Exploring I-நான் Part I- Codes of Conduct

This is a part of several topics that I want to write in the future as a result of my self-exploration to find out, who I am? Whether I just means ME or something within me? What is something with me? Do they call it Aathma (ஆத்மா) ? Ok then what exactly means Aathma? Can I realize my Aathma ? Is that means self-realization? This led me to several other questions. What is the purpose of my life? Why so much happiness and sadness? What happens to me after I die? Will I reborn? What will happen to my Aathma after my death? Will my Aathma die with me? Why should I live truthful?

Interestingly,after several years of searching the answers for those questions elsewhere, I found that in my own religion-Hinduism. Hinduism gives me the answers for all of my questions for which I cannot get any spiritual or logical answer from any other religion.

This is my journey to the center of me ( I /Aathma-நான்/ஆத்மா) ? I want to begin my journey to the center of I by sharing the knowledge that I know about the ethical codes that a Hindu to follow to get salvation- Liberation of I.

Following are the fundamental ethical codes for Hindus. These are codified in upanishad and Thriumanthirum by Thirumoolar in Tamil. They are classified into Yamas and Niyamas. Yama in sanskrit literally means death ( Yama or Yamen- the god of death ) Yamas are rules or code of conducts for living to follow by a Hindu to bring a compassionate death his ego or "the lower self".

The yamas comprise the "shall-not" in our dealings with the external world as the Niyamas comprise the "shall-do" in our dealings with the inner world.

Yamas/Shall -Not:

1) Ahimsa/அஹிம்சா or அஹிம்சையை கடைபிடி: "Noninjury." It means "Abstinence" from injury, harmlessness, the not causing of pain to any living creature in thought, word, or deed at any time. This is the "main" yama. The other nine are there in support of its accomplishment.

2) Satya/சத்தியத்தை கடைபிடி: "Truthfulness." Refraining from lying and betraying promises.

3) Asteya/அசெத்யா/திருடதே: "Nonstealing." Neither stealing, nor coveting nor entering into debt.

4) Brahmacharya/பிராமச்சர்யம் கடைபிடி: (Sanskrit) "Divine conduct." Controlling lust by remaining celibate when single, leading to faithfulness in marriage.

5) Kshama/பொருமையாக இரு : (Sanskrit) "Patience." Restraining intolerance with people and impatience with circumstances.

6) Dhriti/த்ரிடி-விசுவசுமாக இரு : "Steadfastness or Faithulness or Loyality." Overcoming nonperseverance, fear, indecision and changeableness.

7) Daya/தயா- இறக்கம் or கருணை காட்டு "Compassion or sympathy " .It means suffering in the suffering of all beings It also means conquering callous, cruel and insensitive feelings toward all beings.

8) Arjava/அற்ஜவா- நேர்மை or உண்மையா இரு : "Honesty, straightforwardness." Renouncing deception and wrongdoing.

9) Mitahara/மிடஹார-அலவொடு உண் : "Moderate appetite." Neither eating too much nor consuming meat, fish, fowl or eggs.

10) Shaucha/ஷுச்ச-சுதம்மாக இரு: "Purity." Avoiding impurity in body, mind and speech. -

Niyamas/ Shall-do:

1) Hri/ஹரி-வருந்து: "Remorse." Being modest and showing shame for misdeeds.

2) Santosha/சந்தோசம் or திருப்தியாக இரு : "Contentment." Seeking joy and serenity in life.

3) Dana/தானம் செய்: "Giving." Tithing and giving generously without thought of reward.

4) Astikya/ஆஸ்திக்ய-நம்பிக்கையாக இரு : "Faith/." Believing firmly in God, Gods, guru and the path to enlightenment.

5) Ishvarapujana/இஷ்வரபுஜன or கடவுலை வணங்கு: "Worship of the Lord." The cultivation of devotion through daily worship and meditation. It does not specify one particular god to workship. It does not matter whether it is Krishna or Jesus or Allah

6) Siddhanta shravana / சித்தாந்த சரவணா or சித்தாந்தம் அறி or புனித நூல் அறி : "Scriptural listening." Studying the teachings and listening to the wise of one's lineage.

7) Mati/மதியை வளர் : "Cognition." Developing a spiritual will and intellect with the guru's guidance.

8) Vrata/விரதம் கடைபிடி : "Sacred vows." Fulfilling religious vows, rules and observances faithfully.

9) Japa/மந்திரம் ஓது or ஜபம் செய் or கடவுள் துதி செய் : "Recitation." Chanting mantras daily.

10) Tapas/தபஸ்-ஒழுக்கமாக இரு "Austerity." Performing sadhana, penance, tapas and sacrifice.

Hinduism 101- Answers for Common Questions About Hinduism

Most of the Hindus are sometimes ashamed to say that they are Hindus. This is because we don’t know the answers for lot of questions about our own religion asked by other religion persons or atheist (who don’t believe in god). People laughed at us for worshiping elephants and snakes. This blog is not to make a regular Hindu to a fanatic Hindu but to make him understand who he is and what the Hindu religion is about. I am trying to answer very common questions about Hinduism which we may struggle to answer.

Why we worship so many gods?

Every Hindu home has multiple god images. Every Hindu or Hindu group has/have favorite gods. This makes everybody including Hindus to think that they have multiple gods to worship. Contrary to prevailing misconceptions, Hindus all worship a one Supreme Being, though by different names. This is because we have different languages and cultures have understood the one God in their own distinct way. Just like other religions we have denominations-—Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Smartism. For Sai-vites, God is Siva. For Shaktas, Goddess Shakti is supreme. For Vaishnavites, Lord Vishnu is God. For Smartas—who see all Deities as reflections of the One God—the choice of Deity is left to the devotee.

For us God is not far away, living in a remote heaven, but is inside our soul, in the heart and consciousness, waiting to be discovered. This knowing that God is always with us gives us hope and courage. Knowing the One Great God in this intimate and experiential way is the goal of Hindu spirituality.

Do you we believe in reincarnation?

Carnation means body. Reincarnation means into the body again or reborn again. A hindu believe everything is in cycle. Meaning anything that begins have an end, and an end have beginning again. Even universe will end as nothing but very small particles and slowly those small particle combine back to form the universe again. Westerner were initially could not understand this concept. No recent scientific hypothesis is saying that universe will end in black hole and disappear but will form back as universe again- Black hole/ Big Bang theory.

For us the soul is kept on going in a cycle. It will leave the body and reenter into the new soul. The goal of the Hindu is salvation meaning preventing rebirth.

What is Karma?

Karma is the basic law of action. Our actions, both good and bad, come back to us in the future, helping us to learn from life's lessons and become better people. This is like applying Newton’s 3rd law of action in the spiritual life- For every action there is opposite reaction. Result of your action/ activity is Karma. If you do good action you will get good Karma and if you do bad action/activity you will get karma. Bad karma’s pull your current and future life down and good karma lifts it up.
Because we Hindus understand karma, we do not hate or resent people who do us harm. We understand they are giving back the effects of the causes we set in motion at an earlier time. The law of karma puts man at the center of responsibility for everything he does and everything that is done to him.

Why do we worship cows?

The answer is yes. The cow is a symbol of the Earth, the nourisher, the ever-giving, undemanding provider. The cow represents life and the sustenance of life. The cow is so generous, taking nothing but water, grass and grain. It gives and gives and gives of its milk, as does the liberated soul give of his spiritual knowledge. The cow is so vital to life, the virtual sustainer of life, for many humans. The cow is a symbol of grace and abundance. Veneration of the cow instills in Hindus the virtues of gentleness, receptivity and connectedness with nature.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "One can measure the greatness of a nation and its moral progress by the way it treats its animals. Cow protection to me is not mere protection of the cow. It means protection of all that lives and is helpless and weak in the world. The cow means the entire subhuman world."

Are we idol worshippers?

We do not worship a stone or metal "idol" as God. We worship God through the image. We invoke the presence of God from the higher, unseen worlds, into the image so that we can commune with Him and receive His blessings.
Another way to explain icon worship is to acknowledge that Hindus believe God is everywhere, in all things, whether stone, wood, creatures or people. So, it is not surprising that they feel comfortable worshiping the Divine in His material manifestation. The Hindu can see God in stone and water, fire, air and ether, and inside his own soul.

Hindu yogis don’t worship any idol in order to reach the god. He can see the god everywhere. He never believes in idol worship. Only lay man like as see the god through the idol image not the sages or yogis

Are we forbidden to eat meat?

Hinduism teaches vegetarianism as a way to live with a minimum of hurt to other beings. But in today's world not all Hindus are vegetarians.
Hinduism gives us the wisdom to make up our own mind on what we put in our body, for it is the only one we have—in this life, at least. Vegetarians are more numerous in the South of India than in the North. This is because of the North's cooler climactic conditions and past Islamic influence. But eating less meat makes you feel good and think right.

What is our holy book?

Our holy book is Vedas. The Veda, which means "wisdom," is comprised of four ancient and Holy Scriptures (Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva) which all Hindus revere as the revealed word of God.

Why Hindu men/women wear pottu/bindhi or vebudhi?

The dot worn on the forehead is a religious symbol. It represents divine sight and shows that one is a Hindu.
Men and women of a particular religion wishing to identify themselves to one another often do so by wearing distinctive religious symbols. Christians wear a cross on a necklace. Jewish boys wear small leather cases that hold scriptural passages, and the round cap called yarmulka. Sikh men wear their hair in a turban.

Are the Hindu gods are really married?

Yes, it is true that God is often depicted with a spouse in our traditional stories. However, on a deeper philosophical level, the Supreme Being and the Gods are neither male nor female and are therefore not married. God is everywhere seen as the beloved, divine couple. Philosophically, however, the caution is always made that God and God's energy are One, and the metaphor of the inseparable divine couple serves only to illustrate this Oneness.

Source: http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/

Vedanta is the essence of Vedas. Bhagavath Geetha is the essence of Vedanta. The song below, Bhaja Govindam was written by Athi Sankaracharya is the essence of Bhagavath Geetha. This song also has English subtitles.

A Snap of Indian Politics

India’s election is over and Indians were very clear. People are always saying that the Indian elections are unpredictable. I don’t think so. Indian people know what they want and it is the political analyst who cannot read their minds. In the last 3 elections Indian politics were dominated by caste and religious groups. Local parties had very strong influence in deciding who is coming to the power. Every body though that they were the next Prime Minister. We did not have clear leader until this election to tell the people to whom they are voting for.. It is not people’s mind is unpredictable, it is parties leadership and their PM candidate were unpredictable.

After independence, Prime Minister Candidates from Indian National Congress party ruled the country until 1977. Indira Gandhi was the Prime Ministers for three consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977. After 1977 the country started seeing Prime Ministers from a party other than Indian national congress. Janata party which came out of Indian national congress started ruling the country for next 3 years with two different Prime Ministers (Morarji Desai and Charan Singh).

Indira Gandhi became the Prime Minister again after that and she was in power from 1980-1984. On October 31st 1984 she was assassinated by her own Sikh body guards, who were dissatisfied by her action at golden temple in Amritsar, Punjab. Rajiv Gandhi became the Prime Minister followed by her mother’s assassination. He was in power from 1984-1990.
Followed by Rajiv Gandhi’s full term there were Prime Ministers, who came to power from the coalition of small and regional parties. They were V.P Singh from Janata Dal party (1989-1990) and Chandra Shekhar from Samjawadi Janata Party (1990-1991).

On May 21 1991 during the election campaign, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by LTTE in Tamilnadu, India. Following a sympathy wave due to Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, congress party came to power under leadership of Narashima Rao (1991- 96).

BJP (Bhartiya Janata Party), a Hindu conservative party was formed by Vajpayee and L.K Advani on 1980. On Dec 6th 1992 Babri Mosque was demolished by a group Hindu activist and parties lead by BJP. They were demanding that Babri Mosque was built on the place where Samrat Shri Ramachandra, an ancient King of India was born. BJP wanted to build a temple for Ram in that place after the demolition of Babri Mosque. That demolition fueled the hatred that was already there between Muslims and Hindus in India.

After a full term of government led by Narashima Rao (Congress party) congress was at a historic low at 1996 election, and a vast medley of regional parties and break-off factions dominated the hung parliament. Since there was no clear majority for single party to form the government, Indian President asked Vajpayee to form the government with support of other parties. He was a Prime Minister only for 13 days and he resigned when it became clear that he could not garner a majority.

Once again country saw 2 Prime Ministers from coalition of regional parties. They were Deva Gowda from Janata Dal (1996-97) and I K Gujaral from Janata Dal (1997-1998.)

People cannot find a party to give a stable government for them. They looked at BJP and decided to give a chance. BJP was campaigning that they are the one to save the country from Muslim extremists and to build a temple for Ram at Ayodhya on the location where the Babri Mosque was existed. BJP came to power under Vajpayee leadership (1998- 2004) but they never built anything at Ayodhya.

No leader in the country that the people can trust on.Meanwhile Sonia Gandhi was avoiding involving herself and her kids in the politics after her husband’s assassination (Rajiv Gandhi). She didn’t want to come to the politics but her husband’s party members were begging her to involve in politics.

Sonia Gandhi led United Progressive Alliance (led by congress party) to a surprise electoral victory on 2004 Indian election. Sonia Gandhi declined the opportunity to assume the office of Prime Minister after the 2004 election results and made Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister.

This election people saw a clear leadership under Sonia Gandhi. They are impressed with Sonia Gandhi’s leadership and Rahul Gandhi’s charisma. People gave big majority for Sonia Gandhi’s leadership and Manmohan Singh’s honesty. It is all about leadership on this election. People threw all the small regional parties out and trusted on congress party. This shows if we show a good leader to the people we can extinguish all the caste and religious party ideas in India. People also showed in this election that they found a leader for their future. It is Rahul Gandhi, son of Rajiv/Sonia Gandhi.

Is it the End ?

Lots of people have been killed in Sri Lanka in the name of peace war. Sri Lankan army is celebrating the victory today. A body was found in the previously LTTE controlled part. Sri Lankan army is speculating it may be prabhkaran's body. Report says 300 LTTE members committed suicide when the Sri Lankan army surrounded them yesterday.
To me the biggest mistake that LTTE made was killing India's Ex-priminister- Rajiv Gandhi. Report was saying that he was going to lose the election that was held on 1991. LTTE suicide bombers, Gayatri and Dhau on May 21st 1991, carried out the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi. That created a sympathy wave for congress (Rajiv Gandhi’s party) that year and a big anger and hatred wave for LTTE. LTTE was branded as a terrorist group. It lost all the support from Tamilians living in Tamilnadu. Talking and supporting LTTE became a Taboo in India and Tamilnadu.

Sri Lanka president picked a correct moment to destroy the LTTE. Tamils in Tamilnadu cannot ask for the Indian government support to stop the war against LTTE because congress party currently runs Indian government and LTTE killed their leader. Prabahkaran, the LTTE leader is on wanted list by Indian government. So Indian government would be happy to see the end of the LTTE.

So what is next? During the war Sri Lankan government was saying that if India would intervene to stop the war they would go to China and Pakistan for support. Now that is not going to happen because war is over without any Indian government involvement. Indian government may have more leverage over the Sri Lankan government now than before and they started doing some humanitarian help to people affected in the war. Indian government may insist the Sri Lankan’s government to proceed for the peace talk with other Tamil leader in Sri Lanka to get better recognition for Tamils in Sri Lanka. We will see what is going to happen. It is very hard to predict. LTTE may regroup later on and  will slowly get their territory back in Sri Lanka.

Parliament to host four Gandhis for the first time

Parliament to host four Gandhis for the first timePress Trust of India, Saturday May 16, 2009, New DelhiIt would be a record of sorts for the country's illustrious Nehru-Gandhi family when four of its members would be simultaneously occupying seats in the Lok Sabha, though in rival camps.The 15th Lok Sabha will witness two mother-son duos of India's first political family representing two main political parties.While Congress President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul will be part of the ruling coalition, BJP leader Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun, the saffron party's latest firebrand discovery, will be seated on the Opposition benches.This will be the first time four members of the family, albeit from its two estranged factions, will simultaneously be in the Lok Sabha that has for most part of its history seen at least one member of the Nehru-Gandhi clan.The family debuted in parliament's lower house with the formidable Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister, who occupied the seat from 1952 till the time of his death in 1964.Nehru's son-in-law Feroz Gandhi gave him company for most of his years in the Lok Sabha. Gandhi, husband of Nehru's daughter Indira was an MP from Pratapgarh constituency inUttar Pradeshfrom 1952 to 1960.After a brief absence in the Parliament, the Nehru-Gandhi family returned to the Indian legislature with Indira, who was elected to the fourth Lok Sabha in 1967 from the constituency her husband had represented till the time of his death in 1960.Sanjay Gandhi, the third generation of India's first family, entered the Parliament in 1977. Touted as a potential prime minister, Sanjay, however died an untimely death in an air crash.His death, however, led his younger brother Rajiv, a reluctant politician, into the political arena. Rajiv was elected to the Lok Sabha in a by-election in 1981 and continued in the legislature till 1991, when he was assassinated.Maneka, the estranged member of the family also entered the Parliament in 1989, elected from Pilibhit constituency representing Janata Dal party.Rajiv's Italy-born wife Sonia, who stayed away from politics for as many as seven years following her husband's death, was the seventh member from the celebrated clan to enter the Parliament in 1999.She was followed by son Rahul, now a potential future prime minister, who was elected from UP's Amethi seat, for the first time in 2004.Maneka's son Varun, the youngest, the latest and the most controversial Gandhi family entrant to the Parliament has made his debut in the Lok Sabha with his first victory from Pilibhit constituency in this elections.

Parliament to host four Gandhis for the first time

Swine Flu

Seems like swine flu is spreading again in the new york. They are closing 3 schools even though CDC does not recommend closing them. Looks like swine flu is not bad as they thought. But it may turned into a very virulent /strong virus down the road. So far it is not bad. Initially CDC said doctors have to do FLU test. If the influenza A comes positive then we have to send specimen to the health department and they will do test for swine flu. As for yesterday they called doctors office back and said swine flu can be still positive even if the influenza A is positive for flu. This means even if the flu test is negative for Influenza you will never know whether the patient is positive for swine flu or not. They are asking the doctors to go ahead and give Tamiflu if the symptoms look like flu even if the flu test is negative. Basically the doctors can given tamiflu based on symptoms without doing flu test.

Indian Parliment

Lok Sabha

The Lok Sabha is also known as the "House of the People" or the lower house. Almost all of its members are directly elected by citizens of India. It is the more powerful of the two houses and can precede or overrule the Rajya Sabha (upper house) in certain matters.

The Lok Sabha can have up to 552 members as envisaged in the Constitution of India (Article 81). It has a term of 5 years but it may be dissolved earlier by the President in the event of no party getting a majority. Its duration may also be increased during any national emergency. To be eligible for membership of Lok Sabha, a person must be a citizen of India and must not be less than 25 years of age. Up to 530 members can be elected from the states, up to 20 members from the Union territories and no more than two members can be nominated by the President of India.

As of now, the Lok Sabha has 545 members, 530 members from the states, 13 members from the Union territories and two nominated members representing the Anglo Indian community. Some seats are reserved for representatives of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The representatives from States and Union territories are directly elected by the people on the basis of universal adult suffrage. Every citizen who is over 18 years of age, irrespective of gender, caste, religion or race, who is otherwise not disqualified, is eligible to vote.

Raja Sabha
The Rajya Sabha is also known as "Council of States" or the upper house. Its members are indirectly elected by members of legislative bodies of the States.

The Rajya Sabha has 250 members in all. Elections to it are scheduled and the chamber cannot be dissolved. Each member has a term of 6 years and elections are held for one-third of the seats after every 2 years. The composition is specified in Article 80 of the Constitution of India.

12 members are nominated by the President from people having special knowledge or experience in literature, science, art or social services.
Representatives of States are elected by the elected members of the Legislative Assembly of the State in accordance with system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.
Representatives of Union Territories are indirectly elected by members of an electoral college for that territory in accordance with system of proportional representation.
The Council of States is designed to maintain the federal character of the country. The number of members from a state depends on the population of the state (e.g. 31 from Uttar Pradesh and one from Nagaland).

The minimum age for a person to become a member of Rajya Sabha is 30 years

Photography Tips

1.Look your subject in the eye (even if u dont like them..)

Direct eye contact can be as engaging in a picture as it is in real life. When taking a picture of someone, hold the camera at the person’s eye level to unleash the power of those magnetic gazes and mesmerizing smiles. For children, that means stooping to their level. And your subject need not always stare at the camera. All by itself that eye level angle will create a personal and inviting feeling that pulls you into the picture.

2.Use a plain background
A plain background shows off the subject you are photographing. When you look through the camera viewfinder, force yourself to study the area surrounding your subject. Make sure no poles grow from the head of your favorite niece and that no cars seem to dangle from her ears.

3.Use flash outdoors


Bright sun can create unattractive deep facial shadows. Eliminate the shadows by using your flash to lighten the face. When taking people pictures on sunny days, turn your flash on. You may have a choice of fill-flash mode or full-flash mode. If the person is within five feet, use the fill-flash mode; beyond five feet, the full-power mode may be required. With a digital camera, use the picture display panel to review the results.
On cloudy days, use the camera’s fill-flash mode if it has one. The flash will brighten up people’s faces and make them stand out. Also take a picture without the flash, because the soft light of overcast days sometimes gives quite pleasing results by itself.

4.Move in close


If your subject is smaller than a car, take a step or two closer before taking the picture and zoom in on your subject. Your goal is to fill the picture area with the subject you are photographing. Up close you can reveal telling details, like a sprinkle of freckles or an arched eyebrow.
But don’t get too close or your pictures will be blurry. The closest focusing distance for most cameras is about three feet, or about one step away from your camera. If you get closer than the closest focusing distance of your camera (see your manual to be sure), your pictures will be blurry.

5.Move it from the middle


Center-stage is a great place for a performer to be. However, the middle of your picture is not the best place for your subject. Bring your picture to life by simply moving your subject away from the middle of your picture. Start by playing tick-tack-toe with subject position. Imagine a tick-tack-toe grid in your viewfinder. Now place your important subject at one of the intersections of lines.
You’ll need to lock the focus if you have an auto-focus camera because most of them focus on whatever is in the center of the viewfinder.

6.Lock the focus


If your subject is not in the center of the picture, you need to lock the focus to create a sharp picture. Most auto-focus cameras focus on whatever is in the center of the picture. But to improve pictures, you will often want to move the subject away from the center of the picture. If you don’t want a blurred picture, you’ll need to first lock the focus with the subject in the middle and then recompose the picture so the subject is away from the middle.
Usually you can lock the focus in three steps. First, center the subject and press and hold the shutter button halfway down. Second, reposition your camera (while still holding the shutter button) so the subject is away from the center. And third, finish by pressing the shutter button all the way down to take the picture.

7.Know your flash’s range


The number one flash mistake is taking pictures beyond the flash’s range. Why is this a mistake? Because pictures taken beyond the maximum flash range will be too dark. For many cameras, the maximum flash range is less than fifteen feet—about five steps away.
What is your camera’s flash range? Look it up in your camera manual. Can’t find it? Then don’t take a chance. Position yourself so subjects are no farther than ten feet away. Film users can extend the flash range by using Kodak Max versatility or versatility plus film.
8.Watch the light


Next to the subject, the most important part of every picture is the light. It affects the appearance of everything you photograph. On a great-grandmother, bright sunlight from the side can enhance wrinkles. But the soft light of a cloudy day can subdue those same wrinkles.
Don’t like the light on your subject? Then move yourself or your subject. For landscapes, try to take pictures early or late in the day when the light is orangish and rakes across the land.

9.Take some vertical pictures


Is your camera vertically challenged? It is if you never turn it sideways to take a vertical picture. All sorts of things look better in a vertical picture. From a lighthouse near a cliff to the Eiffel Tower to your four-year-old niece jumping in a puddle. So next time out, make a conscious effort to turn your camera sideways and take some vertical pictures.
10.Be a picture director


Take control of your picture-taking and watch your pictures dramatically improve. Become a picture director, not just a passive picture-taker. A picture director takes charge. A picture director picks the location: “Everybody go outside to the backyard.” A picture director adds props: “Girls, put on your pink sunglasses.” A picture director arranges people: “Now move in close, and lean toward the camera.”
Most pictures won’t be that involved, but you get the idea: Take charge of your pictures and win your own best picture awards.

Fantastic Song

Sri Lanka war to end in 48 hours: President_English_Xinhua

COLOMBO, May 15 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's over 30-year-old conflict with the Tamil Tiger rebels is to end within the next 48 hours, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has said. The Government Director of Information Anusha Palpita told reporters here Friday that President had made the announcement in Jordan where he is currently on a two-day official visit. Sri Lanka's troops have been surrounding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Karayimullivaikkal and Mullivalikkal areas - just 3.5 sq km in extent in the northeastern Mullaithivu district. Meanwhile the troops said that they had heard a loud explosion followed by a thick black smoke coming 200 meters high from the rebel holds around 6.30 p.m. local time Thursday (1230 GMT). All rebel communications had ceased after the explosion, military said. The whereabouts of senior rebel leaders are still not known despite military's inching on to the areas they hold. More than 70,000 died in the island's separatist war waged by the Tiger rebels to carve out a separate homeland for the minority Tamils.

Sri Lanka war to end in 48 hours: President_English_Xinhua

UPA to get 216 seats, NDA 177: NDTV exit poll - Yahoo! India News

 UPA is projected to emerge as the largest alliance in the Lok Sabha polls with 216 seats, leaving the NDA far behind, according to NDTV's exit poll. The exit poll gave NDA 177 seats while the Third Front was projected to get 105, Fourth Front 30 and others 15.The poll projected that Third Front, mainly constituting BSP, would emerge the largest grouping in Uttar Pradesh, bagging 28 out of 80 seats. The Fourth Front, mainly comprising Samajwadi Party, was predicted to get 23, which would be a reduction of 12 seats from the 2004 elections.NDA was projected to get 14 seats, closely followed by UPA at 13, according to the poll. In Maharashtra which has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the exit poll gave NDA 19 seats, six less than the last elections, while UPA was projected to improve its tally by seven seats to reach 29.

UPA to get 216 seats, NDA 177: NDTV exit poll - Yahoo! India News

US wants to do 'open' business with new Indian govt - Yahoo! India News

New Delhi, May 14 (PTI) Expressing the US' admiration for India's "event free" elections, a top US military official today said the Obama Administration looked forward to doing "open, candid" business with the new government, even as Washington pursued three important defence agreements with New Delhi. US Pacific Command chief Admiral Timothy J Keating, who held discussions with top Indian officials here, told reporters that the US had respect and admiration for the democratic process in India, where 800 million people voted in a month-long process of electing a new government."We have respect and admiration for India conducting a relatively event free elections. The US looks forward to dealing in the same manner in open, candid manner in with we deal, as we did earlier, with the new government," he said.Asked if he discussed with the Indian officials the three important cooperation deals -- the End User Monitoring Agreement (EUMA), Logistics Support Agreement (LSA) and Communication Interoperability and Security Monitoring Agreement (CISMOA) -- that US was pursuing for some time, Keating said Washington looked forward to successful conclusion of the agreements and that Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, with whom he interacted on them, understood the US' desire to see the deal through so that both sides could get on with more important matters. PTI.

US wants to do 'open' business with new Indian govt - Yahoo! India News