Source: Afternoon Dispatch MUMBAI, INDIA, August 23, 2001: Celebrating Ganesha’s birthday with pomp and gaiety has always meant prosperity for merchants in the city. While this still holds true for those shopkeepers selling puja accessories such as flowers, incense sticks, coconuts, fruits, Ganesha murthis, and the ever popular modaka (a round sweet made from rice, coconut, and sugar), other merchants…
Source: The Hindu VELLORE, INDIA, August 21, 2001: Even as an unprecedented water scarcity affected the business of moulding clay and making idols, the traditional potter families of Vellore carried on their job without any let-up on the eve of Vinayaka Chathurthi. The potter families spread over the Kuttaimedu, Salavanpet and Kosapet areas had to struggle to fetch water for…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, August 19, 2001: A statement last Saturday by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on the conversion motive of Christians has the Catholic community up in arms. “I am questioning the welfare activities being carried out by some Christian missionaries in the country’s backward areas, and it was not proper though conversion was permissible under…
GO TO SOURCE MUMBAI, INDIA, August 20, 2001: For safety reasons, Ganesha Visarjana devotees have been asked by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to move their celebrations from Dadar Chowpatty beach to nearby Mahim Chowpatty instead. An unusually high tide level and crowd management due to the beach’s small size are contributing factors for the request. The BMC has also encouraged…
GO TO SOURCE SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, August 25, 2001: The Sydney Opera House is reverberating with the sounds of tablas, sarods, guqins, cymbals and other Asian musical instruments as the Asian Music and Arts Festival opened in this Australian city on Friday. A number of artistes are set to enthral the audience with their performances in Indian classical dance and music…
GO TO SOURCE DELHI, INDIA, August 22, 2001: The Times of India today carried the following advertisement: “Calgary Hindu Temple Requires a Head Priest with impeccable academic credentials in Sanskrit, excellent communication skills in English and Hindi. Music ability preferable. Apply immediately at website ‘source’ or fax 1-403-547-0199 or phone 1-403-239-7764.”
GO TO SOURCE VADODARA, INDIA, August 20, 2001: Following a wish Maharaja Sayajirao III made to shun violence and be totally religious, six decades ago, master craftsman Krishnarao Chavan, stopped making Ganeshas that showed the deity killing the “Sindrasur” demon. “The Maharajas of the Baroda state always worshipped Ganesha icon that showed the Elephant God vanquishing the evil “rakshas” with…
Source: The Deccan Herald HYDERABAD, INDIA, August 23, 2001: The installation of Ganesh icons for Ganesha Chaturthi in the hostels on Osmania University campus, here by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, has evoked protest from the Progressive Democratic Students Union which is seeing it as a step towards including more of Hinduism in the academic atmosphere on campus. The ABVP…
GO TO SOURCE INDIA, August 23, 2001: Pakistani and Indian officials have pledged to work together in a growing battle with the US about rights to basmati rice. A decision in the US this week to grant patents to a US company for new strains of rice similar to basmati has provoked an angry reaction. Commerce ministers from the two…
GO TO SOURCE MADUGAHAWATTE, SRI LANKA, August 17, 2001: After almost 20 years of civil war with the loss of at least 62,000 lives, the fighting between the Sinhalese majority and the Tamil rebels continues. Comprising 6.8% of economic spending in the year 2000 compared to 1% in the early 1980’s, the military presence has become a way of life…