Vikram Lakhotia

Do you remember the good old days when all you had to worry about was keeping your wallet where you could constantly feel it so you wouldn’t fall victim to pickpockets?  Unfortunately in today’s virtually cashless world you may be more at risk than you have ever been before. But protecting yourself may be easier than you think. Below you will find ten free (or almost free) ways you can protect your family, your identity and your wallet so that you aren’t a victim of the common crime of identity theft.

 1. Shred all important financial documents. Today’s thieves may be technological masterminds when it comes to manipulating your information for their gain, but that doesn’t mean they are beyond dumpster diving. What you view as trash, they may view as a goldmine. So make sure you cross-shred all documents that may have any of your personal information on them. Primarily you want to make sure you destroy anything with credit card or bank account numbers, and you certainly want to make sure thieves find no trace of your social security number in your trashcan. Shredding receipts for credit or ATM card transactions is also a good precaution to take. But, you can also go a step further and shred all mail that has your name and address on it so it makes it far more difficult for identity thieves to find out anything about you. If possible, put your trash out on the morning it is scheduled to be picked up instead of the night before as it makes it more difficult for thieves to get into your trash in the first place.

2. Request your free credit reports each year. Since identity thieves specialize in stealing your personal information and opening new credit accounts in your name instead of simply making fraudulent charges to your existing accounts, it is extremely important that you monitor your credit report. Far too often people assume they aren’t at risk for identity theft and they don’t realize their credit has been compromised until they go to apply for an auto loan or to refinance their homes. Then they have to deal with the two-fold problem of repairing their destroyed credit and forgoing a loan they should have qualified for but didn’t. Obtaining your free credit report is easier than you may think. Simply visit www.annualcreditreport.com to receive your free reports (you can receive one a year from each of the major credit agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion). Even if you don’t obtain all three reports at once, make sure you review your report from each agency at least once a year as some credit accounts won’t appear on reports from all three agencies.      

3. Use strong passwords and pin numbers on all financial accounts and change them often. Today’s hackers don’t usually work alone, so an identity thief (or someone who can unknowingly feed them information) might be closer to you than you think. In order to protect yourself, make sure that your passwords and pin codes for all financial institutions aren’t obvious to someone who may know you. Birthdays, anniversaries and nicknames, although easy to remember, aren’t very strong. If you must write your passwords and pin codes down don’t leave them in your desk at work. If possible, try not to use the same passwords and pin codes for all accounts and change them every three months for an extra measure of security. 

4. Mail all bills from the post office and not your own mailbox. Although it may be convenient to simply walk to the curb, put your outgoing mail in your mailbox and raise the red flag for the postman, you may be unintentionally alerting thieves to easy access to your bank or credit account numbers. Instead of letting your precious financial information sit unprotected, mail it at the post office where it will be safely locked inside a mailbox while it waits to be picked up. You may also want to consider getting a lock for your mailbox so you can protect all incoming bills from identity thieves. If getting a lock for your mailbox isn’t an option, it may be worth incurring the small fee associated with obtaining a P.O. Box to insure that all of your financial information is safe from the clutches of lurking thieves.

5. Reduce your junk mail and unsolicited credit card offers. Since identity thieves seek to create new credit accounts in your name, getting their hands on a credit card offer in your name could potentially seem like winning the lottery for them. Stopping (or significantly reducing) the amount of junk mail—namely credit card offers—you receive could wind up saving you from major heartache and frustration. Simply visit the national credit bureau’s opt out website at: www.optoutprescreen.com or call them at 1-888-5-678-688. While you are at it, it would probably be a good idea to register with the Do Not Call Registry too (www.donotcall.gov or 1-888-382-1222).

6. Always know where your credit card is—even in restaurants and retail stores. Although not having to carry cash is convenient, especially when you are out to dinner at a nice restaurant, using a credit card in venues where you cannot always see the person running your card might be putting you at risk. Many waiters use skimmers to process your payment, and identity thieves sometimes sit in parking lots trying to access financial information from restaurants and stores that may use wireless systems. If keeping your card within your line of sight isn’t always possible, pay with cash instead.

7. See if your credit card company offers any free safety features for online shopping. Although many online retail outlets promise “secure” shopping on their sites, you can never be too safe. Some financial institutions offer built in features to protect you—and your money—from becoming vulnerable. For instance, Bank of America offers the free “Shop Safe” feature which allows credit account holders to log on and receive a temporary account number (good for one online transaction) every time they shop. That way, if an account number is ever stolen from the vendor it’s a dead number and the actual bank account won’t be charged.      

8. Don’t carry your social security number with you, and don’t use it as a user ID or password. Since your social security number is the key that could single handedly unlock numerous doors for identity thieves, you want to protect this number more than you want to protect anything else. So, memorize it and then lock your original card away in a safe place. Don’t make copies of it, and don’t give the number out unless it is absolutely necessary. Before giving it out, make sure you ask the institution you are giving it to (mortgage lender, healthcare provider, etc…) what their privacy policy is and how your information will be protected.  

9. Monitor credit card bills and bank statements carefully each month. Although identity thieves specialize in lifting your information and creating new accounts with it, there are some novice thieves who simply steal your information and make charges to your existing accounts. Smart thieves won’t make huge purchases, and they won’t make multiple purchases on one account at one time. Instead, they will monitor your spending habits and will try to make purchases that will mimic yours in hopes that you wont’ notice that they are using your account. So, once a month schedule a time to sit down and study your credit card bills and bank statements so you can ensure that you are only paying for purchases that you authorized or made. Make sure to pay special attention to bills and statements that come just after a vacation, as account information is more easily stolen when people travel.

10.  Beware of online “friends” who may really be identity thieves in disguise. Internet chat rooms, online dating sites and teen friendly sites like Facebook or MySpace might be making you and your family more vulnerable to identity theft than you think. Educate your children about identity theft so they don’t unintentionally pass along personal information to someone who may be posing as a friend. And regularly check your children’s profile pages to make sure addresses and phone numbers aren’t being released to the public. In a world where things aren’t always what they seem, you can never be too careful.

If Identity Theft Happens to You

Despite your best efforts to protect yourself, you still might find yourself as a victim of identity theft. If you do, make sure you contact your local police, all of your financial institutions and all three credit agencies (Equifax: www.equifax.com TransUnion: www.tuc.com and Experian: www.experian.com) right away. You may also want to consider putting a security freeze on your credit report. It will prevent anyone from running your credit without you being notified first. Remember, it’s your identity so it’s your job to protect it.   

I wish u a very Happy Janmashtami

I wish u a very Happy Janmashtami. I am missing you like crazy on the auspicious occasion of Janmashtami. Last year we celebrated it together. Remember how we staged raslila and enacted the part of Radha and other gopis. miss u very much now as u r far away in Canada. My Blessings and love are always with U!!

Jivan ma ek pal evi pan hati
Jivan ma ek pal evi pan hati, E same hati ne, sathe pan hati, Abhar etlo j mari durdarsha no ke, E Rekha hathma hati pan hath thi door hati

Happy Janmashtami
Happy Janmashtami.may lord krishna flute invite the melody of love into yr life.May radhaji’s love teach not onlt how 2 love but 2 love eternaly!

Whenever there is decay
Arjuna says �Whenever there is decay of righteousness, O! Bharata and a rise of unrighteousness, then I will manifest myself�.

Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya
Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya Glanirva Bhavathi Bharatha Abhyuthanam Adharmasya Tadatmanam Srijami Aham

Radhe Radhe japo chale aayenge beehari
Radhe Radhe japo chale aayenge beehari Aayenge bihari chale aayenge beehari Radhe Radhe

Maakhan chorr hai aayo
Maakhan chorr hai aayo, Yashomati Maiya ka nandlala, Dharti pe bhagwan ka avataar hai aoyo, Harne Kans jaise papi ko Karne kalyan Dharti maa ka.. Sheshnaag ki chatra mein wo hai aayo Banke Kanha makhan chorr hai aayo

Kare Kare Kanha ka Janam Divas
Kare Kare Kanha ka Janam Divas Radhe k Bhole ka Kanha ka Janam Divas Devki-Yashoda ke Kahna ka Janam Divas

Pavitra parv aaj ka din hai
Pavitra parv aaj ka din hai Liya janam mahre kisna ne jake liye sarvatra brahmand prassann hai Jai kisan jai kisan Jai gosh se vishva dhanya hai

“Shri Krishna Govind Hare Murare, He Nath Narayan, Vasudeva, Tribhvan Ke Swami, Sakha Humare, He Nath Narayan Vasudeva, Aapki Janamashtmi ki hardik Shubhkamnaye’

At 23, Michael Fred Phelps has become an international sporting sensation.

The young American swimmer has smashed seven world records and won eight gold medals at the Beijing [Images] Olympics , the first athlete ever to secure first place so many times at a single Olympics Games.

Given his success, it’s easy to slot Phelps into the ‘born achievers’ category — at 23, he’s established a glorious career doing what he loves best, he’s a millionaire, a world record-holder and the pride of his nation.

But hold on a minute — is Michael Phelps really a born achiever?

He may beg to differ.

At the age of seven Phelps, the youngest of three children, was diagnosed with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. For those not familiar with the condition, ADHD is a childhood condition characterised by constant activity, impulsive behaviour and the inability to focus one’s attention on anything for a short span of time.

ADHD is treated with therapy and medication, but is not classified as curable — as per information on the website WebMd.com, about 60 percent of afflicted kids carry the condition into adulthood.

To help release his pent-up energy and to emulate his older sisters who were also accomplished swimmers, Phelps took up swimming, starting to outshine his peers right from the start.

At the age of nine, Michael’s parents divorced. His mother brought up all three children single-handedly, encouraging them to follow their dreams at all costs — one middle-school teacher even told Michael’s mother he would never be a success.

But successful Phelps is, and how.

Yes, there are the occasional set-backs. Like the time back in 2004 when Phelps, then 19, was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol. He was under the legal drinking age limit of 21 in any case and to top it he was driving in an inebriated state. A repentant Phelps pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months probation, saying in court, “I recognise the seriousness of this mistake. I’ve learned from this mistake and will continue learning from this mistake for the rest of my life.”

So who is Michael Phelps? He was a regular kid who struggled with an irregular condition and the divorce of his parents. He’s young, he excels at what he does and like the rest of us, slips up once in a while.

And what life lessons do his struggles and successes hold for us?

# Deal with your own issues effectively — Michael certainly dealt with ADHD and his parents’ divorce that way. His mother helped him cope up with his condition and channeled his energy into what he loved.

# Cut out the drama — Michael’s story is inspirational but at the same time, neither the young man nor his family have exploited their experiences to sensationalise his life. They’ve told it like it is.

# Zero in on your strengths and overcome your weaknesses — He was less than an average student at school, but Michael was a passionate and dedicated student of his sport. The young swimmer is known to have studied tapes of his races over and over, zeroing in on mistakes and working towards bettering himself constantly. Excellent is still not good enough.

# Remain focused on your goals — At the Athens Olympics back in 2004, Phelps was beaten by teammate Ian Crocker beat in the 100m butterfly. He put up a poster of Crocker in his room to motivate him and keeps a list of his career goals beside his bed.

# Pursue what you love with passion and put in a genuine effort — Phelps’ dedication to swimming was apparent back when he was nine and began to break national records in his age group. His commitment to what he does has grown with him.

It’s not just his career and his unbelievable performance at the Olympics that classify Phelps as a winner — it’s his story of inspiration that makes him a real champion, a youth icon, somebody to look up to.

Deep underneath your feet is a hellish stone soup, kept hot by a torrent of radiation from poisonous isotopes of uranium, thorium and potassium in the earth’s superheated mantle. This is the heat that helps cause volcanoes, geysers and hot springs. And it is the heat that powers a modest number of electricity generators around the world, from Iceland to Indonesia.

This energy source remains largely untapped, though, simmering either too far below the surface to reach, or isolated from water that could carry it up.

But on Tuesday, Google.org, the philanthropic arm of search giant Google, announced it would try to help spur companies to reach underground to produce clean electricity. It is investing a total of $10 million in a geothermal energy company called AltaRock Energy and a drilling company called Potter Drilling, and it is funding research and mapping efforts and a policy agenda.

It is part of Google.org’s effort to help bring about renewable energy that is cheaper than coal by investing in companies, research and policy development. The organization is focusing on three main technologies: solar thermal power, which uses the sun’s heat to generate electricity; advanced wind technology; and, now, a way of tapping geothermal energy called enhanced geothermal systems, or EGS.

In traditional geothermal energy, engineers drill near a geyser, hot spring or volcano, stick a valve and turbine on the hot water, and that’s pretty much it. With EGS, holes are drilled deep into hot rock and water is injected into the cracks. When pressure forces the water up other, nearby wells, it is hot enough to run a turbine and produce electricity. Engineers would, in a sense, be making their own geysers, and this opens up far more of the globe for geothermal energy development.

“It’s a big resource, it’s got a good cost curve, and it’s not getting enough attention,” says Dan W. Reicher, Google.org’s director of climate and energy initiatives.

Last year a study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said EGS could open up an additional 100,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. by 2050, up from 2,000 MW today. That could mean 800 million megawatt-hours of more power every year, up from just 15 million megawatt-hours today. Researchers estimate the cost would start at about 9 cents a kilowatt-hour for the first EGS project and fall to as little as 4 cents, including construction, development and financing but not including any government subsidies that may be available. That would compare well with gas at 8 cents, wind at 6 cents and solar at 31 cents or more.

Because geothermal produces consistent, base-load power–it doesn’t depend on the wind blowing or the sun shining–utilities will pay up to three times more for geothermal electricity than for electricity from an intermittent source, like wind.

Geothermal heat has been a source of electricity since 1904, when steam vents in Larderello, Italy, were used to power a handful of light bulbs. That site now powers a million homes in Tuscany, turning out 5 million megawatt-hours per year. But, like Larderello, today’s geothermal electricity comes from unique geologies, where hot rocks and underground water sit together, close to the surface of the earth. Geothermal energy provides just 0.5% of the world’s electricity and 0.4% of the needs in the U.S.

EGS was first proposed by Los Alamos National Laboratories in the 1970s, but the technique was largely forgotten about when oil prices fell. High energy prices and technological breakthroughs helped resurrect the idea. And the idea is attracting some sudden attention. After recently pulling funding for geothermal energy, the U.S. Department of Energy is now offering $90 million in research money for EGS research. It is just a small start, says Alexander Karsner, assistant secretary for energy efficiency and renewable energy at the Department of Energy.

“The government is going to lean into this issue,” he says. “This is a renaissance.”

Still, there is not a single megawatt of EGS-produced power on line yet, and, at best, it will be quite a while before it becomes a significant energy source. It takes years to fully develop a site, from surveying the geology, drilling test wells, receiving permits, drilling working wells and building generators. And it takes capital. Each well can cost $5 million to drill, double the cost of an oil or gas well, because the holes need to be twice as deep, 15,000 feet or more, and sites need at least four wells. Geologists and engineers have a lot to learn about the rock formations they will encounter.

An Australian company called Geodynamics, which is conducting the first major commercial test of EGS now, was surprised to find hot, high-pressure water in the granite it first thought was relatively dry. While that is ultimately a pleasant discovery for the company, the surprise cost it dearly: The pressurized water led to the failure of Geodynamics’ second well in 2005 and nearly bankrupted the infant company.

Geodynamics’ first 50-megawatt station will cost a staggering $250 million, says Chief Technical Officer Doone Wyborn. (That’s $5 million per megawatt; Duke Energy’s new coal-fired plant in Cliffside, N.C., will cost $2.3 million per megawatt.) But now that the company understands where, how and how deep to drill, Wyborn says costs will soon plummet, and by the time the company gets 150 megawatts online, in 2014, Geodynamics’ costs per watt will be cheaper than that of coal.

There is another major EGS test under way in Soultz, France. The first test in the US is scheduled to begin this year near Reno, Nev.

Even as Google.org, Geodynamics and others try to develop EGS, traditional geothermal is experiencing its own revival. There is plenty of traditional, high-grade geothermal resources that haven’t been found yet. The University of Nevada at Reno estimates 80 per cent of these easier-to-develop hydrothermal systems are hidden, and companies are now starting to look for them. The most recent maps showing the heat flow underneath the US are based on data gathered in the 1970s. Google.org is financing a group at Southern Methodist University to update the data.

Worldwide geothermal investment was up 83 per cent last year to $1.7 billion, according to Mark Taylor, a geothermal analyst at New Energy Finance. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management had its first ever land-lease auction for geothermal resources, and it produced 57 leasing agreements. It will hold another auction this month.

Traditional geothermal could provide thousands of megawatts of electricity capacity, which would be welcome. But Google.org was attracted to EGS because it could add tens of thousands. “It has the potential to deliver vast quantities of power 24/7,” says Reicher. “And be captured nearly anywhere on the planet.”

Design

While Design, as an academic domain, is very recent, its history, is as ancient as any of the arts. Universally, the concept of “design” is used to recognise human intention, purpose and function in actions (design process), objects (design products) and thoughts (design value). This cluster of meanings can lead to ambiguity so that it is difficult to determine “what is being promoted or taught” under the auspicious title of Design (Dilnot, 1989, p.233).

We can speak of “designing a design” and we can speak of “designing an art-work” but we cannot speak of “arting an art-work”. Design, as a concept, is both more pervasive and yet less clearly defined than other nouns/verbs of making. Potentially, this openness to meaning is a strength. Because of its universality, design, as a complex language, is ideally placed to assist, along with the other arts, in the promotion of new modes of communication and perception made available by new information technologies.

Through its implication in popular culture (graphic design), the manufactured things of every-day life (industrial design) and the things of our own making (craft), design, as an area of study, offers a structured access to the rapidly changing teaching and learning worlds that technology makes available.

Technology

If technology is the structuring of a skill or form of knowledge (techne) in a process that can be transmitted and replicated, then design is the cognitive ground of this structuring. Unless the design of a thing/process can be abstracted from the thing/process and formalised, the thing/process remains the secret of the maker. While, historically, the maker was also the user, technology developed through the modification of a process according to the understanding of technique that the user/maker could bring to the process. This history of the term “technology” would seem to be adequate for much traditional technology.

In the case of recent technologies, it might at first appear that the original sense of technique has long gone from the current usage of the term “technology”. For many of us the word “technology” has come to mean “something that we use but do not understand”. The more we don’t understand it, then the higher the technology must be. This confusion is both at the level of production (how it is made) and at the level of product (how it might be used). Often it appears that these secret devices are directing us rather than that we are directing them. We did not ask for their invention and often we have difficulty describing their place in our existing world.

It would seem that the pure possibilities of electronics (or other physical sciences) are what define the possibilities of the new information technologies rather than the skills of an artisan, master tradesman or designer. This feeling of alienation from our own inventions arises out of the novelty and immaturity of the technology and not out of any recent change in the dynamics of technological development. While we may not know or understand the technology of making a violin, equally we may not know or understand the technique of a violinist and yet, we can all appreciate the music that is made between violinist, violin and audience.

The view of computers, in particular, as semi-autonomous objects, has shifted our attention from technology as an integrated activity requiring technique to the devices that facilitate activity. We are in danger of mistaking the butter churn for milk technology, or of attending to the manufacturer of butter churns as the developer of better butter. Now that the design feed-back loop of users and makers has come into play, computers, as integrated systems of hardware and software, are beginning to display the possibilities of a designed (technique-based) technology.

To appreciate this feed-back connection between the design industries and the new technologies, we need to expand our view of the relationship between design and technology. It is not simply that design, in much of its professional practice, has embraced the new devices. Design has also redefined the uses of these new devices through establishing the grounds of a rhetoric of information technologies. Such a rhetoric was being called for over a decade ago to bridge the apparent gap between technologists and designers.

There is a general attitude that technology is only an applied science, rather than a part of design art, and this approach has led many to abandon hope that technology can be seriously influenced and guided by human values and a discernment of beneficial ends in the human community. A suitable theory of rhetoric in design would be one in which technology is viewed fundamentally as a rhetorical problem, integrated within the perspective of a broader design art, however radical that may seem to technologists. The theory would suggest productive ways in which closer connections between technology and design art could be established.

Buchanan, 1985, pp. 91-92

The clearest evidence of this rhetoric, in the case of the new information technologies, can be seen in the rapid mingling and cross-fertilisation of print-based and World Wide Web-based layout and advertising styles. Given the extraordinary limitations of Web-based layout, designers have had to re-define their language to maintain the design values inherited from the print medium. The rapid ascendancy of these design values is an indication of the strength of the underlying design language.

While the actual values being transmitted through this integration may seem to be simply those of pattern, order and form, the re-emergence of these design features points to a deeper cultural connection between technology and design. Whether this re-forming (reformation?) is indicative of a new-modernism or another primitive “closed system” is yet to be seen. The important point is the clearly observable crystallisation of designed form in the new information processes. Still, the urgent questions of value remain.

Culture and design no longer are forces that slowly but heroically move the world toward salvation through logical and ethical radicalism. They are mechanisms of emotions and adaptations of changes that fail to drag the world toward a horizon; they only transform it into many diffuse diversities. Progress no longer seems to be valued; instead, the unexpected is valued. The grand unitarian theorems no longer exist, nor do the leading models of the rational theologies. What exists is a modernity without illuminism. We are witnessing a definitive and extreme secularisation of design, within which design represents itself and no longer is a metaphor for a possible unity of technologies and languages.

Branzi, 1985, p.37

The unity of languages and technologies called for by Branzi maybe found in aspects of the neoprimitive or tribal. Branzi points to the closed nature of primitive cultural structures:

The communication of the primitive, indeed, achieves its maximum efficiency inside a closed system: It operates by archetypes and myths, working inside a circuit of users capable of perceiving its metaphorical keys and subject to its specific energy. Outside these conditions, the culture of the primitive is nothing but a formal repertory that currently is heeded and used by a large number of operators, artists, and designers.

Branzi, 1985, p.37

The World Wide Web has many of these features and yet through establishing a market-place of many closed-systems, it has allowed for styles that transcend domains. The World Wide Web is an example of narrow-band technology achieving a universality simply through unrestricted access. Each circuit is closed but each circuit is linked to an open-ended exchange. The model is one of correspondence that knows no limit: any number of users can join the repertoire. The tribe may well have its rituals but more and more the language of design is structuring these rituals through form, pattern and order.

Craft

When the new technologies are reviewed from the broad cultural perspective of use and possible use, they reveal a pathway to the all but forgotten domain of craft. While each new device in the information technologies area can be seen as a response to an efficiency demand in the information industries (typesetting, photography, printing etc.) the resulting devices have often ended up in the hands of the domestic user. In some cases it has been the domestic device that has overtaken the production houses (page layout, pre-press).

This democratising of technology has meant that the general education system is now in a position to participate in the avenues of making made available by the new technologies. At one level this is simply an extension of previous opportunities. Semi-professional equipment has long been available to schools and semi-professional productions have been achieved. At another level, the new technologies provide students with an opportunity to do “real work” such as produce designs for large scale manufacture (CAD/CAM), or produce computer masters for studio quality pre-press, or produce digital masters for audio/video, or produce CD master, or produce commercial quality work for the World Wide Web.

While each of these outcomes is exciting, such “real work” has always been available through the setting of achievable projects and through the educational decision to focus on the acquisition of personal (craft) skills that are foundational and substantial in the learning of the individual. The new technologies simply offer a timely opportunity to recall the deeper learning aspects involved in all the arts subjects.

At the pedagogic level, there are teaching and learning decisions to be made. There are advantageous aspects to World Wide Web technologies. The multi-media features of the WWW allow for cross subject involvement. The range of traditional learning activities that are to be found on the WWW increases daily. Beyond the hype, the WWW has made available a broad range of basic skills including: text editing, graphics manipulation, animation and sound production. Each of these skills can be achieved, at a professional level, with very little cost beyond the initial capital equipment outlay. The virtual objects are environmental safe, take up no real space and are open to view and use from anywhere. These same virtual objects are, in all important respects, craft objects.

Design Language

Design, chiefly, is the disclosure and subsequent development of order, form and pattern. It is a fundamental literacy that finds its process in all areas of knowledge. Its language is found in all the arts. In this conceptual sense, the language of design offers a way to develop common concerns between many areas of the current curriculum.

As a process (poetics), design is often reduced to a list of stages such as: assimilation, investigation, development and communication. While each of these stages may be plotted on a flow chart to display the progress of a project, there are very real limitations in these prescriptions (see Alexander, 1965; Lawson, 1983). More and more sophisticated versions of such re-constructions tend to confuse the design language with the language that accounts for the process. Closer inspection of designers at work points to the design process as a fundamental way of being/doing. Lawson, in his testing of designers and scientists came to these conclusions:

The essential difference between these two strategies is that while the scientists focused their attention on discovering the rule, the architects were obsessed with achieving the desired result. The scientists adopted a generally problem-focused strategy and the architects a solution-focused strategy. Although it would be quite possible using the architects’ approach to achieve the best solution without actually discovering the complete range of acceptable solutions, in fact most architects discovered something about the rule governing the allowed combinations of blocks. In other words they learnt about the nature of the problem largely as a result of trying out solutions, whereas the scientists set out specifically to study the problem.

Lawson, 1983, p.32

As a product (aesthetics), design offers a language of objects that is open to ethnographic, sociological and phenomenological observation (see Bachelard, 1964). Here design offers its objects minus the preciousness of fine art works. To be a design object there must be a system of reference that is at the same time a system of use. At one end of the spectrum we may place fine art objects as objects that lack an intended direct use; that is, the painting of a chair is not to be used as a chair, its reference is indirect and mediated by the aesthetic distance that holds it within its frame (art for art’s sake). For a chair to be an object of design attention it must be able to be used within its own directly announced intention as a chair. The degree to which the chair as design object plays with this intention is the degree to which it is shifted towards the fine art end of the spectrum. In the case of designer-objects, those objects which overtly state themselves as having been designed, this playfulness is overt if not dominant. That is, there is a dynamic tension between fine art objects and design objects that becomes apparent at the level of intended use. In the case of the design object, the chair retains its chairness as its direct reference. To take another example, a door handle which failed to directly announce itself as a door handle would be in danger of not functioning and therefore of not being a design object.

As a value (ethics), design both offers a history of failure and a language of possibility. While design can quickly turn green, the underlying ideologies of desire and consumption remain to be addressed. The growth of design as a feature of the everyday world of objects can be seen as one successful outcome of the efforts of the Moderns (such as the Bauhaus) to change the everyday world of objects. This growth can also be seen as the failure of these efforts to transform society. Design has succeeded in displaying value but it has not succeeded in defining value in this display. Potentially, the language of design, as value, can assist in the social review of the world we are manufacturing.

Repackaging and redesigning are . . . part of a socio-economic system that assumes limitless growth and a continual state of desire. Consumer-led design in a market economy goes far beyond the idea of meeting human needs: it seeks to create and constantly to stimulate human desire. The modern consumer’s condition is characterised by dissatisfaction and a consequent state of longing. A continual stream of ‘new’ goods is produced to satisfy temporarily the desires which the market has, if not created, then certainly kindled.

Whiteley, 1993, p.3

Integration of Design and New Technologies

Because of its newness as an area of educational concern, we can confuse design concerns with contemporary and new concerns. For example, if we look at design as inherently involved with recent technologies we are in danger of restricting its language concerns to those of something like “techno-literacy”. This is not to deny that an important aspect of design in education should be to instruct the young in the uses of current and ancient technologies such as water systems and agriculture. A better knowledge of waste systems especially might be seen as a desirable feature of a broad design-based cultural literacy (see Purcell, 1994). With an informed understanding of pre-existing and new technologies, we are all in a better position to explore the future implications of our designed world.

Equally, the language of design should not be looked at simply from the restrictive vantage of information online. Recent attention to learning online has promoted a new kind of skill, “mediacy”:

Literacy and numeracy are important skills for students to master. To adequately prepare our students for thought work in an information society, a new skill - mediacy - is becoming increasingly important. Mediacy refers to the ability to access, share, and disseminate information online.

While the traditional research uses of accessing information might fall inside the general description of traditional literacy, the new aspects of sharing and disseminating information online imply a broader understanding of traditional literacy than “mediacy” would seem to allow. In announcing the rhetorical concerns of design, the intention should be to expand the traditional concept of literacy rather than to make claims for new literacy skills. If we look at the work of Charles Eames, for example, we can see design as a complex, multi-media, information rich language of social and cultural concern that offers insight into both the objects of its attention (topics/themes) and its process of making (information design) (see Neuhart et al, 1989).

Compared to the information installations of Eames, WWW pages are brief (if open-ended) introductions to knowledge. The precise skills required for WWW publication are quite trivial, even mundane, when compared with those of learning to speak, read and write. Where these new online skills become educationally useful is in the development of higher order literacy skills, such as critical thinking. Through an involvement with mixed- and multi-media, aesthetically rich projects, students are able to explore the meta-cognitive rhetorics of design production.

The virtual objects of the WWW exist in a cultural space that is yet to be defined beyond the nascent design features of order, form and pattern. In a sense, the WWW is yet to establish its grammar or syntax. The disclosure of meaning, in this space, offers the excitement of a new stage for human communication. Through its complexity and ambiguity, the existing language of design can offer a guide and style manual.

Meaning in Design and its Place

The intentional, purposive and functional aspects of design necessarily involve design in a very broad range of meaning concerns. Through the client relationship, design is specifically involved with aesthetics (ways of experiencing), ethics (ways of being) and poetics (ways of making). The pervasive nature of design allows design languages to be taught across the curriculum. The unavoidable presence of design (as products) requires design to be interpreted across the whole community.

Without a formalised approach to a multi-disciplinary model of design instruction, the potential openness of design can become limited to the professional concerns of current work places. For example, the exciting possibilities of information communication can be restricted to pre-press aspects of graphics and the global concerns of materials and markets can be restricted to production aspects of industrial design. Through a close focus on professional outcomes, the craft aspects of design can be lost.

The social world we inherited was designed; the world our children will inherit is being designed. Education allows us the opportunity to design design.

Bibliography of Works Cited and Further Readings

Alexander, Christopher (1970) Notes on the Synthesis of Form (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard Uni Press)

Bachelard, Gaston (Jolas, Maria trans.) (1969) The Poetics of Space (Boston: Beacon Press)

Branzi, Andrea (1985) “We Are the Primitives”, Mondo, June 1985, quoted here from Margolin, Victor (ed.) (1989) Design Discourse: History, Theory Criticism (London: Uni of Chicago Press)

Buchanan, Richard (1985) “Declaration by Design”, Design Issues: History, Theory, Criticism, Vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 4-22, quoted here from Margolin, Victor (ed.) (1989) Design Discourse: History, Theory Criticism (London: Uni of Chicago Press)

Dilnot, Clive (1989) “The State of Design History, Part II: Problems and Possibilities” in Margolin, Victor (ed.) Design Discourse: History, Theory Criticism (London: Uni of Chicago Press) pp. 233-250

Kao, John (ed) (1996) The New Business of Design: The Forty-fifth International Design Conference in Aspen (NY: Allworth Press)

Lawson, Bryan (1983) How Designers Think (London: The Architecture Press)

Margolin, Victor (ed.) (1989) Design Discourse: History, Theory Criticism (London: Uni of Chicago Press)

Margolin, Victor; Buchanan, Richard (eds.) (1995) The Idea of Design: A Design Issues Reader (London: MIT Press)

Myerson, Jeremy (ed.) (1994) Design Renaissance: Selected papers from the International Design Congress, Glasgow, Scotland 1993 (Horsham, West Sussex: Open Eye Publishing)

Neuhart, John; Neuhart, Marilyn; Eames, Ray (1989) Eames Design: The Work of the Office of Charles and Ray Eames (London: Thames & Hudson)

Oedekoven-Gerischer, Angela; Scholtz, Andrea; Medek, Edith; Kurz, Petra (eds.) (1989) Women in Design: Careers and Life Histories since 1900 (Stuttgart: Hands Der Wirtschaft)

Pile, John F. (1979) Design: Purpose, Form and Meaning (Amherst: Uni of Massachusetts Press)

Pursell, Carroll (1994) White Heat: People and Technology (Based on the BBC TV Series) (London: BBC Books)

Taylor, Marck C.; Saarinen, Esa (1994) Imagologies: Media Philosophy (London: Routledge)

Thackara, John (ed.) (1988) Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object (London: Thames and Hudson)

Whiteley, Nigel (1993) Design For Society (London: Reaktion Books)

Yelavich, Susan (ed.) (1993) The Edge of the Millennium: An International Critique of Architecture, Urban Planning, Product and Communication Design (NY: Whitney Library of Design)

There are many mistakes that web designers make. Here are the top 5 common mistakes I have seen.

Too many Ads
It’s ok to have ads on your website; however, you do not want to have so many ads that they become intrusive. Remember your visitors came to your site for information not ads. Don’t let your ads overwhelm your content.

Weird Fonts
Just because you found some fancy font that you think is great doesn’t mean that everyone else has the same font. Stick to the common fonts such as Arial, Times New Roman, and Veranda. That way you will be sure that everbody can read them.

Broken Links
Check your links often. Nothing is more frustrating than clicking on a link that doesn’t work.

Poor Navigation
Make sure your site is easy to navigate. If your visitors can’t figure out how to find the information they came there for you can be sure that they will not be back.

Clutter
Keep your pages crisp and clutter free. It is much better to have a site with 20 pages of fresh, clean content than one with 5 pages that are so cluttered and messy that it is impossible to find anything!

Years of experience in internet use and website design, has shown me one thing that is certain; there is nothing ever so constant as change.
The internet has come a long way in it’s use of websites, particularly, design.
Not long ago, the webmaster was a sought after provider.
Not so today.
With more and more information being released on the internet, with sites that enable users to submit their own html content, it seems more and more users are not only internet savvy, but homemade web page creators.
This puts a damper on the website designer’s business.

With over 1,114,274,426 internet users worldwide, you can imagine that new websites are launched on a daily basis, by the thousands.
From business owners, to mom’s, dad’s, kids and students alike, nearly everyone has fiddled with html creation in one way or another.
Many hosting companies offer free web page builder tools and software, giving anyone wanting a site the ability to do so for themselves.
Nearly every internet service provider does the same.
Networking sites, offering personal space for people to use for whatever, have personal sites in the hundreds of thousands.

Is the webmaster an endangered species?
Not necessarily.
Advancements in the internet, software and websites, with their ever-changing functions and abilities, still provides a great need for the webmaster.
Especially when it comes to business websites.
True, nearly anyone can produce a website, following basic website structure and design.
But can they perform tedious and difficult tasks in site creation?
Databases, online shopping, form handling, order processing, cross-browser development, etc.
Many of the critical components and functions of websites that still keeps the webmasters alive.

Is there a rift in the web design business?
There really seems to be.
With more and more website design firms offering extended features such as SEO (search engine optimization), internet marketing, tools, software and other offers, says something about the design business.
The competition and attracting new clients has become increasingly difficult for the design firms.
Between the home-user, do-it-yourselfer, html software creation advancements and more competition, has seemed to spawn a new breed of website designer; the Freelancer.
The freelancer has been around for some time, but more noticeable now, in greater multitudes.

This is not to say that the freelancer has it easy either.
The average freelancer has to be a multifaceted, sharp and quick, web design programming engineer.
Adept at multiple programming languages, programs and skills.
Here in the realm of the freelancer, competition is extremely fierce.
Freelance directories have become commonplace for them, where heavy project bidding wars occur.
Fighting to gain clients or work by piecemeal.

The freelancer can be a very valuable asset to the mediocre or even the professional website designer.
However, finding the right one is the difficult task.
In a hurry to secure a bid or client, a freelancer may say they can perform certain tasks for you.
Only to find out that you have paid them and they did not quite finish the project or did not fulfill the bargain, and you are stuck at square one.

How to tell the difference?
You need to read between the lines.
Pay particular attention to the way they say things.
Does it seem like a canned response? Then beware.
Does their communication with you read as though they were not listening? Then, they probably were not.
It’s your money, save it and move on.
You have to realize, their time is money, more often, time than money.
Trying to secure clients and projects is no easy feat for the freelancer.
So, the freelancer must hurry, applying as many bids as they can, in hopes of landing a few jobs.
Not to say that using a freelancers services is a bad idea.
On the contrary, it can be to your advantage.
Since time is money to the freelancer, they can provide services quickly and inexpensively.

Another caution; if it seems too good to be true, the bid or requested price is too low, it probably is.
A good way to tell if a freelancer is reputable; some sites provide their services with a ratings score for the freelancer. Or, you can base your selection on the total number of jobs performed by the freelancer.
Do not overlook the freelancer with 0 jobs performed, they may have just started in that freelance directory and could be every bit as qualified as the leader in jobs and, may come cheaper to you as well.

Where are things going to be in the coming months and years?
One guess is; things will become increasingly automated and easier for the average person to communicate on the internet and in business on the interent.
As for the webmaster? I don’t feel the webmaster will fade away, but rather change with the changes and become an even more skilled expert and professional in his field.

This rich miser… but you have heard that one before. No? Alright. This rich miser is about to die, so he tells his family to lug up a suitcase full of cash to the terrace. Says he will grab it on the way up. So he ‘cashes his cheque’, as the saying goes. The wife goes upstairs and finds — what else — the suitcase still where she left it.

“The fool,” she says, shaking her head. “I told him we should keep it in the basement.”

Here is how mankind tells money, quoting from the Book of Job: “Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther.” Here are the ten things money can’t buy.

1. Family and friends

The greenbacks won’t bring you any closer to your family if you are far too busy earning them. Nor will they guarantee your family understands you at all. (Mummy’s cooking is a sub-group in this ‘things you can’t buy anywhere’ list.)

There are exceptions to this. You might just pay off irritating in-laws to stay out of your hair, or order a hit on them. But in the normal course…

With friends, it works the same way, only more so. If your wealth draws them, they aren’t real. If they don’t stay, or your life has no place for them, you are on your own. With real friends, you’ve almost got it made.

2. Home

Get married, start a family, have kids. Will they grow up into fine people? Have you got the hang of father/motherhood? Is your home really your castle, a cocoon of comfort? Or is it just a house with people in it? The card really stops here.

3. Happiness

Alright, cliched, but it gets truer as the years pass. There is always something missing whether you are on the beach at Algarve or adding the newest antique wood furniture to your collection. If you can’t get at the root of it, everything you can get is merely a narcotic.

4. Peace

Here is the big one, ever since they started asking smart questions to beauty contestants. The small peace is inside your head and that is elusive enough to come by, for which you have antacids and Ketorol, which only push it away for another day. Also think world peace and other big matters. What if they nuke the city? Kidding.

5. Immortality

If you can make it for three decades on top of the Forbes list, that is a measure of fame. But to be truly immortal requires other things, other ways of striving. Ever wondered how some dirt-poor hardscrabble guys have instant recall value centuries afterwards? And literal immortality is yet several pages farther in human civilisation’s sci-fi book. Best you can do is get a ticket on Sir Richard Branson’s [Images] space taxi.

6. Respect

You can smirk at the poor ants down below on the street, but they will pull faces behind your back if you are the sort who is perpetually asking for it. Dignity is the most fragile of public possessions. And God help you if they know about the skeletons in your closet or that you were called Stinky as a kid. This is one asset you really need to work on all the time to earn…

7. Talent

Another cliched, misused, misunderstood word, like creativity, and maybe no one knows what it is anymore, but you are either born with it or not. No way you can get a bill of sale on this one. What you do with it is of course your business. History has been very frequently marked with astonishing examples of creativity outdoing… well, money and everything else. Possibly the best example is Lenoardo da Vinci and a certain portrait of a woman. He took 16 years to paint it, did not bother to name it, packed it with himself wherever he travelled in Europe, refused to sell it to kings and counts. It was ultimately sold by his assistant after he died. Someone down the line decided to call it the Mona Lisa [Images].

At the other end of the example is Vincent Van Gogh. All that talent and he sold just one painting of the nearly thousand he made, struggling with poverty all along. Didn’t make a difference either way: in 1990, his Portrait of Dr Gachet went under the hammer for a current equivalent of $ 136.1 million, making it the fourth most expensive painting ever sold.

8. Health

Sure healthcare costs being the way they are, you need all the money you can lay your hands on when it comes to facing the bills and pills and the doctor scaring you with a dozen different possible diseases you have never heard about. But, viewed sanely, a good efficient treatment is not that much of a substitute for a good healthy life. Isn’t it better not to need healthcare in the first place?

9. Love

It matters, that little empty feeling when you are sitting with a Sauvignon Blanc (for choice) on your balcony on a Saturday evening and twenty sober thoughts in your head, and no one to tell them to. That feeling of intense loneliness can neither be bought off, papered over or told to keep quiet and leave the room. Someone says, “Money can’t buy love, but with all the other things it can, I’ll give love a miss.” Your call. You still have the Sauvignon Blanc…

10. Character

In case it matters. It is a sneaky creature, goes by other strange names like virtue and righteousness and at one time, if we remember reading correctly, a certain generation used to call it “true wealth”. We don’t really know whether it is around in these times but if you are looking to have it, it has to come from within. Or some such thing…

Meanwhile, enjoy what you have, but as John Buchan says, “Sit easy on your comforts.”

Doping

One of the main problems facing the Olympics (and international sports in general) is doping, or the use of performance enhancing drugs. In the early 20th century, many Olympic athletes began using drugs to enhance their performance. For example, the winner of the marathon at the 1904 Games, Thomas J. Hicks, was given strychnine and brandy by his coach, even during the race. As these methods became more extreme, gradually the awareness grew that this was no longer a matter of health through sports. In the mid-1960s, sports federations put a ban on doping, and the IOC followed suit in 1967.

The first (and, so far, only) Olympic death caused by doping occurred in 1960. At the cycling road race in Rome, Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen fell from his bicycle and later died. A coroner’s inquiry found that he was under the influence of amphetamines.

The first Olympic athlete to test positive for doping use was Hans-Gunnar Liljenwall, a Swedish pentathlete at the 1968 Summer Olympics, who lost his bronze medal for alcohol use. Seventy-three athletes followed him over the next 38 years, several medal winners among them. The most publicised doping-related disqualification was that of Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who won the 100m at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but tested positive for stanozolol.

Despite the testing, many athletes continued to use doping without getting caught. In 1990, documents were revealed that showed many East German female athletes had been unknowingly administered anabolic steroids and other drugs by their coaches and trainers as a government policy.

In the late 1990s, the IOC took initiative in a more organised battle against doping, leading to the formation of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in 1999. The recent 2000 Summer Olympics and 2002 Winter Olympics have shown that this battle is not nearly over, as several medalists in weightlifting and cross-country skiing were disqualified due to doping offences. One innocent victim of the anti-doping movement at the Olympics was the Romanian gymnast Andreea Răducan who was stripped of her gold medal-winning performance in the All-Around Competition of the 2000 Sydney games. Test results indicated the presence of the banned-stimulant pseudophedrine which had been prescribed to her by an Olympic doctor. Raducan had been unaware of the presence of the illegal substance in the medicine that had been prescribed to her for a cold she had during the games.

During the 2006 Winter Olympics, only one athlete failed a drug test and had a medal revoked. The only other case involved 12 members with high levels of haemoglobin and their punishment was a five day suspension for health reasons.

The International Olympic Committee introduced blood testing for the first time during these games.

Boycotts

The 1956 Melbourne Olympics were the first Olympics to be boycotted. The Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland refused to attend because of the repression of the Hungarian Uprising by the Soviet Union; additionally, Cambodia, Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon, boycotted the games due to the Suez Crisis.[22]

In 1972 and 1976, a large number of African countries threatened the IOC with a boycott, to force them to ban South Africa, Rhodesia, and New Zealand. The IOC conceded in the first two cases, but refused in 1976 because the boycott was prompted by a New Zealand rugby union tour to South Africa, and rugby was not an Olympic sport. The countries withdrew their teams after the games had started; some African athletes had already competed. A lot of sympathy was felt for the athletes forced by their governments to leave the Olympic Village; there was little sympathy outside Africa for the governments’ attitude. Twenty-two countries (Guyana was the only non-African nation) boycotted the Montreal Olympics because New Zealand was not banned.

Also in 1976, due to pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Canada told the team from the Republic of China (Taiwan) that it could not compete at the Montreal Summer Olympics under the name “Republic of China” despite a compromise that would have allowed Taiwan to use the ROC flag and anthem. The Republic of China refused and as a result did not participate again until 1984, when it returned under the name “Chinese Taipei” and used a special flag.
Countries that boycotted the 1976 (yellow), 1980 (blue) and 1984 (red) games
Countries that boycotted the 1976 (yellow), 1980 (blue) and 1984 (red) games

In 1980 and 1984, the Cold War opponents boycotted each other’s games. Sixty-five nations refused to compete at the Moscow Olympics in 1980 because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but 16 nations from Western Europe did compete at the Moscow Olympics. The boycott reduced the number of nations participating to only 81, the lowest number of nations to compete since 1956. The Soviet Union and 14 of its Eastern Bloc partners (except Romania) countered by boycotting the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984, arguing the safety of their athletes could not be guaranteed there and “chauvinistic sentiments and an anti-Soviet hysteria are being whipped up in the United States”. The 1984 boycotters staged their own Friendship Games in July-August.

There have been growing calls for boycotts of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing in protest of China’s poor human rights record and response to the recent disturbances in Tibet, Darfur, and Taiwan. There are also campaigns calling for Chinese goods to be boycotted.

Violence

Despite what Coubertin had hoped for, the Olympics did not bring total peace to the world. In fact, three Olympiads had to pass without Olympics because of war: due to World War I the 1916 Games were cancelled, and the summer and winter games of 1940 and 1944 were cancelled because of World War II.

Terrorism has also become a recent threat to the Olympic Games. In 1972, when the Summer Games were held in Munich, West Germany, eleven members of the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage by terrorist group Black September in what is known as the Munich massacre. A bungled liberation attempt led to the deaths of the nine abducted athletes who had not been killed prior to the rescue as well as that of a policeman, with five of the terrorists also being killed.

During the Summer Olympics in 1996 in Atlanta, a bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park killed two and injured 111 others. The bomb was set by Eric Robert Rudolph, an American domestic terrorist, who is currently serving a life sentence at Supermax in Florence, Colorado.

The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were the first Olympic Games since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Olympic Games since then have required an extremely high degree of security due to the fear of possible terrorist activities.

There have been pro-Tibet / pro-human rights protests during the Beijing Olympic Games Torch Relay, some of which included violent incidents.

Politics

Main article: Politics in the Olympics

Politics has interfered with the Olympics on several occasions, the most well-known incident of which was the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where the games were used as propaganda by the German Nazis. At this Olympics, the true Olympic spirit was shown by Luz Long, who helped Jesse Owens (a black athlete) to win the long jump, at the expense of his own silver medal. The Soviet Union did not participate in the Olympic Games until the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. Instead, the Soviets organized an international sports event called Spartakiads, from 1928 onward. Many athletes from Communist organizations or close to them chose not to participate or were even barred from participating in Olympic Games, and instead participated in Spartakiads.

A political incident on a smaller scale occurred at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. Two American track-and-field athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, performed the Black Power salute on the victory stand of the 200-meter track and field race. In response, the IOC’s autocratic president Avery Brundage told the USOC to either send the two athletes home, or withdraw the complete track and field team. The USOC opted for the former.

The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran specifically orders its athletes not to compete in any olympic heat, semi-final, or finals that includes athletes from Israel. At the 2004 Olympics, an Iranian judoka who had otherwise earned his place, did not compete in a heat against an Israeli judoka.

Stories of Akbar Birbal

Birbal was an advisor in the court of Akbar and is very popular for his sharp intellect and sense of humour.  The stories of Birbal are very popular among kids and adults alike and forms an indespensible part in Indian folk lore.

Birbal (1528-1583) is surely one of the most popular figures in Indian history equally regarded by adults and children. Birbal’s duties in Akbar’s court were mostly administrative and military but he was a very close friend of Akbar too, because Akbar loved his wisdom, wit, and subtle humor. He was a minister in the administration of Mogul Emperor Akbar and one of the members of inner council of nine advisors. He was a poet and an author too. 

It is believed that he was a son of poor Braahman of Trivikrampur (now known as Tikavanpur) on the banks of River Yamuna. According to a popular legend he died on an expedition to Afghanistan at the head of a large military force due to treachery. It is also said that when Birbal died, Akbar mourned him for several months.

The exchanges between Akbar and Birbal have been recorded in many volumes. Many of these have become folk stories in Indian tradition. Birbal’s collection of poetry published under the pen name “Brahm” are preserved in Bharatpur Museum, Rajsthan, India.

Akbar’s Meeting with Birbal

Akbar loved hunting and used to escape  to go for hunting even from his studies. Well, later he became a better rider and hunter than any one of his courtiers. One day when Akbar went for hunting, he and his some of the courtiers went so fast that they left the others behind. As the evening fell, everybody got very hungry and thirsty, they found that they had lost their way and now did not know where to go.

At last they came to a junction of three roads. King was very happy to see the roads that now he could go reach his capital through one of these roads, but which road was to go to his capital - Agra. They were all thinking about it and could not decide it. In the mean time they saw a young boy coming along one road. The boy was summoned and Akbar asked him, “Hey young boy! Which road goes to Agra?” The boy smiled and spoke, “Huzoor! everybody knows that road cannot move so how these roads can go to Agra or anywhere else?” and laughed  at his own joke.

Everybody was silent, didn’t say a word. The boy said again, “People travel, not the roads. Do they?”  Emperor laughed at this and said, “No, you are right.”  The Emperor asked again, “What is your name, young boy?” “Mahesh Das” The boy replied and asked the Emperor, “And who are you Huzoor? What is your name?” The Emperor took out his Ring and gave it to the boy. “You are talking to Emperor Akbar - the King of Hindustan (India). We need fearless people like you. You come to the court, with this Ring I will recognize you immediately. Now tell me the way to get to Agra. We have to reach there soon?”

Mahesh Das bowing lowly pointed towards the road going to Agra, and the King headed on that road.

That is how the Emperor Akbar met the future Birbal.

Birbal’s meeting with Akbar

There was a boy named Mahesh Das. When he grew up as a fine young man, he took all his savings, along with the Ring of Seal of the Emperor Akbar, which he received from the Emperor himself some time ago, bade his mother farewell, and set out to the new capital of India - Fatehpur Sikri.

He was very much enchanted with the pomp and show of the new capital. He escaped the crowd and headed towards the red walls of the palace. The palace gate was very richly ornamented - a very beautiful gate as he had never seen before. Mahesh wanted to enter the gate, but the guard slashed the air with his spear and stopped him from entering the gate.

“Where do you think, you are going?” asked the guard. Said Maesh politely, “Sir, I have come to see the King.” “Oh! yeah, the King must be waiting for you, as when you would come?” the guard said circastically. Mahesh smiled at this comment and spoke “Yes, Sir, and  now I am here.” Mahesh told further,”I am sure you nust have fought wonderfully well on the Emperor’s frontiers, but do not risk your life by stopping me from entering the palace.”

The guard kept quiet for a moment, then said courageously, “Why do you think so? I will chop off your head, if you do not stop talking nonsense.” Mahesh was not going to accept his defeat. He showed Akbar’s Ring of Seal to the guard.

Now who was the person who did not recognize Akbar’s Ring of Seal. Having seen the seal, the guard couldn’t say a word. He had to admit him, although he was not willing to do it. So the guard thought and thought, then he said to Mahesh, “You can go in on one condition.” “What?”, Mahesh asked. The guard said, “Whatever you will get from the Emperor, you will share with me half of that. “Agreed,” Mahesh smiled and the guard let him go inside.

He went on and on, finally he could see the golden throne on which a man of simple elegance was sitting. He quickly recognized him as the Emperor Akbar. Pushing everyone aside, Mahesh went further and prostrated himself before the Emperor Akbar, and said, “May your shadow always grow, O Full Moon.”

Akbar smiled and asked him, “What do you want. O young man?” Mahesh rose to his feet and spoke, “Sir, I have come here at your command.” And he handed over the Ring of Seal, which was given to him by the King so many years before.

“That’s a good boy, now what do you want? What is your heart’s desire? Tell me, I will try my best to fulfill it.” Mahesh remebered his promise with the guard, so he asked the Emperor to punish him with one hundred slashes. The King was surprised to hear that, “But how can I do this to you, you have done nothing wrong.” Mahesh said politely, “Sir, please do not go back from your promise of fufilling my heart’s desire.”

So with great reluctance and perplexed mind, Akbar ordered one hundred lashes on Mahesh’s back. To the surprise of all, Mahesh endured every stroke without uttering a word.

After the fiftieth whip, he suddenly shouted, “Stop now.” Akbar asked, “Why? What happened?” Mahesh said, “Sir when I was coming here, your guard did not allow me to come inside the palace, unless I promised him to give half of my share of whatever I will get from you. I have taken half of my share, now it is your guard’s turn to take his share of half.” Everybody bursted into the laughter.

The guard was hauled to receive his humiliating bribe. The King said, “You are as brave as you were when you were a child. You have grown into a cleverer young man. I was trying to weed out the corrupted people from my court, but your little trick has done what I wouldn’t have done even after passing several laws. From now on, on the basis of of your wisdom, you shall be called “Birbal” and you will stay by my side as my advisor.”

That is how Birbal was born.

Question for a Question

One day Akbar asked Birbal, “Birbal, can you tell me how many bangles are on your wife’s hand?”  Birbal said, “No, Huzoor, I cannot.”  “You cannot? Although everyday you see her hand, still you cannot tell how many bangles are on her hand? How is that?” said Akbar.

Birbal said, “Let’s go to the garden, Your Majesty. And I will tell you “How is that”.” And they both went to the garden. They both went down a small staircase which led to the garden. After reaching in the garden Birbal asked, “You daily climb up and down this small staircase, could you tell how many steps it has?”

Akbar smiled and then changed the subject.

Who is the Donkey?

Once Akbar went to the river with his two sons and wise Minister Birbal. On the bank of the river, Akbar and his two sons took off their clothes and asked Birbal to take care of them while they took bath in the river.

Birbal was waiting for them to come out of the river. All the clothes were on his shoulder. Looking at Birbal standing like this, Akbar felt like teasing him, so he said to him, “Birbal, you look like as if you are carrying a washerman’s donkey load.”

Birbal quickly retorted, “Sir, Washerman’s donkey carries only one donkey’s load, I am carrying three donkey’s load.” Akbar was speechless.

Why is the Camel’s neck crooked?

Akbar was very impressed with Birbal’s wit and wisdom. So one day Akbar promised him for many gifts. But it so happened that several days passed, but there was no sign of gift. Birbal was very disappointed. He didn’t know what to do? One day when Akbar was taking a stroll at the bank of Yamunaa with his dear minister Birbal, he happened to notice a camel. He asked Birbal, “Tell me Birbal, why the camel’s neck is crooked.”

Birbal thought this is good time, so he thought for a moment and spoke, “Your Majesty, it might be possible that  the camel has forgotten to honor his promise made to somebody that is why his neck is crooked. Scriptures mention that whoever will forget their promises will have crooked neck. So this might seem the reason of his crooked neck.”

Akbar soon realized that he promised to give some gifts to Birbal, but has not yet done so. As soon as they arrived at the palace, the King gave him his reward.

So Birbal was so wise that he got what he wanted without asking for it.

Birbal visit to Heaven?

Because Birbal was very wise and witty, the Emperor’s courtiers and other people used to be jealous with him and used to find some way to degrade him.

One day the court barber, who was very jealous with Birbal, plotted a plan against him. So when the King called him again to trim his beard, he went and started trimming his beard. He said, “Sir, last night I dreamed about your father.” The King got interested, so he asked, “What did he say to you?”

“Sir, he said to me, that everything is good in paradise, but he feels a great absence of a good humorous man who can amuse him.” The King thought and thought, but nobody else he could think of except Birbal who could perform this kind of duty very well. And, naturally, the only way to go to heaven was through death. For a moment, Akbar was very sad to lose such a good man, but thinking of his father, he made up his mind.

He summoned Birbal and said, “I think Birbal you love me very much and you can sacrifice anything for me.” Birbal tried to understand his point but couldn’t guess. He said, “You know Majesty, I do.” “Then Birbal, please go to heaven to give company to my dear father.” Birbal understood that this was a wicked plan of somebody to kill him. He said to Emperor politely, “I will do so, but I need a few days to prepare myself to go to heaven.” The King said, “Certainly. You are giving me such a great favor, I allow you one week to prepare yourself.”

Now Birbal was worried. He thought, somebody has planned very well and he could not escape from this plan. He thought and thought. And then he found a way. He dug a ditch near his house which would serve as his grave, and dug a tunnel too which would open in a room of his house. After doing this, he returned to the Imperial Court. He said, ” I am ready, His Majesty, but there two conditions.” Akbar was so happy to hear this that he forgot that Birbal could put some odd conditions to him. He asked, “What are those conditions? Tell me soon. I will try to fulfill them so that you can go to heaven to be with my dear father.”

Birbal said, “His majesty, I wish to be buried near my house. And I want to be buried alive so that I can reach heaven alive to amuse your dear father.” The King found this logical and agreed up on them immediately.

So Birbal was buried alive near his house. Of course he made his way to his house where he lived in confinement for six months. After six months, he came out of hiding with grown beard and shabby hair and asked the permission to appear in the Royal Court.

Looking at him Akbar cried, “Where have you been Birbal?” Birbal said, “Your Majesty, I was in Heaven with your dear father. I had a very good time there with your father. He was so happy with my services that he gave me special permission to return to Earth.” Akbar was very anxious to know about his father, he asked, “Did he send any message for me?” Birbal said, “Yes Your Majesty, he said that very few barber can make it to go to Heaven, you can make out this from my grown beard and shabby hair, so he has asked to send your own barber to him immediately.

Akbar understood everything. He gave Birbal a big prize, and his barber the life sentence.

Birbal caught the Thief?

It so happened that once a rich merchant’s house was robbed. The merchant suspected that the thief was one of his servants. So he went to Birbal and mentioned the incident. Birbal went to his house and assembled all of his servants and asked that who stole the merchant’s things. Everybody denied.

Birbal thought for a moment, then gave a stick of equal length to all the servants of the merchant and said to them that the stick of the real thief will be longer by two inches tomorrow. All the servants should be present here again tomorrow with heir sticks.

All the servants went to their homes and gathered again at the same place the next day. Birbal asked them to show him their sticks. One of the servants had his stick shorter by two inches. Birbal said, “This is your thief, merchant.”

Later the merchant asked Birbal, “How did you catch him?” Birbal said, “The thief had already cut his stick short by two inches in the night fearing that his stick will be longer by two inches by morning.”

I just read about this 21 yr old Naresh who passed out of IIT Madras & am truly inspired. He now works with Google in the R & D wing, even though he had an offer from JP Morgan. What makes him different is the fact that he has no legs and that he says he is lucky.

In 1993 an accident took place which left him bereft of his legs. This also made his parents move from the village they were to a town called Tanuku. According to him, “I believe in God. I believe in destiny. I feel he plans everything for you. If not for the accident, we would not have moved from the village to Tanuku, a town. There I joined a missionary school, and my father built a house next to the school. Till the tenth standard, I studied in that school. ”
He is forever grateful to his parents who supported him, his sister and friends. He says he never wallowed in self -pity but was happy as a kid. One thing led to another & finally he joined IIT Madras for computer science. He says he has received help from other people without having to ask for it. I feel I cannot do justice to his story, so again I am quoting him,” I am lucky
Do you know why I say I am lucky?

I get help from total strangers without me asking for it. Once after my second year at IIT, I with some of my friends was travelling in a train for a conference. We met a kind gentleman called Sundar in the train, and he has been taking care of my hostel fees from then on.

I have to mention about Jaipur foot. I had Jaipur foot when I was in 3rd standard. After two years, I stopped using them. As I had almost no stems on my legs, it was very tough to tie them to the body. I found walking with Jaipur foot very, very slow. Sitting also was a problem. I found my tricycle faster because I am one guy who wants to do things faster.

One great thing about the hospital is, they don’t think their role ends by just fixing the Jaipur foot; they arrange for livelihood for all. They asked me what help I needed from them. I told them at that time, if I got into an IIT, I needed financial help from them. So, from the day I joined IIT, Madras, my fees were taken care of by them. So, my education at the IIT was never a burden on my parents and they could take care of my sister’s Nursing studies.

Surprise awaited me at IIT
After my first year, when I went home, two things happened here at the Institute without my knowledge.

I got a letter from my department that they had arranged a lift and ramps at the department for me. It also said that if I came a bit early and checked whether it met with my requirements, it would be good.

Second surprise was, the Dean, Prof Idichandy and the Students General Secretary, Prasad had located a place that sold powered wheel chairs. The cost was Rs 55,000. What they did was, they did not buy the wheel chair; they gave me the money so that the wheel chair belonged to me and not the institute.

My life changed after that. I felt free and independent.

That’s why I say I am lucky. God has planned things for me and takes care of me at every step.

The world is full of good people
I also feel if you are motivated and show some initiative, people around you will always help you. I also feel there are more good people in society than bad ones. I want all those who read this to feel that if Naresh can achieve something in life, you can too.”

Introducing shoes-off

In many parts of the world, it is the custom to remove one’s shoes when entering a home. Nobody has to ask guests and visitors to do this; everybody in those countries knows that is what they are supposed to do. Most people associate this custom with Asian countries such as Japan, Thailand or India. Yet it is practiced in other parts of the world too. In some African countries and in much of the Middle East it is common. In Eastern European countries such as Russia, Slovakia and Bulgaria, guests will change from outdoor shoes to slippers. Moving west, removing shoes is almost universally practiced in Scandinavian and Nordic countries. Removing shoes is very common in much of Canada. It is also common in the northern parts of the United States and of course, in Hawaii, everybody leaves their slippers (flip flops) at the door.

Sadly, in my home country of Great Britain people tend to keep their shoes on. There are many things which are great about Britain, but sadly, looking after carpets and flooring is not among them. If you visit most British homes, you wil find that the owners have really filthy carpets.

There are lots of people who recognise the benefits of removing shoes at the door. They may remove their own shoes and make their children take their shoes off. But asking guests to remove their shoes is considered a rather daunting thing to do.

Sometimes a guest will offer to remove his or her shoes. This sometimes results in a ridiculose game where the host insists this is not necessary yet would secretly like the guest to remove them, while the guest dithers about whether to listen to these protestations or not.

It is time to realise that removing shoes keeps homes cleaner. It is time to recognise that the shoes of guests are just as dirty as the hosts. They need to be removed.

Carpets are not easy to clean. They need professional cleaning and this is expensive. Thus, we need to do everything we can to make them last longer.

In recent years, the popularity of carpets have declined. A lot of people have adopted wood or laminate flooring. While this kind of flooring may be cleaned more easily, shoes should still be removed. Wood or laminate floors can get marked or scratched, especially by ladies’ high-heeled shoes. Also, dust can build up without a carpet.

I believe a surge in the popularity of the shoes-off policy when a certain clip was shown on ABC television in America. In this clip, an experiment showed that shoes pick up huge amounts of germs. Personally, I do not see germs as the big issue. Some people would argue that a certain level of bacteria is good for the immune system (though it is hardly clear how much is good). However, there are other nastier things that one’s immune system can handle less easily than germs- dog excrement, lead paint, weed killer and pesticide. Also, shoes pick up dust and it is not good to be in an indoor environment that contains high levels of dust. Those who suffer from hayfever should want to keep their homes as pollen-free as possible and that requires shoes removal.

If you have small children, please think about what comes into the house.

Should you encourage shoe-removal, but not insist on it?

Some people say that it is fine to encourage people to remove their shoes, but one should not insist that they do so.

There is a fine line between insisting on people removing their shoes and encouraging people to take them off. There are a number of things one could say that are subtle encouragements:

We take our shoes off here.

You might like to take your shoes off.

These imply strongly that the host wants the guest to remove her shoes. I do not see that insisting or asking is worse than encouraging. If you encourage people to take their shoes off, then you have started from the assumption that people will be willing to take them off. By encouraging, you apply a degree of moral pressure to comply.

I think a lot of people would not want the uncertainty of just being encouraged. I was dating a girl a few years ago when I was not 100% sold out to the shoes-off rule. She asked me if she should remove her shoes. I told her that we removed our shoes but she did not have to. She was actually uncomfortable at this answer and asked me whether I wanted her to take them off or not.

Sometimes it is simpler just to be straight with people and ask them to remove their shoes. No need to beat around the bush.

Aren’t people with a shoes-off policy neat freaks?

It is commonly thought that people who insist on shoes-off in their homes are neat freaks who are obsessed with keeping their homes clean and tidy.

I dare say that there are some people who prefer shoes-off who are genuine neat freaks. And those who are Obsessive-Compulsive about cleanliness may well be among the shoes-off community.

Of course this is culturally relative. In Japan it is thought that money is dirty and unhygeinic because it is handled by untold numbers of people. Japanese people also regard any objects placed in bathrooms, such as books or ornaments to be ‘dirty’. A person in a western society who held such attitudes would almost certainly be regarded as Obsessive-Compulsive.

I have known a number of people who really were excessive in their desire to keep their homes clean. Interestingly, these people did not require visitors to remove their shoes. I suspect that they probably spent so much time in cleaning their homes that they were happy to waste time cleaning up afer their visitors.

Many people who keep their homes shoe-free are not domestic goddesses who like nothing better than spending whole days doing spring cleaning. Rather, they are busy working people who have far better things to do. They do not want to clean up for the sake of it, but they know that living in a clean environment is healthier and far more pleasent. Knowing that time is precious they would rather keep the mess to the minimum and spend as little time as possible cleaning up after their visitors. Prevention is better than cure.

Nobody needs a house that is spotless, but it is pointless to allow dirt and dust to accumulate when it could easily be kept out by leaving shoes at the door. A floor is meant to be walked upon, but that does not mean that one should not reduce wear and tear and save time and money.

Hospitality

There are some who think that asking guests to remove their shoes is contrary to the principle of hospitality.

This is a culturally relative matter. Albania and Turkey are countries in which hospitality is greatly valued and yet it is expected in those countries that guests remove their shoes.

The shoes-on people argue that a hostess should primarily be concerned with her guests comfort and not with the state of her carpet or floor. However, most guests will feel more comfortable after removing their shoes. They may, admittedly, be uncomfortable because they are embarassed about their feet or they feel their shoes are part of their outfit. Those problems can be dealt with by letting guests know in advance that shoes-off is expected and so they can either bring slippers or plan their outfits with bare or stocking feet in mind. Any embarassment should be minimal if guests are not taken by surprise.

In my opinion, those who insist that guests should be allowed to keep their shoes on take hospitality for granted.

Guests are aware when they visit a home that the hosts have boundaries that cannot be crossed.

Guests know or should know that they cannot go wandering about upstairs, looking in their hosts’ bedrooms. They ought to be careful in conversation that they do not mention subjects that may cause offence to the host. If the host has strong views on a subject, it is best not to argue with him or her. Guests know that they cannot bring their pet dog to somebody else’s home unless the host has expressly said this is acceptable. Even if the host is an animal lover, permission to bring a pet dog must be sought.

It is now recognised by most people that when you visit the home of a non-smoker, they should not smoke inside. If they need to smoke, they should put their coat on and go outside. There are still some people, probably mostly from the upper strata of British society who think it is rude to forbid smoking in one’s home. However, this view is very much in a minority.

It is important to recognise these boundaries when one visits a home and if hosts prefer, even if they do not insist on it, removal of shoes, this should be complied with by guests. To ignore this boundary is, as stated in the previous post, taking hospitality for granted.

Some people would object to comparisons with smoking pointing out the health risks of smoking, compared with the minor ill effects to health of wearing shoes past the door. However, it is not so much the health risks that should deter smoking in a non-smoking home. Nobody is going to get lung cancer because a few guests smoked at a dinner party. They are unlikely to even develope a cough because of it. No, the reason one should not smoke in a non-smoking home is simply because the smells and mess are not convenient for such hosts. It is simply impolite. Likewise it is not convenient to impose the dirt and dust of your shoes in the home of a person who would object to it.

Some would argue that it is polite for guests to remove their shoes if this is what the hosts do, but it is impolite for the host to request shoes-off. They feel that it is better to leave the responsiblity of politness to guests. To my mind, this is not quite logical. If guests have the responsibility to comply with the preference of their hosts, then it is surely quite reasonable for guests to make their preference known.

Part of the reason why a verbal request for shoes-off may be necesary is because etiquette is so uncertain and in such a state fo flux on this point. While it may be a good idea to remove one’s shoes when one is welcomed by a shoe-less host, as this may be a shoes-off home, such a gesture might be taken as impolite by some. There are some who go shoe-less in their home who would be surprised by guests going shoe-less. It is probably necessary for those who desire shoe-removal to make their wish known.

People going bare foot in my house?!

In the UK and the USA a lot of people feel a sense of disgust and abjection towards feet. Of course, in many Asian countries, the foot is considered to be unclean. However, this is in connection with the fact that the foot touches the ground. Thus, shoes are considered to be far more unclean than the naked foot. In an Asian home, barefeet are acceptable, but shoes are not. This is actually the very opposite of the western abjection of the foot.

It is very common in internet discussions about shoes-off in homes for the subject of barefeet to be raised. It is argued that barefeet are disgusting, more so than the dirt on peoples’ shoes. Of course, if you do feel that feet are disgusting, you can still ask visitors to remove their shoes if you lend then flip flops or socks to wear.

It is very likely that the sense of disgust about barefeet will decline. Sandals and flip flops have become incredibly popular in the UK and the USA. People are becoming more used to exposed feet. And ladies (and maybe some men) are spending good money on keeping them looking nice.

The argument that feet are more unhygienic than shoes is quite wrong. Unless a person has been going barefoot outdoors, they will not have been picking up the awful things that the soles of shoes pick up (though sandal-shod feet do get a bit dusty). You may think your feet are disgusting, however, you undoubtedly have more germs on your hands than on your feet. Feet are usually remarkably cleaner than the average pair of hands.

Shoes off at parties?

There are some people who are strict about no-shoes in their homes who make an exception for parties. They feel that parties are an occasion when people expect to dress up and this must include shoes. I disagree with their view. I think it is perfectly reasonable to require shoes to be removed for a party.

In Canada and Scandinavia, it is common for people to attend formal parties with a special set of party shoes that are not worn outdoors. This is not really feasible in the UK. I doubt that many British folks have shoes that are never worn oudoors, unless they keep a pair of sneakers to go to the gym. And if those formal party shoes have high-heels, they are unacceptable anyway.

Some people say that part of a party is clearing up afterwards, so you should not make a fuss about mess from people’s shoes. This seems a little silly to my mind. People will make more than enough mess at a party without them bringing in dirt on their shoes. There will be plenty of spilled wine and crumbs ground into the carpet without chewing gum and dog dirt from peoples’ shoes as well. Also the main party season in the West is Christmas and New Year, when there will be plenty of rain and snow (maybe not snow in England, but plenty of rain). The party season is a wet season.

Some argue that people will feel silly and uncomfortable at a party without their shoes. It is true that people might find it a little odd. But they will probably feel more comfortable for having removed their shoes. If it is made clear in the invitation that shoes willl need to be removed, then it will not come as a shock. Furthermore, if there is alcohol at the party, then most people will be feeling more relaxed.

The main argument levelled against shoes-off at parties is that people dress up for parties. A lot of people, particularly women, will chose their outfits very carefully and they the choice of shoes is part of that selction. For them, a party is an occasion to show off their good taste. They would not want to combine their cocktail dresses with barefeet.

In response I would say that parties are hardly the only occasions for dressing up. Ladies can show off their fancy shoes in restaurants or at the races. Not all parties are such formal occasions. If a party is a smart-casual event, it is actually quite rude to dress up more smartly than other guests.

The host sets the theme of a party. If it is meant to be a fancy dress party, then you should make the effort to find a costume or stay home. If it is an informal party, leave the suit or cocktail dress at home. If it is a no-shoes party, leave the kitten heels at the door.

I keep making this point, but I will make it again: it is best that guests know in advance that shoe-removal is required. If you are printing fancy invitations, make it known there (with some clip-art maybe?). If people know that they will have to take their shoes off, it will not come as a shock and they can plan their outfit with this in mind. They can bring some nice slippers that complement their outfit if they want and they can avoid long trousers that only look right when worn with high heels.

There is the question of whether it is really possible to hold a formal party while people are shoeless. It may be difficult in the West to maintain an air of formality when everybody is without their shoes, but is that really such a bad thing? Is it not better to be relaxed at a party? Certainly, the host and guests can make an effort to keep the party formal. Men can look reasonably smart by combining respectable slippers with their suits and women can look pretty elegant in stocking feet. So all is not lost. If shoes-off in homes becomes more common, shoe-lessnes will probably become less associated with being casual and informal.

There are some people who will certainly be far more happy and comfortable to party without their shoes on. As I argued in a previous post, it is not simply a matter of giving these people the choice. At a shoes-on party, those who take it upon themselves to remove their shoes are likely to get their feet squashed and to have to walk on a soggy carpet. Shoes-off for all guests makes it easier for those who want to take their shoes off.

Should’nt you let guests have a choice?

Some people are of the opinion that it is very important that guests have the choice of whether to keep their shoes on or not.

However, it is not as simple as that. Some choices may impose on the choices of others.

Some visitors may want to take their shoes off, but may fear that doing so will be considered rude. Being informed that shoes-off is encouraged will be a great welcome for these people.

The shoes-on folks might then argue, “Yes, but you can still let people keep their shoes on without imposing on the people who prefer to go shoeless.”

However, this is not the case. Firstly, those people who want to take their shoes off may fear, if there are lots of other guests, particularly at a party, that their feet may get squashed by other peoples’ shoes. In a crowded party, it can be hard to avoid having people tread on your toes.

Secondly, people who take their shoes off will prefer to walk on a floor that is cleaner. In fact, there is another issue here- some guests will enjoy sitting on the floor. And sitting on the floor is a much more pleasent experience when it is clean. So allowing guests the choice of wearing shoes imposes on those who like to sit on the floor.

The simple truth is that no host can please everybody. However, there are far more good reasons to insist on shoes coming off at the door than for allowing shoes to stay on. Let guests chose between slippers, socks ot barefeet. That is choice enough.

What about Refuseniks?

If asked to remove their shoes, most people are polite enough to comply. However, it is always possible that there may be some refuseniks.

If somebody refuses to remove her shoes, the host has several options:

1. Not let them in.

2. Let them in, but express one’s unhappiness. Not invite them in again.

3. Let them in, express one’s unhappiness, but invite them again hoping that next time they will comply.

4. Let them in and say nothing. Not invite them again.

5. Let them in and say nothing. Invite them again in hope that next time they will be more polite.

There is not right or wrong response. Whether you let them in and whether you invite them again entirely depends upon your wishes.

You have every right to refuse to admit somebody to your home. If a person is visiting to sell you a product or service, or to promote their religious organisation (usually Jehovah’s Witnesses are polite enough to offer shoes-off) then you might well refuse to let them in. On the other hand, if your boss is visiting, it might be a bad idea to refuse to let her in!

If the visitor is not a close friend, but a person you have invited to dinner in order to make close acquaintance with, you have every right to never let them darken your door again. On the other hand, you may not want to loose a close friend over the issue. However, you might feel more comfortable expressing your unhappiness to a close friend than to a occasional visitor.

There is simply no right or wrong response to refuseniks.

What about people with Medical Conditions?

If you read internet discussions about the subject of the shoes-off rule, you will find countless people who claim to have a medical condition that means they must wear shoes all the time. If these discussions were representative of the population; nearly half the people in the USA have such a medical condition. I do not believe a word of it.

Yes, there are some people who do have a genuine medical reason for not removing their shoes. We must make exceptions for them.

Some people say having a shoes-off policy causes embarassment for such people because they must reveal their condition. However, this is quite unnecessary. A person with a medical condition can simply say:

I am sorry, I can’t take my shoes off. Doctor’s orders.

She does not need to reveal the nature of her condition. She does not need to give any embarassing details. There is really no problem here.

What about people with smelly feet?

The issue of ’smelly feet’ is often raised as an argument against the Shoes-Off rule.

In Western society there seems to be a lot of paranoia about the phenomena of ’smelly feet’. I think this is simply a result of people not removing their shoes very often. Your feet will actually smell a lot less if you remove your shoes regularly. It is unfortunate that we in Britain have not yet reached the civilised heights of Finland, where it is acceptable to remove shoes in business meetings and on trains (not that people do not do so in Britain, but it is frowned upon somewhat).

Nevertheless, I think most people worry too much about this issue. People imagine their feet smell far more than they actually do. I have met very few people who let off much of an aroma after removing their shoes, and most of them were people who did not wash and change their socks regularly.

If people know in advance that they need to remove their shoes, they can make sure they wear clean socks, or even better, bring slippers with them. If they are especially worried about it, they can use some of those fancy foot deoderents.

Feet wil smell a lot less if people wear sandals. Sneakers are best avoided in favour of leather shoes.

Some people will say ‘I would rather put up with a dirty floor than people’s smelly feet.’ Well, I guess people decide on their own priorities. However, stinking feet will leave with the guests. A dirty floor will not. Nor will the dust they brought in on their shoes, and that is very bad for your health.

Could I catch Athlete’s Foot?

A lot of people mention Athlete’s Foot as an argument against people having a shoes-off policy. However, this is a quite unnecessary concern.

Athlete’s Foot is generally associated with swimming pools and changing rooms. It is possible to catch Athlete’s Foot on one’s barefeet at a swimming pool or in a locker room. However, recent research indicates that this is not so likely as was previously thought.

Most importantly, the reason people catch Athlete’s Foot in those places is not because people there are barefoot, but because the fungus needs a warm and wet environment. People get exposed to the fungus in the damp conditions. If they fail to dry their feet, the fungus is very comfortable and even more so if the victim puts on sweaty socks.

The fungus will not survive long on the clean, dry floor or carpet of a person’s home and so you are very unlikely to catch Athlete’s Foot in somebody’s house, even if the owner has the condition.

What is more, people who are not wearing socks are likely to put on sandals when they leave, as opposed to closed shoes. Thus, they will not create the right environment for the condition to thrive.

Of course, if you are worried about it, you can always bring some slippers or socks when you visit a shoes-off home.

People who have a shoes-off policy ought to let their visitors know in advance and be willing to lend a pair of clean socks, if not slippers.

Should one provide slippers for guests?

In some Eastern European and Asian countries, guests change from their shoes into slippers provided by the host.

Some argue that if you intend to have a shoes-off policy in your home, you should keep some slippers for guests to wear. It is argued that this will make them feel more comfortable and prevent embarassments such as foot odour and holes in socks.

I am not so sure about this one. If slippers are provided, then they must either be disposable plastic slippers or else slippers that can go in the washing machine. It would be quite unreasonable to expect guests to wear slippers that have been worn by somebody else that day. I am not sure whether most slippers are machine washable. Some guests might not even trust you that they really have been cleaned and may prefer to stay in bare or stocking feet.

I think the practise of providing guest slippers might be just a bit too weird for British. Many British people will have been to a house where shoes-off was required, but not many people will have been offered guest slippers to wear, unless it was in another country. I think a lot of English guests would prefer to go barefoot, rather than wear slippers that are not their own.

I think it is a good idea to buy slippers for family and regular visitors and keep them at your house. These should be worn only by the person they are provided for. Hopefully, one’s family and close friends would be delighted by this consideration.

Providing clean socks is a different matter. I would suggest keeping a supply of clean socks in different sizes by the door for guests who are not comfortable going barefoot.

I think it is very sensible to let visitors know in advance that one has a shoes-off rule in one’s home. That way, they can be sure to wear socks without holes or bring their own slippers if they prefer.

Conclusion- Take those shoes off!

I have explained the benefits of this practice and I have considered some possible objections to it. I am confident that we will seem more and more people in the UK and the USA adopting this custom. People are travelling more and visiting countries where shoes-off is the norm. Here in the UK, we are getting many immigrants from Eastern Europe who I am sure are bringing with them this excellent custom.

Kolkata is located in eastern India at 22°33′N, 88°20′E in the Ganges Delta at an elevation ranging between 1.5 m (5 ft) to 9 m (30 ft). It is spread linearly along the banks of the River Hooghly in a north-south direction. Much of the city was originally a vast wetland, reclaimed over the decades to accommodate the city’s burgeoning population. The remaining wetland, known as East Calcutta Wetlands has been designated a “wetland of international importance” under the Ramsar Convention.

Kolkata has a tropical wet-and-dry climate (Koppen climate classification Aw). The annual mean temperature is 26.8 °C (80.2 °F); monthly mean temper