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Indian parliament is celebrating sixty years of its existence. Some term as glorious and it others illustrate it as wasteful. But it cannot be painted in white or black. There are documented achievements as are stalk failures. When many of the south Asia countries have suffered the ignominy of military dictatorships, Indian model of democracy has survived. During these six decades years Indians have voted fifteen times to elect new parliaments. The county has not been trampled by the khaki uniform wearing gun trotting armed forces. Except a brief abrasion of Emergency, Indian democracy, one of the largest has been maturing, albeit a bit callously. more

The Oxford Companion to Pakistan History (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2012) edited by eminent historian Ayesha Jalal is a milestone in information on and knowledge about Pakistan. The first attempt is always the most challenging and daunting. Fahd Raza and Salma Mahmud at OUP, Karachi were the initiators of this project. Later, Nadia Ghani took over as project editor. She deserves to be applauded, especially because of the very large number of entries she has contributed. In the preface, Ayesha Jalal succinctly sets forth the philosophy that informs her selection of items and contributors: "There can be no singular view of history that has remained open to multiple and conflicting interpretations. The volume avoids projecting any specific viewpoint and takes the diversity of interpretations as given. Contributors have been allowed to adopt their own standpoints in delineating a topic. Users of the companion are free to disagree with the contributors while still taking advantage of the information made available on any particular subject." more

Pandit Husan Lal was born around 1920 in a small village called Kahma, in Nawanshehar Tehsil (now renamed as Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar) of old Jalandhar district. Now Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar is a district headquarter in the Doaba region of Punjab. The Pandit family had a background in music making and singing. His eldest brother Pandit Amar Nath was the most accomplished musician in the family. He left the village around 1938 in search of greener pastures and settled in the city of Lahore. Pandit Amar Nath was a very good instrument player and a halfway decent singer. Above all he was a great teacher, arranger and conductor of music. From 1941, he had been composing film music in Lahore. He loved Lahore, the capital of the Province of Punjab and a city of lovers of art and culture. Around 1940 Pandit Husan Lal (also spelled as Pandit Husna Lal) joined his eldest brother in Lahore. Another brother Bhagat Ram older than Husan Lal, but younger to Pandit Amar Nath also arrived in Lahore at about the same time. Both younger brothers started assisting their older sibling in the creation of film music. Bhagat Ram was given training as a drummer, he became expert in playing "Tabla" and "Dholki". more

Arguably the most challenging, stressful, fulfilling, frustrating, thankless, glorious and important job in the world - is Motherhood. And like any other job, a mom needs to be in top shape to give the best to her work. So along with looking after the well-being of everyone else in the family, don't forget to ensure that you are healthy and happy as well.Make yourself a priority. You've probably heard this repeated a lot. And yet most moms continue to keep putting themselves last on their to-do lists. Be it relaxing, eating, exercising or socialising, it's important to make time for yourself. After all, only when you're physically and mentally healthy can you give your best to your family. more

The world today is in desperate need of joy. Rarely, we find people smiling cutely and laughing whole heartedly. Weary smiles and dry faces tell themselves how much stress they are taking with themselves. Although each person feels that the particular thing he lacks would give him great joy whether it be work, wealth, love or friendship. Actually we must come to realize the distinction between joy and enjoyment and between happiness and pleasure. more

Life is full of secrets. The most important mystery is the where is he God who controls the whole cosmos? No one knows this. In fact, God is all over. He is within each animate entity all over the world. He is also with nature. When one is just sitting all alone, one feels that he is nearer to God. This is also true when one is in a crowd, because there are many souls all around you. more

Currently, 80 children out of 1,000 do not make it past the age of five in Ghana. According to UNICEF, Somalia has the highest infant mortality rate, at 180 deaths per 1,000 live births, and Sweden and Finland have the lowest at three deaths per 1,000 live births. In order to achieve the fourth MDG, Ghana would have to cut its under-five mortality rate down to 40 deaths per 1,000. more

Ethnicity having any nexus with social status or religion determining the poverty line or a Dalit Status of a person is perhaps unthinkable. But our Constitution and institutions of its implementation have a different view. It perturbs many a minds and disturbs many once's status. more

The book "Through the Eagle's Eye" is an effort, in the footsteps of the poet, to track down the canker in man which always keeps him on the run merely to turn the globe into a trash can of his satanic ambitions. In his epic, the Ramayana, Valmiki invented two unique characters, the ten-headed Ravana and his antithesis, the monkey faced Hanuman. Why? The following legend would perhaps throw light on this mystery : more