India's National Flower comes under attack!!

Everything that is ancient, historical and related to Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism in India seems to be wrong in the opinion of scientists, secular politicians, forward thinking individuals. The media takes pleasure vicarious pleasure in bashing Hindus and Hindu practices at every possible pretext. Well this time it is India's National Flower and one of the most auspicious flowers for Hindus that is coming under attack. I read this newsreport on Times Of India in which the newspaper's reporters state that cultivation of Lotus plants are responsible for death of several tanks in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu.

According to the article the lotus flower has become a menace in Kanyakumari, causing havoc to dozens of ponds and tanks depleting the ground water and thus leading to unbalancing the fragile ecology of the district. And these facts were revealed by none other than the Chairman of Nature Trust and a former principal scientist of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, R S Lal Mohan.

Since it comes from an eminent scientist I would say these findings might be true. But with Sonia Gandhi at the helm of the central government and a pro-Christian, anti-Hindu government in place in Tamil Nadu, I wonder if the research has been fixed?

The newsreport goes further to say that there were 3,500 tanks in the district during 1960s and about 1,050 had perished due to weeds and that weed is Lotus. I never knew that Lotus was a weed, and why does the eminent scientist refer to this as a weed and say that it has been cultivated in the same breath. When a plant is cultivated it ceases to be a weed, this is common sense. Weeds which destroy lakes are species of Water Hyacinth which thrive on surface of water and destroy lakes by cutting out oxygen supply. Lotus leaves also cover surface of water but they don't grow so dense and thickly as Water Hyacinth.

I wonder why scientists, governments, politicians, missionaires always tend to pick on Hindu practices, icons and beliefs constantly?

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One More Drag Racing Fatality

Scott Kalitta an American drag racer who competed in the Funny Car class in the NHRA Powerade Drag Racing Series met a fiery end today evening when his car exploded after he attained 300 miles per hour. I had embedded a Youtube video of the crash but for reasons best known to Youtube the video is no longer available. I found this AP picture on the website of The Age and thought I'd share it to show the seriousness of the crash.
Racing is a risky sport and like any most other dangerous sports there is a high possibility of losing one's life in this. Even the most experienced racing champions can succomb. It can be due to a technical snag, a human error or any minor mistake. This incidents are scary but not scary enough to deter people from racing or participating in the sport. So long as human race exists extreme sports will continue to exist. It gives an adrenalin rush to us and we will indulge in the sport.