title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: From the beginning of his time in the US, Trungpa encouraged his students to integrate a contemplative approach into their everyday activities. In addition to making a variety of traditional contemplative practices available to the community, he incorporated his students' already existing interests (especially anything relating to Japanese culture), evolving specialized teachings on a meditative approach to these various disciplines. These included kyūdō (Japanese archery), calligraphy, ikebana (flower arranging), Sadō (Japanese tea ceremony), dance, theater, film, poetry, photography, health care, and psychotherapy. His aim was, in his own words, to bring "art to everyday life." He founded the Nalanda Foundation in 1974 as an umbrella organization for these activities.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Trungpa visited Nova Scotia for the first time in 1977. In 1983 he established Gampo Abbey, a Karma Kagyü monastery in Cape Breton. The following year, 1984–85, he observed a yearlong retreat at Mill Village and in 1986 he moved his home and Vajradhatu's international headquarters to Halifax.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: By then he was in failing health due to years of heavy alcohol use. On September 28, 1986, he suffered cardiac arrest, after which his condition deteriorated, requiring intensive care at the hospital, then at his home and finally, in mid-March 1987, back at the hospital, where he died on April 4, 1987.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: In 2006 his wife, Diana Mukpo, wrote, "Although he had many of the classic health problems that develop from heavy drinking, it was in fact more likely the diabetes and high blood pressure that led to abnormal blood sugar levels and then the cardiac arrest". But in a November 2008 interview, when asked "What was he ill with? What did he die of?," Trungpa's doctor, Mitchell Levy, replied, "He had chronic liver disease related to his alcohol intake over many years." One of Trungpa's nursing attendants reported that he suffered in his last months from classic symptoms of terminal alcoholism and cirrhosis, yet continued drinking heavily. She added, "At the same time there was a power about him and an equanimity to his presence that was phenomenal, that I don't know how to explain."


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: His body was packed in salt, laid in a wooden box, and conveyed to Karmê Chöling. Acolytes claimed that his cremation there on May 26, 1987, was accompanied by rainbows, circling eagles, and a cloud in the shape of an "Ashe" as symbolic of enlightenment.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Upon Trungpa's death, the leadership of Vajradhatu was first carried on by his American disciple, appointed regent and Dharma heir, Ösel Tendzin (Thomas Rich). In 1989 it was revealed that Ösel Tendzin had contracted HIV and knowingly continued to have unsafe sex with his students without informing them for nearly three years. Some of these students later died of AIDS. Others close to Tendzin, including Vajradhatu's board of directors, knew for two years that Tendzin was HIV-positive and sexually active but kept silent. This damaged Shambhala and Tibetan Buddhism in general in the United States. The leadership of Shambhala then passed on to Trungpa's eldest son and Shambhala heir, Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Major lineage holders of Trungpa's Tibetan Buddhist traditions and many other Buddhist teachers supported his work.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: In 1974, Trungpa invited the 16th Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage, to come to the West and offer teachings. Based on this visit, the Karmapa proclaimed Trungpa one of the principal Kagyu lineage holders in the west:


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: The ancient and renowned lineage of the Trungpas, since the great siddha Trungmase Chökyi Gyamtso Lodrö, possessor of only holy activity, has in every generation given rise to great beings. Awakened by the vision of these predecessors in the lineage, this my present lineage holder, Chökyi Gyamtso Trungpa Rinpoche, supreme incarnate being, has magnificently carried out the vajra holders' discipline in the land of America, bringing about the liberation of students and ripening them in the dharma. This wonderful truth is clearly manifest.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Accordingly, I empower Chögyam Trungpa Vajra Holder and Possessor of the Victory Banner of the Practice Lineage of the Karma Kagyu. Let this be recognized by all people of both elevated and ordinary station.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: In 1981, Trungpa and his students hosted the Fourteenth Dalai Lama in his visit to Boulder, Colorado. Of Trungpa, the Dalai Lama later wrote, "Exceptional as one of the first Tibetan lamas to become fully assimilated into Western culture, he made a powerful contribution to revealing the Tibetan approach to inner peace in the West."


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Trungpa also received support from one of his own main teachers, Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage. In addition to numerous sadhanas and poems dedicated to Trungpa, Khyentse Rinpoche wrote a supplication after Trungpa's death specifically naming him a mahasiddha. Among other Tibetan lamas to name Trungpa a mahasiddha are the Sixteenth Karmapa, Thrangu Rinpoche, Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche and Tai Situpa.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: The Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche said, "As taught in the Buddhist scriptures, there are nine qualities of a perfect master of buddhadharma. The eleventh Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche possessed all nine of these."


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Suzuki Roshi, founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, and another important exponent of Buddhism to western students, described Trungpa in the context of a talk about emptiness:


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: The way you can struggle with this is to be supported by something, something you don't know. As we are human beings, there must be that kind of feeling. You must feel it in this city or building or community. So whatever community it may be, it is necessary for it to have this kind of spiritual support.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: That is why I respect Trungpa Rinpoche. He is supporting us. You may criticize him because he drinks alcohol like I drink water, but that is a minor problem. He trusts you completely. He knows that if he is always supporting you in a true sense you will not criticize him, whatever he does. And he doesn't mind whatever you say. That is not the point, you know. This kind of big spirit, without clinging to some special religion or form of practice, is necessary for human beings.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Gehlek Rinpoche, who lived with Trungpa when they were young monks in India and later visited and taught with him in the U.S., remarked:


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: He was a great Tibetan yogi, a friend, and a master. The more I deal with Western Dharma students, the more I appreciate how he presented the dharma and the activities that he taught. Whenever I meet with difficulties, I begin to understand – sometimes before solving the problem, sometimes afterward – why Trungpa Rinpoche did some unconventional things. I do consider him to be the father of Tibetan Buddhism in the United States. In my opinion, he left very early – too early. His death was a great loss. Everything he did is significant.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: First, Rinpoche always wanted feedback. He very, very much encouraged his students’ critical intelligence. One of the reasons that people were in his circle was that they were willing to be honest and direct with him. He definitely was not one of those teachers who asked for obedience and wanted their students not to think for themselves. He thrived, he lived, on the intelligence of his students. That is how he built his entire teaching situation.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: From my perspective, I could always be pretty direct with him. Maybe I was not hesitant to do that because I really trusted the unconditional nature of our relationship. I felt there was really nothing to lose by being absolutely direct with him, and he appreciated that.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Among the forebears formally acknowledged by the Trungpa lineage, and referred to by Trungpa, were the Indian mahasiddha Ḍombipa (also known as Ḍombi Heruka; his name may have stemmed from his consorting with Dhombis, outcast women) and Drukpa Künlek (also Kunley), the Mad Yogi of Bhutan, who converted Bhutan to Buddhism and was famous for his fondness for beer and women.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Trungpa's own teaching style was often unconventional. He said, "When we talk about compassion, we talk in terms of being kind. But compassion is not so much being kind; it is being creative to wake a person up." He did not encourage his students to imitate his own behavior, and was allegedly troubled by those who felt empowered by his example to do whatever they wanted and manipulate people. Jamgön Kongtrül told Trungpa's students, "You shouldn't imitate or judge the behavior of your teacher, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, unless you can imitate his mind."


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Trungpa's sexuality has been one of the sources of controversy, as he cultivated relations with a number of his female students. Tenzin Palmo, who met him in 1962 while he was still at Oxford, did not become one of his consorts, refusing his advances because he had presented himself as "a pure monk." Trungpa formally renounced his monastic vows in 1969.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Trungpa was also known for smoking tobacco and liberally using alcohol; many who knew him characterized him as an alcoholic. He began drinking occasionally shortly after arriving in India. Before traveling to the US, Trungpa drove a sports car into a joke shop in Gateshead in North-East England, May 1969. While his companion was not seriously injured, Trungpa was left partially paralyzed. Later, he described this event as a pivotal moment that inspired the course of his teachings. Some accounts ascribe the accident to drinking. Others suggest he may have had a stroke. According to Trungpa himself, he blacked out.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Suzuki [Roshi] asked Trungpa to give a talk to the students in the zendo the next night. Trungpa walked in tipsy and sat on the edge of the altar platform with his feet dangling. But he delivered a crystal-clear talk, which some felt had a quality – like Suzuki's talks – of not only being about the dharma but being itself the dharma.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: In some instances Trungpa was too drunk to walk and had to be carried. Also, according to his student John Steinbeck IV and his wife, on a couple of occasions Trungpa's speech was unintelligible. One woman reported serving him "big glasses of gin first thing in the morning."


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: The Steinbecks wrote "The Other Side of Eden", a sharply critical memoir of their lives with Trungpa in which they claim that, in addition to alcohol, he spent $40,000 a year on cocaine, and used Seconal to come down from the cocaine. The Steinbecks said the cocaine use was kept secret from the wider Vajradhatu community.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: An incident that became a "cause célèbre" among some poets and artists was the Halloween party at Snowmass Colorado Seminary in 1975, held during a 3-month period of intensive meditation and study of the Hinayana, Mahayana, and Vajrayana vehicles of Tibetan Buddhism. The poet W. S. Merwin had arrived at the Naropa Institute that summer and been told by Allen Ginsberg that he ought to attend the seminary. Although he had not gone through the several years' worth of study and preparatory mind training required, Merwin insisted on attending and Trungpa eventually granted his request – along with Merwin's girlfriend. At seminary the couple kept to themselves. At the Halloween party, after many, including Trungpa himself, had taken off their clothes, Merwin was asked to join the event but refused. On Trungpa's orders, his Vajra Guard forced entry into the poet's locked and barricaded room; brought him and his girlfriend, Dana Naone, against their will, to the party; and eventually stripped them of all their clothes, with onlookers ignoring Naone's pleas for help and for someone to call the police.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: The next day Trungpa asked Merwin and Naone to remain at the Seminary as either students or guests. They agreed to stay for several more weeks to hear the Vajrayana teachings, with Trungpa's promise that "there would be no more incidents" and Merwin's that there would be "no guarantees of obedience, trust, or personal devotion to him." They left immediately after the last talk. In a 1977 letter to members of a Naropa class investigating the incident, Merwin concluded,


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: My feelings about Trungpa have been mixed from the start. Admiration, throughout, for his remarkable gifts; and reservations, which developed into profound misgivings, concerning some of his uses of them. I imagine, at least, that I've learned some things from him (though maybe not all of them were the things I was "supposed" to learn) and some through him, and I'm grateful to him for those. I wouldn't encourage anyone to become a student of his. I wish him well.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: The incident became known to a wider public when Tom Clark published "The Great Naropa Poetry Wars". The Naropa Institute later asked Ed Sanders and his class to conduct an internal investigation, resulting in a lengthy report.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Eliot Weinberger commented on the incident in a critique aimed at Trungpa and Allen Ginsberg in "The Nation" on April 19, 1980. He stated that the fascination of some of the best minds of his generation with Trungpa's presentation of Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan theocracy created a dangerous exclusivity and elitism.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Author Jeffery Paine wrote of this incident, "[s]eeing Merwin out of step with the rest, Trungpa could have asked him to leave, but decided it was kinder to shock him out of his aloofness." Paine also noted the outrage felt in particular by poets such as Robert Bly and Kenneth Rexroth, who began calling Trungpa a fascist.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: Trungpa's choice of Westerner Ösel Tendzin as his dharma heir was controversial, as Tendzin was the first Western Tibetan Buddhist lineage holder and Vajra Regent. This was exacerbated by Tendzin's own behavior as lineage holder. While knowingly HIV-positive, Tendzin was sexually involved with students, one of whom became infected and died.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1940: Born in Kham, Eastern Tibet. Enthroned as eleventh Trungpa Tulku, Supreme Abbot of Surmang Monasteries, and Governor of Surmang District. Some put his birth in 1939.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1944–1959: Studies traditional monastic disciplines, meditation, and philosophy, as well as calligraphy, thangka painting, and monastic dance.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1958: Receives degrees of Kyorpön (Master of Studies) and Khenpo (Doctor of Divinity). Ordained as a bhikshu (full monk).


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1959–1960: Follows the Fourteenth Dalai Lama to India during the 1959 Tibetan uprising, which failed to overthrow the Chinese government.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1960–1963: By appointment of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama, serves as spiritual advisor to the Young Lamas' Home School in Dalhousie, India.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1962: Fathers first son, Ösel Rangdröl (Mukpo), by a nun later referred to as Lady Kunchok Palden (or Lady Konchok Palden).


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1963–1967: Attends Oxford on a Spalding scholarship, studying comparative religion, philosophy, and fine arts. Receives instructor's degree of the Sogetsu School of ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement).


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1967: Co-founds, with Akong Rinpoche, Kagyu Samyé Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1968: Travels to Bhutan and goes on solitary retreat. Receives terma text"" while on retreat in Paro Taktsang, a sacred cliffside monastery in Bhutan.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1969: Becomes a Tibetan British subject, 10 February. Injured in a car accident, leaving him partially paralyzed. Accident reported in Newcastle Evening Chronicle, May 6, to have happened on May 5.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1970: Renounces his monastic vows. Claims that the dharma needs to be free of cultural trappings to take root.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1970: Arrives in North America. Establishes Tail of the Tiger, a Buddhist meditation and study center in Vermont, now Karmê Chöling. Establishes Karma Dzong, a Buddhist community in Boulder, Colorado.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1971: Begins teaching at University of Colorado. Establishes Rocky Mountain Dharma Center, now Shambhala Mountain Center, near Fort Collins, Colorado.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1972: Initiates Maitri, a therapeutic program that works with different styles of neurosis using principles of the five Buddha families. Conducts the Milarepa Film Workshop, a program that analyzes the aesthetics of film, on Lookout Mountain, Colorado.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1973: Founds Mudra Theater Group, which stages original plays and practices theater exercises, based on traditional Tibetan dance. Incorporates Vajradhatu, an international association of Buddhist meditation and study centers, now known as Shambhala International. Establishes Dorje Khyung Dzong, a retreat facility in southern Colorado. Conducts first annual Vajradhatu Seminary, a three-month advanced practice and study program.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1974: Incorporates Nalanda Foundation, a nonprofit, nonsectarian educational organization to encourage and organize programs in the fields of education, psychology, and the arts. Hosts the first North American visit of The Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, head of the Karma Kagyü lineage. Founds The Naropa Institute, a contemplative studies and liberal arts college, now fully accredited as Naropa University. Forms the organization that will become the Dorje Kasung, a service group entrusted with the protection of Buddhist teachings and the welfare of the community.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1975: Forms the organization that will become the Shambhala Lodge, a group of students dedicated to fostering enlightened society. Founds the Nalanda Translation Committee for the translation of Buddhist texts from Tibetan and Sanskrit. Establishes Ashoka Credit Union.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1976: Hosts the first North American visit of Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, meditation master and scholar of the Nyingma lineage. Hosts a visit of Dudjom Rinpoche, head of the Nyingma lineage. Empowers Thomas F. Rich as his dharma heir, known thereafter as Vajra Regent Ösel Tendzin. Establishes the Kalapa Court in Boulder as his residence and a cultural center for the Vajradhatu community. Receives the first of several Shambhala terma texts. These comprise the literary source for the Shambhala teachings. Founds Alaya Preschool in Boulder.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1977: Bestows the Vajrayogini abhisheka for the first time in the West for students who have completed ngöndro practice. Establishes the celebration of Shambhala Day. Observes a yearlong retreat in Charlemont, Massachusetts. Founds Shambhala Training to promote a secular approach to meditation practice and an appreciation of basic human goodness. Visits Nova Scotia for the first time.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1978: Conducts the first annual Magyal Pomra Encampment, an advanced training program for members of the Dorje Kasung. Conducts the first annual Kalapa Assembly, an intensive training program for advanced Shambhala teachings and practices. Conducts the first Dharma Art seminar. Forms Amara, an association of health professionals. Forms the Upaya Council, a mediation council providing a forum for resolving disputes. Establishes the Midsummer's Day festival and Children's Day.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1979: Empowers his eldest son, Ösel Rangdröl Mukpo, as his successor and heir to the Shambhala lineage. Founds the Shambhala School of Dressage, an equestrian school under the direction of his wife, Diana Mukpo. Founds Vidya Elementary School in Boulder.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1980–1983: Presents a series of environmental installations and flower arranging exhibitions at art galleries in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, and Boulder.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1980: Forms Kalapa Cha to promote the practice of traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony. With the Nalanda Translation Committee, completes the first English translation of "The Rain of Wisdom".


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1981: Hosts the visit of the Fourteenth Dalai Lama to Boulder. Conducts the first annual Buddhist-Christian Conference in Boulder, exploring the common ground between Buddhist and Christian contemplative traditions. Forms Ryuko Kyūdōjō to promote the practice of Kyūdō under the direction of Shibata Kanjuro Sensei, bow maker to the Emperor of Japan. Directs a film, "Discovering Elegance", using footage of his environmental installation and flower arranging exhibitions.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1983: Establishes Gampo Abbey, a Karma Kagyü monastery in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, for Western students wishing to enter into traditional monastic discipline. Creates a series of elocution exercises to promote precision and mindfulness of speech.


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1987: Dies in Halifax; cremated May 26 at Karmê Chöling. (His followers have constructed a chorten or stupa, The Great Stupa of Dharmakaya, near Red Feather Lakes, Colorado, for his remains.)


title: Chögyam Trungpa

text: 1989: The child recognized as his reincarnation, Chokyi Sengay, is born in Derge, Tibet; recognized two years later by Tai Situ Rinpoche.


title: Boom (film)

text: Boom is a 2003 Indian soft porn movie directed by Kaizad Gustad and produced by Ayesha Dutt. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Jackie Shroff, Gulshan Grover, Padma Lakshmi, Madhu Sapre, Zeenat Aman and Katrina Kaif. "Boom" was Katrina Kaif's debut film. She was a last-minute replacement of model Meghna Reddy. The movie released on 19 September 2003, exploring the involvement of fashion world with underworld organised crime.


title: Boom (film)

text: Anu Gaekwad, Sheila Bardez and Rina Kaif are three of India's top models and they are participating in a fashion show hosted by a prestigious brand of diamond jewellers. While on the ramp walk of the fashion show, one of the other models (perhaps intentionally) trips Anu, and she goes crashing down, which is a model's worst nightmare. Anu's supportive friends, Sheila and Rina, come to the rescue. The trio immediately confront the model who had tripped Anu and the argument (held in front of the audience) degenerates into a catfight. As the women scuffle with each other, they are met with a big surprise. Hundreds of glittering stolen diamonds, which were due to be smuggled out of the country, fall from the model's hair and on to the ramp, only to be snatched up by paparazzi and celebrities alike.


title: Boom (film)

text: Anu, Sheila and Rina are in shock as the fashion show turns to mayhem. The stolen diamonds are priceless and have to be recovered by the gangsters, who hold the three glamorous models responsible for the heist-gone-wrong. The diamonds were due to be smuggled to Dubai and were stolen by Chhote Mia. They were then to be handed to his brothers. The leader of the trio, Bade Mia is determined to get the diamonds back and so begins a cat-and-mouse game between the three models and the three gangsters.


title: Boom (film)

text: The film performed very poorly at the box office. Its lifetime collections amounted to about Rs. 12 million. The producer of the film, Ayesha Shroff, had to sell some assets of herself and her husband (Jackie Shroff) ; the money owed to one financier alone amounted to Rs. 180 million. Shroff later indicated that his marriage suffered as a consequence, and that his relationship with his wife "was tough after Boom."


title: Boom (film)

text: In June 2020, Tiger Shroff opened up about the impact of Boom's failure on his family. The actor said, "I remember how our furniture was sold off, one by one. Things I’d grown up seeing around us started disappearing. Then my bed went. I started to sleep on the floor. It was the worst feeling of my life."


title: Nuclear arms race

text: The nuclear arms race was an arms race competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare between the United States, the Soviet Union, and their respective allies during the Cold War. During this same period, in addition to the American and Soviet nuclear stockpiles, other countries developed nuclear weapons, though none engaged in warhead production on nearly the same scale as the two superpowers.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: The first nuclear weapon was created by the United States of America during the Second World War and was developed to be used against the Axis powers. Scientists of the Soviet Union were aware of the potential of nuclear weapons and had also been conducting research in the field.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: The Soviet Union was not informed officially of the Manhattan Project until Stalin was briefed at the Potsdam Conference on July 24, 1945, by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, eight days after the first successful test of a nuclear weapon. Despite their wartime military alliance, the United States and Britain had not trusted the Soviets enough to keep knowledge of the Manhattan Project safe from German spies; there were also concerns that, as an ally, the Soviet Union would request and expect to receive technical details of the new weapon.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: When President Truman informed Stalin of the weapons, he was surprised at how calmly Stalin reacted to the news and thought that Stalin had not understood what he had been told. Other members of the United States and British delegations who closely observed the exchange formed the same conclusion.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In fact, Stalin had long been aware of the program, despite the Manhattan Project's having a secret classification so high that, even as vice president, Truman did not know about it or the development of the weapons (Truman was not informed until shortly after he became president). A ring of spies operating within the Manhattan Project, (including Klaus Fuchs and Theodore Hall) had kept Stalin well informed of American progress. They provided the Soviets with detailed designs of the implosion bomb and the hydrogen bomb. Fuchs' arrest in 1950 led to the arrests of many other suspected Russian spies, including Harry Gold, David Greenglass, and Ethel and Julius Rosenberg; the latter two were tried and executed for espionage in 1951.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In August 1945, on Truman's orders, two atomic bombs were dropped on Japanese cities. The first bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, and the second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki by the B-29 bombers named "Enola Gay" and "Bockscar" respectively.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Shortly after the end of the Second World War in 1945, the United Nations was founded. During the United Nation's first General Assembly in London in January 1946, they discussed the future of nuclear weapons and created the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission. The goal of this assembly was to eliminate the use of all Nuclear weapons. The United States presented their solution, which was called the Baruch Plan. This plan proposed that there should be an international authority that controls all dangerous atomic activities. The Soviet Union disagreed with this proposal and rejected it. The Soviets' proposal involved universal nuclear disarmament. Both the American and Soviet proposals were refused by the UN.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In the years immediately after the Second World War, the United States had a monopoly on specific knowledge of and raw materials for nuclear weaponry. American leaders hoped that their exclusive ownership of nuclear weapons would be enough to draw concessions from the Soviet Union, but this proved ineffective.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Just six months after the UN General Assembly, the United States conducted its first post-war nuclear tests — Operation Crossroads. The purpose of this operation was to test the effect of nuclear explosions on ships. These tests were performed at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific on 95 ships, including German and Japanese ships that were captured during World War II. One plutonium implosion-type bomb was detonated over the fleet, while the other one was detonated underwater.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In secrecy, the Soviet government was working on building its own atomic weapons. During the war, Soviet efforts had been limited by a lack of uranium, but new supplies discovered in Eastern Europe provided a steady supply while the Soviets developed a domestic source. While American experts had predicted that the Soviet Union would not have nuclear weapons until the mid-1950s, the first Soviet bomb was detonated on August 29, 1949. The bomb, named "First Lightning" by the West, was more or less a copy of "Fat Man", one of the bombs the United States had dropped on Japan in 1945.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Both governments spent massive amounts to increase the quality and quantity of their nuclear arsenals. Both nations quickly began the development of thermonuclear weapons, which can achieve vastly greater explosive yields. The United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb on November 1, 1952, on Enewetak, an atoll in the Pacific Ocean. Code-named "Ivy Mike", the project was led by Edward Teller, a Hungarian-American nuclear physicist. It created a cloud wide and high, killing all life on the surrounding islands. Again, the Soviets surprised the world by exploding a deployable thermonuclear device in August 1953, although it was not a true multi-stage hydrogen bomb. However, it was small enough to be dropped from an airplane, making it ready for use. The development of these two Soviet bombs was greatly aided by the Russian spies Harry Gold and Klaus Fuchs.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: On March 1, 1954, the U.S. conducted the Castle Bravo test, which tested another hydrogen bomb on Bikini Atoll. Scientists significantly underestimated the size of the bomb, thinking it would yield 5 megatons. However, it yielded 14.8 megatons, the highest yield ever achieved by an American nuclear device. The explosion was so large the nuclear fallout exposed residents up to away to significant amounts of radiation. They were eventually evacuated, but most experienced radiation poisoning; one person was killed, a crew member on a Japanese fishing boat which was from the bomb test site when the explosion occurred.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: The Soviet Union detonated its first "true" hydrogen bomb on November 22, 1955, which had a yield of 1.6 megatons. On October 30, 1961, the Soviets detonated a hydrogen bomb with a yield of approximately 58 megatons.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: With both sides in the Cold War having nuclear capability, an arms race developed, with the Soviet Union attempting first to catch up and then to surpass the Americans.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Missiles had long been regarded the ideal platform for nuclear weapons, and were potentially a more effective delivery system than bombers. Starting in the 1950s, medium-range ballistic missiles and intermediate-range ballistic missiles ("IRBM"s) were developed for delivery of tactical nuclear weapons, and the technology developed to the progressively longer ranges, eventually becoming intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into an orbit around the Earth, demonstrating that Soviet ICBMs were capable of reaching any point on the planet. The United States launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Meanwhile, submarine-launched ballistic missiles were also developed. By the mid-1960s, the "triad" of nuclear weapon delivery was established, with each side deploying bombers, ICBMs, and SLBMs, in order to ensure that even if a defense was found against one delivery method, the other methods would still be available.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Some in the United States during the early 1960s pointed out that although all of the individual components of nuclear missiles had been tested separately (warheads, navigation systems, rockets), it was infeasible to test them all combined. Critics charged that it was not really known how a warhead would react to the gravity forces and temperature differences encountered in the upper atmosphere and outer space, and Kennedy was unwilling to run a test of an ICBM with a live warhead. The closest event to an actual test was 1962's Operation Frigate Bird, in which the submarine launched a Polaris A2 missile over to the nuclear test site at Christmas Island. It was challenged by, among others, Curtis LeMay, who put missile accuracy into doubt to encourage the development of new bombers. Other critics pointed out that it was a single test which could be an anomaly; that it was a lower-altitude SLBM and therefore was subject to different conditions than an ICBM; and that significant modifications had been made to its warhead before testing.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: By the mid-1960s both the United States and the Soviet Union had enough nuclear power to obliterate their opponent. Both sides developed a capability to launch a devastating attack even after sustaining a full assault from the other side (especially by means of submarines), called a second strike. This policy became known as Mutual Assured Destruction: both sides knew that any attack upon the other would be devastating to themselves, thus in theory restraining them from attacking the other.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Both Soviet and American experts hoped to use nuclear weapons for extracting concessions from the other, or from other powers such as China, but the risk connected with using these weapons was so grave that they refrained from what John Foster Dulles referred to as brinkmanship. While some, like General Douglas MacArthur, argued nuclear weapons should be used during the Korean War, both Truman and Eisenhower opposed the idea.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Both sides were unaware of the details of the capacity of the enemy's arsenal of nuclear weapons. The Americans suffered from a lack of confidence, and in the 1950s they believed in a non-existing bomber gap. Aerial photography later revealed that the Soviets had been playing a sort of Potemkin village game with their bombers in their military parades, flying them in large circles, making it appear they had far more than they truly did. The 1960 American presidential election saw accusations of a wholly spurious missile gap between the Soviets and the Americans. On the other side, the Soviet government exaggerated the power of Soviet weapons to the leadership and Soviet first secretary Nikita Khrushchev.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In addition to the United States and the Soviet Union, three other nations, the United Kingdom, the People's Republic of China, and France developed nuclear weapons during the early cold war years.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In 1952, the United Kingdom became the third nation to test a nuclear weapon when it detonated an atomic bomb in Operation Hurricane on October 3, 1952, which had a yield of 25 kilotons. Despite major contributions to the Manhattan Project by both Canadian and British governments, the U.S. Congress passed the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, which prohibited multi-national cooperation on nuclear projects. The Atomic Energy Act fueled resentment from British scientists and Winston Churchill, as they believed that there were agreements regarding post-war sharing of nuclear technology, and led to Britain's developing its nuclear weapons. Britain did not begin planning the development of its nuclear weapon until January 1947. Because of Britain's small size, they decided to test their bomb on the Montebello Islands, off the coast of Australia. Following this successful test, under the leadership of Churchill, Britain decided to develop and test a hydrogen bomb. The first successful hydrogen bomb test occurred on November 8, 1957, which had a yield of 1.8 megatons. An amendment to the Atomic Energy Act in 1958 allowed nuclear cooperation once again, and British-U.S. nuclear programs resumed. During the Cold War, British nuclear deterrence came from submarines and nuclear-armed aircraft. The "Resolution"-class ballistic missile submarines armed with the American-built Polaris missile provided the sea deterrent, while aircraft such as the Avro Vulcan, SEPECAT Jaguar, Panavia Tornado and several other Royal Air Force strike aircraft carrying the WE.177 gravity bomb provided the air deterrent.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: France became the fourth nation to possess nuclear weapons on February 13, 1960, when the atomic bomb "Gerboise Bleue" was detonated in Algeria, then still a French colony (formally a part of Metropolitan France). France began making plans for a nuclear-weapons program shortly after the Second World War, but the program did not begin until the late 1950s. Eight years later, France conducted its first thermonuclear test above Fangatuafa Atoll. It had a yield of 2.6 megatons. This bomb significantly contaminated the atoll with radiation for six years, making it off-limits to humans. During the Cold War, the French nuclear deterrent was centered around the Force de frappe, a nuclear triad consisting of Dassault Mirage IV bombers carrying such nuclear weapons as the AN-22 gravity bomb and the ASMP stand-off attack missile, Pluton and Hades ballistic missiles, and the " Redoutable"-class submarine armed with strategic nuclear missiles.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: The People's Republic of China became the fifth nuclear power on October 16, 1964, when it detonated a 25 kiloton uranium-235 bomb in a test codenamed 596 at Lop Nur. In the late 1950s, China began developing nuclear weapons with substantial Soviet assistance in exchange for uranium ore. However, the Sino-Soviet ideological split in the late 1950s developed problems between China and the Soviet Union. This caused the Soviets to cease helping China develop nuclear weapons. However, China continued developing nuclear weapons without Soviet support and made remarkable progress in the 1960s. Owing to Soviet/Chinese tensions, the Chinese might have used nuclear weapons against either the United States or the Soviet Union in the event of a nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, the Chinese nuclear deterrent consisted of gravity bombs carried aboard H-6 bomber aircraft, missile systems such as the DF-2, DF-3, and DF-4, and in the later stages of the Cold War, the Type 092 ballistic missile submarine. On June 14, 1967, China detonated its first hydrogen bomb.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: On January 1, 1959, the Cuban government fell to communist revolutionaries, propelling Fidel Castro into power. The communist Soviet Union supported and praised Castro and his resistance, and the revolutionary government was recognized by the Soviet Union on January 10. When the United States began boycotting Cuban sugar, the Soviet Union began purchasing large quantities to support the Cuban economy in return for fuel and eventually placing nuclear ballistic missiles on Cuban soil. These missiles would be capable of reaching the United States very quickly. On October 14, 1962, an American spy plane discovered these nuclear missile sites under construction in Cuba.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: President Kennedy immediately called a series of meetings for a small group of senior officials to debate the crisis. The group was split between a militaristic solution and a diplomatic one. President Kennedy ordered a naval blockade around Cuba and all military forces to DEFCON 3. As tensions increased, Kennedy eventually ordered U.S. military forces to DEFCON 2. This was the closest the world has been to a nuclear war. While the U.S. military had been ordered to DEFCON 2, the theory of mutually assured destruction suggests that entry into nuclear war is an unlikely possibility. While the public perceived the Cuban Missile Crisis as a time of near mass destruction, the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union were working confidentially in order to allow the crisis to come to a peaceful conclusion. Soviet First Secretary Khrushchev wrote to President Kennedy in a telegram on October 26, 1962, saying that, "Consequently, if there is no intention to tighten that knot and thereby to doom the world to the catastrophe of thermonuclear war, then let us not only relax the forces pulling on the ends of the rope, let us take measures to untie that knot."


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Eventually, on October 28, through much discussion between U.S and Soviet officials, Khrushchev announced that the Soviet Union would withdraw all missiles from Cuba. Shortly afterwards, the U.S. withdrew all their nuclear missiles from Turkey in secret – the presence of the missiles having threatened the Soviets. Information that the U.S. had withdrawn their Jupiter Missiles from Turkey remained confidential for decades, causing the result of the negotiations between the two nations to appear to the world as a major U.S. victory. This ultimately led to the downfall of Soviet leader Khrushchev.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: By the 1970s, with the Cold War's entering its 30th year with no direct conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, the superpowers entered a period of reduced conflict, in which the two powers engaged in trade and exchanges with each other. This period was known as détente.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: This period included negotiation of a number of arms control agreements, building with the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in the 1950s, but with significant new treaties negotiated in the 1970s. These treaties were only partially successful. Although both states continued to hold massive numbers of nuclear weapons and research more effective technology, the growth in number of warheads was first limited, and later, with the START I, reversed.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In 1958, both the U.S. and Soviet Union informally agreed to suspend nuclear testing. However, this agreement was ended when the Soviets resumed testing in 1961, followed by a series of nuclear tests conducted by the U.S. These events led to much political fallout, as well as the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. It was felt by American and Soviet leaders that something had to be done to ease the significant tensions between these two countries, so on October 10, 1963, the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) was signed. This was an agreement between the U.S., the Soviet Union, and the U.K., which significantly restricted nuclear testing. All atmospheric, underwater, and outer space nuclear testing were agreed to be halted, but testing was still allowed underground. An additional 113 countries have signed this treaty since 1963.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: SALT I and SALT II limited the size of the U.S. arsenal. Bans on nuclear testing, anti-ballistic missile systems, and weapons in space all attempted to limit the expansion of the arms race through the Partial Test Ban Treaty.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In November, 1969, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) begun. This was primarily due to the economic impact that nuclear testing and production had on both U.S. and Soviet economies. The SALT I Treaty, which was signed in May 1972, produced an agreement on two significant documents. These were the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty) and the Interim Agreement on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms. The ABM treaty limited each country to two ABM sites, while the Interim Agreement froze each country's number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) at current levels for five years. This treaty significantly reduced nuclear-related costs as well as the risk of nuclear war. However, SALT I failed to address how many nuclear warheads could be placed on a single missile. A new technology, known as multiple-independently targetable re-entry vehicle (MIRV), allowed single missiles to hold and launch multiple nuclear missiles at targets while in mid-air. Over the next 10 years, the Soviet Union and U.S. added 12,000 nuclear warheads to their already built arsenals.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Throughout the 1970s, both the Soviet Union and United States replaced older warheads and missiles with newer, more powerful and effective ones. On June 18, 1979, the SALT II treaty was signed in Vienna. This treaty limited both sides' nuclear arsenals and technology. However, in light of the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, the United States Senate never ratified the SALT II treaty. This ended the treaty negotiations as well as the era of détente.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In 1991, the START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) was negotiated between the U. S. and the Soviet Union, to reduce the number and limit the capabilities of limitation of strategic offensive arms. This was eventually succeeded by the START II, START III, and New START treaties.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Despite détente, both sides continued to develop and introduce not only more accurate weapons, but weapons with more warheads ("MIRVs"). The presidency of Ronald Reagan proposed a missile defense programme tagged the Strategic Defense Initiative, a space-based anti-ballistic missile system derided as "Star Wars" by its critics; simultaneously, missile defense was also being researched in the Soviet Union. However, the SDI would require technology that had not yet been developed, or even researched. This system proposed both space- and earth-based laser battle stations. It would also need sensors on the ground, in the air, and in space with radar, optical, and infrared technology to detect incoming missiles. Simultaneously, however, Reagan initiated negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev, ultimately resulting in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on reducing nuclear stockpiles.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Owing to high costs and complex technology for its time, the scope of the SDI project was reduced from defense against a massive attack to a system for defending against limited attacks, transitioning into the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: During the mid-1980s, the U.S-Soviet relations significantly improved, Mikhail Gorbachev assumed control of the Soviet Union MYSONS after the deaths of several former Soviet leaders, and announced a new era of "perestroika" and "glasnost," meaning restructuring and openness respectively. Gorbachev proposed a 50% reduction of nuclear weapons for both the U.S and Soviet Union at the meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland in October 1986. However, the proposal was refused due to disagreements over Reagan's SDI. Instead, the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty was signed on December 8, 1987, in Washington, which eliminated an entire class of nuclear weapons.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Owing to the dramatic economic and social changes occurring within the Soviet Union, many of its constituent republics began to declare their independence. With the wave of revolutions sweeping across Eastern-Europe, the Soviet Union was unable to impose its will on its satellite states and so its sphere of influence slowly diminished. By December 16, 1991, all of the republics had declared independence from the Union. The Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the country's president on December 25 and the Soviet Union was declared non-existent the following day.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: With the end of the Cold War, the United States and Russia cut down on nuclear weapons spending. Fewer new systems were developed and both arsenals were reduced; although both countries maintain significant stocks of nuclear missiles. In the United States, stockpile stewardship programs have taken over the role of maintaining the aging arsenal.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: After the Cold War ended, large inventories of nuclear weapons and facilities remained. Some are being recycled, dismantled, or recovered as valuable substances. Large amounts of money and resources – which would have been spent on developing nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union, had the arms race continued – were instead used for repairing the environmental damage produced by the nuclear arms race, and almost all former production sites are now major cleanup sites. In the United States, the plutonium production facility at Hanford, Washington, and the plutonium pit fabrication facility at Rocky Flats, Colorado, are among the most polluted sites.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Military policies and strategies have been modified to reflect the increasing intervals without major confrontation. In 1995, United States policy and strategy regarding nuclear proliferation was outlined in the document "Essentials of Post–Cold War Deterrence", produced by the Policy Subcommittee of the Strategic Advisory Group (SAG) of the United States Strategic Command.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: On 13 December 2001, George W. Bush gave Russia notice of the United States' withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. This led to the eventual creation of the American Missile Defense Agency. Russian President Vladimir Putin responded to the withdrawal by ordering a build-up of Russia's nuclear capabilities, designed to counterbalance U.S. capabilities.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: On April 8, 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed the New START Treaty, which called for a fifty percent reduction of strategic nuclear missile launchers and a curtailment of deployed nuclear warheads. The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty in December 2010 by a three-quarter majority.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: On December 22, 2016, U.S. President Donald Trump proclaimed in a tweet that "the United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes," effectively challenging the world to re-engage in a race for nuclear dominance. The next day, Trump reiterated his position to "Morning Joe" host Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC, stating: "Let it be an arms race. We will outmatch them at every pass and outlast them all."


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In October 2018, the former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev commented that U.S. withdrawal from the INF nuclear treaty is "not the work of a great mind" and that "a new arms race has been announced".


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In early 2019, more than 90% of world's 13,865 nuclear weapons were owned by Russia and the United States.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: According to the Pentagon's June 2019 "Doctrine for Joint Nuclear Operations", "Integration of nuclear weapons employment with conventional and special operations forces is essential to the success of any mission or operation."


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In 2019, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned about the risk of nuclear war, as negative dynamics had been noticeable over the previous year. He urged the nuclear states to build channels on forestalling potential incidents in order to lower the risks.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In South Asia, India and Pakistan have also engaged in a technological nuclear arms race since the 1970s. The nuclear competition started in 1974 with India detonating a device, codenamed Smiling Buddha, at the Pokhran region of the Rajasthan state. The Indian government called this test a "peaceful nuclear explosion", but according to independent sources, it was actually part of an accelerated covert nuclear program of India.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: This test generated great concern and doubts in Pakistan, with fear it would be at the mercy of its long-time arch-rival. Pakistan had its own covert atomic bomb projects in 1972 which ran for many years since the first Indian weapon was detonated. After the 1974 test, the pace of Pakistan's atomic bomb program significantly accelerated, culminating in successfully building its own atomic weapons. In the last few decades of the 20th century, India and Pakistan began to develop nuclear-capable rockets and nuclear military technologies. Finally, in 1998, India – under Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government – test detonated five more nuclear weapons. Domestic pressure within Pakistan began to build and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ordered a test, detonating six nuclear weapons (Chagai-I and Chagai-II) in retaliation and to act as a deterrent.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: From the beginning of the Cold War, The United States, Russia, and other nations have all attempted to develop anti-ballistic missiles. The United States developed the LIM-49 Nike Zeus in the 1950s in order to destroy incoming ICBMs.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Russia has also developed ABM missiles, in the form of the A-35 anti-ballistic missile system and the later A-135 anti-ballistic missile system. Chinese state media has also announced that China has tested anti-ballistic missiles, though specific information is not public.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In November 2006, India – with an initiative called the Indian Ballistic Missile Defence Programme – successfully tested its Prithvi Air Defense (PAD) anti-ballistic missile, followed by testing of the Advanced Air Defense (AAD) anti-ballistic missile in December 2007.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Nuclear disarmament is one of four different norms in the aid of getting rid of nuclear weapons. This norm can include arms control, arms reduction to elimination, prohibition, and stigmatization.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: This has been a hard norm to implement. Most of the conditions, the weight, strategy, timing, conditionality, and compliance have been contested.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In 2017, the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Treaty gives the representation of self-empowerment. This treaty did not involve the states or their allies that had nuclear weapons.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: A lot of debate has occurred about nuclear disarmament. Debates over treaties in reducing and getting rid of nuclear weapons all together have been ongoing since the Cold War ended.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: In 2010, there was a debate over the New Strategic Arms Reduction (START) treaty. This treaty was negotiated between the United States and Russia.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: Since this has been an ongoing endeavor, a lot of the non-nuclear states are fighting to get the states that do have nuclear weapons to abide by what they believe to be the most recent obligations.


title: Nuclear arms race

text: First the United States announced on September 27, 1991, that they would be destroying the ground-launched short-range nuclear weapons. Mikhail Gorbachev, who was the President of the Soviet Union at that time, removed nuclear warheads from air defense missiles and nuclear artillery munitions.


title: Chicha Amatayakul

text: Amatayakul was born on August 5, 1993. She attended Grade 4 at Chitralada School. She attended high school at an international school under the British Curriculum (IGCSE) at the age of 15 before entering higher education in the Faculty of Business at Assumption University and Faculty of Law at Ramkhamhaeng University.


title: Chicha Amatayakul

text: In 2010, Amatayakul joined Kamikaze records as a member of the pop group Kiss Me Five, which also included the members Bow Maylada, Bam Pakakanya, Gail Natcha and Mild Krittiya.


title: Chicha Amatayakul

text: Starting in 2018, Amatayakul starred as the main character, Nanno, in the drama anthology series "Girl from Nowhere". The second season of "Girl from Nowhere" premiered on Netflix in 2021, exposing Amatayakul to international audiences.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Adansonia digitata, the African baobab, is the most widespread tree species of the genus "Adansonia", the baobabs, and is native to the African continent and the southern Arabian Peninsula (Yemen, Oman). These are long-lived pachycauls; radiocarbon dating has shown some individuals to be over 2,000 years old. They are typically found in dry, hot savannas of sub-Saharan Africa, where they dominate the landscape and reveal the presence of a watercourse from afar. They have traditionally been valued as sources of food, water, health remedies or places of shelter and are a key food source for many animals. They are steeped in legend and superstition. In recent years, many of the largest, oldest trees have died, possibly due to climate change. Common names for the baobab include monkey-bread tree, upside-down tree, and cream of tartar tree.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: African baobabs are trees that often grow as solitary individuals, and are large and distinctive elements of savanna or scrubland vegetation. They grow from tall. The trunk is typically very broad and fluted or cylindrical, often with a buttressed, spreading base. Trunks may reach a diameter of , and may be made up of multiple stems fused around a hollow core. The hollow core found in many tree species is the result of wood removal, such as decay of the oldest, internal part of the trunk. In baobabs, however, many of the largest and oldest of the trees have a hollow core that is the result of a fused circle of three to eight stems sprouting from roots. The bark is gray and usually smooth. The main branches can be massive. All baobabs are deciduous, losing their leaves in the dry season, and remaining leafless for about eight months of the year. Flowers are large, white and hanging. Fruits are rounded with a thick shell.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The leaves are palmately compound with 5 to 7 (sometimes up to 9) leaflets in mature trees, but seedlings and regenerating shoots may have simple leaves. The transition to compound leaves comes with age and may be gradual. African baobabs produce simple leaves much longer than most other "Adansonia" species. Leaflets are stalkless (sessile) to short-stalked and size is variable.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Flowering occurs in both the dry and the wet season. Buds are rounded with a cone-shaped tip. Flowers are showy and sometimes paired, but usually produced singly at the end of a hanging stalk about in length. The calyx is typically made up of 5 (sometimes 3) green triangular bent-back lobes (sepals) with a cream-coloured, hairy interior. The petals are white, roughly the same width and length – up to , and are crumpled in bud. Flowers open during the late afternoon, staying open and fertile for only one night. The fresh flowers have a sweet scent, but after about 24 hours, they start to turn brown and emit a carrion smell. The androecium is white and made up of a long tube of fused stamens (a staminal tube) surrounded by unfused (free) filaments 3–5 cm long. There are a large number of stamens, 720–1,600 per flower, with reports of up to 2,000. Styles are white, growing through the staminal tube and projecting beyond it. They are usually bent at right-angles and topped with an irregular stigma. Pollen grains are spherical with spikes over the surface, typical of the Malvaceae family. Pollen grain diameter is around 50 microns.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: All "Adansonia" develop large rounded indehiscent fruits which can be up to long with a woody outer shell. African baobab fruits are quite variable in shape, from nearly round to cylindrical. The shell is thick. Inside is a fleshy, light beige coloured pulp. As it dries, the pulp hardens into a crumbly powder. The seeds are hard and kidney-shaped with a .06-mm-thick coat. They show long-term dormancy, only germinating after fire or passing through an animal’s digestive tract. It is thought that this is because the seed coat needs to be cracked or thinned to allow to water to penetrate before the seed can germinate.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Baobab trees store water in their trunks and branches on a seasonal basis as they live in areas of sustained drought and water inaccessibility. The spongy material of the bark allows water to be absorbed deeper into the tissue, as there is rarely enough rain during the wet season to penetrate the litter layer of soil. The U-shaped branches allow for water to trickle down, allowing for maximum absorption over an extended period of time even after the rain stops. The water is absorbed into the vascular tissue of the tree, where it can be moved into the tree's parenchyma cells for long-term storage, or used. A large Baobab can store as much as 136,400 liters of water.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: During the dry season, the trees will flush out all of their leaves. During this period, the circumference of the trunk will shrink about 2–3 cm and the water content of the stem will drop by about 10%. Dropping leaves during the dry season is done to prevent water loss through transpiration out of the stomata, which would cause the water potentials in the vascular tissue to drop too low and pull water out of the vacuoles in the parenchyma cells. This would lead to the parenchyma cells, which make up the majority of the trunk and branches, to plasmolyze destroying the tree.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The water in storage cells is structurally important, which limits their ability to use mass quantities of stored water in times of drought. Baobab trees have much higher water and parenchyma content than most trees, this allows them to grow very large with less energy expenditure. Parenchyma are soft plant tissue cells that are commonly used for water storage in other drought tolerant species like cactus and succulents. The water fluxes from the vascular tissue into the parenchyma cells at the center of the tree with the help of actively transported ions. The ion flux into the cell will shift the concentration gradients, causing water to rush into the cells for long term storage.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Another reason why the water in the trunk can only be used as a buffer for long-term deficits is the distance between the vascular tissue and the parenchyma. The transportation of water from the vascular tissue into storage cells is a very slow process as it is a high-resistance path. The water in the cells at the core of the trunk and the branches would take too much energy from the tree to move back into the vascular tissue for daily use.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The growth rate of baobab trees is determined by ground water or rainfall. The trees produce faint growth rings, but counting growth rings is not a reliable way to age baobabs because some years a tree will form multiple rings and some year none.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Radiocarbon dating has provided data on a few individual "A. digitata" specimens. The Panke baobab in Zimbabwe was some 2,450 years old when it died in 2011, making it the oldest angiosperm ever documented, and two other trees—Dorslandboom in Namibia and Glencoe in South Africa—were estimated to be approximately 2,000 years old. Another specimen known as Grootboom was dated after it died and found to be at least 1,275 years old. Baobabs may be so long-lived in part due to their ability to periodically sprout new stems.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The scientific name "Adansonia" refers to the French explorer and botanist, Michel Adanson (1727–1806), who wrote the first botanical description for the full species. "Digitata" refers to the digits of the hand, as the baobab has compound leaves with normally five (but up to seven) leaflets, akin to a hand. "A. digitata" is the type species for the genus "Adansonia" and is the only species in the section "Adansonia". All species of "Adansonia" except "A. digitata" are diploid; "A. digitata" is tetraploid. Some populations of African baobab have significant genetic differences and it has been suggested that the taxon contains more than one species. For example, the shape of the fruit varies considerably from region to region. In Angola, the fruits are elongated, rather than round.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: A proposed new species ("Adansonia kilima" Pettigrew, et al.), was described in 2012, found in high-elevation sites in eastern and southern Africa. This is now however no longer recognized as a distinct species but considered a synonym of "A. digitata". Some high-elevation trees in Tanzania show different genetics and morphology but further study is needed to determine if they should be considered a separate species.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The earliest written reports of African baobab are from a 14th-century travelogue by the Arab traveler Ibn Batuta. The first botanical description was by Alpino (1592) looking at fruits that he observed in Egypt from an unknown source. They were called Bahobab, possibly from the Arabic "bu hibab," meaning "many-seeded fruit". The French explorer and botanist, Michel Adanson observed a baobab tree in 1749 on the island of Sor, Senegal and wrote the first detailed botanical description of the full tree, accompanied with illustrations. Recognizing the connection to the fruit described by Alpino he called the genus Baobab. Linnaeus later renamed the genus "Adansonia", to honour Adason, but use of baobab as one of the common names has persisted. Additional common names include monkey-bread tree (the soft, dry fruit is edible), upside-down tree (the sparse branches resemble roots), and cream of tartar tree (cream of tartar) because of the powdery fruit pulp.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The African Baobab is associated with tropical savannahs. It is found in drier climates, is sensitive to water logging and frost and is not found in areas where sand is deep. It is native to mainland Africa, between the latitudes 16° N and 26° S. Some references consider it as introduced to Yemen and Oman while others consider it native there. The tree has also been introduced to many other regions including Australia and Asia.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The northern limit of its distribution in Africa is associated with rainfall patterns; only on the Atlantic coast and in the Sudanian savanna does its occurrence venture naturally into the Sahel. On the Atlantic coast, this may be due to spreading after cultivation. Its occurrence is very limited in Central Africa, and it is found only in the very north of South Africa. In East Africa, the trees grow also in shrublands and on the coast. In Angola and Namibia, the baobabs grow in woodlands, and in coastal regions, in addition to savannas. The African Bayobab is native to Mauritania, Senegal, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Niger, Nigeria, northern Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Congo Republic, DR Congo (formerly Zaire), Eritrea, Ethiopia, southern Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, São Tomé, Príncipe, Annobon, South Africa (in Limpopo province, north of the Soutpansberg mountain range), Namibia, Botswana. It is an introduced species in Java, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Seychelles, Comoros, India, Guangdong, Fujian, Yunnan and has been planted in Penang, Malaysia, along certain streets. Arab traders introduced it to northwestern Madagascar where baobab trees were often planted at the center of villages.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: All baobabs are deciduous, losing their leaves in the dry season, and remaining leafless for about eight months of the year. The African baobab is largely found in savannah habitats, which tend to be fire-prone. Adaptations to survive frequent fires include a thick and fire-resistant bark and thick-shelled fruit. Trees older than about 15 years have thick enough bark to withstand the heat of most savannah fires, while younger trees can resprout after fire. The thick outer shell of the fruit may serve to protect the seeds.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Pollination in the African baobab is achieved primarily by fruit bats, in West Africa mainly the straw-coloured fruit bat, Gambian epauletted fruit bat"," and the Egyptian fruit bat. The flowers are also visited by bush babies, galagos, and several kinds of insect.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: With their hard coat, baobab seeds can withstand drying and remain viable over long periods. The fruits are eaten by many species and the germination potential is improved when seeds have passed through the digestive tract of an animal or have been subjected to fire. Elephants and baboons are main dispersal agents and so the seeds can potentially be dispersed over long distances. The fruits float and the seeds are waterproof, so African baobabs may also be spread by water. Some aspects of the baobab's reproductive biology are not yet understood but it is thought that pollen from another tree may be required to develop fertile seed. Isolated trees without a pollen source from another tree do form fruit, only to abort them at a later stage. The existence of some very isolated trees may then be due to their ability to disperse long distances but self-incompatibility.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The fruit, bark, roots and leaves are a key food source for many animals and the trees themselves are an important source of shade and shelter.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The baobab is a protected tree in South Africa, and yet is threatened by various mining and development activities. In the Sahel, the effects of drought, desertification and over-use of the fruit have been cited as causes for concern. As of March 2022 African baobab is not yet classified by the IUCN Red List, although there is evidence that populations may be declining. Many of the largest and oldest African baobabs have died in recent years. Greenhouse gases, climate change, and global warming appear to be factors reducing baobab longevity.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: People have traditionally valued the trees as sources of food, water, health remedies or places of shelter. The baobab is a traditional food plant in Africa, but is little-known elsewhere. Adanson concluded that the baobab, of all the trees he studied, "is probably the most useful tree in all." He consumed baobab juice twice a day while in Africa, and was convinced that it maintained his health. According to a modern field guide, the juice can help cure diarrhoea.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The roots and fruits are edible. The fruit has been suggested to have the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable land care. In Sudanwhere the tree is called tebeldi تبلديpeople make tabaldi juice by soaking and dissolving the dry pulp of the fruit in water, locally known as gunguleiz. Water can also be extracted from some of the trunks.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Baobab leaves can be eaten as a relish. Young fresh leaves are cooked in a sauce and sometimes are dried and powdered. The powder is called "lalo" in Mali and sold in many village markets in Western Africa. The leaves are used in the preparation of a soup termed "miyan kuka" in Northern Nigeria and are rich in phytochemicals and minerals. The seeds can be pounded into a flour or to extract oil for cooking.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Baobab leaves are sometimes used as forage for ruminants in dry season. The oilmeal, which is a byproduct of oil extraction, can also be used as animal feed.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The fiber of the bark can be used to make cloth. In times of drought, elephants consume the juicy wood beneath the bark of the baobab.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: In 2008, the European Union approved the use and consumption of baobab fruit. It is commonly used as an ingredient in smoothies and cereal bars. In 2009, the United States Food and Drug Administration granted generally recognized as safe status to baobab dried fruit pulp as a food ingredient.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Along the Zambezi, the tribes believed that baobabs were upright and too proud. The gods became angry and uprooted them and threw them back into the ground upside-down. Evil spirits now cause bad luck to anyone that picks up the sweet white flowers. More specifically, a lion will kill them. In Kafue National Park, one of the largest baobabs is known as "Kondanamwali" or the "tree that eats maidens". The tree fell in love with four beautiful maidens. When they reached puberty, they made the tree jealous by finding husbands. So, one night, during a thunderstorm, the tree opened its trunk and took the maidens inside. A rest house has been built in the branches of the tree. On stormy nights, the crying of the imprisoned maidens can still be heard. Some people believe that women living in kraals where baobabs are plenty will have more children. This is scientifically plausible as those women will have better access to the tree's vitamin-rich leaves and fruits to complement a vitamin-deficient diet.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The tree also plays a role in Antoine De Saint-Exupéry’s fictional children’s book, "The Little Prince". In the story, baobabs are described as dangerous plants which must be weeded out from the good plants, lest they overcome a small planet and even break it to pieces.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: A number of individual baobab trees attract sightseers due to their age, size, history, location or isolated occurrence.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Around Gweta, Botswana, some have been declared national monuments. Green's Baobab, 27 km south of Gweta was inscribed by the 19th-century hunters and traders Frederick Thomas Green and Hendrik Matthys van Zyl besides other ruthless characters. Fred and Charles Green passed the baobab during an expedition to Lake Ngami and left the inscription "Green’s Expedition 1858–1859". An earlier inscription by an unknown traveller reads "1771".


title: Adansonia digitata

text: About 11 km south of Green's Baobab is the turn-off to Chapman's Baobab, also known as Seven Sisters or Xaugam, i.e. "lion's tail" in Tsoa. It was once an enormous multi-stemmed tree, used by passing explorers, traders and travellers as a navigation beacon. It guided them as they navigated the extensive salt pan northwards, while a hollow in the trunk served as a letterbox. The explorer and hunter James Chapman left an engraving on a large root when he passed the tree with artist Thomas Baines in 1861, but Livingstone, Oswell, Moffat, and Selous also camped here. Livingstone supposedly carved a cross and his initials, and conveyed his 1853 sojourn in "Missionary Travels", noting: "about two miles beyond [the immense saltpan Ntwetwe] we unyoked under a fine specimen of baobab, ... It consisted of 6 branches united into one trunk." It had a circumference of 25 m before its constituent trunks collapsed outward on 7 January 2016. Not all its trunks are confirmed dead however, one showing signs of life in 2019.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Seven trees known as the Sleeping Sisters or Baines' Baobabs grow on a tiny islet in Kudiakam Pan, Botswana. They are named for Thomas Baines who painted them in May 1862, while en route to Victoria Falls. The fallen giant of Baines' day is still sprouting leaves (as of 2004), and a younger generation of trees are in evidence. The islet is accessible in winter when the pan is dry.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Some large specimens have been transplanted to new sites, as was the one at Cresta Mowana lodge in Kasane.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: At Saakpuli (also Sakpele) in northern Ghana the site of a 19th-century slave transit camp is marked by a stand of large baobabs, to which slaves were chained. The chains were wrapped around their trunks or around the roots. Similarly, two trees at Salaga in central Ghana are reminders of the slave trade. One, located at the former slave market at the center of town, was replanted at the site of the original to which slaves were shackled. A second larger tree marks the slave cemetery, where bodies of dead slaves were dumped.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Inside the Golconda Fort in Hyderabad, India, is a baobab tree estimated to be 430 years old. It is the largest baobab outside of Africa.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Baobab has Tamil vernacular names – Perukku-Maran and Papparappuli. English Name ‘Monkey bread. Sinhala name - Aliyagaha (Sri lanka wild life interlude vol l ) It is said that the tree in Pallimunai of Mannar island is the oldest and largest one of 800 years old. Local tradition is that this tree brought to SL by Arabs to feed their camels by its leaves.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The African baobab in Mahajanga, Madagascar, had a circumference of 21 metres by 2013. It became the symbol of the city and was formerly a place for executions and important meetings.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The Lebombo Eco Trail tree is about 18.5 m tall with a diameter of almost 22 m. It was found to be about 1400 years old and made up of five stems with ages between 900 and 1400 years, fused in a ring leaving a large central cavity.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The Ombalantu baobab in Namibia has a hollow trunk that can accommodate some 35 people. At times it has served as a chapel, post office, house, and hiding site. The Holboom baobab (Holboom, Nyae Nyae Conservancy, Namibia) is one of the trees with a hollow core. It measures 35.10 m around and radiocarbon dating shows it to be about 1750 years old.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The Arbre de Brazza is a baobab in the Republic of the Congo under which de Brazza and his companions Dolisie, Chavannes and Ballay made a stop in 1877, as their engraving "EB 1887" still attests. Another engraving, "Mâ Prince", was left by president Nguesso in his youth.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The first botanical description of "A. digitata" was done by Adanson based on a tree on the island of Sor, Senegal. On the nearby Îles des Madeleines Adanson found a baobab that was in diameter, which bore the carvings of passing mariners on its trunk, including those of Prince Henry the Navigator in 1444 and André Thevet in 1555. When Théodore Monod searched the island in the 20th century, this tree was not to be found. The Gouye Ndiouly or Guy Njulli ("baobab of circumcision") may be the oldest baobab in Senegal and the northern hemisphere. The partially collapsed tree from which new stems have emerged is situated near the bank of the Saloum River at Kahone. It was formerly the venue for the gàmmu, an annual festival during which the kingdom's provincial rulers pledged their loyalty to the king. From 1593 to 1939, 49 kings of the Guélewars dynasty were inducted at this tree. It was beside the place where the Buur Saloum organized circumcision ceremonies, and in 1862, it became the scene of a battle.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: The Grove Place Baobab, listed as a Champion Tree, is believed to be the oldest (250–300 years) of some 100 baobabs on Saint Croix in the US Virgin Islands. It is seen as a living testament to centuries of African presence, as the seeds were likely introduced by an African slave who arrived at the former estate during the 18th century. According to the bronze memorial plaque, twelve women were rounded up during the 1878 Fireburn labor riot, and burned alive beneath the tree. It has since been a rallying place for plantation laborers and unions.


title: Adansonia digitata

text: Zimbabwe’s Big Tree, near Victoria Falls, stands 25-meters tall and is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists yearly. Radiocarbon dating has shown this one to be made up of several stems of various ages – with the oldest about 1150 years old.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali Menon is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. Anjali has won international, national and state awards for her work and is best known for her feature films "Manjadikuru," "Kerala Cafe" (Happy Journey), "Ustad Hotel", "Bangalore Days" and "Koode".


title: Anjali Menon

text: She is counted among the change agents in Indian cinema whose work gets attention from the audience and the critics. Anjali is the founder of Little Films a film company based in Mumbai and Kerala that produces fiction and non-fiction works. Anjali is one of the founders of the Women in Cinema Collective (WCC), an organization that focuses on gender equality in the Malayalam film industry.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali Menon was born in Kozhikode to T M Nair and Sarada Nair. She spent her childhood in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and travelled annually to India. Prior to her film education Anjali graduated from Providence Women's College, Kozhikode and received her Masters in Communication Studies from Pune University. Anjali has trained in Indian classical dance and music.Alumna of London Film School, Anjali postgraduated with Honors in Film Direction, Film Producing and Film Editing in 2003.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali started her career by editing and assisting producers in the making of educational documentaries. She took up event photography and feature writing for journals.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Black Nor White, was Anjali Menon’s graduation film produced by Asif Kapadia at London Film School starring Rez Kempton and Archie Panjabi, was premiered at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and won the British Film Institute ImagineAsia award.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali’s feature film debut "Manjadikuru" (2008), a coming of age drama set in early 80's. It won the FIPRESCI award for the Best Malayalam film and Hassankutty Award for Best Indian Debut Director at International Film Festival of Kerala. Manjadikuru aka Lucky Red Seeds swept the Grand Jury awards at the South Asian International Film festival with Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography and Best Upcoming talent. Anjali also received Kerala State Film Award for Best Screenplay for the movie.


title: Anjali Menon

text: SAIFF reviewer Dustin Chang described it as “The film is all about the colors, sounds and wonders of childhood. It feels similar to reading an Arundhati Roy story. The imagery is so striking you could almost smell it.”


title: Anjali Menon

text: Manjadikuru’s postproduction was put on hold for 4 years due to producer related issues. Anjali’s company Little Films India took over the project, completed the film and had a release in 2012 to excellent reviews but the film had a limited box office run.


title: Anjali Menon

text: While Manjadikuru was on hold Anjali worked on her first theatre release - Kerala Cafe (2009), then first-ever Malayalam anthology film produced by Ranjith Balakrishnan, Capitol Theatre for which she directed the humorous segment 'Happy Journey', centered around gender politics. Happy Journey featuring Jagathy Sreekumar & Nithya Menen was premiered at the Abu Dhabi International Film festival and won the NETPAC award at IFFK 2009. ‘Happy Journey’ was recognised as a fresh new voice in the industry.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali wrote the story, screenplay and dialogues of the critically and commercially acclaimed Ustad Hotel (2012), directed by Anwar Rasheed. Ustad Hotel is a relationship drama of an NRI youngster and his grandfather who runs a seaside restaurant. Lauded for its local flavour and cross generational appeal Ustad Hotel was a huge commercial success and Anjali won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay (Dialogues) at the 60th National Film Awards while the film won the National Awards for Most Popular Film. Anjali won the Best Writer awards at Asianet Film Awards and Vanitha Film Awards.


title: Anjali Menon

text: In 2014 Anjali wrote and directed "Bangalore Days" (2014), revolving around the life of three Malayali cousins who move to Bangalore, which became a huge commercial success and which identified her as a commercially successful filmmaker who made sensible cinema.


title: Anjali Menon

text: The ensemble cast consisted of Dulquer Salman, Nivin Pauly, Nazriya Nazim, Fahadh Fazil, Parvathy Thiruvoth, Nithya Menen, Isha Talwar, Kalpana and it was the first film produced by Anwar Rasheed Entertainment in association with Weekend Blockbusters. As per the industry, Bangalore Days was instantly declared “super bumper mega hit” when it released and went on to become the entry point film for non-Malayalees into Malayalam cinema.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali won the Kerala State Award for Best Writer & Best Director at the Filmfare Awards & the Asianet Film Awards


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali wrote and directed and co-produced the commercially and critically acclaimed Koode (2018), which showcased issues of migrant workers and child sexual harassment as it dealt with themes of loss and solace. Starring Prithviraj, Parvathy, Nazriya Nazim & Ranjith Balakrishnan, it was lauded for its performances and poetic storytelling. Koode was the official adaptation of Marathi film ‘Happy Journey’ by Sachin Kundalkar but with many new layers that Anjali brought in


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali is a motivational speaker who addresses subjects related to filmmaking, community, gender empowerment, entrepreneurship and parenting at venues like TED, TISS, TIE Global, CII, KSUM, and IGCE. Anjali has been a jury member for IFFK, MAMI, IFP and Filmfare awards.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali works towards cultural conservation through documenting cultural performers and gathering lore. Anjali has published short stories, screenplays and articles and she blogs about her worldviews .


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali's movies have depicted themes of family, migrant experience, gender and cross-cultural interactions. She has mentioned Mira Nair, Padmarajan, Krzysztof Kieslowski, Robert Altman, Gulzar, and Marion Hansel as her inspirations, in pursuing film-making.


title: Anjali Menon

text: She portrays stories of non-resident Indians in her work and referred to her reverse migrant identity and hybrid sensibility in her work as an advantage.


title: Anjali Menon

text: Anjali is vocal about the need for gender equality in the workplace and sensitivity in on-screen portrayals.


title: Aşk Mantık İntikam

text: Aşk Mantık İntikam (litt. "Love Logic Revenge") is a Turkish drama and romantic comedy television series produced by No:9 Productions. Based on South Korean "Cunning Single Lady", the series premiered on 18 June 2021, concluded on April 22, 2022 and stars Burcu Özberk, İlhan Şen, Burak Yörük and Melisa Döngel.


title: Aşk Mantık İntikam

text: While Esra thinks she wakes up in one of her usual mornings, she suddenly finds herself surrounded by Ozan's news, his appearance on television, and his huge pictures on billboards. Her ex-husband Ozan, whom she divorced two years ago, is everywhere. He has also changed a lot. Ozan, who shot a penny when Esra quit, has become a completely different person. He is very successful, very handsome and very rich. While her life changed thanks to the social media application that Ozan found, Esra stood still. Before Esra can get over her shock, she comes face to face with Ozan. But Ozan, who used to love Esra enough to die, is no longer in front of her. He is a cold, arrogant man, full of anger towards Esra.


title: Aşk Mantık İntikam

text: This encounter activates the feelings that they both think are over. Oddly enough, they both remember different things when they think about their marriage. For Esra, marriage means a safe haven. Esra, who had a childhood full of bankruptcies and foreclosures due to her father's adventurous business life, witnessed how hard her mother, who was in love with her father, tried to keep this family alive. Esra, who thinks that if this is love, I don't exist, is determined to marry someone who loves and trusts her very much. Ozan fell in love with Esra at first sight. As soon as Esra sees Ozan, she realizes that he is the person she is looking for and they get married in a short time. However, when Ozan resigns from his regular job to be able to do the job of his dreams, Esra's safe harbor is suddenly destroyed. Since Ozan cannot find an investor for his creative ideas, the living of the house is left entirely to Esra. Esra starts working multiple jobs to pay the rent and bills. Esra, who made a logical marriage in order not to be like her mother, has fallen into a worse state than her mother. Although she tries to keep their marriage alive for a while, she finally gives up. But in fact, the reasons for separation for both are not what they seem.


title: Aşk Mantık İntikam

text: On the evening of the day they met, Esra tells her friend Zeyno that she expects an apology from Ozan for her past experiences, while Ozan angrily tells his assistant Musa how Esra easily sacrificed him in time. But what neither of them realize is how impressed they are when they see each other.


title: Aşk Mantık İntikam

text: The next day, Esra gets dressed and goes to Ozan's office, thinking that Ozan will apologize for what he has done in the past and want to reconcile with the phone call from Ozan. However, Ozan's intention is different. Ozan, who could not give alimony to Esra because he had no money at the time of the divorce, takes out an envelope full of money and puts it in front of Esra. His real intention is to hurt Esra, who he thinks left him for money, by teaching her a good lesson. Realizing that she was being summoned to be humiliated, Esra tore up the envelope and left with Ozan even more angry than before.


title: Aşk Mantık İntikam

text: Now it's Esra's turn to mend her broken pride. Seeing Ozan's company's trainee announcement, Esra makes her plan. She will apply to Ozan's company by applying for the advertisement and will leave his life only when Ozan falls in love with her again and falls at her feet.


title: Aşk Mantık İntikam

text: "Aşk Mantık İntikam" is based on South Korean TV series "Cunning Single Lady", which aired in 2014. The episodes are written by Özlem İnci Hekimoğlu and Nil Güleç Ünsal. The shooting of the series takes place in Istanbul.


title: Aşk Mantık İntikam

text: In an interview with Turkish fundamentalist Islamic newspaper "Yeni Akit" on 26 November 2021, Birgül Ulusoy, who played the character Reyhan, said that certain directors and producers were "give[n] preferential treatment." The newspaper itself called the series and other productions made by FOX Turkey "immoral".


title: Orgazmo

text: Orgazmo is a 1997 American superhero sex comedy film written, directed and edited by Trey Parker and produced by Matt Stone, Jason McHugh, and Fran Rubel Kuzui. It stars Parker, Stone, Dian Bachar, Robyn Lynne, and Michael Dean Jacobs. The plot follows Joe Young (Parker), a devout Mormon missionary who, to pay for his and his fiancée's dream wedding and home, hesitantly participates in a pornographic film for an abusive director. "Orgazmo" is Parker and Stone's second film, following 1993's "Cannibal! The Musical".


title: Orgazmo

text: Mormon missionary Joseph Young, assigned with his mission partner to Los Angeles, finds the city to be a hostile and unenthusiastic place for their work. The problems worsen when they knock on the door of sleazy porn director Maxxx Orbison, and several security guards are sent to dispose of them. Joe defeats all of them singlehandedly with a variety of martial arts skills. Impressed by his performance and bored of his current project's lead actor, Orbison attempts to hire Joe to be the title character and lead of his pornographic superhero film, "Orgazmo". Joe is conflicted because of his beliefs because he is a missionary, but the salary offered would pay for a wedding in the temple in Utah where his fiancée Lisa has expressed a strong desire to wed. Joe reluctantly accepts despite being given a sign from God.


title: Orgazmo

text: Joe finds the crew of the film intimidating but befriends co-star Ben Chapleski, a technical genius and graduate from MIT who works in the pornographic industry to satiate his overactive libido. He plays Orgazmo's sidekick Choda Boy, who assists Orgazmo with specially designed sex toys, including Orgazmo's signature weapon, the Orgazmorator, a ray gun that forces orgasm upon whomever it is fired. Ben invites Joe to his home later on and shows Joe a real, working Orgazmorator Ben has built, and he and Joe spend an evening using it on unsuspecting citizens for amusement.


title: Orgazmo

text: At a sushi bar owned by Ben's Japanese friend G-Fresh, the two witness a group of thugs vandalizing the bar to force out G-Fresh so their dance club next door can expand. Later on, when Ben and Joe are gone, G-Fresh is coerced to leave after being assaulted by the same thugs. Upon finding this out, Joe and Ben don costumes and use their film props and the Orgazmorator to sneak into the club and steal back the contract G-Fresh was forced to sign. Joe is agitated after nearly being shot in the head, but Ben is excited by being a real superhero.


title: Orgazmo

text: "Orgazmo" becomes an amazing success, both financially and critically, and Orbison withholds Joe's paycheck to keep him in town long enough to announce a sequel. Tempted with a doubled salary, Joe is confronted by his fiancée, who has found out what he has been doing and leaves him. Facing production difficulties and harassment from Orbison's unsympathetic nephew A-Cup, Joe tries to back out of the project, but Orbison refuses. When Joe stands up to him, Orbison has Lisa kidnapped. Ben realizes the thugs who assaulted G-Fresh are also working for Orbison, and he joins Joe in storming Orbison's mansion before Lisa can be forced to perform in one of Orbison's films.


title: Orgazmo

text: Fighting through Orbison's group of henchmen, Joe and Ben meet their match in A-Cup. Joe encourages Ben to unleash his long-repressed Hamster Style discipline of martial arts, allowing Ben to beat A-Cup. After repairing his damaged Orgazmorator, Joe repeatedly shoots Orbison with it, incapacitating him and capturing all the henchmen. Ben blows up the mansion with another device, the "Cock Rocket", destroying Orbison's base of operations. Joe and Lisa reconcile, and she gives him her blessing to remain in Los Angeles and continue being a hero alongside Ben.


title: Orgazmo

text: A doctor tells Orbison that after so many orgasms in a row, his testicles have swollen to the size of oranges, and surgical removal is the only option. A now insane Orbison declares revenge on Orgazmo and becomes the personification of A-Cup's character, who is immune to the Orgazmorator: Neutered Man.


title: Orgazmo

text: "Orgazmo" premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 1997. The Motion Picture Association of America gave the film an NC-17 rating, resulting in a very limited release in the US. There is an 'Unrated' version that was released on the two-sided DVD set along with the theatrical version; it runs two minutes shorter than the original 94-minute release. The film was released via Blu-ray on May 12, 2015. This includes both versions of the film and all the features from the DVD.


title: Orgazmo

text: As of September 2022, the review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 48% and an average rating of 4.90/10 based on 33 reviews. The website's critical consensus read: "More juvenile than provocative, "Orgazmo" may have enough good-natured raunch to satisfy writer-director Trey Parker's fans, but its satire is too soft to compete with the "South Park" co-creator's best work." As of September 2020, the film had a score of 48 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 17 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Roger Ebert gave the film half a star out of four, arguing that "Orgazmo" had little of the clever wit Parker and Stone brought to "South Park", and furthermore describing the film as "callow, gauche, obvious and awkward, and designed to appeal to those with similar qualities".


title: Orgazmo

text: "Orgazmo" has been deemed a cult film, mostly by fans of "South Park", which creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone subsequently released to critical acclaim. Its reception and rating by the MPAA is discussed in the 2006 documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated".


title: Knife legislation

text: Knife legislation is defined as the body of statutory law or case law promulgated or enacted by a government or other governing jurisdiction that prohibits, criminalizes, or restricts the otherwise legal manufacture, importation, sale, transfer, possession, transport, or use of knives.


title: Knife legislation

text: The carrying of knives in public is forbidden or restricted by law in many countries. Exceptions may be made for hunting knives, pocket knives, and knives used for work-related purposes (chef's knives, etc.), depending upon the laws of a given jurisdiction. In turn, the carrying or possessing of certain type of knives perceived as deadly or offensive weapons such as automatic or switchblade knives or butterfly knives (balisong knives) may be restricted or prohibited. Even where knives may be legally carried on the person generally, this right may not extend to all places and circumstances, and knives of any description may be prohibited at schools, public buildings or courthouses, and at public events.


title: Knife legislation

text: In accordance with the Austrian Arms Act of 1996 ("Waffengesetz 1996") it is illegal to buy, import, possess or carry weapons that are disguised as another object or as an object of common use (sword canes, e.g., or knives disguised as ink pens, brush handles or belt buckles). For ordinary knives, however, there are no restrictions or prohibitions based on blade length or opening or locking mechanism.


title: Knife legislation

text: The Arms Act defines weapons as "objects that by their very nature are intended to reduce or eliminate the defensive ability of a person through direct impact", specifically including all firearms. Consequently, certain knives are considered "weapons" in accordance with this definition. Except for firearms, however, which are heavily regulated, such "weapons", including automatic opening lock-blade knives (switchblades), OTF automatic knives, butterfly knives, and gravity knives are implicitly permitted under the Arms Act, and thus may be bought, possessed and carried by anyone over the age of 18 who has not been expressively banned from owning any weapon (Waffenverbot) by the civilian authorities.