I Have a Dream

here i've put martin Luther King, Jr's speech

you can also here the speech from this site

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkihaveadream.htm

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."²

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

I Have A Dream - Martin Luther King, Jr.

This blog was suppose to be post by Harizwan but he has other business to attend and don’t have the time to do this week’s blog, so I will be writing this week's blog.

“I Have A Dream” is one of the best speeches that were ever given in US history. This speech was given by Martin Luther king Jr. This is my topic this week. This speech was about racial equality and an end to discrimination. The speech was delivered on 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

Martin Luther king Jr. was born January 15, 1929 at Atlanta, Georgia. He is the son of the reverend Martin Luther king, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. His originally name Michael King, Jr. but it was soon changed after their visit to Germany. The name 'Michael' changed to 'Martin' in honor of the German protestant leader Martin Luther. His childhood memories was mostly in altanta, where he attended Booker T. Washington High School. then he entered Morehouse College at the age of fifteen. He graduated with a Bachelor of Art degree in sociology, and enrolled in Crozer Theological Seminary in Chester Pennsylvania, graduated with Bachelor of Divinity degree. He then began doctoral studies in systematic theology at boston university and received his Doctor of Philosophy.

He was the leader in the African-American Civil Right Movement and the Peace Movement. His legacy was to secure progress on the civil right in US and he is referenced as a human right icon today. King became the youngest person to receive the Nobel peace Prize for his work to end Racial Segregation an racial Discrimination through civil disobedience and other non-violent means. He did his best in ending the racial discrimination in the US. March on Washington was one of the best evidence of non-violent demonstration. There he made his ‘ I Have a Dream ‘ speech which gave the people spirit to fight for their right.

The March made specific demand:

• End to racial segregation in public school.
• Meaningful civil right legislation.
  o law prohibiting racial discrimination in employment.
• Protection of civil right workers from police brutality.
• $2 minimum wage for all workers.
• Self-government for Washington, D.C.

His major organization was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). He was also rewarded with the Presidental Medal of Freedom (1977) and recently received the Congressional Gold Medal (2004).
Martin Luther King was Assassinate at the Lorraine Motel , April 4, 1968 .

Angkor Wat

Mr Fakhzan gave us an asignment regarding Angkor Wat... here is the answer.

• What is the bayon?

The Bayon is the 2nd largest Khmer temple after Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

• What is the Bayon famous for?

The Bayon is famous for it's distinctive feature of serene and massive stone faces on te many ower which just out from the upper terrace and cluster around it's central peak. bayon also have carving of picture of the history of Angkor Wat on the wall.

• Who is Ta-kuan?

Ta-kuan is a chinese diplomat sent by his emperor on a reporting mission to the kingdom of Khmer.

• who were the Khmer Enemies?

The siamese.

• What is the main reason for the fall of the Khmer Empire?

The war with Thai, the erosin of the state religion and natural disaster.

• How did Angkor Wat survive?

the Angkor wat survive by collecting water from rivers for agriculture as well as draining and reserving water from the monsoon season. storing water helped as the are only had 2 season.

The Ancient City of Rome

This week it's my turn to post the blog regarding the theme megacity. What exactly is megacity. Well, megacity is recognised as a metropolitan area that have a population over 10 million people. Megacity can be form either from a single metropolitan area or two or more metropolitan area that joined together.

This city can be differentiated from global cities by:

• Their rapid growth.
• New form of spatial population density.
• Formal and informal economies.
• Level of poverty and crime.
• The high level of social fragmentation.
  

ROME

Ancient Rome was known to be the largest city in the world of ancient history. It has been said that Rome's population was over one million during the rise of it's empire. Many of it's magnificient building was built within Rome city. As the city become more and more crowded, a second city was bulit some distance from the city centre but it is still in Rome.

COLOSSEUM

The Colosseum or Flavian Amphitheatre was planned and started by the emperor Vespasian in 70 - 72 AD. It was designed with 620 x 513 ft in length, 165 ft in height and with the internal arena of 27 x 180 ft. The Colosseum can fit up to 50,000 people and on a special occasion the number increase up to 70,000. It was constructed in the city centre, in effect placing it both literally and symbolically at the heart of Rome. The Colosseum was used in term of entertainment for the people of Rome. The event was mostly gladiatorial show but other variety of event also happen there.

Munera, the name of the gladiatorial show were always given by the private individuals rather than the state. Another popular show is the animal hunt, venatio. The animal were imported from africa and the middle east. The battle and hunt were set with movable trees and building. There was a time when Trajan celebrated his victories in Dacia with a contest involving 11,000 animals and 10,000 gladiators over the course of 123 days. The colosseum was sometime used for executions in which the hero of the story, played by the condemned person was killed in one of the various gruesome but mythologically way, like being eaten by beast or burned to death.

Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain, Fontana di Trevi is the most famous and the most beautiful fountain in all of Rome. This monument is located in the Quirinale District. The fountain is at the ending part of the Aqua Virgo, Aqueduct constructed in 19 BC. Water is from the Salone Springs, 20 km from Rome. Neptune, the central figure of the fountain in front of the large niche. The Chariot that he is riding is in the shape of a shell and is pulled by 2 sea horse who are guided by a Triton. The horse symbolises the fluctuating mood of the sea, one is calm and obedient and the other is restless. There is also statues that is located beside Neptune. The left side represent Abundance and the right side represent Salubrity.

Trajan' Market

Mercatus Traiani, Trajan's Market is located on the Via dei Fori Imperiali, the opposite end to the Colosseum. The building and the stucture present a living model of life in the Roman capital. It is built in 100 - 110 AD by Apollodorus of Damascus. During the middle ages the complex was modified by adding floor levels. The upper level of the market were used for offices. Shops were located at the lower level. There were shops that sell oil, wines, seafood, groceries, vegetable and fruit. There were also houses built on the top floor face the semicircular segment of the via Biberatica.

Indian Traditional Dance

Bharatanatyam is a indian classic dance form originated in Karnataka , which is a National Dance of India. This dance is practise science 19th and 20th century rebuiled of Cathir, the art of temple dancers. Cathir in turn, is derived from ancient dance forms. Bharatanatyam is usually accompanied by the classical Carnatic music.Bharatanatyam is considered as a fire dance the metaphysical element of fire in the human body. It is one of the five major styles element that include element of water, and element of air. The movements of Bharatanatyam dancer resemble the movements of a dancing flame. Bharatanatyam is rarely practiced as Natya Yoga, a sacred meditational tradition.Bharatanatyam proper is a solo dance, with two aspects which is graceful feminine lines and movements, and the dance of Shiva, masculine aspect, which is identical to the Yin and Yang in the Chinese culture.In ancient times it was performed as dasiattam by mandir. Many of the ancient sculptures in Hindu temples are based on Bharata Natyam dance postures karanas. In fact, who are depicted in many scriptures dancing the heavenly version of what is known on earth as Bharatanatyam.. Thus, many Hindu temples traditionally maintained complements of trained musicians and dancers, as did Indian rulers

INDIGENOUS PEOPLE IN BRAZIL

Botocudo (a plug,an allusion,to the wooden disks or plugs worn in their lips and ears)-from Portuguese for botoque. This is the foreign name for a tribe of South American Indians of eastern Brazil-also known as the Aimorés or Aimborés. They have no collective tribal name for themselves. Some called themselves Nacnanuk or Nac-poruk,"sons of the soil".

There are no records on Botocudo tribe until Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Nuwied's writings in 1820 when he participated in a scientific expedition to Brazil.

FEATURES:

The botocudos were described as being below the medium height,but broad-shouldered and remarkable for the muscular development of their chests.

Their arms and legs were soft and fleshy while their feet and hands were small.Their features were broad and flat with prominent eyebrow,high cheekbones,small bridgeless nose,wide nostrils and slight projection of the jaws.Their hair were coarse,black and lank.Their skin colour was a light yellowish brown,sometimes almost white.

They were a nomadic hunter-gatherers,living in the forest.

Their only weapons were reed spear and bows and arrows.

Their only musical instrument was a small bamboo nose-flute.

MASS MEDIA

MASS MEDIA INFLUENCE

For years media influence has grown exponentially along with the growth of technology. This can be seen with from the creation of newspaper and the telegraph, then it evolve to invention of the radio, the magazines, television, and the internet. In this era, we live in a world that depend on information and communication to keep moving. We rely on media to know the current situation and facts about the world also what we should be aware of. For example the news about Influenza H1N1 is spread through television, newspaper, radio and also internet. This show that media is really important to our daily life, but the media also have influence kids on other aspect that we also should be aware of.

HOW MASS MEDIA INFLUENCE SOCIETY

The media makes money by advertising their product. They advertise it and influence people to buy their product. We as the audience think that the product is good and we trust it, thus we buy the product. These are the major effect of media in teenagers, they buy what they see because their favourite artists advertise the product making it look fashionable.

THE EFFECT OF MEDIA INFLUENCE

The positive effect the media influence have for people is that it help some people solve their problems. Example The Oprah Show help a lot of people with their financial saving, their personal problem and etc. Media also influence people especially children in sport. Example the sport that is getting a lot of attention in the media like tennis and football influence younger generation to start involving in sport, therefore they would have fun with friend and be more healthy .

The negative effect the media influence have for people is the inappropriate images that is advertise in the television and internet like sex images, violence images, and junk food images. There are also advertisements showing a perfect image of a men and women. This creates the understanding of the people that they also have to get the perfect image. Therefore they buy stuff that make them look cool.

Another negative influence shown are the increase of anorexia and obesity in society. Nowadays there are many adolescents that are fighting obesity, but at the same time the media advertise junk food . Also there are women that are losing more weight than they should just because they want to look like a super models, thus they eat less and become thinner. This result leads to severe health porblems and even death.

There is also problem regarding the violence images and people hurting others. children are now growing and shaping their personality values which include agressiveness and violence. In the past years there have been cases where kids carrying gun and knives to school. These shows that they have been brought up with the excessive use of violent video games and war images.

There are also people who use war as a form of entertainment not as reality. They thinki that this is just a game there is win and lose but in reality everyone lose.

SMUGGLING OF WILD ANIMAL

There have been recently several cases in years of wildlife seizures in Thailand that involved animals caught from Malaysian forests. According to the US State Department, animals were the third highest illegal product smuggled, after drugs and weapons. The most popular animals were tortoises, tigers, bears, orangutans, and bird’s .A raising a number for wildlife and its increasing use in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are fueling an increase in the illegal export of endangered animals. The box turtle is decreasing across Malaysia because of increased illegal hunting for its meat and use in traditional Chinese medicine. Since the ban, export of turtles for the pet trade in Japan, Europe and the United States ceased, but TRAFFIC found increasing evidence of smuggling illegal animal, mainly to Hong Kong, China and to a lesser extent Singapore. To meet demand, animals are being taken from the wild at an unsustainable rate, which has to be addressed or they will disappear from the Malaysian countryside.

"COME TOGETHER WE SAVE OUR WILD ANIMAL"

EXAMPLES OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION

LET'S COMMUNICATE WITH OTHERS

Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another.Listening is just as important as speaking.

There are three major parts in face to face communication :

• 55 % of impact is determined by the body language-postures,gestures & eye contact


• 38 % by the tone of voice


• 7 % by the content or the words used

Types of communication:

1. Dialogue/verbal communication


2. non-verbal communication


3. visual communication


4. facilitated communication


5. graphic communication


6. science communication


7. strategic communication


8. superluminal communication


9. technical communication

Visual communication

Visual communication as the name suggests is communication through visual aid. It is the ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked. It can be two-dimentional images, it includes:signs,typography,drawing,graphic design,illustration, colour and electronic resources. It relies on vision. It is form of communication with visual effect. It is communication by presenting information through visual form.

The evaluation of a good visual design is based on measuring comprehension by the audience, not on aesthetic or artistic preference. There are no principles of beauty and ugliness. There exists a variety of ways to present information visually, like gestures, body languages, video and TV. Here, focus is on the presentation of text, pictures, diagrams, photos, integrated on a computer display. The term visual presentation is used to refer to the actual presentation of information. Recent research in the field has focused on web design and graphically oriented usability.Graphic designers use methods of visual communication in their professional practice.

SKINHEAD FOR LIFE!!!

Skinhead one of a subculture that originated from a working class youth in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. West Indians rude boys and British mod was greatly influenced based on the theme of fashion, music and lifestyle of this subculture, it is not on politic or race. Skinhead's style and clothing have changed from time to time since it's formation, some of the clothing style have been more prevalent in specific geographic location and time period.

Skinhead's traditional style is called trads or Trojan Skinhead, it is identified with the original culture in terms of music, style, culture, and working class pride.

here are some more specific clothing that Skinhead wear:

• Hair:
  @ Originally the cutting of the hair is short but not bald. Now some skinheads clip their hair with no guard, and some even shave it with a razor. This started with the introduction of the Oi! scene.
  
• Coats:
  @Jacket that is popular among Skinhead is the MA-1 type flight jackets the popular brands is the Warrior and Alpha. The colour that is popular is usually black or green. Other typer of jacket that is worn by them is Harrington jackets, monkey jackets, Crombie-style overcoats, sheepskin 3/4 length coats, donkey jackets and parkas.
  
• Bottoms:
  @ Men: they usually wear Levi's, Lee or Wrangler jeans that is straight leg with rolled cuffs to show off boots, often with hem cut off and sewn to give neater, flatter turn-up, they also wear Sta-Prest flat-fronted slacks and other trousers. they sometimes wear bleachers, jeans splattered with bleach to resemble camouflage trousers, popular among punk-influenced Oi! skins; combat trousers (plain or camouflage), popular among Oi! skins and scooter boys.
  @ Women: they also wear the same jeans and trousers as men, or skirts and stockings. Some skinhead girls wear fishnet stockings and mini-skirts, a style introduced during the skinhead revival.

• Footwear:
  @ Men: they commonly wear boots, originally army surplus or generic workboots.
  @ Women: they also usually wear boots or shoes, monkey boots, loafers or brogues.

• Hat
  @ Trilby hats; pork pie hats; flat caps (AKA Scally cap, Benny or driver cap). Less common have been bowler hats (AKA derby hats), mostly among suedeheads and those influenced by the film A Clockwork Orange (1971).
  
  
• Braces:
  @Various colours, usually no more than ½ inch in width. In some areas, wider braces may identify a skinhead as either white power or a wanna-be.

Music genre has been with associated with skinhead are soul aka rocksteady and early reggae.then there has been development in the Skinhead genre. Skinhead reggae was develop by the music link between Skinhead and the Jamaican, artist such as Desmond Dekker, Derrick Morgan and The Pioneers perform such genre. In 1990, the most popular Skinhead song was 2 tone which was a musical fusion of ska, rocksteady, reggae, pop and punk rock. by the late 1990s the Oi! sub genre was accepted by Skinhead and Punks. this sub genre combines element of punk, football chants, pub rock and British glam rock. There was partly response toward Oi! scene.

if you want to join Skinhead make sure you don't become a skinhead by reading an Internet guide. if you walk around the neighbourhood pretending to be a Skinhead, you might get made fun of or get beaten up by them. You also might get assumed as a racist.

Life Expectancy At Birth

Birth Rate:

This entry gives the average annual the number of births during a year per 1000 persons in the population at midyear; also know as crude birth rate. The birth rate is usually the dominant factor in determining the rate of population growth. It depends on both the level of fertility and the age structure of the population.

Malaysia - Birth Rate (Birth/1000 population)

Year-Birth Rate (Births/1000 population)

• 2000-25.3



• 2001-24.75



• 2002-24.22



• 2003-23.7



• 2004-23.37



• 2005-23.07



• 2006-22.86



• 2007-22.65



• 2008-22.44

Population In Malaysia

City-Population

• Kuala Lumpur-1809699



• Johor Bahru-1370738



• Subang Jaya- 1321672



• Klang -1055207



• Ampang Jaya-756309



• Ipoh-710798



• Kuching -658562



• Shah Alam -658562



• Kota Kinabalu- 579304



• Kota Bahru -577301



• Petaling Jaya- 543415



• Tebrau-525351



• Cheras-515961



• Sandakan-479121

Factors Affecting Birth Rate:

First Natalism -Is a belief that promotes human reproduction. Pronatalism-promoting child-bearing.Antinatalism-negative thinking of birth.Secoundly Family Planing-Planing when to have children and the use of birth control. Usually female-male couple wish to limit the number of children they have or to control the taming of pregnancy ( known as 'spacing children').Thirdly is Female Literacy Level.The ability to use language to read and write. So they have their own carrier and they are not depend on man and not concentrating on their family.Fourthly is In fact Mortality.The number of deaths of in facts. It has become the most common cause in infant mortality.Reason - dehydration from diarrhea.Fifth is Urbanization .Place where money,service and wealth are centralized. Physical growth of urban area from rural areas. As the result,more people are going for entertainment than to have family.Sixth is Age Of Marriage .For Malaysia the age of marriage is 21.18 with parental consent, 16 for female with special marriage license.Female usually had a late marriage. Thus, its affecting the birth rate.People use to focus on their carrier.Seventh is Conflict.Can be internal (within oneself) or external (between 2 or more individuals).Conflict is actual/perceived opposition of needs,values and interests.Our Prediction is the decreasing birth rate will continues. Caused by the factors. As Conclusion government and all individuals in Malaysia should be responsible to stabilize the population especially the birth rate.

family day in Taman Tumbina...

this picture was taken right after our treking in taman Tumbina...hihihihi

The Towers of Silence

This story is about a culture in Bombay(Malabar Hill).There is a stadium-like enclosure that the residents of Bombay know as dokhmas-the "towers of silence".It is the structure that the community of Parsis bring the bodies of their dead,exposing them to the air so that scavenger birds can pick the corpses clean.They only choose to bury only the bones of their dead-after the flesh has been stripped away in the towers of silence.The origin of this bizarre practice is ancient.
The Parsis are descendents of Persian.Like their Persian ancestor,they are Zoroastrians,followers of a myth-enshrouded religious prophet named Zoroaster.In Zorostrians tradition,exposure of the dead is additionally considered to be an individual's final act of charity,providing the birds with what would otherwise be destroyed.
In the past several decades,the population of birds of prey has declined by 99.9% due to diclofenac poisoning of the birds following the introduction of that drug for livestock in 1990.The remaining birds usually unable to fully consume the bodies.Parsi communites in india are currently evaluating captive breeding of vultures and the use of "solar concentrators"(which are essentially large mirrors)to accelerate decomposition.Some have been forced to resort to burial,as the solar collectors work only in clear weather.Vultures formerly disposed of a body in minutes,and no other method has proved fully effective.
Now both the tower ritual and the Parsi community itself seem to be on the decline as high-rise apartments go up around Malabar Hill.But Parsis now realize the shortcomings of the ancient method.The vultures still come,along with other birds,but for some unexplained reason scarcely touch the corpses these days.Many Parsis want the old custom changed.