Rat delays Air India flight by 11 hours

Amritsar: Rat! It's that creature again that held up a London-bound Air India flight by nearly 11 hours from the Rajasansi airport here Saturday.

Flight AI-187, which was scheduled to depart at 6.30 a.m. Saturday, finally left for London around 5.26 p.m. after Air India provided a new aircraft.

There were 238 passengers on the flight.

"The flight finally left at 5.26 p.m. today. Air India provided a new aircraft to take the passengers to London," Air India manager Ashwini Kumar Arora told IANS. Read More................Rat delays Air India flight by 11 hours

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Aircraft is too heavy for lift off, Volunteers required to deboard

NEW DELHI: Denial of boarding on a flight due to overbooking or for operational reasons may be a common occurrence at Indian airports. However, imagine the plight of passengers, seated inside a plane, waiting for final takeoff call, who instead hear a cabin announcement, asking for volunteers to deboard.

Why? Because the aircraft is too heavy for lift off. This is precisely what happened at Amritsar on Sunday when passengers of a private airliner were seated inside an ATR and waiting to be flown to Delhi. Read more...........................Fliers offloaded to lighten plane

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Oh what a loot!

AMRITSAR: It was a bad day for four armed robbers, who intercepted a cash delivery van of a bank here and took away the cash bag only to find it contained tools to repair an ATM machine. Read more..................................Oh what a loot! Robbed bag contained tools

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Diwalis forever together for these twins

AMRITSAR: Mohna and Sohna are inseparable—they are conjoined twins who can’t be surgically separated because they share vital organs.

Mohna and Sohna, which means special in Punjabi, were born to a taxi driver and his wife in 2003. The couple abandoned the children and their home now is an orphanage in Amritsar.

Four years down the line they are the orphanage’s brightest spark, spoilt and love having every one at their beck and call.

“Doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi saw the children and told us that they are inoperable.

If surgery is ever tried not only will one of them will die but the other one can’t live because of the shared organs,” says Dr Inderjeet Kaur, of the Pingalwara Charitable Society, which runs the orphanage.

The children go to school in the morning and long rides on their pram in the evening. When one wants to be free of the other they have devised their own method of making their way around the complex.

They keep the orphanage’s officials on their toes and behave like individuals on their own right.

“One is quiet and the other is not. One loves to go out and the other likes being inside. Some times they fight with each other but they are joint in the shoulder so they have to accommodate one another,” says their caretaker Kanwaljit Kaur

Kanwaljit says Mohna and Sohna love Diwali—the lights lend a sparkle to their eyes and the sisters smile at each other and enjoy the crackers from a safe distance.

Mohna and Sohna are too young to realise that they will never be independent each other but till they grow up they are loving this united life.

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Miracle - Blind woman gets eyesight at 'Golden Temple'

Amritsar which literally means "pool of nectar" is the name of a Sikh holy city located in the northern Indian state of Punjab, where "The Golden Temple" or Darbar Sahib is situated. It is the most sacred temple for Sikhs. Over here people believe that miracles do happen when prayers are done with devotion.

As per one India TV channel report, a woman from Sangrur in Punjab, has claimed that her lost eyesight has been restored after she took a dip in the ‘Sarovar /Sacred pool’ near the Dukh Bhanjani Ber at the Golden Temple one-and-a-half years ago.

As per Jatinder Kaur," She had lost her eyesight about eight years ago and. Despite treatment from various doctors, she could barely see. "Earlier I just couldn’t move about without any help but now I can go anywhere by myself," she said.

Jatinder’s father, Malwinder Singh, said it remains a mystery as to how she got her eyesight back. The temple’s head ‘granthi’, Giani Gurbachan Singh, said, "Miracles have been happening."

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Aussie kept out of Golden Temple

An Australian woman "Beverly" was denied entry into the sanctum sanctorum of "Golden Temple" the great Sikh Shrine in Amritsar in Punjab state of India. Reason being, "she wore clinically approved bandages on her feet". The incident has embarrassed the Sikh community.

As per Times of India report:

"The incident took place last week and became public after Tom Simpson, the husband of Beverly, wrote a letter to Sikh priest in Australia, Dya Singh, and narrated his "grief, shock and anger" over the treatment. According to the letter, a ‘sevadar’ (a temple worker) apparently told Beverly that according to Sikh tenets only a person with bare feet could enter the sanctum sanctorum and she had to stay out because she had bandages on her feet, so what if it was due to a crippling illness.

"Incidentally, Queen Elizabeth during her visit to the Golden Temple in 1997 was given special permission by the SGPC to enter the sanctorum with her socks on. "

Its high time that Sikh community & SGPC should introspect, whether the Holy Sikh place "Golden Temple" is friendly towards the disabled or not.

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Devotees offer Liquor at the tomb of Holy man

Sometimes Saints do good to Tipplers of the world also. Cocktail of drinks is not only to be found in beer & bars of the world but here in India, such Cocktail can be found at religious places also, where people drink such Cocktail of drinks as "Prasad" or blessings of the holy man.

Though most religious faiths in the world discourage believers from drinking liquor but in India there is holy place / tomb of a Muslim seer "Baba Rode Shah", where offerings and "Prasad" are given in the form of IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) or country liquor. Nothing is diluted in any way and must be 'slammed back' neat. This is a unique and popular tomb that lies on the Amritsar-Majitha road. Devotees from all over the country have been visiting the dargah of Muslim seer Baba Rode Shah situated in Bhoma town, 34 km from Amritsar in Punjab state of India.

Following the age-old tradition, devotees offer liquor at the shrine of Baba Rode Shah. As a ritual, devotees offer cocktail of drinks ranging from cheap country-made liquor to foreign brands once their wishes are fulfilled. The liquor is later distributed among devotees as 'Prasad' or blessings of the holy man.

According to a myth, Rode Shah moved to this town in 1896 and lived on the outskirts. He underwent austere penance and was blessed with mystical powers. Soon the miracles he performed to help people in distress made him popular. Today the shrine is known for its miraculous cures. By offering liquor at the shrine, childless couples have been blessed with children and people have achieved prosperity, as per the devotees.

Devotees flashing bottles of liquor greets each other after paying obeisance at the Samadhi of baba , where they arrive seeking mystical blessing. Not only people from in the vicinity come to pay obeisance at baba's Samadhi , but several NRIs ( Non Resident Indians) also make it a point to reach here with boxes of foreign liquor to 'appease' baba , who interestingly was a teetotaler.

At baba's Samadhi , a large drum is kept to mix the 'offerings' and a 'cocktail Prasad ' is given to baba's ardent devotees who gladly gulp it down. Issueless couples especially come here to seek baba's blessings.

The legend has it that Baba Rode Shah, who hailed from Dhiman village falling in Gurdaspur district had moved to Bhoma village in 1896 where his sister was married. Baba Rode Shah underwent austere penance. He started helping people. Once, with his blessings, a child was born to an issueless couple, who brought a bottle of liquor for baba to show their gratitude, which baba distributed among his devotees.

Though Baba passed away in 1924, the tradition is still going strong. Among the more famous devotees of Baba Rode Shah was the Great Indian singer "Mohammed Rafi".

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