December 2004

* South Asian Regional Cooperation of Canada celebrated the 19th anniversary of SAARC Day on Wednesday December 8, 2004. For details, please call Gitu Parikh at 905-887-1931 or Jolie Athar at 416-498-7079.

* Tsar Publications held its annual book launch on Wednesday December 8, 2004. For details, please visit www.tsarbooks.com, call Nurjehan Aziz at 416-483-7191, or send an e-mail to inquiries@tsarbooks.com.

* We just received an e-mail from Prof. Rashmi & Dr. Kappu Desai, “As we send you our warmest wishes for a happy Christmas and a merry new year 2005, as well as hopes for global peace, Rashmi cannot resist the urge to send you this series of internet websites which could provide you with some entertaining education:

1) June 1990 issue of Spy magazine: "Scientific inquiry into the existence of Santa Claus": http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/physics.asp

2) Dec. 1994 rebuttal by Thomas Graddy http://www.peoplespub.com/nercda/text/proofsanta.html

3) March 2001 collection of other rebuttals http://home.uchicago.edu/~rascalzo/arch/palace/library/humor-tech/santa-physics.html

Enjoy!”

Our response is : a) “Have you talked to a relative who is thousands of miles  away using a telephone? Who takes your voice over there and brings back your relative’s voice? In how much time? So if human beings can automate the transmittal of voice back and forth, can Santa not automate distribution of gifts around the world?

 

b) We know that humans can view video presentations and other information on the Internet around the globe concurrently in various locations. An example of this is the video presentations on our website such as the “Investing Successfully in Current Markets” seminar held in February 2003. We know people have seen Prof Rashmi & Dr Kappu Desai (and many of our friends and us attending this seminar) in Chicago, Washington, and many other places around the world, sometimes concurrently. So, if human beings can handle the transmission of large files by means of compression and then division into smaller data packets, then can Santa not automate his distribution problems?

 

c) If you have to carry a lot of gifts for your relatives abroad, would you not ship them separately and then distribute them personally? Does Santa have to carry all the gifts when he starts his journey? Can he not send gifts for children in London to some delivery location in London one day before Christmas using his magical means and then pick up those gifts from that location before delivering them? Thus, Santa may not be carrying a huge payload (not even his passport and visas) while traveling across continents.

 

It isn’t necessary that Santa come down Chimneys. While above London, Santa may, through some magical means, be picking up gifts from a nearby location in London, delivering them concurrently to various homes, and picking up milk and cookies, in a matter of seconds. He may then be having that milk and those cookies delivered to the North Pole for consumption through out the year. Perhaps Santa is even using a similar concept of compression and sending packets.

 

Seventy years ago, my mother never even imagined the concepts of e-mail and overseas phone calls. Today, she can talk to her brothers in Bhavnagar, India and can send letters through e-mail in seconds. We may finally be catching up to Santa’s advanced means.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.

* Sandalwood Productions and Harmony Movement present the World Premiere of “The Peace Tree” – CBC Christmas Special- on December 25th at 5:00 p.m.

* The Vedanta Society of Toronto will celebrate Kalpataru Utsav at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 1, 2005 and Birthday of Holy Mother Sarada Devi at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, January 9, 2005. For details, please call 416-240-7262.

The Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India and FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) are partnering once again to celebrate the Third Pravasi Bharatiya Divas from January 7-9, 2005 at Mumbai. For details, please contact the closest Indian Mission or visit www. indiaday.org. For video presentation, please click here.