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Granny Lin walks down the street on a November afternoon with a stainless-steel lunch pail in her hand. Inside the lunch pail is an official certificate from her working unit. "Hereby we confirm Comrade Lin Mei is honorably retired from the Beijing Red Star Garment Factory," the certificate says in bright gold characters.
It does not say that the Red Star Garment Factory has gone bankrupt or that, being honorably retired, Granny Lin will not receive her pension. Of course it does not provide such information, for these facts are simply not true. "Bankrupt" is the wrong word for a state-owned industry. "Internal reorganization" is what has been kindly omitted from the certificate. And, mind this, Granny Lin's pension is being withheld only temporarily. For how long, the factory has no further information to offer.
"There is always a road when you get into the mountain," Auntie Wang, Granny Lin's neighbor, says to her upon being informed of Granny Lin's situation.
"And there is a Toyota wherever there is a road." The second line of the Toyota commercial slips out before Granny Lin realizes it.
"There you go, Granny Lin. I know you are an optimistic person. Stay positive and you will find your Toyota."
But where on earth can she find a way to replenish her dwindling savings? For a few days, Granny Lin adds, subtracts, and divides, and she decides that her savings will run out in a year—in two years if she can skip a meal here and there, go to bed right after sunset, and stay bundled up so that she does not have to feed the insatiable stove extra coal through the long winter of northern China.
"Don't worry," Auntie Wang says the next time they meet at the market, looking down at the single radish Granny Lin has bought for her dinner, as plump as a Buddha, dwelling between her two palms. "You can always find someone and get married."
"Get married?" Granny Lin says, and blushes.
"Don't be so conservative, Granny Lin," Auntie Wang says. "How old are you?"
"You're even younger than I am! I'm fifty-eight, but I'm not as old-fashioned as you. You know what? Young people no longer have a monopoly on marriage."
"Don't make me a clown," Granny Lin says.
"I'm serious, Granny Lin. There are so many old widowers in the city. I'm sure there are rich and sick ones who need someone to take care of them."
"You mean I can find a caretaker's position for old people?" Granny Lin asks.
Auntie Wang sighs and pokes Granny Lin's forehead with a finger. "Use your brain. Not a caretaker but a wife. That way, you can at least inherit some cash when your husband dies."
Granny Lin gasps. She has never had a husband in her life, and the prospect of a dead husband frightens her. Yet Auntie Wang makes the decision for her right then and there, between two fish stands, and in a short time she finds Granny Lin a match.
"Seventy-six. High blood pressure and diabetes. Wife just died. Living alone in a three-bedroom flat. Pension two thousand yuan a month. Both sons married and earning good money in the government," Auntie Wang says, and is surprised that Granny Lin remains unimpressed. "Come on, Granny Lin, where else will you find such a good husband? The old man will die in no time, and the sons are so rich they won't mind sparing some of his savings for you. Let me tell you, this is the most eligible family, as far as I know. Their doorsill has been worn away by the feet of the matchmakers. But, of all the possible wives, they are interested only in you. Why? Because you have never married and you have no children. By the way, Granny Lin, how come you aren't married? You never told us the reason."
Granny Lin opens and then closes her mouth. "It just happens," she says.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Anyway, they don't want someone who has a litter of children and grandchildren. I wouldn't trust such a stepmother, either. Who can guarantee that she won't steal from the old man for her children? But you are the best. I have told them that, were there one honest person left on earth, it would be you, Granny Lin. What are you hesitating for?"
"Why don't they hire someone to take care of him?" Granny Lin asks, thinking of the two sons who will soon become her stepchildren. "Won't it be cheaper in the long run?"
"Do you not know what those young girls from the nanny market are like? They are lazy, and they steal money—husbands, too, if they are hired by young couples. They leave the old people sitting in their own shit all day long. To hire such a girl? Ugh. It would only push him to death quicker."
Granny Lin has to agree that, indeed, an older woman as a wife is a wise choice. Accompanied by Auntie Wang, Granny Lin goes to the interview with the two sons and their wives. An hour of questioning later, the two sons exchange a look, and ask if Granny Lin needs some time to consider the marriage offer. Not having much to think about, she moves into her new home in a week. Her husband, Old Tang, is sicker than she thought. "Alzheimer's," a daughter-in-law tells her at their wedding dinner.
Granny Lin nods, not knowing what the disease is but guessing that it has something to do with the brain. She supports her husband with both hands and leads him to the table, sitting him down and wiping the drool from his chin.
Granny Lin becomes a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. She no longer remembers in what year of her life people started to call her Granny Lin instead of Auntie Lin; unmarried women, people believe, age faster. It does not matter anymore, because now she feels quite qualified for her name.
Every week, one of the sons stops by and checks on Old Tang, leaving enough money for the next week. Old Tang is a quiet man, sitting in his chair by the window, immersed in his bottomless silence. Once in a while, he asks Granny Lin about his wife, and, as instructed by the two sons, Granny Lin replies that the wife is improving in the hospital and will be home in no time. But before she replies Old Tang seems to have forgotten his question, and goes back to his meditation without any sign of having heard her. She waits for more questions that never come, and eventually gives up. She turns up the volume of the television, and shuffles around the house, sweeping and dusting and wiping and washing, but the time arrives earlier each day when she finishes the housework. Then she sits down on the couch and watches the daytime soap operas. Unlike the twelve-inch television Granny Lin used to own, which required her to make a trip across the room every time she needed to change channels (altogether she got six channels through the antenna made of two steel chopsticks), Old Tang's set is a monster with scores of channels, which all obey a small remote control. Dazed by the choices she has, and by the ease of moving from one selection to another, Granny Lin soon finds that the machine does her no good. No matter what program she is watching, there is always the nagging worry that she is missing a more interesting one. Several days into her new life, Granny Lin is stunned to discover that she is no longer addicted to television, as she has been for the past ten years. Does marriage have such revolutionary power that a long-established habit can be overthrown in such a short time?
Granny Lin sighs and clicks off the television. Old Tang does not notice the silence flooding the room. She realizes then that the television is not to blame. It is because of Old Tang's presence that she cannot focus. She picks up a magazine and peeks at Old Tang from behind the pages. Ten minutes grows into twenty minutes, and she continues looking at him as he insists on not meeting her gaze. She has an odd suspicion that Old Tang is not ill. He knows she is there, and he is observing her secretly. He knows that his wife of fifty-four years has left him for good and that she is his new wife, but he refuses to acknowledge her. He pretends to have lost his mind and expects her to play along as if she were a hired caretaker. But Granny Lin decides not to concede. He is her husband; she is his wife. Their marriage certificate is secure under her pillow. If Old Tang is testing her patience, she is ready to prove it to him; it is a tug-of-war that Granny Lin is determined to win. She puts down the magazine and looks boldly into Old Tang's face, trying to outstare him. Minutes grow into an hour, and all of a sudden Granny Lin awakens in a dread that she, too, is losing her mind. She drags her body off the couch and stretches, feeling the small cracking of her arthritic joints. She looks down at Old Tang, and he is still a statue. Indeed, he is a sick man, she thinks, and feels the shame of having cast rootless doubt on him, a man as defenseless as a newborn baby. She walks to the kitchen quickly and comes back with a glass of milk. "Milk time," she says, patting Old Tang's cheek until he starts to swallow.
Three times a day, Granny Lin gives Old Tang an insulin shot. Only then does she catch a glimpse of the life left in him, the small flinch of the muscle when she pushes the needle into his arm. Sometimes a small bead of blood appears after she draws the needle out, and she wipes it away with her fingertip instead of a cotton ball, entranced by the strange sensation that his blood is seeping into her body.
Several times a day Granny Lin bathes Old Tang: in the morning and before bedtime, and whenever he wets or dirties himself. The private bathroom is what Granny Lin likes best about her marriage. All her life she has used public bathrooms, fighting with other slippery bodies for the lukewarm water drizzling from the rusty showers. Now that she has a bathroom all to herself, she never misses a chance to use it.
Old Tang is the only man Granny Lin has seen fully naked. The first time she undressed him, she could not help stealing a look at the penis, nestled in a thinning bush. She wondered what it had looked like in its younger years, but right away chased the unclean thought from her mind. The frail nakedness filled her heart with a tenderness she had never experienced, and she has since tended his body with motherly hands.
One evening in late February, Granny Lin leads Old Tang to the plastic chair in the middle of the bathroom. She unbuttons his pajamas and he bends his arms at her guidance, his head resting on her shoulder blade. She removes the showerhead from its hook and sprays warm water on his body, putting one hand on his forehead so that the water does not get into his eyes.
Granny Lin is squatting on the floor and massaging Old Tang's legs when he touches her shoulder with his palm. She looks up and he is gazing into her eyes. She gives a cry and backs away from him.
"Who are you?" Old Tang says.
"Is it you, Old Tang?" Granny Lin asks.
"Who are you? Why are you here?"
"I live here," Granny Lin says. She sees an unnatural lucidity in Old Tang's eyes, and feels her heart fall. Such a moment of clarity happens only before a nearing death. Granny Lin had seen the same light two years earlier in her father's eyes, hours before he passed away. She thinks of rushing out to call a doctor, but her feet are locked to the floor, and her eyes are locked on his.
"I don't know you. Who are you?"
Granny Lin looks down at herself. She is wearing a bright-yellow plastic poncho and a pair of grass-green rubber boots, her outfit for bath time. "I am your wife," she says.
"You are not my wife. My wife is Sujane. Where is Sujane?"
"Sujane is no longer with us. I'm your new wife."
"You're lying," Old Tang says, and stands up. "Sujane is in the hospital."
"No," Granny Lin says. "They lied to you."
Old Tang does not hear her. He pushes Granny Lin, and his arms are suddenly strong. Granny Lin clutches him, but he is wild with an uncontrollable force. She lets go of his hands, not knowing why she needs to fight with her husband over a dead woman. But he wrestles with the air and, two steps away, slips in a puddle of soapy water.
Nobody pays any attention to Granny Lin at the funeral. She sits in a corner and listens to the men and women who come up to talk about Old Tang's life: an accomplished physicist and a great teacher, a loving husband, father, and grandfather. The speakers finish and shake the family members' hands, ignoring her at the end of the line.
I did not kill him, Granny Lin imagines herself telling every person there. He was dying before the fall. But she does not tell the truth to anyone, and instead admits her negligence. Nobody would believe her anyway, for she alone saw the light in his eyes, the last glimmer before the eternal night, as it is called, the brief moment of lucidity before the end.
Granny Lin does not get a penny from Old Tang's savings. She has looked after Old Tang for only two months, and has, in many of the relatives' minds, killed him with her carelessness. She does not blame the two sons. She can think only of their loss, a thousand times more painful than her own. When one of them suggests a job in a private boarding school that is run by his friend, Granny Lin almost weeps out of gratitude.
Situated in a mountain resort in a western suburb of Beijing, Mei-Mei Academy takes pride in being among the first private schools in the country. It occupies one of the few four-story buildings that were allowed to be constructed in the area. ("Connections, connections," the chef tells Granny Lin the day she arrives—how else could the school have gained the permit if not for its powerful trustees?) Private schools, like all private businesses, are sprouting up across the country like bamboo shoots after the first spring rain. Relatives of the Communist Party leaders are being transformed overnight into business owners, appearing on national TV as representatives of the new proletarian entrepreneurs.
Granny Lin cannot imagine a better life now that she has become a maid at the academy. Every meal is a banquet. Meat and fish are abundant. Vegetables are greener than the ones Granny Lin remembers from her market days. Everything is produced by a small organic farm that serves the President and the Premier and their families—so the chef informs Granny Lin.
Sometimes Granny Lin feels sad at seeing so much good food go into the garbage. She begins to come late to her meals, waiting until the students finish theirs. Throughout the dining hall, untouched vegetables are left withering on the plates; shipwrecked fish lie flat on their half-gnawed bellies. Granny Lin spoons the leftovers onto her plate and dreams of having an express shuttle running between the school and the city every day, taking the unconsumed food to her old neighbors.
Eating such good food without working hard is a sin. In addition to the laundry and the dorm cleaning assigned to her, Granny Lin takes on other duties. She gets up early in the morning, and opens the classroom windows to let in the fresh mountain air. She sweeps and mops the terrazzo floor. She dusts and polishes the students' desks. She makes sure everything is meticulous, even though the janitor has cleaned the classrooms the night before. Sometimes, when there is still time before the wake-up bell, she leaves the school and takes a walk in the mountains. The morning fog is damp on her skin and her hair, and birds she has never seen in the city sing in a chorus. At such moments, Granny Lin feels overwhelmed by her good fortune. The years in the factory seem a distant dream now, and she no longer remembers what her life was like when she walked through the morning smog expelled by coal stoves and bargained at the market for vegetables puffed up by chemical fertilizers.
Often Granny Lin gathers an armful of wildflowers on her walk: mountain orchids, pearl cherries, jade barrettes. She arranges the flowers in vases for the six classrooms, one for each grade, but such a delicacy rarely lasts beyond the first period. Boys of all ages pelt one another with the flowers; the boy whose lips touch the flowers is called a sissy. Girls in the upper grades pull the petals off and bury them in a mound in the schoolyard, their fingers ruthless and their faces shrouded with a sad seriousness.
The school is growing. Every month, a few new students arrive. Granny Lin is stunned by the parents' wealth, the ease with which they pay the initiation fee of twenty thousand yuan and another twenty thousand for the first year of tuition and room and board.
In the third month of Granny Lin's stay, the school celebrates the admission of its hundredth student with a feast. Kang, the boy who draws the lucky number, is six years old. Unlike the other students, who come from the city, he has been sent from a nearby province. A few days into his stay, the teachers and the staff members have all heard his story. Kang's grandfather used to be the leader of a big People's Commune in his home province, and his father has become one of the top agricultural entrepreneurs in northern China.
"I thought farmers liked to keep their sons at home," Granny Lin says to Mrs. Du, a dorm mother, as they search for foul-smelling socks under the mattresses. "They can almost stand up and walk by themselves" is how Mrs. Du describes the stiff socks that have been worn for too long.
"Not when he is the son of a disfavored wife," Mrs. Du says. "An extra is what he is."
"Are the parents divorced?"
"Who knows? But the father does have another wife, or a concubine. What's the difference? The boy's mother is no longer needed in the family, and the child has to go, too."
The thought of the boy, who is so small and occupies almost no space in the world yet is still in other people's way and has to be got rid of, saddens Granny Lin. She starts to look for the boy in the crowd. His clothes, of the same brand names as those that the other students wear, look wrong on him. Too large, too new, too trendy, the clothes do not belong to him any more than he belongs to the school. His face and hands always seem in need of a thorough washing, but after Granny Lin has tended to them several times she has to agree that it is not the child's or the dorm mother's fault.
In his second week, Kang starts to come to the laundry room during the afternoon activity time.
"Granny, what's this?" Kang asks one day while Granny Lin is massaging some baby lotion into his cheeks.
"Something that will make you a city boy," Granny Lin says.
"Granny, where do you live?"
"I live here."
"But before you came here? Where is your husband's home?"
Granny Lin thinks for a moment. "In the city," she says.
"What's the city like? My mom said she'd take me to see the city."
"Where is your mom?" Granny Lin asks, holding her breath and trying to make her heart beat less loudly. The boy seems not to notice.
"She is at home."
"Your father's home?"
"No, my grandfather's home. My new mom lives in my father's home."
"What's your new mom like? Is she pretty?"
"Is she good to you?"
"Do you like her?"
"Do you like your mom, also? More than your new mom?" Granny Lin asks. She turns around to see whether anyone is walking past the laundry room in the hallway. She feels like a thief.
The boy, too, looks around nervously. He then comes closer and circles his arms around Granny Lin's neck, his mouth to her ear, his hot breath touching her earlobe. "Granny, I'll tell you a secret. Don't tell anyone."
"I won't."
"My mom said she would come and get me back one day."
"She said soon."
"When did she say it?"
"Before my new mom moved in."
"When was that?"
"Last year."
"Have you seen your mom since then?"
"No, but she said she'd come soon, if I don't make my dad and my new mom angry," Kang says. "Granny, do you think the guards will let her in when she comes?"
"I'm sure they will," Granny Lin says. The boy smells like a mixture of baby lotion, fresh laundry, and summer sweat. It reminds Granny Lin of Old Tang after his bath, the way a dear person smells good. The thought makes Granny Lin's lips go dry, and she feels the boy's arms on her neck, hot and sticky.
On Friday afternoons, the parking lot outside the school gate is full of luxury cars. Chauffeurs and nannies come, and sometimes the parents themselves show up. Teachers and dorm mothers stand inside the gate, pointing out to one another who is the daughter-in-law of a powerful figure in the government and who has appeared in the latest hit movie.
Kang is the only child who stays for the weekend. His father has paid the extra fee for weekend care and has promised to come for him at the end of the semester. Sometimes Granny Lin wonders if the father will ever come and what will become of Kang if no one picks him up when the summer arrives. Will he be able to stay with her at the school? Then she wonders if she herself will be allowed to stay and, if not, where she will spend the two months before she is allowed to return in September.
After the last student is picked up every weekend, the teachers and the dorm mothers leave on a shuttle bus for the city. Apart from the two guards, Granny Lin is the only one who stays, and she has cheerfully agreed to take care of Kang.
They stand side by side at the school gate and wave at the bus. Both sigh with relief once it is gone. Kang darts across the yard to the activity room, flipping through picture books as fast as he can, eager to get to the next one. Granny Lin comes in and sits down at his side, stroking his hair and watching him laugh to himself. When he finishes all the new books, they go out and play in the yard, Granny Lin pushing him in the swing until it is flying so high that Kang screams with excitement and fear.
When the weather is nice, they take long walks in the mountains. Weekend tourists swarm into the area, but Granny Lin and Kang are the only two people who do not worry about missing the bus or getting stuck in a traffic jam. They walk hand in hand, Kang's palm touching Granny Lin's, both sweating. Granny Lin tells old tales about flowers and grass. When she runs out of old stories, she makes up new ones.
After dinner, Granny Lin leads Kang to the bathroom. She waits outside with a towel and his pajamas, and he sings in the shower the song about the red dragonfly she has taught him. Always he shouts to Granny Lin after the first two minutes, asking if he can come out now. She replies that it would be good if he could stay in the shower for another five minutes. Then the boy goes on singing, his voice pure and perfect. Granny Lin feels a warm liquid move under her skin and in her heart.
Often, without turning off the water, Kang jumps out of the stall at Granny Lin. She pretends to be startled and screams, and he giggles and runs off before she can wrap the towel around his dripping body.
At night, as he sleeps, he mumbles in his dreams, his arms and legs thrown in all four directions under the blanket. Granny Lin tucks him in and watches him for a long time, the unfamiliar warmth swelling inside her. She wonders if this is what people call falling in love, the desire to be with someone every minute of the rest of her life so strong that sometimes she is frightened of herself.
Granny Lin is not the first person to have noticed the missing socks. The dorm mothers, for two weeks in a row, tell her that the girls are complaining that their favorite socks are disappearing in the laundry. Granny Lin knows then what has happened to the socks. A few times, she has seen Kang clutching a girl's unwashed sock. He drops it into the basket when he realizes that she is watching him.
The next weekend, while Kang is playing a computer game in the activity room, Granny Lin searches his bed. She finds nothing under the mattress, where the children usually hide things. She folds back the blanket. She picks up the pillow, unzips the pillowcase, and sees five socks inside, rolled up into small bundles like newborn bunnies.
Granny Lin unrolls them: young girls' socks with flower patterns or cartoon animals. She thinks of putting them in her pocket, but stops at the thought of Kang groping in the pillowcase for the socks, something dear to him for reasons she does not know. She rolls the socks back up and stuffs them into the pillowcase.
On Monday, Granny Lin asks her supervisor for a half day off and takes the bus to the city, looking for socks that have the same patterns as the missing ones. She buys several packages of girls' socks in different designs.
Granny Lin becomes more careful with the laundry now. She makes sure all the girls' socks are back in their bags before Kang arrives. From time to time, she scatters around socks that she has bought, all of them having been washed and dried and then rubbed across the floor.
They are still the happy couple on weekends, but Granny Lin worries as she counts the missing socks that she has put out for Kang. She wonders if she needs to talk to him and find out the reason for what he is doing. But every time she opens her mouth she loses her resolve.
On weekends, as they sit in the shadow of the wisteria, Granny Lin wonders if this is the love she missed in her younger years, hand in hand with a dear boy, not asking him to tell her the secret she is not allowed to know.
The weather gets hot, and the dorm mothers put mosquito nets over the students' beds. The first night, a boy in the bed next to Kang's gets up after the dorm mother leaves. With a small flashlight in his hand, he sticks his head inside Kang's mosquito net and shrieks in a low voice, letting the flashlight shine in Kang's eyes. Kang does not cry, as the boy hoped, but the boy is surprised and pleased to find Kang stroking his own cheeks with both his hands in floral socks.
Dorm mothers are called. Seven more socks are discovered, and by the end of the next day everyone in the school knows about the sick boy who steals girls' socks and does strange things with them.
Granny Lin watches the kids chase Kang around the schoolyard, calling him "sicko," "psycho," "porn boy," her heart wrenching as if it were a piece of rag in the washing machine. Kang is no longer allowed to visit the laundry room. She counts the days to the weekend and is afraid that she will break down before the three days pass.
On Friday afternoon, as they stand in front of the school gate, Granny Lin has to raise Kang's hand and wave for him. When the shuttle bus is gone, Granny Lin turns to Kang, who is kicking a pebble in front of him.
"Kang, come to Granny's room for a moment," Granny Lin says.
"No, I don't want to," Kang says, pulling free of Granny Lin's hand.
"What do you want to do? Let's take a walk."
"I don't want to take a walk."
"How about reading some books? A new box of books came in yesterday."
"I don't want to read."
"Let's get on the swing."
"I don't want to do anything," Kang says, pushing Granny Lin's hand off his shoulder.
Granny Lin's tears swell out of her eyes. She looks down at the top of Kang's head. To love someone is to want to please him, even when one is not able to. "Think of something you want to do, and we'll do it together. Think of something you want, and Granny will get it for you. You know Granny loves you."
"I want to go home. I want to see my mom," Kang says. "Granny, do you think we can catch the train and go home for two days?"
Granny Lin looks down at Kang's upturned face, seeing the small hope grow bigger in his eyes. Kang grabs her hand. "Granny, just two days. Nobody will know."
Granny Lin sighs. "Forgive me, Kang. But Granny cannot do this for you."
"But why? You said you'd do anything."
"Anything that we can do here, in the school, in the mountains. Kang, good boy, we cannot leave the school."
It takes a minute for Kang to burst into tears. Granny Lin tries to quiet him and pull him into her arms. Kang pushes her away, and his eyes, filled with the cold anger that Granny Lin once saw in Old Tang's eyes, chill her. Kang runs across the schoolyard. Granny Lin runs after him, but she has to stop and catch her breath after a few steps. Her old body is failing her young heart.
Granny Lin thought that Kang would be crying in his bed, but the boy is not there. She calls out his name as she walks through the building, checking each unlocked door, the activity room, the music room, the dining hall. She looks under tables and behind curtains, and her heart sinks deeper each time her hope proves unfounded.
For an hour, Granny Lin searches, until it occurs to her that the boy may have left the building, and even the school. Paralyzed by the thought, and imagining all kinds of disasters, she calls the two guards, who are playing poker in the small room by the school gate. Neither wants to admit the possibility that the boy has squeezed through the gate, both insisting that he must be hiding somewhere in the building. More searches are carried out by the three of them. The searches yield nothing, and they each start to panic with different worries.
The police are called. The school supervisor is called. The dorm mothers are called. The guards make phone calls to whomever they can think of. Granny Lin watches one of the young men punch the number with a shaking hand, and wonders why he is so nervous. The guards are losing only a peaceful weekend. They will lose at most a month of salary, as both are relatives of the trustees. Boys disappear every day—what would they remember of Kang a year from now even if they never found him? Granny Lin begins to cry.
But Kang shows up by himself, in the middle of the turmoil, unharmed, hungry, and sleepy. He must have played hide-and-seek with Granny Lin while she was looking for him. Or did he want to punish her for disappointing him? Granny Lin does not know. All she knows is what he told the school supervisor, that he fell asleep under the piano.
Granny Lin remembers looking under the piano, but nobody trusts an old woman's memory. Besides, what's the difference, even if she is telling the truth? She has proved incapable. More stories are remembered—of her eating the students' rations, of her carelessness with the laundry.
On the evening of the day the children return, Granny Lin is asked to leave. Her things are packed and placed at the gate: a duffelbag, not heavy even for an old woman.
"The happiness of love is a shooting meteor; the pain of love is the darkness following." A girl is singing to herself in a clear voice as she walks past Granny Lin down the street. She tries to catch up with the girl, but the girl moves too fast, and so does the song. Granny Lin puts the duffelbag on the ground and catches her breath, still hanging on to her stainless-steel lunch pail with her other hand. All the people on the street seem to know where their legs are taking them. She wonders when she stopped being one of them.
Someone runs past Granny Lin and pushes her hard on the back. She stumbles and catches a glimpse of a hand before falling down; a man in a black shirt runs into the crowd with her duffelbag.
A woman stops and asks, "Are you all right, granny?"
Granny Lin nods, struggling to recover from the fall. The woman shakes her head and says aloud to the passersby, "What a world! Someone just robbed an old granny."
Few people respond; the woman shakes her head again and moves on.
Granny Lin sits on the street and hugs the lunch pail to herself. Hungry as people are, it is strange that nobody ever thinks of robbing an old woman of her lunch. That's why she has never lost anything important. The three thousand yuan of dismissal compensation is safe in the lunch pail, as are several unopened packages of girls' socks, colorful with floral patterns, souvenirs of her short love story. ♦

subset: commoncrawl


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Last month we dined at Le Vin Sobre, a neighborhood restaurant that has been open since 2003. We talked with chef and owner Bertrand Guillemain, who got started in cuisine at a very young age. Read about the restaurant and the chef in this month's Paris Insights.
Our review is the only one on the Internet that features a review of the restaurant as well as interesting details about the chef and his passion for his work.
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text: Alpha Centauri C, or Proxima Centauri, is a small and faint red dwarf (Class M). Though not visible to the naked eye, Proxima Centauri is the closest star to the Sun at a distance of 4. 24 light-years (1. 30 pc), slightly closer than Alpha Centauri AB. Currently, the distance between Proxima Centauri and Alpha Centauri AB is about 13,000 astronomical units (0. 21 ly), equivalent to about 430 times the radius of Neptune's orbit. Proxima Centauri b is an Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri; it was discovered in 2016.


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Topic Page: Siege
(13c) 1 obs : a seat of distinction :throne 2 a : a military blockade of a city or fortified place to compel it to surrender b : a persistent or serious attack (as of illness)
vt — lay siege to
1 : to besiege militarily 2 : to pursue diligently or persistently
assault against a city or fortress with the purpose of capturing it. The history of siegecraft parallels the development of fortification and, later, artillery. In early times battering rams and bores were employed to break down the walls and gates of a fortified place (see castle) if deception, treachery, starvation, or storm could not carry it. To protect the attackers from missiles, hot oil, and incendiaries launched by the defenders, a shelter was constructed, usually from huge wicker shields covered with wood or hide (mantelets). Mounds and movable wooden towers were built by both besieger and besieged in a race to attain heights from which the adversary could be assailed. Engines of war, such as the catapult, were brought into play by both sides to hurl stones, spears, pots of fire, and arrows. It was also common for besiegers to build a wall (circumvallation) around their objective to prevent sorties and a second wall (contravallation) around their own army as security against relieving forces. Mining was employed by the assailants from earliest times, and the besieged dug countermines in defense; such tactics greatly increased in effectiveness with the introduction of gunpowder. Artillery that could breach high walls made it necessary to lower and extend medieval fortifications and mount defensive artillery. Many sieges became artillery duels. The development of tanks, aircraft, and missiles in the 20th cent. has given the besieger a great advantage in firepower and mobility. The starvation of civilians as a siege tactic is now banned under the Geneva Conventions. Some notable sieges of history include those of Syracuse (415–413 B.C.), Jerusalem (A.D. 70), Acre (1189–90), Constantinople (1453), Quebec (1759–60), Sevastopol (1854–55, 1941–42), Vicksburg (1863), Port Arthur (1904), Malta (1940–43), Leningrad (1941–43), Dienbienphu (1954), Khe Sanh (1968), and Sarajevo (1992–96).
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Problem of Kashmir and Exodus of Kashmiri Pandits
Jawaharlal Nehru, though he himself was a Kashmiri Pandit the first Prime Minister of Independent India proved to be a weak PM particularly as long as Lord Mountbatten was Governor General of Dominion of India. He continued to be ineffective and docile till Sardar Patel, iron man of India,was alive. Nehru committed many blunders in the case of Kashmir as outlined by Vidya Bhushan in South Asia Today:
The first and biggest blunder was to make Jawahar Lal Nehru PM instead of Sardar Patel and another blunder was to assign Deptt of Kashmir Affairs to Nehru while all the other State Affairs were under Ministry of State under the charge of Sardar Patel.
Another blunder was to name the head of government of Kashmir as Prime Minister and not Chief Minister as was the case of hundreds of other Princely States. Also to name Srinagar Radio as Radio Kashmir and not All India Radio Kashmir.
But the greatest blunder was to let Mountbatten include a clause on the Instrument of Accession on Kashmir to India, that "will of the people" will be taken into account, which led to one crises after another viz referring the Kashmir question to UN, agreeing to cease fire when entire Kashmir could be conquered by Indian Army within a week and finally agreeing to plebiscite.
It is unfortunate that all these blunders on Kashmir were committed by Pt. Nehru, directly or indirectly which cost India thousands of valiant Indian Army personnel's life and also of Kashmiris besides lakhs of crores of rupees during 62 years besides 1965 war with Pakistan Kashmir and also Kargil war, without any solution to Kashmir problem.
Before the conquest of Kashmir by Muslim Afghans, entire population of Kashmir was Hindu. But now there is absolute majority of Muslims in the Kashmir Valley but in Jammu area majority is of Hindus and in, Ladakh Buddhist before and after independence. It was Maharaja Ranjit Singh in early 8th century who conquered and ended Muslim (Afghan) rule after about 700 years. Just as he captured NWFP from Afghans, made both Kashmir and NWFP part of his (Indian) empire. B.N Sharma's views in this context are touching so these are reproduced below:
" Have we ever tried analyze the course of almost complete demographic swing in favour of Muslims as the ethnic cleansing of Kashmir Pandits was going on under the benevolent gaze of the previous secular government at Delhi so aptly described by a Kashmiri Muslim Khurshid Vani—'when bullets, blood and fundamentalism made their first inroad into the valley, 1.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits left their paradise in fear, but 3000 families stayed back to fight, to survive and to live or die in their homes.' Sadly more than a decade and a half later, the staying power of these gritty Pandits stands diluted by joblessness, anxiety and loneliness, not to talk of nagging fear. There are no grooms for daughters, no relatives to share family with, no hope of the return of exiled and, of course distress sale of ancestral properties. And the plight of Those who stayed back against all adversity."
During Ranjit Singh's reign over Kashmir and there after British rule by Dogra rulers Kashmir was quiet—no apparent Muslim dominance. But since independence because of Nehru's follies and Pakistani indirect and direct intervention Kashmir problem has arisen and has got intensified. It is true and shocking but the secular government of India could not prevent it or do anything for return of Kashmiri Pandits which seems a remote possibility now. It may be possible, either after final agreement in black and white with Pakistan or after disintegration of Pakistan (NWFP becoming an independent state or joining Afghanistan) or when the Taliban menace is over either by peaceful settlement or by intensified war by USA as US President Obama has claimed by mid 2011 when all US Forces will be withdrawn from Afghanistan. If one of this possibility becomes reality, as it is hoped and peace returns to Kashmir after few years then and then alone it may or will be possible for Kahmiri Pandits to return to their homes in Kashmir and become integrated Kashmiris as before independence of India.
Hindutva – Its true meaning and implications
After defeat of BJP in the 2009 elections, there is much talk about HIndutva, whether it should be diluted to keep the RSS with BJP as its cadre party and source or to abandon it altogether to make BJP a truly secular so that it also attracts Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist and other small minorities of India to make BJP truly All India Party and an All India challenge to Indian National Congress.
The word Hindutva was coined and used first of all by V.D. Savarkar. "Hinduism is a religion that all Hindus follow with all the rituals and worshiping all the Hindu Gods, Lord Rama, Krishna, Hanuman and other regional gods whose statues are all over India and worshiped by devout Hindus. It also means respect and if possible knowledge of Ramayana, Mahabarat, Vedas, Shastra and other many millennium old Hindu or Vedic Literature. Hindutva also means that India Civilization embraces all those who live in India, to whatever religion they belong but they have to love Indian Civilization in contrast to Muslim Civilization as propagated in Mecca and Christian Civilization as explained and propagated by Pope of Rome."
RSS Chief K S Sudarshan in 2201 while addressing a large gathering in Hardwar said " The time has come when both Muslims and Christians who are living in India should Indianize their religions. They should sever their links with Mecca and Pope and instead become swadeshi." (The Tribune Chandigarh March 9, 2001) An extremist Hindu Brig B N Sharma (Retd) in his book, " A Nation on Fire," defines Hindutva as: Hindutva collective essence of " Hinduism and is the end product of three elements, cultural nationalism, intense patriotism, and a pride in the collective memory of India's past glory." But Brig Sharma, as the title of book reveals, is not moderate but fundamentalist. He has ridiculed so called seculars who are more concerned with vote bank than with nation's interest.
If BJP follows fully and faithfully what K.S Sudarshan says then BJP can never become all embracing Indian Political Party where followers of any religion will be welcome, just as Hindus, without any discrimination. It is pertinent to quote Dr Chaudhary as under.
"The seeds of pathological antipathy and diabolical hatred against Muslims and Christians in India sown by Savarkar have now fully fructified, thanks to the constant watering and manuring of seeds at the hands of the Sangh Parivar. It resulted into the shameless act of demolition of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya in 1992 followed by communal holocaust all over the country in which hundreds of innocent citizens lost their lives. Then came the systematic persecution of Christians resulting into the horrendous act of burning alive of an Australian Christian doctor engaged into healing lepers, along with his adolescent sons in Orissa." (South Asia Today)
If BJP follows Hindutva, in its full form with all the implicayions, it may attract towards BJP more and more Hindus with the active help of more than a dozen RSS volunteering organizations in virtually all fields like student and teacher organization, workers of industrial and academic fields, women and in tribal sphere etc,etc… But still it will remain only a Hindu Communal organization. To be a Secular All India Party BJP will have to dilute HIndutva and make it appear truly an Indian Civilization and part of all comprehensive Indian Cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic groups of whole of India.
It was mainly Atal Bihari Vajpayee's farsight and determination that transformed Bhartya Jan Sangh a Hindu Party like RSS into BJP an All India National Party like Indian National Congress and captured power in 1998 and ruled the country for full term of 5 years without virtual alliance with any party except Akali Dal as in Punjab. If BJP tries to be a truly secular party lot of uncommitted voters from religions and regions will support it.
Since Advani's praise for Jinnaha, when he visited Pakistan, without bothering to go deep into Jinnaha's thinking in 1940's and actions in 1946 to instigate West Bengal Government of Muslim League to abandon the rights and rules of and go ahead with 'Direct Action' which led to Kolkata Killings—it was certain that Advani should either quit BJP Presidentship and as leader of opposition, Lok Sabha, or would be ousted. Accordingly during early December 09, on the advice of RSS Chief, virtually little known in national politics, Nitin Gadkari 52 years old was chosen to replace Advani as BJP president. In Advani's place Sushma Swaraj, who once contested elections against Sonia Gandhi in South India though lost but proved to be both daring and well-versed in parliamentary affairs, was nominated as leader of opposition while another prominent BJP young leader Jaitley was to continue BJP leader in Rajya Sabha.
All these developments had to be stated in brief because both Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitely are moderates and not enthusiastic about Hindutava. They are more interested, like Vajpayee, to make BJP an All India Party to include all Indians of all castes and religions. It is heartening to note that in his first interview on 20th December 2009, Godkari, new BJP Chief has said " I would like to involve more Dalits, Tribals and Muslims in the BJP" He father said: "I would like to concentrate on youth workers and farmers. I will concentrate my polities of development at the national level." If Godkari sticks to what he has said in this interview, it would mean dilution of Hindutava for BJP.
No doubt Muslim terrorists, jehadis of many hues and Taliban by their incursions and killings through suicide bombing like 9/11 in USA and 26/11 in Bombay have encouraged RSS followers, Israelis and some Christian Countries to give befitting reply. But for peace of the world and peace in their own country tact, patience and action are required as and when necessary. So far as India is concerned because of Indian farmers, skilled and unskilled labourers and since last two decades Indian technocrats and managers being in limelight particularly in USA, it is imperative that Indians shun fundamentalism of Hindutava. India must remain secular and India's image should be that of biggest democracy in the world.
Shashi Tharoor's Contribution to India's Unity
Shashi Tharoor's version of India and its unity in Diversity under all circumstances, pressures from inside and outside is commendable. It is a vision of which every Indian is proud and values. It is a vision which makes Shashi Tharoor, a Keralite, a great Indian. Though USSR disintegrated, but India, though remained under Nehru's Soviet model of socialism for almost 20 years, has not and shall never disintegrate. Despite some neglects and omissions Shashi Tharoor's concluding remarks about India's invincible unity are reproduced below:-
"There is remarkable resilience about the Indian state (which has proved the foreign analysts wrong) one that is sustained by an intangible sense of nationhood and shared destiny. India is a country held together in Nehru's evocative image, by strong but invisible threads that bind Indians to a common destiny. Indians are comfortable with multiple identities and multiple loyalties, all coming together in allegiance to a larger idea of India, an India that safeguards the common space available to each identity, an India that remains safe for diversity, taken for granted by most Indians. It is this quality that will prevent the disintegration so widely predicted for my country."
In a multi lingual, multi ethenic and a multi cultural country some problems are bound to arise particularly in the East India which had been neglected for thousand of years by Muslim rulers of India and British rulers of India for almost 200 years ignored the problem of East except trying to safeguard the Northern and Eastern boundary by virtue of Young Husband expeditions Mac Mahon Line, that, too, when China was a very weak country whose territories of Korea and Manchuria were conquered and occupied by a small country like Japan and eastern ports like Macao and Hongkong by European imperialists. India got a bad legacy in East but has been trying to solve the problems of East India, since 1947. There have been linguistic problem in many parts of India which were solved by State Reorganization Commission. Punjab problem was also solved. Now there is problem of Telergana, which too, will be solved. Problems will continue to be there, as indicated above, and explained by Shashi Tharoor because of "remarkable resilience" all problems will be solved and India will ever and ever remain united.
India is a country of which all Indians are proud of and feel so and are sure of its unity in diversity whether they are Keralite's like Shashi Tharoor or Kashmiri's like Sheikh Abdullah, or from any other Indian state or Union territory from Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh (Hindu, Muslim and Buddhist majority respectively) in north to Kanyakumari in South and from Nagaland and Arunachal in East to Goa and Maharashtra in West. All the inhabitants of various states and Union Territories at home they are known as Kashmiris, Punjabis, Marathas, Gujaratis, Assamese, Bengalis, Orias, Telegus, Tamils, Kannadas or Keralites, but when they go abroad they say with pride and they are known as Indians whether they go to America, Europe, Russia, China or Japan. This is the most significant aspect and proof of India's Unity in Diversity.
Shashi Tharoor on Indira Gandhi
As a realist, Shashi Tharoor seems to be having more criticism than praise for Indira Gandhi, particularly because for virtually no reason she imposed state of Emergency in 1971 for the first time in India since independence. Ordinarily if an ordinary and unknown judge of Allahabad had 'convicted' her on technical ground for electoral malpractice. She could ordinarily appeal against this Judgement in the higher Court, even, if need be in Supreme Court and waited for final order of the higher or highest court. But it was not to be, Indira Gandhi was impatient, hungry for power even by undemocratic means as has been quoted by Guha in the following passage: which proves glaring undemocratic feeling and action by Congress under Indira Gandhi.
"During 1972 elections congress won in 13 states including Bihar MP and Maharashtra. However in West Bengal Congress used all undemocratic means to come to power "mixture of terror intimidation and fraud. Gangs of hooligans stuffed ballot boxes with the police idly looking on. There was mass scale rigging in Calcutta—goondas paid by the congress told voters assembled outside polling stations that they might as well go home, since they had already cast all the registered votes" (Quoted by Guha from eye witness account)
Shashi Tharoor, too, thinks of Indira Gandhi, skilled in acquisition of "power by all means, fair and foul. She could not bear or stomach defeat," in Shashi Tharoor's own words.
"Mrs. Gandhi was skilled at the acquisition and maintenance of power, but hopeless at the wielding of it for larger purposes. She had no real vision or program beyond the expedient campaign; "remove poverty" was a mantra without a method.
In a very brief account of Operation Blue Star and with no mention at all of Rajiv Gandhi's indirect collusion with massacre of Sikhs for four days since he was sworn in as PM, and not ad-hoc PM like Gulzari Lal Nanda, immediately after Indira's assassination, Rajiv Gandhi did not call the Army nor instruct the senior congressmen to stop the onslaught on Sikhs. About Indira Gandhi, Tharoor says "Mrs Indira Gandhi never understood the extent to which so many Sikhs saw 'Blue Star' as a betrayal" in the horror of anti-Sikh riots that followed it, which saw whole families burned alive for the Sin of sharing the religion of her assassins.
On Mrs Gandhi's encouragement and reported financing of Bhinderan-wale
Tharoor writes:
As the murders mounted, Mrs Gandhi had little choice but to destroy the monster( Bhinderan-wale) she herself spawned and finally violated a basic tenet of Indian state by sending armed troops into a place of worship, the historic Golden Temple in Amritsar to flush out the terrorists holed up there………. But her real fault lay in having created the problem in the first place and in letting it mount to the point where destructive force of 'Operation Blue Star seemed the only solution.'
The assault on Golden Temple alienated many Sikhs like eminent writer and journalist, Khushwant Singh whose patriotism was unquestionable. However Indira Gandhi's assassination was unfortunate though it was a reaction to attack on Golden Temple, the most sacred Gurdwara worshiped by the Sikhs all over the world. Though she had been advised or warned by her own intelligence to remove her Sikh body guards as they feared that as Dyer who ordered Jallianwala Bagh massacre was killed by Udham Singh, something like that may happen to her. But Indira Gandhi did not accept their advice. Had she accepted this advice many feel that she might not have been assassinated and thousands of more Sikhs might not have lost their lives in the first week of November 1984.
Shashi Tharoor on Mahatma Gandhi
Attenborough's picture on Gandhi was awarded 8 Oscars. Other film producers protested or regretted, As Gandhi was not awarded Nobel Peace Prize, though his follower in USA or self proclaimed Gandhians like Martin Luther king jr. and Adolf Perez Esquivel became Nobel laureates Seven Oscars to Film on Gandhi was perhaps to equate Gandhi with Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Shashi Tharoor in the opening pare on Gandhi writes: "Mahatma Gandhi was the kind of person it is more convenient to forget. The principles he stood for and the way in which he asserted are easier to admire than to follow. While he was alive, it was impossible to ignore. Once he had gone he was impossible to imitate" In Gandhi's own day non violence could have done nothing for Jews of Hitler's Germany.
In next few pages Shashi Tharoor clarifies Gandhi's philosophy of non violence, "Satyagrah (literally holding on to truth) and adds there is no denying Gandhi's greatness. While the world was disintegrating into fascism, violence and war, Gandhi taught the virtues of truth, non-violence and peace. He destroyed the credibility of colonialism…. Yet Gandhi's truth was essentially his own….. Gandhi's "triumph" did not change the world forever. It is, sadly, matter of doubt whether he triumphed."
India after independence "paid lip service to much of its Gandhian patrimony while striking out in directions of which Gandhi could not have approved. Neither the Government nor the people understand and follow truth and non-violence. There are injustices, corruption every where in every sphere of government form Panchayats, Tehsils, Districts, States and Central Government. Persons like Lalu Prasad Yadav, Paswan and many others have flourished in corruption. Though there are cases against them but nothing has happened and nothing is likely to happen. Lalu and Paswan have been Ministers in Central Government and Koda has been Chief Minister. There is public holiday on Gandhi Jayanti and visit to Gandhi's smadhi. That is all that is left of Gandhi and Gandhian philosophy of truth and non-violence.
However, many Hindus considered Mahatma Gandhi as pro Muslim as he had compelled the Government of India to pay to Pakistan Rs 500 crores of undivided India's assets when that country was at war with India in Kashmir. Gandhi was unfortunately assassinated by a Hindu fanatic Nathu Ram Godse who, after trial was hanged. . This alarmed not only whole of India but the rest of world as Gandhi was considered apostle of non violence and peace. He was a religious Hindu but moderate who as leader of Independence Movement of India inspired all Indians of all religion and all castes and professions. It is unique in history that a leader like Gandhi led independence movement against most powerful colonial Power. British for four decades without any break despite Gandhi's shortcomings, which every human being has, pointed rightly by Shashi Tharoor, Gandhi was great. His non-violent movement for independence inspired many leaders of British and other European colonies that brought end to colonialism all over the world and the British Empire in whish "Sun never Set" And in America coloured leaders like Martin Luther King jr fought in non violent way and won equality with whites. It is because of this movement, inspired by Gandhi, that today Obama, a coloured citizen of USA, is President.
Appreciation and comments on Shashi Tharoor's Book INDIA: From Midnight to The Millennium and Beyond
There is absolutely no doubt that Shashi Tharoor, besides being a great diplomat of UN and now almost Foreign Minister of India, is an excellent thinker and great writer of India. His ideas about Indian nationalism, Unity in Diversity and the detailed expression of these two fundamental issues is matchless. It is apt to reproduce in detail Tharoor's views on these two aspects as under:
Indian nationalism is "not based on any of the conventional indices of national identity. Not language, since India's Constitution recognizes eighteen official languages, and there are thirty-five that are spoken by more than a million people each. Not ethnicity, since the "Indian" accommodates a diversity of racial types in which many Indians have more in common with foreigners than with other Indians—Indian Punjabis and Bengalis, for instance, have more in common with Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, respectively, than with other Indians. Not religion, since India is a secular pluralist state that is home to every religion known to mankind, with the possible exception of Shintoism. Not geography, since the natural geography of the subcontinent – the mountains and the sea–was hacked by the Partition of 1947. And not even territory, since, by law, anyone with one grandparent born in pre-Partition India – outside the territorial boundaries of today's state—is eligible for citizenship. Indian nationalism has therefore always been the nationalism of an idea. It is, as I have tried to demonstrate in this book, the idea of an ever-ever land emerging from an ancient civilization, united by a shared history, sustained by pluralist democracy.
In 1996 the then prime minister, H.D.Deve Gowda, stood at the ramparts of Delhi's, Red Fort to deliver Independence Day message to the Nation "What was unusual this time was that Deve Gowda, a southerner from the state of Karnataka, spoke to the country in a language of which he did not know a word. Tradition and politics required a speech in Hindi, so he gave one—the words having been written out for him in his native Kannada script, in which they, of course, made no sense."
Such an episode is almost inconceivable elsewhere, but it represents the best of the oddities that help make India. Only in India could there be a country ruled by a man who does not understand its "national language"; only in India, for that matter."
There are some more very significant views of Shashi Tharoor on India's Unity in Diversity, particularly about Sonia Gandhi whom many like Sharad Pawar considered a foreigner and not eligible for being the leader of Congress Party or Government as PM. As a congress Party has been in existence and leading the Indian Independence Movement for more than a hundred years. Here are some extracts from his book:
India's national identity has long been built on the slogan "unity in diversity." The "Indian" comes in such varieties that a woman who is fair-skinned, sari-wearing and Italian-speaking, as Sonia is, is not more foreign to my grandmother in Kerala than one who is "wheatish-complexioned," wears a salwar-kameez and speaks Punjabi. Our nation absorbs both these types of people; both are equally "foreign" to some of us, equally Indian to us all.
Shashi Tharoor's views on Unity in Diversity of India are superb. He has also written analytically on Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru Indira Gandhi even on Sanjay Gandhi. But there are other aspects on which some comments are called for particularly, his neglect of leaders like Dr Rajendra Parsad India's first President who was first Bihari who topped in MA economics in Calcutta University with remarks of the Examiner "Examinee knows more than the examiner. There is also neglect of Dr Abdul Kalam Azad who though a Muslim was a dedicated follower if Gandhi till his last breath. Sardar Patel, Deputy PM who consolidated India by incorporation 500 Princely States and even Hyderabad by Pohri Action and Gandhian. Jaya Parkash Narain even to an extent of Lal Bahadur Shastri, glaring omissions of prominent leaders from opposition: E.M.S Nambodrepad, virtually founder of Communist Party in India and first Communist Chief Minister of Kerala and of an Indian State. Even Atal Bihari Vajpayee who has been Prime Minister of India as well as longest serving Member of India's Parliament. These omissions are noteworthy in a famous book on INDIA.
Neglect of Arunachal
Neglect by the Central Government including by the Prime Minister is obvious and glaring, not only critics of Centre but to common citizen of Arunachal. It is strange even unpardonable that centre's neglect of Arunachal continues even after 47 years of Chinese war in 1962 and brief occupation by China, vacating Arunachal on its own teems. Arunachal's geography and proximity to China demanded that Centre should have developed fully, as promised by PM in Rs 24,000 crore package for 3000 MW project, Highways, roads and even railway line upto Itanagar. But unfortunately nothing, or there was little and insignificant development though PM had promised and even assured the people of Arunachal of many projects for which even money was sanctioned or promised by no less a person than Prime Minister. All these projects have remained on paper so far.
I feel, though many in government, polities and elsewhere, many disagree, that Arunachal crises developed because India welcomed Dalai Lama and hundreds of Tibetans who left Tibet and crossed into Arunachal, not realizing that Tibet was, part of China and China would resent and even get annoyed by India welcoming Dalai Lamia and his followers. Accordingly, this was the basis of China crossing McMahon Line which was recognized by British from 1914 onwards till 1947 and remained so, and even today remains so. Since then Dalai Lama, with base in India, has been going from one country to another and directly or indirectly saying and propagating against so called Chinese occupation of Tibet, ignoring that Tibet, though Buddhist, as China was before Mao Tse Tung after Long March converted into communist China which USA by its intervention on behalf of Chiang Kai Shek could not prevent.
Now coming back to India's neglect of Eastern States of India, particularly Arunachal Pradesh. Though Arunachal has become a democratic, like other states of India, state with its own Chief Minister elected duly by free elections, it continued to be neglected. To this day infrastructure has been delayed and its delay and neglect is appalling. Though history of Arunachal particularly since 1962 War demanded that this aspect of development should have been given top most priority. PM had announced construction of Highways linking fully Arunachal with rest of India, bids were duly called but when the bids were opened a few months ago these were rejected by "Ministry of Surface Transport". It should not have rejected all the bids outright. Had this infrastructure Project started, it would have provided employment to thousands of people of Arunachal. But that was not to be.
Similarly had the 3000 MW project come into operation hundreds of villages would have got electricity besides development in other spheres like industry. And the people of Arunachal, specially in villages and small towns would have celebrated the occasion and congratulated their Chief Minister as well as Prime Minister of India.
Many projects which were to be financed out of Rs 24000 crores package have not been even initiated what to speak of their progress or even completion of one out of many. What upset the Chief Minister was the proposal of building a new secretariat at a meager cost of 128 crores. Its bid, too, was rejected by, Dept of North East Region at centre, saying this project would get only Rs 71.73 crores.
For the neglect of Arunachal and failure of the centre to fulfil the promised development if Arunachal in many fields out of package of Rs 24,000 crores upset the Chief Minister Dorjee Khander so much that he came to Delhi along with a delegation to meet PM. He submitted a letter full of resentment over non implementation of many promised Projects and requested the PM to personally intervene.
In 1914 British India recognized Mc Mahon Line as boundary between India and Tibet-China. It continued to be after India because Independent Republic in 1947. India also signed an agreement in 1954 with China recognizing Tibet region of China. However situation in Tibet changed dramatically and drastically when there was a large scale uprising in Tibet in 1954 itself. Consequently Dalai Lama and hundreds of his followers flee Tibet and sought refugee in India through Kalimpong.
However I fail to understand as to why Pranay Sharma in an article in outlook has written "China's stand on Taiwang lies inextricably to its suspension of India's intention on Tibet. Even the British as far back as in 1914, after Younghusband expelition, Tibet as in alienable part of China and Arunachal, simultaneously as inalienable part of India and so drew Mc Mahon Line as boundary between China and India. Neither the British before 1947 nor India after independence in August 47 had an eye on Tibet. India only wants China to recognize Arunachal including Taiwang as inalienable part of India.
However Taiwang remains bone of contention between China and India. Taiwang falls below the Mc Mohan Line towards India. Prior to Mao Tse Tung's communist Government, no Chinese Government including that if Chiang Kaishek created problem of Taiwang. Taiwang is part of Arunachal and so part of India, upto 1980, even after 18 years of 1962, China never raised the problem of Taiwang claiming it to be part of Tibet and therefore of China. As from 1914 to 1980, during 66 years no Chinese government raised the question of Taiwang, either during British India or after India's independence, it is clear that China is not that serious about acquiring Taiwang by force. If communist China was really and emotionally keen to have Taiwang, it would not have vocated Taiwang and gone back to Mc Mahon Line. Once again, it is to be reiterated that China is upset over Dalai Lama's visits to various countries and utterances against China. It is better India, for permanent friendly relations with China puts some restraint, officially or unofficially on Dalai Lama. It is noteworthy that US President Barack Obama did not or avoided meeting Dalai Lama. Even has softened its stand on Tibet, despite rebellion in Lalisa by some Tibetians. Britain earlier regarded Chinese suzerainty and have recently recognize Chinese sovereignty over Tibet. There are good examples for India and thus India should try its best to have, as stated above, most cordial and friendly relations with its great neighbour China.
It is hoped that PM, his cabinet and bureaucracy at centre will rise to the occasion and PM will in consultation with Sonia Gandhi UPA Chairperson, will issue necessary instruction to all concerned at the centre to sanction/approve the projects of Arunachal as top priority.


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Babar Sattar vs. Babar Sattar on transparencyMar 12th, 2012 | By admin | Category: The News
Islamabad based lawyer Babar Sattar is a regular columnist on legal issue for The News (Jang Group). As a respected legal mind writing for the nation's largest media group, he has a special ability to influence public opinion on important issues. Mr Sattar is entitled to his opinons, of course, but we believe it is fair to note when inconsistencies in his pieces suggest that the positions he is projecting may be influenced by something other than facts.
Writing about Asma Jahangir's critique of the Supreme Court's interim order in the 'memogate' fiasco, Babar Sattar called the Court's actions "a welcome development" for expanding the scope of fundamental rights.
Why should a matter be consigned to the dustbin merely because it involves national security, the holiest of all cows? Does it not bode well that national security has finally stepped outside the exclusive domain of the khakis? When was the last time that the army chief and the DG ISI (or any serving general for that matter) submitted himself before a court of law in Pakistan? Why should the court be expected to look away when asked to determine whether or not Pakistan's envoy to a foreign state made an offer that compromises Article 9 and 10 rights of Pakistanis under the constitution? Would it strengthen rule of law in Pakistan if instead of being adjudicated before courts of law in full public view, the 'troikas' and such illegitimate centres of power in our polity continue to brawl over and resolve differences related to national security behind closed doors?
In questioning the Court's actions on the 'memogate' case, Babar Sattar suggested, the Supreme Court was being treated unfairly by assumptions that the Court would treat civilians and military officials differently.
The misgivings against the Supreme Court are a product of the premature (and uncharitable) conclusion that the apex court is incapable of doing justice in a matter wherein the army chief and the DG ISI have exhibited personal interest. And these fears have not singularly been nurtured by the court's actions or orders in the memo case, but by its omissions and indifference vis-à-vis other cases wherein the allegations of abuse of fundamental rights are much more blatant. For example, what would it take to get the Supreme Court to fix for hearing the Asghar Khan case and adjudicate the alleged involvement of the ISI in distributing funds and cobbling together the IJI?
Though he could not have predicted it, Mr Sattar got his wish and the Supreme Court took up the Asghar Khan case earlier this year. So what does Babar Sattar have to say about the importance of transparent investigations and fundamental rights now?
It is thus important that the Asghar Khan case leads to a wider disclosure of facts. Such disclosure need not be public.
Perhaps the Supreme Court is not treating civilians and military officials differently under the law, but it certainly looks like someone is.


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libsigrokdecode 0.4.0
sigrok protocol decoding library
The sigrok project aims at creating a portable, cross-platform, Free/Libre/Open-Source signal analysis software suite that supports various device types (such as logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, multimeters, and more).
libsigrokdecode is a shared library written in C which provides the basic API for (streaming) protocol decoding functionality.
The protocol decoders are written in Python (>= 3.0).
See the "Modules" page for an introduction to various libsigrokdecode related topics and the detailed API documentation of the respective functions.
You can also browse the API documentation by file, or review all data structures.
There is one mailing list for sigrok/libsigrokdecode: sigrok-devel.
You can find the sigrok developers in the #sigrok IRC channel on Freenode.


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"Welcome to the DLRP Magic.com twitter page!" we said on 9th May 2008, way before it became fashionable. Almost exactly four years later, we're celebrating an amazing milestone of 4,000 followers for our main @DLRPMagic Twitter account.
If you're one of those four thousand, thank you! There's always an element of trust when you click "follow" and allow a new account into your timeline, so hopefully you've been glad you did so. If you've yet to follow us, you can do so in a single click using the buttons here:
After posting just 11 updates that first year, we really took to the service in January 2009 and throughout that next year as it reached wider public recognition. Today, for those who use it, it's hard to think of the internet without it. Our climb up the follow count hasn't been overnight, then, but a slow and steady confirmation that hard work really does pay off.
A separate account was later launched for @DLRPToday, which crossed the 3,000 mark earlier this year, focusing entirely on news and rumours from the resort. Though @DLRPMagic continues to retweet DLRP Today news articles specifically, the two are complimentary, so make sure you follow both!
There's also the @Souvenirland account for our own Disneyland Paris history website Euro Souvenirland (soon to launch a brand new Blog of its own), and further accounts for our partner sites @magicforum, @PhotosMagiques and @WDSfans, if you'd like the full suite of Disneyland Paris updates.
And finally, for an "insider" view of the magic, you can't beat @CineMageorge.


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After two years at Auto Club Speedway, the two-day, electronic-focused music festival is finally settling into its Fontana digs.
B2B sets highlight HARD Summer's 2018 lineup
April 24, 2018 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Featured, Festivals Tagged With: $UICIDEBOY$, 2¢, Big Wild, blackbear, Borgore, Dillon Francis, Diplo, DJ Mustard, Ekali, Felix Da Housecat, Fisher, Flosstradamus, Getter, HARD Summer, HARD Summer 2018, HARD Summer Music Festival 2018, Hippie Sabotage, JAUZ, JOYRYDE, Kerri Chandler, Kill the Noise, Kill The Snails, Lil Skies, Lil Xan, Louis the Child, Marshmello, Mija, MO, Petit Biscuit, Porter Robinson, Rick Ross, San Holo, Slushii, Snails, snakehips, Tokimonsta, Travis Scott, Trippie Redd, TroyBoi, Valentino Khan, Virgil Abloh, Virtual Self, wifisfuneral, Yellow Claw, Yellow Mustard, Zeds Dead
Our favorite performances from 2017
December 29, 2017 by The Bam Team Leave a Comment
The 2017 BAMS List: Showbams covered many excellent bands, musicians and DJs throughout 2017 — the following are our favorite performances of the year.
Filed Under: Best of 2017, Editor's Picks, Featured Tagged With: 21 Savage, Action Bronson, AFI, Air, Alice Cooper, Alina Baraz, Amber Mark Beach Slang, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Animal Collective, Annenberg Space for Photography, Apogee Studio, Atlas Genius, BADBADNOTGOOD, Belle and Sebastian, Best of 2017, Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, Black Moth Super Rainbow, Bleachers, Blonde Redhead, Bob Moses, Broken Social Scene, Cage the Elephant, Car Seat Headrest, Cate le Bon, Chris Robinson, Cigarettes After Sex, Circles Around the Sun, City of Caterpillar, Claude VonStroke, Coachella, Coachella 2017, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Coldplay, Con Brio, Conor Oberst, Courtney Barnett, Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile, Crystal Castles, Daniel Caesar, Dawes, Day N Night Fest, Day N Night Fest 2017, Day N Night Festival, Day N Night Festival 2017, Dead Meadow, Deafheaven, Deep Purple, Diet Cig, DIIV, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Dr. Dog, Dr. Octagon, DREAMCAR, Duke Dumont, Eagles of Death Metal, Electric Guest, Emancipator, Emily King, Empire of the Sun, Fox Theater Oakland, Foxygen, Future Islands, Gabriel Garzón-Montano, Gatecreeper, Girl Talk, Gone Is Gone, Gorillaz, Great American Music Hall, Greek Theatre, Greek Theatre Berkeley, Grizzly Bear, Gucci Mane, Hamilton Leithauser, Hazel English, Hinds, Hiss Golden Messenger, How to Dress Well, Iggy Pop, Isaiah Rashad, J.I.D., Jack Johnson, Jagwar Ma, Jamestown Revival, Jamie Isaac, Jay 305, Jay Som, Jen Cloher, Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas, Jessie Ware, Jim James, Jr. Jr., Julie Byrne, Julien Baker, Justice, k.flay, Karen Elson, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe, Kaytranada, Kelis, Kendrick Lamar, Khalid, Khruangbin, Kilo Kish, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Kurt Vile, L.A. Witch, La Femme, LANY, Lauv, Lettuce, Levi's Stadium, Lil Yachty, Little Dragon, Lo Moon, Lord Huron, Lorde, Mayan Theater, Miguel, Miike Snow, Milky Chance, Minus the Bear, Mister Heavenly, MO, Moderat, Music Festival Outside Lands Music Festival 2017, Neon Indian, Nicki Bluhm, No Doubt, Noise Pop, Noise Pop 2017, Noise Pop 25, Noise Pop Festival, Norah Jones, North Mississippi Allstars, NVO, Oh Sees, OK Go, Once and Future Band, Outside Lands, Outside Lands 2017, Outside Lands Music Festival, Pallbearer, Passion Pit, Peaches, Perfume Genius, Petit Biscuit, Phoebe Bridgers, Phono Del Sol, Phono del Sol 2017, Phono del Sol Music Festival 2017, Playboi Carti, Pond, Porcelain Raft, Potrero del Sol Park, PRAYERS, Real Estate, Royal Blood, Run The Jewels, Ryan Adams, Sampha, Schoolboy Q, serpentwithfeet, Sheer Mag, Shrine Expo Hall, Sigur Ros, Silversun Pickups, Sleep, Sleigh Bells, Sofi Tukker, Solange, Spiritualized, Spoon, Styles P, Sufjan Stevens, Sunflower Beam, Talib Kweli, Tank and the Bangas, Tash Sultana, Tei Shi, Temples, Tennis, Tennyson, The Accidentals, The Avalanches, The Band Perry, The Coathangers, The Crystal Method, The Drums, The Fillmore, The Hip Replacements, The Masonic, The National, The Palms, The Radio Dept., The Revivalists, The War on Drugs, The xx, Thou, Thundercat, Tobacco, Tool, Touché Amoré, Tove Lo, Travis Scott, Twin Peaks, Ty Segall, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Vagabon, Vance Joy, Vic Mensa, Warpaint, Weezer, White Fence, Woods, YG, Young The Giant
Our 5 favorite moments from Coachella 2017
April 24, 2017 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment
FESTIVAL REVIEW: Here are five highlights from Coachella's 18th edition (spoiler alert: Lady Gaga wasn't one of them).
Filed Under: Editor's Picks, Featured, Festival Reviews, Festivals Tagged With: Coachella, Coachella 2017, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Future, Goldenvoice, Justice, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Moderat, Radiohead, Schoolboy Q, The xx, Travis Scott
Coachella announces 2017 lineup with Radiohead, Beyoncé & Kendrick Lamar serving as headliners
January 3, 2017 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment
After it was reported weeks ago that Radiohead, Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar would headline Coachella's 18th edition, that news has now been confirmed.
Filed Under: Featured, Festivals Tagged With: Beyonce, Bon Iver, Bonobo, Coachella, Coachella 2017, Coachella Music and Arts Festival, Dillon Francis, DJ Snake, Empire of the Sun, Father John Misty, Four Tet, Future, Future Islands, Gucci Mane, Justice, Kendrick Lamar, Lorde, Madeon, Martin Garrix, Moderat, New Order, Nicolaas Jarr, Porter Robinson, Radiohead, Royksopp, Schoolboy Q, The Avalanches, The xx, Travis Scott, Tycho
HARD Summer reveals new location, lineup for 2016
April 26, 2016 by Josh Herwitt Leave a Comment
After moving out of Los Angeles and changing locations the past two years, HARD Summer Music Festival has found a new home for 2016.
Filed Under: Featured, Festivals Tagged With: Anderson .Paak, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Auto Club Speedway, Baauer, Boys Noize, Claude VonStroke, Desiigner, Dillon Francis, Flosstradamus, HARD Summer, HARD Summer 2016, HARD Summer Music Festival, HARD Summer Music Festival 2016, Ice Cube, Madeon, Major Lazer, Porter Robinson, Travis Scott, Ty Dolla $ign, Zeds Dead


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Head of an Akkadian Ruler
Date ca. 2250-2200 BCE
Movement Ancient Near Eastern | Akkadian
Medium Copper
Dimensions height 12″
Provenance Nineveh (Kuhunjik), Iraq
Housed at Iraq Museum, Baghdad
The patterned beard and hair styles, together with the smooth facial features and symmetrical proportions, impose a sense of power and order on this piece. Its frontality lends a timeless quality, which would have been emphasized by peering eyes made of precious and semiprecious materials, now since removed.


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LocationLake County
16125 Russel Road PO Box 332
Wadsworth, IL 60075
New 2019 Keystone RV Montana 3931FB
Keystone Montana fifth wheel 3931FB highlights:
- Unique Master Suite
- Front Wall Closet
- Dual Sinks
- Half Bath
- Kitchen Island
- Residential Refrigerator
It's time to start living your traveling dreams in this Montana! Beginning with the master suite featuring a walk-through bedroom to the front luxurious bathroom with his and hers sinks, a shower with a seat, plenty of closet space along the front wall including shelves, and a bench seat offering you a space to put on your shoes. You will also find a half bath comes in handy when other campers visit. The main living space includes the kitchen amenities such as a coffee station for the coffee lover in the family, a residential refrigerator, a closet prepped for a washer and dryer if you choose to add those options, and all the appliances necessary to live full-time in the fifth wheel. You can relax on theatre seats with power recliners and a hide-a-bed sofa, plus dine at the free standing dinette that allows you to move the chairs around just like you like. You will find more to love about this model including the 20th anniversary edition enhancements!
When packing for your next trip in a Keystone Montana luxury fifth wheel you will appreciate the enormous drop frame pass-through storage compartment, the MORyde "Step Above" entry steps with strut assist, and the LED light package including "super-bright" taillights with backup marker and off-door scare light. The Montana 20th Anniversary Edition adds exclusive features such as the Key TV satellite prep, color-coded wiring, Tru-fit slide construction, and a Dometic power channel awning with free accessory. You will love the new designed front fiberglass cap with upgraded graphics, the LED motion sensor light in the pass-through compartment and convenience center, plus the Four Season Living package allowing you to travel whenever you like. It's time to find the luxury fifth wheel you can enjoy for years to come, choose a Montana by Keystone today!
Thanks to Teri Turner and all the staff there for helping us make the upgrade to our 2013 Coachmen Freelander. It is sitting here in our driveway now as we are getting ready to stock it for our maiden voyage next weekend. If you are interested at all in getting any type of RV, we would certainly recommend going to see Teri. As my husband says, "She knows her stuff. She could tell us everything about ... More » - Cindy
You Save: $28,034
Our Price: $64,840
Request More Information
Stock# 702237
Exterior Color: OYSTER
Interior Color: CHAMPAGNE
|41 ft 4 in
|Ext Width
|8 ft
|Ext Height
|13 ft 5 in
|Interior Color
|Exterior Color
|Hitch Weight
|2530 lbs
|Dry Weight
|13586 lbs
|Cargo Weight
|2914 lbs
|Fresh Water Capacity
|66 gals
|Grey Water Capacity
|88 gals
|Black Water Capacity
|88 gals
|Tire Size
|Furnace BTU
|40110 btu
|Available Beds
|Refrigerator Type
|Residential French Door with Ice Maker
|Refrigerator Size
|18 cu ft
|Convection Cooking
|Cooktop Burners
|Shower Size
|48" x 30"
|Number of Awnings
|Axle Weight
|7000 lbs
|LP Tank Capacity
|Water Heater Capacity
|12 gal
|Water Heater Type
|DSI Gas/Electric
|TV Info
|Awning Info
|11' & 19' 12V Electric with LED Lights and Power Channel
|Axle Count
|Washer/Dryer Available
|Shower Type
|Shower w/Seat
|Electrical Service
|50 amp
At Keystone we do things differently, and have since we first opened our doors in 1996. This different way means focusing on you, our customer, and building RVs that are much more than great floor plans and prices. It starts with innovative products that are built tough, and doesn't stop there. It's our commitment to provide a better ownership experience. We understand that when you put your hard earned money down, you expect your RV to deliver as promised. That's why "Building Adventures for the Long Haul" is more than just a slogan here at Keystone; it is our number one mission each and every day. It's the reason today we are honored to say we have nearly one million Keystone owners out on the open road who we consider family.
Collier RV is not responsible for any misprints, typos, or errors found in our website pages. Any price listed excludes sales tax, registration tags, and delivery fees. Manufacturer-provided pictures, videos, specifications and features may be used as needed. Inventory shown may be only a partial listing of the entire inventory. Videos shown may not be actual units. Please contact us at 888-665-4036 for availability as our inventory changes rapidly. All calculated payments are an estimate only and do not constitute a commitment that financing or a specific interest rate or term is available.


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ZOUNDS! What Sounds!
Los Angeles based CSS Music / D.A.W.N. Music has just added 15,000 new sound effects to its download web site www.dawnmusic.com. The new package called "Econo-fx" is delivered in either .mp3 320 or .wav file 44.1khz file formats.
"Econo-fx is the perfect compliment to our MAX-EFX and E-EFX packages," explains CSS/D.A.W.N. creative director, Mike Fuller. "Both MAX-EFX and E-EFX were designed by radio production people and present effects using an 'in your face', 'mind's ear' approach. Econo-fx on the other hand is a full service 23 category package that features the natural sound techniques of master sound recordist, Ric Viers. Some really good foley effects for example. Even the electronic effects sound real.
"I've always said that you can't have enough sound effects" Fuller continued, "and it's important to cover sounds from multiple perspectives. Econo-fx does this by covering most of the sounds in MAX-EFX and E-EFX and by adding thousands more. Econo-fx makes a great cost effective addition to any sound designer's palette."
Econo-fx is available on a one effect per track download basis. MAX-EFX and E-EFX sounds are delivered in a multiple effect per track basis. Econo-fx tracks download for $4 each in either 44.1khz format while MAX-EFX and E-EFX tracks download in full bandwidth for $7, with a 22khz format also available for $4. Both sound effects packages have their own search system. Econo-fx offers a "drill down" approach to its 23 categories making it possible to quickly reduce results from thousands to just a few effects. MAX-EFX and E-EFX provide a pull down menu plus a user entry keyword field.
CSS Music / D.A.W.N. Music offers offers more than 27,000 tracks of royalty free production music and sound effects and has served the AV/Video, film and broadcast industries since 1982. For more information, visit www.cssmusic.com or www.dawnmusic.com. or call 800-468-6874.
April 30, 2011
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Did you watch the 83rd Academy Awards Sunday night? Watching and Tweeting the Red Carpet hits and misses is always fun. These are some of my favorite and most memorable Red Carpet Beauty picks:
Most Flawless Skin has to go to Cate Blanchett. Her skin is absolutely gorgeous. To get her award-winning look, the actress prepped her skin with SK-II Facial Treatment Essence and SK-II Facial Treatment Masks, both of which contain the highest concentration of SK-II's key ingredient, Pitera®. I love to use a Facial Treatment Mask before a big night out or when I travel–definitely one of my favorite products!
Cate's makeup was by Robin Fredrickz for Lancôme, who did a softly defined smoky eye look to complement her pale lavendar Givenchy gown. She used Color Design Eye Shadow in Latte (all over lid), Volcano (in the crease) and Ciel du Soir (to line) and Color Design Lipcolor in Pale Lip on the lips. Perfect!
Best Makeup goes to Anne Hathaway. In addition to her custom Diamante Lash clusters (did you love the sparkle?), her overall look was flawless. Makeup was by Kate Lee for Chanel Beauté. I loved her classic red lip, which was CHANEL Rouge Coco Lip Colour in Rivoli.
Anne was a double winner, because I thought her haircolor was in a class by itself! Those beautiful highlights and shine were done by celebrity colorist Marie Robinson of the Marie Robinson salon. To achieve the look, Marie shared her technique: "I applied various shades of dark golden blonde and honey to create a warmer tone. We also applied a gloss color to create a more shiny look overall."
For the Red Carpet and throughout the Academy Awards show, Anne Hathaway's hair was styled by Adir Abergel of Frederic Fekkai. Abergel created a soft loose style (see above photo) that was a modern take of an Edwardian influenced style, accented with a Bohemian flair. To create this look, begin by parting the hair down the center and apply Fekkai Advanced Full Blown Volume Styling Whip to the hair from roots ends. Blow-dry the hair using a round brush. Next, pull hair into a low ponytail at the nape of the neck, making sure to cover the ears. Then twist the ponytail into a loose knot and spray with Fekkai Coiff™ Sheer Hold Hairspray.
One of my favorites for Best Dressed was Gwyneth Paltrow. Her dress was designed by Francisco Costa, Women's Creative Director, Calvin Klein Collection. She looked elegant yet very sophisticated. To keep that vibe, Harry Josh, John Frieda International Creative Consultant, worked with Gwyneth to achieve a sleek, straight, and simple hairstyle. Josh used new John Frieda Frizz-Ease 3-Day Straight and the new John Frieda Full Repair Flyaway Tamer to get the look. It was a perfect complement to the stunning Louis Vuitton earrings she was wearing!
Who were your favorites at the Academy Awards? Let me know in the comments!
Photo credits: Anne Hathaway – John Selig/A.M.P.A.S.; Gwyneth Paltrow – Wire Image – Global


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2003 Commemorative Stamp Year Set
2000s Commemoratives, 449 stamps
2003 37c Early Football Heroes: Bronko Nagurski
2003 37c Early Football Heroes: Ernie Nevers
2003 37c Early Football Heroes: Walter Camp
2003 37c Early Football Heroes: Red Grange
2003 37c Reptiles and Amphibians
2003 37c Roy Acuff
2003 37c Southeastern Lighthouses
2003 37c District of Columbia
2003 37c Legends of Hollywood: Audrey Hepburn
2003 37c Korean War Veterans Memorial
2003 37c Mary Cassatt Paintings, 4 stamps
2003 37c Ohio Statehood
2003 37c Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial
2003 37c Cesar E. Chavez
2003 80c Special Olympics
2003 37c First Flight of the Wright Brothers
2003 37c Old Glory
2003 37c Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge
2003 37c Holiday Music Makers
2003 37c Literary Arts: Zora Neale Hurston
2003 37c Chinese Lunar New Year - Year of the Ram
2003 37c Black Heritage: Thurgood Marshall
2003 37c Traditional Christmas: Madonna and Child
2003 37c American Filmmaking
Commemorates the 50th anniversary of man's first footstep on the moon's surface by Neil Armstrong, Commander of the Apollo 11 mission. First-ever US stamps to be printed on chrome paper!
Build your collection quickly with this mixture of U.S. stamps, foreign stamps, and stamps on covers. Hours of fun and excitement guaranteed!
Get every 2018 US commemorative issued plus several bonus sheets, souvenir sheets, and panes – all at once in mint condition.