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Here’s How To Maximize The Benefits Of Ayodhya Ram Temple Akshata

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Or How Hindusim Came Into Being; Brief History Of Hindu Religion For Zoomers-n-Boomers Who Refuse To Pick Books Ayodhya Temple As Of Today. Courtesy: Newslaundry.com I was just on a call with my distant neighbour who after the regular round of questions asked me if I had received the Ram-Mandir-Rice (akshata). For those who haven’t and don’t know about what’s going on, people associated with BJP-RSS have been going door-to-door and distributing some posters related to the new temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh along with some colourful uncooked-unbroken-rice in tiny plastic pack (hardly 20 gram). Akshata basically consists of uncooked un-broken pieces of rice which is mixed with turmeric. It is sometimes used to bless bride and groom during weddings. Akshata is also sprinkled during other auspicious ceremonies. When Akshata is offered to a deity, it is believed to be the finest offering that a devotee can make. Akshata is believed to be equal to offering clothes, jewelry, food, or

Food Dishonesty Is Not Okay You Onion-eyed-Flap-Dragon Restaurateurs

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  Photo by Rodrigo Curi on Unsplash   There are very few things that send me into a quiet rage as much as food dishonesty. Let me demonstrate. Before I do that, let’s get a few things out of the way. There are no superhumans here. And superman is a figment of imagination. Likewise, not everyone can be a chef and not all chefs can cook all food items. There are as many cuisines and foodstuffs in the world as there are people. So to expect any one person to know every kind of cuisine/food is absolutely silly. And that is why every restaurant comes up with its own menu, a limited set of food items which they promise to serve their guests. So we now have restaurants declaring a set of dishes they promise to serve in the form of a menu and of their own volition. Naturally, this means they have a chef and/or cooks who know what these foodstuffs on their menu are and how they are made, also they know what goes into these items and obviously, they make sure the ingredients required to make

Covid Is Back But Here's Why We Need Not Scare Ourselves Of The New Variant That's Ravaging China

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  Photo by Kate Trifo on Unsplash   Cases in China are skyrocketing and although they have been doing so for months now, scaremongering in India has only begun recently. Let me not go into why that might be and instead stick to the virus and its shenanigans. Reports from China indicate BF.7 has the strongest infection ability out of the Omicron subvariants in the country, being quicker to transmit than other variants, having a shorter incubation period, and with greater capacity to infect people who have had a previous COVID infection, or been vaccinated, or both.  To put this into context, BF.7 is believed to have an R0, or basic reproduction number, of 10 to 18.6. This means an infected person will transmit the virus to an average of 10 to 18.6 other people. Research has shown Omicron has an average R0 of 5.08.  The high transmission rate of BF.7, taken with the risk of hidden spread due to the many asymptomatic carriers, is understood to be causing significant

Take Your Headscarf Off, Show Us Your Hair and Get Your Education – Hindus to Hijab-Wearing Muslim Girls

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  Image courtesy: The Hindu       From what I know and can remember Muslim girls in school (not all but some of them) have been wearing hijab (or headscarf) for ages now. It was just another piece of clothing that never bothered us, to the point that we never even noticed its existence. I even know of girls and even teachers who would arrive at school in niqab (or burqa, black outer clothing like a rain-or-sun-coat) and then they would remove it before entering a classroom. Again, this wasn’t a point of conversation or of difference. The only time I have been thinking of these clothing choices and the faces of friends that wore them is now. Now when many schools in Karnataka (and even in Madhya Pradesh, another BJP ruled state) have banned young girls (and even teachers) from covering their hair with a cloth also referred to as wearing hijab . It all started with Hindu kids sloganeering and hooting – all of a sudden – as Muslim kids passed before them. Or running to Muslim

Donald Trump Shouldn't Have Been Blocked Instead We Should Have Piggybacked On His Accounts And Reached His Audience

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  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and even Reddit have suspended or banned accounts of or related to Donald Trump. You want to believe in it or not, the sad truth is Donald Trump is President of the United States of America. He is the most powerful man on the earth. And God did not make him this powerful nor did he acquire Aladdin's lamp, scratched it and become President. People, a large number of them, voted him into this office. They chose him to be their president. And by these platforms, he was reaching his audience. And that platform has been snatched from him now. And this snatching was not achieved after thorough parliamentary or congress' dialogue or arguments in court, this pulling away of carpet from underneath his motormouth-empire was decided by few men behind the closed-doors of these platforms in total secrecy. Their decisions are beyond the purview of public scrutiny. There is no set of logic that applies to what went behind these decisions. This is, believe it or

When I Was Taken To Police Station For Not Wearing Mask While Cycling

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  Suhail Naqshbandi I don’t know where to begin, how or even if I should begin on this at all, but here I’m. It is 12:24 pm now. The date is 11 November 2020. Only an hour or so ago I left for the market on my sister’s ladybird bicycle to fetch some fish and a packet of curd for mum. On my way, I noticed the cycle’s tires had less air in them so I stopped at the cycle-repair shop on my way and got both tires filled with air. Paid him and left for the market. On the way I thought I should get the curd first and then fetch fish so I decided to cycle past the fish-market to the curd shop. Between fish market and the shop lies police station and there were two cops opposite to the station with their masks on — I mention this because I have seen them mostly without their masks before — so this needed saying. So I knew that they were on guard for people without masks. And I was one of them. My mask was lying in the cycle basket as is always when I’m cycling. I don’t see any point of