~why dO pregnant wOmen like eating tamarind and raw mangOes~

Craving for unusual food (and some non food items like ash called pica) is considered as the first sign of pregnancy. In reality, although some women do get strong cravings, many do notNo one knows for sure what causes food cravings. Many women find that their senses of taste and smell are changed by pregnancy. For example, some women experience an odd metallic taste in their mouths very early in pregnancy (maybe the first sign of pregnancy for an `experienced' mother); others find that taste and smell are dulled. It is possible that these changes affect food likes and dislikes.

Some people think that cravings happen in response to temporary deficiency of specific nutrients. There is probably some truth in this, but it is not the whole story. We only need minute quantities of each vitamin and mineral — certainly not enough to justify a continual craving for just one food. For some women, food cravings may be a conscious or subconscious response to emotion.

They may crave a favourite childhood food, or a food that is of special significance to their religion or culture. Craving unusual foods may also be a private way of marking the special state of being pregnant. Rather than develop a food craving, many women find they suddenly go off certain foods or drinks like fried foods and coffee.

This is often related to pregnancy sickness, but may also be the body's way of ensuring that they eat and drink wisely. Generally, there's no harm in giving into food cravings, especially if doing so helps getting through phases like early morning sickness which can be pretty distressing. However this must be done in moderation.

Eating a lot of one food only means eating less of other foods and therefore running the risk of becoming deficient in important nutrient. A craving for non-food items — such as ash or soap or toothpaste — is known as `pica'.Pica is potentially very harmful if indulged in and must be resisted. Also, substances like soaps and ash may prevent the absorption of nutrients and other food substances.

~cUte child mOdel~

~histOry :: sOme rare pictures~

The daughter of an Indian maharajah seated on a panther she shot, sometime during 1920s. This picture and the others in this series appear in a new book, 'India Then and Now', by Vir Sanghvi and Rudrangshu Mukherjee, Roli Books, India. Pictures courtesy: Roli Books.

A throwback from the Raj: A British man gets a pedicure from an Indian servant.

The Grand Trunk Road, built by Sher Shah Suri, was the main trade route from Calcutta to Kabul. Here, transport leaves Ambala for Delhi.

A group of dancing girls. Dancing or nautch girls began performing at courts around 1830. They were known for their elaborate costumes and jewellery.

A rare aerial view of the president's palace and the parliament building in Delhi, both designed by architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker.

Women gather at a party in Mumbai (Bombay) in 1910, a sign that women were very much part of the social scene in many respects.

A group from Vaishnava, a sect founded by a Hindu mystic. His followers are called Gosvami-maharajahs and own several temples.

An aerial view of Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi, built between 1650 and 1658 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

The Imperial Airways 'Hanno' Hadley Page passenger airplane carries the England to India air mail, stopping in Sharjah to refuel.

~parties in aiR~

~heavy rain in Oman~

A powerful cyclone which skirted the coast of Oman early today, appeared to be weakening and moving north through a major shipping channel towards Iran. Tropical cyclone Gonu, which earlier reached the level of a maximum-force Category Five hurricane, was the strongest to reach Oman's coast since 1977, the Omani weather service said, with strong winds and heavy rains pummelling the coast and forcing thousands from their homes.

~finest chOreography~

~gOlden smile :: perizaad zOrabian~

~the simple faCts~

1. Did you know you share your birthday with at least 9 other million people in the world?

2. The electric chair was invented by a dentist. When it was built in the 1940s, the state of Virginia still had segregation laws requiring separate toilet facilities for blacks and whites.

3. The human heart creates enough pressure when it pumps out to the body to squirt blood 30 feet.

4. Banging your head against a wall uses an average of 900 calories an hour.

5. On average, people fear spiders more than they do death.

6. The strongest muscle in the body is the TONGUE.

7. "I am ." is the shortest complete sentence in the English language.

8. The longest word in the English language is 1909 letters long and it refers to a distinct part of DNA.

9. It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

10. Feb 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.

11. You can't kill yourself by holding your breath.

12. Americans on the average eat 18 acres of pizza every day.

13. Every time you lick a stamp,you're consuming 1/10 of a calorie.

14. Cat's urine glows under a black light.

15. Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.

16. In the last 4000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.

17. Babies are born without knee caps.They don't appear until the child reaches 2-6 years of age.

18. Nutmeg is extremely poisonous if injected intravenously.

19. The most common name in the world is Mohammed.

20. The cruise liner, Queen Elizabeth II, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.

21. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike factory workers in Malaysia combined.

22. One of the reasons marijuana is illegal today is because cotton growers in the 30's lobbied against hemp farmers they saw it as competition.

23. You know that you are more likely to be killed by a champagne cork than by a poisonous spider.

24. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older.

25. There are 2 credit cards for every person in the US.

26. The name Wendy was made up for the book "Peter Pan."

27. If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days, you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

28. If you fart consistently for 6 years and 9 months, enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb.

29. Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds,dogs only have about ten.

30. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.

~paris hiltOn~

Paris Whitney Hilton most commonly known as Paris Hilton was born in New York City on 17th February 1981. She was a born rich. The world famous Hilton Hotels were founded by her grand parents. At the age of 19 itself Paris Hilton was a well known model in the New York City.

It was in the year 2003, Paris Hilton become famous world wide when a home made video of hers with her then boyfriend Rick Salomon leaked in to the media.

Paris is quite famous for her controversial social life too. She was arrested in September 2006, for driving under the influence and subsequently sentenced to 36 months probation and had her license suspended. In February 2007, she was stopped for driving at 70 mph in a 35 mph zone and charged with violating her probation. Hilton was sentenced to 45 days in jail, which was later reduced to 36.

~cUte kiDz~