MEERA BAI

Meera, also known as Meera Bai or Mirabai (1498-1546) was

a Hindumystic poet and devotee of Krishna. She is a
celebrated Bhakti saint, particularly in the North Indian Hindu tradition.
Meera Bai was born into a Rajput royal Rathore family of
Merta, Rajasthan, India. She is mentioned in Bhaktamal, confirming
that she was widely known and a cherished figure in the Bhakti
movement culture by about 1600 CE. Most legends about Meera
mention her fearless disregard for social and family conventions, her
devotion to god Krishna, her treating Krishna as her husband, and she
being persecuted by her in-laws for her religious devotion. She has
been the subject of numerous folk tales andhagiographic legends, which
are inconsistent or widely different in details.
Thousands of devotional poems in passionate praise of Lord Krishna are attributed to Meera in the Indian
tradition, but just a few hundred are believed to be authentic by scholars, and the earliest written records
suggest that except for two poems, most were written down only in the 18th century. Many poems attributed
to Meera were likely composed later by others who admired Meera. These poems are commonly known
as bhajans, and are popular across India. Hindu temples, such as in Chittorgarh fort, are dedicated to Mira
Bai's memory. Legends about Meera's life, of contested authenticity, have been the subject of movies, comic
strips and other popular literature in modern times.

SANTH TULSI DASS

Tulsidas (also known asGoswami Tulsidas); was a realized soul and saint,
poet, often called reformer and philosopher from Ramanandi Sampradaya, in
the lineage of Jagadguru Ramanandacharya renowned for his devotion to the
Lord Shri Rama. Tulsidas wrote several popular works in Sanskrit and Awadhi;
he is best known as the author of the epicRamcharitmanas, a retelling of
the Sanskrit Ramayana based on Rama's life in the vernacular Awadhi
dialect of Hindi. The Bhavishya Purana also predicts the incarnation of Shri
Valmiki as Goswami Tulsidas in the Kaliyuga, in its verse and also explained
in detail by H.G Shriman Chandra Govind Das of the Iskcon Temple.
Tulsidas was acclaimed in his lifetime to be a reincarnation of Valmiki, the
composer of the original Ramayana in Sanskrit. He is also considered to be the
composer of the Hanuman Chalisa, a popular devotional hymn dedicated toHanuman ji,the divine devotee of
lord Rama.
Tulsidas spent most of his life in the city of Varanasi. The Tulsi Ghat on theGanges River in Varanasi is
named after him. He founded the Sankatmochan Temple dedicated to Hanuman ji in Varanasi, believed to
stand at the place where he had the sight of Hanuman ji. Tulsidas started the Ramlila plays, a folk-theatre
adaption of the Ramayana.
He has been acclaimed as one of the greatest poets in Hindi, Indian, and world literature. The impact of
Tulsidas and his works on the art, culture and society in India is widespread and is seen to date in vernacular
language, Ramlila plays, Hindustani classical music, popular music, and television series.
SANTH KABIR:

Kabir (Hindi: कबीर, IAST: Kabīr) was a 15th-century

Indian mystic poet andsaint, whose writings influenced
Hinduism's Bhakti movement and his verses are found in Sikhism's
scripture Guru Granth Sahib. His early life was in a Muslim family, but
he was strongly influenced by his teacher, the Hindu bhakti
leader Ramananda.
Kabir is known for being critical of both Hinduism and Islam, stating
that the former was misguided by the Vedas, and questioning their
meaningless rites of initiation such as the sacred
thread and circumcision respectively. During his lifetime, he was
threatened by both Hindus and Muslims for his views. When he died,
both Hindus and Muslims he had inspired claimed him as theirs. (There
was dispute whether to cremate or bury his corpse).
Kabir suggested that True God is with the person who is on the path of
righteousness, considered all creatures on earth as his own self, and
who is passively detached from the affairs of the world. To know God, suggested Kabir, meditate with
the mantra Rāma, Rāma.
Kabir's legacy survives and continues through the Kabir panth ("Path of Kabir"), a religious community that
recognises him as its founder and is one of the Sant Mat sects. Its members are known as Kabir panthis.
10 Disadvantages of Social Networking
1. Lacks Emotional Connection

“A couple weeks ago, one of my friends and I got into a fight and she told me all of her feelings as to why
she ignored me for two weeks. Assuming it would have been really hard to say it to my face, she sent me a
text message. The negative side was I didn’t know if she truly felt sorry because I didn’t hear it from her.
The quality of a conversation using social media is awful because you cannot sense the emotion or
enthusiasm from the other person. It makes you wonder if they actually mean what they say.”

2. Gives People a License to be Hurtful

“I do think it has gotten to an extreme point where you can say things you can’t say or get away with in
person.”

“I’m disappointed whenever I hear about social media being used as a way to hurt people. I wonder if this
happens when the writers forget that there are real people behind the screen.”

3. Decreases Face-to-Face Communication Skills

“Computer reliance could hurt a person’s ability to have a face to face conversation by making it awkward
and unusual to hear something and respond with a thoughtful message through the spoken word because of
one’s dependence on a keyboard to convey a message.”

4. Conveys Inauthentic Expression of Feelings

“Social media conversations today are filled with “haha”, “LOL”, and other exclamations that are meant to
represent laughter. This shorthand has become second nature and is often used when the sender is not even
smiling, much less laughing, in real life. On the occasion that our “roflcopter” is actually put to use at a
funny moment, we are replacing actual laughter with, in this case, a simple ten-letter acronym. According to
Robin Dunbar, an evolutionary psychologist at Oxford, the actual physical act of laughter, and not the
abstract idea of something being funny, is what makes laughing feel so good. If we are so willing to replace
the act that, honestly, we all love, with an artificial, typed representation that doesn’t even bring the same
joy, what else would we be, potentially subconsciously, willing to exchange?”

5. Diminishes Understanding and Thoughtfulness

“Since the inception of social networking, the quality of conversations has dropped. I believe that people are
spending so much time online that they don’t always understand the feeling, emotion and/or character of the
person they are talking to. When you talk to someone through a message or even a voice, you can’t always
fully understand them.”

“Social networking has ruined the thoughtfulness in basically saying hello in person. For instance, you could
say hello to your friend in Germany with Facebook, chat in seconds; but what if there was no way to
communicate via social networking? Well you would have to write them a letter and that is something very
thoughtful.”
6. Causes Face-to-Face Interactions to Feel Disconnected

“When I see my friends on their phones and I am around them, I feel disconnected even though we are only
two feet apart….. Unfortunately, sometimes friends use their phones so much that it is difficult to have an
actual conversation with them. Sometimes friends can get so socially attached to something such as a blog or
gaming console that they lose touch with friends, creating small gaps and holes in close
friendships/relationships.”

7. Facilitates Laziness

“The new socially active era causes laziness because instead of running to your friends you can message
them. Or instead of walking upstairs to notify the family of dinner, I can blog it. Social networking makes
life so convenient that it creates laziness. In my opinion staying fit is important, but it is difficult to go
beyond the newly developed status quo.”

“It’s really easy to spend hours doing nothing….It’s a fantastic way to waste time.”

8. Creates a Skewed Self-Image

“We tell ourselves lies about ourselves and develop something we are not. We post pictures of us looking
perfect and share the good news. We never post pictures of ourselves when our dog dies, when someone we
love leaves, and when we lose a job. We never share the bad news that always clouds our lives. We all
develop this perfect image of ourselves and some of us actually try to rely on this imaginative thought we
have of ourselves instead of staying true to who we are.”

9. Reduces Family Closeness

“Texting, Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail alienate us from our families more than we actually think it does….
When my family is spending family time together and watching a movie, in reality my brother and I are on
our phones rather than actually watching the movie with our parents.”

10. Causes Distractions

“When I have my phone out, it makes me feel like nothing else is going on around me. I use social media as
a way to feel popular, important, and also just to fit in. My friends and I always compare ourselves to each
other, wondering who has more Facebook friends or Twitter followers. But what really ends up happening is
I begin to talk less and end up relying on text for a conversation. Ever since I got a smartphone I have been
distracted from everything. I watch television less, do homework less, and even spend less time with my
friends and family.”

Addressing the Disadvantages of Social Networking

The disadvantages of social networking and social media will continue to be studied for decades to come. In
the meantime, we already know it is a significant source of concern among privacy advocates as well as
parents who worry about their children’s safety. But clearly, the disadvantages of social networking go
much deeper than privacy and safety. These high school students described some of the serious drawbacks
to relationships — the foundation of human development.
The disadvantages of social networking strike at the very heart of healthy youth development. In his recent
book,Lightweb Darkweb: Three Reasons to Reform Social Media Before It Re-Forms Us, musician and
child advocate Raffi Cavoukian provides an abundance of evidence to suggest needed reform. Using an
ecological, systems framework to delve into this topic, he challenges parents, educators, and citizens, to see
the connection between youth development and what he describes as a “vast sociological experiment” that
may forever change human relationships.
In the coming months, I plan to interview Raffi for more details about his ideas, which I know have evolved
from conversations with great thinkers and researchers around the world.

What do you think? How will we ensure the healthy growth and development of children and teens, given
the known harmful effects and disadvantages of social networking?
EARTHQUAKES IN INDIA
Based on seismic data and different geological and geophysical parameters, the country is divided into five
seismic zones. Of the five seismic zones, zone five is the most active region and zone one shows least
seismic activity. (However, in 2003, the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) redefined the seismic map of India
by merging zones I and II, so that India has four zones—II, III, IV and V.)

The entire north-eastern region falls in zone five. In fact, in the last 100 years, as many as five major
earthquakes with a magnitude of 7.0 occurred in this region—Assam in July 1918, July 1930 and October
1943, Arunachal Pradesh-China border in August 1950 and Manipur-Myanmar border in August 1988.

Besides the north-east, zone five includes parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, western
Uttarakhand hills, Rann of Kachchh (which includes Bhuj) in Gujarat, northern Bihar and the Andaman and
Nicobar islands.

One of the reasons for this region being prone to earthquake is the presence of the young-fold Himalayan
mountains here which have frequent tectonic movements.

Zone four which is the next most active region of seismic activity covers Sikkim, Delhi, remaining parts of
Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, parts of Uttarakhand northern parts of Uttar Pradesh and
West Bengal, parts of Gujarat and small portions of Maharashtra near the west coast.

In the past few years, Uttarakhand, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh have had a number of severe
earthquakes. These include the devastating Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) earthquake of 6.6 magnitude in October
1991, Latur- Osmanabad (Maharashtra) quake in September 1993, Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) in May 1997
and Chamoli (Uttarakhand) in March 1999 all of a magnitude of over 6.

Zone three comprises Kerala, Goa, Lakshadweep, remaining parts of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, parts
of Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
The remaining states with lesser known activity fall in zones one and two.

Delhi’s Vulnerability to Earthquakes:

It lies in the seismic zone four. The capital has been rocked by many earthquakes, some even more than six
on the Richter scale though there has never been any loss of life or property. The last major quake was more
than 30 years ago.
In fact, since 1994, there has been a marked cessation of seismic activity. It is shown that stresses, which
were being released periodically, are now stored in rocks like a spring. If this continues, these stresses will
one day release and will lead to an earthquake.

In spite of the knowledge, Delhi is perhaps the least prepared city for earthquakes. With an over 50 per cent
rate of population growth and 85 per cent of people living in high density areas (about 22,399 persons per
square kilometre), the availability of space per person is actually less than five square metres—a detail
which often decides the final casualty figures. Moreover, according to analysts, 50 per cent of the houses are
built privately, hence there has been an absolute laxity in enforcement of seismic building codes.

According to experts, considerations of the soil where citizens live, the structure of buildings and the
settlement pattern, roughly decide the place and the extent of the damage. The depth of the alluvial soil
(sediment deposited by flowing water) plays a crucial role in determining risk.

For instance, the Naraina-Patel Nagar road section and the Yamuna river-bed section (basically the trans-
Yamuna area), extending till Noida and Faridabad, are more vulnerable to damage even in a moderate quake
because they are located on alluvial soil which is up to 200 metre deep. Experts also state central business
districts like Connaught Place and high-rise group housing schemes are high-risk areas.

SRI DEVI

Sridevi Kapoor (born Shree Amma Yanger Ayyapan; 13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018) was an Indian
actress and film producer who starred in Tamil,Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada films. Regarded as
one of Indian cinema's biggest female superstars, she was the recipient of two Filmfare Awards and
three Filmfare Awards South. Sridevi ranked among the highest-paid actors in the 1980s and 1990s and is
considered to be one of the most popular actresses of Indian cinema.[12]

Sridevi made her debut as child artiste with the 1967 Tamil film Kandan Karunai at the age of 4,[13] and
started her acting career in lead role as a child with M. A. Thirumugam’s 1969 devotional Tamil
film Thunaivan and continued to act as a child artist in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She
made her Hindi film debut as a child artist in Rani Mera Naam (1972) and played her first adult role at age
13 with the Tamil film Moondru Mudichu(1976). Sridevi established herself as one of the leading actresses
of Tamil and Telugu cinema, with leading roles in 16 Vayathinile (1977), Sigappu
Rojakkal (1978), Varumayin Niram Sivappu (1980), Meendum
Kokila (1981),Premabhishekam (1981), Moondram Pirai (1982), Aakhari Poratam (1988),Jagadeka
Veerudu Atiloka Sundari (1990) and Kshana Kshanam (1991).

Sridevi's first starring role in Hindi cinema came with the 1979 drama film Solva Sawan, and she gained
wide attention with the 1983 production Himmatwala. She went on appear in a series of commercially
successful films, includingMawaali (1983), Tohfa (1984), Naya
Kadam (1984), Maqsad (1984), Masterji(1985), Nazrana (1987), Mr. India (1987), Waqt Ki Awaz (1988)
and Chandni(1989). She also received praise for such films
as Sadma (1983), Nagina(1986), ChaalBaaz (1989), Lamhe (1991), Khuda
Gawah (1992), Gumrah(1993), Laadla (1994) and Judaai (1997). Following the role of the titular
protagonist in the television sitcom Malini Iyer (2004–2005), Sridevi returned to film acting in 2012 with
the successful comedy-drama English Vinglish. She then starred in her 300th film role in the 2017
thriller Mom. She earned critical acclaim for her performances in both films.

In 2013, the Government of India awarded Sridevi the Padma Shri, the country's fourth highest civilian
accolade for her contributions to the entertainment industry. Honourary awards were also conferred on her
by the state governments of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Sridevi was also voted 'India's
Greatest Actress in 100 Years' in a CNN-IBN national poll conducted in 2013 on the occasion of the
centenary of Indian cinema. She was married to the film producer Boney Kapoor, with whom she had two
children. Sridevi died on 24 February 2018 in Dubai.