Delhi- 100 years as the Capital

Delhi as a capital hits the century mark this year. Through wars and riots, pomp and show, the history of Delhi is as colourful as it is interesting. Let us celebrate this unique and historical city.

The last 100 years have seen Delhi grow and change.



On the banks of the Yamuna is the city of Delhi. This year it celebrates its centenary as a nation's capital. Delhi was a major political, cultural as well as commercial city on the trade route between northwest India and the Gangetic plain, after the rise of the Delhi Sultanates. It is a city steeped in history and some of the monuments are still there today. In the 18th and 19th centuries, Calcutta was the capital. It was in 1911 that King George V announced that the capital would be shifted back to Delhi. This is a multicultural, cosmopolitan metropolis and people from all over the country have migrated to it and made it their home.




On December 12, 1911, the capital of colonised India was shifted from Calcutta to Delhi, re-establishing the city as the political centre for the British Empire in the country. This month, Delhi completes its centenary year as the capital of modern day India.
The city had been a capital before, according to references dating back to 1450 B.C. Between 12th and 19th century A.D., Delhi served as the capital for many rulers. The original seven cities that came together to form what we know as Delhi today were Siri, Tughlakabad, Jahanapanah, Ferozabad, Dinpanah, Shergarh and Shahajahanabad. The eighth city, the ‘new' Delhi that never really got another name, was built by the British.

Clearly, the city was a choice capital, and for reasons that are obvious even now. The two characteristic features of the city, the Delhi Ridge and the Yamuna, gave it natural sustenance and protection. Flanked by these two geographical features, Delhi was the obvious choice for ambitious rulers.

Variety and diversity

Before New Delhi, the core of the city lay in the northern parts: Chandni Chowk, Kashmere Gate and Civil Lines flourishing with trade and commerce. The small villages and hamlets in the southern part of the city had a motley group of communities living in them: Jats, Brahmins, Christians, Muslims and Gujjars. They reared animals, engaged in agriculture and worked as labourers in Shahjahanabad, the city established by the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. Eventually these villages gave way to symmetrical, planned neighbourhoods and architectural marvels like the Secretariat and the Parliament, landmarks that define a certain face of New Delhi.

The nation's capital is perhaps the best example of the variety and diversity of the country, a perfect salad bowl that accepts people of all religions, regions and groups. With no single citizen a true son of Delhi, the city has become home for many migrants in search of livelihood from all over the country.

The last 100 years have seen Delhi grow and change. The recent Commonwealth Games even gave the city a rapid makeover.

The nation's capital has indeed come a long way, and perhaps the greatest change has been in the population. Bursting at the seams, a city initially intended for around 70,000 people is currently the home of over 16 million citizens, an ever increasing number.
The river, which was the source of life and sustenance, has begun to closely resemble a drain.
The pressure on the depleting resources of the city is ever growing and poses serious ecological crises. Perhaps, as we celebrate the centenary year of a great city, it is time to remember and preserve what made it great in the first place.



Connaught Place :A bird's eye view

PLACES to look out for

Connaught Place was named after the Duke of Connaught, a member of the British royal family. A sprawling circular market, it was once the largest of its kind in India. The British believed that a market in the shape of a horseshoe would prove lucky. ‘CP' continues to be Delhi's premier shopping destination 65 years after of its birth.

Jama Masjid in Delhi is the biggest mosque in India. Constructed by Shah Jahan in 1650, it took six years to complete. The mosque stands on a rocky elevation and is constructed in sandstone and white marble and can be entered from both North and the South Gates. The eastern gateway is supposed to remain open in Friday and was used by the emperor himself.

National Museum is rightly called the cultural gateway into India. Set up on August 15, 1949, the museum is a treasure house of antiques and historical memorabilia ranging from sculpture through carving, paintings, jewellery and manuscripts to arts and crafts The museum now boasts of over 2,00,000 works of exquisite art, both of Indian and foreign origin, covering a time span of more than 5,000 years.

Chandni Chowk, a main marketplace in Delhi, is the city's living legacy of Shahjahanabad. Created by Shah Jahan, the fascinating market was planned, as legend has it, so that his daughter could shop for all that she wanted. The market was divided by canals. The canals are now closed, but Chandni Chowk remains Asia's largest wholesale market.

Darya Ganj is another exciting shopping centre, popular for its Sunday Book Market. The pavements of Darya Ganj become shopping stalls for book sellers every Sunday. The market stretches for almost two kilometres. Books on virtually every topic are available at throwaway prices.

The secret behind online viral trends

On the evening of November 21, 2011, a strange-looking 10-letter word became the number one trending topic on Twitter. No one knew what it meant but everyone was suitably intrigued. The word read #kolaveridi. Clicking on it opened up a series of tweets, all with links to a YouTube page. Loading the video revealed a wholly unremarkable-looking man singing strange lyrics to a catchy beat in a recording studio as two pretty women looked on. Closer inspection revealed that one of those women was actress Shruti Haasan.
Then, the dam exploded – something happened along the way (God knows what!) – and the song Why This Kolaveri Di from an upcoming Tamil film called 3 went viral. It broke all records to become the number one searched-for song on YouTube from India. In less than two weeks, it received 17 million views and more than 75,000 comments from over 130 countries. Kolaveri, a chilled out, irreverent song about heartbreak, became the national anthem for a generation of ‘soup boys’ who ensured its popularity by playing it 24/7 on cellphones, in cars, as dialer tunes and more; and Dhanush, superstar Rajinikanth’s son-in-law, went from being a South Indian star to a household name. “It was like magic. Like some superior power was at work. You can’t predict these things. Never,” he says.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=1JagUR48mXE

Indeed, the video has sparked hundreds of spin-offs, sequels, spoofs and remixes, each of which has gone viral in its own right – there’s a heavy metal version of Kolaveri Di, a Marathi version, a female version, a cute-as-hell version by Sonu Nigaam’s four-year-old son and even one that stars – go figure – Adolf Hitler! The Japanese are dancing to it; heck, there’s even Kolaveri merchandise. And despite some criticism – lyricist Javed Akhtar called it a song with an ordinary tune, substandard singing and words that insult sensibilities – the juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nLJYkat4HpE

So what makes things go viral on the Internet? As it turns out, there is no easy answer the rhythm’s gonna get you...
Viral videos are videos with a high percentage of social views. They are videos that become popular – no, larger than life – through sharing. The hits come from external links, embeds, typed or copied URLs. You would typically stumble upon virals on your Facebook wall shared by friends, in your Twitter stream and sometimes, in your email. But there really is no science to figure out why videos go viral. “Trying to predict which videos are going to ‘go viral’ is a bit like catching lightning in a bottle – extremely hard to predict!” says a YouTube spokesperson (and you thought at least they would know!).

Sometimes, a video can be on the site for months (the famous Double Rainbow, a 2010 video about a vivid ‘double rainbow’ at Yosemite National Park in the US that now has over 31 million views) before it is picked up. Others, like the hilarious David After Dentist (a video about a little boy with a cute lisp describing what happened at the dentist) had 10 million views after just two weeks. The most viewed video on YouTube is Charlie Bit My Finger – Again, which got 85 million views in the first year and now has a massive 250 million and is the most watched video on YouTube. “The only thing that we can say about viral videos is that they tend to share a few characteristics,” says the YouTube spokesperson. “Like any news story, they are authentic, surprising and often topical.”

To be fair, 99 per cent of the videos on YouTube don’t get anywhere near Kolaveri’s 17 million views. Most are lucky to get even a thousand. 2008’s hilarious Benny Lava video that featured Prabhudeva is still shy of 30 lakh views even after almost four years. So what makes a video stand out from a crowd? Last year, a company called Dynamic Logic that analyses Internet trends studied popular online videos to solve the mystery. According to them, any viral piece of content should have the following characteristics:

* It should be unique, something that has never been seen before
* There should be considerable shock value
* A local or global community participates and becomes a part of it
* It has a compelling and heart-touching message


All of which, we think, Kolaveri does exceedingly well. “I think the song appeals to so many people for a number of reasons – the music is hummable, the lyrics are really simple and heartbreak is an emotion that appeals to everybody. We put it up on the Internet because somehow, we were sure that the song would travel beyond its core markets of Chennai and South India,” says Arjun Sankalia, director, special projects, Sony Music India.

The way in which a piece of content begins its long and arduous journey to becoming a sought-after viral is fairly innocuous. A creator – the person who creates the content, either for the express purpose of posting it online or simply on a whim – uploads the video to a site like YouTube (or a blog) and starts sharing it in the usual hubs on online activity – typically social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. “This initial seeding is extremely important and is the toughest part,” says Simarprit Singh, internet evangelist and founder of MapsofIndia.com.

“The trick is to subtly push your content but not shove it in people’s faces.” The first 1,000 views are the most difficult to get, says Singh. “If you reach 10,000, you’re slowly getting some traction. If you reach a hundred thousand, you’re really on a roll. And if you cross a million, boy, have you made it!” he says and adds that he expects Kolaveri to peak at about 25 million views before the hype slowly dies down.

Delhi’s date with Blogging

If you are an avid blogger, you would surely enjoy meeting other people in Delhi with a similar interest. The fifth edition of the Delhi Bloggers Meet, which is scheduled to take place on December 11, is one such platform where the city’s blogging community can get together to discuss the latest in the blogosphere. This year, the meet promises to be the biggest that the Capital has ever hosted.

The organiser of the event, IndiBlogger, which has so far done 45 blogger meets across India, is expecting more than 200 bloggers who write on technology, society, lifestyle, business, politics, sports, science and more.
“A bloggers meet is a gathering of bloggers who come from various parts of the city or even the country to meet each other and network. The energy during the bloggers meet is resonated from a range of activities and engaging games, which appeal to the bloggers. This would be the 46th such meet in India,” says Vineet Rajan, director of IndiBlogger.

The Delhi blogosphere has evolved in the past few years, making the Capital the region with the maximum number of bloggers. “The bloggers in Delhi are surely very active. It is also the region which has the most number of bloggers in India, followed by Bangalore and Mumbai. Even when it comes to influencing Delhi, bloggers top the charts,” says Rajan, who has been blogging about travel, biking and adventure for nine years now.

The gathering, which will be quite informal, will see a number of bloggers from all around the Capital come together, interact and meet in person. “Blogging has been the new radio, the new popular voice for quite a while now. With the bloggers fraternity meeting in Delhi, we are finally reconciling ourselves to this form of media, which is a favourite with this generation that has loud voices and bold opinions,” says Sarthak Prakash, 24, a student at IIT Delhi and a keen blogger.

The event will see a range of activities such as 30 seconds of fame, where the bloggers get to introduce themselves and share interesting things, engagement activities, games, debates, a networking session called Live and Let Comment, and forum discussions on various topics.

“The meet has activities for everyone. The session Live and Let comment will be more of an ice breaker and a networking event. Bloggers scribble on each other’s chart papers, which they can take back with them,” says Rajan.

Catch them here
What: Bloggers Meet
When: December 11
Timing: 1.30pm - 6pm
Where: The Park, 15, Parliament Street

Quitters OR Winners!!!!!!

A candidate for a news broadcast post was rejected because of his voice. he was also told that his obnoxiously long name, He would never be famous.

He is AMITABH BACHCHAN.

A small boy- the fifth amongst the seven siblings of a poor father, was selling newspaper in small village to earn his living. he was not exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by religion and rocket. The first rocket he build crashed. A missile that he built crashed multiple time. he was made a butt of ridicule. He is the person to have scripted the space odyssey of India single- handedly.

He is Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.

A four year old girl- the 20th of 22 children, contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever at a very early age, which paralyzed her left leg. Thereafter at 9 years of age she removed her leg braces and started walking without them. At 13 she decided t become a runner but kept failing miserably in all races that she entered in. She kept trying inspite of several detractors and finally started winning every race she entered.

She is Wilma Rudolph. who also won 3 Olympic Gold medals.

A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention to his mathematics and for not being able to solve simple maths problems. She told him that he would not become anybody in life. His mother, however believed in him and coached him in maths.

The boy went on to become Albert Einstein.

A winner is not one who never fails,

but one who Never QUITS..!!!!

God doesn't Exist!!!!!

A man went to a barber shop to get his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many issues and various subjects an eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said "I Don't believe that God Exists."

"Why do you say that?" Asked the customer.

"Well, you just have to go out in street to realize that God doesn't exists. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine loving a God who would allow all of these things.

"The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument.

The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept. The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."

"How can you say that?"Asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"

"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."

"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."

"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist! What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him. That's why there's so much pain and suffering in this world."

Muharram.

Muharram is the first month of the Islamic calendar. Muharram is so called because it is unlawful to fight during this month, the word is derived from the word haraam meaning "forbidden". It is held to be the most sacred of all the months, . Some Muslims Fast during these days. The tenth day of Muharram is called Yawmu-l 'Ashurah, which is known by Shia Muslims as 'the day of grief'.

The festival commemorates the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammed's grandson- Hazrat Imam Hussein. It is celebrated with great fervor by the Muslims especially the Shia community. Tazias, glittering replicas of the Martyr's tomb, are carried in procession through the streets. The Tazias of Lucknow and Hyderabad are noted for their splendor. In places like Lucknow, Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, grand scale processions are held. People beat their chest in mourning to the tune of beating drums and chants 'Ya Hussain'. Devotees beat themselves and inflict wounds on their own bodies.

This festival starts at the 1st day of Muharram and lasts for 10 days until 10th of Muharram. Muharram is the first month of Islamic calendar. During this month, while on a journey, Hazrat Imam Hussain, his family members and a number of his followers were surrounded by the forces of Yazid, the Muslim ruler of the time. During the siege, they were deprived of food and water and many of them were put to death. The incident happened at a place called Karbala in Iraq in 61st year after Hijra. This dispute was result of a disagreement among Muslims on the question of succession after the demise of Hazrat Ali, the fourth caliph. During these first ten days of Muharram, drinking posts are also set up temporarily by the Shia community where water and juices are served to all, free of charge.