Bharat Darshan – Nubra Valley, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet poses major security threat to India’s Himalayan Frontier.
India’s Ladakh region faced unprovoked aggression by Red China in 1962 apart from Red China’s illegal occupation of Ladakh territory known as Aksai Chin. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet since 1950s remains a major security threat to India’s Himalayan Frontier.
Written by: Akshatha Vinayak Updated: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 15:57 [IST]
The thought of life in the Himalayan regions is scary and exciting at the same time. In modernised world, every place is developed into cities with skyscrapers. It is hard to find a place which is not hit by modernisation yet alluring! Somehow, nature has its defence against human strategies; that is why we still have a few regions that are untouched! Among such wonders, Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir is a mystical region which remains pristine even to this day! Shall we explore some interesting things about Ladakh?!
Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet poses major security threat to Himalayan Frontier.
A Road Trip in Ladakh. Photo Courtesy: FULVIO SPADA
Ancient Trade Route
Ladakh became famous for its strategic location; it connects China, Tibet and Central Asia. Hence it was one of the prominent trade routes till 1960’s. It was when China closed its interaction with Tibet and Central Asia that Ladakh lost its fame and became only a tourist hub.
Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Red China’s occupation of Tibet remains major security threat to India’s Himalayan Frontier.
Peaks near Pangong Tso Lake. Photo Courtesy: FULVIO SPADA
Mentioned in Greek Literature
Records suggest that Ladakh region was inhabited from the Neolithic age. Interestingly, it is also referred to in several Greek works of Herodotus, Megasthanese, etc.
Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet poses major security threat to India’s Himalayan Frontier.
Locals of Ladakh. Photo Courtesy: PRAVEEN
Indo-Aryan Origin
Indo-Aryans and Tibetans mostly inhabit Ladakh. Indo-Aryans belong to an ethnolinguistic group from the Indo-European origin. After Tibet’s dispute against China, many immigrant Tibetans made this region their home.
Bharat Darshan – Magnetic Hill, or Gravity Hill, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet poses major security threat to India’s Himalayan Frontier.
Magnetic Hill. Photo Courtesy: FULVIO SPADA
Magnetic Hill, a Wonder
A tour in Ladakh is never complete without visiting the Magnetic Hill. It is also known as Gravity Hill which creates a unique illusion.
A Place of High Altitude Lakes
Just imagine the water bodies in an almost dry high mountains. Surprisingly, Ladakh is a region with several beautiful high-altitude lakes. Pangong Tso, Kiagar Tso, Mirapal Tso, Tso Moriri Lake are some famous lakes in Ladakh.
Bharat Darshan – Pangong Tso Lake, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet poses major security threat to India’s Himalayan Frontier.
Pangong Tso Lake. Photo Courtesy: FULVIO SPADA
Sparsely Populated
Unlike other parts of India, Ladakh is not crowded. In fact, it is one of the main reasons why Ladakh has preserved its original state. You will only find a few communities of people and travellers here.
Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet poses major security threat to India’s Himalayan Frontier.
For Indians can only imagine big humped camels in the desert regions like Rajasthan. However, Ladakh is a home to some unique species of camels – Twin-Humped (Bactrian) Camels. They are rare and much smaller in size when compared to regular camels.
Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India. Red China’s military occupation of Tibet poses major security threat to India’s Himalayan Frontier.
Maitreya Buddha. Photo Courtesy: SAURABH KUMAR
Land of Monasteries
Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing security threat by Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.
Tibetan Buddhists are one of the primary inhabitants in Ladakh. Hence, the region is full of Buddhist Monasteries or Gompas. We are sure these interesting facts about Ladakh to make you curious to visit this place. Pack your bags and get set for an unforgettable adventure in Ladakh. Be on the look out for Interesting Things About Ladakh – Part 2
Photos
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Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India faces major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Himalayan Frontier of India faces major security threat due to Red China’s occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himalayan Frontier of India facing major security threat following Red China’s occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Leh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir. India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier is facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Lamayuru, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threats following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threats following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing major security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier Faces Major Security Threat with Red China’s Military Occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Kargil District, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier Faces Major Security Threat with Red China’s Military Occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces major security threat with Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces major security threat due to Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces major security threat on account of Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces serious security threat on account of Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces major security threat due to Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Sculpture near Drass, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier facing security threat following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.
Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces daunting security challenge following Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces daunting security threat on account of Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Buddhist Monastery, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces major security threat on acoount of Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.
Bharat Darshan – Zanskar River, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces major security threat on account of Red China’s military occupation of Tibet.Bharat Darshan – Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces major security threat on account of Red China’s military occupation of Tibet. Photo by Rudra Narayan Mitra.Bharat Darshan – Pangong Tso Lake, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Himalayan Frontier faces major security threat on account of Red China’s military occupation of Tibet. Photo by Rudra Narayan Mitra.
Bharat Darshan-Remembering Sam BahadurBharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Manekshaw. 8th Chief of Army Staff and Prime Minister of India, my Parsi Connections in 1970Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur. Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Prime Minister of India with Indian Army Chief Sam Manekshaw, my Parsi Connections.
I have good reasons to pay this tribute to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw(‘SAM BAHADUR’) who passed away on June 27, 2008. I count him as my ‘Parsi Connection’ apart from Mrs. Indira Gandhi who was India’s Prime Minister when I reported to Officers Training School, AMC Centre, Lucknow on July 26, 1970 to attend Basic Medical Officers Course 20/70. Interestingly, when I left military service, I was at Strait of Hormuz near Hormuz region of Iran to which Parsi community has its historical relationship.
Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur. India – Iran, Hormuz – Parsi Connection.Bharat Darshan-Remembering Sam Bahadur.
The video jerked into play… realised I wasn’t looking for the Great Man: Sam Manekshaw’s daughter Maja Daruwala
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw died this day in 2008. A daughter remembers.
Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.
Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw led the Indian Army to victory in East Pakistan. (Photo: Express Archive)Written by Maja Daruwala | New Delhi | Published:June 27, 2016 1:27 am
Perhaps because there are so few of us around, people feel obliged to email and SMS me snippets of news and views, blogs, pictures and videos about Parsees. The complimentary pieces are bittersweet gestures of affection for a friend. They come tinged with regret that seems to mourn the inevitable passing away of our tiny community. The last little video I got came with the message “You should be proud” and opened into a montage of the usual greats. I watched with only tepid interest as the pictures and names in blazoned heroic script passed across the screen. There was Jamshedji, and Dorabji, Nani, Fali and Soli. There was Bhikhaji Cama and atomic energy Bhabha and Rattan of course, Adi, and apro Zubin and Cyrus. I’d seen them all before. At the end, the video stalled and I realised I was mildly miffed at the producers who had missed one name.Still and sad, I stared hard at the little dots going round and round as the video buffered into its last five seconds. In those long moments, I felt my chest tighten and my eyes prick as I remembered the missing man. He had meant so much to us. Eight years dead this week, he was still right there at every family gathering, lighting up the room with silly teasing and laughter, telling funny stories about the cook in Amritsar whose kheema my mother could never match, or the fair girl who’d given him his first innocent kiss by the back loo in exchange for a promise not to tell the elders she was meeting with the local rake, or the tale of how he had exasperated his mother into throwing a bunch of keys at him for explaining to all the household that his hazel eyes came from being born in Egypt. When we asked; “Why Egypt? His only explanation was “Baby, that’s the only name I knew!”
He taught us the names of all the flowers in the garden and read us Scheherazade stories from the Arabian Nights. Then wickedly played king. My sister was the favoured and beautiful Lal Pari, I the ugly sidey grateful to be included. When we asked what our mother was he’d say airily: “Oh, she’s the lady in waiting — waiting for everything.” He loved being the hero and would post us scurrilous detective stories at boarding school. In the hols, I complained to my aunt that no one believed the letters were from my father and she cried out “Bhai, you’re still doing the same thing!” She had been an early victim in their school days. He had enthusiasms and dragged us willy-nilly into them because they had to be shared by everyone around. So my mother, straw hat on head, walked across the winter sun fields near Delhi while he shot quail and joined the locals in chai on the khatia after. At home, my sister wiggled hot and impatient under studio lights while he perfected the angle of his tripod camera. At the race course, he taught me to feed our one-fourth of a race horse with an open flat hand so I wouldn’t get bitten. It mattered not at all that First Entry never won a race. In Ferozpur, the huge grounds of Flagstaff House turned him farmer. So we all dug potatoes out of the ground, picked cotton and felt how aniseed tasted right off the stalk. In Mhow, he battled the cook for suzerainty over the kitchen and competed with him to show he could make the best tasting chola ever — for breakfast! In Coonoor, it was trout fishing and endless hours fiddling to find just the right rods and reels and being coaxed into spearing live bait on to hook because he wasn’t going to do it. Then it was milch cows. We had to have them. All the houses along Porter Avenue got milk at the same price for 20 years. Meticulous accounts were kept. The grandchildren got the 6 am milk run and my mother got to name the animals: Rose (naturally, what else can you name a cow), then Rose Bud, then just Bud, then Bud Bud. Until the Gorkhas put their foot down and only a minimal cow was allowed to remain on the premises. He loved being loved and retired hurt one time when our long time charioteer cook and Gorkhas agreed that “hamari madam jaisa koi nahi”. He wasn’t expecting it. Beyond the jesting, there was wisdom. “You must spoil your children and spoil your children but they must never get spoiled.” He’d say. The video jerked into play and pulled me out of my reverie. At last I was face to face with the last name and portrait. We looked at each other and I realised I wasn’t looking for the Great Man at all but for the funny, handsome brave father whose face anyway lives behind my eyes — always.
Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan-Remembering Sam Bahadur (GOC IV CORPS)Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. Indian President V.V. Giri with Army, Navy, and Air Chiefs.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw.Bharat Darshan – Remembering Sam Bahadur, Field Marshal Manekshaw, Final Journey on June 27, 2008.Bharat Darshan-Remembering Sam Bahadur.
Each living cell of human body is essentially same as fertilized Ovum or Egg Cell called Zygote which consists of nucleus and cytoplasm. The nucleus has chromosomes which carry genes or genetic information used in protein synthesis to develop structures of body. However, human genome found in nucleus has no ability to acquire energy from its external environment.
Cytoplasm has the power of ‘Nutrition’ with which it attracts matter found in cell’s external environment. Cytoplasm has intracellular organelle called mitochondria which oxidize nutrients and manipulate energy yielding molecules to generate chemical molecules such as Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) that provide energy for protein synthesis and other cellular activities. Genome depends upon cytoplasm for its energy requirements. If a synthetic genome is introduced into a living cell, it will function as a parasite like Virus which has no ability of its own to acquire energy for its living functions.
Scientists plans for Synthetic Human Genomes in essence represent Biotic Interaction called Parasitism. Synthetic Parasitic Genomes may pose same problems that are commonly associated with Viral parasitic infections of host living cells.
Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA BHAVANAJAGAT.ORG
After secret Harvard meeting, scientists announce plans for synthetic human genomes
By JOEL ACHENBACH June 2
Photo illustration of sequenced DNA (iStock)
Three weeks ago, 130 scientists, entrepreneurs and policy leaders held an invitation-only, closed-door meeting at Harvard University to discuss an ambitious plan to create synthetic human genomes. Now, after a flurry of criticism over the secrecy of the effort, the participants have published their idea, declaring that they’re launching a project to radically reduce the cost of synthesizing genomes — a potentially revolutionary development in biotechnology that could enable technicians to grow human organs for transplantation.
The announcement, published Thursday in the Journal Science, is the latest sign that biotechnology is going through a rapidly advancing but ethically fraught period. Scientists have been honing their techniques for manipulating the complex molecules that serve as the code for all life on the planet, and this same issue of the journal Science reports a breakthrough in editing RNA, a molecule that is the close cousin of DNA.
The promoters of synthetic genomes envision a project that would eventually be on the same scale as the Human Genome Project of the 1990s, which led to the sequencing of the first human genomes. The difference this time would be that, instead of “reading” genetic codes, which is what sequencing does, the scientists would be “writing” them. They have dubbed this the “Genome Project-write.”
“[T]he goal of HGP-write is to reduce the costs of engineering and testing large genomes, including a human genome, in cell lines, more than 1,000-fold within ten years, while developing new technologies and an ethical framework for genome-scale engineering as well as transformative medical applications,” the group wrote in a draft of a news release obtained by The Post. The project will be administered by a non-profit organization called the Center of Excellence for Engineering Biology, the news release said.
The plan drew a negative response from the head of the National Institutes of Health, Francis Collins, who had led the earlier Human Genome Project. In a statement released by NIH, Collins said it was premature to launch such an initiative.
“NIH has not considered the time to be right for funding a large-scale production-oriented ‘HGP-write’ effort, as is framed in the Science article,” Collins said. He added, “There are only limited ethical concerns about synthesizing segments of DNA for laboratory experiments. But whole-genome, whole-organism synthesis projects extend far beyond current scientific capabilities, and immediately raise numerous ethical and philosophical red flags.”
No one is talking about creating human beings from scratch. One application of cheaper genome synthesis, according to geneticist George Church, one of the authors of the Science article, would be to create cells that are resistant to viruses. These would not be cells used directly in human therapies, but rather in cell lines grown by the pharmaceutical industry for developing drugs. Such processes are vulnerable now to viral contamination.
“If you’re manufacturing human therapeutics in mammalian cells, and you get contamination, it can blow you away for two years, which has actually happened,” Church said.
The Science paper gives a number of examples of what could emerge from cheaper synthesized genomes: “growing transplantable human organs; engineering immunity to viruses in cell lines via genome-wide recoding; engineering cancer resistance into new therapeutic cell lines; and accelerating high-productivity, cost-efficient vaccine and pharmaceutical development using human cells and organoids.”
The synthetic genome plan emerged from two closed-door meetings, one in New York City last year, and the second on May 10 at Harvard.
The latter drew criticism from researchers who objected to the closed-door nature of the event; organizers said they didn’t want to publicize their idea in advance of the publication of the article in Science. They said they plan to put a video of the proceedings online.
Drew Endy, an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford, wrote on Twitter, “If you need secrecy to discuss your proposed research (synthesizing a human genome), you are doing something wrong.”
Endy and Laurie Zoloth, a professor of medical ethics and humanities at Northwestern University, published an essay in which they said that, although this technology has promising applications, “it is easy to make up far stranger uses of human genome synthesis capacities.”
Endy on Thursday renewed his criticism. He said the group is proceeding without approval of the broader scientific community or any independent ethical review, he said.
“Do we wish to be operating in a world where people are capable of organizing themselves to make human genomes? Should we pause and reflect on that question before we launch into doing it?” Endy told The Post. “They’re talking about making real the capacity to make the thing that defines humanity – the human genome.”
He said the article published in Science does not address any ethical questions. The promoters of the project say they will handle the ethical questions that come up, but Endy said in an email that this appears to be “a brazen attempt to preempt independent ethical review.”
The project has four lead organizers: Church, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School; Jef Boeke, director of the Institute for Systems Genetics at the NYU Langone Medical Center; Andrew Hessel, a researcher with the publicly traded company Autodesk; and Nancy J. Kelley, formerly executive director of the New York Genome Center.
The news release stated that Kelley will be the top executive for the project, and that Autodesk has committed $250,000 in funding for the planning efforts.
The organizers hope to raise $100 million by the end of this year, with an eventual goal of devoting $3 billion to the effort. The authors of the Science article wrote that some portion of the money that would be raised for the project should be directed toward addressing the ethical, legal and social issues surrounding how new genetic engineering technologies will be used.
Church, informed of Endy’s latest comments, said nine of the participants in the Harvard meeting were experts on the ethical, legal and social implications of technology, and he said he expects many more will respond to the article in Science.
“Even when we identify something that we do not want, we need to think deeply about how to prevent it — effective surveillance, deterrents and consequences,” Church told The Post.
Church, whose laboratory at Harvard Medical School is renowned for breakthroughs in genetic engineering, said that in a span of three to 10 years it should be possible to bring down the cost of synthesizing long stretches of DNA by a thousand-fold. That would mirror the huge declines in the cost of sequencing – that is, reading – human genomes. He said researchers are already synthesizing stretches of genetic code, but only in small pieces. The obstacle to widespread application and testing of synthetic genomes is the cost, he said.
The field of genetic engineering has been dealing with ethical quandaries since the 1970s. In December, for example, scientists from the U.S., Europe and China met in Washington and agreed to put limits on the breakthrough gene-editing technique known as CRISPR, which has the potential to make heritable changes in a person’s genome.
Joel Achenbach covers science and politics for the National Desk. Achenbach also helms the “Achenblog.”
FOLLOW @joelachenbach
SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – CHANGING COSMOS – UNCHANGING REALITY. THINGS IN NATURE CHANGE. BUT, EVERY NATURAL PHENOMENON IS OPERATED BY AN UNDERLYING UNCHANGING PRINCIPLE.
Man exists in a World and Universe that are constantly on move. Reports indicate that the galaxies are moving at a faster rate than we thought leading to speculation that the Cosmos is expanding. However, it will be incorrect to suggest that The Universe is expanding at a fast rate. Atoms and Molecules maintain their structural configuration and as per Fundamental Laws of classical Physics and Chemistry certain quantities, or values are always conserved. In general, celestial bodies move in a predictable manner as quantities or values like Mass and Momentum remain conserved. Planet Earth partakes in the motions of Sun as it revolves around Milky Way Galactic Center. The entire Solar System moves as a single unit while Milky Way Galaxy keeps moving at a fast rate of its own.
SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – CHANGING COSMOS – UNCHANGING REALITY. WHILE CELESTIAL OBJECTS CONSTANTLY MOVE, THERE IS CONSERVATION OF MASS, ENERGY, AND MOMENTUM TO MAINTAIN COSMIC BALANCE, COSMIC ORDER, AND COSMIC EQUILIBRIUM.On wholedude.com
As such, Solar System and Milky Way Galaxy are not expanding. The dimensions of the Universe are not known for Space is an immaterial dimension. It is not known if dimensions of Space are altering if Galaxies keep moving faster than we thought. If unknown ‘Dark Matter’ is exerting force to make galaxies move faster, there is nothing to suggest that Solar System or Milky Way Galaxy are expanding. Matter occupies Space. For Matter is neither created nor destroyed, Matter can neither create nor destroy absolute value called ‘Total Space’ of the Universe which is not yet quantified. No natural change in size, or position is possible without operation of Unchanging Principle that may govern Universal Laws of Conservation. Cosmos is Changing but this Change is operated by an Unchanging Reality which conserves values to retain Cosmic Balance, Cosmic Order and Cosmic Equilibrium.
Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA BHAVANAJAGAT.ORG
Hold on tight: The universe is expanding faster than we thought
BY RACHEL FELTMAN JUNE 3
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos, Unchanging Reality. What is the name of Force that can alter dimension called Space?
This Hubble Space Telescope image shows one of the galaxies in the survey to refine the measurement for how fast the universe expands with time. (NASA, ESA and A. Riess (STScI/JHU))
You’ve probably already heard that the universe is expanding. It’s been doing so since the BigBang — about 13.7 billion years ago — so you’ve had plenty of time to get in the loop. But according to new research, that relentless, ever-quickening expansion is happening at a rate 5 to 9 percent faster than previously thought.
Led by Nobel Laureate Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute and Johns Hopkins University, the research team developed new, more accurate techniques for measuring the ever-increasing size of the cosmos.
It measured stars and supernovae commonly used as “cosmic yardsticks”: 2,400 Cepheid Stars (in 19 different galaxies), which pulsate in a way that allows scientists to compare their true brightness to their apparent brightness and figure out how far away they are, and 300 Type Ia Supernovae, which flare with a brightness so reliable it can be used to measure distance.
The calculations, which will be published in an upcoming edition of the Astrophysical Journal, estimate the rate of expansion to be 45.5 miles per second per megaparsec (3.26 million light-years). That means that the distance between cosmic objects will double in another 9.8 billion years.
And the more we learn, the less we know.
“If you really believe our number — and we have shed blood, sweat and tears to get our measurement right and to accurately understand the uncertainties — then it leads to the conclusion that there is a problem with predictions based on measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the leftover glow from the Big Bang,” study co-author Alex Filippenko of UC Berkeley said in a statement.
“If we know the initial amounts of stuff in the universe, such as dark energy and dark matter, and we have the physics correct, then you can go from a measurement at the time shortly after the big bang and use that understanding to predict how fast the universe should be expanding today,” Riess said in a statement. “However, if this discrepancy holds up, it appears we may not have the right understanding, and it changes how big the Hubble constant should be today.”
Riess and his colleagues believe there must be some way to marry the two estimates — some obvious data we’re missing or misunderstanding. It could be that dark energy is pushing galaxies apart faster than we think it is. Or that dark matter has some kind of properties we understand even less than its other properties. Maybe some undiscovered “dark radiation” — subatomic particles like the Neutrino — was present during the big bang, and we’ve yet to add it to the expansion equation. Or Einstein’s general theory of relativity isn’t quite right. If these measurements are confirmed by other scientists, something’s gotta give.
“You start at two ends, and you expect to meet in the middle if all of your drawings are right and your measurements are right,” Riess said. “But now the ends are not quite meeting in the middle and we want to know why.”
It’s a reminder of just how mysterious most of the universe is to us: Scientists estimate that some 95 percent of the cosmos is made up of substances like dark energy, dark matter and dark radiation — things we know only by the forces they exert on our galaxies.
Rachel Feltman runs The Post’s Speaking of Science blog. FOLLOW @rachelfeltman
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos, Unchanging Reality. Is there a Law to govern functions of immaterial dimension called Space?
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. Sun’s Motion through Milky Way Galaxy.
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. The Interactions between Matter and Space. Matter occupies Space. If Matter is neither created nor destroyed, can it expand or shrink dimensions of Total Space of the Universe?
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. While Celestial Objects move and change their positions, certain quantities or values remain conserved. Matter is neither created nor destroyed. The Fundamental Laws of Conservation may also govern absolute value of Total Space of the Universe.
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. Solar System and Milky Galaxy are on the move but the dimension called Space remains Unchanged.
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. While Change is a Constant, Natural Phenomenon, certain values and quantities, including immaterial dimension called Space, are always conserved.
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. Time and Space are immaterial dimensions. Are there values and quantities that are conserved while celestial objects travel distances at great speeds?
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. Universal Laws of Conservation. No natural change in size, or position is possible without conservation of certain quantities or values.
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. Solar System in Milky Way Galaxy may represent purposeful, guided, Unchanging Principle that governs Cosmic Balance, Cosmic Order, and Cosmic Equilibrium.
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. The orbit of the Sun around the Milky Way Galaxy. If Matter and Energy are neither created nor destroyed, what natural force or mechanism that can alter absolute values of Space dimension?
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. Structure of Milky Way Galaxy. Is there a natural mechanism to increase or decrease absolute values of Space dimension of the Universe?
Spirituality Science – Changing Cosmos – Unchanging Reality. For every change observed in visible Universe, there is an underlying Unchanging Principle at work.
SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – IMPERISHABLE, IMMUTABLE, AND IMMORTAL PRINCIPLE OF LIVING THINGS
Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Qingmendous, extinct species, was part of a group of Lobe Finned Fishes .
Living Things are made up of 1. Living Matter, and 2. Physical Form. The Form or Morphological Appearance of Living Things is used in their identification and for classification.
Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Living Things Change Under Influence of Time. Changes of Growth and Development.
Theory of Evolution carefully records similarities between different living things and claims that living things are constantly changing and descend into new forms of living things that are again identified by their morphological appearance. Change is a Natural Phenomenon. Things in Nature change under influence of Time.
Protoplasm or Cytoplasm is the clear, soft, gelatinous living substance found inside all living cells. A most striking characteristic of Protoplasm is its vital property of Nutrition. Nutrition is the power which Protoplasm has of attracting to itself the materials that provide energy and are necessary for its growth and maintenance.
However, the problem of biodiversity is not resolved by Theory of Evolution. Living things change in appearance due to natural process called Growth and Development or due to aging process. Changes in Genetic Code called Mutation does not affect Chemical Composition of Living Matter while it may cause change in form or appearance.But any such observed change in appearance is possible if and only if Living Matter retains its basic chemical composition and behaves as if it is operated by Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle.
Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Chemical components of living cells such as Bacteria remains same unaffected by Mutations which may change Genetic Code.
All living things exist in nature by consuming other living things or consuming products made by other living things. All living things appear to be varied and yet consist of the same kind of Chemical Compounds. To a great extent, Chemical Elements retain their attributes as if they are imperishable, immutable, and can even said to be immortal. This unchanging nature or Spiritual attribute helps formulation of Fundamental Laws of Matter described by classical Physics and Chemistry. Over billions of years, Living Matter retained its basic Chemical Composition as Chemical Elements and Chemical Compounds governed or operated by imperishable, immutable, and immortal or Spiritual Principle not influenced by time or changes in climate, or other variable external conditions.
Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. The Organic Material called Protoplasm or Cytoplasm exhibits Nature that can neither be created nor destroyed. There is no ‘Evolutionary Change’.
The Organic Material called Protoplasm or Cytoplasm exhibits Nature that can neither be created nor destroyed. Its Nature is not subject to ‘Evolutionary Change’.
Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. This Ray Finned Fish shares the same characteristics found in all Living Things without significant variation in Chemical Components.
In my analysis, Theory of Evolution is fundamentally flawed for its focus on change in morphological appearance does not take into account Unchanging Nature of Chemical Elements and Chemical Compounds. There is no evolution for there is no natural factor, or natural mechanism, or natural condition that can violate Fundamental Laws of Nature.
Spirituality Science – Concept of Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) and Tree of Life.
Biological Diversity is reflected by the number of Living Animal and Plant species which are all operated by Unchanging Spiritual Principle. I explain Biological Diversity as a creative mechanism that formulates the morphological appearance of living things while they are essentially made up of the same Living Substance. Every living thing fundamentally exists as an Individual with Individuality. There are no two perfectly identical living things. For there is such vast diversity of living things, for purposes of convenience, they may be grouped and classified using principles shared by Taxonomy. Some Forms of Life became extinct over course of time but Life has not perished for Living Matter continues to exist as before. Indeed all varied Forms of Life are Formed by the same Chemical Components.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA
THIS FUNNY-LOOKING ANCIENT FISH IS ACTUALLY YOUR GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GREAT (YOU GET THE IDEA) GRAND-UNCLE.
By SARAH KAPLAN June 3
Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. This ancient, extinct form of fish called QINGMENDOUS may have lived with Living Matter made up of same Chemical Components as found in modern Lobe-Finned Fishes.
Qingmendous, a 409 million-year-old predatory fish provides unique insights into the early evolution of modern lobe-finned fishes. (Brian Choo/Flinders University)
MEET QINGMENDOUS
He’s half a foot long, 409 million years old and fierce as they come. Huge, squiggly teeth protrude from his lower lip, and powerful, muscle-bound fins allow him to sluice through the brackish water of a prehistoric lagoon. When he’s hungry, he lies in wait for creatures that are as much as half his size and ambushes them. His jagged teeth make quick work of the unsuspecting prey.
He’s also your great-great-great-great (you get the idea) grand-uncle. Pleased to make your acquaintance. Qingmendous, scientists report in the journal Science Advances on Friday, was part of a group of “lobe finned fishes” that included the first vertebrates to crawl onto land. Analysis of his skull will give researchers insight into how our distant fishy forebears evolved, they say, and a literal glimpse into the brain of a creature of that ancient world.
This prehistoric, predatory sea creature was first identified back in 2009, after paleontologists in China uncovered fossils of his hindquarters. Jing Lu and Min Zhu, both researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and also lead authors on this report, identified Qingmendous as the oldest of a mysterious group of fish known as onychodonts.
Not much is known about the onychodonts, aside from the fact that they were predators with funny-looking faces (like Qingmendous, they all had squiggly teeth at the front of their lower jaw) and that they died out some 350 million years ago.
“We basically had two stages in the evolutionary history of the lobe finned fishes,” said You’an Zhu, a paleontologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Uppsala University in Sweden. “There were the very primitive ones — so primitive they didn’t even have lobed fins,” he continued. “And then we get complete sets of lineages we are quite familiar with: coelacanths, also lungfish, and of course our direct ancestors the tetrapods (every land vertebrate ever, plus birds, bats, dolphins and whales).”
But few fossils have been found from the creatures that lived in between those two stages, and many aren’t in great shape. So it was hard to figure out how Qingmendous was related to other creatures alive at the time, not to mention everything that came after.
That’s when You’an Zhu joined the team. Using CT scans, he and his colleagues digitally reconstructed the inside of Qingmendous’s skull, allowing them to get a better look at who he was and how his brain worked. “It turned out to be a mosaic of characteristics,” he said. “It kind of filled in the gaps between the primitive and the modern lobe finned fishes, bridging the two stages together.”
Qingmendous is not a missing link, he said — evolution is not linear. But the characteristics of his body and brain can help explain how the sea creatures made the leap onto land. Like the ancestors of modern terrestrial creatures, Qingmendous dwelled in brackish waters of lagoons, bays and deltas — within spitting distance of land. He had the same muscular fins that his cousins would use to clamber gracelessly out of the water. His skull also shares some of the advanced features of still-living lobe finned fish (well, advanced for 409 million years ago), indicating that his brain was more modern as well.
The lobe finned fish had the right tools for terrestrial exploration. They also had good luck and good timing, You’an Zhu said. There are plenty of fish that can survive out of the water for short periods of time today, but they don’t stick around because there’s too much competition and too many predators.
But 390 million years ago, plants had comfortably colonized land and insects were widespread. The continents were essentially a well-stocked, all-you-can-eat buffet — with no one else to hog the food and not a single predator large enough to make you regret sticking your head out of the sea. “So the lobe finned fish will take their chance and venture onto land and become our ancestors,” he said.
Sarah Kaplan is a reporter for Speaking of Science. Follow @sarahkaplan48
Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Lobe-Finned Fish often called ‘Living Fossil’ remains Unchanged over millions of years.Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Extinct Form of Fish called COELACANTH. Some forms of life became extinct, but life has not perished for Living Matter continues to exist as before.Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Lobe-Finned Fish continues to live while some forms of Life became extinct during course of time.Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Lobe-Finned Fish belongs to Order Sarcopterygii. No distinction between Living Things can be made on the basis of their Chemical Components.Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Lungfish. While individual living things are born and die, Life continues without change in Chemical Components.Spirituality Science – Imperishable, Immutable, and Immortal Principle of Living Things. Extinct Form of Lobe-Finned Fish. Individual Living Things experience Birth and Death while Life continues as before with same Chemical Components.
MOLECULAR BASIS OF SPIRITUALITY SCIENCE – IMMUNOLOGY PROVIDES UNDERSTANDING OF SELF AND NON-SELF. PROTEIN MOLECULES CALLED ANTIGENS ELICIT IMMUNE RESPONSE.
To account for human existence, to face challenges to human survival, man has to identify molecules that operate various living functions. Man defends his life deploying protein molecules that recognize and respond to invasion of human body by pathogens consisting of foreign protein molecules. While learned experience provides cortical awareness of human immunological responses to attacks by pathogens, human mind is blissfully unaware of presence of pathogens. Recognition of non-self proteins and molecules called antigens is not a mental function. If Spirit or Soul functions as guiding mechanism, Spirit or Soul will have awareness of invasion of body by foreign antigens and body’s immunological response to such invasion. If Reticular Formation of Brain Stem, the site at which contents of Consciousness are composed, is viewed as seat of human Spirit or Soul, it has awareness of body’s invasion and response to attacks by pathogens. Immunological responses to infections trigger a stress response mediated by Hypothalamus – Pituitary – Adrenal Cortex Pathway.
The discovery of antibiotic-resistant Superbugs may eventually lead to better understanding of Spirit or Soul in shaping human survival while warding off invasion by pathogens.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA BHAVANAJAGAT.ORG
Behind the scenes of a U.S. superbug discovery that made headlines around the world
By LENA H. SUN June 6 at 5:43 PM
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Immunology provides the understanding of Self and Non-Self and the distinction demands recognition of Protein Molecules. Superbugs are antibiotic-resistant and pose challenge to human existence.
The Post’s Lena Sun visited Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md., where scientists identified a strain of bacteria resistant to the last-resort antibiotic, Colistin. The bacteria was found in a Pennsylvania woman. Microbiologist Patrick McGann explains how his team identified the gene that gives the bacteria this resistance (Monica Akhtar,Lena Sun/The Washington Post)
Microbiologist Patrick McGann knew he had identified a dangerous germ. He just didn’t know how dangerous. In mid-May, a colleague had found a strain of E. coli bacteria from a 49-year-old Pennsylvania woman that tested positive for resistance to a drug called colistin. That’s the antibiotic used when all others fail.
McGann, whose job is to prevent outbreaks of new pathogens in the U.S. military’s sprawling health-care system, wasn’t yet alarmed. Sometimes mutations occur spontaneously that make bacteria resistant to an antibiotic. It would be a completely different problem, though, if the bacteria turned out to carry a certain colistin-resistant gene called mcr-1.
But that required deeper molecular testing. McGann asked his research team at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Md., to do an initial test for the presence of the resistant gene. And on May 18, he got the result as he rode Metro’s Red Line back to the lab from a meeting.
Research technician Ana Ong texted him to say the strain of E. coli had tested positive for the mcr-1 gene. Stunned, McGann texted back: “You’re s—-ing me??” And then, realizing what the discovery meant, he didn’t wait for her reply. “Onto the sequencer ASAP,” he wrote back, referring to the labor-intensive, round-the-clock effort required to read the entire genetic code of the bacteria and determine how easily the gene might spread. “We had to drop everything else to get this done,” he explained later. “When [the test] came back positive, all hell broke loose.”
U.S. health officials and experts had been bracing for this moment since the gene’s discovery late last year in China. They’d hunted for mcr-1 in tens of thousands of samples from meat sources, animals and people.
And now that it’s definitively here, officials expect to find more cases — provoking even greater alarm. Immediately, the discovery in Pennsylvania gave new urgency to measures throughout the military and the federal government to determine where else the gene might be lurking and how to control its spread.
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Immunology demands studying Microbes at Molecular level to identify their pathogenicity.
Patrick McGann, left, and Kathy “Ana” Ong, prepare blood plates as their team at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research looks for evidence of a dangerous antibiotic-resistant gene in bacteria. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
For infectious-disease experts, the nightmare scenario is for the gene to spread to bacteria that are now susceptible only to colistin. That would make them invincible to any antibiotic, unstoppable by the most lifesaving drugs of modern medicine.
‘This one popped up’
The gene mcr-1 was found first in pigs and people in China and then spread across Asia and Europe. By March, there were even more reports from France, Switzerland, Malaysia, Brazil and Argentina.
Still, the gene remains relatively rare. After the initial report from China, McGann’s team tested more than 3,000 antibiotic-resistant bacteria that had been collected from military facilities around the world. None contained the mcr-1 gene.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that drug-resistant bacteria cause 2 million illnesses and 23,000 deaths each year in the United States. Many service members wounded during the Iraq War contracted a strain of bacteria that the media later dubbed “Iraqibacter.” The normally harmless bacteria, found in soil and on skin, got into wounds and caused stubborn bloodstream infections, many of them resistant to many types of antibiotics. After about 2007, colistin was often one of the most effective treatment options available, McGann said.
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Study of Superbugs involves identification of genes responsible for antibiotic resistance. Genes are involved in synthesis of Protein Molecules.
Technician Brendan Corey watches a robotic micro lab prepare DNA samples for sequencing at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in Maryland. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post) That’s one reason the Army created the Multidrug-resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance Network (MRSN) in 2009; McGann is its chief of molecular research and diagnostics. Researchers say the detection of colistin-resistant bacteria in the Pennsylvania woman was a result of this strong surveillance system — but also sheer luck.
McGann got the initial call about a resistant E. coli sample from Kurt Schaecher, chief of the infectious-diseases laboratory at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. The hospital has the reference lab for about 100 military facilities, which regularly send it drug-resistant organisms.
Schaecher, who had just started in the job, was troubled by the number of reports coming in from around the world about the mcr-1 gene. Testing for colistin resistance was not routinely done in the lab, but he thought it would be prudent to start.
On May 12, he pulled out six of the lab’s most recent samples to test for resistance to colistin. The next day, the results were back. “And lo and behold, this one popped up,” he recalled, referring to the Pennsylvania sample.
He immediately alerted McGann. Both men were very surprised, Schaecher said. They didn’t know why the bacteria weren’t killed by colistin — it could have been a spontaneous mutation rather than the mcr-1 gene. McGann’s team went straight to Bethesda to collect the sample for more testing. Once McGann’s lab detected the gene on May 18, he alerted Schaecher and began fully sequencing the bacterium’s genome.
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Study of Superbugs involves identification of its genes that give ability to synthesize Protein Molecules that resist or overcome human body’s immune response or contribute to its drug resistance.
Rosslyn Maybank, left, and McGann work on tracing the mcr-1, antibiotic resistant gene. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
‘A NEEDLE IN A STACK OF NEEDLES’‘
Sequencing would tell everyone where the gene was located. Was it on the bacterium’s single chromosome? Or in a much more troubling spot, on something called a plasmid, a mobile piece of DNA that exists outside the chromosome?
If the gene were on the chromosome, that wouldn’t be so bad. The bacterium could pass the resistance only to its progeny, limiting the spread. But finding the gene on the plasmid would be much, much worse. Plasmids can transfer their genes to other bacteria, McGann said, even strains that aren’t closely related. The technical term for this ability is “promiscuity.”
The sequencing process took several days. The researchers had to extract the DNA from the bacteria and set up the sequencing machines that would read the entire genome and determine not only what genes were in the organism, but also if there were plasmids and what kind.
By 9 p.m. on May 20, they were ready to proceed. They ran the same test on two machines. One sequencer is less accurate but takes about eight hours. The other, larger sequencer is more accurate but takes 72 hours. By the following day, early results confirmed that the gene was fully present and was most likely on a plasmid. Barely 24 hours later, another researcher had confirmed that the mcr-1 gene was present “on a promiscuous plasmid,” McGann said. The final verification took until May 23. “It was like finding a needle in a stack of needles in another stack of needles,” Schaecher recalled.
McGann likened plasmids to cars that can carry a gene and transport it to other bacteria. Some plasmids can transfer those genes more readily than others. “This one moved pretty well,” he said. “Not quite a Fiat, more like a BMW.”
Even as the patient was being treated — her bacteria, while resistant to colistin, were sensitive to other drugs — researchers began to notify colleagues in the Defense Department and other government agencies. They alerted the CDC as well as the Health and Human Services and Agriculture departments that a superbug capable of spreading colistin resistance far and wide had finally surfaced in a person in the United States.
Some officials have complained that they should have been informed sooner. McGann said it would have been imprudent to send an alert before results were completely confirmed. Around the same time, he, Schaecher and the research team submitted a paper about their findings to a medical journal. The editor, Yohei Doi, an infectious-disease doctor at the University of Pittsburgh, raced to get it reviewed.
The paper was published May 26, and the discovery made headlines around the world.
These are the top superbug threats in the U.S.
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Human body defends itself from attacks by pathogens deploying unique Protein Molecules called Antibodies. Superbugs synthesize Protein Molecules that can overcome body’s immune response. Neisseria gonorrhoeae causes infection called Gonorrhoea.
THE WHITE HOUSE HAS MADE THE GERMS ARE SERIOUS PRIORITY
Urgent threat. According to the White House plan to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriacea, CRE, is one of the country’s most urgent threats. Forty-four states have had at least one type of confirmed CREcase, which are resistant to nearly all antibiotics including last-resort drugs. CDC
Meanwhile, another surveillance system that includes the CDC, the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration has also been searching for the gene in bacteria collected from food animals, meat sources and people. Scientists have scoured more than 44,000 samples of salmonella bacteria and 9,000 samples of E. coli and Shigella bacteria.
That search is how the USDA scientists recently found the gene in a sample from a pig intestine. It also was in a strain of E. coli, and also on a plasmid. The USDA is working to determine the sample’s origin.
The strains and plasmids appear to be different, McGann said. That suggests that the gene is circulating through at least two — and possibly more — routes within the United States.
McGann said he learned about the mcr-1 gene in the pig sample only when his team notified government officials about its own finding. U.S. officials haven’t provided details about when the animal sample was found or why information about it wasn’t disclosed earlier.
Public health officials are most worried about the colistin-resistant gene spreading to a family of superbugs known as CRE, for carbapenem-resistant enterobacteriaceae, which the CDC has called one of the country’s most urgent public health threats. In some instances, CRE kills up to 50 percent of patients who become infected. Colistin is increasingly the last-resort drug to treat patients with such infections.
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Superbug identification involves identification of its genome; the genes Superbug uses to synthesize its Protein Molecules involved either in pathogenicity, antibiotic resistance and its metabolic pathways.
McGann checks a DNA sampling before loading it into a genome sequencer. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post)
Already, doctors have been forced to rely on colistin as a last-line defense for many drug-resistant infections. Colistin, more than half a century old, is otherwise rarely used in human medicine because it can cause severe kidney damage.
The drug is not used in animals in the United States, but in Europe it has been widely used in veterinary medicine for decades to treat and prevent infection. In May, the European Medicines Agency recommended limiting its use in animals to halt the spread of resistance. It’s also widely used in farm animals in China.
The Army’s MRSN system receives 400 to 500 samples of multidrug-resistant organisms each month, primarily from its facilities around the world. About half are MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, bacteria resistant to many antibiotics that can cause a variety of problems, including skin infections and bloodstream infections. Another third are E. coli, and less than 1 percent are CRE.
The new information about the Pennsylvania woman’s colistin-resistant bacteria means McGann and his team can do more targeted searching in the repository of organisms. They’ve already scoured an additional 6,000 samples without again finding the gene.
This summer, all military services will be expected to begin providing the repository system with multidrug-resistant organisms. By contrast, the national antibiotic resistance surveillance system that the CDC, USDA and FDA operate collectively serves all civilian hospitals in the country. It covers a far larger patient population and collects thousands of pathogen samples for each of the 15 antibiotic-resistant bacteria that the CDC has deemed to be urgent or serious threats.
Until now, the resistance testing has taken place at the CDC. But late last year, Congress approved $160 million in additional funding to boost the Obama administration’s antibiotic-resistance detection efforts. As a result, the agency plans to start funding state health departments this fall to do improved testing for antimicrobial resistance. That will include colistin.
Lena H. Sun is a national reporter for The Washington Post, focusing on health.
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Cells of the Immune System recognize foreign protein molecules called Antigens and respond to their presence.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Reticular Formation of Brain Stem and Consciousness.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Stress and Immune System. Body recognizes threat posed by foreign protein molecules or antigens that elicit immune response.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Recognition of foreign protein molecules or antigens is not a mental function. However, Reticular Formation is involved in shaping Immune Response to Stress imposed by pathogens attacking human body.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria pose danger because of their ability to synthesize Protein Molecules.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Superbugs such as Staphylococcus. aureus (MRSA) pose danger because of their ability to synthesize Protein Molecules.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Recognition of Protein Molecules plays a central role in defending body from attacks by Pathogens.
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Body’s Defense against invasion by pathogens requires recognition of protein molecules involved in virulence and drug resistance. Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Defense against Superbugs demands knowing Molecular Basis of Life. Escherichia coli.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Infection and Immune Response involve understanding Protein Molecules that operate living functions.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Immunology provides understanding of Life at Molecular Level. Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Dangers posed by Superbugs will lead to better understanding of Molecules that defend Life and Molecules causing Disease.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Superbugs pose danger and burden on account of drug resistance which involves deployment of Protein Molecules.Molecular Basis of Spirituality Science. Defending Life against dangers posed by Superbugs involves recognition of their Protein Molecules.
SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE – OPERATION EAGLE – PETITION TO GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.On bhavanajagat.com
The Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Government of India informed me that the Joint Secretary, Ministry of Defence rejected my petition on May 31, 2016. The notification simply mentions, “Case Closed.” Apparently, this decision is not made by the Indian Army Chief of Army Staff or the Prime Minister of India.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE
:: Grievance Status ::
Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System(CPGRAMS) Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances Government of India
Grievance Status Status as on 05 Jun 2016 Registration Number: DARPG/E/2013/82606 Name Of Complainant: R R Narasimham
Date of Receipt: 07 Sep 2013
Received by: Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances
Forwarded to : D Ceremonials
Contact Address: Room No. 363V B South Block, New Delhi, 110011. Contact Number: 23011872 Grievance Description:
Dear Sir, or Madam,
This grievance pertains to the following petitions registered by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. 1. MODEF/E/2011/00761 dated 24 Sep 2011, 2. CABST/E/2012/00154 dated 26 May 2012, 3. DARPG/E/2013/82597 dated 07 Sep 2013, and 4. MODEF/E/2013/01709 dated 05 Sep 2013.
A gallantry award is granted in recognition of a past event and the gallant action would always exist as a past event.
2. In the history of the Republic of India, for the first time during 1971, the Prime Minister sanctioned a military action that was not planned by Army/Ministry of Defence.
3. Operation Eagle in which I had the honor to participate was not planned and executed under orders issued by Army Headquarters/Ministry of Defence.
4. The gallant action did not happen in the context of a border skirmish or that of a border conflict. It was not related to the Official War between India and Pakistan that was declared by the Prime Minister on 04 December 1971.
5. The gallant action pertains to a deliberate, planned attack deep inside the territory defended by the Enemy’s Regular Army. I had marched with the men to participate in the attack.
6. The battlefield casualties were treated at the Enemy Post we captured and not in Indian territory. This was a special operation which did not cater for a Regimental Aid Post and a Advanced Dressing Station to provide medical care and support in the field.
7. There was no Regimental Aid Post at the border, inside Indian territory. The treatment of battle casualties began at the site of the battle, about 40 miles from the border.
8. The Brigade Headquarters which had the primary responsibility for airlifting of battle casualties could not dispatch the helicopter as the Prime Minister did not sanction the violation of Pakistan’s airspace during the first phase of Operation Eagle in the month of November 1971.
9. I, as the Unit Medical Officer, went beyond the call of my duty to ensure a safe evacuation of the battlefield casualties. To get the airlift support to evacuate my casualties to the Field Hospital, I marched a distance of over 40 miles to reach the Border Security Force helipad. Then I walked back to my Unit to complete my task inside the Enemy territory while the Enemy was still dispersed in the area.
10. The Indian Army concluded its phase of military operations inside Bangladesh on 16 December 1971 when the Enemy totally surrendered. However, Operation Eagle concluded its military operation during January 1972.
11. The fact that the Prime Minister established the eligibility criteria for the sanction of military awards, honors and decorations to the participants of Operation Eagle could be proved by the simple fact that the Gallantry Award of Vir Chakra was given to Shri. G B Velankar, a civilian officer of my Unit who was allowed the use of Major’s rank on an honorary basis.
12. Under the battle plan of Operation Eagle, to grant military awards, the Prime Minister did not impose any time constraints as it was not a battle operation launched by the Indian Army.
13. The citation that recommended the grant of Vir Chakra for my gallant action during Operation Eagle was initiated by Lieutenant Colonel B K Narayan, the South Column Unit Commander, it was reviewed and recommended by Brigade Commander, Brigadier T S Oberoi VrC, and it was finally approved and recommended by the Formation Commander, Major General Sujan Singh Uban, the Inspector General, Special Frontier Force.
14. Special Frontier Force had strictly followed the guidelines included in the battle plan of Operation Eagle and the citation was directly submitted to the Director of Medical Services (Army), Medical Directorate, Army Headquarters, New Delhi before the conclusion of Operation Eagle.
15. I am not responsible for delivering the citation to the MS Branch, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi while I am on operational duty in the field. If the Medical Directorate had failed in the performance of its duty, I should not be penalized.
Current Status: CASE CLOSED
Date of Action: 31 May 2016
Details: Appropriate reply has been sent to the complainant. Maybe closed.
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Special Frontier Force – Operation Eagle – Petition to Government of India.Special Frontier Force – Operation Eagle – Petition to Government of India.On bhavanajagat.wordpress.comSpecial Frontier Force – Operation Eagle – Petition to Government of India.On bhavanajagat.wordpress.comSpecial Frontier Force – Operation Eagle – Petition to Government of India.On bhavanajagat.comThis letter sent from Office of Inspector General Special Frontier Force to the Military Secretary’s Branch contains written evidence about the citattion initiated by Lieutnant Colonel B K Narayan, Commander South Column Unit, Operation Eagle.A Personal Tribute to Colonel B K Narayan, The Regiment of Artillery, Indian Army.
A Sermon in Kaptai, Bangladesh Ops 1971-72. A personal tribute to Colonel B K Narayan, Islamic Scholar who served in Olive Green Uniform. The Imam of Friday Prayer in Kaptai on December 17, 1971: Glorious Quran, Surah VIII, SPOILS OF WAR, Verse 01: “And if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it, and trust in Allah.Lo! He is the Hearer, the Knower.”SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE – THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT: GOVERNMENT OF INDIA CANNOT IMPOSE THE RULES OF THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT AND DEMAND THAT I SHOULD NOT SHARE INFORMATION ABOUT SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE, THE MILITARY ORGANIZATION IN WHICH I HAD SERVED UNDER THE COMMAND OF BRIGADIER T S OBEROI WHO GOT PROMOTED TO THE RANK OF MAJOR GENERAL AND SERVED AS THE INSPECTOR GENERAL OF SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE.Service Number IC. 22805 Major Survendra Singh Negi, the Company Commander of South Column, Operation Eagle is my witness.Service Number IC-22805 Major Survender Singh Negi, The Grenadiers was one of my Company Commanders during the military action code named Operation Eagle.Flight Lieutenant Parvez Rustom Jamasji Vrc Helicopter Pilot Operation Eagle, Bangladesh Ops, The Chittagong Hill Tracts.Flt Lt Parvez Rustom Jamasji, Indian Air Force Helicopter Pilot who provided airlift to the battle casualties of Operation Eagle, The Chittagong Hill Tracts.JANUARY 10, 1972. I WAS ON OPERATIONAL DUTY AT KAPTAI, THE CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS, BANGLADESH. Special Frontier Force – Operation Eagle – Petition to Government of India. On wholedude.comOn January 10, 1972, I was still performing operational duties at Kaptai, The Chittagong Hill Tracts while Bangladesh leader Sheik Mujibur Rehman returned to Dhaka from his captivity in West Pakistan. Special Frontier Force – Operation Eagle – Petition to Government of India.On wholedude.comTE3N Movie – Indian Army vs Special Frontier Force. In 1971, Special Frontier Force initiated Liberation of Bangladesh with military action in Chittagong Hill Tracts with Battle Plan Code-named Operation Eagle. This Operation is not governed by Army Act 1950.
Reports indicate that death rate for Americans has increased reversing long-term trend of declining mortality rate. Some of the contributing factors for higher mortality rate are mentioned as drug overdose, firearm injuries, and suicide. The problem of premature death, or death due to all conditions has to be explained in the context of sickness or injury leading to loss of life. The primary concern is that of man’s health and well-being.
To define health and well-being, man has to be known in all his dimensions; 1.Physical, Mortal Being, 2. Mental Being, 3. Social Being, 4. Moral Being, 5. Spiritual Being, and 6. Created Being. Man’s sickness or injury, factors involved in mortality have to be associated with man’s dimension that is at risk under the influence of given mortality factor. It demands recognition of symptoms of physical sickness, mental sickness, social sickness, moral sickness, spiritual sickness, and inherited sickness. If man is created in God’s own image without sickness, how did man inherit sickness that causes death or mortality?
Rudranarasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA BHAVANAJAGAT.ORG
THE WASHINGTON POST
REVERSING LONG-TERM TREND, DEATH RATE FOR AMERICANS TICKS UPWARD
By JOEL ACHENBACH June 1
A heroin user prepares to inject himself in New London, Conn. Communities nationwide are struggling with an unprecedented epidemic of opioid and heroin overdose deaths, which are contributing to a sudden increase in Americans’ overall mortality rate. (John Moore/Getty Images)
The long decline in Americans’ death rates has reversed course, according to preliminary 2015 numbers for all causes of mortality as compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Many factors are implicated in the turnaround, including a rise in deaths from firearms, drug overdoses, accidental injuries, suicides, Alzheimer’s disease, hypertension and stroke.
In a report released Wednesday, the CDC looked at changes in death rates per 100,000 people between 2014 and 2015, adjusting the findings to reflect an aging population as the baby boomers head into their retirement years.
The agency identified gains on the cancer front: The disease is killing Americans at a lower rate. But that medical progress was overtaken by the other factors. Lethal drug overdoses, for example, rose from 14.0 per 100,000 people in early 2014 to 15.2 by mid-2015. And even though heart disease was basically flat, that was a change from the major killer’s years-long decline — a decrease that had helped drive down the overall mortality rate.
Whether the uptick in the death rate is a statistical fluke is unclear. The CDC will have final numbers in December, and one year does not make a trend. But the report echoes other recent research suggesting that these days the American way of life is too often leading to an early death.
“There’s no smoking gun here,” said Farida Ahmad, mortality surveillance lead for the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. She calls the increase in mortality “unusual,” noting that it’s the first time since 2004-2005 that the rate went up rather than down.
“It’s something that we’re going to be looking into and watching to see if it holds for 2016. It could be that it’s just a blip as it was 10 years ago,” she said.
The historical trend in health and mortality has largely been a story of medical triumphs and longer lives. For example, in 1950, when rates of infant mortality were much higher than today, the death rate per 100,000 Americans was 1,446. By 2014 the rate had fallen to exactly half that — 723. But the preliminary 2015 numbers show a bump up to 729.5.
Numerous researchers have been focusing on the sharp and unanticipated rise in mortality among whites, particularly white women, in their midlife years. The Washington Post’s own analysis of the nation’s death rates indicates that this increase is pronounced in small cities, small towns and the most rural areas.
This latest report does not break down deaths by sex, race, geography or other demographic indicators.
“When we’re spending $3 trillion in health care, and we’re seeing mortality rise — even if this is only a momentary rise — we need to examine what we’re doing and how we’re doing it,” said Ellen Meara, professor of health policy and clinical practice at Dartmouth College. “Clearly we’re doing something wrong.”
Joel Achenbach covers science and politics for the National Desk. Achenbach also helms the “Achenblog.”
Follow @joelachenbach
BHARAT DARSHAN – STATUS OF TAJ MAHAL AS AN INDIAN ICON. ELABORATE FUNERARY MONUMENTS ARE NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF INDIAN CULTURE.BHARAT DARSHAN – STATUS OF TAJ MAHAL AS AN INDIAN ICON. THE CONCEPTION OF TAJ MAHAL AS FUNERARY MONUMENT IS NOT CONSISTENT WITH FOUNDATIONAL VALUES OF INDIAN CIVILIZATION.
Taj Mahal, most ornate mausoleum in the world, is viewed by millions of people for it stands out as beautiful, romantic building. It stands in a walled garden with an oblong reflective pool. The white marble exterior is inlaid with semi precious stones, floral designs, and arabesques. The dome, 80 feet high and 50 feet in diameter inside, forms a bulb outside, tapering to a spike topped by a crescent. The building has meticulous symmetry across its long and wide diameters.The octagonal tomb chamber is lit by light passing through intricately carved screens. However, the grave site is not perfectly symmetrical. Mumtaz Mahal’s casket is in the exact center of the Palace crypt. Emperor Shah Jahan’s grave, introduced to the mausoleum following his death in 1666, has a west-of-center resting place.
The story about Taj Mahal construction has been firmly associated with life story of Emperor Shah Jahan’s third wife Arjumand Banu Begum. She acquired the name ‘MUMTAZ’ for she was the ‘Chosen One of the Palace’. She was married for 19 years and led to the birth of 14 children. She died in 1631 at the age of 39 during the birth of her final child. Construction of mausoleum began in 1632, one year after her death. Construction of main building continued for 18 years and the entire complex, immediate adjuncts such as Mosque, wall, and Gateway, took another four years for completion. In development of Taj Mahal complex nearly one thousand elephants handled the transport of heavy building materials. The two-decade construction project may have involved over 20,000 artisans. Credit of designing the building complex is given to Turkish Architect Ustad Ahmad Lahauri. Much of the intricate calligraphy work was done by Abd-al Haqq known as Amanat Khan Shirazi. French explorer Jean-Baptiste Tavernier visited India and Taj Mahal in 1665.
Shah Jahan (1529 – 1666), Mogul Emperor (1592 – 1658), nine years before his death, fell gravely ill which led to his sons fighting over succession. His two sons with Mumtaz Mahal, Dara Shikoh and Aurangzeb had begun fighting. Shah Jahan sided with his elder son Dara but his younger son Aurangzeb emerged victorious, killing Dara and imprisoning father in Agra Fort. Shah Jahan remained imprisoned and was barred from visiting Taj Mahal which was completed by about 1649 around the same time he fell ill.
Indian historian P.N. Oak and sociologist Amarnath Mishra raised several issues about the status of Taj Mahal as an Indian icon. The architectural Truth of Taj Mahal has yet to be revealed. I am pleased to share view of Professor Marvin H. Mills, American architect, Pratt Institute, New York.
Taj Mahal as a funerary monument is not representative of Indian Civilization. However, the building material such as marble stone represents India, apart from elephants which lifted these stones, thousands of artisans who carved these stones, and the site along River Jamuna or Yamuna definitely impart Indian flavor to this Mahal or Palace where two human beings remain buried.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162 USA BHAVANAJAGAT.ORG
by Professor Marvin H. Mills Pratt Institute, New York
In their book TAJ MAHAL – THE ILLUMINED TOMB, Wayne Edison Begley and Ziyaud-Din Ahmad Desai have put together a very commendable body of data and information derived from contemporary sources and augmented with numerous photo illustrations, chroniclers’ descriptions, imperial directives plus letters, plans, elevations and diagrams. They have performed a valuable service to the community of scholars and laymen concerned with the circumstances surrounding the origin and development of the Taj Mahal.
But these positive contributions exist within a framework of analysis and interpretation that distorts a potential source of enlightenment into support for fantasy and misinformation that has plagued scholarship in this field for hundreds of years, thus obscuring the true origin of the Taj Mahal complex. The two basic procedural errors that they make is to assume that the dated inscriptions are accurate and that court chroniclers are behaving like objective historians.
As an architect, my principal argument with the authors is their facile acceptance of the compact time frame that they uncritically accept for the coming into being of the Taj from conception to its first Urs (anniversary) of the death of Mumtaz and the completion of the main building. Construction processes that had to consume substantial blocks of time are condensed into a few months. They feel justified in relying on what evidence is available, but fail to consider the objective needs of construction. They regret the loss of what, they say, must have been millions of Mughal state records and documents produced each year on all aspects of the Taj’s construction. They do not consider that the lack of drawings, specifications and records of payment may be due to their not being generated at the time. Nor do they consider Shah Jahan’s potential for deception as to when and by whom it was built. Yet they point out Shah Jahan’s careful monitoring of the contents of court history:
“Shah Jahan himself was probably responsible for this twisting of historical truth. The truth would have shown him to be inconsistent and this could not be tolerated. For this reason also, the histories contain no statements of any kind that are critical of the Emperor or his policies, and even military defeats are rationalized so that no blame could be attached to him. … effusive praise of the Emperor is carried to such extremes that he seems more a divinity than a mortal man.” (p. xxvi)
With the court chroniclers’ histories carefully edited, and with the great scarcity of documents we are fortunate to have four surviving farmans or directives issued by Shah Jahan to Raja Jai Singh of Amber-the very same local ruler from whom the Emperor acquired the Taj property. On the basis of these farmans, the court chroniclers and a visiting European traveler, we learn that: (i) Mumtaz died and was buried temporarily at Burhanpur on June 17, 1631; (ii) her body was exhumed and taken to Agra on December 11, 1631; (iii) she was reburied somewhere on the Taj grounds on January 8, 1632; and (iv) European traveler Peter Mundy witnessed Shah Jahan’s return to Agra with his cavalcade on June 11, 1632.
The first farman was issued on September 20, 1632 in which the Emperor urges Raja Jai Singh to hasten the shipment of marble for the facing of the interior walls of the mausoleum, i.e., the Taj main building. Naturally a building had to be there to receive the finish. How much time was needed to put that basic building in place?
Every successful new building construction follows what we call in modern-day construction a “critical path”. There is a normal sequence of steps requiring a minimum time before other processes follow. Since Mumtaz died unexpectedly and relatively young (having survived thirteen previous child-births), we can assume that Shah Jahan was unprepared for her sudden demise. He had to conceive, in the midst of his trauma, of a world-class tomb dedicated to her, select an architect (whose identity is still debated), work out a design program with the architect, and have the architect prepare designs, engineer the structure and mechanical systems, detail the drawings, organize the contractors and thousands of workers, and prepare a complex construction schedule. Mysteriously, no documents relating to this elaborate procedure, other than the four farmans have survived.
We cannot assume that the Taj complex was built additively with the buildings and landscaping built as needed. It was designed as a unified whole. Begley and Desai make this clear by their analysis of the grid system that was employed by the designer to unite the complex horizontally and vertically to into a three-dimensional whole. If one did not “know” that it was a solemn burial grounds, one would believe that it was designed as a palace with a delightful air of fantasy and secular delights of waterways and flowering plants. Could it be that this is Raja Jai Singh’s palace, never destroyed, converted by decree and some minimum face-lifting to a Mughal tomb?
Assuming that Shah Jahan was galvanized into prompt action to initiate the project on behalf of his deceased beloved, we can safely assume that he needed one year minimum between conception and ground-breaking. Since Mumtaz died in June 1631, that would take us to June 1632. But construction is said to have begun in January 1632.
Excavation must have presented a formidable task. First, the demolition of Raja Jai Singh’s palace would have had to occur. We know that the property had a palace on it from the chronicles of Mirza Qazini and Abd al-Hamid Lahori. Lahori writes:
“As there was a tract of land (zamini) of great eminence and pleasantness towards the south of that large city, on which before there was this mansion (manzil) of Raja Man Singh, and which now belongs to his grandson Raja Jai Singh, it was selected for the burial place (madfan) of that tenant of paradise.[Mumtaz]” (p. 43)
Measures would have to be taken during excavation of this main building and the other buildings to the north to retain the Jumna River from inundating the excavation. The next steps would have been to sink the massive foundation piers, put in the footings, retaining the walls and the plinth or podium to support the Taj and its two accompanying buildings to the east and west plus the foundations for the corner towers, the well house, the underground rooms, and assuming the complex was done at one time, all the supports for the remainder of the buildings throughout the complex. To be conservative in our estimate, we need at least another year of construction which takes us up to January 1634.
But here is the problem. On the anniversary of the death of Mumtaz, each year Shah Jahan would stage the Urs celebration at the Taj. The first Urs occurred on June 22, 1632. Though construction had allegedly begun only six months earlier, the great plinth of red sandstone over brick, 374 yards long, 140 yards wide, and 14 yards high was already in place! Even Begley and Desai are somewhat amazed.
Where was all the construction debris, the piles of materials, the marble, the brick scaffolding, the temporary housing for thousands of workers, the numerous animals needed to haul materials? If “heaven was surpassed by the magnificence of the rituals”, as one chronicler puts it, then nothing should have been visible to mar the exquisite panorama that the occasion called for.
But by June 1632, it was not physically possible that construction could have progressed to completion of excavation, construction of all the footings and foundations, completion of the immense platform and clearing of all the debris and eyesores in preparation for the first Urs.
Begley and Desai have little use for the testimony of the European travelers to the court of Shah Jahan. But they consider Peter Mundy, an agent of the British East India Company, to be the most important source on the Taj because he was there shortly before the first Urs at the new grave site, and one year later at the second Urs.
It was Mundy who said that he saw the installation of the enameled gold railing surrounding Mumtaz’s cenotaph at the time of the second Urs on May 26, 1633. But there is no way that construction could have moved ahead so vigorously from January 1632 to May 1633 as to be ready to receive the railing. After all, the railing could not have stood forth in the open air. It means that the Taj building had to be already there. It must have been immensely valuable since the cost of the Taj complex was reported to be fifty lakhs, while the cost of the gold railing was six lakhs of rupees. The gold railing was removed by Shah Jahan on February 6, 1643 when it was replaced by the inlaid white marble screen one sees now.
An alternate interpretation of events regarding the railing is that Shah Jahan revealed the gold railing of Raja Jai Singh at the first or second Urs. In 1643 he appropriated it for himself and put in its place the very fine marble screen with its inlaid semi-precious stones, a screen that was not nearly as valuable as the gold railing.
If Shah Jahan’s construction and interior adornment of the Taj are in question, what rework of the Taj can we attribute to him? The inscriptions were undoubtedly among the few rework tasks that he was obliged to do. He may also have removed any obvious references to Hinduism in the form of symbolic decor that existed.
The book’s plate illustrations show that the inscriptions are almost always in a discrete rectangular frame which renders them capable of being modified or added to without damaging the adjacent material. In my judgement the black script on the white marble background seems inappropriate esthetically in the midst of the soft beige marble that surrounds it. By adding the inscriptions Shah Jahan probably sought to establish the credibility of its having been his creation as a sacred mausoleum instead of the Hindu palace that time will undoubtedly prove that it was.
Based on the latest inscriptions dated 1638-39, which appear on the tomb, the authors estimate a construction period of six years. Six years in my judgement is simply not enough time. As reasonable approximation of the total time required to build the Taj complex, we can consider Tavernier’s estimate of twenty-two years. Although he first arrived in Agra in 1640, he probably witnessed some rework or repair. The time frame of twenty-two years may have been passed on to him by local people as part of the collective memory from some previous century when the Taj was actually built.
The issue of repairs is taken up by the authors in their translation of the original letter of Aurangzeb to his father dated December 9, 1652. He reports serious leaks on the north side, the four arched portals, the four small domes, the four northern vestibules, subchambers of the plinth, plus leaks from the previous rainy season. The question the authors do not raise is: Would the Taj, being at most only thirteen years old, already have shown symptoms of decay? Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to believe that by 1652 it was already hundreds of years old and was showing normal wear and tear.
Who built the Taj? The authors say it was Ahmad Ustad Lahori, chief architect for Shah Jahan. They base this belief mainly on the assertion by Luft Allah, the son of Lahori, in a collection of verses, that Shah Jahan commanded Lahori to build both the Taj and the Red Fort at Delhi. As evidence this is quite weak.
The court historians are unfailing in their praise for the Emperor’s personal participation in his massive architectural projects and they are never lacking in glorifying his sterling character. But the European travelers have other things to say about his personality and his inability to focus on anything for long except his lust for women. Nor is the object of his supposed great love either tender or compassionate. It seems that both “lovers” were cruel, self-centered and vicious. To believe that out of this relationship, with the support of Shah Jahan’s alleged great architectural skills, came what many consider to be the most beautiful building complex in the world, is sheer romantic nonsense.
While Begley and Desai are sceptical of the Taj Mahal’s being a consequence of romantic devotion, they yield not an inch in asserting its Mughal origin. They support this traditional view by overlooking some key problems:
1. Consider the identical character of the two buildings on either side of the Taj main building. If they had different functions-one a mosque, the other a guest residence-then, they should have been designed differently to reflect their individual functions.
2. Why does the perimeter wall of the complex have a Medieval, pre-artillery, defense character when artillery (cannons) was already in use in the Mughal invasions of India? [Why does a mausoleum need a protective wall in the first place? For a palace it is understandable.]
3. Why are there some twenty rooms below the terrace level on the north side of the Taj facing the Jumna River? Why does a mausoleum need these rooms? A palace could put them to good use. The authors do not even mention their existence.
4. What is in the sealed-up rooms on the south side of the long corridor opposite the twenty contiguous rooms? Who filled in the doorway with masonry? Why are scholars not allowed to enter and study whatever objects or decor are within?
5. Why does the “mosque” face due west instead of facing Mecca? Certainly, by the seventeenth century there was no problem in orienting a building precisely!
6. Why has the Archaeological Survey of India blocked any dating of the Taj by means of Carbon-14 or thermoluminescence? Any controversy over which century the Taj was built could easily be resolved. [Radiocarbon dating of a piece of wood surreptitiously taken from one of the doors gave 13th century as a possible date. But more data is needed.]
If Shah Jahan did not build the Taj for the love of Mumtaz, then why did he want it? His love for Mumtaz was evidently a convenient subterfuge. He actually wanted the existing palace for himself. He appropriated it from Raja Jai Singh by making him an offer he could not refuse, the gift of other properties in exchange. He also acquired whatever was precious within the building including the immensely valuable gold railing.
By converting the complex into a sacred Moslem mausoleum he insured that the Hindus would never want it back. Shah Jahan converted the residential quarters to the west of the main building to a mosque simply by modifying the interior of the west wall to create a mihrab niche. He added Islamic inscriptions around many doorways and entries to give the impression that the Taj had always been Islamic. Sure enough, the scholars have been silent or deceived ever since.
Yet, we must thank Begley and Desai for having assembled so much useful data and translated contemporary writings and inscriptions. Where they failed is in accepting an apocryphal legend of the Taj for an absolute fact. Their interpretations and analyses have been forced into the mold of their bias. It would be well to take advantage of their work by scholars and laymen interested in deepening their knowledge of the Taj Mahal to read the book while keeping an open mind as to when and by whom it was built.
Added note:
A leading Indian architect, former professor of architecture at Mysore University adds: There are fundamental problems with the current theory of Islamic Architecture in India of which the following may be noted.
(1) Unlike in the case of Hindu architecture, where there are literally hundreds of works on Vastu in several Indian languages, there seem to be almost no texts or manuals on Islamic architecture. It is difficult to see how a great school of architecture lasting 600 years could flourish without any technical literature.
(2) Hindu architectural practices and traditions are maintained by thousands of mason families, especially in South India. These are known as Vishwakarmas or Vishwa Brahmanas. They are greatly in demand all over the world. No such Muslim families are known.
(3) There are no standards of units and measurements for Islamic architecture in India. It is inconceivable that great works of architecture could come up without them. This is an objective requirement.
TAJ MAHAL – The Illumined Tomb, an anthology of seventeenth century Mughal and European documentary sources, by W.E. Begley and Z.A. Desai: Published by the University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 1989 (The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture).
The reviewer Marvin Mills is a leading New York architect and professor of architecture at the Pratt Institute.
Ever since P N Oak wrote the books ( it ran into four editions) proving that the Taj Mahal was an erstwhile Rajput Palace commandeered as a Mongol Tomb public opinion is now slowly but surely accepting his findings.
Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Funerary Monuments are not representative of Indian Culture and Civilization.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Indians have not erected grand funerary monuments.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Funerary Monuments are not representative of Indian Culture and Civilization.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Funerary Monuments do not represent Indian Culture and Civilization.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Funerary Monuments are not representative of Indian Culture and Civilization.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. What is the architectural Truth?Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. If a building is defined by its purpose, funerary monuments serve no purpose in Indian Culture and Civilization.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. In Islamic architecture, Mosque faces North or towards Mecca.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. In Indian Culture and Civilization, buildings,palaces, and temples have specific functions and parts are aligned to represent cultural values.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Taj Mahal appears as a funerary monument but has several rooms whose purpose and function remains unknown.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. What is its Architectural Truth?Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Adding inscriptions to buildings may conceal Architectural Truth.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. This Marble Screen replaced a Golden railing.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Indians do not bury their dead in their buildings, palaces, or temples. If the building includes living rooms, it may not be a funerary monument to begin with.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon. Writings of Mulla Abdul Hamid Lahori. Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan – Status of Taj Mahal as Indian Icon.Bharat Darshan. The Status of Taj Mahal as an Indian Icon.
A Tribute to Fallen Soldiers of the US-India-Tibet Military Organization
A Tribute to Fallen Soldiers of the US-India-Tibet Military Organization
On Memorial Day, United States honors its citizens who have died in War. Originally commemorating soldiers killed in the American Civil War, the observance was later extended to all US war dead. The holiday is observed on the last Monday in the month of May and an official tradition began in 1971, the same year during which I had witnessed the death of some young soldiers who served in Special Frontier Force, which is known as Establishment No. 22 in India. Approximately, one million men and women died in defense of the United States since 1775. I cannot give a precise count of the men and women who died serving the cause of Freedom at Special Frontier Force.
The custom of honoring the graves of the war dead began before the close of the Civil War. In 1868, Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic issued a general order designating May 30, 1868 “for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion.”
Tibetan soldiers with whom I served in Special Frontier Force died in the remote jungles of Chittagong Hill Tracts while our military action code-named ‘Operation Eagle’ initiated Liberation of Bangladesh during November – December 1971. We buried them or cremated them and our fallen comrades have no graves which I can visit for purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the sites where they died to defend the cause of Freedom. However, I am pleased to remember them and honor them on this Memorial Day for we fought our battles with weapons, ammunition, field gear, medical supplies, rations, radio sets, and other military supplies provided by the United States. We are partners with India and the United States to defend Tibet and restore its lost Freedom.
On this Memorial Day while I pay my tribute to honor memory of the fallen Tibetan soldiers of Special Frontier Force, I respectfully remind the US and India to renew our pledge to work in support of Peace, Justice, Freedom and Democracy in Occupied Tibet.
Rudra Narasimham Rebbapragada Ann Arbor, MI 48104-4162, USA SPECIAL FRONTIER FORCE
Special Frontier Force – Tribute to Fallen Soldiers. US President Barack Obama at Arlington National Cemetery.Special Frontier Force – Tribute to Fallen Soldiers. Arlington National Cemetery.
A Tribute to Fallen Soldiers of the US-India-Tibet Military OrganizationA Tribute to Fallen Soldiers of the US-India-Tibet Military OrganizationA Tribute to Fallen Soldiers of the US-India-Tibet Military OrganizationA Tribute to Fallen Soldiers of the US-India-Tibet Military Organization. This trilateral military cooperation began during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Whole Dude - Whole Spirituality 