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DUDHAI/ SURENDRANAGAR: It could well be mistaken for an orphanage. Boys, mostly between two and five, play on the compound of the Vadvala temple in this dusty village. They are all adopted children, after their parents, belonging to the Rabari community, abandoned them there.

But, nobody here raises an eyebrow. It’s been a 300-year-old tradition, where a family prays for a male child or more than one son in the family and makes a ‘mannat’ (pledge) to give away one of the sons to the temple. At times, even a single child, if it is a boy, is also given away. Called the ‘ramta kariya’, which translated literally means ‘left to play’, it is a way to show gratitude.

“People pray for two to three sons. If their wish is fulfilled, they offer one of the sons, generally youngest, to the temple,” says
Rambalakdasji, chief priest of the temple. Rambalakdasji was also left in the temple by his parents when he was two years old.

At present, there are 13 boys in the temple and the tradition does not permit a girl child to be given away here. The temple legally adopts these children once their parents decide to “donate” them. Their original names are changed. Even surnames are changed to ‘Dudhrejia’. The boys are nurtured here and admitted to the best English medium schools in Ahmedabad.

“It would have been impossible for me to put my son in an English medium school. We can also meet him whenever we want to,” says Jogabhai, an agriculture labourer at Khatdi village, whose second son Harekrishna was given away to the temple. He studies in HB Kapadia School in Ahmedabad. Jogabhai had pledged that if he got a third son, he would give away his second son to the temple.

The chief priest says that once these children turn 21, they are given a choice — whether to become a priest or lead a family life.

Recently, three-year-old Darshan of Bhimasar village near Anjar joined other boys in the temple. Unable to bear a child, his mother had pledged to give away her first child. The youngest member at the temple is Jaykrishna, who is just two, from Barvala village near Morbi.

RANCHI: The Jharkhand high court on Wednesday dismissed the public interest litigation (PIL) against Indian ODI cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni challenging the construction of a swimming pool in his house and fined petitioner Krishna Chandra Sircar Rs 1 lakh for moving the petition based solely on media reports.

The petitioner and others were also hauled up for a sharp practice that, the judges said, amounted to contempt of court.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Muthuswamy Karpagyavinayagam and Justice DGR Patnaik got upset after Dhoni’s lawyer produced a letter written by one of the signatories to the PIL, B P Sinha, asking the Indian skipper not to construct the swimming pool in his house even if the high court gave him the permission to do so.

The judges said this amounted to contempt of court. “Knowing that the matter was sub judice, how could anyone write such a letter to Dhoni?” the court wondered. For the gaffe, Sircar will be poorer by Rs 1 lakh. While Sircar’s counsel apologised to the court on behalf of Sinha, the judges nonetheless took a dim view of the transgression.

The judges were bemused when they learnt that all that Sircar had to show as proof of a swimming pool being built by Dhoni were a few newspaper clippings.

Interestingly, in the course of hearing the matter, the court on learning that the area where Dhoni’s house is being built faces water shortage, directed the Jharkhand government to install between 25 to 50 hand pumps.

The crime rate is spiralling with the maximum rise recorded in crimes falling under the “crimes against property” category in the country. A total of 18,78,293 Indian Penal Code (IPC) crimes were reported during the year 2006 against 18,22,602 in 2005, recording an increase of 3.1 per cent in 2006. Madhya Pradesh with 10.4 per cent has accounted for the maximum crimes under IPC followed by Maharashra with 10.2 per cent and Andhra Pradesh with 9.3 per cent.

Notably, a decline has been noticed in number of persons arrested, persons chargesheeted as well as persons convicted in the year 2006 in comparison to 2002.

Persons pending investigation has suffered an increase over the same period. The persons pending investigation has risen each year with such figures standing at 500,199 in the year 2002 and steadily rising to 606,520 in the year 2006, says the Union home ministry’s annual report 2007-08.

A total of 3,92,352 violent crimes against property were recorded in the year 2006 as compared to 3,88,867 crimes during 2005 showing a “marginal increase” of 0.9 per cent, says the report. Crimes against body, including murder, kidnapping and abduction rose by 0.2 per cent in the same period and crimes against public order showed an increase of 0.7 per cent. Crimes enlisted under murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping etc stood at 4,30,498, accounting for 22.9 per cent of the total IPC crimes during the year 2006, says the MHA report. Riots and arson amounted to 65,121 in the same year, it says. Crimes falling under Special and Local Laws increased by 0.6 per cent.

Devika Rani kissing real life soul mate Himanshu Rai in the 1933 film Karma. This was officially the first on screen kiss in Hindi cinema.

Sushmita Sen - 1.2 feet = Salman Khan.

4 weeks in Switzerland + London + New Zealand + Canada = 4 minute song in Hindi movie.

Rona dhona x Bewafai x Badle ki aag = Your mum’s favourite serials.

Amitabh Bachchan + Jaya Bachchan = Abhishek Bachchan -Talent.

Any actor + Any actress + many movies = David Dhawan

1 smile + 32 teeth = Govinda

1 person - shirt = Salman Khan

1 person + straight hair + unstraight walk = Sanjay dutt

1 hand + 10 kg weight = Sunny Deol

One engagement + Two weddings + Three wedding songs + Four hundred Relatives + A house bigger than Buckingham Palace = One Sooraj Barjataya’s Film.

One man + one woman = Isha Deol

Time waste - time = Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi

Boring songs + heavy dialogues + Bogus dressing + waiste of money = Devdas

New heroes + New heroins = a flop movie

Old heroes + new heroins = a blunder

Old heroes + old heroins = time pass

action - suspense + comedy - thrill - story= Indian superhit movie

Fake smile + costly costumes + over acting = Aishwaryia rai

A man behind girl + new jacket +over confidence = King khan movies

A person – gillete + black shirt = Jr.B

Now that it is peak summer time in India, it is time for you all to wear sunscreens. A quality sunscreen lotion would help protect your skin from the harmful rays of the sunlight. Make sure that you check the ingredients of the sunscreen lotion that you buy. It should preferably contain both zinc oxide as well as titanium dioxide. These are the vital ingredients that you need to look for in a sun block. You should also check the SPF of a sun block. It should be between 20 and 30 to offer you good protection against the hot sun.

The luxury car and SUV segment in India never had it so good. The next few months are going to witness a slew of new launches. Prominent among them is the much awaited launch of the latest in the Corolla series from Toyota. The latest model from this famous name has already been launched in several countries and it is eagerly awaited in India now. The latest in the series of Honda Accord is also eagerly awaited by the Indian consumer.

Kuala Lumpur, April 18: A short holiday to Malaysia turned into a nightmare for three Indians who spent 18 days in detention despite having valid travel papers.

They were nabbed for reasons not explained by authorities and on release, found their belongings and money missing.

K. Meenakshi, 52, a farmer, Sheikh Rajendran, 40, a tailor and P. Murugesan, 24, a carpenter, said they had been saving up for a long time to visit Malaysia, a country that they had heard so much about from friends who had visited earlier.

All three were at the Selangor Mansion block of flats in Jalan Masjid India neighbourhood when members of a civil volunteer corps, Ikatan Relawan Rakyat Malaysia (Rela), conducted a raid March 15.

The Malaysian government formed Rela, which means volunteers of Malaysian people. Its main duty is to check the travel documents and immigration permits of foreigners in Malaysian cities, including tourists, visitors and migrants to reduce the increasing influx of illegal immigrants into Malaysia.

The group’s actions, that have caused harassment to many, have been criticised.

The Malaysian government should immediately take steps to dissolve Rela, “responsible for numerous cases of illegal detentions, unlawful use of force, and extortion”, the New York-based Human Rights Watch said in May last year.

“I was sleeping in a room when they came at 1.30 a.m. I had a copy of the passport in my pocket and showed it to them. I kept telling them that the original was inside my bag, which was in the same room. But they did not understand me,” Meenakshi told the New Straits Times.

Sheikh, who was with him in the room, was also arrested.

Murugesan said he had just finished eating and had gone downstairs to throw away the paper used to pack food when a Rela member stopped him.

“I told him my passport was upstairs but he refused to let me get it or come with me to take it. He told me to wait with others and later took us to a camp in a lorry,” said Murugesan.

They spent 18 days in the Semenyih camp, which they described as the worst place that they had ever been.

“The conditions in the camp were bad. The food was terrible and I was so afraid to eat. I spent days not touching the food at all. It was not fit for human consumption,” said Sheikh.

They were “rescued” when a Malaysian businessman, T. Kamalanathan, came to the camp and negotiated for their release.

“I was at my shop when a few Indian nationals approached me and told me to help bring out their friends from the camp,” said Kamalanathan.

He added that the Indian nationals should have been produced in court within 24 hours or even after the 14 days’ remand. He claimed that the immigration officers had also been unhelpful.

“I had about 2,500 renminbi ($1,200 approx.) in the bag. The money and my return flight ticket were missing,” said Meenakshi, adding that the other two also lost their money and belongings.

Sheikh said his friends found his torn passport in a nearby dustbin.

Hyderabad, April 21 : Persons who were selected for the post of constables in the year 1994, are on hunger strike at Indira park here, as they were not given jobs.

D.Venkatesham (R.R Dist), T.Edu Kondalu (Prakasham), B.Rama Krishana (Kadapa), S.K Nabi (Prakasham), Sreenivasulu (Chitoor), Venkata Subbaiah (Kurnool), V.Venkata Ramana (Krishna), are some of the 400 persons who did not get the job of Constable in the Excise Department despite being selected in physical and written examinations in the year 1994. Till now they are waiting for the job letter to come, the anticipation has been nearly 14 years.

Mr. Venkatesham said ” Despite the ruling of Supreme Court and guidelines of Chief Minister Mr. Rajashekar Reddy to the Excise Department on December 12, 2007, we still remain unemployed”.

They are also ready to loose the benefits and salaries of previous years. They point out that there are nearly 10 thousand vacancies in the department presently. Today was the 39th day of their Hunger strike. They hope this plea will reach the Chief Minister, sooner or later.