Word: birthdaying
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...image dripping with symbolism - and cake crumbs. When Mayawati Kumari, Chief Minister of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, turned 52 in January, aides and civil servants took turns to finger-feed her scoops of a 115-pound (52 kg) chocolate birthday cake at a party in the state capital Lucknow. The image of mostly high-caste men feeding a Dalit (formerly "Untouchable") woman was an incredibly powerful one in a country where discrimination based on caste has been banned for more than half a century but where many of the old barriers and prejudices endure. Just in case Mayawati...
...That may have to change - and fast. Mayawati's message on her birthday, as it has been since her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won a clear majority in India's biggest state 10 months ago, is that she will use her popularity there to become an important player on the national stage at the next general election. Given the fractured nature of Indian politics, that poll, due by early 2009 at the latest, is unlikely to produce any single winner. If Mayawati and the BSP can win 40 or 50 seats in the 552-member lower house - a real possibility...
...already were alleging voting irregularities. What's more, even if Mugabe were to lose, Zimbabwe's army commander, General Constantine Chiwenga, has vowed that the army will keep him in power. Still, before the election Mugabe and his circle sounded nervous. In an interview on state television on his birthday last month, Mugabe lashed out at Makoni, saying "a prostitute could have done better ... because she has clients." The task of overseeing the polls is being handed to 60,000 teachers in state schools, leading some to believe that the election is likely to be cleaner than in the past...
...children venturing into the adult world often feel rebuffed. "I don't get the feeling that Britain is the most child-friendly culture," says Emily Benn, who was selected to contest a seat in Britain's House of Commons three weeks before her 18th birthday. "When you go to France they're nicer to you in restaurants, on the streets and on transport. When I go around Britain on the railways, I get treated like rubbish by guards and officials...
...That means the holidays rotate backward around the Gregorian calendar, occurring 11 days earlier each year. That is why you can have an "easy Ramadan" in the spring, when going without water all day is relatively easy, or a hard one in the summer. And why the Prophet's birthday will be on March 9 next year...