20th Feb.

Completed morning  program. Along with Venita attended Winter lunch at Nizamuddin BSF Mess, organised by Arsispo. About 55 persons including ladies attended. Met most of them. The food was good.
In chamber from 2.30 to 4 pm.
Retired to sleep at 10 pm.

19th Feb.

Completed morning program. Venita left for Gurgaon to look up Subhash and Neha who were not keeping well for the last few days. She too was to accompany Neha to the hospital for consultation with a physician.  She desired to spend some time with Alaynah on way back. She is always keen to spend  sometime with Alaynah. Venita says that after sometime Alaynah will start going to pre-nursery classes and  get preoccupied with new faces in the school. Then she won't be available much to play with. Despite her plan, Venita could not spend much time with Alaynah today. Alaynah was not too well and in no mood to play. She met Subhash and Sunita. Subhash is now much better. Neha consulted her physician.
A child's brain fully develops by 2 years. Alaynah is 2+  It starts gathering knowledge of the things around and reacts later in tune with the acquired knowledge .This process continues upto about 5 years.
After 5 and upto 12, it is at different levels of understanding. Depending upon the level, it's liability under civil and criminal is determined. The Indian Law treats it as minor upto18 irrespective of the understanding. The level of understanding is, however, quite  relevant in almost all western legal systems.The Supreme Court of India is examining the issue in the context of a minor's involvement in the recent Delhi gang rape case. The minor is reported to have played a horrendous role in the commission of crime. It is hoped that the Indian Law will be changed to conform to more sensible western laws in this regard
In chamber from 1.30 to 4 pm.
Retired to sleep at 11.45 pm.

18th Feb

Completed morning program. In the Supreme Court of India and chamber from 1 to 4 pm.
Retired to sleep at 10.45 pm.

17th Feb.

Completed morning program. Attended betrothal ceremony of Tarun/Sangita's son, Anand, at CSOI  Kasturba Gandhi Marg. Earlier attended Dikshit's son's marriage at CSOI, Chanakyapuri. Dikshit is a member of Fatehpur Forum at Delhi.  CSOI's Kasturba Gandhi Marg has not yet fully shifted to its new building at Chanakyapuri.
Retired to sleep at 11.45 pm.

16th Feb.

Completed morning program. Spent the day reading magazines and newspapers. 
Retired to sleep at 9.45 pm / 

15th Feb.

Completed morning program. In chamber from 1.30 to 3.30 pm. Venita returned from Gurgaon where she had gone 4 days back to spend time with grandchildren.
Retired to sleep at 9.30 pm.

News of the day  : "Meteor shower hits Central Russia, 400 injured"
"Moscow: The Ural region of Central Russia was on Friday hit by a meteor shower, causing sharp explosions and reportedly injuring more than 400 people. 

According to reports, loud explosions were heard in the mountainous Russian region this morning combined with brightly burning rocks that could be seen from several hundreds of kilometres. 
The burning rocks were identified as possible meteorites, falling from the sky. 

"A meteorite exploded above the Chelyabinsk region (of the Urals). At several places the windows were blown away due to the shock waves”, an emergency official recounted. 
He further remarked, "It was definitely not a plane. We are gathering the bits of information and have no data on the casualties so far." 

Witnesses in Chelyabinsk reported hearing a huge blast early in the morning and feeling a shock wave in a 19-storey building in the town center. 

The residents in the region also reported occurrences like shaking ground, windows being shattered and car alarms being set off during the shower.

The trace from a falling object could be seen in Yekaterinburg, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Chelyabinsk, as added by another witness.

The Russian Interior Ministry later confirmed that more than 400 people have been hurt in the meteorite fall." Z News. com dt 15.02.2013 on line

14th Feb

Completed morning program. Visited the Supreme Court of India, In chamber from 1.30 to 5 pm.
Retired to sleep at 10 pm.

13th Feb.

Completed morning program. Visited North avenue CGHS. And later the Supreme Court of India. In chamber from 1.30 to 3.30 pm  Sh. Nikhil Kumar, Governor of Nagaland addressed the Arsispo at their office, RK Puram on 'Situation in North East' Attended. He dwelt upon the distinctive tribal identities of the North East. In this connection his focus was on the Nagas in the North East. Efforts were afoot to settle the Naga problem.
He is an ex-IPS officer of 1963 batch of the State of Bihar.
Retired to sleep at 10.45 pm. 

News of the day : "Forget hedonism - today's young prefer lenten abstinence

IT might not quite fit the image of youthful rebellion and excess but young people are more willing than their elders to give something up for lent"

By John Bingham, Religious Affairs Editor

"The survey by YouGov for The Church Times found that 35 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 were planning to give something up for lent this year.

It compares with 30 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds and only 21 per cent of those over 35.

But the survey, conducted to mark the Church Times’s 150th anniversary, also revealed some confusion over the meaning of the 40-day period of fasting and self denial leading up to Easter.

Asked to write what they thought lent was, most variously described it as a time “for giving things up”, a Christian festival or a 40-day observance" The Telrgraph, dt.13.01.2013

12th Feb.

Completed morning program. Looked up Akshat at Gurgaon. He is having fever for the last few days. Venita will stay with him for 4 days.  In chamber from 3.30 to 5 pm.
Retired to sleep at 11.30 pm.

News of the day : "London: Scientists have discovered 24 new genes that cause refractive errors and myopia (short-sightedness).

Myopia is a major cause of blindness and visual impairment worldwide, and currently there is no cure. 

These findings could lead to finding better treatments or ways of preventing the condition in the future.

During visual development in childhood and adolescence the eye grows in length, but in myopes it grows too long, and light entering the eye is then focused in front of the retina rather than on it. This results in a blurred image. This refractive error can be corrected with glasses, contact lenses or surgery. 
However, the eye remains longer, the retina is thinner, and this may lead to retinal detachment, glaucoma or macular degeneration, especially with higher degrees of myopia. Myopia is highly heritable, although up to now, little was known about the genetic background.
To find the genes responsible, researchers from Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States collaborated as the Consortium for Refraction and Myopia (CREAM
To find the genes responsible, researchers from Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States collaborated as the Consortium for Refraction and Myopia (CREAM
he new genes include those, which function in brain and eye tissue signalling, the structure of the eye, and eye development. The genes lead to a high risk of myopia and carriers of the high-risk genes had a tenfold increased risk.

It was already known that environmental factors, such as reading, lack of outdoor exposure, and a higher level of education could increase the risk of myopia. The condition is more common in people living in urban areas. 

An unfavourable combination of genetic predisposition and environmental factors appears to be particularly risky for development of myopia. How these environmental factors affect the newly identified genes and cause myopia remains intriguing, and will be further investigated by the consortium.
Professor Chris Hammond from the Department of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology at King`s College London, and lead author of the paper, said: "We already knew that myopia - or short-sightedness - tends to run in families, but until now we knew little about the genetic causes. This study reveals for the first time a group of new genes that are associated with myopia and that carriers of some of these genes have a 10-fold increased risk of developing the condition."

These findings have been published in the journal Nature Genetics." The Z News on line dt 12.02.2013

11th Feb.

Completed morning program. Visited PNB. Also  the Supreme Court of India. In chamber from 1.30 to 4.30 pm.
Retired to sleep at 11.15 m.