Ten Mistakes Parents Make in Choosing a Boot Camp :: essays research papers

The past twenty years has seen a major change in residential programs for self-destructive and struggling teens. In the past virtually every residential intervention available was funded and controlled by governmental agencies, including decisions as to who would be enrolled. What has changed is that we now have a rapidly growing network of private residential schools and programs focused on allowing parents more choices. Usually this involves parents paying the tuition, or at least making arrangements for payment through their insurance policy or other resources. This is having the effect of empowering parents, giving them many more effective resources to which to turn when their struggling child is making self-destructive decisions. These new options enable parents to intervene before a tragedy develops. With that new ability and responsibility, comes the opportunity for parents to make their own mistakes. Listed below are ten of the most common mistakes I have seen parents make during my sixteen years working with parents of struggling teens. I present this with the hope that parents who are beginning to search for residential schools and programs will rethink their initial assumptions to avoid self-defeating choices. 1.) "We want a place close to home." Just as the needs of struggling teens vary widely, so do the strengths and weaknesses of residential schools and programs. Restricting one's search to a limited geographical area increases the chances of excluding the most appropriate places that have the best chances for being successful with your child. In effect, this is settling for second best, which increases the chances of a placement not working. 2.) "We want something affordable." The most expensive residential school or program is the one that doesn't work. A quality school or program that has the structure to keep on top of manipulative and contrary teens and still be effective in changing attitudes is going to be expensive, whether the parent or the taxpayers pay the bill. Most low cost schools or programs are inexpensive because they are undercapitalized, cut corners financially, have a poorly thought out program, hire too few people and or hire minimum wage staff. It is very risky to entrust your child to one of these places. An exception to this is the quality school or program, usually Christian oriented, that has a large endowment or a successful fund raising program, or is able to attract good staff because they consider themselves on a mission.

I. C. T. :: Computer Science

I. C. T. DATA LOGGING AND CONTROL IDENTIFY My comrade (General Moeen Ahmed Abbasi) who was about to start his business of manufacturing new fighting jets had asked me to make him a system by which he could be able to see how his business was running. The reason for why he had asked me this is that I had my own business of developing new software and hardware. I went to meet him and he told me that he needed such an application by which he could be able to see his: Ø company details Ø employees details Ø customer details Ø shipping / importing / exporting details Ø sales Expenses And so forth. He wanted me to make this system of his ready in two weeks. This was of course more then enough, but as you should know that there are many people outside who haven't got a clue of what uses a computer is and how to use a computer is absolutely out of question. Now let's get back to the subject, as I was saying that it shouldn't take me too long. The longest it will take me should be no more than one day to design the database, one day to make it and two days to enter the company information. The manager had told me that to do everything manually would be like a migraine headache, because he also has a hotel that he used to run manually and therefore had the experience of running something manually is like "the horse riding you". So I have planned to split the database system into four parts. 1. company details (sales, employee details) 2. customer details 3. shipping details 4. query ANALYSE The most suitable package that I found for this database system is Microsoft Access ®. You must be thinking if we have a company of developing new software then why don't we use our own software, the answer to this is that we are develop only that kind of material which is yet not on the market. The reason for why I have chosen this package rather than any other package is that firstly this package is easy to use (a plus point for them), secondly it has several more facilities and finally I am more familiar with this package. For hardware/software there won't be any problems because luckily we had provided them with this. So the programs (software) will more likely be the same. However I will be using Windows XP ®, Pentium IV as my processor and I will be using Microsoft ® Office XP ®. For backup I shall most possibly use a CD-RW or a memory card should do.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been a Disaster :: Business Management Studies

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been a Disaster Not long ago, the global economy didn’t matter much to the average American. But the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Most Favored Nation status (MFN) with China taught millions of Americans that economic forces beyond our borders can powerfully affect us, helping determine whether our jobs will be moved away, or whether our wages and benefits will be lowered. One of the great crises facing American workers is â€Å"the race to the bottom† within the global economy. As a result of increased capital flow, various â€Å"free trade† agreements, and the role of international financial organizations like the International Monetary Fund, workers in the United States are increasingly being put in the position of having to â€Å"compete† with desperate Third World workers in Mexico, China, Vietnam and other countries who are forced to work for wages as low as 20 cents an hour. Clearly, Congress must make radical changes in our trade policies an d our relationship to such international financial organizations as the IMF and the World Bank. The goal of U.S. policy must be to improve the standard of living of workers in both the United States and the developing world and not simply protect the interests of multinational corporations. We must support â€Å"fair trade† and not â€Å"free trade,† and demand that corporate America start reinvesting in the United States. NAFTA, MAI & the WTO Not long ago, the global economy didn’t matter much to the average American. But the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and Most Favored Nation status (MFN) with China taught millions of Americans that economic forces beyond our borders can powerfully affect us, helping determine whether our jobs will be moved away, or whether our wages and benefits will be lowered. One of the great crises facing American workers is â€Å"the race to the bottom† within the global economy. As a result of increased capital flow, various â€Å"free trade† agreements, and the role of international financial organizations like the International Monetary Fund, workers in the United States are increasingly being put in the position of having to â€Å"compete† with desperate Third World workers in Mexico, China, Vietnam and other countries who are forced to work for wages as low as 20 cents an hour. Clearly, Congress must make radical changes in our trade policies an d our relationship to such international financial organizations as the IMF and the World Bank.

Difference between Branding and Brand Equity Essay

â€Å"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending†. (Bard qtd. in. ThinkExist. com) This quote shows one fact that the process of ‘branding’ is endless. Because, simply, when ‘brand equity’ is known or measured, the brand could be protected and managed properly. This essay aims at giving an overview of the ‘branding’ and ‘brand equity’ terms or concepts to show the difference between both of them. And due to the fact that â€Å"both terms are usually defined around the concept of adding value to a product (or service)† (Binnie 17), it could be hard for some people to differentiate between both of them. That’s why the best approach to realize the difference between ‘branding’ and ‘brand equity’ is to dig and search in the literature to define both terms to know what is meant by each one of them. However, before separating each term from the other -to know the difference between both of them-, let’s move to the real world to have an idea about a simple fact concerning a certain brand (Coca-Cola in this case). This interesting example –mentioned by Blackett- deserves to be mentioned here to realize how important a brand could be for a company. â€Å"By mid-2002, Coca-Cola Company’s stock market value reached $136 billion, while the business net asset value (the book value) was only $10. 5 billion†. (5) The interesting fact here is when we add this information to the fact that: â€Å"The value of Coca-Cola brand for the same period (mid-2002) was estimated by $70 billion (over half of the $136 intangible value mentioned above! . † (Blackett 5) Then, after realizing the importance of ‘branding’ to the company in the marketplace -in the previous example-, it’s time to know what is meant by both terms, ‘branding’ and ‘brand equity’. First of all, a ‘brand’ is defined by the Dictionary of Business and Management as â€Å"a name, sign or symbol used to identify items or services of the seller(s) and to differ entiate them from goods of competitors. † (qtd. in. BuildingBrands Ltd. ) However, a ‘brand’ is more than a name, a sign or a symbol. In another word, this definition is not sufficient to describe the term ‘brand’. Grimaldi gave a better definition for the term ‘brand’ as â€Å"a combination of attributes, communicated through a name, or a symbol, that influences a thought-process in the mind of an audience and creates value. † And this is what Blackett assured when he mentioned that â€Å"the visual distinctiveness of a brand may be a combination of any of the following: name, letters, numbers, a symbol, a signature, a shape, a slogan, a color, a particular typeface. (3) Also, Davis (2) defined the ‘brand’ term as â€Å"all the promises and perceptions that an organization ‘wants’ its customers to feel about its product(s) and service offerings. † (2) Now, moving to the ‘branding’ concept or term, according to Davis (1), ‘branding’ is a complex ‘process’, but its goal is simple: it is the creation and development of a specific identity for a company, product, commodity, group, or person. † (3) Grimaldi mentioned an interesting definition for ‘branding’: The blend of art and science that ‘manages associations’ between a brand and memories in the mind of the brand’s audience. † And this blend â€Å"involves focusing resources on selected tangible and intangible attributes to differentiate the brand in an attractive, meaningful and compelling way for the targeted audience. † Now, after understanding what is meant by both ‘bra nd’ and ‘branding’ terms, it’s time to know what is meant by ‘brand equity’ term or concept. The ‘brand equity’ concept â€Å"emerged in the early 1990s†, (Tuominen 96) and introduced in marketing literature in the 1980s† (Rajh 1) and before mentioning definitions of this term, it is necessary to realize that â€Å"brand equity is the key to understanding the net impact of marketing† (Reynolds and Philips qtd. in. Binnie 16) According to Hoeffler and Keller, â€Å"most definitions of brand equity rely on ‘brand knowledge’ structures in the minds of consumers –individuals or organizations-† (421 qtd. in. Binnie 17). And Pullig gave a simple definition to the term ‘brand equity’ as â€Å"consumer brand knowledge†. Keller also defined the ‘brand equity’ term as â€Å"the ‘differential consumer response’ from ‘knowing’ the brand†. (qtd. in. Binnie 17) According to Keller and Kevin, ‘brand equity’ is â€Å"the value of the brand in the marketplace† (qtd. in. Pullig). McDonald added another dimension when she defined it as â€Å"the stored value built up in a brand which can be used to gain ‘market advantage’† (2). So, after studying these definitions, it is obvious -as Tuominen mentioned- that â€Å"there are three key ingredients in the ‘brand equity’ definition and they are: (1) brand knowledge, (2) differential effect, and (3) consumer response to marketing. † (75) Finally, according to these definitions, it is obvious that (1) ‘branding’ is the process of creating, developing, protecting, and managing the special identity of the product, or the ‘brand’ (to differentiate it in the marketplace) and it is not only marketing effort, it includes all the companies efforts to build this differentiation; (2) the ‘brand’ is the end result of that process or the combination of all the tools used to create this special identity of the product; and (3) the ‘brand equity’ is the ‘feedback’ of the ‘branding’ process or the key to measure, assess, or weigh the end result ‘brand’ –as we saw previously in the Coca-Cola example- and compare it with what is desired or planned in the ‘branding’ process. In another word, ‘brand equity’ will show whether the ‘branding’ process and other marketing efforts (or even public relations) are on the right track or not.

Reaction paper Blood of a mole

â€Å"Blood of a mole† tells the story of pity, self-sacrifice and trickery. You cannot always give people what they need, no matter how desperate they are. The character gives some of his own life which Is represented by blood because he felt such a compelling need to help the desperate woman. He pitied her and obviously TLD agree with her Ideas In moles' blood, or he wouldn't have tricked the women. During the story the character was going to tell her â€Å"l never had sold moles in the shop and I had never seen one in my life† but he knows that this woman anted to hear good news.The character said â€Å"l have no moles†, this reaction of the women made him feel guilty of himself and made it as if had no choice but to help her. Why do some people feel the need to be a hero? I don't believe he gave the woman his blood out of the goodness of his heart, but it was more of an attempt to console the woman in order to ease his own sense of guilt. After he concedes th at â€Å"Maybe I have some moles†, he states â€Å"l don't know why I acted like this†. The woman had no faith and no longer wanted any help.When he offers her his blood, â€Å"She did not reach for the glass bottle. She turned and quickly went toward the door†. You can see that he wants to help when he doesn't take the money she offers for his service, which he wouldn't have done If he were truly carrying mole's blood In his shop. â€Å"Then she took some money out of her pocket. ‘No. No,' I said†. This shows that he wants to help this woman even though he is not getting anything in return. â€Å"l wanted to accompany her to the corner. I offered her some water but she just ran off,† The story brings to mind the Dry. At overworks himself trying to save every patient, in the meantime his own health and life deteriorates. The story is told from first person point of view. In this way, we know exactly what the protagonist is thinking. This does limit the story in some ways, since no other opinions or observations are told , I wasn't sure what was going on with anyone else. The narrator Is the main character and the only person with a voice, other than some dialogue, throughout the story. The reader sees everything from the eyes of the rotating.There are many observations given, but when speaking of feelings, It gets scarce. There is mostly confusion or fear expressed, but through the observations, a lot of pity is conveyed. â€Å"l was scared. I could feel something evil lurking in the dark†. â€Å"L knew it by her eyes, by the timid stir of her fingers that reached out to touch me† The woman's need for moles' blood is the conflict of the story. The protagonist does not have a mole, let alone mole's blood, but he is compelled to help, comfort or insole the woman.The pity the guy has for her grows larger as he continues observe her. , â€Å"l felt bad because I couldn't help her†. The guy even gives he r his own blood as a substitute for mole blood and tricks her, â€Å"Here It Is,' I said. ‘Here's the blood of the mole. † The climax of this story Is when the woman returns from her Ill son, â€Å"He walks! ‘ the woman sobbed, holding a bittersweet smile behind her hands. ‘He walks! â€Å". But he cannot save everyone. We all have loved one's we do not want to leave us to the other side.The story is resolved when they all come for him â€Å"Everyone had a The narrative structure is clear-cut, direct and uncomplicated. Things occur in a chronological order of time. It starts from the beginning, there are no flashbacks, and everything proceeds in order. It does skip over a few seasons that are â€Å"uneventful†. The scenes are somewhat short, not overly elaborate, but ample detail is given. The author does not state such when months have passed, he uses another poetic technique. â€Å"Cold, uneventful days slipped by.The autumn leaves whirled hopel essly n the wind, giving the air a brown appearance. The early winter blizzards hurled snowflakes against the windows†¦ † He uses weather to foreshadow what is going to happen next Overall, I liked this story about a hero. It made me think a lot about being realistic on how any lives I try to touch in the future. This story really shows the best of humans. There are some people that are going to help even though they get nothing in return. This story is was well written. The dialogue was somewhat lacking, but I guess it fit's the story.

Japanese American Concentration Camps

World War 2 was not officially initiated until German Nazi's invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. America did not get Involved in the war until December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, war was not declared on Japan until the following day. December 11, 1941 Germany declared war on the united States. The war was now In full force, with America raging war against the Japanese and the German Nazi's.Back home In America, they to were taking action to protect their homeland. In February of 1942, President Roosevelt signed an executive order to relocate all Japanese Americans. This occurred because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Many feared that the Japanese were attempting to â€Å"Remain loyal to their homeland† and were acting as spies. Even without concrete evidence, President Roosevelt signed for them to be relocated. These camps were still located on American soil and were not death camps.The camps were concentration camps, a place where they go to basically do hard labor all day. Many Japanese American families sold their homes and assets, here was no guarantee that their lives would continue as normal upon their return. Their homes sold for fractions of the price they were actually worth, even Japanese vets of WWW were forced to leave their homes and assets behind. It did not matter If the families were born and raised In America and had never been to Japan, the fear of an invasion was to great to allow a possible security issue be lose. Until the camps were finished the Japanese Americans were held in stables at local racing tracks. Ten camps were completed and the camps were built in remote areas of seven western tastes : Arkansas, California, Wyoming, Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. The housing was poor, Tarpaper Barracks were the housing for the Japanese. There were communal mess halls for family to dine with one another, the children had to attend school and the adults had the option to work for 5$ a day.The Japanese definitely were not living hig h class, but the camps they were located to where heaven to the Jewish In Germany. The plan for the camps was for them to be self sufficient, by farming for food. The solo was not Ideal for this plan however. The homes were not heated or lolled during seasonal changes and the food was made army grub style. The Japanese Americans were not allowed to leave because security would not hesitate to shoot one who tried to escape. There was armed security that stood round clock watch over the Japanese Americans. 27,000 Japanese Americans were wrongfully relocated into concentration camps, when challenged by Fred Sauerkraut, the Supreme Court showed little to no sympathy and said it was war time necessary for the camps. The government and the people without a Japanese bloodline agreed that it was simply for the time of war. The camps never got to be the point of the horrific f the Nazi's camps and that was greatly appreciated, but the act in itself was considered wrong and In history is labe led as a bad move In American history.January 8 1945, the first families were released from the camps. Most families had nowhere to go and nowhere to work. A lot of Americans would not hire Japanese Americans due to their own racism that grew because of the war. In 1988 the court tried to apologize for the wrong act of putting the Japanese Americans into compared to what the families had to go through during and after the camps. In hope America will stoop low enough to concentration camps again.

Joining the Leader in Death Phenomenon Essay

1. Introduction History is replete with incidences of group or mass self inflicted deaths following the demise of powerful leaders. In such instances followers, in varying numbers, chose to die, of their own will, either after or on foreseeing the death of their leader. While group or mass deaths of this nature have occurred at historically different times in dissimilar cultures and globally diverse locations, and have been appropriately recorded in historical documents, the evolution of anthropological studies in the last century has led to significant research into the subject. Researchers have delved into the traditions, social customs, mores, behavioral motivators and demotivators of people of different civilizations and regions to locate commonality and establish reasons for this kind of uncommon, if not deviant behavior. These studies have become increasingly relevant in the current social and religious scenario where instances of mass suicides have occurred in cults, involving hundreds of members, who, along with their leaders, have chosen to die painful and self inflicted deaths for illogical, inexplicable and emotional reasons. The Jonestown suicides of 1978 and the deaths of the members of the Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God in 2000 were particularly tragic and gruesome episodes, in which hundreds of people along with their leaders, died. It is evident that such irrational tendencies still exist, even in advanced western societies. Anthropologists and historians firmly believe that serious and detailed investigation into such incidents, with particular emphasis upon the then prevailing social, environmental, political, economic, and historical conditions, could well provide clues to the reasons behind such uncommon behavior and help in preventing such tragedies in future. (Wessinger, 2000) This paper aims to examine the historical precedents of such incidents and takes up one particular incident for detailed social and anthropological analysis. 2. Historical Overview Psychiatrists commonly think of potentially suicidal people to be unhappy about their current physical and emotional situation and undecided about the path to be followed to resolve the crisis. Suicide is resorted to as a simple and easy solution to their problems and plays the role of a convenient exit. Individual suicides accompanied or preceded by such reasoning is exceedingly common, and though tragic, is, in a number of societies, a routine occurrence among disturbed and underprivileged people. Its incidence, in the developed nations, is still high in certain segments like mentally ill individuals, prisoners, prostitutes, drug addicts and HIV patients. Mass or group suicides following the death or defeat of a leader, while being far more uncommon than individual suicides, have, nevertheless occurred on a number of occasions, more particularly so in specific cultures. While historical instances of groups of people joining their leaders in death, have occurred periodically there is very little to connect these disparate incidents apart from defeat and dishonor in war and, in the case of women, the desire to avoid consequent rape and molestation. During the closing years of the 2nd century BCE, the Teutons, after a series of bloody battles were defeated by the Roman General Gaius Marius, (in 102 BCE), near Aix-en-Provence, and their leader Teutobod captured. The captured women, thinking their king dead and certain of being ravaged by Roman soldiers committed suicide. Ironically the Teutons were the cause of a similar episode in 1336 at the siege of Pilena. The defenders, besieged by the marauding Teutons, joined their leader, Duke Marqueris in death when they realized that the battle was lost. The defenders set the castle on fire and committed mass suicide along with their leader rather than be captured by the invaders. (Purkiss, 1996) In India, both men and women of the warrior classes of the Indian region of Rajasthan have traditionally adopted to commit suicide after the death of their leader. Women, especially, the wives and concubines of the king have, until recent times followed the ancient tradition of immolating themselves on the funeral pyre of their husbands. The custom, known as Sati, while illegal, is still followed in particularly backward areas of the region. Chittor, now an abandoned fortress in West India became famous because of three separate incidents in which hundreds of men and women killed themselves after the death of their leader. Chittor has been overcome thrice and each time the outcome was Jauhar, when women along with their children immolated themselves on huge funeral pyres on the death or capture of their leader, while the men, wearing ochre robes attacked the enemy and faced certain death. Alauddin Khilji overpowered Chittor in 1303 A. D. , overcome by an obsessive longing to own the regal beauty, queen Padmini. Myth has it, that he saw her face in the reflection of a mirror and was struck by her gripping exquisiteness. The queen, along with her attendants, however chose to follow her dead king rather than accept the invaders proposition jumped on to a huge funeral pyre lit in the middle of the castle and burned to death. In 1533 A. D. , during the rule of Bikramjeet, Bahadur Shah, the Sultan of Gujarat, attacked Chittor and once more Karnavati, the then queen, along with more than a hundred women preferred to die following the death of the ruler. The final episode occurred more than 30 years later when the Mughal emperor Akbar attacked the fortress. In Rajasthan such incidences of joining the leader in death had certain particular features. Episodes necessarily commenced with the siege of a force by an invading army and ended in mass death only if the invading army was successful. Once it was certain that the war was lost and the king was dead or would certainly die the warriors and their wives decided to end their lives, the men through suicidal attacks on the enemy and the women by leaping into enormous funeral pyres. The women were led in this effort by the queen of the fortress. It is important to understand that this practice was restricted only to the warrior classes and did not extend to the priests, the traders, the farmers or the other classes. Tales of invading armies entering deserted and lifeless stories are apocryphal and baseless as warriors and their families did not account for more than a quarter of the total population of a city. It also needs to be pointed out that acts like these had very little mythical precedent and ancient Hindu scriptures, like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, do not contain any such incidents. Incidentally the opposite appears to be more true and there are various instances in the Ramayana of the wife of the King choosing to marry the invader after the defeat and death of her husband. (Harlan, 2003) This paper attempts to recreate the social and cultural scenario within the fort when Queen Padmini and hundreds of other men and women chose to die after the death of the King Rawal Ratan and the fall of Chittor. The following section on Chittor is written in the present tense and from the perspective of an active observer of the complete episode. 3. Chittor a. Society Chittor, today, (in the early fourteenth century), is one of the many Hindu kingdoms that dot the desert plains of Rajasthan in the North West region of the Indian subcontinent. Orthodox Hinduism, over the first ten centuries of period that commenced after the birth of Jesus Christ, has succeeded in eliminating Buddhism from the land of its birth only to see it replaced by an aggressive Islam beating at its doors with unabated fury. Waves of Islamic soldiers have lashed at the borders of the Indian states for the last five hundred years until the establishment of Islamic rule at Delhi. Despite Islamic sovereignty a number of small Hindu kingdoms continue to exist, mostly in the west and south, often waging protracted battles with the rulers of Delhi. While a certain amount of integration between Hindus and Muslims has taken place with time, it is still too early for any such constructive rapprochement to occur in Chittor. Years of siege, first from an ever expanding Buddhism, and then from a militant Islam, has made structured Hindu society insular, orthodox and inward looking. The caste system has become rigid and religious laws and rules govern every aspect of society. Hindus are prohibited from marrying outside their castes and even the glimpse of a Muslim is considered sacrilege, requiring inflexible and strict penance. The Muslim practice of†purdah† has been adopted comprehensively by the Hindus, ironically to protect Hindu women from male Muslim eyes and women remain indoors most of the time. While every city has its share of courtesans, women do not work. They are deprived of economic or political power, being content to be glorified as mothers, sisters and wives. Society is structured into four main castes, the priests, warriors, traders and lower classes. Political and military power lies with the warriors and to a certain extent with the priesthood who are consulted by the kings and nobles before important decisions. The traders, despite their lower status, are economically powerful and kept in good humor by both the nobles and the priests. The warriors are bound by a strict code of honor, which in fact has been the main causal factor behind hundreds of members of the warrior community choosing to die after defeat in battle and the death of their leader. b. Politics and Religion Chittor, in the early years of the fourteenth century is one of the smaller Hindu kingdoms resisting the Islamic emperors occupying the throne at Delhi. The warrior classes of Chittor trace their lineage for centuries and, apart from being engaged in ongoing strife with the Delhi throne, constantly wag war against the other Hindu kings in the region. It is also not uncommon for Hindu kings to form alliances with the Muslim emperor and wage war against each other. The political scenario is extremely fluid, (much like medieval Europe), and with numerous kings and noble existing in uneasy alliances, war often breaks out over trivial reasons. While the official religion of the Delhi court is Islam, and correspondence is usually in Arabic, migration of traders, artisans and workers ensure that Hindus and Muslims coexist, albeit with a certain amount of resentment and antagonism. Sati, the practice of self immolation by women on the death of their husbands, is a common practice in Hindu states. The practice is prevalent more among the priestly and martial classes and is practically absent in the other castes and the aboriginals. The prevalence of Sati among the priests and warriors is due to the traditionally inferior status of women and their uselessness to society in the absence of child bearing potential. As such while wives are looked upon as necessary because of their capacity to bear children, widows are thought to be non contributing burdens. (Harlan, 2003) A widow’s unwanted status is also because of religious taboos that prevent her from participating in domestic chores as her touch, her voice, and even her appearance is thought unholy, impure and to be shunned and abhorred. The sanctification of virginity in brides also makes it practically impossible for them to remarry after the death of their husbands. As such the practice of immolation is an extreme but logical outcome of these circumstances. The priests and the warrior classes of Rajasthan have also perpetrated the tradition by providing it with a halo of honor and deifying women who chose to take this route. The episode that occurred in Chittor before my eyes in the early years of this century (the 1300s) and involved hundreds of men and women joining their leader in death needs to be analyzed in light of the existing social and political environment in order to obtain an appropriate perspective. c. Joining the Leader in Death The ruler of Chittor, Rana Rawal Ratan married the young Padmini, the daughter of a Rajasthani prince, when he was in his early teens, and she was yet to enter her adolescence. In accordance with existing tradition the bride continued to live in her paternal home until she reached puberty and Rawal Ratan brought her to Chittor with much fanfare on her fourteenth birthday. Padmini was an acknowledged beauty and became a much appreciated princess as she grew up, known in princely circles for her exquisite looks, aristocratic breeding and regal demeanor. When Rawal Ratan succeeded to the throne of Chittor in the closing years of the thirteenth century she took her place by his side in an extravagant ceremony attended by princes from all over India as well as nobles from the Delhi throne. It was this ceremony that led to further speculation and gossip about Queen Padmini and aroused the curiosity of Sultan Alauddin Khilji at Delhi. Rawal Ratan was known to be a fair and just king and, apart from his well known love for Padmini, was a patron of the arts. One of his court musicians, banished from Chittor because of his involvement in witchcraft, ingratiated himself with Alauddin Khilji, and persuading the Sultan of the ethereal beauty of the queen Padmini incited him to attack Chittor and take the queen for himself. On reaching Chittor, Alauddin found the fort to be heavily defended. Desperate to see the legendary queen he sent a missive to the King that he thought of Padmini as his sister and wished to make her acquaintance. While the unsuspecting king did not find any reason to doubt Alauddin’s intentions, the wiser queen refused to meet the sultan personally and instead agreed for him to see her reflection in a specially constructed mirror. The wily sultan came to the fort with his selected warriors, and after the meeting with the queen, managed to kidnap the king even as he was escorting them back to the gate. On the following day when the Chittor generals heard about the ransom demand, that of the hand of the queen for the sultan, in exchange for the safe release of the king, the Chittor generals went into a huddle, and with the assent of the queen, sent word that the queen would come to the sultan the next day along with a hundred and fifty attendants. At the crack of dawn the next morning a hundred and fifty palanquins, each carried by four strong men wound their way to Alauddin’s camp and stopped in front of the tent where the king was being held prisoner. As the sultan rejoiced a hundred and fifty armed men rushed out of the palanquins before his astonished eyes, freed the king and along with the bearers galloped back to Chittor on horses seized from the sultan’s stables. A furious Alauddin ordered his army to storm Chittor, Brutal resistance from the defenders of the fort led to the decision to lay siege to the fort, an operation that carried on for many months until dangerously low supplies forced the honor bound warriors to take a decision to storm the vastly larger sultan’s armies in what could only lead to certain death. The queen, who was party to all the confabulations, decided that as the army, led by her husband rode out to certain death, she, along with the wives of the warring soldiers and all the children would jump into a huge fire lit in the centre of the fort and end their lives, thus joining the king in death. Rawal Ratan and his warriors, though immensely saddened agreed to this to be the most fitting and honorable denouement. At the end of a brutal and bloody battle fought between the troops of the Delhi Sultanate and the suicidal warriors of Chittor, Alauddin entered the fort only to find the ashes of the queen and the wives of the warriors, a pyrrhic victory, if ever there was one. (Bose, 2000) 4. Conclusion The instance of Padmini, her female attendants and the wives of the warriors of Chittor, joining the leader in death has been chronicled a number of times by various historians for it to be reasonably accurate. While the case of male warriors following the leader into certain death has taken place on many occasions, instances of women dying en masse are rare, and occur because of specific historical and environmental reasons. Anthropologists feel that in most such cases the persona of the leader, his mesmeric hold over his followers, and the accompanying trauma and desolation felt at the death of the leader induce the followers to embrace death and join their leader. A number of instances, including the suicides of some of Hitler’s trusted generals, provide some evidence that the argument could hold some merit. In the case of Padmini while legend and myth continue to pay obeisance to her love for her husband, the mass deaths, especially of the attending ladies, necessarily needs to have a more significant historical and social reason. The decision to embrace mass death at the fall of the fort and the certain death of the king Rawal Ratan is most probably due to a number of reasons, chief among them being the prevalent practice of sati and the halo of honor that the act had acquired over the centuries. This halo of honor has to be seen in the light of the compulsions of Islamic rule in India during the medieval ages and is essentially logical and in accordance with social patterns and expectations. From the 13th century until the establishment of the British Empire, the position of women continued to remain insecure due to the arbitrary power structure associated with the feudal society, and the compulsions of perpetuating a male dominated inherently unequal society. Even though the Mughals tried to bring in a modicum of gender equality the subservient status of women continued to exist until the middle of the twentieth century. It was most probably this craving for honor, accompanied with a genuine fear of the treatment that the women would receive at the hands of the furious invading soldiers that tilted the scales in favor of the decision to embrace death to that of joining Alauddin’s harem. In any case the episode remains one of the more abiding instances of joining the leader in death phenomenon and continues to intrigue historians and anthropologists. Pages: 10 Word Count: 3000 References Bose, M. (Ed. ). (2000). 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