GO TO SOURCE KOLKATA, INDIA, April 6, 2002: The tourism ministry is considering a move to start a “Vivekananda Yatra” for tourists, which would encompass all the places Swami Vivekananda visited spreading his message, Union culture and tourism minister Jagmohan announced. The minister was speaking at the annual convocation of the Ramakrishna Institute of Culture. “In these troubled times, it…
GO TO SOURCE BANGALORE, INDIA, April 6, 2002: This month Venus, Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury will be clearly visible between April 15 and 30, with Mercury joining in to shine in the night sky in the month-end. The best time to see these planets is around seven in the evening, just after sunset in the Western sky. “It will…
GO TO SOURCE WASHINGTON, U.S.A., April 4, 2002: Two research teams, one from the West and one from the East, have collaborated their efforts as part of an international rice project to determine the genetic makeup of the grain. Both teams, the one in California located at Syngenta International Inc. in San Diego and led by Steven Briggs and Stephen…
GO TO SOURCE AHMEDABAD, INDIA, April 4, 2002: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Thursday told Muslims of Gujarat that they were not alone at this time of crisis and the entire country was behind them. “You are not alone at this time of crisis. We all are with you. The entire country is with you,” he told the riot…
GO TO SOURCE ABASANA, GUJARAT, INDIA, April 3, 2002: “You are welcome to Hindu nation’s village…..” — such “welcome” boards can be seen lined all along the road as one drives down to this village in Gujarat State. But Abasana is an exception as no such proclamation of Hindutva greets you to it, states this report in the Hindustan Times.…
GO TO SOURCE DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA, March 31, 2002: Feathers have been ruffled in the Hindu community in this country because some temples used a symbol of a peacock rather than a rooster on their flags for Kavadi festivals. The rooster symbol has been widely used for more than a century, but some temples have upset devotees by replacing it…
GO TO SOURCE MONTREAL, CANADA, April 4, 2002: A Sikh family here will soon test the boundaries of religious tolerance with a court battle to win permission for their 12-year-old son to wear his spiritually significant dagger to school. Quebec’s Superior Court will take up the issue next week and its decision will set a legal precedent for the province.…
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, In what must surely be the most comprehensive (and grueling) tour of the USA by a Hindu leader in recent times, Sri Karunamayi will give darshan for four months to devotees in 30 cities across North America starting in New York on April 5th. Included in the itinerary are some places seldom visited…
GO TO SOURCE LENASIA, JOHANNESBURG, April 5, 2002: He used to be a devout Christian until curiosity took him to a Hindu temple in Lenasia town, 25 miles south of this South African city. Four years later, Meshack Jantjies, 35, is South Africa’s first black African Hindu priest. Not only does the deputy resident priest at the Siva Gnana Sabay…
GO TO SOURCE BANGALORE, INDIA, March 31, 2002: With 925 software firms and 80,000 software engineers, Bangalore has become the Silicon Valley of India, accounting for one quarter of the country’s $6.2 billion in software exports. Bay Area notables Cisco, Apple and Hewlett-Packard all have sites here. When the original Silicon Valley sank into recession, Indians were optimistic. With 60…