SourceIOWA, U.S.A., May 17, 2003: If you are a Hindu living in Madrid, Iowa, you now have a Hindu temple to worship in. Located right beside the Des Moines River, the new temple will cost US$1.6 million when it is finished. The community at large has accepted the new house of worship as was evidenced when 300 nonmembers visited the…
SourceNEW YORK, May 15, 2003: Sanskrit is among the world’s oldest recorded language, but putting works created over the last 3,000 years onto the Web has not been easy. Documents written in Devanagiri, a compound word whose literal translation means “city of immortals” and whose script is used for Sanskrit and other South Asian languages, can be scanned as images.…
Hindustan TimesLONDON, UK, May 14, 2003: The British government has raised the age at which a spouse can be brought to Britain in an attempt to combat forced marriages, mostly taking place in Pakistani and Bangladesh Muslim communities. The Home Secretary, introduced the measure on April 1 without making an announcement. The government has been concerned over the rising number…
SourceSAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, May 18, 2003: Manoj Mathai’s hunt for his first house could be a lesson to Silicon Valley real estate professionals. A home must have certain qualities to make the native of India happy. The front door must face east because good fortune comes from a rising sun. “In the back of our minds, we Indians are looking…
SourceLONDON, U.K., May 17, 2003: The British Government appears ready to ban the slaughter of animals without stunning them. This would affect the supply of halal meat (animals that are slaughtered according to the Islamic sharia law.) For the last few years, authorities have gone out of their way to accommodate the request by the Muslim community to provide only…
SourceNEW DELHI, May 18, 2003: India’s working women are all set for an outfit conversion. Though the salwar kameez remains their most-preferred work wear, a strong urge for a shift to Western attire has placed them on the brink of change, according to the responses of 891 participants. Most respondents said they would put on Western wear for the office,…
SourceCALICUT, INDIA, May 4, 2003: More than 60 people are under arrest in a south Indian fishing village, after nine fishermen were killed and more than 20 people injured. The victims who died in the attack in the state of Kerala, were all Hindus. Marad had been tense since January last year, when five people, including four Muslims, died in…
The HinduCHENNAI, INDIA, October 19, 2002: There is a train called the Tirukkural Express with weekly routes between Hazarat Nizamuddin to Kanyakumari and back. The Tirukkural is a 2,200-year-old South Indian Dravidian classic on ethical living. Its 1,330 verses were written by a Tamil weaver sage name Tiruvalluvar. Tiru means “holy” or “sacred,” and kural describes a brief verse or…
SourceKOLHAPUR, INDIA, May 14, 2003: A Dalit (“untouchable”) movement to allow entry into temples in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra has taken a bloody turn with the upper castes resorting to violence against it. Earlier, upper caste community members had tried ostracizing and threatening Dalit Mahasangh, the group spearheading the movement. The Mahasangh is active in Sangli, Satara and Kolhapur…
SourceANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA, May 12, 2003: Recognizing the need, the Andhra Pradesh government is allocating US$810,000 to restore ancient temples in the state. Minister for Endowments D. Sivaramaraju says, “The state government has decided to provide more facilities for visitors and devotees.” At a recent visit to the Swamy Temple, atop Durgamalleswara hill, gold gopurams were installed and the temple…