In the food world, plant-based has become a buzzword of late, and Ive been using it interchangeably with the term vegan. But it turns out members of both communities like to draw a distinction, and near as I can figure plant-based espouses ditching animal byproducts and processed foods for the sake of healthier eating practices. Meanwhile, vegan cares more that no animals were harmed in the making of your lifestyle.

To put it another way, vegans are the ones Ill occasionally catch flak from for being an omnivore dipping my toes in animal-free meals. The plant-based side doesnt seem to care where my mouth has been, as long as Ive got a positive attitude and dont keep a strip of beef jerky stashed in my jacket pocket.

Donna Jean calls its menu plant based. The new restaurant recently launched in Bankers Hill, next to Evolution Fast Food (which counts itself vegan, if youre keeping track). Donna Jean is a partnership between Evolutions owners and chef Roy Elam, who, among other things, recently helped open the first vegan restaurant in the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain.

According to the website, Donna Jean is named after Elams late mother, and the chef has assembled a wholly plant-based menu of comfort food in her honor not intended to be health food per se, but certainly using healthy ingredients to win carnivores over to the concept.

The menu features stick-to-your-ribs dishes such as chili, mac and cheese, toasted ravioli, and a veggie burger made from black-eyed peas. I was surprised to find the comfort restaurants dining room didnt match the notion, with mostly bare walls and a sheet metal bar top. A spacious patio featuring heatlamps warming private tables with communal bench seating seemed a better fit with the food.

A baked ricotta appetizer looked beautiful, garnished with sorrel, sea grass, and watermelon radish and molded into an folded, origami-like hoja santa an herbal Mesoamerican leaf that is new to me. However, the citrusy flavors coming from all of that didnt read ricotta to me. I might have liked the curdled faux-cheese spread across hard-toasted sourdough if it could be called something else.

I was puzzled that a grits dish wound up featuring a large serving of wild rice, but it was just as well. The grits were overdone, losing their namesake texture, so the rice stepped up to anchor the dish, which, despite grilled squash, confit tomatoes, and some large heirloom variety of butter beans, wanted more flavor to be a satisfying entre.

The Salisbury Tempeh was my favorite of the three, primarily due to the satisfying savor of the mushroom-and-onion gravy and a bed of light mashed potatoes. The house-made ground tempeh patty used beets to redden its meat, which had caramelized into a charry crust a bit to chew on there, but it made for plenty of comforting mouthfuls.

Donna Jean hopes to kick off a larger plant-based conversation in its community and may do so in time. For now, the creativity at work looks a little hit or miss, and though the introduction of atypical plant ingredients may not always mesh with the idea of comfort food, it may appeal to vegans craving such things, even if they prefer to call it something else.

The rest is here:

Careful who you're calling a vegan! - San Diego Reader

Megan Squire, Elon University/The Conversation , KSDK 1:54 PM. EST March 10, 2017

File photo. (Photo: Joe Raedle, Getty Images)

Since 2009, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have been allowed to search electronic devices carried by citizens or noncitizens as they cross the border into the United States from other countries. More recently, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly suggested this digital vetting should also include harvesting social media passwords. Kellys proposal prompted legal and technology experts to respond with an open letter expressing deep concern about any policy that demands that individuals violate the first rule of online security: Do not share your passwords.

Travelers themselves responded, too, looking for ways to avoid surrendering their device passwords to federal agents. One approach what we might call the Nothing To See Here method tries to make a device unsearchable by erasing the hard drive before travel, uninstalling social media apps, letting the devices battery charge run out or even wiping the device if an emergency or duress password was entered.

The Id Love To Comply, But I Cant approach involves exotic solutions like installing two-factor authentication on the device or social media account, and then making the second factor (such as a passcode or digital key) available only in a remote location. Retrieving the second factor would require a warrant and travel outside the border crossing.

These methods are dangerous because they put an already stressed traveler in the position of defying law enforcement at the border, a legal environment that is designed to support the government and not the traveler. Following this advice properly also requires careful execution of technical skills that most travelers dont have. And the degree of advance planning and preparation required might itself be considered a sign of suspicious activity requiring deeper scrutiny by border officials.

But its tempting to wonder: Could computer scientists and software designers like me create a better password system? Can we make Id Love To Comply, But I Cant the only possible answer for every traveler? In short, can we create passwords even their owners dont know?

Developing unknowable passwords is an active area of security research. In 2012, a team from Stanford University, Northwestern University and the SRI research center developed a scheme for using a computer game similar to Guitar Hero to train the subconscious brain to learn a series of keystrokes. When a musician memorizes how to play a piece of music, she doesnt need to think about each note or sequence. It becomes an ingrained, trained reaction usable as a password but nearly impossible even for the musician to spell out note by note, or for the user to disclose letter by letter.

In addition, the system is designed so that even if the password is discovered, the attacker is unable to enter the keystrokes with the same fluidity as the trained user. The combination of keystrokes and ease of performance uniquely ties the password to the user, while freeing the user from having to remember anything consciously.

Unfortunately, in our border travel scenario, the agent could demand that the traveler unlock the device or application using the subconscious password.

Could this be the new way to log in online? Listening to headphones via shutterstock.com

A team at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, proposed a different solution in 2016. Their solution, called Chill-Pass, measures an individuals unique brain chemistry response while listening to her choice of relaxing music. This biometric reaction becomes part of the users log-in process. If a user is under duress, she will be unable to relax enough to match her previously measured chill state, and the log-in will fail.

It is unclear whether CBP agents would be able to defeat a system like Chill-Pass by providing travelers with, say, massage chairs and spa treatments. Even so, the stresses of daily life would make it impractical to use this kind of password regularly. A relaxation-based system would be most useful for people undertaking high-stakes missions where they fear coercion.

And just like with other plans to make CBP scrutiny impossible, this might end up attracting more attention to a traveler, rather than encouraging officers to give up and move on to the next person.

In 2015, Google announced Project Abacus, another solution to the Id Love To Comply, But I Cant problem. It replaces the traditional password with a Trust Score, a proprietary cocktail of characteristics that Google has determined can identify you. The score includes biometric factors like your typing patterns, walking speed, voice patterns and facial expressions. And it can include your location and other unspecified elements.

The Trust Score calculator constantly runs in the background of a smartphone or other device, updating itself with new information and recalculating the score throughout the day. If the Trust Score falls below a certain threshold, say by observing a strange typing pattern or an unfamiliar location, the system will require the user to enter additional authentication credentials.

Its unclear how a Trust Score authentication might affect a border search. A CBP agent could still demand that a traveler unlock the device and its apps. But if the agency couldnt disable the Trust Score system, the phones owner would have to be allowed to hold the device and use it throughout the agents inspection. If someone else tried to use it, the constantly recalculated Trust Score could fall, locking out an investigator.

That process would at least ensure a phones owner knew what information federal agents were collecting from the phone. That hasnt been possible for some arriving travelers, including U.S. citizens and even government employees.

But the Trust Score system puts a lot of control in the hands of Google, a for-profit corporation that could decide or could be compelled to provide government with a way around it.

None of these technological solutions to the password problem is perfect, and none of them is commercially available today. Until research, industry and innovation come up with better ones, whats a digital age traveler to do?

First, do not lie to a federal agent. Thats a felony and will definitely attract more unwanted attention from investigators.

Next, determine how much inconvenience you are willing to tolerate in order to remain silent or to refuse to comply. Noncompliance will have a cost: Your devices could be seized and your travel could be seriously disrupted.

Either way, if and when you are asked for your social media handles or passwords, or to unlock your devices, pay attention and remember as many details as you can. Then, if you wish, alert a digital civil liberties group that this happened. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a web page with instructions for how to report a device search at the border.

If you think that sensitive materials might have been compromised in the search, notify family, friends and colleagues who might be affected. And until we figure out a better way change your passwords.

Megan Squire, Professor of Computing Sciences, Elon University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

Creative Commons License/BY-ND

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Why we should not know our own passwords - 11alive.com

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Fruit, vegetables and meat produced without using chemicals is becoming an increasingly popular choice because people believe it is healthier both for humans and good for the environment.

But researchers at the University of British Columbia believe this may not be the case because organic farming has between 17 and 25 per cent smaller yields than conventional farming on average.

As a result, to produce the same amount of food more land is needed affecting soil and water quality.

It uses more energy, conditions of farm workers may not be better and its high prices puts it out of reach for poorer consumers.

Dr Verena Seufert at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability said: Organic is often proposed a holy grail solution to current environmental and food scarcity problems, but we found that the costs and benefits will vary heavily depending on the context.

The study analysed organic crop farming across 17 criteria such as yield, impact on climate change, farmer livelihood and consumer health.

It was the first systematic review of the scientific literature to identify the conditions leading to good or bad performance of organic agriculture.

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Factors include biodiversity, how it affects climate change, water use and quality, soil quality, yields, problems of scaling organic farming up, its impact on farm workers and consumer health and how affordable the food is.

Many people choose organic because of worries about overuse of pesticides and the belief organic is more nutritional.

The study argued in countries like Canada where pesticide regulations are stringent and diets are rich in micronutrients, the health benefits of choosing organic may be marginal.

Co-author Professor Navin Ramankutty said: But in a developing country where pesticide use is not carefully regulated and people are micronutrient deficient, we think that the benefits for consumer and farm worker health may be much higher.

GETTY

Consumers argue it is more sustainable and past research has compared the costs and benefits of organic and conventional farms of the same size, which does not account for differences in yield.

But organic crop yields are lower than under conventional farming and many of the environmental benefits of organic agriculture diminish once lower yields are accounted for.

For example fields managed organically have on average lower nitrogen loss and lower pesticide leaching than conventional farms.

It also uses more recycled nitrogen and phosphorus, thereby introducing less new nitrogen and phosphorus into our water systems.

GETTY

But in lower yields the nitrogen loss per unit food produced might actually be higher under organic management and run off of manure impacts water quality.

In terms of biodiversity on average, organic management results in a 40 to 50 per cent increase in organism abundance in agricultural fields and researchers do not know if this is offset because lower yields require more land to feed the same number of mouths.

But plants and bees benefits the most, while other arthropods and birds benefit to a smaller degree.

Organic farms typically have lower energy use and lower green-house gas emissions than conventional farms but when poorer yields are taken into account emissions might actually be higher under organic management.

And water use is lower on organic farms because the land can hold more of it.

Dr Seufert said: While an organic farm may be better for things like biodiversity, farmers will need more land to grow the same amount of food.

And land conversion for agriculture is the leading contributor to habitat loss and climate change.

While their findings suggested organic alone cannot create a sustainable food future, it still has an important role to play.

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Organic is one way that consumers have control over and knowledge of how their food is produced since it is the only farming system regulated in law.

Dr Seufert said: We need to stop thinking of organic and conventional agriculture as two ends of the spectrum.

Instead, consumers should demand better practices for both so that we can achieve the world's food needs in a sustainable way.

The study was published in Science Advances.

Originally posted here:

Organic food may NOT be good for you or the planet after all, shock study finds - Express.co.uk

We live in an era of everything smart smartphones, smartwatch, smart homes and smart cars. Unarguably, theyhave gone out of the way to make things easierbut alsocome with their own share of troubles. With the evolution of the smart gadgets, the concept of spending some alone-timehas changed dramatically and is being replaced by anxiety and stress (remember that escalation e-mail that kept you awake all night?).

So how do we clear this cluttered mind? Surely, setting aside our smart gadgets is not a practical solution nor is the choice of going up to the Himalayas to meditate.

So why not go by the old English saying of killing two birds with one stone and turn to our smartphones for help?

There is no dearth of apps in the Play Store and the same holds true for meditation apps. So heres a list of four wonderful meditation apps that help in achieving inner peace much like our very own Master Shifu.

Calmhas a varied list of topics which you can choose depending on your sour spot, including the free seven-day guided meditationexercises. And if you are among the new age crowd who have trouble falling asleep, Calm has a collection of soothingbed-time audio stories that will help you to fall into natural sleep.

Then there is the Breathe program, which is a compilation of short breathing exercises coupled with soothing music.

Plus, this app comes with amazing themes, so even if you arent doing any meditation the theme music will make sure that you leave all the worry behind.

If you ask me, my favorite is the rain theme, nothings more calming than listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops.

The paid version which opens up much more programs including the 21-day guided course for the general well-being,among many others.

An app with 1.1M registered user,Insight Timerdoes ahell of a job when it comes tomeditation. It has over 3000+ guided meditations and the best part is that its completely free with no locked contents.

The app is huge, with a ton of contents like guided meditation, basic meditation, and self-meditation.

So if you want to grab a few minutes of zen, tap on Timer and loose yourself to the hum of guitar strings.

Most of the contents are free, however, you might need to shell out few bucks for some of the audio tracks in the Timer tab.

If you are a beginner to the field of meditation, Headspace will make it easy for you to break ground. The free course consist of a 10-day program which lasts for 10 minutes each, helping you to create a habit out of it.

Unlike the other apps, this one has a few features beyond the zen circle. For instance, one of them is designed to reduce the fear of flying while another one promises to increase mindfulness.

The downside ofHeadspace is most of the cool programs are hidden behind the paywall. But then, whats the harm in investing in a good lifestyle choice when you see the [free] courses yielding results.

People say that music is the ultimate stress buster and if you are one who goes by this mantra, then you will love theMeditation musicapp. As indicative of its name, this app has a collection of meditation music.

The timer can be set to turn off the music automatically. The UI is super-simple, one merely needs to choose the music, adjust the timer and sit back and relax.

Our mind is an incredible place where thousands of thoughts and creative ideas are born daily, but its dimmed by stress, anxiety, and over-thinking. And meditation is one of the many ways by which we can keep a healthy mind. The best thing about these apps is they can be used almost anywhere, even during your work hours or on your way home. So when are you starting?

Read the original:

4 Apps to Help You Keep Calm and Relaxed - Guiding Tech (blog)

Bradenton Herald

Meditation classes on Anna Maria Island introduce participants to Buddhism Bradenton Herald Gen Kelsang Demo, 37, is a Buddhist nun at the Kadampa Meditation Center, a Buddhist temple at 730 N. Washington Blvd. in Sarasota. Demo leads meditation classes on Wednesday at The Center of Anna Maria Island, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria.

Link:

Meditation classes on Anna Maria Island introduce participants to Buddhism - Bradenton Herald

Rockland Rockland Shambhala, 16 School St., will launch Meditation in Everyday Life, a five-week course taught by Rachel Nixon, Shambhala Guide, Tuesday, March 21, from 6 to 8 p.m. The class is by donation and open to both beginners and experienced practitioners. Pre-registration is requested.

This series provides participants with the basic tools and support to establish or deepen a meditation practice. Each class includes mindfulness-awareness instruction and sitting practice, as well as talks and discussion about Sakyong Mipham Rinpoches book, "Turning the Mind into an Ally."

Participants will learn to cultivate stability and will explore how to bring mindfulness and courage to the everyday complexities of jobs, responsibilities and relationships, as well as to the desires, concerns and uncertainties of life. This is the first class in the Way of Shambhala program. It offers a glimpse of the Shambhala vision of an enlightened society created through mindfulness-awareness meditation.

Nixon was first introduced to the Shambhala Buddhist teachings in 1999 through Pema Chodrons book, "The Wisdom of No Escape." She has been studying and practicing meditation ever since. Nixon has trained at Shambhala centers in Maine, Colorado, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, including a month-long Dathun this past winter.

The suggested donation for the class is $75, or register with a friend and pay half-price. Donations in any amount are graciously accepted. For more information and to register, contact Nixon at rocklandshambhala@gmail.com or 594-1694.

See more here:

Meditation class to begin Way of Shambhala March 21 - Courier-Gazette & Camden Herald (subscription)

Lake Country 7:08 a.m. CT March 10, 2017

Volunteers Meghan Shannon (left) and Julia Van Horn load up a plate during Friday fish fry at St. Charles Catholic Church and School in Hartland on March 3, 2017.(Photo: Scott Ash/Now Media Group)Buy Photo

To have Sunday entertainment events listed in Sunday Happenings, fax 262-367-1136 or email news@jrn.com. Make sure the time, date and place are included. Deadline is noon Monday.

Live music:11 a.m. Sunday, March12, Mama Ds, 102 W. Main St., Wales.MiLow performs. Free.

A look at Landscapes:Noon Sunday, March 12,Almont Gallery, 342 W. Main St., Waukesha. Featuring artists Audrey Casey, Mark Mueller and Lucien Woodring. Three different artists, three types of media, three different approaches to the world around them.www.almontgallery.com.Free.

Series on end-of-life subjects:1:30 to 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 12,Hales Corners Library,5885 S. 116th St.,Hales Corners. Part two of afour-part series on end-of-life subjects every other Sunday through March 26. Topics include palliative, hospice care and health directives with Sarah Meyer, palliative care social worker with Froedtert & Medical College of Wisconsin. Free.

The Children's Playhouse presents "Charlotte's Web": 2 p.m. Sunday, March 12,West Performing Arts Center,18695 W. Cleveland Ave., New Berlin. General seating tickets can be purchased online or at the door: adults $7, seniors over 60 $5, students $3 and children under 10 $2.www.nbexcellence.org/community/westpac.cfm.

"A German Requiem" presented by Waukesha Choral Union: 3 p.m. Sunday, March 12,Carroll University Shattuck Music Center, 218 N. East Ave.,Waukesha. Other vocalists will be featured, WCU will partner with the Jubilate Chorale, another longtime Waukesha choral group, as well as independent community singers who are invited to participate annually in the WCU early spring concert. Free.

Full Moon Meditation with Sound Helming: 6:30 p.m. Sunday, March 12,Pathways of Light Wellness Center,W314 N720 Highway 83,Delafield. An evening of focus on the full moon,gentle stretches,education about the energies of the moon this month and resting while listening to gemstone alchemy bowls and Tibetan singing bowls. RSVP toMary Beth Rezek, ProfoundlyPeaceful@massagetherapy.com,216-849-8462.$20.

Winter farmers market:9:30 a.m. Sunday, March 19,All Saints Lutheran Church,705 W.Tomlin Road, Wales.Food, Faith, and Farming Network collaborates with All Saints Lutheran Church for a winter farmers market. Brunch tickets in advance are $6 per adult and $7 at the door,$3 for children ages3-10. Free.

Lake Country Orchestra:2 p.m. Sunday, March 19,Oconomowoc Arts Center,641 E. Forest St., Oconomwoc. $6 to $12 .

Mrs. Lincoln - The First "First Lady":2 p.m. Sunday, March 19,Delafield Public Library,500 Genesee St.,Delafield. Historical reenactor Laura F. Keyes will play Mary Todd Lincoln.Free.

The Ricochettes fundraiser for Wauwatosa West High School:2 p.m. Sunday, March 19,American Legion Post 449,3245 N. 124th St.,Brookfield.The Ricochettes will perform "The Best of The British Invasion" era music to benefit students at Wauwatosa West High School. Raffles, door prizes and fun. $5.

Master Singers of Milwaukee present "Between Two Worlds":3 p.m. Sunday, March 19, St. John's Lutheran,20275 Davidson Road,Brookfield.Guest Slovenian Conductor Marko Vatovec and the Carthage College Choir will join the Master Singers of Milwaukee in presenting choral music from Slovenia and the countries that share borders with Slovenia. mastersingersofmilwaukee.org or 888-744-2226.$20 for adults, $18 for seniors, $10 for students.

Irish, folk, acoustic music:4 p.m. Sunday, March 19,Hawks Inn Visitor Center,426 Wells St.,Delafield. The lively sounds of Irish music with Bill and Lin O'Connor at the Delafield History Center. $17.

Read or Share this story: http://www.lakecountrynow.com/story/news/local/living-sunday/2017/03/10/lake-country-sunday-happenings-farmers-market-meditation-orchestra-concert/98916888/

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Lake Country Sunday Happenings: Farmers market, meditation, orchestra concert - Lake Country Now

On clique ... Synnve Karlsen and Aisling Franciosi. Photograph: Mark Mainz/BBC/Balloon/Mark Mainz

What is it? Skins paints its bedroom black and graduates with a BA Hons in very bad things.

Why youll love it: The accidental investigator is such an irresistible narrative trope. Holly (the excellent newcomer Synnve Karlsen) is just your everyday university fresher, but when her best friend, Georgia (The Falls bad babysitter Katie, Aisling Franciosi), is sucked into a sinister-looking group of alpha girls, Holly must probe their untoward activities in the hope of saving her friend. But is it really just altruism that drives her on, or a desire to move in on Georgias new clique? Theyve been close since childhood, but can their friendship endure this turbulent ride into adulthood?

This glossy six-parter, another smart commission from the bold types at BBC3 (Thirteen is nominated for all the awards this season), features a beauteous cast of demographically appealing youngsters, going about their financially uninhibited university social lives, taking drugs, smoking and drinking till theyre sick. Students are not poor any more well, not these students at any rate.

So far, so Skins writer Jess Brittain is a former alumnus with much pumping trance and slo-mo hair-flicking. Then our heroines meet the enigmatic economics professor and walking inspirational-feminist-quote generator Jude McDermid (Sherlocks Louise Brealey). The pair vie for a place on her internship scheme with the aforementioned alpha females, but its never made clear what will qualify the successful candidate apart from amazing grooming and total confidence. Get in with this ultra-beautiful, poised crowd and a big-money job awaits. No more baked bean-stained coursework for these thoroughbreds. They spend their days and nights schmoozing important clients for McDermids Solasta Finance corp, drinking free champagne and snorting lines of massive, nameless success.

Theres a lot of vaguely weak-sounding business talk about landing the Steiner account without any specifics on what that actually means. But the corporate stuff is just a sinister backdrop to this tightly strung story of female friendship, what it is to be a young woman in the capitalist idyll we have created and how far competing uni students will go to secure themselves a minted future.

This is not university as I remember it, and it makes me sad for times past, of brown sauce on noodles for dinner and day-long sessions on the pool table lubricated with dry cider. These girls dress their slight frames in edgy, tiny, garments, straighten their hair till they can see their faces in it and have an obedient driver permanently on call to ferry them to enormous, brutalist houses overlooking the sea, there to enjoy furlongs of coke by a beautifully lit basement pool.

Its part teen fantasy, part meditation on youth, and all horribly, horribly moreish. As Holly falls deeper down the rabbit hole, champagne glass in hand, her past swims into focus and the consequences of all this Thatcherite excess begin to float to the surface.

Clique is a madly seductive thriller that, once you get past the glare of all that young, perfect skin, will hook you whatever age-box you happen to tick. And as Brittains first series-creator credit, its a cause for great excitement about her future work.

Where: BBC3 on iPlayer

Length: Six 45-minute episodes, one already available, with a new episode released each Sunday.

Stand out episode: The three that I have seen have all been very strong and never tell where they can more effectively show. But episode one wins for the punctuation mark at the end.

If you liked Clique watch: Pretty Little Liars (Netflix), Search Party (All4).

Original post:

Clique: part teen fantasy, part meditation on youth, and all horribly moreish - The Guardian

Prime Minister Modi | File- PTI

VARANASI: On the third day of back-to-back campaigning in his parliamentary constituency Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday visited the famous Gadwaghat Ashram, a place most revered by the Yadavs.

Modi drove to the ashram at around 10.30 a.m. Hundreds of people lined the route to the ashram and shouted "Modi, Modi" as the Prime Minister's cavalcade passed.

He was welcomed by the management of the ashram and many seers offered him garlands made of rudraksh beads.

Modi responded to his welcome by bowing to the saints and talking to them with folded hands.

The ashram has over a crore followers and is said to have a powerful say in the political decision making of the Yadav community.

The Prime Minister then walked up to the 'gaushala', the cattle shed where he fed the cows with fodder and 'gud' (jaggery).

After the 'gau seva', he took a round of the campus decorated with marigold and rose flowers for the high-profile visit.

Modi later met the head of the ashram Guru Sharandanand and was closeted with him for over ten minutes.

Since many years, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav has been coming to the ashram to seek blessings during elections.

Modi last year visited the Sant Ravidas temple here on the saint's anniversary and had won hearts of many Dalits for whom Ravidas is a venerated spiritual guru.

The move was seen as a ploy by the Bharatiya Janata Party to dent the Dalit votebank of Mayawati.

Excerpt from:

Modi visits Gadwaghat ashram in Varanasi - The New Indian Express

Written by Anand Mishra | Varanasi | Published:March 10, 2017 3:52 am Widows from Varanasi and Vrindavan at a programme in Kolkata in 2016. (Archive)

They were one section who went unheard during a loud election in Varanasi. For the widows of Varanasi, even Womens Day, coinciding with polling, passed uneventfully. Rejected by family or society, they come from India, Nepal and Bangladesh to live in vidhva ashrams, their home for the rest of their lives. Estimates put their number at 35,000 to 40,000. They follow a common faith, seeking salvation at the feet of Lord Vishwanath, another name for Shiva.

At Varanasis many ghats in the morning, they can be identified as widows from their white saris. Some came here after being driven out by in-laws, some after they lost a son supporting them, and some, like Rajkumari, because their parents shunned for having married outside their caste. At 29, Rajkumari, of Karnataka, is the youngest at Sarnath Ashram. And at Birla Ashram at Dashshwamedh ghat is Annapurna Sharma, 38, whose in-laws threw her out holding her responsible for her husbands death.

Far from taking up any issues concerning the widows, no party even visited them, says Annapurna. She recalls that she had gone with other widows to New Delhi with a raakhi for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Varanasi MP. She cannot recall any MLA or MP ever visiting them. NGOs Sulabh International and Birla Sanstha provide the widows with a roof and electricity.

In the bylanes of Vranasi, the widows are mostly at an advanced age, while those in Mahila Vridha Ashram Sarnath, 25 km from the city, are younger.

Most widows near age 60 seek Kashi Pravas and want to live in Varanasi for salvation as they feel they are close to death, says Chanchal Rawat, coordinator of Sulabh International Varanasi. In Sarnath, most want a roof over their head and some help to live. Sulabh International looks after five ashrams, which house 141 widows, over 100 of them elderly.

Pashupati Nah Nepali Ashram in Lalitaghaat houses widows mostly from Nepal while Rajkiya Vridha Ashram near Durgakunds residents are mostly from states outside UP, and many from Bangladesh. Birla Ashram is at Neelkanth Gali near Maithili Mandir at Dashashwamegh ghat, Ramkuti Ashram is near Manglagouri Mandir, and Mother Teresa Ashram run by the Missionares of Charity is at Shivala Ghat.

Geeta Mehra, caretaker of Birla Ashram, describes a change in the life of widows after a pension and medical welfare scheme launched by Sulabh International. Some of the younger women are engaged in sewing and making diyas, while the elder ones are engaged mainly in morning rituals at the ghat and reciting from the Bhagwad Gita. Many of them are aware about the need for social security, with applications filed regularly for Aadhar and voter cards, especially from among the younger widows. Last year, a dozen widows defied a centuries-old ban to celebrate Holi, part of an event organised by an NGO at Assi ghat.

Also last year, 5,000-odd widows under 40 were identified by the district administration for training in various skills under the UK-based Loomba Foundation; Modi launched the programme. The Loomba Foundations World Widows Report, unveiled at the United Nations last year, gives comprehensive data about discrimination and injustice faced by widows. Filmmaker Deepa Mehtas Canadian production Water highlights the plight of widows at a pre-Independence ashram, although it was shot in Sri Lanka following protests in Varanasi.

Originally posted here:

Uttar Pradesh Elections 2017: Unaddressed in election din, the widows of Varanasi - The Indian Express