The TAJMAHAL story-->>

Who could ever think that an eternal love leading to the saga of infinite bondage can evolve out of a desert like land and would blossom to be the reason to gift our world a poem-in-marble, The Taj!

No image of The Taj, neither on canvass nor on celluloid, can adequately express its conceptual imaginary nor convey the legend, the poetry and the romance that shrouds what Rabindranath Tagore calls "a teardrop on the cheek of time".

The Taj Mahal, a spectacle in white marble, unparalleled in grandeur that depicts the sheer opulence of an era. The awesome structure, the monument of love that Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan gave to the world, stands as a testimony of his intense love for his wife Mumtaz Mahal.

It is a romance celebrated in marble and glorified with precious and semi-precious stones and that’s the way to appreciate it!

Uttar Pradesh, the Land of The Taj is rich in its cultural heritage and has always been a prominent arena of politics since the ancient times. Agra, the City of The Taj and once the capital of the Mughal Empire during the 16th through the early 18th centuries, enjoys a close proximity to the National Capital City of New Delhi.

Tourists from all over the world visit Agra to make a pilgrimage to Taj Mahal, India’s most famous architectural wonder, in a land where magnificent temples and edifices abound to remind visitors about the rich civilization of a country that is slowly but surely lifting itself into an industrialized society as well.

Taj Mahal means "Crown Palace" and is in fact the most well preserved and architecturally beautiful tomb in the world. The English poet, Sir Edwin Arnold has described The Taj as "Not a piece of architecture, as other buildings are, but the proud passions of an emperor’s love wrought in living stones."

It is a romance celebrated in marble and glorified with precious and semi-precious stones and that’s the way to appreciate it!.

Taj Mahal stands on the bank of River Yamuna, which otherwise serves as a wide moat defending the Great Red Fort of Agra, the center of the Mughal emperors until they moved their capital to Delhi in 1637. It was built by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in 1631 in memory of his third but the most favourite wife, in fact a soul-mate Mumtaz Mahal, a Muslim Persian princess. She died while accompanying her husband in Burhanpur in a campaign to crush a rebellion after giving birth to their 13th child. The death so crushed the emperor that all his hair and beard were said to have grown snow white in a few months.

When Mumtaz Mahal was still alive, she extracted four promises from the emperor: first, that he build the Taj; second, that he should marry again; third, that he be kind to their children; and fourth, that he visit the tomb on her death anniversary. However, due to ill health and being under house arrest by his own son and successor to the throne, Aurangzeb, barred him from continue to keep the last promise.

The Taj rises on a high red sandstone base topped by a huge white marble terrace on which rests the famous dome flanked by four tapering minarets. Within the dome lies the jewel-inlaid cenotaph of the queen. So exquisite is the workmanship that the Taj has been described as "having been designed by giants and finished by jewellers". The only asymmetrical object in the Taj is the casket of the emperor which was built beside the queen’s as an afterthought.

Legend has it that during his eight years long ailment and imprisonment, Shah Jahan used to intensly view The Taj lying on the bed through a diamond fixed in the wall in front at a particular angle. WOW!!!

As a tribute to a woman of exotic beauty and as a monument of a love story, which is keeping us engrossed even when we are reading through these pages here, truely an ever-lasting romance of a love not ended as yet, the Taj reveals its subtleties to its beholder!

The rectangular base of Taj is in itself symbolic of the different sides from which to view a beautiful woman. The main gate is like a veil to a woman’s face which should be lifted delicately, gently and without haste on the wedding night. In Indian tradition the veil is lifted gently to reveal the beauty of the bride. As one stands inside the main gate of Taj, his eyes are directed to an arch which frames the Taj.

The dome is made of white marble, but the tomb is set against the plain across the river and it is this background that works its magic of colours that, through their reflection, change the view of the Taj. The colours change at different hours of the day and during different seasons.

The Taj sparkles like a jewel in moonlight when the semi-precious stones inlaid into the white marble on the main mausoleum catch and reflect back its glow with a better gleam. The Taj is pinkish in the morning, milky white in the evening and golden when the moon shines. These changes, they say, depict the different moods of a beauty of any kind.

Different people have different views of the Taj but it would be enough to say that the Taj has a life of its own that leaps out of marble. A masterpiece of the art and science of architecture, a representative of an era called The Mughal Period surpassing any authority to add or de-add anything in any sense in or out of the Taj!

The Taj Mahal stands tall with grace is not just a parable epitome of emotional & eternal love between a man and a woman but for other reasons too _

Emperor Shah Jahan, who commissioned the construction of ‘The Taj’, desired to create it also as a symbol of solemnity, harmony, purity and spirituality as well.
The Taj is not merely a monument of grace and dignity alone. It is, in fact, a message to all mankind that “Pure love is the soul of life”.

The Taj is a reminder for all mankind about the universally accepted but not so well practiced concept of ‘Love & Peace’, the essence of the paradise, free from conflicts of races and geographical boundaries is important to be observed solemnly.

The Taj is simply a majestic tribute to an exotic beauty!

The saga of The Taj would be half told if the myths related to it are not mentioned. Like many a great buildings the Taj Mahal has its myths and legends. It seems that there is more fiction on the Taj than serious scholarly research. Several of the stories belong solely to oral tradition and are
told by the guides, some are so established that they form a popular history of the monument and have made their way into guidebooks, and some have been taken up by scholars, or even created by them, and thus become part of the scholarly debate.

Facts

To the last category belong the oldest tales of the Taj. Here the most widely known is the story of the second Taj, the 'Black Taj', which Shah Jahan intended to build in black marble opposite the present mausoleum, on the site of the Mahtab Bagh. It goes back to Jean-Baptiste Tavernier who, when at Agra in 1665 AD, reported that 'Shahjahan began to built his own tomb on the other side of the river, but the war with his sons interrupted his plan, and Aurangzeb, who reigns at present, is not disposed to complete it. Shah Jahan was put under house arrest by his own son and successor by force, Aurangzeb. The latter did not agree with his father on most issues and was particularly opposed to him building a black Taj as his own mausoleum.

Upon Shah Jahan's death, Aurangzeb made the body of the Emperor, who got the body of his beloved Mumtaz in a golden casket from Burhanpur to Agra, carried in a boat by only two men and buried him in the Taj, next to his wife in probably the simplest manner.

Shah Jahan, the Emperor, who fulfilled the wishes of his beloved, could not find fulfilment of his own wish to build a Black Taj to express his mourning for the beloved Queen Mumtaz Mahal even after his death. That was the serenity in the purity of love. 

Legend has it that during his eight years long ailment and imprisonment, Shah Jahan used to intensly view The Taj lying on the bed through a diamond fixed in the wall in front at a particular angle, WOW!!!

As a tribute to a woman of exotic beauty and as a monument of a love story, which is keeping us engrossed even when we are reading through these pages here, truely an ever-lasting romance of a love not ended as yet, the Taj reveals its subtleties to its Beholder! Come!! Be Thy One!!!

About Colosseum of Rome-->>

To this day the Roman Colosseum remains one the most talked about buildings from the Roman era. In fact the word "Colosseum" is the most popular search term for any building on the internet ..

So who built the Colosseum, when did they build it, and why?

The original name of the ancient Roman Colosseum was in fact Amphitheatrum Flavium, often referred to in English literature as the Flavian Amphitheater, the present day Italians refer to it as il Colosseo. The name Flavium is the family/dynasty name of the Roman Emperors who built the Colosseum.
The present day name "Colosseum", or rather "Colosseo", is said to have come from the colossal 35m (115 feet) high bronze statue of Nero, The Colossus, that stood between the stadium and the Roman Forum. The stadium was referred to as "the Amphitheater by the Colossus", and it is thought that this was corrupted to Colosseum. This is certainly probable after the bronze statue fell (probably in the 4th Century, used for its bronze content) and was largely forgotten.


Why was the Colosseum built?

The building of the Ancient Roman Colosseum was widely regarded as a political move of the time, intended for entertaining and, possibly more importantly, distracting Rome's population from more serious issues of the time such as oligarchy, nepotism and corruption in the senate and church...

History of the Roman Colosseum

When was the Colosseum built?
 Construction of the Ancient Roman Colosseum was started by Emperor Vespasian in 70 A.D. After Vespasian's death in 79 A.D. his son Titus completed and inaugurated the Roman Colosseum in 80 A.D. The opening ceremony is documented to have lasted 100 days and between 5000 and 11000 wild animals were killed.
Further alterations and improvements were made to the Roman Colosseum by Emperor Titus' younger brother, Emperor Domitian, who included a series of underground passages and rooms (the hypogeum) to lodge the slaves and wild animals. A gallery was also added to the top of the Colosseum to increase its seating capacity to around 65 000 people.
During its use the ancient Roman Colosseum was damaged by two events: a fire in 217 A.D. and an earthquake in 443 A.D., but was repaired both times. The Colosseum was used for gladiatorial combat until about 435 A.D. and wild animal hunts continued until the early 6th Century.century the Roman Colosseum was abandoned until craftsmen were allowed to rent some of the spaces underneath and between the many arches. Around the beginning of the 13th Century the Italian Frangipani family took possession of the ancient Roman Colosseum and converted it into their personal castle/fort.Beyond the 6th Century
In 1244 A.D. Pope Innocenzo IV and the Catholic church took possession of the Colosseum.
In 1349 A.D. there was a massive earthquake that inflicted severe damage and most of the fallen masonry was used in the construction of other Roman buildings (including the Vatican and the outer walls of Rome), and what hadn't quite fallen was helped on its way as stone robbers removed the marble facades, the exterior walls and even the bronze couplers that were used to join the marble facades to the perimeter walls.
After some schemes that fell through by previous Popes (a wool factory for Rome's prostitutes, and even a bull ring) Pope Benedict XIV declared the site a place were Christians had been martyred (even though there is no documentation of this and historians negate this supposition) and thereby consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed the Stations of the Cross.
(To this day on Easter Friday the Pope leads the Stations of the cross, and a meditation is read at each of the fourteen stages of Christ's passion situated around the Perimeter of the Roman Colosseum.)
Since the consecration by Pope Benedict XIV the Catholic Church have initiated many restoration projects and clean ups of the Roman Colosseum, including the stabilization of the perimeter walls, removal of vegetation, and the excavation of the tunnels and chambers of the arena structure (the central area).
The last restoration project was effected between 1993 and 2000. The financing of over 20 million Euros was raised by a private bank.

Roman Colosseum Architecture and Engineering

The amphitheater was mastered by the Greeks and was usually built into a hillside(s) thereby taking advantage of the natural slope of the banks to create seating which overlooked the lower arena - as was done with the Circus Maximus which sits in the valley between the Aventine and Palatine hills. The ancient Roman Colosseum was the first free-standing amphitheater.
It has an elliptical (oval) plan with a length of 189m (620 feet), height 48m (158 feet) and width 156m (512 feet). The central area of the arena is 88m (287 ft) long and 55m (180 ft) wide. The wall surrounding the Arena and protecting the spectators was 5m (15 ft) high.
The ancient Roman Colosseum was designed (as with so many other ancient Roman buildings) using the principle of the Arch. There are 80 entrance arches that run along the perimeter of the external and internal walls and many more also run to the center (like spokes from a bicycle wheel) creating the internal corridors and tunnels that run around the structure.
The large perimeter wall structure is made up of 3 sets of columns, Doric (at the bottom) then Ionic and then Corinthian. The uppermost section of the perimeter wall is referred to as the attic and was constructed with Corinthian pilasters, every second span receiving a window.

Running the circumference of the top perimeter wall were 240 wooden beams which supported the Valerium (awning), this was used to shield the crowds from from the rain and heat. The Valerium was anchored to bollards on the ground and supported by corbels built into the upper perimeter wall. The canvas, ropes and netting which made up the Valerium were operated by hundreds of sailors employed from the Roman naval headquarters. When fully deployed the Valerium could cover most of the seating, leaving just the arena exposed to the elements.
Estimates put seating capacity at anywhere between 60.000 and 85.000 people, but around 65.000 seems to be the generally accepted figure. With a crowd this enormous the ancient Roman Colosseum experienced similar logistics to modern stadiums, one of them was how quickly people could be seated or evacuated. The Romans had a similar system of numbered entrances and staircases to modern stadiums (or is it rather the other way around) this ensured rapid entry and exit.

Seating was strictly according to social class, the closer to the central arena, the higher your rank in society. The emperor and Vestal Virgins occupied boxes at the central narrowest points of the stadium, while the senators would sit at the same level at the ends of the stadium. Next up were the nobel men and knights, then the wealthy citizens and then the poorer plebeians (citizens).
The arena had a wooden floor and was covered by sand - the latin word Arena means sand, and is still used in the Spanish language. Below the arena floor was thehypogeum, an ingenious system of tunnels and chambers for slaves, gladiators, wild animals and hoists and pulley houses.
Various underground tunnels connected the stadium with stables and the gladiator barracks. The emperor also had his own private tunnel to enter the stadium.

Facts about the Roman Colosseum:

• Who were the gladiators and where did they come from? There was no shortage of gladiators to perform at the Colosseum. The majority were slaves (servi), either descended from debtors or prisoners of war from military campaigns in Italy, Spain, Carthage, Gaul, Britain, North Africa and the Middle East. Slaves were sometimes given the chance to fight for a short time for their freedom.
  In addition some gladiators were also common citizens (plebeians) who dreamed of fame and female attention. Of course victors received massive sums of money too!
• Adventurous Roman women paid large sums to spend the night with victorious gladiators, said to bring good luck (of course that was the only reason).
• Where does the word 'Gladiator' come from? It is a derivation of the word Gladius which was a short sword worn by the Roman Legionnaires.
• If a gladiator was killed, servants dressed as Charon the mythological ferryman of the dead, would collect the body with a stretcher. Sand would then be raked over the blood.
• Thumbs up, or thumbs down? Actually the movies have it all wrong. Thumbs up meant death to the gladiator and thumbs down meant life. Which is why you'll struggle to get a lift hitchhiking in Italy 
• It is estimated that over 500 000 people and more than a million animals died in the ancient Roman Colosseum throughout its history of gladiatorial and hunting events.
• The ancient Roman Colosseum was just one of many Roman Amphitheaters built throughout the Roman empire. Others are in El Djem in Tunisia, Nimes and Arles in France, Verona in Italy, and even Pula in Croatia, where the road leading up to the Amphitheater is called "Gladijatorska"!
• What is the correct English spelling of the word Colosseum? Colosseum is the most commonly used spelling however Collosseum and Coliseum are also commonly used and not incorrect.
• "Ave Cesare, Morituri te Salutant!" is how the gladiators would have addressed the Emperor before combat. It means "Hail Caesar, those who are about to die salute you!"
  Seeing as though there were many other Emperors the traditional saying "Ave imperator, morituri te salutant! meaning "Hail Emperor, those who are about to die salute you!" would have been more accurate.
• The Ancient Roman Colosseum is one of the New 7 wonders of the world, a list that includes Machu Picchu, Chichen Itza, Christ the Redeemer, the Great Wall of China, Petraand The Taj Mahal.
• Vomitorium (plural - Vomitoria) was the name given to the passages which led to the entrance of each numbered division of the Colosseum seating. The latin definition for Vomitoria means rapid expulsion or discharge, which is where the English language adopted their colorful word "Vomit" from. (Don't say you don't learn interesting stuff on this web site!)
• There are also tales about the ancient Roman Colosseum being flooded to stage mock sea battles but historians believe this to be incorrect and would probably have taken place in the Naumahia of Augustus, in the Tevere area..

"Diamond" Planet Found; May Be Stripped Star-->>

Exotic crystalline world orbits fast-spinning stellar corpse, study says.

The newfound planet orbits the pulsar so closely the entire system would fit inside the sun.

An exotic planet as dense as diamond has been found in the Milky Way, and astronomers think the world is a former star that got transformed by its orbital partner.

The odd planet was discovered orbiting what's known as a millisecond pulsar—a tiny, fast-spinning corpse of a massive star that died in a supernova.

Astronomers estimate that the newfound planet is 34,175 miles (55,000 kilometers) across, or about five times Earth's diameter.

In addition, "we are very confident it has a density about 18 times that of water," said study leader Matthew Bailes, an astronomer at the Swinburne Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing in Melbourne, Australia.

"This means it can't be made of gases like hydrogen and helium like most stars but [must be made of] heavier elements like carbon and oxygen, making it most likely crystalline in nature, like a diamond.

Partner Gave Pulsar a Superfast Spin 

The new millisecond pulsar, dubbed PSR J1719-1438, lies about 4,000 light-years away in the southern constellation Serpens. Bailes and his team found the star during a pulsar survey using the radio telescope at Australia's Parkes Observatory.

A pulsar is a type of stellar corpse that emits powerful beams of radio waves from its poles. If these beams sweep across Earth's field of view as the star rotates, radio telescopes on Earth can detect the star's regular pulsar.

A millisecond pulsar is thought to form when the pulsar is siphoning material from a companion star. The action of eating matter speeds up the pulsar's spin to hundreds of rotations a second.

So far it seems millisecond pulsars are rare, with only about a hundred found in the last 30 years. The study team found PSR J1719-1438 by using supercomputers to comb through almost 200,000 gigabytes of data—enough to fill more than 23,500 standard DVDs.

The data show that the pulsar spins more than 10,000 times a minute. The astronomers also noticed that the star's radio pulses have an unusual modulation, which the team concluded must be due to the gravitational pull of a small orbiting object.

"Diamond" Planet a Stripped Dwarf?

About 70 percent of the known millisecond pulsars have orbital companions, but PSR J1719-1438 is only the second thought to have a planetary partner. That's probably because planets don't form around millisecond pulsars in the usual way, Bailes said.

Astronomers think planets are created from dusty disks of material swirling around newborn stars. As this material orbits the star, gravitational interactions cause clumps to form, and the clumps build mass as they sweep through the disk.

By contrast, the new study hints that pulsars can strip material away from their companions until all that's left of the consumed star is enough mass for a planet-like object.

The newfound "diamond" planet probably formed from a white dwarf star—the core of a dead sunlike star—that was being stripped of matter by the pulsar. The leftover object likely represents just 0.1 percent of the white dwarf's original mass, Bailes said.

Based on their data, the team calculates that the planet orbits the pulsar in just two hours and ten minutes at a distance of about 372,822 miles (600,000 kilometers).

space photos by HUBBLE TELESCOPE-->>

Sombrero Galaxy:-

Over its lifetime, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has captured many stunning images. Among the most memorable is this edge-on mosaic of the Sombrero galaxy. With its relatively high brightness magnitude and at a distance of 28 million light-years from Earth, Messier 104, as Sombrero is more formally known, is easily viewed through a small telescope.

Cat's Eye Nebula:-

The intricately shaped Cat's Eye nebula is formed from concentric gas bubbles and high-speed jets ejected from the outer layers of a dying star. One theory is that the gases were released at 1,500-year intervals, giving the nebula its layered appearance.

Eagle Nebula Gas Pillars:-

Pillars of hydrogen gas and dust streaming from the Eagle nebula give birth to new stars. The largest pillar (left) is an estimated four light-years long and, like its neighbors, is being bombarded by ultraviolet starlight that boils away gas on its surface and exposes the embryonic stars forming in its interior. The stepped shape of this image is caused by the design of Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2.

Global Mars Map:-

This full-color map of Mars was created with Hubble images captured when the planet was at its closest approach to Earth. More southerly regions are not visible because the north of the red planet was tilted toward Earth.

Interacting Galaxy Pair:-

Two galaxies, known collectively as Arp 87, distort as their gravitational fields interact. The larger of the pair, NGC 3808, is drawing stars, gas, and dust from the smaller. Both galaxies are spiral-shaped and located about 300 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Leo.

Spiral Galaxy:-

A face-on view of the Messier 74 galaxy shows billions of stars forming within its spiral arms. The clusters of blue are young stars, and the pink areas indicate concentrations of ionized hydrogen. Messier 74 is home to about a hundred billion stars, slightly fewer than the Milky Way has, and sits near the constellation Pisces some 32 million light-years away.

Indian Freedom Struggle (1857-1947)-->>

End of the East India Company

Consequent to the failure of the Revolt of 1857 rebellion, one also saw the end of the East India Company's rule in India and many important changes took place in the British Government's policy towards India which sought to strengthen the British rule through winning over the Indian princes, the chiefs and the landlords. Queen Victoria's Proclamation of November 1, 1858 declared that thereafter India would be governed by and in the name of the British Monarch through a Secretary of State.

The Governor General was given title of Viceroy, which meant the representative of the Monarch. Queen Victoria assumed the title of the Empress of India and thus gave the British Government unlimited powers to intervene in the internal affair of the Indian states. In brief, the British paramountcy over India, including the Indian States, was firmly established. The British gave their support to the loyal princes, zamindar and local chiefs but neglected the educated people and the common masses. They also promoted the other interests like those of the British merchants, industrialists, planters and civil servants. The people of India, as such, did not have any say in running the government or formulation of its policies. Consequently, people's disgust with the British rule kept mounting, which gave rise to the birth of Indian National Movement.

The leadership of the freedom movement passed into the hands of reformists like Raja Rammohan Roy, Bankim Chandra and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar. During this time, the binding psychological concept of National Unity was also forged in the fire of the struggle against a common foreign oppressor.

Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) founded the Brahmo Samaj in 1828 which aimed at purging the society of all its evil practices. He worked for eradicating evils like sati, child marriage and purdah system, championed widow marriage and women's education and favoured English system of education in India. It was through his effort that sati was declared a legal offence by the British.

Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) the disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, established the Ramkrishna Mission at Belur in 1897. He championed the supremacy of Vedantic philosophy. His talk at the Chicago (USA) Conference of World Religions in 1893 made the westerners realize the greatness of Hinduism for the first time.

Formation of Indian National Congress (INC)

The foundations of the Indian National Movement were laid by Suredranath Banerjee with the formation of Indian Association at Calcutta in 1876. The aim of the Association was to represent the views of the educated middle class, inspire the Indian community to take the value of united action. The Indian Association was, in a way, the forerunner of the Indian National Congress, which was founded, with the help of A.O. Hume, a retired British official. The birth of Indian National Congress (INC) in 1885 marked the entry of new educated middle-class into politics and transformed the Indian political horizon. The first session of the Indian National Congress was held in Bombay in December 1885 under the president ship of Womesh Chandra Banerjee and was attended among others by and Badr-uddin-Tyabji.

At the turn of the century, the freedom movement reached out to the common unlettered man through the launching of the "Swadeshi Movement" by leaders such as Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo Ghose. The Congress session at Calcutta in 1906, presided by Dadabhai Naoroji, gave a call for attainment of 'Swaraj' a type of self-government elected by the people within the British Dominion, as it prevailed in Canada and Australia, which were also the parts of the British Empire.

Meanwhile, in 1909, the British Government announced certain reforms in the structure of Government in India which are known as Morley-Minto Reforms. But these reforms came as a disappointment as they did not mark any advance towards the establishment of a representative Government. The provision of special representation of the Muslim was seen as a threat to the Hindu-Muslim unity on which the strength of the National Movement rested. So, these reforms were vehemently opposed by all the leaders, including the Muslim leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Subsequently, King George V made two announcements in Delhi: firstly, the partition of Bengal, which had been effected in 1905, was annulled and, secondly, it was announced that the capital of India was to be shifted from Calcutta to Delhi.

The disgust with the reforms announced in 1909 led to the intensification of the struggle for Swaraj. While, on one side, the activists led by the great leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Lajpat Rai and Bipin Chandra Pal waged a virtual war against the British, on the other side, the revolutionaries stepped up their violent activities There was a widespread unrest in the country. To add to the already growing discontent among the people, Rowlatt Act was passed in 1919, which empowered the Government to put people in jail without trial. This caused widespread indignation, led to massive demonstration and hartals, which the Government repressed with brutal measures like the Jaliawalla Bagh massacre, where thousand of unarmed peaceful people were gunned down on the order of General Dyer.

Jallianwala Bagh Massacre

Jalianwala Bagh massacre of April 13, 1919 was one of the most inhuman acts of the British rulers in India. The people of Punjab gathered on the auspicious day of Baisakhi at Jalianwala Bagh, adjacent to Golden Temple (Amritsar), to lodge their protest peacefully against persecution by the British Indian Government. General Dyer appeared suddenly with his armed police force and fired indiscriminately at innocent empty handed people leaving hundreds of people dead, including women and children.

After the First World War (1914-1918), Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi became the undisputed leader of the Congress. During this struggle, Mahatma Gandhi had developed the novel technique of non-violent agitation, which he called 'Satyagraha', loosely translated as 'moral domination'. Gandhi, himself a devout Hindu, also espoused a total moral philosophy of tolerance, brotherhood of all religions, non-violence (ahimsa) and of simple living. With this, new leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose also emerged on the scene and advocated the adoption of complete independence as the goal of the National Movement.

The Non-Cooperation Movement

The Non-Cooperation Movement was pitched in under leadership of Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress from September 1920 to February 1922, marking a new awakening in the Indian Independence Movement. After a series of events including the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre, Gandhiji realised that there was no prospect of getting any fair treatment at the hands of British, so he planned to withdraw the nation's co-operation from the British Government, thus launching the Non-Cooperation Movement and thereby marring the administrative set up of the country. This movement was a great success as it got massive encouragement to millions of Indians. This movement almost shook the British authorities.

Simon Commission

The Non-cooperation movement failed. Therefore there was a lull in political activities. The Simon Commission was sent to India in 1927 by the British Government to suggest further reforms in the structure of Indian Government. The Commission did not include any Indian member and the Government showed no intention of accepting the demand for Swaraj. Therefore, it sparked a wave of protests all over the country and the Congress as well as the Muslim League gave a call to boycott it under the leadership of Lala Lajpat Rai. The crowds were lathi charged and Lala Lajpat Rai, also called Sher-e-Punjab (Lion of Punjab) died of the blows received in an agitation.

Civil Disobedience Movement

Mahatma Gandhi led the Civil Disobedience Movement that was launched in the Congress Session of December 1929. The aim of this movement was a complete disobedience of the orders of the British Government. During this movement it was decided that India would celebrate 26^th January as Independence Day all over the country. On 26^th January 1930, meetings were held all over the country and the Congress tricolour was hoisted. The British Government tried to repress the movement and resorted to brutal firing, killing hundreds of people. Thousands were arrested along with Gandhiji and Jawaharlal Nehru. But the movement spread to all the four corners of the country Following this, Round Table Conferences were arranged by the British and Gandhiji attended the second Round Table Conference at London. But nothing came out of the conference and the Civil Disobedience Movement was revived.

During this time, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru were arrested on the charges of throwing a bomb in the Central Assembly Hall (which is now Lok Sabha) in Delhi, to demonstrate against the autocratic alien rule. They were hanged to death on March 23, 1931.

Quit India Movement

In August 1942, Gandhiji started the 'Quit India Movement' and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement 'Do or Die' call to force the British to leave India. The movement was followed, nonetheless, by large-scale violence directed at railway stations, telegraph offices, government buildings, and other emblems and institutions of colonial rule. There were widespread acts of sabotage, and the government held Gandhi responsible for these acts of violence, suggesting that they were a deliberate act of Congress policy. However, all the prominent leaders were arrested, the Congress was banned and the police and army were brought out to suppress the movement.

Meanwhile, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, who stealthily ran away from the British detention in Calcutta, reached foreign lands and organized the Indian National Army (INA) to overthrow the British from India.

The Second World War broke out in September of 1939 and without consulting the Indian leaders, India was declared a warring state (on behalf of the British) by the Governor General. Subhash Chandra Bose, with the help of Japan, preceded fighting the British forces and not only freed Andaman and Nicobar Islands from the Britishers but also entered the north-eastern border of India. But in 1945 Japan was defeated and Netaji proceeded from Japan through an aeroplane to a place of safety but met with an accident and it was given out that he died in that air-crash itself.

"Give me blood and I shall give you freedom" - was one of the most popular statements made by him, where he urges the people of India to join him in his freedom movement.

Partition of India and Pakistan

At the conclusion of the Second World War, the Labour Party, under Prime Minister Clement Richard Attlee, came to power in Britain. The Labour Party was largely sympathetic towards Indian people for freedom. A Cabinet Mission was sent to India in March 1946, which after a careful study of the Indian political scenario, proposed the formation of an interim Government and convening of a Constituent Assembly comprising members elected by the provincial legislatures and nominees of the Indian states. An interim Government was formed headed by Jawaharlal Nehru. However, the Muslim League refused to participate in the deliberations of the Constituent Assembly and pressed for the separate state for Pakistan. Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy of India, presented a plan for the division of India into India and Pakistan, and the Indian leaders had no choice but to accept the division, as the Muslim League was adamant.

Thus, India became free at the stroke of midnight, on August 14, 1947. (Since then, every year India celebrates its Independence Day on 15^th August). Jawaharlal Nehru became the first Prime Minster of free India and continued his term till 1964. Giving voice to the sentiments of the nation, Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru said,

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we will redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.

Earlier, a Constituent Assembly was formed in July 1946, to frame the Constitution of India and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected its President. The Constitution of India which was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on 26^th November 1949. On January 26, 1950, the Constitution was came into force and Dr. Rajendra Prasad was elected the first President of India.

Japan Earthquake Vibrations Nearly Reached Space-->>

Amplified sound waves shook Earth's upper atmosphere, study says.

A computer model shows the predicted wave heights of the Japan tsunami moving across the Pacific.

The giant earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan in March were so strong that their vibrations almost reached space, a new study says.

The vertical motion of the ground shaking and swelling tsunami waves produced the vibrations, which pressed upward against the overlying air, saidEmile Okal, a geophysicist at Northwestern University who was not part of the study team.

This process has been known from previous earthquakes, but the vibrations from Japan caused the biggest such effect yet measured.

At ground level, such vibrations—akin to low-frequency sound waves—are very small, only about the size of the vertical motions that produce them. But as the waves travel upward into ever thinner air, they expand, Okal said.

At heights where airplanes travel, about 30,000 feet (9,100 meters), Okal said, the waves from the Japan disaster might have expanded to about three feet (one meter) in amplitude, which is the extent at which a vibration travels from its normal state of equilibrium. That's not enough for an air passenger to even feel a bump.

But in the upper atmosphere, the ionosphere, the waves were amplified to thousands of times their original sizes, scientists say.

Quake Vibrations to Track Tsunamis?

The ionosphere is made up of relatively hot gases that are electrically charged due to interactions with intense, high-altitude sunlight.

The upward-traveling waves compressed the gases, enough to have detectable effects on radio waves, such as those used for GPS.

"If you have extremely precise GPS, you can see" variations in the signal, Okal said.

Some scientists have even proposed using such GPS disturbances to track tsunamis in the open sea, Okal added.

Earth Had Two Moons, New Model Suggests-->>

Slow collision between lunar companions could solve moon mystery.

The near side of the moon (right) is much smoother than the far side.

Earth may have once had two moons, but one was destroyed in a slow-motion collision that left our current lunar orb lumpier on one side than the other, scientists say.

Astronomers have long been puzzled by the differences between the side of the moon that always faces Earth—the near side—and the side that always faces away, the far side. The topography of the near side is relatively low and flat, while that of the far side is high and mountainous with a much thicker crust.

According to a new computer model, this discrepancy can be explained if a smaller "companion moon" collided with our moon's far side early in its history. Such a collision would have left the far side splattered with especially hard rocky material that now forms the current lunar highlands.

For the theory to work, the smaller moon must have crashed into the larger one at about 4,400 miles (7,081 kilometers) an hour.

"This is the slowest possible collision the two massive bodies could have if they fell into each other’s gravity," explained study co-author Erik Asphaug, a planetary scientist at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC).

At this relatively slow speed, the far-side collision wouldn’t have been energetic enough to melt rock or carve out a crater. But it would have been forceful enough to plaster material from the smaller moon onto the larger moon.

"It's like a car crash, where you have crumpled bumpers but you don't melt the cars as they're colliding," Asphaug said. "This is the same kind of phenomenon."

Moon Collision Created Meteor Shower

The new theory, by Asphaug and UCSC postdoctoral researcher Martin Jutzi, is detailed in the current issue of the journal Nature.

According to their model, the two moons coexisted peacefully for about 80 million years, each in its own stable orbit. The moons were the same color and composition, but one was about three times larger than the other, Asphaug said.

"Our moon looked like a big dinner plate in the sky ... and when it set, there was this other moon trailing it by about 60 degrees," he said.

This brief period of lunar harmony was shattered, according to the model, when natural gravitational interactions with Earth caused both moons to drift farther away from our planet. The sun's gravitational tug then destabilized the smaller moon’s orbit and caused it to fall into its larger sibling.

Though not very energetic, the collision would have ejected trillions of tons of lunar debris into space, obscuring both moons for several days.

"When the dust cleared, you had one moon that might have looked similar to our moon today," Asphaug said.

For up to a million years after the event, Earth would have been bombarded by moon bits of various sizes, the biggest of which could have been as much as 62 miles (100 kilometers) across.

"You'd have meteors raining down all over the sky for a long period of time," Asphaug said, though there probably would have been no life yet on Earth to witness the spectacular sky shows.

Lunar Smashup Opens Up "Cool Problems"

Astronomer Jeffrey Taylor of the University of Hawaii said the new moon theory is very interesting and worth further investigation.

Asphaug and Jutzi's model not only accounts for the moon's asymmetry, Taylor said, but the findings also explain the fates of the smaller, companion satellites that another theory predicts should have formed alongside our moon.

One of the leading theories for how our moon formed is that it was born after a Mars-size planet crashed into Earth shortly after the solar system's formation about 4.5 billion years ago. 

Scientists think the earlier smashup created a ring of molten rock debris around Earth, which eventually coalesced into several bodies, including our current moon.

But "if that's the case, what happened [to the smaller moons]? This is one thing that could have happened to them," said Taylor, who was not involved in the study.

The new theory isn't without its problems, however. For example, it doesn't explain why the lumpy far side of our moon shows a high concentration of aluminum, Taylor said.

If the two moons had formed from the same material, as is assumed, the companion moon—and its splatterings—should have been low in aluminum, like our own moon's interior

How Planets Can Survive a Supernova-->>

A Hubble Space Telescope picture of the supernova remnant 1987A.

New models hint at huge population of free-roaming planets.

When a star dies in a violent supernova, some of its planets may survive the blast but be ejected from orbit and sent wandering the galaxy, a new study suggests.

The theory offers an explanation for the handful of free-roaming planets found so far, and it could mean many more such rogue worlds exist across the Milky Way.

"Because every star dies, and many of these stars are massive enough to trigger planetary ejection, there is ample opportunity throughout the galaxy for stellar deaths to contribute to the free-floating population," said study leaderDimitri Veras, an astronomer with the U.K.'s University of Cambridge.

"We don't know yet how common these planets are, but the observational evidence suggests that there could be more planets floating in between stars than orbiting them," he added.

The new model also hints that—in very rare cases—some survivor planets may remain bound to the supernova remnants, finding new orbits around the neutron stars or black holes left behind by the explosions. 

A Wrinkle in the Two-Body Problem

The new theory is based on a complex set of computer models that take into account something known in physics as the two-body problem.

This formula in classical mechanics helps determine the orbits of two interacting bodies, from an electron around an atomic nucleus to a planet circling a star.

As long as astronomers can measure the masses, positions, and velocities of the two objects, they can determine their past, present, and future orbits using simple mathematical equations.

The new study, however, applies a wrinkle to the two-body problem, Veras said, because the stars are losing mass as they go through their death throes.

"In this situation, we don't know if a complete solution by simple equations alone exists, so in many cases we have to use computers to simulate their orbits," he said.

According to the model, when stars at least 7 to 10 times the mass of our sun go supernova, the blast swallows any inner planets, those orbiting out to several times the distance between Earth and the sun.

Planets orbiting hundreds of times the Earth-sun distance will instead have their orbits disrupted and elongated in such a way that they're eventually flung into interstellar space.

In some cases, the disrupted planets will be pushed into more distant but stable orbits around the supernova remnants.

These planets may continue orbiting stellar remnants such as pulsars and even black holes far enough away that they would not be swallowed by their intense gravitational pull—but the survivors would be charred, dead worlds.

What's more, these worlds on the edge can easily be stripped off the system and turned rogue by the gravitational pulls of other nearby stars.

Billions of Rogue Planets Out There?

In May 2011 a different team of astronomers described observational evidence of up to ten planets that appear to be wandering independently through interstellar space.

The new expulsion mechanism may account for how those newfound planets escaped their star systems, said Steinn Sigurdsson, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University not connected to the study. 

But Sigurdsson cautions that there may be another method at play for how planets get kicked out of their star systems.

"The other possibly dominant mechanism is planet-planet scattering, where massive planets knock other planets out of their orbits, and some fraction are thrown into outer space as unbound rogues," Sigurdsson said.

It's even possible the two mechanisms are working together, Sigurdsson added, with the scattering effect putting planets in wider orbits and the supernova then ejecting them from the system.

Either way, he believes the possibilities add up to a lot of free-floating planets.

"The numbers [with both ejection mechanisms] are broadly consistent, and both imply billions of rogue planets in total," he added.

Ejected Worlds May Host Underground Life

One big question raised by the new study is whether any life could survive expulsion from its planetary clan.

The answer may be yes, if the planet had enough internal heat and already supported subsurface life, said John Debes, a planet hunter not affiliated with Veras' team.

"Moons like Europa, which is tidally heated by Jupiter because of constant interactions with other moons, would probably be the best bets for life surviving an ejection," said Debes, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

"An Earth might remain habitable in certain conditions, if it had a moon survive the ejection as well," since that moon would provide tidal heating.

Life could also find a way to take hold on planets without host stars under the right conditions, Debes added. 

There have been studies showing that climatological, geodynamical, and biogeochemical processes might be able to sustain life on starless planets, specifically those with underground oceans with thermal vents, where free-energy flow may still be enough to run a biosphere.

Actual Planet Ejection Hard to Spot

The ultimate goal for Veras and his team would be to actually catch a star in the act of kicking out its planets—which may prove difficult if not impossible.

That's because, with current technology, odds are low of finding planets around a dying star about to explode.

For now, there is observational evidence of what happens to stars when they die, of wide-orbit planets, and of free-floating planets, Veras said.

"All the ingredients are there," he said. "However, the time scale to actually observe a planet being ejected, in most cases, is longer than a human lifetime."

Three New "Plutos"? Possible Dwarf Planets Found-->>

Small objects could be rounded worlds, based on likely sizes, experts say.

An illustration of a planet-like body in the Kuiper belt.

Three relatively bright space rocks recently found in Pluto's neighborhood may be new members of the dwarf planet family, astronomers say.

The objects were discovered in a little studied section of the Kuiper belt, a region of the solar system that starts beyond the orbit of Neptune and extends 5.1 billion miles (8.2 billion kilometers) from the sun.

Astronomer Scott Sheppard, of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, and colleagues found the bodies using the 1.3-meter Warsaw University Telescopeat Las Campanas in Chile.

The region of the Kuiper belt visible from Earth's Northern Hemisphere has been fairly well studied. But until recently, a lack of instruments prohibited searches from the Southern Hemisphere.

The latest survey turned up 14 new Kuiper belt objects, three of which are probably big enough to join Pluto, Eris, Ceres, Haumea, and Makemake in dwarf-planet status, the study authors say. 

"I'm glad someone finally did it. It needed to happen," Mike Brown, a Caltech astronomer who was not involved in the study, said of the southern-sky survey.

New Bodies Are Planetary Pipsqueaks

The International Astronomical Union defines a dwarf planet as something orbiting the sun that's so massive its own gravity molds the object into a rough sphere. Such worlds also haven't cleared their neighborhoods of other small, planet-like bodies.

By estimating the objects' reflectivity, Sheppard and collegues could derive their sizes: The largest object is likely 384 miles (620 kilometers) across. The worlds are massive enough to be round, but they're still pipsqueaks, even by dwarf-planet standards.

By contrast, Pluto and Eris are both 1,450 miles (2,333 kilometers) or so wide. Ceres, the smallest of the confirmed dwarfs, is about 303 miles (487 kilometers) across.

Because the newfound objects are so small and so far away, astronomers can't yet say for sure whether they are in fact spherical and therefore worthy of being named dwarf planets.

Pluto Has No Southern Twins?

The Kuiper belt is full of objects about the size—or at least the brightness—of the three new bodies, Brown added. In fact, there are 37 other objects in the Kuiper belt at least as bright as the newly discovered candidate dwarfs.

Still, the new work does help fill in gaps in the known population of the solar system.

"By determining how many large objects are in the Kuiper belt, we now know how much stuff is there," study leader Sheppard said. "The point was to complete [our knowledge of] the Kuiper belt."

For instance, the study closes the possibility of finding a larger, Pluto-size object in the southern skies.

But it's always possible that "we will find more objects out in the next region [beyond the Kuiper belt], where Sedna is," Caltech's Brown said, referring to another candidate dwarf planet, which orbits at an average of 8.9 billion miles (14.3 billion kilometers) from the sun.

Photo Gallery: Jupiter-->>

Jupiter Moon Io:-

Two sulfurous eruptions are visible on the surface of Jupiter's volcanic moon Io in this color composite image from the robotic Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. Io, one of Jupiter's 62 known moons, is the most volcanically active body in the solar system.

Map of Jupiter's South Pole:-

This map of Jupiter is the most detailed global color map of the planet ever produced. A polar stereographic projection showing Jupiter's south pole in the center of the map and its equator at the edge, the map was constructed from images taken by Cassini in December 2000 as the spacecraft passed on its way to Saturn.

Jupiter's Great Red Spot:-

In 1979 Voyager 1 captured this photo of an immense high-pressure storm, called the Great Red Spot, swirling on Jupiter. Winds blow counterclockwise around the Great Red Spot at about 250 miles (400 kilometers) an hour. The storm is larger than one Earth diameter from north to south, and more than two Earth diameters from east to west.

Eruption on Io:-

Newly erupted lava roils on the surface of Jupiter's moon Io in this false-color image taken on February 22, 2000, by NASA's Galileo spacecraft. The orange-and-yellow ribbon is a cooling lava flow more than 37 miles (60 kilometers) long.

Moons Visible on Jupiter:-

In this composite image from near-infrared light, two of Jupiter's moons are visible against the planet. The white circle in the middle of Jupiter is Io, and the blue circle at upper right is Ganymede. The three black spots are shadows cast by Io, Ganymede, and another moon, Callisto.

Full Jupiter Mosaic:-

This image of Jupiter was produced from a mosaic of photos taken by the New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI). The telescopic camera snapped the images during a span of 3 minutes and 35 seconds when the spacecraft was 18 million miles (29 million kilometers) from Jupiter.

Jupiter and Io:-

NASA's Cassini spacecraft looked back and snapped this image of Jupiter and its crescent moon Io on January 15, 2001, 17 days after the spacecraft passed Jupiter on its way to a 2004 appointment with Saturn.

Jupiter's Clouds:-

Exaggerated hues in this false-color image tint clouds swirling southeast of Jupiter's Great Red Spot, an immense high-pressure storm. The image was captured by Voyager I, which took nearly 19,000 pictures of Jupiter over a period of four months in 1979.

Jupiter and Its Moons:-

This family portrait, a composite of the Jovian system, includes the edge of Jupiter (with the Great Red Spot visible) and Jupiter's four largest moons, known as the Galilean satellites. From top to bottom are Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. The smallest of these four moons, Europa is about the size of Earth's moon.