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INDIA, March, 25, 2024 (The Guardian): Holi is the Hindu festival of colors and is celebrated to mark the start of spring in India, Nepal, other South Asian countries and across the diaspora. Celebrants rejoice by throwing colored powders at one another on the street. Festivities also involve special holiday foods, music and dancing. Holi is seen as a time…

SUVA, FIJI, March 26, 2024 (Fiji Times):Hindus in Fiji will today celebrate Holi to mark the triumph of good over evil. All Sanatan schools will be closed today and Ramayan mandalis around Fiji will spend the whole day taking part in celebrations. “In Fiji, where our strength lies in our diversity, Holi demonstrates the spirit of inclusivity and mutual respect,”…

SPAIN, March 18, 2024 (El Faro Ceuta, google translated from Spanish): The Hindu priest from Ceuta, Juan Carlos Ramchandani (Pandit Krishna Kripa Dasa), has participated in the “International Congress on the Legal Status of Religious Minorities without a Cooperation Agreement” in Spain organized by the Public University of Navarra (UPNA), the Pluralism and Coexistence Foundation and the Ministry of Science…

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, February 29, 2024 (India Currents): On February 24, theater company Rungmunch organized two shows of the “Geet Ramayana,” a Broadway-style rendition of the great Indian epic. Hundreds of Bay Area residents attended the shows, which were scheduled for 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. The production was supported by the…

UNITED STATES, March 15, 2024 (RNS): If experts were predicting that 100,000 libraries across the United States were likely to close in the next few decades, people would probably sit up and take notice. Certainly, if 100,000 school buildings were going to be empty in small and large communities, someone would be talking about it. But the possible demise of…

NEPAL, March 15, 2024 (ORF, by Dr. Hari Bansch Jha): The latest census conducted in 2021 in Nepal shows that the average growth of the population in the country dropped perceptibly from 1.34 per cent in 2011 to 0.93 per cent in 2021. Factors such as the outmigration of the population, reduction in fertility rate, increase in literacy rate mainly…

UNITED STATES, March 13, 2024 (RNS): Preity Upala has lived more than a few lives. After a career as an investment banker in Australia, Upala moved to the U.S. to pursue her dream of attending film school, eventually landing roles in major Bollywood films like “Bahubali” and in the Hollywood production “Sex and the City 2.” Now, in Los Angeles,…

MEDAN, INDONESIA, March 11, 2024 (Al Jazeera): The Raksa Buana Great Temple in Medan is one of only two Balinese Hindu temples in the Indonesian city of 2.5 million people. Tucked away in a backstreet, it would be easy to miss the carved stone building, which was built in 1978. While the temple is usually closed to the public, on…

BALI, INDONESIA, March 11, 2024 (SCMP): March 11, 2024 is Nyepi Day, the Balinese New Year, a time of silence and inactivity, to confuse demons and drive them from the island. Imagine a celebration where, for 24 hours, no one does anything – and if they do, they’re likely to be fined. Residents (and tourists) are forbidden from leaving their…