Someone To Say I Love You

I  love  you   is  welcome  even  in pet  language.
Watch   this   cute  video.  Sheeba   likes  it  too.

Joy in the morning

These  are  some   photos  from

February  2011.

Shopping   in   the  old  city  market.

Our  Canadian  friend  Megan

What  women  want.

Colorful  fabric

Scarves

Megan  bought   some  to  take  home

Fabric  store

Sisters  in  shopping

Dear  friends  thank  you  so  much  for  your  prayers.  By  Monday  afternoon my  pain  started to  decrease. It  was  just  a  miraculous  answer  to prayer. I  was  in  such  pain  that my   mind  was  torturing me  with   all  kinds  of  fearful  thoughts. My  caregiving and  church  responsibilities  lay  heavy  on  my  heart and   i  was  wondering  how  on  earth  would  I  be  able  to  fulfil  them.

The  Lord  had  mercy and  lay  His  hand  of  healing   on  me.The  Bible  says  He  does  not  allow  testing  more  than our  endurance.

Today I  did  not  have to  take  any  medication, whereas  yesterday  I was  unable  to  take  a  single  step  without  piercing  pain.

Praise  Jesus . It  is  His  doing.

Sunday Blessings -The Fruit of Trials

I  was  going   to  post something  else

for  today 's  Sunday Blessings entry, but  I

just   read  this story by  Joni Eareckson Tada

which  spoke  to  my  present situation

and  I  have  to  share  it with  my  readers.

I  am   in  a  lot  of pain  after  my  fall.

Its  scary because I' ve   not  been  in  such

a  lot  of  pain   since  a  long  time.

But   this  trial will   bear  fruit.

It  will  teach  me  to  pray harder and

lean  more   heavily on  the Lord.

Today  was   a   busy  day.

After  church  I  helped  another

church  group set  up  for  their  service.

They will begin worshipping  in  our  

sanctuary from  next  Sunday.

They  were  moving in a lot

of  their  stuff to  be  stored  here.

I   got  so late  that  I  did  not  have  time  time

to  cook  lunch .

I was going  to,   but Ma  and  Auntie

insisted  that  we  have  yesterday 's left-overs

as  I  was  tired.

Last  night we  were invited  to  a nephew 's

birthday  dinner.

That  was  very  nice.

 6  year  old  Yash   with Grannies

He  wanted  an animal  cake.

We had   two  and  half  days  of  non  stop  rain.

It  has  brought  the  temperature  down,

but  everything is  damp  and  soggy.

Commuting  is  difficult.

I' ve  got  good  news.

Aunt  Maya  has  found  a suitable   flat and

she  will  be moving  into  it in  a  few  days.

We  are  so  happy,  its  an  answer to

prayer. This  house  was  promised  to  her

but  there  was some  delay.

Please  pray  for  my  healing.

Fruit Comes Through Struggle

"This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be
my disciples." --John 15:

Last week Ken and I visited Tim, a friend from church, who grows several rare varieties
of grapes on the hillside behind his house. I was surprised that Tim had planted
his vines along a steep and rocky portion of the hill. "Why didn't you plant the
vines at the base of the hill?" I asked him. "The soil certainly looks a lot better-and
there's more sun."

Tim smiled. "There's a rule you need to remember when it comes to growing these
special varieties of grapes," he said. "When you feed them luxuriously with lots
of nutrients and fertilizer, the vine produces a profuse bush of leaves and cane.
But the fruit it grows is sparse and very poor. Oh make no mistake," he laughed.
"The plant loves lots of fertilizer. But it invests all those nutrients into growing
lush, dark, beautiful leaves. And when the vine has finished doing that, it has
very little energy left to produce fruit. It certainly looks like a beautiful vine.
But that's it. It just looks good."

How, then, do you get good grapes? As Tim explained it, you have to make sure the
grapevine struggles! You plant it in rocky, flinty soil, or you girdle the vine
by wrapping wires around the cordons, forcing the plant to struggle as it tries
to draw nutrients from its roots. This causes the distressed vine to divert most
all of its prized and hard-won nutrients into the fruit, instead of the leaves.
The result of these trials and tribulations is the sweetest fruit possible.


So... maybe the rocky soil and steep inclines in your life aren't so bad after all.
The trials and struggles, disappointments and setbacks you face, this "girdling"
that presses you in from all sides... is a bruising of blessing. And you won't
bear a crop without it.

Lord, when this life is all over and I stand before you, I want you to find sweet
fruit in my life... and not just leaves.

Blessings,
Joni and Friends

What Kind of Patient Am I?

Photos   from  a  gift  shop  in   the  old  city.

I  am  recovering  from  my  cold,  but  last   night  i  had  a  bad  fall.  I  slipped  on   some  water   on  the  porch  (in   the  dark) and  had   to  struggle  real  hard  to  get  up. My  Sheeba  tried  to  encourage  me   by  wagging   her  tail.  I  did  not  disturb  or  alarm  Mum  and  Aunt, they  were  a  few  feet  away.

Anyway,  my  left  elbow  and  knee  are  quite  painful.  Painkillers   are  doing   for  me.

Let   me  share   this  essay about  patience which  puts  it  in  a  new  light.

  Is Patience Dangerous?


Ed Welch

We can’t work on everything at once so we prioritize. Do you have any particular spiritual priorities right now? Are you focused on anything specific?

Is patience high on your list of priorities?
Is it in the top two or three?
If so—you are in danger. Yes, danger.

“Love is patient, love is kind” (1 Corinthians 13:4). I believe that. Patience covers a good bit of love’s terrain. But consider how it might be dangerous when it becomes our primary agenda.

Patience can be self-righteous
Patience, at least the way we apply it, can mean this: “You are messed up. I’m not. But, being the generous type, I will wait until you finally get it and reach my level.” Too often, patience is actually no agenda at all. The real agenda is for the dolts around us who need to change.

Patience without humility is self-righteousness. It leaves underlying resentment and anger unattended.

Patience can be passive
If we know anything about ourselves, we know that we are not perfect. We expect to have a long agenda for growth and change. Patience, however, tends to just sit around and wait. It has a keener vision for other people’s sins than it does for one’s own sin and weaknesses. This makes it a hopeless goal because it lacks furvor for daily growth. Instead, it waits to be “tried” by people or events.

Patience can be silent
Along with the smug self-righteousness that can seep into patience, another problem is that patience offers no compelling reason to speak with the other person. Patience tends to be silent, and, especially in close relationships, the last thing you want to do is be silent when the other person is being sinful or even irritating. If we are bothered by something that has happened in a relationship, our kingdom instincts should be to speak about the matter in a way that is humble and edifying. From this perspective, I would be so sad if my wife or friends were “patient” with me.

Patience without a willingness to speak openly and in the best interests of the relationship is cowardice, even hatred.

Patience is best when paired with kindness
Yes, patience is a fruit of the Spirit, in which case it works best when it rests on a godly explanation:

The Lord is so patient with me—so patient. And other people have to be patient with me every day. Therefore, it is my honor to be able to extend that patience to others. Usually patience will speak to the other person, sometimes it won’t.

This version is less dangerous. But it could still use an addition. To be safe, we should remember Paul’s words (above) and add kindness. While patience is willing to cover minor offenses, kindness is busy strategizing ways to do good. Patience-kindness is less prone to sitting around and waiting for change in others, and it avoids the arrogance and cowardice that can lie hidden under motives that can be more deceptive than we realize.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edward T. Welch, M.Div., Ph.D., is a counselor and faculty member at CCEF and holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology with a neuro-psychology specialty from the University of Utah as well as a Master of Divinity degree from Biblical Theological Seminary. Ed has been counseling for over twenty-six years and has written many books and articles on biblical counseling.

Put food on our plates

Indian  estimates of  poverty  range  from 270  million  to 450 million  people.  The  World  Bank  reckons 300  million  Indians  live  on  less  than  a  Dollar  a  day.
(Source Hindustan Times)

Yet   the  government  played   a  cruel  joke on  our  starving   masses  by  saying  that  anyone  who  earns   32 Rupees  (66 cents) a  day  is   not  poor. That  amount  can  only  buy  you  a  bowl  of  rice or  a  few   pieces   of  flat  bread (rotis) once   a  day.

How  can  our  rulers  who  have  stashes  of  money  in   their  banks  feel  the  rumblings  of  an  empty  stomach.

Reminds  me  of  passages  from  the  Old  Testament (Bible) when Israel  was  in  captivity. Both  the  remnants  and  captives  were  suffering.

Jesus had  compassion on  the  hungry  crowds  who  were following   him.



32 And Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way.”

(Gospel  of  Matthew)

Jesus  performed  a  miracle  right there -  feeding  the  hungry  crowd  with  a  few pieces  of bread  and fish.

Dear  Lord  ,  Bless  my few  pieces  of  "fish and   bread", so  I   can  share  it   with  others  in   need.

 

(Photos by  my nephew  Ashish   and friend  Megan)

Megan  in front  of   a Government  building  in  New  Delhi  before  they  flew  back   to  Canada.

Need an Isolation Retreat

I  am  not   too  good  these  days.

Got   a  cold  and  feel  rather  low.

In  times  like  these  I  want  to  go  into  an

isolation  retreat in   a monastery.

In   the  begining  of  September  I   helped  my  friend  Diana  in  a  Bible  School  Project.  Here  is   a  short  video clipping from  our  classes.

Sunday Blessings -The Way, The Truth and The Life

The Way, the Truth, and the Life


Jonathan Dodson »

In the prior four posts (Sunday Blessings), we examined, all to briefly, the claim of Christ and the claim of pluralism: the belief in Jesus as the only way to God and belief that the many paths lead to God. We’ve seen that religious pluralism is inaccurate, arrogant, and intolerant. Is Christianity any better? I’d like to suggest three ways that Christianity is better from the claim of Jesus himself. He said that he is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Let’s take each point.

Christianity Should Make Us Incredibly Humble

First, Jesus is the Way. What does this mean? Does it mean that Jesus is our trailblazer, clearing the other religious options aside so we can hike our way to heaven through spiritual or moral improvement. If I keep the Ten Commandments, if I serve the poor and love my neighbor, if I pray and read the Bible enough, then God will accept me. No. As the way, Jesus doesn’t create a path for us to hike. We can never make it, do enough spiritual, moral, or social good to impress God. Much less love him with all our soul, mind, and strength. We can’t make it up the path. We all fail to love and serve the infinitely admirable and lovable God. In fact, we love other things more, which is a crime of infinite proportions. It’s against a holy, righteous God. The sentence for our crime must be carried out.

When Jesus takes the arduous hike for us he goes down into the valley where the criminals die. He hikes down into our sin, our rebellion, our failures and he heaps them all on his back and climbs on a cross, where he is punished for our crime, a bloody gruesome death. The innocent punished for the guilty. If he doesn’t take our punishment, then we must endure it—forever separation from God. If you reject Jesus, then you will pay the infinite consequences. However, if you embrace Jesus in his sin-absorbing death you get forgiveness, and Jesus hikes not only through the valley but up the mountain to carry your forgiveness to God where he pleads our innocence (Heb 10). This is what it means for Jesus to be the way. He is the redemptive way. He takes our place. This understanding of Jesus as the way should make us incredibly humble not arrogant. We realize how undeserving we are and how much mercy we have been shown.


Christianity is Wonderfully Enlightening

Jesus is also the Truth. What does that mean? In John 1, we are told that God became flesh and was full of grace and truth in Jesus. The truth is that God is Jesus. This is enlightening. Christianity is the only religion where God comes down to man and becomes man. All other religions man has to work his way to God. The truth is Jesus, the truth is a person, and the truth dies in our place, for our crimes, and in turn gives us his life.

God makes his way down to man and dies for us. That’s grace. It isn’t a special prayer or a codeword we say at the pearly gates. In Christianity, the truth is essentially revealed in a Person, Jesus, full of grace and truth. In all other religions, God is impersonal, but in Christianity we meet God in Jesus which is wonderfully enlightening and moving.

Christianity Should Make Us Persuasively Tolerant

Finally, Jesus is the Life. As if it wasn’t enough to be our way, incredibly humbling, and the truth, truly enlightening, Jesus caps it off by offering us not just his death, but his life. What life? Later on in John, Jesus says he is the resurrection and the life, and that whoever believes in him, though he die yet he will live” (11:25). He goes down into the valley to take our death and rises up from the dead on the other side of valley where he prepares a new place for us to enjoy life with him forever. The hope of that life should break into the lives of Christians today, making us persuasively tolerant.

We tolerantly extend people the dignity of their own beliefs. We don’t minimize the differences between religions. We honor them. The life of Christ produces in us true humility. But it also produces in us true enlightenment. We’ve come to grasp grace that God works his way down to us, dies for our moral and religious failures, and offers us life. If this is true, we must lovingly, humbly try to persuade others to believe in Jesus, who alone offers the wonderful promise of the way to God, the truth of God, and life of God.

The Heart of the Gospel

In the end, it doesn’t matter how nice or moral a person is because there is not enough niceness or morality to pay for our rejection of God. Either we must be rejected or we turn to Jesus who was rejected for us. This is the heart of the gospel. Jesus lays down his very own life for those who reject him, for his enemies, for those who don’t believe in him, and he offers them forgiveness. Amazing! Why would we reject such a man?

Instead of being unenlightened, Jesus is truly enlightening as the God who is full of grace and truth. Instead of being arrogant, Jesus should make us incredibly humble, he created the way to God for us at the expense of his own death. Finally, instead of being intolerant, Jesus should make us persuasively tolerant, granting people the dignity of unbelief in Christ but pleading with them to believe in Christ for true life!

Doubt and Faith

In the end, you have to decide where to place your faith. Both religious pluralism and Chrisitianity require faith. Leslie Newbigin said: “Doubt is not autonomous.” What he meant is that you can’t doubt alone. We can’t doubt one thing without placing our faith in another. You doubt Jesus and trust pluralism, or you trust Jesus and doubt pluralism. You can't say “I believe Jesus is the only way” and say “I believe all religions lead to God.” So, will you place faith in Jesus who is the way, truth, and life? Or will you place your faith religious pluralism? I hope you’ll choose Jesus.

The Methods God Uses To Teach His Children

1. By meeting our needs when we are helpless.He teaches us trust.
2. By making us wait for what we need or want. He teaches us patience.
3. By stretching us beyond the realm of the familier. He teaches us vision.
4. By taking us through the consequences of wrong choices.He teaches us values .
5. By allowing us to fail and make terrible mistakes. He teaches us wisdom.
6. By sustaining pain and affliction. He teaches us humility.
7. By involving us in the lives of difficult people. He teaches us unselfishness.

(taken  from Chuck  Swindoll' s   study  guide)
 
 
I  needed  to  be  reminded  of   these living   insights   this  evening because  I  was  feeling  very  tired ,  worn out  and  blue from  my  care giving  duties.

Aunt  Maya has  been   with  us  for   2  months  now.Looking  after  her  is  not  a  burden,  but   dealing   with  her  medical   problems  and  other  life  issues  causes   heaviness  of  heart. I  wrote  2 or  3   paragraphs  about  it but  deleted  it   all.

I  wish  her  children  and  grandchildren  were   concerned and  caring. That  irks   me  quite   a  bit. It  hurts   her  too. Please  pray  for Aunt  Maya'  s healing ,  she  has  several   medical problems  and   a  nagging   cough too. She  also needs suitable  accommodation.

Last  night  I  arranged  a  dinner  party   for   the   three  sisters,  My  Mom ,  her  younger  sister  Maureen  and  their  sister in  law  Aunt  Maya. Just  to  cheer  them  up . We  had  a  good  time.

 Maureen  aunty,  Mom and  Maya  aunty

 Salads

 Chicken  and  paneer  curries,  bread

 Butterscotch  ice  cream for   dessert

 
 I  was  feeling   very  low  this  evening  but    the  scriptures  from  Romans  12  lifted  me  up  an d put  me  on   the  straight   and   narrow.

9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. 10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; 11 not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 13 contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep
Romans 12
BIBLE
(New  Testament)

Ravi Zacharias on many religions claiming to be the true path

Please  click  on  the  You Tube link to  listen to  a  series   of  Short  Talks by  Ravi  Zacharias,  Christian  apologist, speaker  and  author .

Dr  Ravi  Zacharias  says  while  examining  various  religions   and  world  views we  should   keep 

the  following points  in    mind.

ORIGIN

MEANING

MORALITY

DESTINY

Sunday Blessings -Is Pluralism More Tolerant Than Christianity?

Is Pluralism More Tolerant Than Christianity?


Jonathan Dodson »

In the prior (Sunday  Blessings) posts, we have examined the claim that Jesus is the only way to God is both unenlightened and arrogant. As it turns out, it's actually the opposite. It is religious pluralism that is rather unenlightened and carries an air of arrogance. In this post we will examine the important idea of tolerance. Is religious pluralism more tolerant than Christianity?


Is Religious Pluralism Truly Tolerant?

Very often people hold to religious pluralism because they think it is more tolerant than Christianity. I’ll be the first to say that we need tolerance, but what does it mean to be tolerant? To be tolerant is to accommodate differences, which can be very noble. I believe that Christians should be some of the most accommodating kinds of people, giving everyone the dignity to believe whatever they want and not enforcing their beliefs on others through politics or preaching. We should winsomely tolerate different beliefs. Interestingly, religious pluralism doesn’t really allow for this kind of tolerance. Instead of accommodating spiritual differences, religious pluralism blunts them. Let me explain.

”The claim that all paths lead to the same God actually minimizes other religions by asserting a new religious claim. When someone says all paths lead to the same God, they blunt the distinctives between religions, throwing them all in one pot, saying: “See, they all get us to God so the differences don’t really matter.” This isn’t tolerance; it’s a power play. When asserting all religions lead to God, the distinctive and very different views of God and how to reach him in Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, and Islam are brushed aside in one powerful swoop. The Eightfold Noble Path of Buddhism, the 5 Pillars of Islam, and the Gospel of Christ are not tolerated but told they must submit to a new religious claim–all ways lead to God–despite the fact that this isn’t what those religions teach.

The Religion of Pluralism

People spend years studying and practicing their religious distinctives. To say they don’t really matter is highly intolerant! The very notion of religious tolerance assumes there are differences to tolerate but pluralism is intolerant of those very differences! In this sense, religious pluralism is a religion of its own. It has its own religious absolute—all paths lead to the same God—and requires people of other faiths to embrace this absolute, without any religious backing at all. It is highly evangelistic! Religious pluralism is highly political and preachy. Yet, it does so under the guise of tolerance. It is a leap of faith to say there are many paths to God; it is not a self-evident fact. It isn’t even an educated leap, nor is it as humble and tolerant as it might appear.

Recall Stephen Prothero’s comment regarding religious pluralism:

“But this sentiment, however well-intentioned, is neither accurate nor ethically responsible. God is not one.” He goes on: “Faith in the unity of religions is just that—faith (perhaps even a kind of fundamentalism). And the leap that gets us there is an act of the hyperactive imagination.”

Enlightened, Humble, Tolerant?

As it turns out, the reasons for subscribing to religious pluralism—enlightenment, humility, and tolerance—actually backfire. They don’t carry through. Religious pluralism isn’t enlightened, it’s inaccurate; it isn’t humble, it’s fiercely dogmatic; and it isn’t really all that tolerant because it intolerantly blunts religious distinctives. In the end, religious pluralism is a religion, a leap of faith, based on contradiction and is highly untenable. Christianity, on the other hand, should respect and honor the various distinctives of other religions, comparing them, and honoring their differing principles–Karma (Hinduism), Enlightenment (Buddhism), Submission (Islam), and Grace (Christianity). In the next and final post, I will examine Jesus’ exclusive claim, and the charge that his teachings in Christianity are unenlightened, arrogant, and intolerant. In particular, we will examine the unique principle of grace.

India 's Black Wednesday- Delhi Terror

Today  America   remembers   and  mourns  for  the  tragedy which took  place  10  years   ago while  India   is  reeling  from  shock and  grief in   the  aftermath  of  another  terror attack  in    the  nation 's  capital.

A high intensity blast outside the Delhi High Court on Wednesday (Sept 7th) morning claimed 13 lives and left 76 injured. This is the second terror attack near the High Court in four months. The earlier attack in May was a low intensity one with no casualties. Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI), an Islamist fundamental outfit operating mostly from neighbouring Bangladesh, has sent out e-mails to several news organisation claiming responsibility for the attack.

The bomb was placed in a suitcase near gate number five of the high court where more than 200 people had gathered to collect passes to enter the premises. Wednesday is a busy day at the court since Public Interest Litigations are filed on the day. The injured were rushed to nearby hospitals — Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital and Lady Hardinge Medical College and Hospital.

The blast caused a four feet deep crater at the spot, indicating it was a powerful bomb. The police said there were traces of ammonium nitrate and pentaerythritol tetranitrate and it appeared to be a sophisticated bomb

Security personnel secure the site of the blast outside the Delhi High Court in New Delhi on Wednesday . Subhav Shukla/PTI

There was no CCTV camera at the sensitive location. The Delhi Police has released sketches of two suspects based on descriptions provided by eyewitnesses. The metal detectors at the gates were also not functioning.

The e-mail sent by HuJI, says the death sentence awarded to Afzal Guru, the 2001 Parliament attack convict, be revoked. It threatened to target major high courts and the Supreme Court of India if it was not done. The veracity of the mail is yet to be ascertained. The case has been handed over to National Investigating Agency (NIA), which will supervise the probe with a special 20-member team, according to government sources.

“We take the mail very seriously,” said NIA chief SC Sinha.

Speaking in Parliament, Home Minister P Chidambaram said the government will not be intimidated by terrorist groups and it is “determined to track down the perpetrators of this horrific crime and bring them to justice”.

He regretted that the blast happened despite sharing of intelligence among several agencies. “Intelligence agencies constantly share intelligence inputs with Delhi Police. Intelligence pertaining to threats emanating from certain groups was shared with Delhi Police in July, 2011,” he said.

Reacting from Bangladesh where he is on a tour, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the as “a cowardly act of a terrorist nature”. He added, “We will deal with it… we will never succumb to the pressure of terrorism.”

“This is a long war in which all political parties, all the people of India have to stand united so that the scourge of terrorism is crushed,” he said.

Meanwhile, the BJP and the Left parties have asked the government to explain whether there was any intelligence failure.
(Source  Firstpost.com)

When  I  was  a  child the   words  terrorism and  terrorist were mere  shadows and  not  to   be  confronted  with. Now  they  have  become  words  ans  images  of   almost  daily  usage

Anna Hazare- India' s New Messiah

 Protests, rallies,marches,  demonstrations, strikes etc.  are  quite  common  in India,  the  world 's  largest  democracy. People  express  their  angst and  emotions through them. They  demand justice,  social action  and  government intervention. Most  of  this  public  activity  is  politically  motivated. Every  now  and then we  come  face  to  face   with   them.

But   the  month  of  August  saw  the  mother of  all  campaigns which  united  the   whole   of  India and  made  the   ruling  coalition government sweat profusely.

Anna  Hazare,  the  74  year  old  crusader against  corruption  lit  a  fire which   spread   all  across  India

Middle  class  Indian  society  joined  in to  oppose  corruption  and  scams which  have  caught several  politicians  and  VIPs  in their  net.
Mr  Hazare  went   on  a  fast  which  lasted   for  12  days  and  kept  everyone  on  tenterhooks and  glued  to  the  TV.
I  am quite   skeptical  of  the  Lokpal  Anti  corruption  bill which  is   the  bone   of  contention  between   the  government  and   social  and  civil  activists.
It  will  take  more  than  a  law  to  eradicate  or   at  least  lessen the  corruption an d moral  decay  which   has  seeped  into  our   society.  A change  of  heart  is  required.

I  took  some  photos   at  the  local  demonstration,  marches and   speeches  in  the  city  center.

(A  BBC  report)

Mr Hazare's campaign to strengthen an anti-corruption bill has received widespread support, with tens of thousands of people attending protests across the country.

The Indian government has been rocked by recent corruption scandals including an alleged telecoms bribery scam that may have cost the country $39bn (£23bn), suspected financial malpractice linked to the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games and accusation that homes for war widows were diverted to civil servants.

Critics of the government say the scandals point to a pervasive culture of corruption in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's administration.

A recent survey said corruption in Asia's third largest economy had cost billions of dollars and threatened to derail growth.

A  model  of  Anna  Hazare

The  horrific   face   of   corruption

Social  activists taking  a  stand

The  young  and   the  old  join  in  patriotic  fever.

Campaign  merchandise. I  bought  a  cloth  cap.

A  local  politician giving   an  interview.

I   am  calling  Anna  Hazare  , India' s  new  Messiah  because  he  was  able  to  rally  toegther  his   countrymen  of   all  ages, backgrounds  and  walks  of  life  together  for   a  common  cause. They   found   a  role  model  in  him,  an  idealist,  a Gandhi like   hero.