TABLE MANNERS

Table manners are the etiquette used when eating. This includes the appropriate use of utensils. Different cultures have different standards for table manners. Many table manners evolved out of practicality. For example, it is generally impolite to put elbows on tables since doing so creates a risk of tipping over bowls and cups. Within different families or groups, there may be less rigorous enforcement of some traditional table manners of their culture while still maintaining others. For example, some families ignore elbows on the table or mixing of foods.

Afghan table manners

• The Guest are seated farthest from the door always, when there are no guest the grandparents are seated farthest away from the door.
• Depending on the customs of the household a prayer may be offered before and/or after the meal.
• Guests are offered food first, and ought to eat the most, while the hosts eat last and the least.
• Guests should refrain from eating too much, unless the hosts coaxes them to eat more. The host should always ask at least three times if the guest wants more food. The guest should say no at least three times to the host. In certain situations the host can put food on the guest's plate by force.
• Guests are always given the best portions of the food.
• Traditionally food should be eaten with bare hands; However, cutlery is sometimes provided. Only use your right hand when eating with your hands. There are proper ways of picking up rice and other loose food without spilling any, which one should learn and practice. Wasting food is frowned upon. When cutlery is provided it is usually a spoon and fork since there is seldom need for the use of a knife when eating Afghani food. Even when cutlery is provided it is acceptable to eat with your hands interchangeably.
• Soup is eaten by soaking bread in it.
• Food remnants should be collected with slices of bread.
• Sometimes it is common to eat collectively from one plate. One should always eat from one's own side.
• If eating on a table and bread is dropped on the floor the bread should picked up and kissed and put to one's forehead before putting back somewhere other than the floor. If eating on the floor make sure that your feet do not touch the food.
• Compliments to the chef are customary; however, compliments should be returned with extreme modesty.
• Traditionally, service during dinner is performed by the youngest. First, water is brought in a jug with a saucer to wash the hands. The food is then served. This may be followed by fruit and then tea.
• Tea is served after dinner, with dried fruits, sweets, and sugar cubes. When tea is served, the cup of a guest must never be empty, and snacks must be offered. Once the guest has finished drinking tea, the guest can flip their tea cup over to signal that they are done.
• Eating or talking with one's mouth full is looked down upon.
• Even if one is starving one should refrain from being over zealous at the table.
• Passing wind is not tolerated.
• One must never sit with one's back to anyone, especially an elder or a guest. One must never sit with feet stretched out toward anyone, especially an elder or a guest.
• One must always be polite and gracious to the host. Remember if the host is poor and had only one chicken which the family used for eggs that chicken would be sacrificed for the guest.
• After eating, the jug of water is brought out again to wash hands. A towel may be provided.

American table manners

Table Layout

• Bread or salad plates are to the left of the main plate, beverage glasses are to the right. If small bread knifes are present, lay them across the bread plate with the handle pointing to the right.
• Salad fork, knife and soup spoon are further from the main plate than the main course knife, fork and spoon. Dessert utensils are either placed above the main plate with the handle pointing to the left or served with dessert.
• If a wine glass and a water glass are present, the wine glass is on the right directly above the knife. The water glass is at a 45 degree angle to the wine glass to the left and toward the edge of the table.
• Salt and pepper are always placed together and passed together even if someone only asks for one or the other.

General Behavior

• Chew with your mouth closed.
• Do not talk at an excessively loud volume.
• Refrain from coughing, sneezing or blowing nose at the table.
• Never tilt back your chair while at the table. Sit in a relaxed and comfortable position, but do not "slouch."
• Do not "play with" your food, or with your table utensils.
• Do not make loud or unusual noises while eating.
• Do not single out or chastise someone who has shown poor table manners.
• It is generally acceptable to rest your fore-arms on the table, though you should take care to never rest your elbows on the table.
• Always ask the host or hostess to be excused before leaving the table.
• Do not stare at anyone while he or she is eating.
• Never talk on your phone or text a friend at the table. If an urgent matter arises, ask host or hostess to be excused, and step away from the table.

Utensils

• Do not eat food with your fingers unless you are eating foods customarily eaten with fingers, such as bread, French fries, chicken wings, pizza, etc. At more formal occasions, it is acceptable to eat asparagus or some romaine lettuce dishes with one's hands. However, as this is an obscure etiquette rule, in more casual settings, it is customary to use utensils.
• The fork may be used either in the American (use the fork in your left hand while cutting; switch to right hand to pick up and eat a piece) or the Continental (fork remains in the left hand) fashion -- either is now acceptable. (See Fork etiquette)
• The fork is used to convey any solid food to the mouth.
• The knife blade should be placed on the edge of your plate when not in use. The blade should always face inward.
• When you have finished eating soup, the spoon should be placed to the side of the saucer, not left in the bowl.
• Keep your napkin on your lap. At more formal occasions all diners will wait to place their napkins on their laps until the host or hostess places his or her napkin on his or her lap. While at the table, it is never acceptable to take your napkin out of your lap. When leaving the table, place your napkin on your chair, not on the table.
• When eating barbecue or some other messy foods such as cracked crab, a 'bib' napkin may be provided for and used by adults. Usually these foods are also eaten by hand, and wet wipes or paper napkins should be used to clean the hands.
• When using paper napkins, never ball them up or allow stains to show.
• Use your silverware from the outside moving inward toward the main plate. (Salad fork, knife and soup spoon are further from the main plate than the main course knife, fork and spoon. Dessert utensils are either placed above the main plate or served with dessert.)

Dining

• A prayer or 'blessing' may be customary in some families, and the guests should join in even if they are not religious or do not follow the same religion. Most prayers are made by the host before the meal is eaten. Instead or in addition, a 'toast' may be offered [1].
• Do not start eating until (a) every person is served or (b) those who have not been served request that you begin without waiting. At more formal occasions all diners will wait to begin until the hostess or host lifts a fork or spoon.
• When a dish is presented 'family style', the food is served to one's plate and then passed on to the next person. put the food on your left, take some and pass to the person next to you.
• When serving yourself or others, the meat portion of the dish should be at the "5 o'clock" position, unless it has been placed in the center of the dish for presentation purposes.
• When serving, serve from the left and pick-up the dish from the right. Beverages, however, are to be both served and as well as removed from the right-hand side.
• Eat soup noiselessly, and from the side of the spoon.
• Tea or coffee should never be poured into the saucer to cool but should be sipped from the cup. Alternatively, ice may be used to cool either.
• Coffee or tea cups are always placed to right of the table setting or sometimes above the setting to the right if space is limited. When serving either the cup's handle should be pointing right and the handle of the spoon pointing right, as most people are right handed.
• Seasoning one's meal prior to tasting it might be considered rude, or even an insult to the chef.

At the end of the meal

• It is acceptable, in most circumstances, not to finish all of the food on your plate.
• When finished with your meal, place your knife and fork with handles at the 4 o'clock position and the tines of the fork down to signal to the server that you are done.
• Except in a public restaurant, do not ask to take some of your uneaten food away from the meal after it ends, and never do so when attending a formal dinner.
• When finished with your meal, it is impolite to leave a dirty napkin on the table or on your dinner plate. The proper place to leave a napkin is on your chair. You may only leave your napkin on the table if everyone is leaving the table all at once.

British table manners

• The fork is held in your left hand and the knife is held in your right.
• You should hold your knife with the handle in your palm and your fork in the other hand with the prongs pointing downwards.
• If you’re eating a dessert, your fork (if you have one) should be held in the left hand and the spoon in the right.
• When eating soup, you should hold your spoon in your right hand and tip the bowl away from you, scooping the soup in movements away from yourself.
• It is not acceptable to use your fingers at the table to eat or push food onto your fork. You may, however, eat some foods such as fruit, sandwiches, burgers, crisps, chips or pizza with your fingers.
• If there are a number of knives or forks, then you should start from the outside set working your way in as each course is served.
• Drinks should always be to the right of your plate with the bread roll to the left.
• When eating bread rolls, break off a piece before buttering. Use your knife only to butter the bread, not to cut it.
• You should not start eating before your host does or instructs you to do so. At larger meals, it is considered okay to start eating once others have been served.
• When you’re finished, place your knife and fork together at six o’clock with your fork on the left (tines facing up) and knife on the right, with the knife blade facing in. This signals that you are finished.
• Your serviette should never be screwed up. Nor should it be folded neatly as that would suggest that your host might plan to use it again without washing it - just leave is neatly but loosely.
• Never blow your nose on your serviette. Place it on your lap and use it to dab your mouth if you make a mess.
• It is considered rude to answer the telephone at the table. If you need to take an urgent call, excuse yourself and go outside.
• Always ask for permission from the host and excuse yourself if you need to leave the table. You should place your napkin on your seat until you return.
• If you must leave the table or are resting, your fork should be at eight o’clock and your knife at four o’clock (with the blade inwards). Once an item of cutlery has been used, it should not touch the table again.
• The food should be brought to your mouth on the fork; you should sit straight and not lean towards your plate.
• Dishes should be served from the right, and taken away from the right. Unless the food is placed on your plate at the table, then it should arrive from the left.
• Drinks should be served from the right.
• Never lean across somebody else’s plate. If you need something to be passed, ask the person closest to it. If you have to pass something, only pass it if you are closest to it and pass it directly to them if you can.
• Salt & pepper should be passed together.
• Do not take food from a neighbour’s plate and don’t ask to do so.
• You must not put your elbows on the table.
• If pouring a drink for yourself, offer to pour a drink for your neighbours before serving yourself.
• If extra food is on the table, ask others first if they would like it before taking it yourself.
• When chewing food, close your mouth and only talk when you have swallowed it.
• Swallow all food before eating more or having a drink.
• Do not slurp your food or eat loudly. Burping or sneezing at the table should be avoided, too.
• Never pick food out of your teeth with your fingernails.
• Try to eat all the food you are served.
• Glasses served in a wine glass or other stemmed-glass should be held at the stem.
• Always remember “regular” manners. Remember to say "please" and "thank you".

Chinese table manners

These are mostly concerned with the use of chopsticks. Otherwise generally Chinese table manners are rather more informal, what would be considered rude in other cultures such as talking with the mouth full may be acceptable but better not to do so.

• Chopsticks must always be held in the correct manner. It should be held between the thumb and fingers of the right hand,
• Chopsticks are traditionally held in the right hand only, even by the left-handed. Although chopsticks may now be found in either hand, a few still consider left-handed chopstick use improper etiquette. One explanation for the treatment of such usage as improper is that this can symbolise argument, as the chopsticks may collide between the left-handed and right-handed user.
• When communal chopsticks are supplied with shared plates of food, it is considered impolite to use your own chopsticks to pick up the food from the shared plate or eat using the communal chopsticks. An exception to this rule is made in intimate family dinners where family members may not mind the use of one's own chopsticks to transfer food.
• It is considered impolite to use the blunt end of the chopsticks to transfer food from a common dish to your own plate or bowl. Use the communal chopsticks instead.
• Never wave your chopsticks around as if they were an extension of your hand gestures, bang them like drumsticks, or use them to move bowls or plates.
• Decide what to pick up before reaching with chopsticks. Do not hover around or poke looking for special ingredients. After you have picked up an item, do not put it back in the dish.
• When picking up a piece of food, never use the tips of your chopsticks to poke through the food as if you were using a fork. Exceptions include tearing larger items apart such as vegetables. In informal use, small, difficult to pick-up items such as cherry tomatoes or fishballs may be stabbed but this use is frowned upon by traditionalists.
• Chopsticks can be rested horizontally on one's plate or bowl to keep them off the table entirely. A chopstick rest can also be used to keep the points off the table.
• Never stab chopsticks into a bowl of rice, leaving them standing upwards. Any stick-like object facing upward resembles the incense sticks that some Asians use as offerings to deceased family members. This is considered the ultimate faux pas on the dining table.
• Chinese traditionally eat rice from a small bowl held in the left hand. The rice bowl is raised to the mouth and the rice pushed into the mouth using the chopsticks. Some Chinese find it offensive to scoop rice from the bowl using a spoon. If rice is served on a plate, as is more common in the West, it is acceptable and more practical to eat it with a fork or spoon. The thumb must always be above the edge of the bowl.
• It is acceptable to transfer food to people who have a close relation with you (e.g. parents, grandparents, children or significant others) if you notice they are having difficulty picking up the food. Also it is a sign of respect to pass food to the elderly first before the dinner starts (part of the Confucian tradition of respecting seniors).
• Traditionally, it is polite for the youngest members of the table to address each and everyone of the elderly members of the table before a meal starts and literally tell them to "eat rice", which means "go ahead and start the meal", to show respect.
• The host should always make sure the guests drinks are sufficiently full. One should not pour for ones self, but should (if thirsty) offer to pour for a neighbor. When your drink is being poured, you should say "thank you" and/or tap your fingers on the table to show appreciation.
• When people wish to clink drinks together in the form of a cheer, it is important to observe that younger members should clink the edge of their drink below the edge of an elder to show respect.
• When eating food that contains bones, it is customary that the bones be spat out onto the table to the right of the dining plate in a neat pile.

Filipino table manners

• Food is usually eaten with Western cutlery, though with variation: the tablespoon is the main utensil, held in the right hand; the left hand holds the fork, but only as a helper to scoop food into the spoon as well as to pick up portions of food. Unlike other Asian cultures, it is not considered a faux pas to use a knife to cut foods into smaller portions at the dining table.

• Eating using the hands is acceptable in some cases - although rare these days, especially in the urbanized areas of the country. One would find this practice mostly in rural areas.

• Eating with hands is not practiced in formal dining situations, except of course with foods that normally are consumed that way, such as table breads (i.e., buttered buns), and other delicacies. Generally, mid-level restaurants and social gatherings are not appropriate venues for this, whereas this may be done at home.

• When eating, it is unethical to place elbows on the table.

• Pangalumbaba or an act of supporting the chin with hands is considered a disrespectful manner while eating.

• It is considered bad manners to talk when mouth is full. A person should finish chewing first before he should speak.

• When visiting another's home, it is customary for the host to provide drinks and some snacks for the guests. It is very important for the guest to accept this offering. To do otherwise would be a serious insult or put-down to the host.

• In situations where the guests may already have full stomachs, it is best to at least eat smaller portions of the food. Food may only be declined in the severest of circumstances, practically limited exclusively to allergies and other medical conditions.

• Consuming all of the food on your plate is considered good manners, as this is an indication that you are satisfied with the food prepared. Leftover food, however, is not necessarily bad manners.

• Sometimes making slight noises such as "mmm!" while eating or commenting the host on the dishes is another sign of appreciation.

• Filipinos love to laugh. It's important to smile and laugh along with everyone else even if you may be quiet or shy, for it signifies that you are enjoying your time and not bored.

• Certain Western customs (especially American ones) may apply, but the practice is inconsistent. Different families or different places vary in their application of Western table manners.

French table manners

• Both hands must be above the table at the same time. They cannot be below the table even if they are together. This rule comes from medieval times, where the king feared assassination. To make sure he was able to dine safely, all persons dining with him kept their hands above the table where they could be seen at all times. The action of putting your hands below the table was interpreted as an attempt to grab your dagger and assassinate the king.
• Remember to always say please and thank you - s'il vous plait and merci
• If you've served your own portion, it is considered good manners to finish everything on your plate.
• Do not put ice in your wine. At restaurants, wine is served at the temperature at which it is meant to be enjoyed.
• After you have finished eating, place the cutlery parallel together, vertically at the center of your plate. Then, the waiter will know to take away your plate.
• While you are still eating your meal, place the cutlery to the sides of your plate at 4:00 and 8:00, opposite sides of the plate, signifying to the waiter that you wish to keep your plate.
• Should you want more wine, finish your glass, but to signify that you have had enough to drink, leave some wine in your glass.
• When dining at another's residence, do not use salt or pepper. This is an insult to the person who cooked the meal and is interpreted as "You did not get it right."

Indian table manners

Main article: Etiquette of Indian dining

• Wait for the host or the eldest person to start first.
• You should maintain silence while eating food. You are not expected to chat unnecessarily with the people around the table.
• It is acceptable to not use cutlery for eating, as many foods - such as Indian breads and curry - are best enjoyed when eating with the hand.
• Wash hands thoroughly before sitting at the table as some Indian foods are primarily eaten by hand. Also, wash hands after eating the food. Usually, a finger bowl (with luke warm water and lemon) is served per person for rinsing fingers.
• In North India, when eating curry, the gravy must not be allowed to stain the fingers --only the fingertips are used. However, in South India, it is acceptable to use more of your hand.
• When flatbreads such as chapati, roti, or naan are served with the meal, it is acceptable and expected to use pieces of them to gather food and sop-up gravies and curries.
• The cardinal rule of dining is to always use the right hand when eating or receiving food and never the left. Even a piece from the bread is broken using the right hand alone.
• It is considered inappropriate to use your fingers to share food from someone else's plate once you have started using your own. Instead, ask for a clean spoon to transfer the food to your plate from the common dish.
• When eating with hands, always eat with right, as mentioned above. However, use only the other clean hand to transfer food from a common dish on the table.
• It is not necessary to taste each and every dish prepared; but you must finish everything on the plate as it is considered a respect for served food. For that reason, take only as much food on the plate you can finish.
• Footwear that is used outside must not be worn inside the house (in some homes) as it is considered unhygienic.

Japanese table manners

• Never place chopsticks stuck vertically into a bowl of food, as this is the traditional presentation form for an offering to one's ancestors.
• Accepted practice in helping oneself to a communal dish such as a salad, is to reverse the chopsticks. However this is regarded in an all male, or casual situation, as too formal and additionally, a female habit.
• Women should cup their other hand beneath their serving when using chopsticks when conveying food from dish/bowl to mouth. Men should not do this.
• In communal dining or drinking, the youngest person present should pour alcohol for the other members of the party, serving the most senior person first. The server should not pour their own drink, rather they should place the bottle of sake, beer, wine or spirits, back on the table or bar, and wait to be served by a senior.
• One should always clean one's hands before dining with the hot steamed towel provided.
• Japanese soup is eaten holding the bowl to one's mouth, never with a spoon. The exceptions to this are o-zoni, the traditional soup served on New Year's Day; soups with noodles are served in larger bowls, such as ramen, are acceptable to eat using chopsticks, although the soup itself is still consumed from bowl to mouth.
• It is perfectly acceptable, rather, encouraged to make a slurping noise when eating hot noodles such as udon, ramen or soba. This is standard behaviour in Japan, and Japanese maintain that inhaling air when eating hot noodles improves the flavor.
• When taking a break from eating during a meal, one should place one's chopsticks on the chopstick rest (hashi-oki) provided. A hashi-oki is usually a ceramic rectangle about four centimeters long, or in some restaurants, a halved wine cork is provided.
• Unlike Korean table manners, it is acceptable to cradle one's rice bowl in one hand when eating.
• One should not gesture using chopsticks.
• Never pass food from one pair of chopsticks to another. This technique is used only in Japanese Buddhist funerary rites when transferring cremated bones into an urn.
• When pouring wine or beer, the hand holding the bottle should pour forward, not backward (over the back of the hand) which is considered an insult.

There are additional etiquette rules specifically for sushi, especially in a restaurant.

• It is acceptable to eat sushi with one's fingers, rather than chopsticks, if the dining situation is relatively casual (this also applies to dining out at a kaitenzushi restaurant).
• When possible, sushi pieces and sections of cut rolls should be eaten in a single bite, or held in the hand until finished; setting half a piece back down on the plate is considered rude.
• Nigiri sushi (fish on rice) and maki (rolls) may be eaten with the hands; sashimi (pieces of raw fish) should be eaten with chopsticks.

Malay table manners

• Footwear must not be worn in a Malay home due to hygienic reasons.
• As a guest, if you feel that you cannot consume more food, it is courteous to turn it down by eating a small morsel or by graciously declining it altogether.
• Remember that the right hand is always used for eating the traditional Malay way - NEVER the left hand since that it is considered unclean.
• Have the oldest person served first (disregard whether it is a male or female).
• Always cover your mouth when toothpicking.
• Always turn your head away from the table if you are sneezing or coughing.
• For functions that require guests to sit down on the floor, men should sit crossed-legged and not stretch them
• Pointing your feet at others is impolite - point your feet away from them.
• You must leave some drinking beverage in the glass or cup after you finish drinking.
• Never leave your plate dry after eating.
• Don't hit or knock on an empty plate as it is considered calling the devils.
• Do not put back dishes to its original place when you have taken it to your plate.
• Do not talk when you mouth is full as it is considered rude.

Pakistani table manners

Pakistani table manners are a mixture of Islamic teachings, south Asian tradition and British influence:

• Always eat with your right hand, even if you're a left-handed person
• Do not chew so loudly that someone else can hear it
• Chew with your mouth closed
• If hands are being used, they should be washed properly before and after eating
• Eat everything on the plate; leaving some food is considered wasteful
• Eating additional servings is considered polite and a compliment to the host
• When using a knife and fork, eat American style switching fork from left to right hand or keep knife in left hand
• Do not start eating until the eldest in the family eats first
• If eating food with bread, first tear bread in half. Then break off a small piece, only using your right hand if you can do so elegantly. Use bread to pinch or scoop food between thumb and fingers.

-These are very general manners, they differ from area to area and might not always be noticed

Peruvian table manners

Table manners follow most of the European standards, although there are some implications with regards to typical dishes or local traditions.

• Leftover Ceviche lemon juice can be poured into a glass following consumption of the fish pieces. This accepted practice is called the "drinking of the tiger's milk".
• Beer drinking in a group setting should be carried out solely with one glass. A small shot of beer should be rapidly poured into this glass and time-effectively consumed. The glass should then be passed to the left.

Russian table manners

• It is polite to leave a bit of food at the end of the meal to show the host that their hospitality was plentiful and appreciated. In addition, the host will often urge the guests for second helpings of food.
• It is improper to look into another's plate or saucer.
• Remember to say "Thanks, everything was very tasty" to the one who made the dish upon leaving the table.
• Small food should not be cut.
• No elbows on the table.
• No unpleasant noises.
• In general, one should not be stuffy or overly ceremonial. Especially if the meal is in someone's home, conviviality and relaxation outrank propriety. A guest is expected to contribute to the fun of the party.
• Don't talk while eating.

What Is oracle Apps-ERP?

ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING

Lets take an example. Suppose you are running a small grocery shop named “Janata Grocery”, so the typical operation as a shop owner is you basically buy groceries from some big seller and stock it in your shop. Now people come to your shop for day-to-day needs and buy stuff from your shop at a slightly higher price than what you originally bought and stocked it in your shop.
Ocassionally you may not be carrying items or run out of stock that people ask for so you make a note of it and promise the person to come back tomorrow and they will get their item. So far so good, now lets name some entities before we proceed and things get complicated. The big seller from whom you buy stock is called as Vendor, the people who come to your shop to buy things are known as customers, the stock in your shop is known as inventory.

So far we have identified few entities that play an active role in your day-to-day operations. As time goes by, your business expands and now you take orders over the phone and provide service to deliver the items to your customers, so you hire people to help you out in maintaining the inventory, do the delivery part and all the necessary stuff to keep the business running smoothly. The people you hire are known as employees.
So in this small shop, you typically manage the bookkeeping activities by hand using a notepad or something similar. Now imagine the same setup on a larger scale where you have more than 10,000 customers, have more than 1000 vendors, have more than 1000 employees and have a huge warehouse to maintain your inventory. Do you think you can manage all that information using pen and paper? Absolutely no way! Your business will come to a sudden stop sign.

To facilitate big businesses, companies like Oracle Corporation have created huge software known in the category of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) as Oracle Applications. Now coming to think of it, Oracle Apps is not one huge software, instead it is a collection of software known as modules that are integrated and talk to each other.
Now what is meant by integrated? First let us identify the modules by entities. For e.g Purchasing and Account Payables deal with the vendors since you typically purchase from vendors and eventually have to pay the dues. Oracle Purchasing handles all the requisitions and purchase orders to the vendors whereas Oracle Accounts Payables handles all the payments to the vendors.

Similarly Oracle Inventory deals with the items you maintain in stock, warehouse etc. Dealing with customers is handled collectively with the help of Oracle Receivables and Oracle Order Management. Order Management helps you collect all the information that your customer is ordering over the phone or webstore etc whereas Receivables help you collect the money for the orders that are delivered to the customers.
Now who maintains the paychecks, benefits of the 1000 employees? right! it is managed by Oracle Human Resources. So you get the idea by now that for each logical function there is a separate module that helps to execute and maintain that function.
So all the individual functions are being taken care but how do I know if I am making profit or loss? That’s where integration comes into play. There is another module known as Oracle General Ledger. This module receives information from all the different transaction modules and summarizes them in order to help you create profit and loss statements, reports for paying Taxes etc.

Just to simplify the explaination, when you pay your employees that payment is reported back to General Ledgers as cost i.e money going out, when you purchase inventory items the information is transferred to GL as money going out, and so is the case when you pay your vendors. Similarly when you receive items in your inventory it is transferred to GL as money coming in, when your customer sends payment it is transfered to GL as money coming in. So all the different transaction modules report to GL (General Ledger) as either “money going in” or “money going out”, the net result will tell you if you are making a profit or loss.

All the equipment, shops, warehouses, computers can be termed as Assets and they are managed by Oracle Fixed Assets. Initially Oracle Applications started as bunch of modules and as time passed by they added new modules for different and new functions growing out of the need for today’s internet world.

So if you come across a module that you are trying to learn and work on, first try to understand what business need is it trying to fulfill and then try to understand what the immediate modules that it interacts with. For e.g lets say you come across Oracle Cost Management module, you will learn that it helps to maintain the costs of items in your inventory and the immediate modules that it interacts with are Oracle Inventory (ofcourse), Oracle Bills of Material, Order Management and so on..

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HEALTH IS WEALTH

HEALTH ISSUES

In India, chronic diseases were the reason for 53% of all the deaths in 2005. Of these 29% were due to cardiovascular diseases; Cardiovascular diseases includes heart attacks, coronary artery disease and strokes. It is estimated that, by 2020, cardiovascular disease will be the largest cause of disability and death, as a proportion of all deaths in India.

India already has the largest number of people with diabetes in the world! India is the diabetes capital of the world. The occurrence of diabetes in urban Indians is 2nd highest in the world; approximately 12% of the adults develop diabetes!. Not only this, Indians succumb to diabetes and heart attacks 5-10 years earlier than their western counterparts. This means that most indians succumb to heart attacks, strokes and diabetes in their most productive years, when they are 40-50 years, when they are rising in their jobs, when they are peaking in their careers, when much of the family responsibility is on them, rather than their western counterparts who develop it at retirement, at 60-65 years. This will lead to huge economic burdens on the country. All this is due to the fact that Indians consume less of fresh fruits and vegetables, consume more tobacco, consume more unhealthy diets and are more sedentary than their western counterparts. In 2003 alone, in India, there were approx. 30 million people suffering from chronic heart disease.

The major risk factors causing heart attacks, diabetes and strokes are: high blood pressure, high concentration of cholesterol in the blood, inadequate fresh fruits and vegetable consumption everyday, overweight/ obesity and greater use of tobacco. Five of these 6 major risk factors are due to unhealthy diets and physical inactivity. Unhealthy diets and physical inactivity are thus amongst the leading causes of major diseases like coronary heart disease, strokes, diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis. One third of all cancers too can be prevented by embracing a healthy diet, decreasing saturated fats in the diet, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption and increasing physical activity levels.

THE following website targets the major causes of majority of the
diseases in India and scientifically prevent them. Additionally, the
section on hygiene will help prevent many of the communicable
disease/infectious diseases that plague the everyday lives of people today.

http://healthy-india.org

What is low blood pressure?

Blood pressure is the force exerted by circulating blood on the walls of blood vessels, and constitutes one of the principal vital signs. Blood pressure is generated by the heart pumping blood into the arteries and is regulated by the response by the arteries to the flow of blood.

By convention, an individual's blood pressure is expressed as systolic/diastolic blood pressure, for example, 120/80.The systolic blood pressure (the top number) represents the pressure in the arteries as the muscle of the heart contracts and pumps blood into them. The diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) represents the pressure in the arteries as the muscle of the heart relaxes after it contracts. Blood pressure always is higher when the heart is pumping than when it is relaxing.

Systolic blood pressure for most healthy adults falls between 90 and 120 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg). Normal diastolic blood pressure falls between 60 and 80 mm Hg. Current guidelines define normal blood pressure as lower than 120/80. Blood pressures over 130/80 are considered high. High blood pressureheart disease, kidney disease, hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis or arteriosclerosis), eye damage, and stroke. increases the risk of developing

Low blood pressure (hypotension) is pressure that is so low that it causes symptoms or signs due to the low flow of blood through the arteries and veins. When the flow of blood is too low to deliver enough oxygen and nutrients to vital organs such as the brain, heart, and kidney, the organs do not function normally and may be permanently damaged.

Unlike high blood pressure, low blood pressure is defined primarily by signs and symptoms of low blood flow not by a specific blood pressure number. Some individuals may have a blood pressure of 90/50 with no symptoms of low blood pressure and therefore do not have low blood pressure. However, others who normally have high blood pressure may develop symptoms of low blood pressure if their blood pressure drops to 100/60.

(** I HAVE A BLOOD PRESSURE OF 90/70 WITH NO SYMPTOMS OF LOW BP)

Is low blood pressure bad for your health?

People who have lower blood pressures have a lower risk of stroke, kidney disease, and heart disease. Athletes, people who exercise regularly, people who maintain ideal body weight, and non-smokers tend to have lower blood pressures. Therefore, low blood pressure is desirable as long as it is not low enough to cause symptoms and damage organs in the body.

What are low blood pressure signs and symptoms?

When the blood pressure is not sufficient to deliver enough blood to the organs of the body, the organs do not work properly and may be permanently damaged. For example, if insufficient blood flows to the brain, brain cells do not receive enough oxygen and nutrients, and a person can feel lightheaded, dizzy, or even faint. Going from a sitting or lying position to a standing position often brings out symptoms of low blood pressure. This occurs because standing causes blood to "settle" in the veins of the lower body, and this can lower the blood pressure. If the blood pressure is already low, standing can make the low pressure worse, to the point of causing symptoms. The development of lightheadedness, dizziness, or fainting upon standing caused by low blood pressure is called orthostatic hypotension. Normal individuals are able to compensate rapidly for the low pressure created by standing with the responses discussed previously and do not develop orthostatic hypotension.

When there is insufficient blood pressure to deliver blood to the coronary arteries (the arteries that supply blood to the heart's muscle), a person can develop chest pain (angina) or even a heart attack. When insufficient blood is delivered to the kidneys, the kidneys fail to eliminate wastes from the body, for example, urea and creatinine, and an increase in their levels in the blood occur (for example, elevations of blood urea nitrogen or BUN and serum creatinine, respectively).

Shock is a life-threatening condition where persistently low blood pressure causes organs such as kidney(s), liver, heart, lung, and brain to fail rapidly.

THE INFORMATIONS FROM http://www.medicinenet.com
THIS WEBSITE CONTAINS MANY USEFUL INFORMATIONS ON HEALTH ISSUES
ALL THE DISEASES(A-Z) AND THE CONDITIONS AND SYMPTOMS.

MedTerms Medical Dictionary A-Z List

THE HARRY POTTER

When J.K. Rowling began writing the novel that would become Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in the early 1990s, she didn't see fame in her own crystal ball. "I thought I'd written something that a handful of people might quite like," she said at a press conference near the end of her recent North American tour. "So this has been something of a shock."

The "this" she speaks of is the sudden and almost overwhelming fame that has accompanied the unprecedented success of her Harry Potter series of books. The sort of fame western society generally reserves for rock stars and well known actors, not ever -- until now -- for authors of books for children.

Joanne Kathleen Rowling was born on July 31, 1966 in a town in England called Chipping Sodbury. At present, she lives in Edinburgh, Scotland with her daughter Jessica,.

The level of fame she has achieved is not of her creation and, on hearing her speak, not to her desire. She says that she's still learning to deal with it. "I'd say for the first two years of me being in the paper -- I didn't call myself famous. I didn't think of myself that way -- but for the first two years, I think I was in denial. I kept thinking it would go away. It will go away."

Denial, however, wasn't getting her anywhere, nor, she says now, was it very productive for her. "By the time of the third book, The Prisoner of Azkaban," which came out around the time that Harry Potter made the cover of Time magazine, "I had to accept that it probably wasn't going to go away any time soon. And that's probably a healthier place to be. I mean, it will. At some point it's going to go away. That's the nature of the game. And I truly believe that I will be happy. And I will have fond memories of the time that I was famous."

Meanwhile, one of the positives of not being an onscreen celebrity is that she's not often recognized in public when going about her everyday business, something that has likely been helped by coloring the bright red hair that her readers first came to associate with Harry Potter's creator, a more subdued dark blonde.

"People ask if I can walk down the street unmolested. Really easily. In Edinburgh it's really exceptional for people to come up to me. So either people in Edinburgh are really cool and pretend not to notice or want to leave you alone, or they genuinely don't notice me. And I think probably that. So compared to an actress or a politician, I really get nothing. It's just that to me it's a huge shock because I didn't expect to get anything at all."

The fame that Harry has brought Rowling has made the normal level of interaction between the author and her readers almost impossible. First there's the press conference: very few authors have such pressing demands from the media that they're even required. Then there are the readings. A very popular author might draw several hundred fans to a well-promoted reading or signing. Rowling's level of popularity makes bookstore readings practically unthinkable. So unthinkable, in fact, that on the Canadian portion of her tour, Rowling did only three readings: one in Toronto and two in Vancouver and all in venues generally reserved for sporting events and rock concerts. Rowling acknowledges that she was nervous before the first one and that her reading at Toronto's Skydome, "terrified me. I was terrified. I had to walk up three steps before I got on the stage. I felt like I was walking to the guillotine. Then when I was out there it was wonderful. Still scary, but wonderful."

Though reading to 16,000 adoring youngsters while a larger-than-lifesize image of yourself is projected behind you on a jumbo monitor is quite different than reading to a school group of 30 or even a few hundred, Rowling believes that "a reading still can be a very intimate experience even if a lot of people are there. However, undeniably I can't have as much one-to-one contact."

Demands on her schedule prohibit the former these days. "It's a battle for me. My post bag, as you can imagine, is full with thousands and thousands and thousands of requests to do readings in bookstores, to do signings in small bookstores and to visit schools individually and I used to do that and it was the most fun I had apart from the writing. But if I did do it that way now I'd never see my daughter, I'd never write another book and probably wouldn't eat or sleep, so I have to cut my cloth. I can either say, I won't do readings anymore, which I would really miss. Or I can do big readings and reach a lot of people at once. And that's the way I've chosen to go. Next year I probably won't be doing any readings. I just want to be writing. So, in a way, the Skydome was just one big bang."

Though the Harry Potter series of books continue to top lists wherever they're made and to outsell almost anything previously written, Rowling has disallowed any of this to give itself texture in her writing. "I think I've been lucky in that I planned the series so long ago that it's almost set in stone: not much can affect it. I'm still writing from the plan I had in 1995."

Her original plan to write a set number of books in the Harry Potter series is the thing that has kept her on course. "I want to finish these seven books and look back and think that whatever happened -- however much this hurricane whirled around me -- I stayed true to what I wanted to write. This is my Holy Grail: that when I finish writing book seven, I can say -- hand on heart -- I didn't change a thing. I wrote the story I meant to write. If I lost readers along the way, so be it, but I still told my story. The one I wanted. Without permitting it to sound too corny, that's what I owe to my characters. That we won't be deflected, either by adoration or by criticism."

Though the seeds of Harry had been sown as early as 1990, Rowling didn't put all of the pieces together and start writing in earnest until the mid-1990s when she was living in Edinburgh, Scotland, raising her daughter, Jessica, alone. Not able to afford even a used typewriter -- let alone a computer -- Rowling wrote the earliest drafts of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in longhand. "I knew I wanted to get published. And, in truth, writing novels is something you have to believe in to keep going. It's a fairly thankless job when no one is paying you to do it. And you don't really know if it's ever going to get into the bookshops so I really did believe in it. But I was also very realistic. I knew the odds were not on my side because, an unknown author, you know? It's tough. It's tough the first time to get published, so I persevered. I loved writing it and I felt that I just had to try."

The author has encouragement for others who would follow her path. "My feeling is, if you really want to do it, you will do it. You will find the time. And it might not be much time, but you'll make it. Obviously if you have homework or other activities, you're not going to have huge amounts of time but if you really want to, you'll do it."

At the same time, she advises, don't expect it to be perfect the first time. "You have to resign yourself to wasting lots of trees before you write anything really good. That's just how it is. It's like learning an instrument. You've got to be prepared for hitting wrong notes occasionally, or quite a lot. That's just part of the learning process. And read a lot. Reading a lot really helps. Read anything you can get your hands on."

About her own writing, Rowling says that, in some ways, she just writes what she sees in her mind. "I have a very visual imagination. I see a situation and then I try to describe it as vividly as I can. And I do love writing dialog. Dialog comes to me as though I'm just overhearing a conversation."

The author maintains that she's not really surprised by the fact that adults enjoy her books as much as children do. "When I write the books, I really do write them for me. Very often I get asked, 'Who do you have in mind when you write? Is it your daughter or is it the children you've met?' No. It's for me. Just for me. I'm very selfish: I just write for me. So the humor in the books is really what I find funny."

It's perhaps not surprising that adults often ask Rowling for the secret formula of her success. "I've never analyzed it that way and I think it would be dangerous for me to start analyzing it or thinking that way. I don't want it to stop being fun and -- number two -- I'm not sure I know," after all, she adds, "the correct people to ask are the readers."

Harry was born "almost fully formed," says Rowling. "I didn't have to stop and think very hard about my hero." It's for this reason, the author says, that the star quidditch player of Hogwarts "isn't a Harriet instead of Harry." She laughs when she adds that, "by the time I stopped to wonder, 'Why is it a boy?' it really was too late. He was very dear to me as a boy and, of course, I had Hermione and I love Hermione. And they couldn't do it without Hermione. Well, I feel she's a very strong character, but then she's based on me."

As a child, Rowling was, "short, squat, very thick National Health glasses -- free glasses that were like bottle bottoms -- that's why Harry wears glasses. I was shy. I was a mixture of insecurities and very bossy. Very bossy to my sister but quite quiet with strangers. Very bookish. Terrible at school. That whole thing about Harry being able to fly so well is probably total wish fulfillment." Rowling adds that she would have loved to discover that she could do something physical really well. And she was, "never happier than when reading or writing." Rowling, "wanted to be a ballerina at one brief point, which is embarrassing in retrospect because I was virtually spherical."

The film version of the first Harry Potter book recently went into production. Slated for release in 2001, it's being directed by Chris Columbus who also worked on Bicentennial Man, Stepmom and other films of the warmly funny persuasion. Rowling had initially balked at the possibility of a movie based on her books. It wasn't until about two years after she'd first been approached about a film version that she finally said yes. "Because I really did want the books to be well established before anyone made a film version. But selfishly, I did want to live to see the film finished because I just want to be able to watch quidditch," the soccer-like game played on magical flying brooms at which Harry is quite adept.

Though they've only just started shooting, Rowling is excited about the film project and, "my opinion has been asked about all sorts of things where I really didn't think I'd ever be consulted. I'm grateful for that, obviously. But I'm also very aware that that's not anything to do with me, it's really to do with the readers. I think they see me as standing in front of about a million children wanting to see it done my way. So that's what gives me any power I have. I have script approval and as of the present moment the script looks great."

Rowling is optimistic that the movie version will be true to her book. "I mean, if everything that was in the book were in the film -- we worked it out -- it would be over three hours long. Goodness only knows what will happen if they try to film [book] four." Because that book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, is over 600 pages long.

The author says that, "when I met the scriptwriter for the first time, he was the person I was most antagonistic towards without having met him because, you know, he was going to butcher my baby. And the first thing he said to me was, 'Do you know who my favorite character is?' and I really, really thought he was going to say Ron. I mean, I love Ron, but Ron's very, very easy to love: everyone loves Ron. And I got tense about it. And he said, 'Hermione' and -- predictably, I melted. I thought, 'If you get Hermione we can work together.'"

Throughout the nearly incredible rise to popularity of the Harry Potter books, Rowling has been asked if she was aware of being part of a crusade for reading and literacy. She denies it, but not without some pride. "I wrote the book for me. I never expected it to do this. That it's done it I think is wonderful. If I can honestly think that I've created some readers then I feel I really wasn't taking up space on this earth and I feel very, very, very proud. But I didn't set out to do that and my first loyalty, as I say, is to the story as I wanted to write it." | October 2000

http://januarymagazine.com/profiles/jkrowling.html

Rowling Answers 10 Questions About Harry

1. Why doesn't Fred appear in the woods at the end as well?
"Do you know what? I never even thought of Fred coming back. That's how I always planned it, from when the first book was finished, that the three marauders and his mother would come back. There were four heroes as it were in the previous generation and one of them betrayed the others, and then there were the three. So I wanted Harry to be surrounded by his mother and James and Sirius and Lupin, all of whom had died in a way for him. You know Lupin had laid down his life in Harry's battle, he didn't have to come back, he didn't have to fight. James had died trying to protect the family; Sirius very obviously had died fighting along with Harry, and then his mum who most explicitly had died for him. I never thought of bringing Fred back at all. It was all the previous generation, and they were all strongly parental figures for Harry."

2. Did Harry die?
Rowling wrote this very carefully, so it could be read two ways. "Did he just go into a state of unconsciousness in which his subconscious tells him everything he needs to know? Dumbledore doesn't tell him anything he couldn't have figured out with some educated guesses." But in her mind, Harry entered a limbo between life and death, and faced a choice about which way to go.

She explains on her website that this encounter involves some very deep laws of magic, which Voldemort himself did not understand: "Having taken Harry's blood into himself, Voldemort is keeping alive Lily's protective power over Harry — except that the power of Lily's sacrifice is a positive force that not only continues to tether Harry to life, but gives Voldemort himself one last chance ... Voldemort has unwittingly put a few drops of goodness back inside himself; if he had repented, he could have been healed more deeply than anyone would have supposed. But of course, he refused to feel remorse." Also, since Voldemort is using the Elder wand, which actually belongs to Harry, neither the Cruciatus or the killing curse work properly. "The Avada Kedavra curse, however, is so powerful that it does hurt Harry, and also succeeds in killing the part of him that is not truly him, in other words, the fragment of Voldemort's own soul that is still clinging to his. The curse also disables Harry severely enough that he could have succumbed to death if he had chosen that path."

3. The question that surprises her: What was that creature in the corner at King's Cross?
"Harry's impulse, to the point of utter wrongheadedness, is to save. His deepest nature is to try and save, even when he's wrong to do so, when he's led into traps — 'I've got to save, I've got to try to protect' — because he's been left with this very demanding legacy of his mother's that she sacrificed herself for him and now he goes off and tries to save as many people as he can."

But this encounter with Voldemort is different. "For the first time ever he approaches this vulnerable, naked, mutilated creature and he wants to help, but he feels repulsed for the first time ever by suffering. And he's right to feel that. This is something that has deliberately self mutilated as it were, that's the last maimed fragment of Voldemort's soul. I have to explain because so many have asked.")

4. The question she feared getting: What was Dumbledore's wand made of?
"That would have been quite a telling question. Because I had this elder thing in my mind, cause elder has this association in folklore, it's the death tree. I thought 'what am I going to say?'" It would have given away too big a clue. But no one asked.

5. What did Dumbledore really see in the Mirror of Erised?
His family, alive and whole and reconciled.

6. Where do wizard children go to school before Hogwarts?
Most are homeschooled, because they aren't really able to control their powers so it would be too dangerous to let them out and about.

7. Are Harry and Voldemort related?
Yes, distantly, through the Peverells; but nearly all wizarding families are related if you go back far enough.

8. Who does Draco Malfoy marry?
Astoria Greengrass, younger sister of the Greengrass family. We meet Daphne Greengrass, part of Pansy Parkinson's Slytherin posse, in Book V when Hermione takes her O.W.L.s. Neville marries Hannah Abbott, who becomes the owner of The Leaky Cauldron. "I do have it all worked out in my mind because I couldn't stop myself doing that."

9. Where do the main characters work as adults?
Harry and Hermione are at the Ministry: he ends up leading the Auror department. Ron helps George at the joke shop and does very well. Ginny becomes a professional Quidditch player and then sportswriter for the Daily Prophet.

10. Was Teddy Lupin a werewolf?
No he was a Metamorphmagus, like Tonks (who, incidentally, was a Hufflepuff).

http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/personoftheyear/article/0,28804,1690753_1695388_1695569,00.html

J.K. Rowling: I contemplated suicide

Hasan Suroor

Timely counselling helped me to pull back from the brink, confesses celebrated author

J.K. Rowling

LONDON: J.K. Rowling has disclosed that she contemplated suicide as a struggling single mother after the breakdown of her first marriage and had to seek professional help.

Timely counselling helped her pull back from the brink. And the rest, of course, is history.

Suffered depression

Ms. Rowling(42) has spoken previously about her struggle with poverty and how she suffered depression after breaking off with her first husband Jorge Arantes, a Portuguese journalist, but this is the first time she has publicly revealed that she toyed with the idea of taking her own life.

Ms. Rowling, who is counted as among the world’s richest persons with an estimated personal wealth of £545 million earned on the back of the phenomenal success of the Potter series, told a Scottish journalist, that she “really plummeted” after the collapse of her marriage and was tormented by “suicidal thoughts.”

But for her little daughter, she may have simply gone under.

“The thing that made me go for help was probably my daughter. She was something that earthed me, grounded me, and I thought this isn’t right, she cannot grow up with me in this state,” she told Adeel Amini, a young journalist who writes for an Edinburgh University magazine.

Translations

Ms. Rowling, whose Potter books have been translated into more than 60 languages sold 400 million copies, wrote the first book of the series sitting in a café in Edinburgh because there wasn’t enough room in her cramped flat.

She said she decided to speak out in order to “challenge” the stigma associated with mentally-related problems.

“I have never been remotely ashamed of having been depressed. What’s there to be ashamed of? I went through a really tough time and I am quite proud that I got out of that,” she said.

Her remarks were welcomed by mental health campaigners who said that as a “wonderful role model” it was good that she had decided to talk about the issue.

THE HARRY POTTER SERIES FOR DOWNLOAD

File: 1-HP_and_the_Sorcerer%27s_Stone.pdf
DownloadLink:

http://rapidshare.com/files/102126823/1-HP_and_the_Sorcerer_27s_Stone.pdf

File: 2-HP_and_the_Chamber_of_Secrets.pdf
DownloadLink:

http://rapidshare.com/files/102127086/2-HP_and_the_Chamber_of_Secrets.pdf

File: 3-HP_And_the_Prinoner_Of_Azkaban.pdf
DownloadLink:

http://rapidshare.com/files/102127115/3-HP_And_the_Prinoner_Of_Azkaban.pdf

File: 4-HP_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire.pdf
DownloadLink:

http://rapidshare.com/files/102127214/4-HP_and_the_Goblet_of_Fire.pdf

File: 5-HP_Order_of_the_phoenix.pdf
DownloadLink:

http://rapidshare.com/files/102127359/5-HP_Order_of_the_phoenix.pdf

File: 6-HP_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince.pdf
DownloadLink:

http://rapidshare.com/files/102127470/6-HP_and_the_Half-Blood_Prince.pdf

File: hp7-DH.pdf
DownloadLink: http://rapidshare.com/files/102127567/hp7-DH.pdf

BHARATHI

" கவிதை எழுதுபவன் கவியன்று. கவிதையே வாழ்க்கையாக உடையோன், வாழ்க்கையே கவிதையாகச் செய்தோன், அவனே கவி" - பாரதி

"He who writes poetry is not a poet. He whose poetry has become his life, and who has made his life his poetry - it is he who is a poet." - Bharathy

THE WEBSITES FOR BHARATHI'S GR8 SONGS

http://music.pz10.com/album/19068/Bharathiar%20Songs-Bombay%20Jayashree.html

http://music.pz10.com/album/19065/Bharathiar%20Songs-Nityasree.html

International Women's Day

International Women's Day (IWD) is marked on March 8 every year. It is a major day of global celebration for the economic, political and social achievements of women.

History

The first IWD was observed on 28 February 1909 in the United States following a declaration by the Socialist Party of America. The idea of having an international women's day was first put forward at the turn of the 20th century amid rapid world industrialization and economic expansion that led to protests over working conditions. By urban legend, women from clothing and textile factories staged one such protest on 8 March 1857 in New York The garment workers were protesting against very poor working conditions and low wages. The protesters were attacked and dispersed by police. These women established their first labor union in the same month two years later.

More protests followed on 8 March in subsequent years, most notably in 1908 when 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. In 1910 the first international women's conference was held in Copenhagen by the Second International and an 'International Women's Day' was established, which was submitted by the important German Socialist Clara Zetkin. The following year, IWD was marked by over a million people in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. However, soon thereafter, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City killed over 140 garment workers. A lack of safety measures was blamed for the high death toll. Furthermore, on the eve of World War I, women across Europe held peace rallies on 8 March 1913. In the West, International Women's Day was commemorated during the 1910s and 1920s, but dwindled. It was revived by the rise of feminism in the 1960s.

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In India, IWD holds a lot of significance. Many celebrations are held during the day. This portrays the power of women in the modern era and how vital their role is in the society.
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ACHIEVEMENTS OF WOMEN SCIENTISTS AND TECHNOLOGISTS

Science and technology have been an integral part of Indian civilization and culture. Women and men have been active in science from the inception of human civilization. One of the defining marks of humanity is the ability to affect and predict our environment. Science is the creation of structure. For our world and technology, the use of structure has been stepping stone to our progress. Women and men have researched and solved each emerging need. At a glance, women in general might look like one of the many housewives – simple, docile, unassuming and humble. But make no mistake, for behind this simple straight face is a razor sharp brain, and an uncanny ability to execute, to convert thought into action without much ado.

Since Independence, Indians have been promoting science and technology as one of the most important elements of national development. The Scientific Policy of 1958 and the Technology Policy Statement of 1983 enunciated the principles on which growth of science and technology in India has been based over the past several decades and inspires us till date. The major scientific revolutions of the last century have opened the doors to many remarkable technologies in the fields of health, agriculture, communication and energy, among many others. Science and Technology are powerful instruments in the tasks of national reconstruction, economic resurgence and maintenance of national security.

The very first technical name was male – Imhotep – the architect of the first pyramid and the second was female – En Hedu’Anna (c. 2354BCE). Certainly women were questioners and thinkers long before that, but unfortunately it was an untapped resource Most myths and religions place the beginnings of agriculture, laws, civilization, mathematics, calendars, time keeping and medicine into the hands of women. Women contributed in all the spheres of technical advancement of humanity. They held the same burdens of scholarship as the men did, and accomplished just as much. Women were and are resourceful, passionate and creative about their work as any other male scientist.

In the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries most women did not have access to institutions of higher learning and laboratories, which prevented them from participation in the scientific revolution. The singular exceptions in the 19^th century being Mary Somerville and Agnes Pockels. The Academie des Sciences of Paris, The Royal Society of London did not allow women into their meetings and were strictly male bastions. The Academie des Sciences of Paris was founded in 1666 and elected its first female member in 1962, The Royal Society of London was founded in 1662 and elected its first female member in 1945. These societies were important meeting places for the observation of new experimental results and the discussions of new ideas.

The Third World Organisation for women in Science (TWOWS) officially launched in 1993, is the first international forum to unite eminent women scientists and scientific institutions in the South, with the objective of strengthening their role in the development process and promoting their representation in scientific and technological leaderships.

Although we are a traditional country where women are respected as “ MatriShakti” over the years women have overcome the traditional mind sets and have excelled in professions like teaching, medicine and pure sciences. Women have made important contributions in all walks of life and made inroads into new fields like engineering and information technology. Of the women science graduated 88 % of the science degree holders are in pure science , 8% in medicine and 3% in engineering and technology.

However, there has been a recent spurt of women joining the engineering and information technology fields. The field of biotechnology has revolutionized the industrial growth of the world. In India, our own Kiran Mazumdar is an example for women entrepreneurs to follow and emulate. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, biotech entrepreneur and CEO of Biocon India group, is one of the many scientists India should be proud of. She started Biocon in 1978 collaborating with an Irish firm, started two joint ventures, Biochemizyme and Biocon-Quest India Ltd. She has held positions in industry councils, including Vice-President, Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Karnataka. She was awarded Rotary Award for Best Model Employer, National Award for Best Small Industry and most noteworthy is the Padmashri in 1989 from the Government of India. She was accorded a very prestigious assignment as a Chairperson of the Vision Group on Biotechnology to draw up the State’s Biotech Policy.

In 1978, the world’s first test tube baby, Louise Joy Brown was conceived. In India, Dr Indira Hinduja produced first scientifically documented test tube baby. In 1986, India’s first test tube baby Harsha was born. Female ovum is fertilized with male sperm in a test tube, with suitable environmental conditions, and observed under microscope for more than three days. The fertilized egg is then put back into mother’s womb and hence called test tube baby. Producing test tube babies is not an easy task even in advanced countries, Dr Indira Hinduja has rejected opportunities to settle abroad so that she can serve our country/India.

The world’s first programmer was Lady Augusta Ada Lovelace of England in 1852. She is credited with telling a machine what to do by using punch cards to programme algebraic patterns. Indian women have excelled in almost all fields which hitherto were fortified by men. Women are storming Information and Technology field and in the late nineties the number of women in computing and internet industries has registered a sharp rise. The IT landscape is full of women who are busy writing programmes, running network systems and delivering applications to clients on time. Recently a Japanese magazine concluded that Indian women are number one amongst women from various countries in acquiring and applying IT knowledge.

Deb Agarwal, a top scientist at a national laboratory and Radha Ramaswami Basu, a high-tech entrepreneur, are the two Indian women among the top 25 women on Web award winners for this year. Agarwal, a computer scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, serves the comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organisation as an expert in the area of reliable multicast communication. Basu is CEO, www.support.com. She was general manager for international software at Hewlett Packard. She is also the co-founder of Maitri, an empowering organization for South Asian Women in the Bay Area.

In June 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman astronaut, made 48 orbits in Vostok 6. Sally Ride and Kathryn Sullivan alongwith five men were aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1984 for the first time. It was the first time a US woman Kathryn Sullivan walked in space. Kalpana Chawla from Haryana was qualified from over 2962 applicants to earn herself a place in space shuttle Columbia for a 16 day out of the world experience. The NASA chief called her a “Terrific Astronaut”.

Women have also accepted the challenges of the oceans and have participated in expeditions dealing with ocean research. Dr Aditi Pant is the first Indian woman to participate in the cruise to the icy continent, Antarctica. The expedition was for a period of 4 months and the participants had to explore this continent under rough weather conditions.

Shahnaz Husain is the mother of all herbal cosmetics in world. Her creams and lotions have found their way into salons in different parts of the globe. She has 650 salons at 104 countries. It is all due to her sheer innovation, determination and hard work.

Madhuri Mathur, an intelligent lady made the life of ladies in kitchen easier by bringing out the idea of, a kitchen machine that would blend, chop, mince and grind that culminated into sumeet mixer.

Although there is no disparity existing in the emoluments of male and female scientists and technologists an imbalance does exist in the decision making policies and in the exercise of authority which is solely dominated by men. Women do not get scientific recognition and are rarely recommended and nominated for awards, expertships. But the pattern occupying positions of authority has changed progressively during the past years and the trend appears to be encouraging. Many women with high qualifications and experience have reached the top. From these observations, it can be concluded that given the requisite qualifications and opportunities the women in science and technology in India can be achievers and thereby boost the growth of science and technology of our country.