THE VALLEY OF THE KINGS: CURSE OF THE PHAROHS

The King began to dig his grave the day he was crowned. The digging continued throughout his reign. His grave – rather, tomb – had to be completed within 70 days of his death: that was the time required to mummify his body and put it in the casket in his tomb.

The ‘tomb’ was a sloping-down corridor cut into the limestone hills in two valleys (‘wadis’) on the west bank of Nile, opposite Luxor. This was the tradition in ancient Egypt for 500 years (16 to 11 BC). Mummies of the Kings, and powerful nobles were placed in the tombs. Till date, 63 tombs have been discovered in the valley.

Hence the name of the valley: the Valley of the Kings.

If the King’s reign was long - depicted by the king shown with a straight beard - then his tomb was long and grand - “fully finished” -  with a wide entrance, long sloping corridor, large antechamber decorated with brightly painted animals, serpents and demons from the Book of the Dead, a pillared hall and short hallway before the burial chamber.

If the King’s reign was short - depicted by the king shown with an up-turned beard - then the tomb was short and “Unfinished” because 70 days was too short a time to finish it.

For example, tomb of Ramses II, one of Egypt’s longest-reigning (67 years) pharaohs is one of the biggest; tomb of Ramses III (reign: 31 years) is one of the longest, 125 m; tomb of Amenhotep II (reign: 26 years), is one of the deepest, more than 90 steps down; but tomb of Ramses VII ((reign: 07 years) is one of the shortest, only 44.3m long.

The King was buried with many of his valuables. Almost all the tombs have been ransacked and valuables removed. However from the Tomb of Tutankhamun – King Tut - 5,398 items were found, even though it had been robbed twice. The items included a solid gold coffin, face mask, thrones and other items. The discoverer of the tomb in 1922, Howard Carter, took 10 years to catalog the items. King Tut’s tomb is the most famous of the tombs because exhibits and artifacts from it have traveled the world. Tutankhamun's death mask, made of gold in the image of the deceased, now in Cairo Museum, remains the most popular symbol of this tomb.

King Tut’s tomb is also associated with the myth of the Curse of the Pharaohs. The fina-

ncial backer of the excavation team who was present at the tomb's opening, Lord Carnarvon, died mysteriously 4 months and 7 days after the opening of the tomb. Ten other, associated with the tomb’s discovery, also died mysteriously.

Carter presented to his friend, Sir Bruce Ingram, a paperweight composed of a mummified hand with its wrist adorned with a scarab bracelet marked with, "Cursed be he who moves my body. To him shall come fire, water and pestilence."  Soon after receiving the gift, Ingram's house burned down, followed by a flood when it was rebuilt.

Curse of the Pharaohs has captured the popular imagination though it has been proved that it has no scientific basis.

A memorable visit; a memorable peep into a minuscule part of ancient Egypt’s history.

TODAY’S PRITHVIRAJ CAHUHAN

A blind Prithviraj Chauhan shot the arrow at the voice of Mohd. Gauri and killed him!

But the blind Kejri, today’s Prithviraj Cahuhan, doesn’t even need a voice to fire at. He fires the arrow blindly because it is bound to hit a ‘corrupt’ since all except him and his cohorts are corrupt.

And so it is that he faces a Defamation Suit.

Defamation is almost impossible to prove; or, at the very least, very, very, difficult to prove. In seeking legal redress, the victim runs the risk of his reputation being sullied beyond repair. A person without reputation (fame) cannot be defamed: calling a person convicted of rape or murder a rapist or a murderer does not defame him. So the Defamer’s best defence is to prove that the Defamed was indeed a villain.

Arun Jaitly, Sr advocate of the Supreme Court, an eagle eyed lawyer, knows this well. Yet he has sued Kejri and his five cohorts for criminal and civil defamation asking for a jail term and for Rs 10 crores compensation. Jaitly says he will not accept an apology.

Kejri’s allegation against Jaitly is that irregularities were committed in the renovation of Kotla Stadium and in other matters when he was at the helm of DDCA for about 13 years (1999 – 2013). Jaitly’s defence is that he was not involved in day to day running of DDCA.

DDCA supports jaitly saying that “all powers rest with EC and president never had separate powers.” It gave a point by point rebuttal of Kejri’s allegations and said that these were completely baseless and without any substance; that the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) report pointed out only procedural lapses and DDCA paid fine for that; that no criminal complaints were filed during Jaitly’s Presidency; that SFIO report was in 2012 when the Congress was in power.

Jaitly adds: “A stadium [of] a capacity of 42,000 was made for Rs 114 crore. When [Congress] was in power, the renovation of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium was done at Rs 900 crore. [And] the renovation of Dhyanchand National Stadium — with a capacity of 14,000 — was done at Rs 600 crore. Here, a brand new stadium got made at just Rs 114 crore and they think that this is wrong.”

However, it is more than likely that family and friends were helped - that’s part of Indian culture; that financial bungling, favouritism, and misappropriation of funds – at whatever miniscule scale – occurred. Since it occurred during Jaitly’s watch, he is morally responsible for the lapses.  But his criminal responsibility has to be proved in the court. He is a man of impeccable probity and is wealthy and therefore is unlikely to waver for a few lakh rupees. But all this and much more dirt will be washed in public and Jaitly will not escape unsullied even if he wins the defamation case.

To buttress his case, Kejri has appointed a one man Inquiry Commission under his favourite lawyer, Gopal Subramanium, former Solicitor General of India. The criticism is that Gopal is not a judge. But the SC found him fit to be a SC judge. His appointment was scuttled by the BJP govt and it is argued that this will affect his evaluation of evidence because, after all, he is human.

Gopal said that he will refuse the assignment unless it was constitutional. But the Notification for his appointment has been issued without the LG’s sanction. And that is, prima facie, unconstitutional. Will Gopal accept the appointment?

Does Kejri have the power to appoint a commission of Inquiry into DDCA affairs? DDCA says NO: “Delhi government has no locus standi to investigate the DDCA issue.” Clearly, the Constitutional validity of Kejri’s Notification will be tested in the courts. That will delay the start of the work of the Commission.

In the criminal defamation case filed against him by Gadkari, the Court jailed Kejri for refusing to file the bail bond. He was released 14 days later on filing the bail. The SC has stopped the proceedings in the case while it examines the constitutional validity of criminal defamation.

There is little doubt that in times to come the Jaitly’s Defamation suits and the DDCA issue will see many twists and turns - legal, administrative and political.

WONDEREST OF WONDERS

At the age of 4,600 years, it is the oldest but the only one of the Seven Wonders of Ancient World that still stands; initially at 146.5 meters (481 feet), it remained the tallest man-made structure in the world for more than 3,300 years, that is, till the 160-meter (520 feet)-tall  spire of Lincoln Cathedral was completed CE 1300; at  5.9 million tonnes mass, it remains till date the most massive structure in the world; accuracy of its workmanship is such that the four sides of the base have an average error of only 58 mm (2.3 in) in length,  the base is horizontal and flat to within ±15 mm (0.6 in), the sides of the square base are closely aligned to the four cardinal compass points (within four minutes of arc) based on true north, and the finished base is a near perfect square (a mean corner error of only 12 seconds of arc); the ratio of perimeter to height is 2π + 0.05%; the conclusion is that “although the ancient Egyptians could not precisely define the value of π, in practice they used it"; its dimensions are within 0.025% of the Golden Ratio, phi; - all in all, it truly is the wonderest of wonders.

It is the Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt.

There is more.

The pyramid used about 2.3 million blocks. The granite blocks weighing three to fifteen tons were brought from the quarries in Aswan, 934 km to the south. How were these brought and how were these lifted up?

Originally, the pyramid had an outer-most layer of white, highly polished, Tura limestone – the “casing stones” – that shone in reflected sunlight.  The “casing

stones” were cut with a precision of 1/100^th of an inch to give a smooth slope to the pyramid. Each stone weighed 40 tons before the face angle was cut and 15 tons after that. In 1303 CE, a massive earthquake loosened many of the outer casing stones, which were then carted away for building mosques and other structures. The pyramids today have the outer stones forming very large “steps”.

The great pyramid has three known chambers inside. The lowest chamber is cut into the bedrock upon which the pyramid was built and was unfinished. The Queen's Chamber and the King's Chamber are higher up within the pyramid structure. To go to these chambers one has to be fit – climb for about 30 minutes half-bent – and free from claustrophobia. I didn’t try it but my daughter did.

All in all, visit to the Pyramids at Giza, Egypt, is awe inspiring.

THE NUBIANS

THE NUBIANS

"Where do you go for the best bread in the world?

To a Nubian home." - saying in Aswan, Egypt

The bread, Aish-shamshi, a tinge of sour in it, served with Halwa, Mish (fresh cheesecake) and Honey (rab of sugarcane) is an assay the foodies will love.

Don't be alarmed if you see a few Nile crocodiles around the home. They are pets. Though I think they are there as tourist attraction. Be pleased, nonetheless: you will not see Nile crocodiles in the Nile anywhere in Egypt.  Since the building of the Aswan High Dam, the crocodiles are confined to the huge lake formed by the dam. In the lake, the crocks can be seen in the hundreds.

But don't get close to the pet crock even if it seems to be in deep slumber: even in that state, it is aware of the living-beings in its vicinity; and it strikes real fast - scientifically proven facts. 

Most Nubians today live on the fringes of society in Egypt, subsisting on small farms, and handicrafts like ear rings.

But they are one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Once rich and powerful, they ruled Egypt for a hundred years (746 BC to 653 BC under Nubian Pharaohs (Kings) of 25th dynasty. In the modern times they have produced some notable personalities: Anwar Sadat, third President of Egypt and the first Muslim Noble Laurette; Gaffar Nimeiry, former President of Sudan; Field Marshal Hussein_Tantawi_Soliman, de facto Head of State of Egypt;  Abdallah_Khalil,  former PM of Sudan; and many others.

Their villages were submerged in the lake after the Aswan High Dam was built. They were relocated in villages in twelve islands in the Nile in Aswan. Inheritors of a rich language and culture that is reflected in their brightly painted houses with curved roofs.

Visit to a Nubian village is a must for  a tourist.

NOT A PAPPU BUT A WIZARD

“Petitions are dismissed,” with that Justice Sunil Gaur of Delhi High Court set the stage for Sonia, RaGa and their five cohorts to appear in the trial court in Delhi today as accused in National Herald ‘cheating’criminal-complaint (CC) filed against them by the irrepressible Dr Subramanian Swamy, former Union Cabinet Minister, a five-term MP, Harvard Ph.D in Economics and Harvard Professor.

“I give as good as I get,” Swamy tweeted immediately after the HC order.

A seething Congress is rushing to the Supreme Court against the HC order. “A person with no locus, Dr Subramanian Swamy alleges [that] though he himself has not been cheated, an offence of cheating has occurred. So, we are raising the issue of locus standi in a very big way," Abhishek Singhvi, MP, Congress spokesperson and a Sr. SC advocate said.(A tape of Dr. Singhvi in compromising positions with a woman was circulated some time ago. Following this he resigned from Congress and as a Rajya Sabha member. But he was rehabilitated as soon as the tapes slipped from public conciousness.)

Note that the principal point the Congress is to rake-up is “locus," not cheating: since Swamy has no locus, therefore the cheating CC ought to be dismissed whether or not cheating was done!

Can the Gandhis "hide" from law and stop "the law from taking its own course?" Is the law different to Gandhis and to commoners?

Fortunately wisdom dawned on Gandhis and instead of going to SC they went to the trial court and said they will appear there and sought a later date. The court then asked them to appear on 19 December.

Swamy’s petition said, inter alia, that:

The assets of National Herald, ₹ 5000 crores, including Herald House, a six-storey building with around 1,00,000 sq feet office space, was transferred to Young Indian a private company limited by guarantee. Young Indian was incorporated on 23 November 2010 with a paid up capital of ₹5 lakh. Sonia and RaGa are its owners because they hold 76% of its shares; the remaining 24% is held by Congressmen Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes.
Congress gave an interest-free, unsecured, loan of Rs 90.25 crore to AJPL, the original owners of National Herald (NH). This loan was transferred to Young Indians along with the assets and income, Rs 60 lakhs a month, of NH. The loan was never repaid; or was paid back in cash which is illegal.

Also, it is illegal for any political party to lend money for commercial purposes as per "Section 29A to C of the RPA (1951) and Section 13A of IT Act (1961)."
Sonia and RaGa and their five musketeers cheated and misappropriated funds in acquiring ownership of now-defunct daily National Herald for "a pittance," and in ousting AJPL's 5000 shareholders.

Are the profits of NH being camouflaged as hefty salary and other expenses?
In 2012 RaGa said that he will sue for defamation. Three years down the line he has yet to approach the courts.

Sonia and RaGa's company with a capital of Rs 05 lakh acquired assets of Rs 5000 crores!
Boeski, Miliken, Harshad Mehta, Ketan Parikh and other assorted scammers are watching in wonderment the finesse with which the legerdemain was performed by the master wizard - Pappu.

LUCIFER BY ANY OTHER NAME

Even hardened Kejri loyalists were startled by his sudden declaration of the Mantra, “First declare than prepare” about use of odd/even number vehicles on alternate days.  The traffic police, who are to enforce Kejri diktat, were taken by total surprise: they hadn’t heard even a whisper of this assay, their intelligence sources notwithstanding. What were they to do with the offenders, fine them or take them to the gaol or hang them on the spot? No law or guidelines told them what to do.

‘Aam Aadmi was shocked. How was he to drop the kids to the school in the morning, collect his womenfolk from bus/metro stations at night - safety of women in Delhi being what it is - take his critically sick to the hospital and so on.  We are working on it, assured Kejri. We have solved the problem for the ‘Aam Aadmi’ in the Assembly. He gets Rs. 12 lakhs with which he can buy two cars. For the remaining ‘Aam Aadmi,’ we still have 25 days to get the suggestions from him and from the stake holders: traffic police, Metro/bus companies, scooter-rickshaw and taxi walahs . . .  For example how are the weak and the aged and the women and the children to get into a bus or a Metro which even the strapping 20-year olds find hard to manage? Bear it for 7-10 days starting Jan 01, said Kejri, and then the scheme will be discarded.

The Aam Aami who is asking, “if that be so, couldn’t it have been First prepare then declare,” i.e. start the scheme after the “preparation” was complete - is missing the wood for the trees.

Let me explain.

Kejri avowed from the rampart of Delhi Assembly that ‘Aam Aadmi’ had sent the ‘Aam Aadmi’ to the Assembly. Kejri had vowed to bring prosperity to the ‘Aam Aadmi.’ And he did. He hiked the pay of the  ‘Aam Aadmi’ in Delhi Assembly fourfold, to Rs 2.5 lakhs a month, making him the second highest paid  ‘Aam Aadmi’ in the country, second only to the  ‘Aam Aadmi’ in Assam Assembly.  And Kejri has vowed to make Delhi the number one very soon. [Heh, heh, they already are if you factor in the benefits]. He will now work to bring prosperity to the rest of the ‘Aam Aadmi’ ASAP. And the commoner knows what ASAP means.

But the  ‘Aam Aadmi’ being  ‘Aam Aadmi’ would have missed the nuances and would have created a furore about only a select few ‘Aam Aadmi’ benefiting at the cost of the vast majority of the  ‘Aam Aadmi.’

What better way to divert his attention than to threaten his very sustenance: to get him to worry about the safety of his women and children rather than about the largesse the select few ‘Aam Aadmi’ received.

Not for nothing is Kejri called the Lucifer of the 21^st century.