Miiraas-The Heritage Club

-by Garima Jain The British were infamous for impoverishing their colonies, disregarding the social development of the country and robbing them of their relics which have made their way to the British Museum, away from their countries of origin. Recently however, Keith Vaz, a Member of British Parliament of Indian origin, has requested the government to return the world famous Kohinoor diamond to India during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the country in November. Owing to India’s rich history and relations with the Middle East, the real home of Kohinoor remains a debatable issue. When Nadir Shah invaded the Mughal Empire, the Kohinoor was included in his loot and taken all the way to Persia where it was given the name it is known as today: Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light. Upon Nadir Shah’s assassination the diamond found its way to his general who passed it on to his descendant, Shah Shuja Durrani. Shah Shuja Durrani gave the Kohinoor to Maharaja

By: Misbah Khan  India has immense cultural diversity ranging from religion to language, dance to music, architecture to painting, ethnicity to region and so on. The heart and soul of this country lie in its underlying unity amidst its apparent diversity. Take the example of Sufism of Islam and  bhakti  cult of Hinduism, nonviolence of Buddhism and selflessness of Jainism, supreme sacrifice of Christianity and service of humanity of Sikhism, all lead to common cause. They aspire for self realization by bringing one close to divine benevolence. In fact  ‘ one religion read is all religions understood’. One may agree or disagree with this statement and underscore the fact that in the past religious differences caused upheavals. However the truth is that it was not because religions taught us differently but because we misinterpreted whatever was written in different prose and language. All these religions teach us Peace and Non-Violence, oneness of humanity, good morals, compassi

Kumaon: Another Face of Heritage - by Srishti Mittal What classifies as ‘heritage’? Initially, I considered only monuments and paintings and other things related to Indian history to be ‘heritage’, but the Rural Sensitisation trip completely changed my perspective. I went with a group of 66 other students to the Kumaon Hills in Uttarakhand. Our trip was organized by TERI: the Energy and Resources Institute, an organization that aims at promoting sustainable development and environmental conservation. The natural, uncontaminated beauty and fresh air literally took our breath away.  We visited the locals in their homes and cooked with them, marvelling at the utter simplicity in which they live very happily. We had thought that language barriers and the vast difference in our living conditions would stop us from connecting, but it was quite the contrary. Over some scrumptious aloo ki sabzi and cucumbers at least thrice the size of the ones we get in Delhi, we bonded very quic

OUR TRIBUTE TO THOSE WE HAVE LOST MAY THEY REST IN PEACE THE PRACTICE OF HOSTAGE TAKING BY JESSICA ARORA The practice of taking hostages is very ancient, going as far back as Ancient Rome.  The Romans were accustomed to take the sons of tributary princes and educate them at Rome, thus holding a security for the continued loyalty of the conquered nation and also instilling a possible future ruler with the same ideas as the already existing Roman rulers. This method also ensured that the people of the conquered nation would not riot. In 1972, the entire world was shocked when the practice of hostage-taking came into the public eye, in "Operation Iqrit and Bikram," a term given by the Black September (a Palestinian group) after two Palestinian Christian villages whose inhabitants were expelled by the Haganah (Israel Defense Force) in 1948. Eleven Israeli team members were taken hostage and eventually killed in this operation. At 4:30 am local time

The meaning of the name 'Harshula' is disposed to be cheerful. When I did an in-depth research about the meaning behind this name, this was what I found: " Harshula is so very capable of analyzing, judging and discriminating, that very little ever escapes her observation and deep understanding. Harshula is the type of person that can really get involved in a search for wisdom or hidden truths, often becoming an authority on whatever it is she is focusing on. This can easily be of a technical or scientific nature, or it may be religious, it matters very little, Harshula pursues knowledge with the same sort of vigor. Harshula can make a very fine teacher, or because of a natural inclination toward the spiritual, Harshula may become deeply emerged in religious affairs or even psychic explorations. Harshula tend to operate on a rather different wavelength, and many of her friends may not really know Harshula very well. The positive aspects of the 7 expression are that Hars

BEHIND THE NAME:- "VANI" Meaning of the name Vani is 'speech' or 'Goddess Saraswati'. Vani is a name of Hindu / Indian origin, and is commonly used for females. MY PARENTS NAMED ME VANI AS: According to them it’s a bad idea to name your child something you don’t intend to call  him/her and therefore they chose a very short name for me,  the kind that was nearly impossible to derive a nickname from. Also, they felt that it was a  quite meaningful name.