FLAG

India’s national flag has gone through many changes over the last one hundred years. In fact there have been eight versions of the flag in that time. The Indian flag that you would see today in India was adopted on July 22, 1947, after India became independent from Great Britain. The flag was based on the design of the flag of the Indian National Congress. But what do the various elements in the flag represent?

There are three equal horizontal bands of saffron, white, and green, with a blue Chakra (24-spoked wheel) centered in the white band. Saffron is the sacred color of Hinduism and represents courage, sacrifice, and the spirit of renunciation. The white signifies purity unity and truth. And green stands for faith and fertility but originally is represented Islam. The blue Dharma Chakra in the middle of the white band symbolizes the wheel of life in movement and death in stagnation. The 24 spokes represent the hours in a day and at the end of each spoke there is a half moon. Blue is the color for the sky and the ocean.

There is a committee which sets standards for the manufacturing of the flag. It also lays out rules regarding the hoisting of the Indian flag. This committee is known as 'Bureau of Indian Standards(BIS)'. It specifies the cloth, dye, color, thread count and each and every thing about the flag.

Indian Flag Factoids:

• According to the flag code of India, citizens did not have the right to hoist the Indian flag except for some important days like Republic day, Independence day and Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.
• There is litigation in process now in the Indian court system to allow citizens the right to hoist the Indian flag on any day as long as it is done in a respectful manner.
• Some Interesting Facts
• The Indian flag was hoisted on the highest mountain peak of the world, Mount Everest on 29th May 1953.
• Madam Bhikaji Rustom Cama was the first person to hoist Indian flag on foreign soil on 22nd August 1907 in Stuttgrat, Germany.
• The Indian National Flag flew to space in 1984 when Wing Commander Rakesh Sharma went to the space. The flag was attached as a medallion on the space suit of Rakesh Sharma..

INDIA: Religulation (religious population)

The Total population of India right now stands at about 1,200,000,000 (1.2billion people). That makes it the second most populous nation on the planet. Based on current birth and death rates, estimates put the population at 1.6 billion people by 2050 surpassing estimates for the population of China. India also has within its borders some of the most densely populated urban centers in the world.

These 1.2billion people are made up of about 2,533 distinctly identified ethno-linguistic people groups. Within these groups, Hindi (and its various dialects) is the most spoken language at a little over 40% Bengali is second with just 8%.

The twenty largest ethno-linguistic people groups in India make up almost half of the entire population. The largest group in India are the Shaikh people. At about 72,649,000 people they live mostly in the north (though there are population centers throughout India and in neighboring countries as well) and are predominantly a Muslim people. Of the next nineteen, eighteen claim Hinduism as the predominate religion. In each of these groups there is no viable Christian church to reach the people with the story of Jesus Christ. All 2,533 ethno-linguistic groups adhere to various religions in the following break down.

• Hinduism: 81.6%
• Islam 12.7%
• Christianity 2.3%
• Other / Small 2.2%
• Buddhism 0.7%
• Ethnic Religions 0.4%

Stats were taken from
www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html
www.joshuaproject.net

INDIA

To all of my family, friends and acquaintances,

This summer I have the opportunity to travel to Northern India for about six weeks as part of my Master’s program. I will be helping in schools churches and orphanages doing things like teaching English, tutoring in Greek, sharing about American culture, and experiencing the culture of Northern India for myself.

In the next week or so I will be sending out letters to many of you to give you some more details about the trip as well as to ask for your support. Many of you are the church going type and if all you can do to support me is to pray for me I gratefully accept your prayers on my behalf. Many of you are not church goers so you should know that I also accept happy thoughts and positive energy. For those who have the means to contribute financially the total cost of the trip is $3,200 so obviously money is important too. Your tax deductible gift will be handled by the school and they will issue you a receipt.

If you received a Christmas card from us this year, then I have your address, if not then there is a good chance that I do not have it. So if I likely don’t have your address and you would like more info on how to help me get to India you can send me your mailing address through facebook or email or twitter. You are probably reading this through one of those mediums. Also, I will be utilizing social media a lot to keep my supporters up to date on how the prep for my trip is going as well as updates of my experiences while in India, (as often as internet is available).


You can keep up with me on:

• Twitter: CDGiguere
• friend me on facebook
• check out my blog updates: vagabondragamuffin.blogspot.com
• email: caleb.giguere@gmail.com

SOLDIER

I was working at the REI a while ago and some guy came in asking about sleeping bags. As any good sales specialist I ask where he was going and what he would be doing, just so I can have an idea of the conditions he might experience while on his adventures. This is pretty standard interaction with customers for me.

He said that he needed it for training while in California but he would probably also use it for some backpacking while there as well. It turns out he was preparing to go to Afghanistan. His unit was called up and he would be heading out for some training then shipping off to fight in the infantry. This guy before long would be putting his life on the line in a foreign country for the sake of his country, wearing armor and an assault rifle and here he is asking my opinion on what a good sleeping bag would be for him.

He was a soft spoken humble guy, seemed pretty cool we talked sleeping bags and hiking conditions for a while and I sold him a bag, I don't even remember which one. I do remember walking away form the conversation feeling humbled. Here was a guy who before long would be on the front lines, and he wanted my input on a sleeping bag of all things.

I have never put my life on the line for anything. I have had things thrown at me, I have been made fun of and insulted, but as far as I know my life has never been on the line for something that I believe in. It makes me wonder, do I have it too easy?? In America I could be argued we try to avoid war whenever possible, but there are some places on earth where fighting is a way of life and people have never known anything else. Perhaps it is just that in living in a place where peace is the norm God would want me / us to leverage my / our peace for the sake of those who have not known peace. Perhaps speaking up for those who cannot speak for themselves is the responsibility of those who have voice enough for the world to hear.

I don't know that soldiers name, but I have prayed for him, and I pray for us.

Just a Meandering Thought...

BARUCH

I have been doing a little reading on a Biblical character lately named Jeremiah. As an Old Testament prophet he is a fascinating character study. He told people what they did not want to hear, so almost no one wanted to be associated with him in any way. He experienced humiliation and agony for trying to make his point to people who were not even listening. All the other "prophets who were around in his day were presenting messages that contradicted his, which really made him look foolish. He was ridiculed, imprisoned, black listed and ignored for his very unpopular messages but for some reason he kept on going. Why??

There was one person who stood by his side - a little known character named Baruch. Baruch was the guy who wrote down Jeremiah's messages. When Jeremiah was in prison Baruch even carried the messages and read them aloud to their intended audience. Baruch is at least partly responsible for giving us the book of Jeremiah. Even though Baruch was just the writer/messenger he, at times, suffered side by side with Jeremiah. He experienced punishment he did not deserve because he chose to be associated with someone who was constantly pushing the envelope; he chose to be associated with someone who dared fierce obedience to God. Jeremiah suffered through some tough times, but he always had Baruch. I dare say that without Baruch, Jeremiah would not have been the prophet that we know today.

Moses had Joshua, Ruth had Naomi, David had Jonathan, Paul had Timothy, Jesus had twelve guys around him. It seems only right that we should not try to do this thing we call life on our own - separated from people who could carry us in those times when we cannot carry ourselves. We all need a Baruch in our lives who is there when no one else is willing to be there. Who do you have??

Just a Meandering Thought...

DADDY

I am a dad...
There is another person on planet earth who is completely dependent on me. This is what I have learned so far:

• He prefers being held to being put down.
• He cannot clean himself up and needs me to do that.
• Sometimes he poops while I am holding him.
• He has peed on me while I was cleaning him.
• Neither of the previous two scared me away, I still loved him and cleaned him up and held him afterwords.
  
• He is the cutest baby I have ever seen (because he looks a little like me and mostly like my wife) yeah, he bears my image.
  
• He is incapable of earning my affection because he already has it.
• He has nothing to offer me that I need, but I can't get enough of him.
• His value is not in what he does (pee and poop) his value is in the fact that he is mine.
• I love it when he looks at me.
• It breaks my heart when he cries.
• I love this time but I also look forward to the day when he will talk to me.
  

Suddenly I understand the love of God a little better.

Just a meandering thought...

RAINS

The Summer rains are falling

They fill the dried up streams
The parched earth drinks it in
And dusty paths now are mud

Blue sky masked in shades of gray

God wrings out the clouds
Droplets form like buckets
And rain like puddles falls

Lakes and oceans merge
Rivers connect them all
The Summer rains are falling
The plush green grass returns
The babbling brooks are swelling
Liquid life on a sojourn