Most Important Lessons of Life

Nice Pics

Barack Obama works on the speech that we would deliver after his strong showing on Super Tuesday in February.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates shakes hands with a reporter before a television interview in Baghdad, Iraq.

A list of names of high school students who survived the massive earthquake that struck Sichuan, China in May is scanned at a stadium housing people made homeless by the tragedy.



Investor Warren Buffett checks his watch while waiting for members of the media at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders' conference.

Pope Benedict XVI arrives for a general audience on St. Peter's Square in November.

During the BLACK ERA of Gen. Pervez Musharaf a Pakistani lawyer runs away from tear gas fired by police officers during a protest in front of the residence of the country's deposed chief justice, Iftikhar Mahmood Chaudhry.

A Georgian man cries as he holds the body of his relative after a bombardment in Gori, near South Ossetia, Georgia. Five people were killed in the attack.

His holiness the Dalai Lama prostrates himself before a statue of Buddha at his residence in Dharamsala, India.

Athletes competing in the men's road cycling event race past Tiananmen Square on the first day of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing.

Barack Obama is joined by his wife Michelle and aide Valerie Jarrett, among others, as he makes his way to a victory speech St. Paul, Minnesota. The speech would be his first after clinching his party's nomination in June.

John and Cindy McCain, joined by Florida Governor Charlie Crist (in the yellow shirt) get a tour of Everglades Safari Park in June.

A video of departing President George W. Bush plays at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Laid off from his job at Wachovia Bank in March, Gregory Gochtovtt, 40, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, decided to enlist in the National Guard. He shipped out to Iraq in December.

Congolese government forces stand guard along a road in the eastern Congo during renewed fighting in November.

A tire burns atop a truck used as a makeshift roadblock in Kisumu, Kenya, after the town had been cleared of ethnic Kikuyus by armed mobs in January.

A house is engulfed in flames as floodwaters and crashing waves inundate beach homes on Galveston Island as Hurricane Ike approaches the Texas Gulf Coast.

Boathouses borne by rising floodwaters collide with a railroad bridge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in June.

Emergency workers carry a wounded man out of a collapsed building in Mianyang, China, after it was destroyed by an earthquake in May.

Siamoy, an Afghan woman from remote Badakhshan province in Afghanistan, feeds her one-month old baby. The remote, mountain region has the highest maternity mortality rate in the world.

iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dons 3-D glasses to watch a program about an Iranian rocket during a visit to Iran's space control center in Tehran.

Cardboard cutouts of John McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin stand near the press section of the Straight Talk Air campaign plane.

Hillary Clinton departs a campaign event in Nashua, New Hampshire.

Not to be outdone by two aides who each did a pair of pull-ups, Obama does three before stepping out to address a crowd at the University of Montana.

A young supporter of the GOP ticket arrives at a campaign event on Halloween Day dressed as vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin

Cindy McCain waits while her husband works goes over a speech in a hotel room in Dallas.

Barack Obama works the phones during a campaign stop in Providence, Rhode Island.

Obama and his wife Michelle depart the stage in Grant Park after winning the Presidential election on November 4, 2008.

Shaheed Hemu Kalani -- A Forgotten Sindhi Young Revoluter Hero

From the Kamal Rahemoon till Faheem Farooq Abbasi all the revolutors did not curved their necks in front of dictators. In these, one of the most famous personality is Hemu Kalani.

Hemu Kalani, born in Sukkur (Old Sukkur) 23 March 1923, his father's name was Pesumal, occupationally Contactor, and his mother's name was Jethi Bayi.

His real name was "Raahi Heman", but every one called him as "Hemu Kalani".

(Mother and brother of Shaheed Hemu Kalani receiving award from Indra Gandhi)

1942, when the Mahtma Gandhi, issued last calls for independence from the british rule. He delivered an atractived speech, asked every indian to lay down their life. It was called Quite Indian Movment. Mahatma told "Do or Die"

In the same year, hemu kalani passed out the Matriculation (10 standard) exam with flying marks.

He was really impressed by the revolution heroes who changed the history. And he wishes do something for his motherland just like his heroes.

In the midnight of 23 October 1942, Hemu kalani and his friends came to know that a freight train is coming carrying bombs and weapons to resist the Indian Freedom Movements. This is why he and his friends planed to derail the train and destroy rail road so that train could not reach to its destination. At the midnight when they start pulling the sleepers and destroying the rail road, a police soldier saw them and chase them to capture. All his friends were succeed to escape except Hemu Kalani. (here, I want to share another thing, Dr. Amir Abas Soomro wrote in his book name "Hind Ji Sindhin Ji Katha" [story of Indian Sindhies] stated once he met to (brother of Hemu Kalani) occpationaly building matrialist, during a long coversation with his brother he was shared us another thing that actualy when Hemu distroying the sleeprs, a biscuit factory was situated near by that rail road one of the gatekeeper of that factory capture him and gave him to the police).

(Pershotam Hiranandani, Kamla Kalani, Nand Javeri and Dr. Amir Soomro at
Shaheed Hemu Kalani Yadgar Mandal Chembur Bombay)

Police used third degree of torture on him and used maximum torture so that he can inform the names of his remaining friends. Government offers him if he inform the names of remaining friends Government can release him as soon as possible. But, 18 years old Hemu did not told names till last breath and he bear all the torture and pain.

After continuous 22 days of torture, British government court martial to Hemu Kalani and sentences him as Whole Life sentence, but British government revised his punishment and judiciary convert his sentence to Death.

Peerzada Abdul Sattar (Hemu's Lawyer) brings his uncle to signed by Hemu on the apology letter after that British government might release him. But Hemu did not agreed and said "I like to hang instead of apology against the Britain’s rulers, I didn’t do anything wrong that was right what I did".Hemu refused all the offers which offered by government. At the same night when Hemu hanged, his mother came to him and said him with tears "just write an apology letter and come back" even Hemu refused mother's appeal.

Hemu, the young revoluter refuses all the offers by british rulers and he preferred to be hang.

Hemu was happy in the jail, even his weight increased upto 7 pound it shown he was no afraid for his death.

21 January 1943 Hemu hanged in Sukkur Jail (now a days, its know as Sukkur Central Jail 2). When authorities asked to Hemu what is your last wish befor death, he told them "Just before hanging say loudly with me HAIL FREEDOM" as his last wish no one did refuse and said very loudly "HAIL FREEDOM". Finally Hemu Kalani hanged.

Another side, a big historical tragedy that after partition the mother of that patriot son who lost his life for his motherland, Jethi Bayi (Hemu's mother) left her country due to the religious violence and went to India.

Indian government appreciate her because of her patriot son. Nehru, and one of the General of Subhash Chander Boss gave her Civil Awards. While Indhra Gandhi releases memorable postal tickets in behalf of Hemu Kalani.

21 August 2003, BJP placed a statue of Hemu Kalani in the Dehli Parliament. In that ceremony Atal Bihari Vajpayi (Ex – P.M), L K Advani, Ram Jethmalani, Congress Leader Sonia Gandhi and other famous Indian political leaders were there. In memory of Hemu Kalani there is a memorable Building builded in Mumbai by Indian government, the land for this memorable building provided by government free of cost. Although, in 1981 in Sindhu Nagar (Ulhas Nagar), Mumbai a famous chowk named Venus chowk were renamed and gave it new name as "Hemu Kalani Chowk".

(Hemu Kalani's house in Sukkur by Dr Amir Soomro)

On other hand, Hemu who lost his life for Sindh land, ignored by goverment and there is no any memorable place which belongs to Hemu’s name. In Sukkur there was a park named Hemu Kalani Park had renamed by Pakistani Government and gave it new name as "Qasim Park or Lucus Park".

Now we can find Hemu only in the loud speeches of Nationalist Leaders and Sindhi poets. Nonetheless, there is no place for Hemu in his Motherland.

Reference: "Inquilabi Vaat" [The Way of Revolution], January - Febuary 2009.

You can also see the sindhi version of the above article by click here.

The Making of Liberty Statue

The New York Public Library has recently unveiled some extraordinary pictures of the Statue of Liberty under construction. Take a trip back in time and see extraordinary behind the scenes images of the creation of this superlative structure.

A giant is formed. The sheer scale of the statue under construction can be seen here, in contrast to the workmen posing woodenly for that fairly new invention, the camera.. The more formal name for the statue is Liberty Enlightening the World and it is constructed with sheets of pure copper, even though the picture makes it look something like marble.. It is something of a miracle that we now have the finished product standing proudly on Liberty Island. Had it not been for the contributions of ordinary French and Americans then she would never have arisen in the first instance.

Such is the immensity of the statue one can only wonder whether or not the workmen pictured above had any idea which part of the statue they were working on at any one time. The photographer Albert Fernique, who captured these pictures around 1883, must have been in a certain awe at the immensity of the statue and his images capture its sheer scale and size beautifully. The French had decided to give the United States of America something for their centennial independence celebrations that the Americans and the world would never forget. The process of building was painstaking, slow and fraught with financial difficulties. The copper ?shell' was only what the public would see. What lies beneath - both in terms of its structure and the story behind its *****ion - is almost as startling.

At the time France was in political turmoil and, although at the time under their third republic, many people looked back at the time of Napoleon and the monarchy before that with fondness and wanted its return. The desire for a backwards step to authoritarianism was worrying. French politicians - as wily then as now - saw Lady Liberty as a way, albeit phenomenally huge, to focus the public's imagination on republicanism as the best way forward. The USA and its centennial of independence from the yolk of England was the perfect focus.

The plaster surface of the left arm and its hand take shape, the skeleton underneath revealed. As there is a deal of work under the carapace, so the French politicians had ulterior motives. Using the USA - which many saw as the ideal of government and populist aspirational politics - the French used the statue as a Trojan Horse in reverse, as it were. Its true purpose, in the eyes of the political gift givers, was to make republicanism the center of political ideology in the minds of the people. How greatly it succeeded can never fully be quantified but the French cannot be faulted for thinking big. It must be said here that the ordinary French, through their substantial buying of lottery tickets (and other fundraising efforts) had a much purer purpose at heart than their politicians.

It must surely have been amazing for the workers to turn up each morning to the sight of a colossal head looking down upon them. The inspiration for the face seems to be the Roman god of the sun, Apollo or his Greek equivalent, Helios. More down to earth sources of inspiration center on the women in the life of the sculptor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi. It may well have been Isabella Eugenie Boyer, a good looking and well-known figure in Paris at the time. More worrying, some believe the face of the statue actually belongs to Bartholdi's mother. Bartholdi never revealed the true model of the face, but if this is the case Freud would have had a field day.

Bertholdi made a small scale model first, which is still displayed in the Jardin du Luxembourg in the city of the statue's original construction, Paris. Before the statue was shipped to America, though, it had to be seen to be tested. If it had not been for money, it may never have landed in the states - particularly in the form we all know. On a visit to Egypt, Bartholdi's vision of liberty expanded to its present proportions. Had his original idea received financial support, then whatever gift the French gave the Americans for the 1876 centennial could not possibly have been the statue.

Little by little, the statue arises. Bertholdi saw the Suez Canal under construction in the eighteen sixties and was inspired to build a giant figure at its entrance. He drew up plans which bore a remarkable similarity to what now stands on Liberty Island but his ideas were rejected by the Egyptian ruling body of the time because of the financial problems the country was facing at the time. Had the statue been built in Egypt as a lighthouse, the idea would never have been taken up for America. The Statue of Liberty as we know it was in fact used as a lighthouse, from its unveiling in 1886 right until 1902 - the very first in the world to use electricity.

Almost there! There were huge structural issues that had to be addressed in the design and construction of a sculpture of such enormity. Enter a certain Gustave Eiffel, who would later go on to build that eponymous tower which still dominates the skyline of Paris. It was his job (which he delegated to Maurice Koechlin, his favored structural engineer) to ensure that Liberty's copper sheath could move while still remaining vertical. Koechlin created a huge pylon of wrought iron and the famous skeletal frame to ensure that the statue would not fall down in high winds.

Money was always a problem. The plan had been to get the statue to the US by the fourth of July, 1876. Only the right arm and torch were finished by then. However, as the Americans had taken responsibility for the construction of the pedestal, these pieces of the statue were displayed to the American pubic at the Centennial Exposition (in Philadelphia) . Money raised by allowing people to climb this part of the statue (see here) started the funding efforts for the base of the statue. The French did their bit too, showing the head in their own exposition in 1878.

1886 must have been one of those years that people remembered for the rest of their lives. A statue of gigantic proportions, symbolizing the ideas and aspirations of America, was unveiled by President Grover Cleveland at Liberty Island (renamed from Bedloe's Island or Love Island). In an ironic twist, President Cleveland had vetoed the New York legislature from contributing fifty thousand dollars to help with the building of the statue's pedestal. Letting bygones be bygones, President Cleveland was more than happy to officiate at the ceremony. This had not been the only problem to face the statue in the years before its final unveiling, of course. From the model stage, above, to its triumphant moment of revelation, the process was fraught with difficulty - mostly of a financial nature. However, thanks to the efforts of both the American and French people we now have a permanent reminder of what we should hold dear - liberty still symbolically steps forth from her shackles to protect, shelter and enlighten.