THE GOLD DIGGERS OF PANCHAVATI (NASHIK)

It is obviously tradition to trow coins into the holy Godavari river to thank the deities or ask for a benefice. These coins are not lost after the festivities: at low water level the people from the area start to dig out the coins from the mud. A very cumbersome, unhygenic and dangereous expedise.

On one side along the river are no sewage tratment plants, the water is extremely dirty and you do'nt need a microscope to see that. On the other side the recent Dusshera feast, combined with the immersion of a ton of effigies all painted very colourful with paints containing Cadmium, Mercury and Lead are now disolved in the water, which makes the water toxic. Despite all that this water is also used for bathing and washing the cloths.


















The more or less rare coins together with bone fragments ( I hope they are not human nature)are than later sold at the local market.

MY ACTUAL LOCATION

GM READY TO DEVELOP AN INDIAN ELECTRICAL CAR

US carmaker General Motors (GM) has said it is to develop a small cheap electric car for India.

The carmaker will develop the model in partnership with India's Reva Electric Car Company, and said it expected production to begin next year.

Reva's electric cars are sold in the UK as under the G-Wiz brand.

Karl Slym, president of GM's India unit, said the companies would work with the Indian government to build a network of charging stations.

Reva, based in Bangalore, sold its first electric car in India in 2001.

The announcement comes a day after US rival Ford announced that it was to make a new car, the Ford Figo, in India as part of its $500m (£304m) investment plan in the country.

Both cars will compete in India's small car segment, which makes up about 70% of the new vehicle market.

Message and picture from BBC

It is fantastic idea whith just one small drawback: who will deliver the electricity to the network of charching stations. To develop an electrical car for a country with a notorious shortage of power, with daily power cuts over hours and load sharing in the big cities, you have to be a very optimistic person or the market study was done by someone who never visited India for a single day.

TODAY IS DURGA PUJA

Effigies of demon king Ravana were ready to be burnt and devotees offered farewell prayers to Goddess Durga Monday as Hindus across India prepared to celebrate Dussehra after nine days of prayers, fasting and feasting.

Celebrating the victory of Lord Ram over Ravana, Dussehra symbolises the triumph of good over evil. Preceding the festival are the nine auspicious days of navaratri, during which the Ramlila is enacted at numerous places to show the Ramayana hero's journey as a prince, his 14-year exile in forest, his wife Sita's abduction by Ravana the king of Lanka and the war fought to rescue her.

The tale ends with Ram and Lakshman killing Ravana and effigies of the demon king, his brother Kumbhkarna and son Meghnad are burnt on Dussehra to celebrate the victory. Apart from the main Ramlila grounds near Red Fort in Delhi, effigies of all sizes of the trio dot grounds across the capital and in many parts of north India, waiting to go up in flames at dusk.

Coinciding with Dussehra is the last day of Durga Puja, when goddess Durga gets a farewell from her devotees as she returns to her celestial abode.

Amid beating of drums, clashing of cymbals and frenzied dancing, hundreds of idols of Durga, which have adorned puja pandals (marquees) for four days, would be immersed in the river Yamuna in the national capital.

While crowds thronged Ramlila grounds to enjoy the drama, relish the tasty aloo tikki, golgappas and chaat at the food stalls set up there, the scene was no different at the puja pandals, where married women smeared sindoor, first on the idol of the goddess and then one another.

BACK IN INDIA DESPITE H1N1 FLU

Death Rate per Infection
Country Cases Deaths % Dead Frequency
Solomon Islands 3 1 33.33% 1 in 3
St. Kitts 6 1 16.67% 1 in 6
Mauritius 69 8 11.59% 1 in 9
Paraguay 523 52 9.94% 1 in 10
Colombia 1090 82 7.52% 1 in 13
Ghana 14 1 7.14% 1 in 14
Madagascar 16 1 6.25% 1 in 16
Uruguay 550 33 6% 1 in 17
Argentina 8851 514 5.81% 1 in 17
Venezuela 1398 76 5.44% 1 in 18
Dominican Republic 398 21 5.28% 1 in 19
Brazil 20322 1071 5.27% 1 in 19
Syria 40 2 5% 1 in 20
Tonga 20 1 5% 1 in 20
United Arab Emirates 125 6 4.80% 1 in 21
Jamaica 89 4 4.49% 1 in 22
Ecuador 1650 55 3.33% 1 in 30
Nepal 31 1 3.23% 1 in 31
Yemen 187 6 3.21% 1 in 31
Mozambique 63 2 3.18% 1 in 32
India 9284 285 3.07% 1 in 33
Honduras 459 14 3.05% 1 in 33
Suriname 67 2 2.99% 1 in 34
Costa Rica 1315 37 2.81% 1 in 36
El Salvador 744 19 2.55% 1 in 39
Spain 1538 36 2.34% 1 in 43
Georgia 44 1 2.27% 1 in 44
Bolivia 1912 41 2.14% 1 in 47
Guatemala 751 13 1.73% 1 in 58
Peru 8104 133 1.64% 1 in 61
Namibia 62 1 1.61% 1 in 62
French Guiana 126 2 1.59% 1 in 63
Panama 713 11 1.54% 1 in 65
Singapore 1217 18 1.48% 1 in 68
Samoa 138 2 1.45% 1 in 69
Cook Islands 80 1 1.25% 1 in 80
Bahrain 253 3 1.19% 1 in 84
Oman 1617 19 1.18% 1 in 85
United States 60428 695 1.15% 1 in 87
Malaysia 7066 77 1.09% 1 in 92
Chile 12247 130 1.06% 1 in 94
Iran 391 4 1.02% 1 in 98
Malta 298 3 1.01% 1 in 99
Bangladesh 398 4 1.01% 1 in 100
Cayman Islands 102 1 0.98% 1 in 102
Hungary 206 2 0.97% 1 in 103
France 2954 27 0.91% 1 in 109
Indonesia 1097 10 0.91% 1 in 110
Thailand 19068 160 0.84% 1 in 119
Mexico 27660 222 0.80% 1 in 125
Israel 3000 24 0.80% 1 in 125
Palestinian Territories 146 1 0.69% 1 in 146
Saudi Arabia 4119 28 0.68% 1 in 147
Qatar 450 3 0.67% 1 in 150
New Zealand 3160 21 0.67% 1 in 150
Canada 12038 77 0.64% 1 in 156
United Kingdom 13770 82 0.60% 1 in 168
Philippines 5162 28 0.54% 1 in 184
South Africa 11545 59 0.51% 1 in 196
Nicaragua 1841 9 0.49% 1 in 205
Australia 36559 178 0.49% 1 in 205
Iraq 223 1 0.45% 1 in 223
Laos 242 1 0.41% 1 in 242
Luxembourg 280 1 0.36% 1 in 280
Taiwan 5474 17 0.31% 1 in 322
Norway 1336 4 0.30% 1 in 334
Kuwait 2451 7 0.29% 1 in 350
Netherlands 1473 4 0.27% 1 in 368
Lebanon 761 2 0.26% 1 in 381
Ireland 885 2 0.23% 1 in 443
Egypt 891 2 0.22% 1 in 446
Vietnam 7839 14 0.18% 1 in 560
Japan 11636 19 0.16% 1 in 612
Sweden 1381 2 0.15% 1 in 691
Greece 2149 3 0.14% 1 in 716
Italy 2700 3 0.11% 1 in 900
Brunei 971 1 0.10% 1 in 971
China (Hong Kong) 25305 20 0.08% 1 in 1,265
South Korea 15158 11 0.07% 1 in 1,378
Belgium 2353 1 0.04% 1 in 2,353
Macau 2583 1 0.04% 1 in 2,583
Portugal 12709 1 0.01% 1 in 12,709
China (Mainland) 14581 1 0.01% 1 in 14,581
Overall: 400955 4539 1.13% 1 in 88
Note: Death Rate figures are based on confirmed case counts. It is estimated that there are more H1N1 cases than have been officially confirmed, therefore actual death rate may be lower. Additionally, countries that test more samples may appear to have lower death rates than countries that test fewer samples

Althought the death rate of H1N1- flu in India is drastically higher than in e.g. Belgium or Portugal ( figures for Germany are missing) I had to return to India.
In India a death rate of 1/33 is reported which in sharp contrast to Belgium with 1/2,353 and Portugal with 1/12,709

Source: http://www.flucount.org/