakarta pay Rp 30,000 and those in Bogor Rp 45,000 for one trip. “The number of customers who use our service is increasing each month. But I think the number is still small compared to the total breast-feeding working mothers in Jakarta,” he said. Chairwoman of the Indonesian Breast-feeding Mothers’ Association (AIMI) Mia Sutanto expected that the emergence of breast milk couriers could encourage more working mothers to exclusively breast feed their babies for six months. “But it is vital that the milk is stored properly so it does not spill or get contaminated,” she said. According to the 2010 Basic Health Research, the rate of breast-feeding nationwide was recorded at 15.3 percent among babies younger than 12 months. The 2009 Health Law stipulates that every baby has the right to be breast-fed exclusively for six months.

Bhubaneswar: In a shocking incident, as many as 24 television sets in the Railway station here showed an obscene film for about 10 minutes for which one person was arrested on Saturday, police said. "The incident occurred at around 3.30 pm when obscene video clippings ran for about 10 minutes in all TV sets simultaneously at platforms, waiting rooms and reservation counters," Baruna Behera, inspector of Railway Protection Force (RPF) said adding that the television operator was immediately arrested. Asutosh Swain (21) of a private organisation, confessed to the crime, the RPF inspector said adding that he uploaded certain obscene scenes from his mobile phone to the main channel of railway television server. “The Railways have ordered an inquiry into the incident and sealed the control room at the station from where a private organisation was operating the television service," a senior official of the East Coast Railway Zone told agency. Sources said the Railways had outsourced television operation to a private organisation since last four months. "The televisions in platform used to be very useful for the passengers as it telecast news, information, train timings and others. However, today's incident has come as a big shock for all of us," the official said.

NEW DELHI: A man threw black ink on the face of yoga guru Baba Ramdev as he was holding a press conference on black money and corruption at the Constitutional Club here on Saturday. A nonplussed Ramdev remarked later, "What have I done to deserve this?" The offender was caught and roughed up by Ramdev's supporters. He was repeatedly slapped and he bled from the mouth. The person has been identified as Kamran Siddiqui. He is a NGO worker and was offended by Ramdev's remark about Batla encounter. Reacting after the incident, Ramdev said he had asked for the black money being returned to the country and instead got black ink. "Those who fight for truth have to pay the price. We are fighting to get black money back to the country and instead I got black ink...What did I do to deserve this?" Ramdev said to reporters later. "This incident wont' affect me. We will continue to fight against the odds, come what may," he added.

Jodhpur: A Shocking incedent came into light at jodhpur. A 70 years old paralysed man on ventilator in the intensive care unit (ICU), nibbled by rats. The old man is admitted in Mathura Das Mathur Hospital here was said to be attacked by rats who nibbled on his ears, nose, lips and cheeks while hospital staff slept. "The hospital staff - from doctors to security guards - go to sleep before 11 pm, leaving the patients on their own," a doctor in the hospital said on condition of anonymity. Sources at the hospital said authorities had closed the hole through which the rats were coming into the ICU rooms. Rat killer medicines also have been used. The government run hospital has been under the scanner for unhygienic conditions for months now and the rat menace in government hospitals in Jodhpur is not new. In 2009, an infant died allegedly after some rats attacked him soon after birth at the Ummed Hospital here.

Everybody dreams about car in this world. But it is very much costly affair for middle class as oil prices touching the sky. And one more thing is that, oil availability is also question mark for the next generation. If you look in to environment angle, there is lot of things to concern by consuming oil related products. At present vehicle manufactures concentrating on CNG designs, but it is not the solution for the problem. Some technologies are developing about using hydrogen as fuel. At present, collecting hydrogen is a costly affair too. So, I am coming here with a simple solution.

I ask a question in the head line, why don’t we look at water car? Yes, my view is right. I am thing about creating water run engine from school days. I wonder so many times that water is made from Hydrogen and oxygen. We all know that hydrogen is a powerful energy source. This beautiful earth is covered more than 70 percent by water. If we concentrate on extracting hydrogen from water, the problem is solved. We can produce hydrogen from every where in the world. If hydrogen powered engines available for cars then, everybody can ride a car.

If some one develops, this extraction technology can built within the car, then we can fill the tank with water, which is available easily every where and go for the ride, with sky rocket speed.


What do you say?

Monday, January 18, 2010

London: Chinese hackers have tried to penetrate computers in the offices of National Security Adviser MK Narayanan, a British paper Monday quoted him as saying.

Narayanan said his office and other government departments were targeted Dec 15, the same date that US defence, finance and technology companies, including Google, reported cyber attacks from China.

"This was not the first instance of an attempt to hack into our computers," Narayanan told The Times in an interview, adding the would-be hackers sent an e-mail with a PDF attachment containing a Trojan virus.

The virus, which allows hackers to download or delete files, was detected and officials were told not to log on until it was eliminated, Narayanan said.

"People seem to be fairly sure it was the Chinese. It is difficult to find the exact source but this is the main suspicion. It seems well founded," he told The Times, adding that India was cooperating with the US and Britain to bolster its cyber defences.

The Chinese government has denied any role in the attacks, with a foreign ministry spokeswoman saying: "Hacking in whatever form is prohibited by law in China."

Narayanan said that while he expected China to be an increasingly high security priority for India, the main threat still came from militants based in Pakistan.

He said Islamabad had done nothing to dismantle militant groups since the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, and criticised Britain for accepting its excuse that such groups were beyond its control.

"The British are still blinkered on this. We believe Pakistan's policy of using terror as a policy weapon remains," Narayanan said, adding India is anxious to prevent an attack from Pakistan during the Commonwealth Games in October.

"From Pakistan's point of view, it's important to disrupt the Games so you can claim that India is not a safe place," Narayanan said.

Hyderabad, Jan 18 Efforts to rescue a one-and-half
year-old boy, who fell into a 30-feet borewell in a village in
Andhra Pradesh yesterday, failed as rescue operators fished
out his body today.
The boy D Mahesh slipped and fell into the defunct open
borewell at an agricultural field in Warangal district's Tulsa
tanda last eveining while playing. His parents were working on
the other side of the field when the incident happened.
However, despite almost 24 hours of rescue operations,
the toddler could not be saved, police said.
His body was fished out by a 10-member rescue team after
digging a parallel 30-ft pit nearby the borewell, they said.

Continuing his flip-flop,
Pakistani gunman Ajmal Kasab today told a special court trying
the 26/11 attacks case that all the four terrorists who
stormed Taj hotel were Indians.
Kasab, whose statement is being recorded by the court
on evidences adduced by the prosecution, told Special Judge M
L Tahaliyani that while one of the terrorists of the Taj hotel
siege was a Kashmiri, another was from Gujarat.
Kasab claimed the third terrorist at Taj was Abu
Ismail from Mumbai. According to prosecution, Ismail was
gunned down at Girgaum Chowpatty by the police in an encounter
when he along with Kasab was trying to escape. He, however,
did not elaborate on the identity of the fourth terrorist at
the Taj.
The Pakistani terrorist has been making conflicting
statements in the court. While at one point Kasab confessed to
his guilt and admitted having shot people at Chhatrapati
Shivaji Terminus along with Abu Ismail before being captured
at Girgaum Chowpatty, he later denied any involvement in the
terror strikes.
Kasab's claim came when Judge Tahaliyani wanted to
know if he had anything to say about the slain terrorists who
had been identified by eyewitnesses.
When the Judge asked how he knew that Abu Ismail was
from Mumbai, Kasab said,"I can make out from his face". To
this Tahaliyani asked in a light-hearted manner "Did he look
like a Marathi manoos?"
After having initially confessed to his guilt, Kasab
had recently denied involvement and told the court that he had
come to India from Pakistan by Samjhauta Express several days
before the 26/11 carnage and was picked up from Girgaum
Chowpatty by police a day before the terror attacks.
Later, speaking to reporters outside the court,
Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam described Kasab's claim
as "absurd and concocted".
"Kasab's claim is absurd and concocted. He has been
taking frequent U-turns and this is one of those. This will in
no way weaken the prosecution's case against him," Nikam said.

If gay sex can be permitted, then prostitution too "deserves to be legalized" since it could be as much "a consensual act between two

adults in a private place." Whether the petitioner was right or not in making such an argument while challenging the Delhi high court verdict before the Supreme Court, homosexuality and prostitution do have striking parallels in Indian law.

Since the judgment has decriminalized it, homosexuality now enjoys a legal position rather similar to that of prostitution. Neither is an offence in itself. In the case of both, an offence is committed only when certain conditions are violated. And at least two of those conditions are in common: that the sex should be between two mutually consenting adults and that it should in private.

One of the unintended consequences of the July 2 verdict is that it has reduced, if not eliminated, the scope for Section 377 IPC being used against gay clients of male prostitutes or gigolos. For, prior to the judgment, the police could have booked gay clients under Section 377 even if no offence was made out under the Immoral Traffic Prevention Act 1986 (PITA).

Gay clients are safer now because Section 377, which carries a maximum penalty of life sentence, cannot any longer be invoked unless the male prostitute is below 18 or the sex was not consensual. Male prostitution has received a boost from the ruling under which homosexuality per se is no more an "unnatural offence" under Section 377. Incidentally, the judgment comes on top of a concession already made to male prostitutes under PITA.

For the offence of seducing or soliciting a client for prostitution in a public place, PITA strangely imposes a higher penalty on women. While the penalty for the first offence in the case of women is imprisonment up to six months, the corresponding punishment for men does not extend beyond three months. As with his heterosexual counterpart, a gay visiting a brothel is liable to fall foul of PITA only if the prostitute turns out to be a minor or if he engages in sex within 200 meters of a public place (place of worship, educational institution, hostel, hospital, etc) or a notified area (which isdeclared to be "prostitution-free" by the state).

Thanks to the Section 377 verdict, gigolos catering to gay clients can come out in the open and access medical care to prevent or treat HIV/AIDS, which was the main reason cited by Naz Foundation for asking the high court to "read down" the 1860 provision against the wide-ranging offences described as "carnal intercourse against the order of nature."

Tough economic times threaten all sorts of institutions: investment banks, newspapers and, yes, marriages.

While there's no evidence to show that cheating increases during recessions, experts point out that money and employment woes strain relationships, leaving them vulnerable to infidelity.

Avoiding temptation, particularly when a lost job or depleted bank account has shaken your sense of self, can be difficult. But it's not impossible. The most obvious strategy, productive communication, bears repeating since couples often assign blame instead of engaging in fruitful conversations. Managing your expectations of the relationship, and what might be gained from an affair, is another successful technique.

Dr. Joshua Coleman, an author and senior fellow at the Council on Contemporary Families, says these strategies help a couple understand the weaknesses of the relationship.

"Most marriages end not because of one or two big crises," he says. "Typically it's a death by a thousand cuts."

Lines of Communication The whirlwind of working long hours, raising children and tending to the many bureaucracies of everyday life leaves little time for personal reflection. Under these conditions, couples can go weeks and months without expressing resentment or gratitude.

Tell-tale signs of strained communication, says Coleman, include chronic impatience and a tendency to blame. This dynamic can weaken the relationship and prompt one or both partners to seek validation from someone else. That may be fine when the outsider is a confidante with whom there is no risk of romantic entanglement. But otherwise, seeking emotional support from someone else may invite trouble.

Instead, Coleman suggests repairing breakdowns when they occur and then taking stock occasionally to be sure both individuals have moved on. Of course, this requires that both individuals take responsibility for mistakes, apologize when necessary and adjust future behavior. Though such communication may be difficult for some men, says Coleman, "It's actually a sign of psychological health and strength."

Realistic Expectations Even when communication is frequent, it might not be enough to counter the draw of a "quick fix," says Dr. Mark Smaller, a spokesman for the American Psychoanalytic Association.

An affair may seem like a shortcut to happiness when times are bleak, says Smaller, but infidelity often masks larger problems tied to feelings of self-worth or disappointment.

Smaller also encourages his patients to think of cheating as a life-changing choice instead of an impulsive act. Such decisions should be made with the maximum information possible. This means understanding why you're considering an affair, as well as anticipating the outcome.

Cultivating realistic expectations applies equally to your relationship. "In American marriages, we expect our partners to be everything to us," says Coleman. Instead, couples should look to outside interests and friendships to provide fulfilling and validating experiences.

Finally, Dr. Smaller advises his patients to arm themselves with a sense of humor. The ability to laugh at your own limitations, he says, indicates a healthy perspective on the relationship's weaknesses. The ability to distance yourself from the everyday challenges of being in a relationship, and even poke fun at them, can bring long-term stability.

Even if you think a partnership is doomed, Smaller is ready with an important caveat: "These things are never solved by way of another relationship."