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Reviews summary
26 Traveller reviews from Holiday Watchdog
Sad to say but after 14 visits we will not return again!
"It pains me to say that after returning last night from our 14th visit to what we once called our second home; unless there are drastic changes to this hotel and the way it is being run; that this will have been OUR LAT VISIT and I would strongly advise others to seriously think hard before spending the kind of money they are asking for what we found to be a total waste of money and apart from getting to see the staff we consider family everything else was either not working or not worth the money. Now where do I start, no disco for 14 days the sounds system didnât work and when it did there was nobody to work it, no kids club, we were told they would open it for my granddaughter but again there was nobody to manage it so it was a room not a kids club, the A la carte was as the called it broken! Not sure how a building can be broken or how a hotel with any business sense can shut there extra revenue source in peak season, but they did, Sammy; as always; did more than could be expected to help and laid on special meals in the restaurant and also one for my daughter on the beach but unfortunately Sammy doesnât run the hotel! The rooms were dirty and they needed telling to clean them and fix, lights, sinks etc the grounds; still lovely; but beginning to look unkempt and litter in the gardens stays for days without being cleaned up and the pool was filthy, I reported that the pool should be cleaned as it was full of paper and it wasnât done! The General Manager was on leave and the manager I spoke too to complain did get the rooms fixed but argued about other services treating us as if we were fools, especially with regard to the disco and kids club and basically said we were lying about them not being open and after explaining that we had check ourselves he seemed unable to confirm or explain his attitude. Basically from what I can see the hotel is severely understaffed; and underfinanced, and I know numbers at the hotel are down; but if you let standards drop then when think pick up people wont return standards have dropped dramatically I paid a lot of money for the 6 of us to spend 2 weeks there and feel we should be compensated especially after 14 visits and a bowl of fruit wont make me change my mind! And as to their comment that room booking were down all along the coast we had some friends and the Sofitel, which had previously had issues and the hotel was busy and from what we heard was excellent, maybe my holiday next summer will be there instead, and I sorry Sammy and all the other friends we have that work there but blame you management as we would love to return but to the Hilton that was not this overpriced 2 star hotel! "
Holiday details
- Travel date: 20th August 2012
It was a rip off
"Having booked an all inclusive package via the website, additional charges at check in for gala dinners on Christmas Eve and New Year's eve (35 and 140 US Dollars per person respectively), were out of order. Also on arrival found main swimming pool closed for maintenance without having received prior notification. Wine only served at lunch and dinner as part of all inclusive. Available in the bar at other times at exorbitant prices! Unusually during our stay it rained. The room flooded and had to be baled out. We had stayed at the resort in October 2009 and the difference in the offering was marked - a definite deterioration! Needless to say we won't be returning. What a rip off!"
Holiday details
- Travel date: 7th January 2011
Money is stolen from the safe in the rooms
"Hilton Nuweiba is a hotel, where money is stolen from the safe in the rooms.At least 6 person in December 2010 were revealed the loss from the safes 35-100 $. A staff in the hotel are not friendly and rude, especially in the restaurant. "
Holiday details
- Travel date: 23rd December 2010
"I went to the Hilton for a weeks relaxing break with my friend. We were just looking for a total relax all inclusive in a beautiful setting which was exactly whats we got. The staff were extremely friendly and not too pushy for tips. Good range of entertainment in the evenings in the shell bar. There was a good range of food which rotated on a weekly basis with a theme each night- this was fantastic for myself and (as a vegetarian) I found plenty to eat each day. You could chill by the beach or the pool (the main pool was extremely cold though) and the second pool was where the water aerobics took place. A range of sports throughout the day and activities were also provided. Drinks were available for the majority of the day with alot of variety. Rooms were spotless and cleaned thoroughly several times throughout the week. Restuarant staff and hotel staff were fantastic, really polite. I lost my camera throughout the holiday and the staff bent over backwards to help me find it and showed genuine concern until i found it. Fantastic holiday! I would go back tomorrow!!!"
Holiday details
- Travel date: 27th May 2009
Relax in a gorgeous setting
"My partner and I stayed at the Tropicana Grand Azure in Jan '09. We enjoyed that holiday and fell in love with Egypt, but fancied something a little less informal and more relaxing.. After reading through many hotel reviews in Egypt, of which there are hundreds! Lots of them are not of a very high standard. We stumbled across the Hilton Nuweiba, all the reviews were good and it sounded exactly what we were after. So we booked through Thomas Cook... We departed on a Thursday and were warned on the plane that this was the most hectic day at Sharm airport they were not kidding... it was bedlam.. a lot more organisation is needed.Thank god we were not travelling with children, but in all fairness we were processed quite quickly. We arrived at the resort about 9pm local time.. the welcome at the hotel was very warm,we were given cold towels and drinks immediately and were soon shown to our rooms. Which were very clean, although my partners face fell when he realised we only had a shower... the food at the restaurants was plentiful and very tasty, we had no complaints about the variety or the quality of the food. During the day we ate in the casa pesto Italian restaurant, fresh pasta and pizza cooked in front of you... we both loved it. Sat night is BBQ night and although a bit chilly when we were there, it was a nice experience. Drinks are plentiful, service is very good. The waiters are more relaxed than they were in Tropicana Grand Azure and we found this much nicer. All inclusive on drinks ended at midnight, but to be fair after a long day we were tired by then anyway. The shell disco could be so much better if more people were aware of its existence, we always spent an hour or two in there... and maybe its busier in peak periods. In our opinion if you are after a relaxed informal holiday then this is for you... and in the evening make your way down to the jetty that is lit up, the fish you see are amazing. The lion fish are a must see."
Holiday details
- Travel date: 8th April 2009
Peter and Caroline
"We chose this hotel due to the high standard of previous reviews and tranquil setting. It takes about 2 hours to drive through the Sinia mountains before arriving at the hotel which is fairly isolated with no adjacent hotels or walks. The hotel grounds are huge, very well maintained and very peaceful. The beach is great with plenty of beds and very large umbrella's to shade beneath. Dont expect snorkelling to the same standard as Sharm as there is no reef, however, being able to walk into the sea from a sandy beach is quite nice if you just need to cool down and splash about. Plenty of fish, just a bit more boring. The staff are in the main great. Very polite and friendly. The rooms are large and clean. The air conditioning in our room was set to work on fan only without cooling the air, hence at nights the room was sometimes warmer than we would have liked. The big dissapointment with the hotel is the food selection. We are not hyper critical types but the food is definitely in our opinion not 4 star. The selection was poor, and most dishes were warm not hot. We found very few dishes that we felt confident to eat without a degree of risk of upset tummy and mainly stuck to the few freshly cooked items from the hotplate. Hence our typical daily diet was omlettes for breakfast, pizza at lunch, soup and the main dish on the hotplate each night. We are glad we only stayed for a week. The AbuLouLou restraunt did not have any visitors in the week we were there, hence we chose not to go there which was a shame as a change would have been nice. In conclusion, a great hotel for a relaxing chilled week, just dont expect to put on any weight through over indulgence. "
Holiday details
- Travel date: 12th October 2008
First visit to Egypt and first time on a...
"First visit to Egypt and first time on a fully inclusive holiday. We picked this hotel as we had wanted a chill holiday due to issues at home over the past 12 months and you certainly due chill out after 3 days we had lost track of days. The hotel is 2 hours travel from Taba Airport, travelling time is mainly due to the quality of the road system! The hotel is very isolated from any other facilities, if you want shops, restuarants etc. then its about a 40 minute taxi ride in either direction. The hotel is of a good standard through out, our room which was on the bottom floor was very spacious with a 6' x 6' double bed, sofa, chairs, small table, loads of wardrobe and storage space, a good size toilet / shower room, air con at no extra charge, safe in the cupboard also at no extra charge, colour TV, Tea and Coffee making facilities and a fridge. The rooms and the grounds are keep extremely clean and tidy at all times which makes it a pleasure it walk round the facilities at any time. The beach is of a good standard however there is area's of stones to cross both on the beach and in the water. The beach parasols are generously spaced on the beach and you dont feel like your imposing on anyone else's space. Kamel who supplies you with your beach towels, really looks after you from the time you arrive until the day you leave and its a pleasure to see some one so helpful without having to keep tipping. In fact none of the staff at the hotel are looking for tips, they are all helpful throughout your stay and are always pleased to say hello etc. and have a short conversation. The beach does have a limited amount of water activities available but I think there is something to meet all persons requirements. There is a dive school on site which was well used by persons during our stay. The hotel has a selection of 6-8 lock up shops but these are mostly for holiday presents etc. no supermarket / store on site and the nearest pharmacy is in the port which is about a 5-10 minute taxi ride away. There is entertainment during the day but its very repetative, the entertaiment at night is very poor and if your going looking for a heady night life then sorry this hotel / location is not the place for you. If your looking for drink after your evening meal sitting around the pool etc. its ideal for you. We didn't try the disco so I cant make any comments on this facility. I have to say that both my wife and I were extremely disappointed with the standard of food in the main resturant which is buffet style. Breakfast was great but unfortunately we found the lunches and dinners very bland and repetative something that you dont want when your stopping at a location for 2 weeks. We weren't expecting UK 4 star meals but we were expecting a lot better than what was presented. The pizza / pasta resturant is good for lunch but it's the same menu in the evening as at lunch time and its the same everyday but this shuts early on in the evenings. We didn't try the resturant on the beach which was not included in the exclusive package but a number of people we talked to commented very highly on the food etc. but there you would be looking out around about £25-40 per couple dependant on what you had. There is a doctor actually on the hotel complex who is on call 24 hours a day, unfortunately my wife had to use his services but all we can say is that the service we received from him was excellent throughout. All the staff are excellent at this hotel and they all have a pride in their apperances and the apperance of the hotel. The one major problem with the hotel is the food, not the standard, just the bland and repetative nature of the meals. "
Holiday details
- Travel date: 8th October 2008
Just returned from the best holiday ever...
"Just returned from the best holiday ever. It was our first visit to Egypt and we were amazed by how beautiful it was. The staff truly made the holiday, always laughing and smiling and working so hard. Your dirty plate didn't stay on the table for more than a few seconds and a new drink was there as soon as you finished one. The food variety is amazing, and you can eat virtually every hour of the day, (which wasn't good for the waist-lines!) Everything is well layed out, so you never feel cramped. Staff are constantly cleaning, polishing and gardening. Not a leaf out of place. The beach is so comfortable with beds, mattresses, pillows and towels. The cleaner made some fantastic out-of-this world creatures which were great to come back to each day. The pier on the private beach was the most idyllic place in the world - every night we walked down it and watched the millions of fish in the water lit up beneath. We were surprised by how cold it got at night - definately recommend a jumper! Will definately be returning to Hilton Nuweiba for another relaxing holiday asap! "
Holiday details
- Travel date: 1st February 2008
We stayed at the Hilton Coral Resort for...
"We stayed at the Hilton Coral Resort for a week all inclusive. First impressions were not good as the hotel didn't seem to have the 'Hilton' standard. The room was a bit dated as were the bar and reception area. The first morning revealed a great looking resort, very green and spacious. The breakfast was of Hilton standard and what a selection there was. What can I say about the beach...fantastic? The soft sand and amazing water was stunning. The fish and the coral was just fascinating. At night part of the water is lit up and you can see the fish from the jetty. The food was of a very good standard and there was a wide variety of choice. There was also the option of Italian or fish restaurant which served food to a great standard. The entertainment was mixed but it would depend if you are really interested in that sort of thing. We were not that bothered. My parents came with us on the holiday and have recently returned to the resort due to the great beach and food. They said that the rooms have been updated and that the resort is still of a high standard. They also said that the customer service would be hard to beat. A great holiday. I would go back tomorrow."
Holiday details
- Travel date: 8th January 2008
Me and my other half, who are both in ou...
"Me and my other half, who are both in our mid 20 stayed at the Hilton Coral last year and absolutely loved it, it was really romantic. The hotel was gorgeous, the room very large and clean and the food fantastic. We especially liked the Italian restaurant where you could create your own pizza (very tasty) but the buffet breakfast was also very good with a huge choice. The staff were friendly and polite and could not do enough for you, the maids made various decorations, such as swans and hearts, out of towels which were left on our bed for when we returned from the beach or pool each day. Snorkelling is fantastic (be careful of the lion fish). I can recommend taking a walk up the beach along the jetty at night to see the lion fish swimming on top of the water looks cool with the moonlight shining on them. We also visited the pyramid's which was amazing, almost life changing! It was an experience we will never forget. Egypt is unforgettable and we loved every minute. We will be going back and when we do it will definitely be to stay at the Hilton Nuweiba Coral Resort."
Holiday details
- Travel date: 7th August 2007
If anyone wants paradise on earth then t...
"If anyone wants paradise on earth then this is the place for you. Words just cannot express the feeling of complete luxury you receive mainly due from the staff there. Absolutely nothing is too much trouble and they go out of their way to make you feel special. The food is absolutely marvellous and the chef greets you personally every day. The weather is guaranteed and the hotel is beautiful. The rooms are spotless and the room boys make sure that your every needs are catered for. Romance, excitement, and care are all at the Coral Hilton."
Holiday details
- Travel date: 5th June 2007
Well where do I start? I first visited t...
"Well where do I start? I first visited this hotel in august 2003, and since then we have come back every year! And are returning this year in the summer. I highly recommend this hotel to people of all ages, being 16, I am used to going out and partying, this hotel offers a disco for the younger generation ranging from about 15-20 and I can guarantee you will have a great time! There is also live entertainment for the adults, which I hear is also highly enjoyable. The hotel has recently been refurbished and looks a great deal better than how it used to, me and some friends I had made got to paint some of the hotel as we were walking back from the disco at 3.30AM! Which was great! The hotel is totally relaxing and the staff are so friendly! You are never bored on this holiday as there is always something to do, on 2 occasions dolphins swam up to the hotel and everybody went into the sea to swim with them which was a great experience. The atmosphere of the hotel is out of this world and everyone is so friendly, a word of warning though the all-inclusive stops at 12am! So stock up on drinks beforehand as you have to pay for them otherwise and when the disco closes at 3.30am/4.am it can be quite a pain. I can guarantee you will have an amazing holiday and I am really looking forward to my return visit."
Holiday details
- Travel date: 25th June 2006
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Hotels near Nuweiba Coral Resort
- Sayadeen Village... Distance: 1740 meters
- Elaria Beach Res... Distance: 1383 meters
- Ciao Nuweiba Hot... Distance: 4139 meters
Top traveller tips for Nuweiba Coral Resort
"Go!!! Fantastic hotel!!!! I"
"Find an alternative diving destination resort"
"Nuweiba is really in the middle of nowhere... you can get a taxi to the local town."
"Unles they make serious changes I would not book this hotle"
Nuweiba Coral Resort is also called
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- Hilton Nuweiba Coral
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Levinsky 41, a bright artisanal soda shop, nestled in the historic Levinsky Spice Market, in the shadows of the old bus station in southern Tel Aviv.
I am really happy to be writing again for The Jew and the Carrot, The Jewish Daily Forward's blog. Please head over to read the rest of (as I view it) this sunny post, and get the apple pomegranate artisanal soda recipe from this charming little artisanal soda shop.


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Horseplay in Harappa
Two Brahmin historians named N.S.Rajaram (a South Indian Brahmin) and Natwar Jha (also a Brahmin) proposed a theory, based on Puranic teachings, that the Indus Valley was a Vedic Sanskrit civilization. This theory was vigourously propagated by the Brahmin-dominated Indian BJP Government under Pandit A.B.Vajpayee. Now, eminent Harvard historians finally demolish this Brahmin supremacist fraud once and for all.
Frontline Volume 17 - Issue 20, Oct. 13, 2000
|M-772A (flipped horizontally)
|Mackay 453
The appearance of domesticated horses in the Old World was closely linked to the development of lightweight chariots, which play a central role in the Rigveda. The oldest archaeological remains of chariots are from east and west of the Ural mountains, wh ere they appear c. 2000 BCE. In the Near East, their use is attested in pictures and writing a little later. A superb fifteenth-century Egyptian example survives intact (in Florence, Italy); others show up in twelfth-century Chinese tombs.
Chariots like these were high-tech creations: the poles of the Egyptian example were made of elm, the wheels' felloes (outer rim) of ash, its axles and spokes of evergreen oak, and its spoke lashings of birch bark. None of these trees are found in the Ne ar East south of Armenia, implying that these materials were imported from the north. The Egyptian example weighs only 30 kg or so, a tiny fraction of slow and heavy oxen-drawn wagons, weighing 500 kg or more, which earlier served as the main wheeled tra nsport. These wagons, known since around 3000 BCE, are similar to those still seen in parts of the Indian countryside.
The result of all this is that the claim that horses or chariots were found in the Indus Valley of the third millennium BCE is quite a stretch. The problem is impossible for writers like Rajaram who imagine the Rigveda early in the fourth or even fifth m illennium, which is long before any wheeled transport - let alone chariots - existed. Even the late Hungarian palaeontologist S. Bokonyi, who thought that he recognised horses' bones at one Indus site, Surkotada, denied that these were indigenous to South Asia. He writes that "horses reached the Indian subcontinent in an already domesticated form coming from the Inner Asiatic hors e domestication centres." Harvard's Richard Meadow, who discovered the earliest known Harappan text (which Rajaram claims to have deciphered), disputes even the Surkotada evidence. In a paper written with the young Indian scholar, Ajita K. Patel, Meadow argues that not one clear example of horse bones exists in Indus excavations or elsewhere in North India before c. 2000 BCE.3 All contrary claims arise from evidence from ditches, erosional deposits, pits or horse graves originating hun dreds or even thousands of years later than Harappan civilisation. Remains of "horses" claimed by early Harappan archaeologists in the 1930s were not documented well enough to let us distinguish between horses, hemiones, or asses.
All this explains the need for Rajaram's horse inscriptions and "horse seal." If this evidence were genuine, it would trigger a major rethinking of all Old World history. Rajaram writes, in his accustomed polemical style:
Rajaram's "horse," which looks something like a deer to most people, is a badly distorted image printed next to an "artist's reproduction" of a horse, located below a Harappan inscription.4 The original source of the image, Mackay 453, is a ti ny photo on Plate XCV of Vol. II of Ernest Mackay's Further Excavations of Mohenjo-Daro (New Delhi, 1937-38). The photo was surprisingly difficult to track down, since Rajaram's book does not tell you in which of Mackay's archaeological works, whi ch contain thousands of images, the photo is located. Finding it and others related to it required coordinating resources in two of the world's best research libraries, located 3,000 miles apart in the United States.
Once the original was found, and compared over the Internet with his distorted image, Rajaram let it slip that the "horse seal" was a "computer enhancement" that he and Jha introduced to "facilitate our reading." Even now, however, he claims that the sea l depicts a "horse." To deny it would be disastrous, since to do so would require rejection of his decipherment of the seal inscription - which supposedly includes the word "horse."
Once you see Mackay's original photo, it is clear that Rajaram's "horse seal" is simply a broken "unicorn bull" seal, the most common seal type found in Mohenjo-daro. In context, its identity is obvious, since the same page contains photos of more than two dozen unicorn bulls - any one of which would make a good "horse seal" if it were cracked in the right place.
What in Rajaram's "computer enhancement" looks like the "neck" and "head" of a deer is a Rorschach illusion created by distortion of the crack and top-right part of the inscription. Any suggestion that the seal represents a whole animal evaporates as soo n as you see the original. The fact that the seal is broken is not mentioned in Rajaram's book. You certainly cannot tell it is broken from the "computer enhancement."
While Rajaram's bogus "horse seal" is crude, because of the relative rarity of the volume containing the original, which is not properly referenced in Rajaram's book, only a handful of researchers lucky enough to have the right sources at hand could trac k it down. Rajaram's evidence could not be checked by his typical reader in Ahmedabad, say - or even by Indologists using most university libraries.
The character of the original seal becomes clearer when you look more closely at the evidence. Mackay 453, it turns out, is not the photo of a seal at all, as Rajaram claims, but of a modern clay impression of a seal (field number DK-6664) dug up in Mohe njo-daro during the 1927-31 excavations. We have located a superb photograph of the original seal that made the impression (identified again by field number DK-6664) in the indispensable Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions (Vol. II: Helsinki 19 91, p. 63). The work was produced by archaeologists from India and Pakistan, coordinated by the renowned Indologist Asko Parpola. According to a personal communication from Dr. Parpola, the original seal was photographed in Pakistan by Jyrki Lyytikk? spe cifically for the 1991 publication.
Like everyone else looking at the original, Parpola notes that Rajaram's "horse seal" is simply a broken "unicorn bull" seal, one of numerous examples found at Mohenjo-daro. Rajaram has also apparently been told this by Iravatham Mahadevan, the leading I ndian expert on the Indus script. Mahadevan is quoted, without name, in Rajaram's book as a "well known 'Dravidianist"' who pointed out to him the obvious. But, Rajaram insists, a "comparison of the two creatures [unicorns and horses], especially in [the ] genital area, shows this to be fallacious." Rajaram has also claimed on the Internet that the animal's "bushy tail" shows that it is a horse.
Below, on the left, we have reproduced Lyytikk?'s crisp photo of the original seal, compared (on the right) with the seven-decade-old photo (Mackay 453) of the impression Rajaram claims is a "horse seal." We have flipped the image of the original horizon tally to simplify comparison of the seal and impression. The tail of the animal is the typical "rope" tail associated with unicorn bull seals at Mohenjo-daro (seen in more images below). It is clearly not the "bushy tail" that Rajaram imagines - although Rajaram's story is certainly a "bushy horse tale."
Checking Rajaram's claims about the "genital area," we find no genitals at all in M-772A or Mackay 453 - for the simple reason that genitals on unicorn bulls are typically located right where the seal is cracked! This is clear when we look at other unico rn seals or their impressions. One seal impression, Parpola M-1034a (on the right), has a lot in common with Rajaram's "horse seal," including the two characters on the lefthand side of the inscription. The seal is broken in a different place, wiping out the righthand side of the inscription but leaving the genitals intact. On this seal impression we see the distinctive "unicorn" genitals, identified by the long "tuft" hanging straight down. The genitals are located where we would find them on Rajaram's "horse seal," if the latter were not broken.
Other unicorn bull seal impressions, like the one seen in Parpola M-595a, could make terrific "horse seals" if cracked in the same place. Unfortunately, Parpola M-595a is not broken, revealing the fact (true of most Harappan seals) that it represents not a real but a mythological animal. (And, of course, neither this nor any other unicorn has a bushy tail.)
Rajaram's 'computer enhancement' of Mackay 453 on the left; the arrow points to an object apparently stuck into the original image. On the right, pictures of Mohenjo-daro copper plates showing similar telephone-like 'feeding troughs.'
(Left) Figure 7.1a: The `Horse Seal' (Mackay 453)
A Russian Indologist, Yaroslav Vassilkov, has pointed to a suspicious detail in Rajaram's "computer enhancement" that is not found on any photo of the seal or impression. Just in front of the animal, we find a small object that looks like a partia l image of a common icon in animal seals: a "feeding trough" that looks a little like an old-style telephone. Who inserted it into the distorted image of the "horse seal" is not known. Rajaram has not responded to questions about it.
Below, we show Rajaram's "computer enhancement" next to pictures of Mohenjo-daro copper plates that contain several versions of the object.
'Late Vedic' Sanskrit - 2000 Years Before Schedule
The horse seal is only one case of bogus data in Rajaram's book. Knowledge of Vedic Sanskrit is needed to uncover those involving his decipherments. That is not knowledge that Rajaram would expect in his average reader, since (despite its pretensions) th e book is not aimed at scholars but at a lay Indian audience. The pretence that the book is addressed to researchers (to whom the fraud is obvious) is a smokescreen to convince lay readers that Rajaram is a serious historical scholar.
The decipherment issue explains why Rajaram continues to defend his "horse seal" long after his own supporters have called on him to repudiate it. He has little choice, since he has permanently wedded his "Piltdown horse" to his decipherment method. The inscription over the horse, he tells us, reads (a bit ungrammatically) "arko-hasva or arko ha as'va" - "Sun indeed like the horse (sic)." The reading clearly would be pointless if the image represented a unicorn bull. Rajaram claims that there are links between this "deciphered" text and a later Vedic religious document, the Shukla Yajurveda. This again pushes the Rigveda, which is linguistically much earlier than that text, to an absurdly early period.
As we have seen, Rajaram claims that the language of Harappa was "late Vedic" Sanskrit. This conflicts with countless facts from archaeology, linguistics, and other fields. Indeed, "late Vedic" did not exist until some two thousand years after the start of mature Harappan culture!
Let us look at a little linguistic evidence. Some of it is a bit technical, but it is useful since it shows how dates are assigned to parts of ancient Indian history.
The Rigveda is full of descriptions of horses (as'va), horse races, and the swift spoke-wheeled chariot (ratha). We have already seen that none of these existed anywhere in the Old World until around 2000 BCE or so. In most places, they did not appear until much later. The introduction of chariots and horses is one marker for the earliest possible dates of the Rigveda.
Linguistic evidence provides other markers. In both ancient Iran and Vedic India, the chariot is called a ratha, from the prehistoric (reconstructed) Indo-European word for wheel *roth2o- (Latin rota, German Rad). ( A chariot = "wheels," just as in the modern slang expression "my wheels" = "my automobile.") We also have shared Iranian and Vedic words for charioteer - the Vedic ratheSTha or old Iranian rathaeshta, meaning "standing on the chariot." Indo -European, on the other hand - the ancestor of Vedic Sanskrit and most European languages - does not have a word for chariot. This is shown by the fact that many European languages use different words for the vehicle. In the case of Greek, for example, a chariot is harmat(-os).
The implication is that the ancient Iranian and Vedic word for chariot was coined sometime around 2000 BCE - about when chariots first appeared - but before those languages split into two. A good guess is that this occurred in the steppe belt of Russia a nd Kazakhstan, which is where we find the first remains of chariots. That area remained Iranian-speaking well into the classical period, a fact reflected even today in northern river names - all the way from the Danube, Don, Dnyestr, Dnyepr and the Ural (Rahaa = Vedic Rasaa) rivers to the Oxus (Vakhsh).
These are only a few pieces of evidence confirming what linguists have known for 150 years: that Vedic Sanskrit was not native to South Asia but an import, like closely related old Iranian. Their usual assumed origins are located in the steppe belt to th e north of Iran and northwest of India.
This view is supported by recent linguistic discoveries. One is that approximately 4 per cent of the words in the Rigveda do not fit Indo-Aryan (Sanskrit) word patterns but appear to be loans from a local language in the Greater Panjab. That language is close to, but not identical with, the Munda languages of Central and East India and to Khasi in Meghalaya. A second finding pertains to shared loan words in the Rigveda and Zoroastrian texts referring to agricultural products, animals, and domestic goods that we know from archaeology first appeared in Bactria-Margiana c. 2100-1700 BCE. These include, among others, words for camel (uSTra/ushtra), donkey (khara/xara), and bricks (iSTakaa/ishtiia, ishtuua). The evidence suggests that b oth the Iranians and Indo-Aryans borrowed these words when they migrated through this region towards their later homelands.5 A third find relates to Indo-Aryan loan words that show up in the non-Aryan Mitanni of northern Iraq and Syria c.1400 BCE. These loanwords reflect slightly older Indo-Aryan forms than those found in the Rigveda. This evidence is on e reason why Indologists place the composition of the Rigveda in the last half of the second millennium.
This evidence, and much more like it, shows that the claim by Rajaram that mature Harappans spoke "late Vedic" Sanskrit - the language of the Vedic sutras (dating to the second half of the first millennium) - is off by at least two thousand years! At bes t, a few adventurous speakers may have existed in Harappa of some early ancestor of old Vedic Sanskrit - the much later language of the Rigveda - trickling into the Greater Panjab from migrant "Aryan" tribes. These early Indo-Aryan speakers could have mi ngled with others in the towns and cities of Harappan civilisation, which were conceivably just as multilingual as any modern city in India. (Indeed, Rigvedic loan words seem to suggest several substrate languages.) But to have all, or even part, of Hara ppans speaking "late Vedic" is patently absurd.
But this evidence pertains to what Rajaram represents as "the petty conjectural pseudo-science" called linguistics. By rejecting the science wholesale, he gives himself the freedom to invent Indian history at his whim.
Consonants Count Little, Vowels Nothing!
According to Rajaram and Jha, the Indus writing system was a proto-alphabetical system, supposedly derived from a complex (now lost) system of pre-Indus "pictorial" signs. Faced with a multitude of Harappan characters, variously numbered between 400 and 800, they select a much smaller subset of characters and read them as alphabetical signs. Their adoption of these signs follows from the alleged resemblances of these signs to characters in Brahmi, the ancestor of later Indian scripts. (This was the scri pt adopted c. 250 BCE by Asoka, whom Jha's 1996 book assigns to c. 1500 BCE!) Unlike Brahmi, which lets you write Indian words phonetically, the alphabet imagined by Jha and Rajaram is highly defective, made up only of consonants, a few numbers, and some special-purpose signs. The hundreds of left-over "pictorial" signs normally stand for single words. Whenever needed, however - and this goes for numbers as well - they can also be tapped for their supposed sound values, giving Rajaram and Jha extraordin ary freedom in making their readings. The only true "vowel" that Jha and Rajaram allow is a single wildcard sign that stands for any initial vowel - as in A-gni or I-ndra - or sometimes for semi-vowels. Vowels inside words can be imagine d at whim.
Vowels were lacking in some early Semitic scripts, but far fewer vowels are required in Semitic languages than in vowel-rich Indian languages like Sanskrit or Munda. In Vedic Sanskrit, any writing system lacking vowels would be so ambiguous that it would be useless. In the fictional system invented by Jha and Rajaram, for example, the supposed Indus ka sign can be read kaa, ki, ku, ke, ko, etc., or can also represent the isolated consonant k. A script like this opens the door to an enormou s number of alternate readings.
Supposing with Jha and Rajaram that the language of Harappa was "late Vedic", we would find that the simple two-letter inscription mn might be read:
There are dozens of other possibilities. How is the poor reader, presented with our two-character seal, supposed to decide if it refers to revenge, a sage, the great Manu, a fish, or his wife? The lords of Harappa or Dholavira, instead of using the scrip t on their seals, would have undoubtedly sent its inventor off to finish his short and nasty life in the copper mines of the Aravallis!
If all of this were not enough to drive any reader mad, Rajaram and Jha introduce a host of other devices that permit even freer readings of inscriptions. The most ridiculous involves their claim that the direction of individual inscriptions "follows no hard and fast rules." This means that if tossing in vowels at will in our mn inscription does not give you the reading you want, you can restart your reading (again, with unlimited vowel wildcards) from the opposite direction - yielding further al ternatives like namaH or namo "honour to...," naama "name," and so on.
There are other "principles" like this. A number of signs represent the same sound, while - conversely - the same sign can represent different sounds. With some 400-800 signs to choose from, this gives you unlimited creative freedom. As Raj aram puts it deadpan, Harappan is a "rough and ready script." Principles like this "gave its scribes several ways in which to express the same sounds, and write words in different ways." All this is stated in such a matter-of-fact and "scientific" manner that the non-specialist gets hardly a clue that he is being had.
In other words, figure out what reading you want and fill in the blanks! As Voltaire supposedly said of similar linguistic tricks: "Consonants count little, and vowels nothing."
A little guidance on writing direction comes from the wildcard vowel sign, which Rajaram tells us usually comes at the start of inscriptions. This is "why such a large number of messages on the Indus seals have this vowel symbol as the first letter." Wha t Jha and Rajaram refer to as a vowel (or semi-vowel) sign is the Harappan "rimmed vessel" or U-shaped symbol. This is the most common sign in the script, occurring by some counts some 1,400 times in known texts. It is most commonly seen on the left side of inscriptions.
Back in the 1960s, B.B. Lal, former Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India, convincingly showed, partly by studying how overlapping characters were inscribed on pottery, that the Harappan script was normally read from right to left. Much other hard evidence confirming this view has been known since the early 1930s. This means that in the vast majority of cases the U-sign is the last sign of an inscription. But here, as so often elsewhere, Rajaram and Jha simply ignore well-establi shed facts, since they are intent on reading Harappan left to right to conform to "late Vedic" Sanskrit. (In times of interpretive need, however, any direction goes - including reading inscriptions vertically or in zig-zag fashion on alternate lines.)
The remarkable flexibility of their system is summarised in statements like this:
How, the sceptic might ask, can you choose the right words from the infinite possibilities? The problem calls for a little Vedic ingenuity:
The context Rajaram wants you to use to fill in the blanks is the one that he wants to prove: any reading is proper that illustrates the (imaginary) links between "late Vedic" culture and Indus Civilisation. Once you toss in wildcard vowels, for example, any rk or kr combination provides instant Harappan horseplay - giving you a Vedic-Harappan horse (recalling their equation that arka "sun" = "horse") long before the word (or animal) appeared in India.
Why did the Indus genius who invented the alphabet not include all basic vowel signs - like those in Asoka's script - which would have made things unambiguous? It certainly could not be because of a lack of linguistic knowledge, since Rajaram claims that the Harappans had an "advanced state of knowledge of grammar, phonetics, and etymology," just as they had modern scientific knowledge of all other kinds. But vowels, of course, would rob Rajaram of his chances to find Vedic treasure in Harappan inscript ions - where he discovers everything from horse thieves to Rigvedic kings and advanced mathematical formulae.
Peculiarly, in contrast to the lack of vowel signs, Jha and Rajaram give us a profusion of special signs that stand for fine grammatical details including word-final -H and -M (Visarjaniya and Anusvaara; if these are missing, you can just toss them in); special verb endings like -te; and noun endings such as -su. All of these are derived from Paninian grammar more than two thousand years before Panini! They even find special phonological signs for Paninian gu Na and vRddhi (that is, u becomes o or au) and for Vedic pitch accents (svara).
Although the scribes lacked vowels, they thus had signs applicable only to vowel combination (sandhi) - which is remarkable indeed, given the absence of the vowels themselves.
A Hundred Noisy Crows
It is clear that the method of Rajaram and Jha is so flexible that you can squeeze some pseudo-Vedic reading out of any inscription. But, with all this freedom, what a motley set of readings they hand us! Moreover, few of their readings have anything to do with Harappan civilisation.
What were Indus seals used for? We know that some (a minority) were stamped on bales of merchandise; many were carried around on strings, perhaps as amulets or ID cards. Many of them were lost in the street or were thrown out as rubbish when no longer ne eded. Sometimes a whole set of identical inscriptions has been found tossed over Harappan embankment walls.
In their usual cavalier way, Rajaram and Jha ignore all the well-known archaeological evidence and claim that the inscriptions represent repositories of Vedic works like the ancient Nighantu word lists, or even the mathematical formulae of the Shulbasutras. The main object of Harappan seals, they tell us, was the "preservation of Vedic knowledge and related subjects."
How many merchants in the 5000-odd year history of writing would have thought to put mathematical formulae or geometric slogans on their seals and tokens? Or who would be likely to wear slogans like the following around their necks?
By now, we expect lots of horse readings, and we are not disappointed. What use, we wonder, would the Harappans have for seal inscriptions like these?
The most elaborate horse reading shows up in the most famous of Indus inscriptions - the giant "signboard" hung on the walls of the Harappan city of Dholavira. The "deciphered" inscription is another attack on the "no horse in Harappa" argument:
In the end, readers of Jha and Rajaram are likely to agree with only one "deciphered" message in the whole book: apa-yas'o ha mahaat "A great disgrace indeed!"
Vedic Sanskrit?
Before concluding, we would like to point out that the line we just quoted contains an elementary grammatical error - a reading of mahaat for mahat. The frequency of mistakes like this says a lot about the level of Vedic knowledge (or lack thereof) of the authors. A few examples at random:
- on p. 235, we find tuurNa ugra s'vasruuH. No feminine adjectives appear in the expression (tuurNaa, ugraa), as required by the angry "mother-in-law" (read: s'vas'ruuH!).
- on p. 230, we read apvaa-hataa-tmaahuH, where hataatma might mean "one whose self is slain," or the "self of a slain (person)," but not "those about to kill themselves." In the same sentence, apvaa does not mean "sinfulness" (whic h is, in any case, a non-Vedic concept) but "mortal fear."
- on p. 232, we have amas'aityaarpaa, supposedly meaning "House in the grip of cold." But amaa (apparently what they want, not ama "force") is not a word for "house," but an adverb meaning "at home." The word s'aitya "cold" is not "late Vedic" but post-Vedic, making the reading even more anachronistic than the other readings in the book.
- on p. 226, we find paidva for "horses," in a passage referring to horse keepers. But in Vedic literature this word does not refer to an ordinary but a mythological horse.
Many similar errors are found in the 1996 pamphlet by Jha, billed by Rajaram as "one of the world's foremost Vedic scholars and palaeographers."
None of those errors can be blamed on ignorant Harappan scribes.
History and Hindutva Propaganda
It might be tempting to laugh off the Indus script hoax as the harmless fantasy of an ex-engineer who pretends to be a world expert on everything from artificial intelligence to Christianity to Harappan culture.
What belies this reading is the ugly subtext of Rajaram's message, which is aimed at millions of Indian readers. That message is anti-Muslim, anti-Christian, anti-Indological, and (despite claims to the opposite) intensely anti-scientific. Those views pr esent twisted images of India's past capable of inflicting severe damage in the present.
Rajaram's work is only one example of a broader reactionary trend in Indian history. Movements like this can sometimes be seen more clearly from afar than nearby, and we conclude with a few comments on it from our outside but interested perspective.
In the past few decades, a new kind of history has been propagated by a vocal group of Indian writers, few of them trained historians, who lavishly praise and support each other's works. Their aim is to rewrite Indian history from a nationalistic and rel igious point of view. Their writings have special appeal to a new middle class confused by modern threats to traditional values. With alarming frequency their movement is backed by powerful political forces, lending it a mask of respectability that it do es not deserve.
Unquestionably, all sides of Indian history must be repeatedly re-examined. But any massive revisions must arise from the discovery of new evidence, not from desires to boost national or sectarian pride at any cost. Any new historical models must be cons istent with all available data judged apart from parochial concerns.
The current "revisionist" models contradict well-known facts: they introduce horse-drawn chariots thousands of years before their invention; imagine massive lost literatures filled with "scientific" knowledge unimaginable anywhere in the ancient world; p roject the Rigveda into impossibly distant eras, compiled in urban or maritime settings suggested nowhere in the text; and imagine Vedic Sanskrit or even Proto Indo-European rising in the Panjab or elsewhere in northern India, ignoring 150 years of evide nce fixing their origins to the northwest. Extreme "out-of-India" proponents even fanaticise an India that is the cradle of all civilisation, angrily rejecting all suggestions that peoples, languages, or technologies ever entered prehistoric India from f oreign soil - as if modern concepts of "foreign" had any meaning in prehistoric times.
Ironically, many of those expressing these anti-migrational views are emigrants themselves, engineers or technocrats like N.S. Rajaram, S. Kak, and S. Kalyanaraman, who ship their ideas to India from U.S. shores. They find allies in a broader assortment of home-grown nationalists including university professors, bank employees, and politicians (S. S. Misra, S. Talageri, K.D. Sethna, S.P. Gupta, Bh. Singh, M. Shendge, Bh. Gidwani, P. Chaudhuri, A. Shourie, S.R. Goel). They have even gained a small but vo cal following in the West among "New Age" writers or researchers outside mainstream scholarship, including D. Frawley, G. Feuerstein, K. Klostermaier, and K. Elst. Whole publishing firms, such as the Voice of India and Aditya Prakashan, are devoted to pr opagating their ideas.
There are admittedly no universal standards for rewriting history. But a few demands must be made of anyone expecting his or her scholarship to be taken seriously. A short list might include: (1) openness in the use of evidence; (2) a respect for well-es tablished facts; (3) a willingness to confront data in all relevant fields; and (4) independence in making conclusions from religious and political agendas.
N.S. Rajaram typifies the worst of the "revisionist" movement, and obviously fails on all counts. The Deciphered Indus Script is based on blatantly fake data (the "horse seal," the free-form "decipherments"); disregards numerous well-known facts ( the dates of horses and chariots, the uses of Harappan seals, etc.); rejects evidence from whole scientific fields, including linguistics (a strange exclusion for a would-be decipherer!); and is driven by obvious religious and political motives in claimi ng impossible links between Harappan and Vedic cultures.
Whatever their pretensions, Hindutva propagandists like Rajaram do not belong to the realm of legitimate historical discourse. They perpetuate, in twisted half-modern ways, medieval tendencies to use every means possible to support the authority of relig ious texts. In the political sphere, they falsify history to bolster national pride. In the ethnic realm, they glorify one sector of India to the detriment of others.
It is the responsibility of every serious researcher to oppose these tendencies with the only sure weapon available - hard evidence. If reactionary trends in Indian history find further political support, we risk seeing violent repeats in the coming deca des of the fascist extremes of the past.
The historical fantasies of writers like Rajaram must be exposed for what they are: propaganda issuing from the ugliest corners of the pre-scientific mind. The fact that many of the most unbelievable of these fantasies are the product of highly trained e ngineers should give Indian educational planners deep concern.
In a recent online exchange, Rajaram dismissed criticisms of his faked "horse seal" and pointed to political friends in high places, boasting that the Union government had recently "advised" the "National Book Trust to bring out my popular book, From Sarasvati River to the Indus Script, in English and thirteen other languages."
We fear for India and for objective scholarship. To quote Rajaram's Harappan-Vedic one last time: "A great disgrace indeed!"
© Michael Witzel & Steve Farmer, 2000
Michael Witzel is Wales Professor of Sanskrit at Harvard University and the author of many publications, including the recent monograph Early Sources for South Asian Substrate Languages, Boston: ASLIP/Mother Tongue 1999. A collecti on of his Vedic studies will be published in India by Orient Longman later this year. He is also editor of The Electronic Journal of Vedic Studies, accessible through his home page at http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/mwpage.htm.
Steve Farmer, who received his doctorate from Stanford University, has held a number of academic posts in premodern history and the history of science. Among his recent works is his book Syncretism in the West, which develops a cross-cultural m odel of the evolution of traditional religious and philosophical systems. He is currently finishing a new book on brain and the evolution of culture. He can be contacted at email@example.com.
Graphics source credits:
Frontline and the authors thank Asko Parpola, Professor of Indology, University of Helsinki, Finland, for permission to reproduce the photographs of M-1034a, M-772A, M-595a, M-66a, H-103a in this article.


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Captain of the USS Enterprise, Captain James Tiberius Kirk is one of the most renowned Starfleet leaders. Kirk leads his crew to the far reaches of space, Where No Man Has Gone Before. Regarded as a maverick, Captain Kirk strays from the path of Starfleet regulations, but only when the ends justify the means. The Star Trek Series 1 Captain Kirk Action Figure comes as a 7-inch scale collectible. The Captain James T. Kirk action figure is sculpted from images of actor William Shatner. Captain Kirk comes with a Phaser, Communicator, and Phaser Rifle.


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The ROI of Attending Energy Storage North America
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EMPIRE UPDATE RE: COVID-19View Updates
We love a good life hack, especially when it comes to cleaning one of the highest traffic areas of the home – the kitchen. Skip the store-bought cleaners and try these effective mix-it-yourself cleaners and tips to tackle all your finishes easily and safely. Here's to a clean and happy kitchen!


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Julia : Senior Portraits : Mason City High School
Unique. That's definitely the word I would use to describe the lovely and talented Julia. At first I thought she was going to move in, when she arrived with all her bags of clothes, accessories and other fun items!
I got to know quite a bit about her as we had the photo session. For example, she plays flute and piccolo, but prefers the latter. She also has an obsession with penguins and loves to collect them… and last year her prom dress was this show-stopping purple number.
Gotta love a girl with a unique personality that's not afraid to be herself!
Kylie : Senior Portraits : Albert Lea High School
Oooo la la! Lovin' me some Kylie! Isn't she just the cutest? I just love her auburn hair and glasses!
She looks so smart, but you know she's gotta be sassy!
I had a great time with her and her mom, driving around during our Scandalous Session. I just love going new places and being creative.
The ones in the orange hoodie are among my faves. She really looks great in that bright orange! Not many girls can pull that color off! LOVE IT!
And this one… I adore! (P.S. I don't know about your monitor, but it might look a little bright. It looks much better in print, I promise!)
Colin : Senior Portraits : Albert Lea High School
I just love it when my neighbors have me take portraits for them! It's always an honor, no matter who I work for, but I think it's special when they are making the decision to do business locally.
This young man lives just on the other side of the border from my studio in the country outside Glenville, MN but they have some 4-H heifers they pasture just down the road from my place so it was an easy trip there to capture one of the key ways he spends his summer time.
We also took some with his football jersey since he's on the Tiger's football team for Albert Lea High School… and when we were at the farm with the cattle, I spotted the old Farmall that I soon found out was actually Colin's tractor! So we had to get some fun ones with that!
But this one is my favorite. So simple.
Jaclyn : Senior Portraits : Austin High School
This young lady is simply stunning. She's got that all-american girl look down! With her beautiful blonde hair and bright blue eyes, she's what guys call a "10!"
I am just glad this girl was able to walk into my studio because she was involved in really bad car accident a year ago and has had several back surgeries since then, but has recovered amazingly well… as you can see by the dance pictures in the slideshow.
My favorites were in this adorable purple dress, which I will admit, I wasn't a huge fan of when I saw it on the hanger, but it photographed really, really well! With the green grass as our background her eyes really POP! Like her mom said while we were taking this picture, it's just such a "fresh, young" look.
She had tons of great outfits with lots of different colors and styles.
The Juhlin Family : Mason City, IA : Family Portraits
This family came to me via a referral from one of my favorite clients so I had a pretty good feeling we'd be a good fit and as soon as I arrived I was at ease. They were such a nice group of people!
I loved their home and their big, shady yard. The kiddos were just the cutest and so well behaved. It was like a dream come true! 🙂
Also, the one son just go engaged to the sister of the gal that referred me so they asked to do a little mini-engagement session at the end. Of course, I obliged!
The whole thing went so amazingly well, it made me thankful I accepted the Sunday morning session.
I can't wait for the family to see these!
The O'Connor Family : Lake Madison, SD
This great family comes to me from my wonderful brother-in-law, Dan Houg who works in Sioux Falls, SD and was on the Make A Wish Board of Directors last year.
The O'Connors and I tried to get together this winter to do a session, but the weather got in my way and I wasn't able to travel that weekend.
Since a family this large doesn't have the opportunity to get everyone together all that often, I was more than happy to accommodate their request to have me travel even further to Lake Madison, SD to do their family portrait session.
It was a very sunny and hot day, which wasn't exactly ideal for a lake portrait. But I managed to work my magic and got a few different settings with the whole big group for Karla to choose from to display over her mantle.
Next, we headed to a more comfortable shady spot in the front yard where we took lots of great shots of the individual families and their kids.
It really was a great way to spend a Saturday. Such nice people! (And good looking to boot!)
Erin : Senior Portraits : Albert Lea High School
Erin had a gorgeously sunny day to take her senior portraits. We sure have been blessed with some nice weather around here lately!
But to tell you the truth, I prefer a few clouds in the sky, it just takes away those harsh shadows that you get when you're trying to do outdoor pictures at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
Even with the bright sun, we got tons of amazing outdoor shots. Just look at these!
Naturally gorgeous girl! Love her!


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So am I to understand that this would be setup like a regular swap whereby the organizer sets you up with one partner? It wouldn't be setup like the ongoing wish swaps where you can post a list of countries you would like, and anybody participating in the swap can then claim you and send you items you wish for? So it would be a smooth chain with picking choosing what they want to send and receive, and the organizer wouldn't have to worry about pairing people up.
Yes, you will be paired with a partner. It will not be ongoing.


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Camera Chiara were formed in Salerno in the second half of the first decade of this century. After a first demo in 2008, in 2013 they self-released an interesting eponymous début album with a line up featuring Francesco Lembo (keyboards), Danilo Lupi (bass), Vincenzo Manzi (guitar) and Antonio Pappacoda (drums). The name of the band was inspired by a book about photography by Roland Barthes, La chambre claire (translated in English as Camera Lucida) and the love of the band for the art of photography is also portrayed on the album cover that in some way gives you the right key to approach the musical content of this brilliant work.
Barthes considers photography as asymbolic, irreducible to the codes of language or culture, acting on the body as much as on the mind and he develops the twin concepts of studium and punctum: the first denoting the cultural, linguistic and political interpretation of a photograph, the latter denoting the wounding, personally touching detail which establishes a direct relationship with the object or person within it. Well, on their website the band invite the listener to focus on the punctum of the "musical photographs" contained in the album. This is a completely instrumental work, all you have to do is close your eyes and let the music drive...
The short opener "Tufa Domes, Pyramid Lake" sets a mysterious, dark atmosphere. Although there are no liner notes in the booklet, the title seems to refer to a famous picture shot in 1867 by Timothy H. O'Sullivan which portrays an almost lunar landscape on the Pyramid Lake, a place near Reno, Nevada while the music recalls Pink Floyd.
The short opener "Tufa Domes, Pyramid Lake" sets a mysterious, dark atmosphere. Although there are no liner notes in the booklet, the title seems to refer to a famous picture shot in 1867 by Timothy H. O'Sullivan which portrays an almost lunar landscape on the Pyramid Lake, a place near Reno, Nevada while the music recalls Pink Floyd.
The following "Chiaroscuri" is a long, complex track marked by the constant contrast between dark and light atmospheres. It' another track that testifies the deep passion for photography of the band. In fact, chiaroscuro (Italian for light-dark) is a word that defines the artistic use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition or a picture. Here pulsing, tense bass lines contrast with light, soaring keyboards waves and electric guitar patterns while calm moments are followed by stormy passages. Every now and again Goblin or L'Ombra della Sera come to mind but the music does not sound derivative at all. A real treat!
Then comes "Maschere cadute" (Fallen masks), a nice short track full of positive energy that leads to the reflective "Nel tuo mondo" (In your world). Here the atmosphere is dreamy but never relaxed while shadows and lights seem to dance all around. A great track!
"Danzano le memorie" (Memories are dancing) is a short, romantic track with the piano in the forefront that almost melts into the following "In un gioco di specchi" (In a game of mirrors) where you can hear a haunting marching beat and experience some strange exotic flavours. Then the rhythm rises taking you to mysterious territories where your imagination can run free conjuring up psychedelic visions...
"Come il bianco col nero" (As white with black) is another complex track where influences from the past and modern sounds are mixed in an original way with brilliant results. Then "Il nuovo e il vecchio giorno" (The new and the old day) concludes the album with a good dose of electricity and powerful blows of optimism.
This work is completely instrumental but very rich in ideas and there is no weak point. According to the band's website, among their influences you can find bands and artists with a different background such as Air, Balletto di Bronzo, Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, Biglietto per l'Inferno, Genesis, Goblin, King Crimson, Le Orme, Philip Glass, Pink Floyd, Rush, Soft Machine, Tool and Vangelis but I think that Camera Chiara have succeeded in mixing all these influences with great personality and excellent composition skills. This album is really worth listening to... Have a try!
You can listen in streaming to the complete album HERE
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Patients with infectious diseases may also be seen in the private offices of our attending physicians.


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For all our strategizing and preparation, we cannot succeed without the Spirit of God building his church. Jesus will build his church, but he does so through the faithful work, service, and prayers of his people. There is much spiritual opposition, relational tension, financial strain and physical hardship involved in planting a church. Please join us in prayer to our God who is able to do above and beyond all that we ask, think or imagine (Eph 3:20).
We regularly gather together for an evening of prayer, vision, and worship. This event is an opportunity for our church body to go before our Father, asking Him to do what only He can do.
WORSHIP. We'll sing to the King.
PRAY. Most importantly, we'll pray. God has been exceedingly generous to us and we can't help but think that it is due to our asking Him to do what only He can. We don't ever want to feel like we somehow have this church planting thing covered. This is His church; we are His people.
"Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest." (Mt 9:38)
"…that they ought always to pray and not lose heart." (Lk 18:1)
"Pray then like this: 'Our Father in heaven…'" (Mt 6:9)
WHEN. 5:00 – 6:30 pm | Doors open at 4:30 pm | Sunday, February 23rd, 2020
WHERE. 2333 Western Ave, Seattle, WA
KIDS. Cornerstone Kids will be offered for children ages 1 year old to 6th grade.
PARKING. Parking will be available in both lots next to the building and street parking is also free in the area on Sundays. Additional validated parking is available at the Bell Harbor Conference Center Garage at 2323 Elliott Ave if both parking lots are full.


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Penguin Tutoring Port ElizabethEducation is a lifelong experience and it is just not possible to put a price on learning. For many school children, the learning process is not as inspiring or exciting as it should be. Busy classrooms, too little time in the day, too many learners in a class, and, a lack of resources can all lead to learning challenges. Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher. -Japanese proverb
What can parents do to bridge that gap and, what other benefits are offered by extra lessons?
- Addresses the individual needs of each learner
- Boosts confidence
- Provides mentoring and coaching support
- Tutors are role models
Port Elizabeth Private TutoringPenguin Tutoring offers the country's only specialist academic subject tutors, who operate across the Friendly City. Our team of experts have solid grades and understanding across a range of subjects. From the basics such as Maths, English, Afrikaans and Science, we also cover languages (both local and global), business studies, human sciences, technology and many vocational areas too.
Our tutors work with your child to achieve their goals such as: preparation for exams or providing regular help with any subjects that require extra learning. Our tailored approach ensures that each child is given the attention and support they need, whatever subject they are learning.
Find Tutors in Port ElizabethNot sure what you should be looking for when choosing tutors in Port Elizabeth? Don't worry – it is entirely natural to be a bit unsure when hunting for a good tutor.
Let Penguin Tutoring help you. All of our academic specialists have completed Matric with straight A or B symbols and are completing their further studies in the field in which they choose to tutor. They have all been interviewed, character-screened and reference-checked. Tutors are trained to facilitate the process from the very first meeting.
Here at Penguin, we understand the challenges that both parents and their children face and we aim to provide all the support you need throughout the process.
Get in touch with us today to find out more about Penguin Tutoring in Port Elizabeth, and we will help you find a tutor in your area.


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I grew up in metropolitan New York and was exposed to the Arts from an early age. I was attracted to color and pattern with an interest in fashion design.
I have a BS in Fashion Design from the University of Cincinnati.
My husband Greg and I have raised a family in Hudson, and returned to my art interests while our kids were growing up. I've taken courses at the Danforth Museum of Art, and Worcester Art Museum and earned a Basic Art Certificate from the Danforth Museum School in Framingham, MA. This inspired me to study studio art and art history at Framingham State (College) University where I successfully completed nine courses. I also took a graduate level class on the Arts of India at Clark University in Worcester, MA.
Currently, I am a sewing teacher at Assabet After Dark in Marlborough during the school year. My teaching experience began with a few students at home and then at several after school programs in Hudson and Sudbury. I've also taught children at the Worcester Art Museum and Danforth Museum of Art. I worked for the Arts Alliance and held several positions with the organization, including art instructor at drama workshops and Arts AfterSchool, as arts coordinator and visual art director. I also worked for the Assabet Valley Chamber of Commerce and at St. Michael's School in Hudson, where I taught 7th & 8th grade art.
My pastels, watercolor, and mixed media collage work were in juried and non-juried exhibits. I moved on to making art quilts with a renewed interest in fabric, including batiks. My interest in fashion sewing resumed and I've learned to combine my art knowledge with sewing and fashion.
Eclectica Designs is my sewing and design business. I specialize in sewing and hand painting on silk. The silk can be from kimonos or white silk for hand painting. Scarves, wall art and wraps are made from the silk fabric. All of my creations are custom and unique. My work can be found at Serendipity, Hudson, MA.
All of my creations are custom and unique.
I offer individual classes in sewing, and fashion drawing from ages 12 and up.
"Creativity takes courage" — Henri Matisse


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A community choir that welcomes everyone from bathroom warblers to seasoned performers. There's no need to read music as songs are learned by ear. It's a great way to meet new friends and feel the benefits of singing.
Led by Sian Phillips, the choir takes place at The Centre @Halton on Mondays 6.45-8.45pm.
Sian is a musician and teacher based and her interest and expertise lie in traditional folk music from Europe and the British Isles.
Cost per session: £4.50 advance, £5 drop in


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A Useful GPA High School Calculator Which might Up Your Grades. Lookup No Additional a lot more For just about any GPA Calculator High School 4.0 Scale
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The two-and-a-half minute film shows office workers in costumes singing "I'm dreaming of an office party" to the tune of Bing Crosby's White Christmas.
It is the latest phase of Big Wednesday PR's Save the Office Party campaign.
Big Wednesday PR director Eugenie Tham said: "Our campaign has been aimed at office workers through various social media platforms and this is the highlight of the campaign. The video is a piece of festive fun to be passed around the office and encourage bosses to give their staff a little thank you for working so hard during such a difficult year."
She started the campaign after hearing how many companies were cancelling Christmas parties for employees and became concerned about its impact on the UK events industry.
The campaign's Twitter feed has gained more than 1,200 followers and Tham recently took industry leaders to meet BBC Radio 2 host Chris Evans.
- The video, produced in conjunction with Forcefed Media, can be viewed by visiting Save the Office Party on You Tube.
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