Nominated As The Picture Of The Year 2008

Nominated as the world's best short joke of 2008

A 3-year-old boy examined his testicles while taking a bath.
'Mom', he asked, 'Are these my brains?'
'Not yet,' she replied.

Sleepless in Lavasa

Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair.  ~Kahlil Gibran

I'm in love with the kingdom of Lavasa. For those of you who are Face-booking, please do join our group- "In Love with Lavasa". My Dad & I drove down this bright sunny winter day , past Urvade, Lavarde to Lavasa. As usual, we had a breakfast break on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway - they serve the best Vada-Paos in the district! After this pit-stop, it was an hours drive straight up to Lavasa. I thank you God for this most amazing day, for the leaping greenly spirits of trees, and for the blue dream of sky and for everything which is natural, which is infinite, which is boundless. Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars... and if you have eyes you will be able to see that the whole existence is joyful.  Everything is simply happy.  Trees are happy for no reason; they are not going to become prime ministers or presidents and they are not going to become rich and they will never have any bank balance.  Look at the flowers - for no reason.  It is simply unbelievable how happy flowers are.

As I drove up the Lavabahn, I was dreaming of starting an Art Gallery for the township. Art would blend in beautifully with the environment, the ambience, the stylish landscaping, the royal promenade, the manicured lawns, the eco-friendly slopes of the villas & the people who have made Lavasa their home. And then we cruised past the Lavasa Dwaar & we were in another world. Art gallery?  Who needs it?  Look up at the swirling silver-lined clouds in the magnificent blue sky or at the silently blazing stars at midnight.  How could indoor art be any more masterfully created than God's museum of nature?  George Wherry's words resonated in my mind: "Truly it may be said that the outside of a mountain is good for the inside of a man."  ~George Wherry, Alpine Notes and the Climbing Foot, 1896

The mountain slopes, the hill-sides, the grazing meadows were changing colors. Although we don't have a "Fall" in this part of the world, the colors typically reminded me of the east coast of North America bathed in its majestic colors of the Fall. Rust colored bushes with fields of yellow ochre shrubs skirted with lush green vegetation at the periphery was the scenery that a landscape artist dreams of. This time around we decided to hit the Nature trail sculpted out of the Sahyadris by the landscape team. The trail begins right outside the driveway of Ekaant and meanders through the forest going upwards for a 1000 yards & then follows the butterfly route. You could take the long route and walk for three hours exploring the natural habitat of the butterflies, or for the not so fit, the trail can be shortened to just an hour.

May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
~Irish Blessing

He's lived 13 years of his prime youth in Ireland & still loves the Guiness and his grateful for the Irish Blessings! My dad was hesitant initially to go up the rough trail (hes 79!); I convinced him to come with me for the short nature-walk & he thoroughly enjoyed the wild flowers, the wind in his hair, the smell of wild grass & the skyful of butterflies. The flowers change every couple of months. Im not a botanist; cannot identify the genus, but December had an amazing display of wild flowers and the landscape team's babies! Look at the photos & I'm sure you will fall in love with Lavasa too!!

The flower is the poetry of reproduction.  It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of life.  ~Jean Giraudoux

Indians most likely to get 'completely lost' abroad

Indians, along with Brazilians, are most likely to get "completely lost" abroad, a fascinating survey in 13 countries on people's sense of direction and navigational habits, has found.

The survey by Finnish telecom giant, Nokia, also revealed that New Delhi is among the easiest city across the world for tourists to navigate around.

"Indians, along with Brazilians, are the most likely nationalities to get completely lost abroad," said the survey, described as one of the largest navigation studies to date into people's sense of direction and navigational habits in countries like India, Australia, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Russia and Singapore.

"The Indian results are fascinating not least because their love of shopping seems to help them with their sense of direction, with more than one in ten using local shops as a point of reference to help guide others to their destination," Nokia said in a release.

However, surprisingly, one in five Indians are more likely to rely on a mobile satellite-navigation device to get them from A to B, it said. The survey showed that 31 per cent of Indians like their Brazilian counterparts were the most likely nationalities around the world to get lost when abroad.

However, New Delhi was among the easiest cities across the globe for tourists to navigate around, with less than one per cent singling it out as a confusing city.

Renowned for their lavish weddings, one in ten Indians confessed to missing a wedding because they got lost more than double the global average which was four per cent. Indians were also the most likely to miss a birth of a child (two per cent), the survey said.

The survey showed that nearly one in five (19 per cent) tech savvy Indians rely on a navigation device to get from A to B. Indians are the most trusting when giving directions, with less than a quarter (23 per cent) admitting to deliberately sending strangers the wrong way.

Indians clearly love shopping as they are the top nation for using shops as a point of reference when giving directions (15 per cent), the survey found.

Providing regional highlights of the survey, Nokia said one in ten (10 per cent) people who live in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune will miss a job interview. People living in Mumbai are the "most stubborn" in India, with one in ten (10 per cent) never asking directions from a stranger.

As far as Delhi was concerned, the survey said, "Homely residents in Delhi and Ahmedabad are the least likely to get lost when in their own city (two per cent)." However, in a sad case of affairs, 5 per cent of residents in Delhi miss funerals, the survey showed.

Turning to Kolkata and Ahmedabad, the survey said that the eastern metropolis as well as the western city had India's navigation experts, with a quarter (25 per cent) claiming never to have been lost in their cities.


A third (30 per cent) of residents in Kolkata blame tiredness as the cause for getting lost. In South, the residents in Chennai get lost the most when at home (11 per cent), the survey said. In Bengaluru, the people prefer to put faith in nature, as nearly one in ten (7 per cent) guide themselves by the stars.

In Hyderabad, nearly one in ten (8 per cent), double the national average, believe in science and think that a sense of direction was genetic. Moreover, nearly a third of residents (31 per cent) blamed being in rush for making them lost.

In the western city of Ahmedabad, over of three quarters (77 per cent) of residents rate their sense of direction as good. One in ten (10 per cent) residents in the city get lost on the way to catching a flight, train or bus to their holiday destination. As far as the people of Pune were concerned, they missed a quarter of weddings (24 per cent), the survey said.

Surat has turned out to be the "most organised Indian city," with over a quarter (26 per cent) of residents meticulously planning their route before heading out, the Nokia survey said. Over a third (39 per cent) of shopaholic residents in Surat use shops to signpost directions to others, it said.

Pune emerged as the "flirtiest city in India", with 16 per cent asking for directions as a chat up line, it said. One in ten (8 per cent) residents in Pune bizarrely believe that a sense of direction is due to the magnetic pull of the earth.

Describing Kanpur as the "most disorderly city," the survey, conducted among 1000 Indians, said 5 per cent of residents claim to take up to two hours to find their way when lost. However, Kanpur residents were most reliant on technology, with nearly a third losing their way (30 per cent) without their navigation device.

Relationships Today

These Are Signs In Japanese Metro Trains

From Left to Right
1.Person With Injured Arm
2.Person Holding A Child
3.Pregnant Woman
4.Person With Injured Leg

All I Need For Christmas.. Is Jews...

Was The Giant Leap For Mankind a Fake?

Our First Astronaut Returns on Christmas Day

Young widow to try for IVF baby

A young widow spoke of the hard decision she made to have her deceased husband's baby through fertility treatment.

Lisa Wilkinson, 26, married her partner of five years Gareth Wilkinson two years ago while he was undergoing treatment for an aggressive form of bone cancer.

Mrs Wilkinson, a staff nurse at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, and Mr Wilkinson, a care assistant in the hospital's accident and emergency department, were determined to walk up the aisle and not be beaten by the illness.

In April last year, Mrs Wilkinson won a local newspaper's Bride of the Year competition, after judges heard her tragic story. But in September Mr Wilkinson, 26, lost his battle against the cancer.

Before he underwent a programme of chemotherapy, he gave a sample of his sperm to be frozen to allow the couple, from Wellington, Somerset, to have a child. Now Mrs Wilkinson is preparing to go ahead with the IVF treatment next year.

Mrs Wilkinson told the Western Daily Press: "I miss him so much, every day I miss him more I suppose.

"Gareth had been ill for a long time but you can't prepare for something like this.

"We made the decision some time ago that we would take a sample so we could have a baby and I'm going to start the treatment in January. It is what we both wanted.

"It will be hard without Gareth but I have a lot of support from family and friends who have been great."

Mr Wilkinson's situation appeared to improve later last year, but the cancer returned and they were dealt the devastating news that he might not survive. He died on September 10.

Single men turning to surrogates

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Jeff Walker says from as far back as he can remember, he always wanted to be a father.

Jeff Walker, with his two daughters, tried to adopt, but ultimately turned to surogacy to build a family.

"It was always something I knew, from the time I was a child." Just like his 3-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, who says she wants to be a mommy someday, Jeff says, "I knew I wanted to be a daddy."

Walker, a Manhattan music executive, says he and his partner had talked about adopting a baby years ago. But after three emotionally draining, failed attempts at adoption, they decided to turn to surrogacy. They contacted Circle Surrogacy, a Boston agency that specializes in gay clients. Their child was conceived with a donor egg, and then the embryo implanted in the surrogate, or carrier.

After Elizabeth was born, Walker and his partner separated. He then made a critical decision -- to become a dad again, single, and by choice.

"I realized my family, my two-dad family was going to look different than I thought it was going to look," he said. Without a partner, he would face even steeper challenges raising Elizabeth and a sibling alone. Walker says he gave the decision a lot of thought.

"That was the only part that was really controversial, because I do think there are a lot of challenges that single parents face, but at the same time I felt I was capable of handling those challenges," he said.

His second daughter, Alexandra, was born two years ago to the same surrogate, implanted with an egg from a different donor.

Walker, 45, is one of a growing number of single men -- both gay and straight -- who are opting to become fathers alone, with the help of gestational surrogacy.

Surrogacy experts say because the practice is not regulated, many surrogacy arrangements are handled privately by individuals. Precise figures are hard to come by, but experts say there's no doubt the United States is experiencing a surrogacy baby boom.

Celebrities like Ricky Martin and Clay Aiken announced this year they had had babies with the help of surrogates and the the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology, representing scores of reproductive clinics, reports that the number of gestational surrogate births in the country quadrupled between 1996 and 2006. Watch more on the surrogacy boom »

Surrogacy experts say gestational surrogacy has increased steadily since the advent of in vitro fertilization in the early 1980s, because it provides an extra layer of emotional and legal protection for the client. The egg donor usually does not even know the client, and unlike the legally contentious "Baby M" case from the 1980s, the surrogate is not giving birth to her genetic child.

"It rises as an issue far less frequently with gestational surrogacy, because women never see it as their child to begin with," said John Weltman, president of Circle Surrogacy.

His agency, which expects more than 70 babies to be born in 2009, has seen a 50 percent growth in the number of single male clients over the past year.

Walker and other men are willing to pay well over $100,000 to have a baby through surrogacy -- the final cost depending on the number of IVF treatments necessary and how much is paid by insurance.

Circle is not the only major surrogacy provider experiencing a single-dad surge. At Growing Generations, a Los Angeles, California, agency that facilitates about 100 births a year, the number of single men seeking surrogates has doubled in the past three years, spokeswoman Erica Bowers said.

Although most of their single male clients are gay, surrogacy providers say a smaller but growing number are straight. Steven Harris, a New York malpractice and personal-injury attorney, says he gave up trying to get married when he realized his primary motive was to start a family.

Harris, 54, says he knew he made the right decision after 21-month old Ben was born.

"I thought getting married was the only way to go, because I did want a family. But having Ben, I feel complete now," Harris says.

Test-tube babies profitable business for the state

In many countries in Europe, too few children are being born for the population to replace itself. In the future this can entail major problems when it comes to financing health care and pensions, for example. In Greece, Italy, and Spain roughly 1.3 children are born per woman, and in Sweden the figure is 1.88. At the same time, in Sweden, for instance, some 10 percent of all couples are unable to have children for various reasons, even though they wish to.

"Subsidized in vitro fertilization is not a total solution for aging populations, but it is part of a strategy. And it's important to have plan to make Sweden and other countries better able to deal with the future," says Anders Svensson, today a medical student, who is the lead author of the article and who was prompted by a suggestion from the American think tank Rand to look at state-subsidized IVF treatment.

The author of the article points out that there are great regional differences in Sweden today when it comes to how easy it is to get access to county-subsidized in vitro fertilization. Certain county councils will not pay if the couple already has children; some pay for two attempts only, and others for three attempts.

"Actually roughly half of all test-tube fertilizations are paid for out of pocket, which means that only those who can afford it can undergo IVF treatment."

In the longer term the state benefits from subsidizing the costs of test-tube children for couples that are involuntarily childless.

"This is a group that could potentially help boost population growth. Our calculations show that in a long-term perspective in vitro fertilization doesn't cost the state anything at all since the state actually sees a return on its investment in the form of the tax monies the individual will pay during his or her lifetime."

Anders Svensson uses a scenario where every test-tube baby is an average person in terms of longevity and income, for example. The study is based on a net present value calculation, which factors in inflation and other parameters. If the state invests in a test-tube baby today, that investment today is worth SEK 254,000, calculated only on what the individual will pay in income tax and value-added tax – other taxes have not been counted, which means that the state's profit per individual is likely underestimated.

"The effect on the Swedish population curve is comparable to raising state child allowances by 25 percent, but at a lower cost."

In other countries, IVF children are probably even more profitable, since Sweden has a relatively costly welfare system. In a similar calculation based on British conditions, two co-authors of the article in SJPH, Federico Callo, Rand, and Mark Connolly, Global Market Access Solutions, have found that every IVF child yields a profit of GBP 160,069.

"The difference can largely be explained by the fact that schooling, elderly care, and health care are relatively higher costs for the Swedish state than for the UK state. In other words, the Swedish welfare system is more expensive, which reduces the profits," says Anders Svensson.

One third of all inhabitants in Europe will be older than 65 years old in 2050, compared with every sixth person today.

"If we want to maintain our various welfare systems as they look today, we need to reverse the downward population trend, since in the future fewer and fewer working people will be supporting more and more old people."

Increased subsidization would moreover reduce some of the personal suffering that comes from wanting to have children, but not being able to.

"Test-tube fertilization differs from all other medical treatment. It creates life instead of extending life. This is unique," says Anders Svensson.

Source: Swedish Research Council

The First Christmas Joke - 2008

Reasons why Indians Can Never Be Terrorists

1. We are always late; we would have missed all 4 flights.

2. We would talk loudly and bring attention to ourselves.

3. With free food & drinks on the plane, we would forget why we're there.

4. We talk with our hands;therefore we would have to put our weapons down.

5. We would all want to fly the plane.

6. We would argue and start a fight in the plane.

7. We can't keep a secret; we would have told everyone a week before doing it.

8. We would have put our country's flag on the windshield.

9. We would have postponed the mission because a cricket match was going on that day

10. We would all have fallen over each other to be in the photograph being taken with one of the hostages.

'I wanted a child more than a man'

Financially independent but without long-term relationships, a growing number of young women are now turning to artificial insemination and embracing single motherhood.

Gwyneth, now 44, a nurse from the home counties, was 32 and single when she decided she could not wait any longer to conceive a child. "I've always known that having a child was more important to me than being in a relationship. I'd done what I wanted career-wise, I'd travelled and worked in Australia. A lot of my friends were settling down and having children. And as a nurse I was aware that after 35 it would be harder to conceive. I just thought it was the right thing to do."

She did not know anyone who had done this but had read about the London Women's Clinic, which has treated single women since the late 1980s. She signed up for private treatment: donor insemination at £170 for each attempt, plus her travel costs. "It was costing me about £200 a month - and it took nine tries over 15 months. In those days they were just doing cervical insemination [when the sperm is inserted into the cervix] - now they tend to do IUI [sperm is inserted into the uterus] - and the success rates were much lower." However, at the age of 33, she conceived her daughter, Helen, now 10, and became one of the UK's first - and, then, youngest - "choice mothers".

Ten years on and this group of women is growing. So-called "single motherhood by choice" has always existed: around 250 of the 1,100-strong membership of the UK's Donor Conception Network (DCN) are single mothers. Usually this is a decision women come to in their late 30s or early 40s. Not any more. Olivia Montuschi, a spokeswoman for the DCN, reports that the organisation has been approached recently by a several women in their early 30s already considering donor insemination: "It's increasingly an option. They're more likely to conceive [at this age], of course. But the idea that women are giving up on finding a man at 33 or 34 does seem a bit sad." The DCN has relaunched a Single Women section on its website and released a leaflet entitled: Dear Would-Be Single Mum.

A survey of attitudes towards contraception out this week appears to confirm this as a trend. Both men and women said they had serious concerns about whether they would meet the right partner in time to conceive naturally; and 56% of the women asked said they would consider asking a male friend to father their child if they failed to find a partner by a certain age. And it was younger women - those aged between 28 and 31 - who were the most likely to go it alone if the right man did not turn up in time.

Seeking artificial insemination in your 20s or 30s is not unusual among lesbians (who have no reason to delay), but heterosexual women typically wait to see if they can find a partner first. Using a sperm donor has always been a last resort. Now the process is becoming a first resort. Say that you are in your early 30s and you are convinced your life will not be complete without a child. Why wait? Many women have financial independence earlier in life than in the past and few see being a single mother as a situation that carries a stigma. Many single mothers by choice argue that they see couples struggling with the difficult issues that shared parenting raises. Women in this category who know that they definitely want a baby are less concerned about raising a child alone than they are about waiting for the "right man" for so long that they miss their fertility window.

On the Single Women forum at the website Fertility Friends - an invaluable resource for anyone seeking any kind of fertility treatment - there are dozens of posts from single, heterosexual women under 35 seeking donor insemination. One, now 36, tells of how she first saw her GP in April 2006 at the age of 34 and went on an NHS waiting list for donor sperm later that year. Another woman writes, "I am a 31-year-old single woman considering donor insemination to start a family as Mr Right still hasn't appeared."

Their forum sign-offs all include their ages, fertility history and often their reasons for doing it. Some of the stories are heartbreaking: "36-year-old single girl. Currently flummoxed by Inhibin B test results [a test that can diagnose problems with ovulation]. Wondering whether to co-parent with lovely gay friend." Another writes: "Eeeek! 35 now! Not sure what's next. Watch this space!" There is a post from a 34-year-old woman who has been trying to get pregnant for the past two years using donor sperm from the UK and the US - but who has just discovered that she has polycystic ovaries, which can reduce fertility. Several women have been through IUI with donor sperm five or six times with no success and are now considering IVF. Many mention how difficult it is to go through these treatments on your own, without a partner, and how heavily they rely on the support of friends and family.

In many ways it is an extraordinary decision to use donor sperm in your early 30s because you are fed up waiting for a partner. Some campaigners argue that choice mothers are wrongfully depriving their children of a father. But many women in this position think long and hard about this aspect of their decision and often line up a host of male role models in advance. Gwyneth says of 10-year-old Helen: "I think there are some children who grow up perfectly well without male role models - and she has got my father, my brother and my nephew."

But there are also long-term implications for the woman's future relationship status. As any single parent knows, it's more difficult to meet someone once you're in that situation. "Quite honestly, I've never had a serious relationship," admits Gwyneth. "It's just never been a priority for me. And since my daughter was born, finding the time for a relationship is just impossible." She could do with someone to help out: "It is difficult when you have to work full-time and raise a child. You don't get the after-school time with them because they're in an after-school club. But it's definitely worth it." But she does not romanticise the lives of two-parent families: "Our children don't have to go through the pain of seeing their parents separate," says Gwyneth.

Another single mother by choice, Lucy (not her real name), 47, a marketing executive from Northern Ireland, argues that by definition this situation makes you a responsible parent. "The thing is, you are making a proactive decision. It's very different to those single parents who through no choice of their own have ended up with two or more children." She has not had a relationship for over seven years: "I suspect I actually wanted a child much more than a partner. I would be concerned about the impact on my son if I got into a relationship. It seems pointless actively pursuing any love interest if it could impact negatively on him."

For Amy (not her real name), 32, from the south of England, mother of an 18-month-old daughter, it was about abandoning the need for a man and getting on with her own life. "I didn't have a great childhood, which has made relationships quite difficult for me," she says, "I thought about the possibility of a one-night stand [to get pregnant] but I wouldn't go and sleep with someone just to get a baby. I feel a lot better saying she was the product of sperm donation. She's planned and she's loved. OK, she doesn't know who her dad is but at least she's not the result of a quick fumble."

Amy sought treatment at the age of 30. "I just thought: I want a baby and I need to do something about it. I could have waited but I didn't think time was on my side. I thought it would take years and I was just lucky it worked for me first time." She ordered sperm from an agency listed on the internet at a cost of around £400. "I was sent a list of (anonymous) donors in my area and I chose one of them. I had to wait until one of my ovulation tests was positive and then contact them. They sent me the sperm by courier that evening. It arrived in a little pot inside a Pizza Hut-type padded bag. There was a note with instructions and a syringe. I expected it to be much more complicated, but it wasn't."

Amy was shocked that it was so easy - and that she got pregnant immediately. She acknowledges that the whole thing happened a bit too fast. She now feels uncomfortable that her daughter will never be able to trace her father: "fresh" sperm falls outside the law and so donors are not required to register with the authorities. The Donor Conception Network unequivocally advises against using these services: "There is so much that can go wrong," says Montuschi, "There is very little information on the donors and you are not covered by any legal structure." Clinics should be registered with the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.

"I do feel sad about it," says Amy, "but I will tell my daughter that she is really loved and that I wanted her so badly that this is the way I went about it and that I chose the best person I could out of the choice that I had." She was told the age, height, colour of hair and of eyes of the donor. "Part of me asks if I did the right thing for her. It does sound crazy. But I don't regret it because I have a beautiful daughter who has got everything I can ever give her." Amy is on long-term sick leave from work, takes in ironing to make ends meet and lives with a female flatmate who also helps out.

She intends to repeat the process once she has finished breastfeeding her daughter. She has been back in touch with the same agency.

"I want to try for a brother or a sister with the same donor. They have said he would do it again. I want her to have somebody growing up with her. If I give her a full brother or sister she will have someone else who is completely genetically hers and I will know that she will always have this person." (That is, of course, if the agency she is using is telling the truth about the unregistered, anonymous donor.)

Although some choice mothers would not approve of using unregulated sperm donations, there seems to be a consensus that Amy was right to start early. Mikki Morrissette, "choice mom" from Minnesota and author of Choosing Single Motherhood: The Thinking Woman's Guide, says that in the US "there are more women today who don't particularly care if they are in a lifetime commitment but do care to have children, and figure they might as well get started."

She has noticed more women in their 20s joining her online discussion group. "I don't know their stories well enough to know the deeper reasons for this but I suspect it might have to do with some bad examples in fathering or dating - which is too bad if that's the case, since there are good men out there. But I'm also seeing a lot of women who are trying to decide whether to stay with a partner who doesn't want children."

Morrissette herself married after becoming a choice mother: she met her husband when she already had one donor-conceived child, a three-year-old girl, and was pregnant with a second, a boy. Both live in separate houses and, despite being married, operate as single parents.

The early 30s are not too young to start planning a path to single parenthood, she says: "It's a shame not to have a partner when you have to deal with infertility challenges, but the earlier you seek out your fertility information, the more time you have to prepare for the next plan, whether it be IVF, adoption, foster care or childlessness." Older choice mothers often warn younger ones not to wait, she adds: "Many women had trouble conceiving siblings for their first child, which tends to be a regret."

This is the case for Lucy from Northern Ireland: her donor-conceived son is six years old and she is sorry he will most likely not have a sibling. "The chances of conceiving are so much higher when you're younger. I've been contacted by women of 40-plus who haven't been able to get pregnant via this route." As a younger woman she wrote off donor conception. "I was more concerned with finding a partner and looked on having children as something I would do if I found the right person. Also, because of all the negative publicity at the time about single parents, I assumed it was an extremely tough job - which I accept that it is. So I decided single parenthood would be too tough a challenge for me."

When she had a relationship in her late 30s with a male single parent she saw that it was not an insurmountable challenge. "It made me realise how much I wanted a child and I reassessed everything. While I would have loved to have that relationship with a life partner, having a child was now more of a priority. That was the turning point. After that relationship finished, I read an article where some choice mothers were interviewed and they were so positive and candid that I thought - yes, maybe this is possible." Her treatment at King's College Hospital in London worked on the first attempt.

Now she wishes that she had started in her 30s. "I'll always wish I could have provided my son with a sibling. It's not out of the question, with adoption. But it is the one factor that I never really considered." And she occasionally feels uncomfortable about him being an only child. "You bond with other mothers who are having their first child. Then two years down the line they have another and you think, 'Well, that isn't an option for me'," she adds.

Lucy also wishes that more women had the chance to think about this earlier, adding that as choice mothers tend to be older, if they do have two donor-conceived children, they tend to have them very close together: "It's financially difficult to pay the childcare costs for two young children. If you have a gap, then it is easier." Although waiting has its compensations too. "By leaving it until I was 40, friends could see that there had been a number of failed relationships and felt that I deserved some personal happiness. It wasn't that I hadn't sought a life partner. I had just been unlucky," she says.

First-resort donor conception is not for the fainthearted. But it is, Gwyneth argues, a sensible decision for women who are certain that having a child is the single most important consideration in their life. If you are that sure, why put it off? "I always knew that I wanted children. You can have a relationship later in life. But your child-bearing years are limited.", she says.

By Viv Groskop

Shoegate

For All You Rajnikanth Fans

Fishy Affair

Life in the Australian Army...

Text of a letter from a kid from Eromanga to Mum and Dad. (For those of you not in the know, Eromanga is a smalltown, west of Quilpie in the far south west of Queensland )

Dear Mum & Dad,
I am well. Hope youse are too. Tell me big brothers Doug and Phil that the Army is better than workin' on the farm - tell them to get in bloody quick smart before the jobs are all gone! I wuz a bit slow in settling down at first, because ya don't hafta get outta bed until 6am. But I like sleeping in now, cuz all ya gotta do before brekky is make ya bed and shine ya boots and clean ya uniform. No bloody cows to milk, no calves to feed, no feed to stack - nothin'!! Ya haz gotta shower though, but its not so bad, coz there's lotsa hot water and even a light to see what ya doing!
At brekky ya get cereal, fruit and eggs but there's no kangaroo steaks or possum stew like wot Mum makes. You don't get fed again until noon and by that time all the city boys are buggered because we've been on a 'route march' - geez its only just like walking to the windmill in the back paddock!!
This one will kill me brothers Doug and Phil with laughter. I keep getting medals for shootin' - dunno why. The bullseye is as big as a bloody possum's bum and it don't move and it's not firing back at ya like the Johnsons did when our big scrubber bull got into their prize cows before the Ekka last year! All ya gotta do is make yourself comfortable and hit the target - it's a piece of piss!! You don't even load your own cartridges, they comes in little boxes, and ya don't have to steady yourself against the rollbar of the roo shooting truck when you reload!
Sometimes ya gotta wrestle with the city boys and I gotta be real careful coz they break easy - it's not like fighting with Doug and Phil and Jack and Boori and Steve and Muzza all at once like we do at home after the muster.
Turns out I'm not a bad boxer either and it looks like I'm the best the platoon's got, and I've only been beaten by this one bloke from the Engineers - he's 6 foot 5 and 15 stone and three pick handles across the shoulders and as ya know I'm only 5 foot 7 and eight stone wringin' wet, but I fought him till the other blokes carried me off to the boozer.
I can't complain about the Army - tell the boys to get in quick before word gets around how bloody good it is.

Your loving daughter,
Sheila

Robin Williams on Africa

Gastric banding helps big women have babies

Weight-loss surgery can help obese women conceive babies more easily through IVF, according to research showing lap bands can partially restore fertility. Very overweight Australian women have been increasingly taking up the option of bariatric surgery after failing to fall pregnant naturally, and a new study from the US backs the move.
A team from Washington University reviewed the records of five obese women who underwent bariatric surgery followed by IVF.Three of the women got pregnant after just one treatment cycle and delivered healthy full-term infants, while the other two women are still pregnant after requiring three cycles.
Lead researcher Dr Beth Lewkowski told a fertility conference in San Francisco that all five women had been infertile for two to 10 years before the surgery. Dr Anne Clark, a fertility specialist in Sydney, said while no such study had been completed in Australia there had been a steep increase in women seeking weight-loss surgery to improve fertility.
Obese women undergoing fertility treatment generally have less success, require higher doses of medication to help get them to ovulate, and have a higher miscarriage rate.
"We have been able to show that women with a body mass index (BMI) under 35 kilograms can dramatically improve their chances of pregnancy with just seven kilos of weight loss," Dr Clark said.
"But women who are very obese, with a BMI of 40 or more, need to lose even more weight to have the same success, and that can be impossible for some women to do naturally.
"It's in these cases women get surgery, and we definitely notice it helps."
Professor Rob Norman, director of the Research Centre for Reproductive Health at the University of Adelaide, said that gastric banding, in which a rubber band is surgically wrapped around the stomach, was getting the best results.
"It's something we are going to see more and more among very big people, and it's clear there a big benefits for the women and for their babies," Prof Norman said from San Francisco.
About 14,000 Australians are expected to get lap band surgery this year, with guidelines requiring patients to have a BMI over 30 and have failed to lose weight by other means. About 80 per cent of patients were female, but only a very small proportion sought surgery primarily to aid pregnancy, obesity experts say.

IVF does not raise breast cancer risk

A new research has dispelled fears that In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) may elevate women's risk of developing breast cancer.

The nationwide study in the Netherlands found that the fertility treatment has no effect on the disease.

Although no firm link between IVF and breast cancer has been established, some boffins are worried about the potential effects of fertility drugs used to stimulate the ovaries so that eggs can be collected and fertilised, reports Times Online.

These expose the body to high levels of oestrogen, a female hormone to which some breast tumours are sensitive.

The research, which was led by Alexandra van den Belt-Dusebout, of the Netherlands Cancer Institute, should reassure women considering fertility treatment that it does not pose a breast cancer risk.

The study was presented at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine conference in San Francisco last month.

In the study, the Dutch team used a national registry to investigate more than 25,000 women who received IVF or other fertility treatments between 1980 and 1995. Almost 19,000 of the women had had IVF, while the other sub-fertile women had had different treatments or none.

There was no statistically significant difference in breast cancer incidence between either group as a whole and the general population. There was a slight increase in breast cancer risk among the infertility patients who had been followed up for the longest periods - 15 years - but this was accounted for by the size of their families.

The study also compared women who had had different numbers of IVF cycles, and found no relationship between extra cycles and breast cancer risk.

British surrogacy ruling saves baby twins from Ukraine orphanage

A British couple this week won custody over a pair of twins born to a
surrogate mother in the Ukraine. The twin babies were caught in a legal
loophole whereby the expectant British couple were unable to bring the twins
into the UK, as they were not recognised by English law as the parents.
Simultaneously, the Ukrainian biological mother no longer had any
responsible for, or even rights over, the children under Ukrainian law as
this (in contrast to UK legislation) gives binding effect to surrogacy
arrangements. Consequently, had the British couple failed to gain the
'parental order' for custody of the children, the twins would have been
returned to the Ukraine and placed in an orphanage.
The situation arose as a result of the couple being unable to find a
surrogate mother in the UK, where it is illegal to pay a woman more than her
expenses in a surrogacy arrangement, were advised to look abroad to a more
permissive jurisdiction, and subsequently employed the services of a
commercial surrogacy organisation in the Ukraine for a fee of around
£23,000. However, as the surrogate mother was married, the UK father, who
supplied the sperm, is not considered to be the father under UK law
(specifically s.28 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990) and
thus was unable to bring the children to the UK after birth. Though the Home
Office gave special leave for the children to enter the country pending the
High Court ruling, had the application for custody failed. The peculiar
legal effect of the disparity between the two legal systems is that the
children had, until the date of the court order, no legal parents and no
nationality.
The case highlights the ongoing problems surrounding the legal status of
surrogacy in the UK. Mr Justice Hedley, in his judgement on the case, stated
that 'surrogacy remains an ethically controversial area' and that
international surrogacy arrangements raise potentially difficult problems of
a kind not experienced with domestic agreements. However at present it is
impossible to enforce a surrogacy arrangement in the UK and the couple's
solicitor, Natalie Gamble, stated that the UK surrogacy law requires urgent
updating to reflect the realities of modern fertility practices and that
currently it provides inadequate protection to vulnerable children. This
view was reflected in the court's judgment, which noted the case
'highlighted the wisdom' of a review to surrogacy law (as proposed during
the debates on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008, earlier this
year) and expressing a hope that the problems experienced by the couple 'may
alert others to the difficulties inherent in this journey'.

Freezing eggs holds promise

Human oocyte-freezing techniques are improving so rapidly that this procedure may soon be incorporated into routine in vitro fertilization cycles, experts predicted recently at the WARM meeting in Mexico last month. Currently, most oocyte freezing is done for cancer patients and other women who face potentially sterilizing chemotherapy treatments. And it is beginning to be offered for fertility preservation in young, healthy women worried about their biological clock.

But extending its application to the general in vitro fertilization (IVF) population could increase the flexibility of IVF; oocytes could be frozen rather than discarded in cycles that have to be canceled because of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome or the absence of a sperm sample. Oocyte cryopreservation could also overcome some legal and ethical dilemmas posed by embryo freezing.

Until now, oocyte freezing has not been a satisfactory alternative to embryo freezing, because oocytes are more fragile than embryos and thus less likely to survive after being thawed. But recent technological improvements have made oocyte freezing a much more viable option, though there is still much debate over the merits of various freezing and thawing methods and of cryoprotective and culture solutions.

"Oocyte freezing will become a standard part of IVF within 5 years worldwide," predicted Giovanni Battista La Sala, M.D., whose clinic at Santa Maria Nuova Hospital in Reggio Emilia, Italy, is the first in the world to use the procedure in all standard IVF cycles. Under the protocol, patients have three of their oocytes fertilized, and the resulting embryos are transferred to the uterus. The remaining oocytes that have been retrieved are frozen and stored for future use, he told this newspaper.

Italy has always been at the forefront of oocyte-freezing research, and its efforts in this field have intensified in the last year after the introduction of new Italian legislation that bans embryo freezing and restricts standard IVF to the creation of no more than three embryos.

The Italian efforts to make oocyte freezing a viable alternative to embryo freezing may end up setting new standards even in less restricted countries, such as the United States, suggested Thomas L. Toth, M.D., director of the in vitro fertilization unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

"This alternative approach may be more ideal for providing IVF therapies to our patients. I think the Italians have done very well, and the rest of the world should be watching carefully," he said in an interview.

Dr. La Sala's experience of incorporating oocyte freezing into his standard IVF protocol has produced only 8 ongoing pregnancies out of 324 thaw attempts in the last 14 months. However, worldwide data on oocyte freezing are more encouraging, suggested Eleonora Porcu, M.D., director of the fertility and IVF center at the University of Bologna and a pioneer in the field.

Although the world's first frozen oocyte birth was announced in 1986, followed by two more--one from her own patient and another in 1987 in the United States--there were no more such births in the ensuing decade. Since then, only about 150 babies have been produced using frozen oocytes because of specific technical difficulties, some of which can now be overcome.

"I am convinced that the previously poor results leading the majority of researchers to conclude that oocyte freezing was unreliable, inefficient, and unsafe were due to the fact that they were generally restricted to using excess oocytes," which were few, of inadequate quality, and often old, Dr. Porcu said.

In a study attempting to overcome these limitations, her team froze all oocytes of IVF patients with tubal infertility who were under age 38. They then performed oocyte thawing, fertilization, and embryo transfer in the subsequent cycle.

After more than 500 transfers, the team reported a pregnancy rate per embryo transfer of 17% and a pregnancy rate per patient of almost 24% (sometimes over more than one thaw cycle). There was a high spontaneous-abortion rate (25%), however, which has been noted by other oocyte-freezing experts.

The most extensive U.S. experience with oocyte freezing is from the IVF program at Community Hospital North in Indianapolis, where there have been 13 births reported from frozen oocytes since 1999. This brings the pregnancy rate per embryo transfer to 34% said Donald Cline, M.D., medical director of the clinic.

When comparing frozen-oocyte with frozen-embryo pregnancies, his group noted similar success rates--between 34% and 36% per transfer. "We were pleasantly surprised. It will take more numbers to determine if these data are accurate. But if they are, and we have the same pregnancy rates with frozen oocytes as we do with frozen embryos, this will be the way a number of our patients will want to go," he said.

The Goldfish

Indian

Thats Life

Three Brazilian Soldiers

Meet Ricky Martin's Twins!!!!!

Take a look at the Celebrity Twins who have graced the cover of PEOPLE magazine over the past years. The latest to join them will be Ricky Martin's Twins! The biggest difference being they are born out of Donor egg IVF & Gestational Surrogacy.

Born via surrogacy in early August, Ricky Martin's 4-month-old twin boys make their debut in this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

A joyful Martin, 36, spoke candidly with PEOPLE at home in Puerto Rico about his desire to be a parent, the decision to seek the help of a surrogate, and juggling caring for twins -- he has no nanny!

Describe this time in your life?
"I'm so happy! Everything they do, from smiling to crying, feels like a blessing. Being a father feels amazing. This has been the most spiritual moment in my life."

How hands-on are you as a father?
"I don't have a nanny. I'm doing this on my own because I don't want to miss a moment. I have a personal assistant who helps me, someone who takes care of me while I'm taking care of them, but I'm the one who changes the diapers, the one that feeds them, the one that bathes them, the one that puts them to sleep. For any parent, the first couple of months tend to get a little bit intense."

Why did you choose to become a parent via surrogate?
"Adoption was one option, but it's complicated and can take a long time. Surrogacy was an intriguing and faster option. I thought, 'I'm going to jump into this with no fear.'"

Tell us about Valentino's and Matteo's personalities?
"Valentino loves to sleep. I call him 'Mr. Peace and Love' because he's so chill and serene. Matteo is more alert and active. He was up at 3 a.m. the other night and just hanging!"

What is your philosophy on raising your sons?
"I love to read books to my sons and tell them stories. I play music for them so they develop their own personalities. I want to give them information and raise them with honesty and love, and give them self-esteem and a lot of acceptance."

12 steps to shock-and-awe Pakistan's economy

12 steps to shock-and-awe Pakistan's economy
R Vaidyanathan

December 11, 2008
I did not anticipate the huge response my inbox received for the article slamming Pakistan. Many of those who wrote in have sought concrete steps to tackle the Terror Central.

The terror attack on world citizens at Mumbai has created revulsion and outrage all over the world. It is imperative that India seize the opportunity provided to destabilise Pakistan.

A stable Pakistan is not in the interest of world peace, leave alone India. Army controls the country and owns its economy.

A significant portion of its GDP is due to army-controlled entities (See: Military Inc - Inside Pakistan's Military Economy, by Ayesha Siddiqa; OUP; 2007). One can easily say that Pakistan economy and its Army/ISI are synonymous.

Unless this elementary fact is internalised, we are not going anywhere. This implies we should stop talking of a stable Pakistan since a stable Pakistan means multiple attacks on many more cities of India by that rogue organisation ISI, which is the core of the Pakistan Army and the heart of Pakistan's economy.

Let us not even assume that Zardari is in control. Poor man -- he did not trust his own investigators to probe his wife's assassination -- he wanted Scotland Yard to do the job. Now he blabbers that if his investigators are satisfied, then he will initiate action against terrorists sitting inside Pakistan.

Periodically, the Pakistan Army likes to present some useful idiots (as Lenin would have called them) as elected representatives and we swoon over such events.

India should take the following steps to destabilise the economy of Pakistan:

1. Identify the major export items of Pakistan (like Basmati rice, carpets, etc) and provide zero export tax or even subsidise them for export from India. Hurt Pakistan on the export front.

2. Identify the major countries providing arms to Pakistan and arm twist them. Tell Brazil and Germany (currently planning to supply massive defense items to Pakistan) that it will impact their ability to invest in India. Tell Germany that retail license to Metro will be off and other existing projects will be in jeopardy.

3. Incidentally, after the arrival of Coke and Pepsi in China, the human rights violations of China are not talked about much by US government organs. Think it is a coincidence? Unless we use our markets to arm-twist arms exporters to Pakistan, we will not achieve our objectives.

4. Tell American companies that for every 5% increase in FDI limit for them, their government needs to reduce equipping Pakistan by $5 billion. That is real politics, not whining. Let us remember that funds are in desperate search of emerging markets and not the other way about. Let us also remember that international economics is politics by another name.

5. Create assets to print/distribute their currency widely inside their country. To some extent, Telgi types can be used to outsource this activity. Or just drop their notes in remote areas.

6. Pressurise IMF to add additional conditionality to the loans given to them or at least do not vote for their loans.

7. Create assets within Pakistan to destabilise Karachi stock market - it is already in a shambles.

8. Cricket and Bollywood are the opium of the Indian middle classes. Both have been adequately manipulated/ controlled by the D-company since the eighties. Chase the D-company money in cricket/ Bollywood and punish by burning D-assets in India instead of trying to have them auctioned by the IT department when nobody comes to bid for it.

9. Provide for capital punishment to those who fund terror and help in that. We have the division in the finance ministry to monitor money laundering, etc. It is important that terror financing is taken seriously and fully integrated into money laundering monitoring systems and this division is provided with much larger budget and human resources. And it should coordinate with RAW.

10. Encourage and allow scientists/ academicians/ elites of Pakistan to opt for Indian passport and widely publicise that fact since it will hurt their self-respect and dignity. There will be a long queue to get Indian passports -- many will jump to get our passport -- since they will not be stopped at international airports. It is rumoured that Adnan Sami wants one. Do not give passports to all -- make it a prized possession. Let it hurt the army- and ISI-controlled country. This one step will destroy their identity and self-confidence.

11. Discourage companies from India from investing in Pakistan, particularly IT companies, till Pakistan stops exporting its own IT (international terrorism).

12. In all these, it is important that we do not bring in the domestic religious issues. The target is the terror central, namely Pakistan, and if there are elements helping them here then they also should be punished -- irrespective of religious labels. If Pakistan is dismantled and the idea of Pakistan is gone, many of our domestic issues will also be sorted out.

Will the Indian elite go for the jugular or just light more candles and scream at the formless/ nameless political class before TV cameras?

It is going to be a long haul and may be in a decade or so, we can find a solution to our existential crisis of being attacked by barbarians from the West. We need to combine strategy and patience and completely throw to the dustbin the 'Gujral Doctrine' by that mumbling prime minister about treating younger brothers with equanimity. The doctrine essentially suggests that if we are slapped on both the cheeks we should feel bad that we do not have a third cheek to show.

He, according to security experts, seems to have dismantled our human intelligent assets inside Pakistan, which has resulted in the gory death of thousands of Indian citizens in the last few years.

Such is our strategic thinking in this complex world since our political class is not adequately briefed and the elite don't think through issues. Better to be simple in our talks and vicious in our actions rather than the other way.

Hopefully, this November attack will create a new vibrant India capable of taking care of its own interests.

The author is professor of finance and control, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and can be contacted at vaidya@iimb.ernet.in. The views are personal and do not reflect those of his organisation.

Zenkey: Born out of a Love Marriage

Karyomapping to screen "all genetic disorders" in IVF babies

British researchers have developed a revolutionary test that will let prospective parents screen embryos for almost any known genetic disease.

The £1500 (Rs 125,000) test, which should be available as early as next year, will allow couples at risk of passing on gene defects to conceive healthy children using IVF treatment, The Times reports.

Unlike current tests it takes just weeks from start to finish and is suitable for couples at risk of almost any condition.

At present only 2 per cent of the known genetic conditions can be identified by current tests.

The new test involves creating embryos by IVF and removing a single cell from each when they are two days old.

The cells are then tested using a technique known as karyomapping before a healthy embryo is implanted, The Times reports.

Developed at the Bridge Centre in London, the test can check for mutations that cause serious disorders such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and Huntington's disease.

It can also screen for multiple genetic variations, so that scientists could screen for combinations that together confer higher risks of diabetes, heart disease or cancer.

Such applications would first have to be approved by the regulator.

The test will also reveal an embryo's future susceptibility to a host of medical conditions.

For example, parents could be told about their embryo's future risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, heart disease or breast cancer.

Professor Alan Handyside, who has pioneered the technique, will apply to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a licence to use it.

"We are still validating it, but it is going to be a revolution if it works out," Handyside told The Times.

"It makes genetic screening very much more straightforward."

Technically, it would be possible to use the test to select an embryo with a particular eye colour or to screen for multiple genes known to affect height or weight.

But Alan Thornhill, the scientific director of the Bridge Centre, told The Times: "When you start looking for more than two or three traits, you've just got no chance of getting a match. You'd need thousands of embryos, and we don't have a practical way of making thousands of embryos."

8 things India Inc, govt must do against Pakistan

December 10, 2008

The three-day-long terror strike on the country's financial capital was devastating in terms of its reach and impact. It has left Corporate India badly shaken and the elites numb.

It is no more about bombs being thrown at bus stations or trains getting blasted. It is no longer about only Nagpada or Govindpuri residents losing limbs and lives. Terror has now climbed up the value chain.

As the new age entrepreneur Kiran Majumdar Shaw told a Bangalore newspaper, "So far, the terrorists targeted common people. Now the society's elite, the business sector, is the target. What happened in Mumbai is a loud wake-up call for all of us to do something to protect ourselves."

Corporate India did not bat an eyelid when Mumbai train blasts took place, or when Sarojini Nagar was burning on a Diwali day, or Hyderabad was weeping two years before.

But today, every corporate captain is angry, and so are the celebrities who people Page 3 of newspapers, due largely because the attacks on the three top hotels were directly aimed at those who frequent these places, for business or pleasure (contrast this with the scant coverage of the carnage at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, for example, where commoners were involved).

All the same, the bleeding-heart liberals would be back to their routine ways after a few days. They will lament that the captured terrorist has not been given his favourite food and not allowed to watch TV or use his cell phone; they will say his human rights are violated. Just wait for the chorus.

Of course, this time it will be between Page 3 and the jholawalas (activists) and that should be an interesting match to watch, but that's another story.

In the last ten years, not a single session of any seminar sponsored by the CII or Ficci or business/general journals has focussed on terrorism. When this writer once broached the importance of talking about it, a senior business captain said it is for the government to deal with.

Many of those seminars gave importance to Musharraf and now Zardari, as if they are going to provide any solution when they are a part of the problem.

Now, at least, terrorism is being realised as a problem facing the country.

Let us summarise what the real situation is and what the corporate sector should do if we are serious in fighting terrorism on our soil.

1. Recognise and treat Pakistan as a terrorist state. The state policy of Pakistan is terrorism and their single-point programme is to destroy India. This needs to be internalised by every business baron including the owners of media.

2. Now, the elite of Pakistan are more angry, since India is growing at 7% and they are given CCC rating and stiff conditions for borrowing from the IMF.

Many an academic from that country, who I have met in global conferences, has openly lamented that nobody talks about Indo-Pak relations anymore, but only Indo-China or Indo-American, etc. They want to be equal but they are in deep abyss.

3. Pakistan is the only territory in the world where an army has a whole country under its control. This is an important issue since studies have found that a large number of corporates in Pakistan are ultimately owned by the Fauji Foundation (FF), Army Welfare Trust (AWT) Bahria Foundation (BF), Shaheen Foundation (SF) all owned by different wings of armed forces (See paper presented by Dr Ayesha Siddiqa-Agha on 'Power, Perks, Prestige And Privileges: Military's Economic Activities In Pakistan' in The International Conference on Soldiers in Business -- Military as an Economic Actor; Jakarta, October 17-19, 2000).

Hence, do not try to think of Pakistan without its army, irrespective of who rules that country temporarily and nominally. At least 70% of the market capitalisation of the Karachi stock exchange is owned by the army and related groups.

4. There are three groups in India, who are obsessed with friendship with Pakistan. One is the oldies born in that part before partition and who are nostalgic about the Lahore havelis, halwas and mujras. The second is the Bollywood and other assorted groups, who look at it as a big market. The Dawood gang has financed enough of these useful idiots. The third is the candle light holding bleeding heart liberals (BHLs) who cannot imagine India doing well without its younger brother taken care of.

All three have been proved wrong hundreds of times, but they are also opinion makers. Shun them, avoid them and ridicule them.

5. We should categorically, unambiguously, unequivocally boycott Pakistan in all aspects for a decade or more. Be it art, music, economy, commerce, or other hand-holding activities. That army-controlled state has to realise that it has done enough damage to global civilisation.

More than 100 acts/attempts of terror recorded in the world since 9/11 have had their roots in Pakistan. More than 40% of the prisoners in Guantanamo are Pakistanis.

6. We should recognise that it is our war and nobody in the world is going to wage it on our behalf. What the Americans are thinking, or what the Britishers are going to do, will not help. A determined country should have a sense of dignity and independence to fight its war.

We should stop interviewing leaders from that country who mouth the same inanities that "you have not produced any proof." The Government of India should perhaps create a museum of proof between India Gate and North Block.

I am amazed that a country of a billion is required even to furnish proof. If one-sixth of humanity says that the terrorist state of Pakistan is the root cause of global terrorism -- it is factual. Let us not fall into the trap of providing proof to the culprits.

7. We should realise that a united Pakistan is a grave threat to the existence of India. Hence, we should do everything possible to break up Pakistan into several units. This is required to be done not only for our interest, but for world peace.

8. We have made a grave blunder by suggesting in the international fora that "Pakistan is also a victim of terror." That is a grave error and it will haunt us for decades. They are perpetrators and our government is in deep illusion if it tries to distinguish between organs of power in that country thinking it is like India.

There is only one organ, namely its army (with ISI as a sub-organ) in that country, which owns and controls at least 70% of the GDP in that country.

If we want the world to treat Pakistan for what it is, then we should start practising it. Always call it the 'terrorist state of Pakistan' and never have any illusion that it is going to be any different.

If corporate India, including electronic/ print media, starts practising this, we should see results in a few years. Are the elites listening?

The author is professor of finance and control, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore, and can be contacted at vaidya@iimb.ernet.in. The views are personal and do not reflect those of his organisation

IVF teenagers more aggressive, UK research shows

Teenagers born through IVF may be more prone to aggression and conduct problems at school than other youngsters - and "softer" parenting could be to blame.

British researchers have found that while children conceived through assisted reproductive technology are “extremely well adjusted”, there was a weak trend towards behavioural problems at the age of 18.

But Australia's first test tube baby, Candice Reed, now 28, has challenged the findings, which suggest these children are slightly more likely to be suspended or expelled from school, or show signs of aggression.

The University of Cambridge study, presented at a fertility conference in Brisbane last month, compared 26 IVF children with 38 kids who were adopted and 63 who were conceived naturally.

“We found very few differences between the groups and found that the IVF adolescents were on the whole functioning extremely well and very positive about their IVF conception,” said researcher Lucy Blake from the Centre for Family Research.

“But we did have a small difference in conduct problems which is worthy of further study.”

The research, which included interviews with both parents and the child, found IVF mothers had higher levels of warmth and so-called disciplinary indulgence towards their children.

“This finding that IVF mothers were slightly more easygoing could perhaps be related to how the adolescents behaved,” Ms Blake said.

But Ms Reed, who attended the conference, said she thought any such trend would be “extremely unlikely”.

“Of course every child is different, and I can't speak for us all, but I can't imagine there's any trend towards aggression or other problems,” Ms Reed said.

And as for differences in parenting style, this too is doubtful, she says.

“I'm in a perfect position to address this as my brother was conceived naturally and there were the same usually disciplinary rules for both of us in the family house, so there was no leniency in my experience,” she said.

More than 80,000 IVF babies have been born in Australia since Candice was delivered in Melbourne on June 23, 1980.

Pakistani Standard Response Template For India

Indian Mom World's Oldest , Now!

Girl babies likely for big IVF mums

Heavier women are more likely to have baby girls after IVF treatment, and boys are more common among lighter mums, new Australian research suggests. But Western Australian specialists behind the small study say while the data is "fascinating'' they don't advise prospective parents to change eating habits in the hope of changing their child's gender. "It's very interesting indeed to see such a clear gender trend, and we understand it might be quite alluring to couples who desperately want a girl or a boy, but we still need to look at it on a larger scale,'' said study leader Dr James Stanger, an embryologist at Pivet Medical Centre in Perth.

Dr Stanger analysed the clinic's database over the past five years to look at trends in body mass index (BMI) and baby's sex among the 800 children born. "I found that women who were very thin, with a BMI under 20, were more likely to have boys, with about six boys to every four girls,'' Dr Stanger said. "And women who were overweight, with a BMI over 30, were more likely to have girls by the same rate.'' The findings, presented at a fertility conference in Brisbane last month, showed no gender bias among women in the middle weight range.

Dr Stanger said it was possible that the additional weight had an impact on how embryos implant or the rate at which they grow in the womb. "We know that male embryos grow faster than female embryos by about half a day so it may be that male embryos are growing faster or female embryos are being slowed down and held back in the lower carbohydrate environment usually seen in thinner women,'' he said. "Or it could be something to do with the implantation, or the inactivation of the X chromosomes, but this all requires more investigation.''

He said that if the findings prove true in bigger studies then they may have implications for both IVF and natural conception.
Professor Michael Chapman, a spokesman for the Fertility Society of Australia, said gender biases had been linked to certain diets and environments, but most proved false in bigger studies. "It's certainly an interesting observation, and there might be something in it, but I certainly wouldn't be recommending that women rush out and go on a crash diet because they'd prefer a boy,'' Prof Chapman said.

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