GO TO SOURCE AHMEDABAD, INDIA, July 21, 2001: A new element to the three-year-old sparring between the Christian groups and the Hindutva bodies was added when the Gujarat unit of the All-India Christian Council charged the Congress with joining the Sangh Parivar (RSS affiliated) bodies to harass Christians. The charge followed a joint demonstration by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad…
GO TO SOURCE KATMANDU, NEPAL, July 25, 2001: The leader of Nepal’s Maoist guerrillas claimed that the group has formed a cartel of South Asian militant groups, and his rebels were inching toward success in transforming this Himalayan kingdom into a communist republic. “The people’s revolution shall be completed very soon, not in the remote future,” the Maoist supreme leader,…
GO TO SOURCE CHANDIGARH, INDIA, July 24, 2001: The women’s annual festival of Teej was enthusiastically celebrated here. Ladies mobbed the various stalls to for mehendi, traditional temporary designs applied to the hands. As well the bangle sellers did a brisk business. (from Hindi)
GO TO SOURCE ATLANTA, GEORGIA, July 23, 2001: The Hindu Temple of Atlanta is holding the Sree Maha Rudra Yegnam during August 31 to September 3, 2001. Sree Maha Rudram is one of the most energetic forms of chanting Sri Rudram, a revered section of the Yajur Veda. Reciting the entire Sri Rudram 1,331 times, followed by chanting of Chamakam…
GO TO SOURCE UNITED KINGDOM, June 28, 2001: If you are shopping for life insurance, be sure to check out a company called Animal Friends Insurance. A not-for-profit insurance agency, AFI donates its net profits to animal welfare and rescue groups. In honor of vegetarians, the company has recently commenced selling a special discount term assurance life policy. Recognizing that…
GO TO SOURCE ERODE, INDIA, July 19, 2001: To Western companies operating in India, the cow is a sacred. But nothing is so straightforward in India. India is actually a major producer and consumer of leather, and only some of it comes from goat, sheep and buffalo. With a population that is an estimated 80% Hindu, India slaughters 14 million…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, July 21, 2001: The banana will be the next major food crop to have its entire collection of genes decoded, an international consortium of scientists has announced. The banana genome should allow researchers to develop strains that are more resistant to disease and which require fewer agrochemicals to be applied during their cultivation. Researchers also…
GO TO SOURCE CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, July 24, 2001: In the aftermath of a controversial radio broadcast on Hinduism — reported first by J.V. Lakshmana Rao in India Tribune — TV and radio talk show host Tony Brown apologized to Hindus, and said he plans to broaden sympathies between Indian Americans and others in the US. “The truth is I made…
GO TO SOURCE KATHMANDU, NEPAL, July 21, 2001: For the past 300 years, a succession of small girls have been chosen to become Kumari, or Nepal’s living goddess — a job that entails living in an ornate cloister, appearing at religious festivals on a chariot and retiring at the age of 11 with a small pension. But human rights activists…