www.speaksanskrit.org

U.S.A, March 15, 2008: A group of students of Indian origin from various US Universities, meeting at an online forum, decided to create an online Sanskrit magazine. Under the name “Campus Samskritam Network” (CSN), faculty and alumni from MIT, UMD, CMU, UPitt, PSU, UPenn, Caltech, Purdue and other prestigious universities have been working on an eletronic publication, hosted on the www.speaksanskrit.org website here.

Called “Vishvavani” (the language of the World), it release its third issue last week. From an article on ancient Indian mathematics by Prabha Mandyam to another on Swami Vivekananda by Harichandan Mantripragada, along with a travelogue by Dr. Jyotsna Kalavar, the magazine goes so far as to have a Sanskrit crossword puzzle.

In the past two years, blogging in Sanskrit has emerged as a popular online activity contributing to and providing growing evidence of the popularity of the language. A famous one is Kalidasa, here (requires a special font to read), created by Microsoft Seattle engineer Ajit Krishnan.

The common link for many bloggers and students at CSN appears to be Samskrita-Bharati (SB), a non-profit organization spearheading the speak-Sanskrit movement in India, USA and elsewhere. The organization is all set to hold its fifth Annual Meeting for Volunteers in Maryland during the March 22-23 weekend, where over 30 volunteers from about 15 cities across the US are expected to participate.

www.nytimes.com

MUMBAI, INDIA, March 10, 2008: Yonatan Gher and his partner, who are Israeli, plan eventually to tell their child about being made in India, in the womb of a stranger, with the egg of a Mumbai housewife they picked from an Internet lineup. The embryo was formed in January in an Indian fertility clinic about 2,500 from the couple’s home in Tel Aviv, produced by doctors who have begun specializing in surrogacy services for couples from around the world.

An enterprise known as reproductive outsourcing is a new but rapidly expanding business in India. Clinics that provide surrogate mothers for foreigners say they have recently been inundated with requests from the United States and Europe, as word spreads of India’s mix of skilled medical professionals, relatively liberal laws and low prices.

Commercial surrogacy, which is banned in some states and some European countries, was legalized in India in 2002. The cost comes to about $25,000, roughly a third of the typical price in the United States. That includes the medical procedures; payment to the surrogate mother, which is often, but not always, done through the clinic; plus air tickets and hotels for two trips to India (one for the fertilization and a second to collect the baby).

Rudy Rupak, co-founder and president of PlanetHospital, a medical tourism agency with headquarters in California, said he expected to send at least 100 couples to India this year for surrogacy, up from 25 in 2007, the first year he offered the service.

www.hinduismtoday.com

If the chimney is full of smoke, how can the light be seen? If the mind is full of dirt, how can the soul shine? Yogaswami of Jaffna (1872-1964)