RAKESH MATHUR'S INDIA MONITOR

Aries women: Wildly sensual, passionate and adventurous. You'll have sex anywhere, anytime, you know what you want and need- intense and frequent sex, you have a need for control, but you also have to feel love. As a mate, you are ardent, loyal, sentimental, and earthly. Likes the tickle of a man's facial fuzz. Best sex mate: Aries, Taurus and Leo.

Aries men: Sleeping with him is like playing croquet with live bombs-you never know what is going to happen! Never expect him to wait for you to be ready - he will rip your clothes off if he is ready to go. Don't tease him or you better be ready to deliver. Fond of slave master games and he likes it rough. Aries men are also explorers, so be ready to go where no woman has gone before.

Taurus women: You expect your man to be kind and patient and make love to you by the book. Like to be pleased by sex, but don't look for unusual approaches. But you are a demanding lover and you leave your partner breathless. You have a need for oral gratification, both giving and receiving. Best sex mates: Cancer, Sagittarius, Scorpio, and Leo. most likely kink: sucking on your toes, one by one. You also like biting.

Taurus men: He is the ideal lover - sensitive and understanding of his partner's feelings. He prefers it slow and easy, he won't be your guide to the exotic unknown, but what he does, he does beautifully. This is the guy to go to for long and luxurious oral sex. Stamina? This man could wear down a glacier! His erogenous zone: gently and slowly kiss and bite the back of his neck.

Gemini women: Often the aggressor, you are never embarrassed by your behavior because you never adhere to any standards except your own main requirement: a lover who knows how to take his time. You are a one woman harem, but a partner should be aware that in a relationship, the gemini woman is looking for a combination of the spiritual and the physical, the romantic and the practical. You want to talk to the guy after you tumble with him! Best sex mates are Leo, Scorpio, Aquarians, Libra, and Aries. Favorite gadget: the vibrator.

Gemini men: He likes it with the lights on in front of the mirror. He can work any partner into the mood because he knows exactly how to evoke the right responses. Oral sex isn't his favorite pastime, but he will take his time with other preliminaries. Tends to be fast and furious, more concerned with satisfying himself than his partner, but he is more adequate in areas of lovemaking that are often neglected by other men. He can tell a woman exactly what she wants to hear. His erogenous zone: move your lips and tongue lightly up his arm.

Cancer women: Will never make the first move, but you can be a marvelous lover for you are capable of intense sensuality. You will reciprocate passion with a fervor that will stir his heart and stimulate him to his best performance. On your own time, you have a fondness for masturbation. Your favorite position: lying prone while your man enters you from behind. Best sex mates: Taurus, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, and Pisces. You may become a slave to sexual pleasure!

Cancer men: His most surprising technique: intercourse with no hands. He has a need for constant encouragement and if gotten, he will be a delightful swain. Both patient and aggressive, he will often begin somewhere other than the bed, likes being in command, and is a master at manual clitoral manipulation! You'll like the trip as it is as much traveling to a place as it is arriving. :)

Leo women: Sleek, lascivious, enticing and lazy! Whatever Leo wants, Leo gets! Intensely responsive and there are bed partners who have scars to prove it. Your need to show off leads you to prefer the top where he can look up and admire the beauty of your body. Best sexmates: Aries, Libra, Scorpio, Sagitarius. Your sexual wardrobe: full of wispy cut-out bras and panties!

Leo men: Simply brushes aside rules and conventions. One important rule to remember about him: NEVER tease. His endurance is remarkable and he has a great appetite for making love. He likes women in the submissive position and oral sex is okay only when he is on the receiving end. He likes a woman to show how much she is enjoying it. His erogenous zone: his back is particularly vulnerable.

Virgo women: You have no illusions about sex and wish everyone would stop magnifying its importance. Prefer men who will wait for the relationship to develop to the point where sex is inevitable. You love mutual masturbation and enjoy a little punishment, and your grace and modesty is a great turn on. You become an artist at pleasing your lover. Favorite kink: can't truly enjoy it unless a third party is present. Best sex mates: Gemini, Cancer and Aquarians.

Virgo men: Too shy to make an overture, but when the moment arrives, you had better be prepared for him to bring his pajamas, shaving equipment and toothbrush. He likes to talk about how you like it and having talked about it, he will key in on the right erotic response. Don't expect imagination, but he is a hard worker and is open to suggestion. His secret life: can be obsessed with pornography. Erogenous zone: his buttocks.

Libra women: Drama is the key word - you set the stage for sex. Intensely feminine and an instinctive exhibitionist. You feel your body was made to be seen and admired. Feel that seduction is an art, not an assault. When approached the right way, you find it easy to say yes to almost anything. Unusual control of vaginal muscles. Best sex mates: Aries, Gemini, Leo, Scorpio, Sagitarius, and Aquarius. Like any position where your buttocks are exposed.

Libra men: Looks for the whole experience, not just a tumble between the sheets. Has a definite kinky side, a voyeur and fond of the menage a trois. He has the patience needed to satisfy. He likes women who dress well and have long hair. If a woman's clothes look as though they are easily removed, he finds her hard to ignore. Erogenous zone: back and buttocks, especially the feel of erect nipples against either of them!

Scorpio women: Inquisitive, searching and experimental. Knows that eroticism consists of more than the physical act of lovemaking. While looking like a perfectly lady in public, you dress and behave like a whore in the bedroom. Control of the orgasm is very important and will try anything to help your man maintain his potency. You never take no for an answer and when interested in someone, you will pursue him with determination and guile. Best sex mates: Gemini, Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces. Props you love: scented body oils, flavored lubricating gels and vibrators.

Scorpio men: A lustful, sexy animal. Enjoys biting and sucking and is a master of oral sex. Inflicting pain turns him on so he may pinch at nipples or the insides of thighs. Likes it in the water, but his kink is that he prefers wood tables and hard floors to satin and silk. His erogenous zone is his genetalia.

Sagitarius women: You like the outdoors - freaking out if you are tent, camper or on the beach. You enjoy sex, but you don't like to prolong the preliminaries and want to start the main show as soon possible. Like to tease your partner to the point of losing control. You don't mind if your man comes too quickly - you are a generous and accepting lover. Best sex mates: Leo, Libra and Aquarius. Your sexual wardrobe will consist of accessories - gloves and shoes!

Sagitarius men: Sex is an intense experience with him - he seldom comes too quickly and he'll be the first to try a new position. He is the master of erotic massage - both oral and manual. His tongue can be a wicked instrument and when combined with his lips, creates an explosive affect! Erogenous zones: hips and thighs. And he likes to look at a woman's calves and thighs and likes to have sex with a woman in stockings.

Capricorn women:Don't need much foreplay - you go from zero to WOW in nothing flat! Not interested in in exotic variation, only in staying power. Since you like to dominate, you like to be astride your man, set a rhythm and please yourself. Once into the rhythm, lovemaking becomes a wild contest with orgasm as the prize and you can depend on getting there more than once. Also a scratcher and a screamer. Best sex mates: Taurus, Scorpio and Pisces.

Capricorn men: Sex evokes the best he can offer. He is a planner and a schemer. Prefers a woman who knows what he enjoys and he expects her to be willing and ready whenever he wants her. Has the stamina of a marathon runner. Here is the man who will hold off until you are ready to scream! Erogenous zone: a massage the starts at the lower back and gently strokes upward along the sides of his spine.

Aquarius women: A slow started, you idealize love and encompass it with tenderness. Once aroused though, anything goes! extremely imaginative and like trying new things. There is nothing in any sex manual that you won't try. Belief that anything that increases the pleasure for your partner is worthwhile. Best sex mates: Aries, Gemini, Libra, Sagitarius and Aquarius. Favorite sex position: standing up, and in water.

Aquarius men: Never treats a woman like a sex object and prefers a variety of foreplay before getting down to it. May have be to revved up, but once his engine is started, he is free and inventive with amazing persistence. He will always see you through to climax. A womanwho knows what she wants will be very happy. He usually ensures an orgasm twice - once orally and once genitally. Erogenous zones: gently touching the calves and ankles will get him going. Be careful though - a kinky Aquarian can be a sadist who doesn't like to be denied!

Pisces women: Always make the right moves, say the right things and create the right ambiance. You are sexually liberated and enjoy a wide range of eroticism. If his fantasies coincide with yours, the action can really get torrid!. You seldom say no to anything your lover suggests! Favorite place: in a waterbed or hot tub. Best sexmates: Cancer, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces.

Pisces men: Takes the lead in lovemaking and impatient if he doesn't get a swift response. Indifferent to sexual restrictions, both moral and legal, prefers a partner with a tremendous sexual craving. Likes sex in a chair. He likes to be submissive. Becomes an addict to anything that will give pleasure and release. Erogenous zone: massaging and caressing his feet.

Brighton is seeing a week-long annual conference of the Labour Party. In the last two decades, it is the first time that a Labour Party Prime Minster addressed the conference with so much enthusiasm, confidence, focus and immense popularity. India Monitor was represened officially in the conference to witness the new mood and new spirit which promise to govern Britain in a modern and unique way. As Tony Blair, the Prime Minister said in his speech, creativeness, compassion and outward-looking are some of the British characterstics which are the hallmark of the old British values that will bring out a new British confidence. Pointing out the strength of the multicultural Britain, Tony Blair said, "we cannot be a beacon to the world unless the talents of all the people shine through. I am against positive discrimination, but there is no harm in reminding ourselves just how much negative discrimination there is." Tony Blair wants to see blacks and Asians holding top positions in the administration, army and police. There are a number of party activitists of the Indian origin in the conference. Many of them are from local governments but a great number of them represent various charities and pressure groups. KASHMIR ISSUE AND LABOUR There were many Labour Party fringe meetings where people from the Indian sub-continent took an active part. Bombay restaurant in Preston Road saw a meeting about Jammu and Kashmir which was addressed by Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development. She expressed her fears about the nuclear capabilities of both India and Pakistan which would be tested if there is another war between the two countries over Kashmir. "In the post cold-war world, there is a chance to do something. Everyone has to work to solve this deep historical problem."

Clare Short who is in touch with a number of Non-Governmental Organisations would like to seek their assistance to address the problems of those suffering civilians, women and children who live on the frontier. "We have to reach out and broaden our alliance, to build something powerful to solve this problem. If Ireland can make progress then Kashmir problem can be sorted out too. Otherwise it will be catastrophic for the whole world." David Fatchet, Minister responsible for India and Pakistan in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office pointed out that the new Labour Government has the ethical foreign policy and it wants to work according the human rights enshrined in the United Nations conventions. "There are losers not just in Kashmir but in each town of India and Pakistan because both these countries have to spend ridiculous amount of money on Defence." The Minister elaborated, "If Singapore and other Asian Tiger countries are making so much progress, India and Pakistan could do the same, if only their Defence expenditure is reduced."

Cllr Nazir Ahmad pointed out that more than 700,000 Indian soldiers are posted in the valley and according to Amnesty International, International Red Cross and other International organisations, these soldiers are abusing human rights in their operations. "Only last week, another village was flattened, 30 villagers were butchered and a number of women by raped by these Indian soldiers." Cllr Nazir Ahmad said that no formula imposed by the Indo-Pakistani negotiating teams will be accepted, only the wishes of the Kashmiri people will count.

Retired Justice Abdul Majid Mallik of Azad Kashmir said that the United Nations resolutions on Kashmir and the General Assembly's resolution No. 1514 lend complete support to: the cause of territorial integrity, right to self-determination and end to subjugation, armed action or repressive measures of all kind against the dependent people to enable them to attain peacefully and freely their right to complete independence. "We demand that India and Pakistan withdraw their troops from the state and facilitate the settlement of the just cause of freedom so that the divided people of Jammu and Kashmir in both the parts are re-united and allowed unhindered to determine and decide their future."

This important Labour Party fringe meeting was chaired by Right Honourable Gerald Kaufman MP who said that this evening the Kashmir cause saw the support of two Her Majesty's Ministers and one Member of European Parliament who would like to build new alliances in Europe to resolve this issue.

National Army Museum at the Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London sees the opening of an important exhibition called, 'Soldiers of the Raj' from 15 August 1997 which will last next 18 months or so. Through colourful displays of paintings, uniforms, medals, weapons and documents, this exhibition tells the story of one of the largest armies in the world.

Soldiers of the Raj kept the British Empire going from the 17th century to the independence in 1947. It was interesting to learn that no British money was used to keep this force going. It was from the local Indian revenues, that the British could enlarge their empire in India and elsewhere.

If one is looking at the social history of the Soldiers, there are wonderful displays such as mobile 'daftar' (office), a piece of furniture where bureaucratic papers could be organised in a Secretariat chest of drawers. It was a kind of filofax of those ancient romantic days. One can also find dresses which were inspired by the local Maratha costumes, perfect for the Indian scorching sun. But if someone wants to learn about the history, this exhibition starts to create lots of problems. The director who seems to be a kind man gave free hand to the organisers with the remit that 'the exhibition should not upset anyone'. This resulted in a series of problems. Important events such Jalianwala Bagh massacre in which thousands of innocent Punjabis were killed and injured by the Soldiers of the Raj did not deserve any mention in the exhibits. The First Freedom Struggle of India which happened in 1856 is mentioned as 'mutiny'. This event started the ominous British Empire. The ruthlessness of the Soldiers of the Raj is shown through a water colour drawn by Orlando None. The picture depicts a couple of mutineers who were about to be blown from guns by the Bengal Horse Artillery 1858. In the catalogue, a more gruesome picture is reproduced in which the mutineers brains are blown off by the soldiers of the Raj. The caption in defending the action of the British soldiers says that it was a Moghal tradition which these soldiers were following. It is an excuse which come very handy when the British wish to defend their role in their colonies. One pertinent example is that of Bengal famine which had more catastrophic effect than the potato famine in Ireland with the death of over two million people.

Those who wish to take pride in the romantic past of the British Raj, this exhibition provides lots of nostalgia but if someone is looking for the true lessons of history then a visit can prove to be economical with the truth. At the opening of the exhibition, when the protest was made by some Indians, the organisers promised to revise the some of the misleading captions. Overall, in the true army traditions, this exhibition is very successful in furthering a soldier's maxim: 'Truth is too precious to tell every fool who asks for it.'

'Soldiers of the Raj' Exhibition. National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London SW3 4HT, Tel: 0171 730 0717. From 15th August 1997 daily from 10.00 am to 5.30pm. Admission Free.

By Michelle Zaniewski ( Rakesh is on holiday this week)

Indian art is less appreciated by a lot of India than by people living outside of India.I collect miniature paintings.My favorite are the Punjab Hills,Guler,Chamba,Garwahl and the Kangra Pahari Paintings.The ones done in the time from about 1790 to 1830 show the early development of 3 dimensional perspective in Indian art.The idealized faces and the soft flowing rounded forms evoke feelings of serenity.
I feel that the two most important influences in Indian miniature painting(apart from Imperial sponsorship) were the importing of specialized pigments from Iran when the safavid court artists were brought from Tabriz to the early Mughal court and this development of 3 dimensional perspective.

The earlier Indian paintings were done with vegetable dyes.The pigments brought the ability to have a higher degree of technical virtuosity than ever possible before.It was considered a measure of skill to be able to copy a page of the Koran on a single grain of rice.I have seen such a grain of rice on display in Houston in 1993 at the Menil collection.It is in the hands of a private Iranian collector.It was written with a brush of one hair of a fetal squirrel.I don't know if you have ever done this but you can take a magnifying glass and sit in front of a mughal painting and look at the incredible wealth of detail. I have always wanted to take 6 months away from work one fall semester to study at SOAS .This is the school for oriental studies where the people at sotheby's auction house and museum curators go to learn .I am self taught and I dont know anyone else who shares this passion in Houston.