Uproar Over UK Minister’s Call to Marry British Resident
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, UK, Feb 9, 2002: Ethnic communities have condemned strongly the British Home Secretary after he urged families who arrange marriages to find partners in Britain and not in Asia, triggering a new row over multi-culturalism. Mr David Blunkett was accused of “dangerous interference” in Asian culture when he said parents and men and women taking part…
Delhi Papers Continue to Highlight School Abuse
Source: Hindustan Times NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 30, 2002: This article in the Hindustan Times is the latest in a series of reports appearing in Delhi papers regarding corporal punishment in schools. When eight-year old Rachna could not properly read her Hindi lesson, her teacher at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi’s (MCD) primary school reprimanded her by repeatingly banging her…
Request for Sanskrit Font With Diacritical Marks
GO TO SOURCE KAUAI, HAWAII, February 14, 2002: An HPI reader asks, “Can you advise on where and how I can purchase fonts of roman characters with diacritical marks for the the transliteration of Sanskrit terms in English texts, to install in my PC (Word 95).” Any HPI readers who know of such fonts may kindly respond to “Source” above…
Cell Phone Use May Harm Children
GO TO SOURCE OSLO, SPAIN, February 7, 2002: With significant reduced brain activity after using a cell phone for only a few minutes, child subjects at the Spanish Neuro Diagnostic Research center in Marbella were compared to adult subjects. Conducted by German investigator Michael Klieeisen, the tests clearly showed that brain activity in large sections of the brain was reduced…
India’s Laughing Guru Spreads His Message of Happiness
Source: Reuters NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 7, 2002: With his “don’t worry, be happy” slogan and a breathing technique to reduce stress, His Holiness Sri Sri Ravishankar is known as the laughing guru in India. Appealing to India’s Westernized urban elite who have lost contact with their religious roots and priests, Ravishankar’s message has given this group back their sense…
Aerial Ropeway for Tirupati Temple
Source: Press Release HYDERABAD, INDIA, February 10, 2002: Andhra Pradesh Tourism is planning to construct an aerial ropeway between Tirupati and Tirumala for travellers to the famous Sri Venkateswara temple. The 3.8-mile-long ropeway would pass through seven hills, and have a capacity of 1,000 passengers per hour and subsequently it will be doubled to 2,000 per hour. The project will…
Classical Dance Performance for Cause of Girl Child
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, January 29, 2002: In an effort to promote the cause of girl child, leading exponents of various classical dance forms including Kathak dancer Pandit Birju Maharj and Kuchipudi exponents Radha and Raja Reddy performed in Delhi on January 30. The event Kaladarpanam, organized by an NGO Kalahetu was scheduled to have three generations of…
Political Buddhism and War in Sri Lanka
Source: Globe and Mail, England COLOMBO, SRI LANKA, February 1, 2002: As the world watches to see how Afghanistan recovers after being ruled by a fanatical Islam regime, Paul Knox of the Globe and Mail reveals a similar situation that may have been going on in Sri Lanka since 1983. Buddhism or rather some Buddhist leaders may have been influenced…
Museum Postpones Controversial Films
GO TO SOURCE NEW YORK, NEW YORK, February 10, 2002: The American Museum of Natural History here has postponed two controversial films on India because of protests from the Hindu community. The films are described on the museum web site at “source” above. The first, “We Are Not Your Monkeys” by Anand Patwardhan, is a five minute video. “The song…