Ethnic Food Festival creating waves in INDIA

Flavours from various parts of the country are stirring the taste buds of Keralites at an ethnic food festival here, displaying cuisines from different states.

Aptly named 'Ahara', the festival is a 'Mini India', with food delicacies from Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and West Bengal vying for the attention of food lovers.

Thirty two-year-old Bunty Singh has brought in five cooks from Punjab to provide the authentic Punjab flavour to dishes like Paneer Chilva, Chola Batura, Tandoori Chicken and Amritsari Machali.

Not to be outdone, the Bengali Association has brought in cooks from Kolkatta to prepare its mouthwatering receipes -- Mughali Parathas, Bengali machi, Rasgoolas, sandesh etc. Chef Amith Ghosh from Taj Malabar is also chipping in.

Bajra ke Roti, Dal Halwa, Orissa's Chheena Poda, Hyderabad's Dum chicken, Bisi Belai Bath of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu's Pongal, variety of dosas, Drumstick dosas from Konkan are all hot favourites.

Goa Carnival Tour

Among the many and various colorful feasts and festivals that are celebrated in Goa, the Goa Carnaval is the most eagerly awaited event.

The 'Carnaval’ is exclusive and unique to Goa, and was introduced by the Portuguese who ruled over Goa for over five hundred years.

Although, the three-day festival is primarily celebrated by Christians, it has also absorbed Hindu tradition revelry, western dance forms, and turned into a pageantry of sorts. Though it started as a celebration enjoyed only by the local population, it has today crossed the state frontiers and attracts thousands of people from all over the country.

The carnival is held in February for three days and nights, when the legendary king Momo takes over the state and the streets come alive with music and color. Then begins the weeklong event, which is a time of unbridled festivity and merry-making, which has been celebrated since the 18th Century.

The carnival is meant to be a feasting-drinking-merrymaking orgy just before the austere 40 days of Lent. Huge parades are organized throughout the state with bands, dances and floats out all night on the streets, and grand balls held in the evenings. The crnival concludes with the famous red-and-black dance held by the Clube National in Panajim on the final day.

The origins and nature of the carnival can be traced to the hedonistic feasts of ancient Rome and Greece. These carivals started in the Spanish and Portugese colonies, and gradually became known for their singing, dancing and drinking. The carnival is presided over by King Momo, who on the opening day orders his subjects to party. Hotel bookings must be done in advance for carnival as the festival attracts thousands of tourists.

The word Carnival (Carnaval in Portuguese) is derived from a Latin word meaning ‘to take away meat’ and is an expression of the 40-day period of fasting of Lent, during which abstinence from meat is a rule.

The carnival is not celebrated anywhere else in India and was in decline even in Goa in the last few years of Portuguese rule. Its revival with the Liberation of Goa, and a boost to its tourism was therefore welcome. From being almost on the brink of decline, this three day festival of gay abandon and riotous revelry now attracts thousands of tourists to Goa from all over India every year!

Spain could lose F1 races after Hamilton abused

The racist abuse meted out to Lewis Hamilton at Formula One testing in Barcelona could lead to Spain losing its two grand prix if repeated, motor racing authorities warned.

The McLaren star was jeered and insulted when he moved between the McLaren motorhome and the team's garage at the Circuit de Catalunya on Saturday and world governing body, the FIA, has condemned the behavior of the fans.

Astronauts work on new lab at International Space Station

Two spacewalking astronauts floated out of a hatch on the international space station on Monday to help install a new European lab, while a crewmate who was supposed to participate in the outing helped from inside.

Spacewalkers Rex Walheim and Stanley Love ventured outside as the space station passed over Asia.

"Welcome to spacewalking buddy," Walheim said as Love made his way through the hatch for his first spacewalk.

"It's awesome," Love replied.

German astronaut Hans Schlegel was supposed to be Walheim's spacewalking partner, but he was pulled from the job Saturday because of an undisclosed illness. Schlegel looked and sounded well Sunday and was expected to take part in the second spacewalk of the mission on Wednesday. On Monday, however, he was helping choreograph the outing from inside the station.

The main task for Walheim and Love will be attaching a handle to Columbus that will allow robotic arm operator Leland Melvin to grab hold of the module and delicately lift it from Atlantis' cargo bay.

NASA is vigilant when it comes to the shuttle's thermal shielding, ever since Columbia was destroyed in 2003 following a foam strike to its wing during launch.

John Shannon, chairman of the mission management team, said the thermal covering on the wings, nose and belly of Atlantis have no areas of concern and have been cleared for re-entry in just over a week.

Foot Ball: Record breaking Egypt retain African crown

Egypt's 1-0 victory over Cameroon in Sunday's final of the African Nations Cup was loaded with personal milestones, with the north Africans' captain, Ahmed Hassan, becoming the first player to win the title three times and their coach, Hassan Shahata, becoming only the second coach to win back-to-back editions of the tournament.

Computers

Today computers has become a part and parcel of our life. Man cannot imagine life without computers, especially given the fact that they have occupied our lives with all kinds of tasks. From Banks to Hospitals, from Hotels to Airports, in every nook and corner of our daily life it has crept in. Courtesy goes to Bill Gates. From the childhood i was inspired by latest innovation of technology: be it latest model of air craft or launching of a space shuttle. I am able to explore all the fields of innovations through the help of my computer connected to the internet.

Basketball

Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five active players each try to score points against one another by propelling a ball through a 10 feet (3 m) high hoop (the goal) under organized rules. Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world.

Points are scored by shooting the ball through the basket from above; the team with more points at the end of the game wins. The ball can be advanced on the court by bouncing it (dribbling) or passing it between teammates. Disruptive physical contact (fouls) is not permitted and there are restrictions on how the ball can be handled (violations).

Through time, basketball has developed to involve common techniques of shooting, passing and dribbling, as well as players' positions, and offensive and defensive structures. While competitive basketball is carefully regulated, numerous variations of basketball have developed for casual play. In some countries, basketball is also a popular spectator sport.

While competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport, played on a basketball court, less regulated variations have become exceedingly popular as an outdoor sport among both inner city and rural groups.

History

In early December 1891, Dr. James Naismith,[1] a Canadian physical education student and instructor at YMCA Training School[2] (today, Springfield College) in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied and at proper levels of fitness during the long New England winters to keep the students in shape. After rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot (3.05 m) elevated track. In contrast with modern basketball nets, this peach basket retained its bottom, and balls had to be retrieved manually after each "basket" or point scored, this proved inefficient, however, so a hole was drilled into the bottom of the basket, allowing the balls to be poked out with a long dowel each time.The peach baskets were used until 1906 when they were finally replaced by metal hoops with backboards. A further change was soon made, so the ball merely passed through, paving the way for the game we know today. A soccer ball was used to shoot goals. Whenever a person got the ball in the basket, they would give their team a point. Whichever team got the most points won the game.

U.S. high school basketball

Before widespread school district consolidation, most United States high schools were far smaller than their present day counterparts. During the first decades of the 20th century, basketball quickly became the ideal interscholastic sport due to its modest equipment and personnel requirements. In the days before widespread television coverage of professional and college sports, the popularity of high school basketball was unrivaled in many parts of America.

Today virtually every high school in the United States fields a basketball team in varsity competition. Basketball's popularity remains high, both in rural areas where they carry the identification of the entire community, as well as at some larger schools known for their basketball teams where many players go on to participate at higher levels of competition after graduation. In the 2003–04 season, 1,002,797 boys and girls represented their schools in interscholastic basketball competition, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. The states of Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky are particularly well known for their residents' devotion to high school basketball, commonly called Hoosier Hysteria in Indiana; the critically acclaimed film Hoosiers shows high school basketball's depth of meaning to these rural communities.

International basketball

The International Basketball Federation was formed in 1932 by eight founding nations: Argentina, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Romania and Switzerland. At this time, the organization only oversaw amateur players. Its acronym, in French, was thus FIBA; the "A" standing for amateur.

Rules and regulations

Measurements and time limits discussed in this section often vary among tournaments and organizations; international and NBA rules are used in this section.
The object of the game is to outscore one's opponents by throwing the ball through the opponents' basket from above while preventing the opponents from doing so on their own. An attempt to score in this way is called a shot. A successful shot is worth two points, or three points if it is taken from beyond the three-point arc which is 6.25 meters (20 ft 6 in) from the basket in international games and 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m) in NBA games.