1. UK Hindus Celebrate Deepavali in Trafalgar Square
Source

LONDON, ENGLAND, November 8, 2004: Back home, the festival may still be a few days away but thousands of Indians living in Britain poured into Trafalgar Square here on Sunday evening to celebrate Deepavali with fun, fireworks and food. As the actual festival day falls on a weekday, Indians living here celebrated the occasion Sunday at an open air function that was wished well by London mayor Ken Livingstone. About 5,000 Indians and South Asians gathered at the sprawling Trafalgar Square to watch a display of fireworks and a scintillating cultural program that featured traditional Indian dances like the garba performed by youngsters. Young Indian performers, speaking in accented Hindi, greeted the people and dished out songs. People danced to the music, undeterred by a light drizzle. "This celebration at Trafalgar Square has been on for the past six years. Before that it used to be held in a much smaller manner elsewhere," said Jagdish Patel, a 56-year-old businessman who moved to Britain from Gujarat 26 years ago. A huge stage was put up for the cultural troupes to perform on. In front of it, hundreds of people gathered to cheer the performers and participate in the dancing. "We are enjoying this very much. Such festivities are our connection with India," said Sam Malhotra, a college student.

The programs began around 4 p.m. and continued till about 8 p.m. Curious tourists and passers-by stopped to watch the colorful spectacle. "Indians are always colorful. So are their festivals," said Chris Palos, a Briton who stayed there for a while to watch the dancing on the stage. "The British are very encouraging when it comes to other cultures. They know how to assimilate other cultures," said Pushpa Patel, who has been living in London for 33 years. After the fireworks and the fun, people queued in front of food stalls that gave away free Indian vegetarian meals of puris, rice and curries.

2. Hindu Child Prodigy Visits Canada
Source

VANCOUVER, CANADA, October 31, 2004: Devotees of the Lakshmi Narayan temple in Surrey, British Columbia, have been flocking to the temple to hear Shri Charu Chaitanya Ji Maharaj speak about the Hindu scripture Bhagwatam Puran. What is so special about this yoga prodigy is the fact that he is only nine years old. Born in an ashram in the Indian Himalayas, Charu Chaitanya Ji's father, Bramarishi Premachyut Maharaj, has devoted his life to teaching yoga and meditation. Premachyut Maharaj says, "Yes, I do meditation, and he has followed me in that. But when he was two years old he was chanting very difficult Vedic mantras. Very easily he spoke these. So I was thinking at that time that he was a very special child. One time at my Ashram there was an annual religious function. Many gurus and rishis were there, and one chief guest was the forest minister. He was delivering a lecture, and my four-year-old came to me and said 'Papa throw him out. I want to deliver my lecture.' I told him, 'be quiet -- he's a minister,' but he insisted, so I told him 'okay, just wait.' So he delivered his first lecture at the age of four, and people were very surprised." The article adds, "At the tender age of seven, he is said to have declared that he would like to go all over the world to enlighten people about spiritual knowledge, love, peace and happiness. Word of this wonder-boy has spread steadily in the Hindu community, and on this tour of Canada and the USA, he has been greeted by thousands of admirers along the way. In Montreal close to 2,000 people flocked to see him at a temple only designed to seat 250." Devotee Anu Mehra says, "At such a young age he has great divine knowledge and ability to conduct katha [interpret religious stories] in front of a large number of people. You feel mesmerized by him, and spellbound. By the age of five, Charu Chaitanya Ji was a master in Asan Prayama yoga. This form of yoga is a far cry from the trendy, celebrity-driven power yoga of the Western world. It is closely tied to spiritual practice, and mastery of this form is something that many students 'can never achieve' over the course of their lifetime." In conclusion this news release sums it up, "A child prodigy like Charu Chaitanya Ji is proof-positive for many Hindus that the theory of reincarnation is correct. His extraordinary knowledge seems to have sprung from nowhere, and so the conclusion many of the faithful arrive at is he must have brought some of it along from a former life."

3. Hindu Temple in Singapore Slated for Demolition
Source

SINGAPORE, November 3, 2004: When the Sri Marathadi Muneeswarar temple received a court order initiated by JTC Corporation that the temple would be demolished, devotees reacted. Temple caretaker, Veerappan Ariappthire, tried to persuade the High Court to declare ownership of the land the temple is located on to him. The article says, "But the court threw out Mr Veerappan's case because the land, which has been earmarked for industrial development, belongs to the State. It granted the demolition order in August. A notice to vacate has been issued to the temple." JTC Corporation has asked the Hindu Endowment Board to arrange for the proper ceremonies before the temple is torn down. V.R. Nathan, chairman of HEB says, "The temple will be de-consecrated and the Deities de-sanctified following Hindu practises. The prayers will be conducted by a group of priests, headed by the senior consultant priest, with offerings to the Dieties. Thereafter, qualified sculptors will remove the Deities. The Deities will then be immersed in the deep sea. The Deities required for reinstallation at another temple will be preserved by the HEB." Temple representative Mano Sharma comments, "We have sought spiritual guidance and were told to leave everything behind. Even if the temple is flattened, we are optimistic and have faith that the supernatural power will remain. We believe we will come back one day to rebuild it - even if it means starting from scratch." Mr. Veerappan adds, "A peacock has made the temple its home two months ago. As the peacock is an auspicious animal in Hinduism, I see this as a sign. I will be here, standing outside the temple with my wife and children, to see how they are going to tear down this temple. I'm not taking away a single thing."

4. Now India Magnet for Medical Outsourcing
Source

NEW DELHI, INDIA, October 20, 2004: Three months ago, Howard Staab learned that he suffered from a life-threatening heart condition and would have to undergo surgery at a cost of up to $200,000 -- an impossible sum for the 53-year-old carpenter from Durham, N.C., who has no health insurance. So he outsourced the job to India. Taking his cue from cost-cutting U.S. businesses, Staab last month flew about 7,500 miles to the Indian capital, where doctors at the Escorts Heart Institute & Research Centre -- a sleek aluminum-colored building across the street from a bicycle-rickshaw stand -- replaced his balky heart valve with one harvested from a pig. Total bill: about $10,000, including round-trip airfare and a planned side trip to the Taj Mahal. "The Indian doctors, they did such a fine job here, and took care of us so well," said Staab, a gentle, pony tailed bicycling enthusiast who was accompanied to India by his partner, Maggi Grace. "I would do it again." Staab is one of a growing number of people known as "medical tourists" who are traveling to India in search of First World health care at Third World prices. Last year, an estimated 150,000 foreigners visited India for medical procedures, and the number is increasing at the rate of about 15 percent a year, according to Zakariah Ahmed, a health care specialist at the Confederation of Indian Industries.

5. Hindu News Service Launched
Source

November 6, 2004: Sarve Samachar was formally launched today online at "source." Sponsored by the Viraat Hindu Sabha, the site is the first automated Hindu news portal available on the internet, delivering content from over 30 online newspapers, news agency and other sources. The site uses technology similar to Google News to automatically crawl and index fresh content every 30 minutes. In addition, the site employs a unique metric based on the popularity and date to highlight only the most relevant and interesting content. Besides aggregation of news headlines, the site also collects the latest articles, columns, editorials from across the web.

6. World Population To Level Off At Nine Billion In 2300
Source

UNITED NATIONS, November 5, 2004: Three hundred years from now, the world's population will have stabilized at about 9 billion and we will look forward to living until age 95. In Japan, that bastion of longevity, people will be hanging around until they're 106. India, China and the United States will still be the most populous countries on the planet -- if they still exist -- and Africa's share of the world's population will double to 25 percent. The average woman will give birth to two children. Those are just a few possibilities projected in a U.N. report released Thursday, which lowers long-term population estimates because of new thinking about fertility rates in the future. The new report acknowledges that population projections are extremely iffy. "What will population trends to be like beyond 2050? No one really knows," the report says. "Any demographic projections, if they go 100, 200 or 300 years into the future, are little more than guesses. "But the report says the exercise is necessary to help mankind reflect on short-term trends and whether actions should be taken to change them. It uses the metaphor of a basketball coach who calls a time-out just five minutes into a game going badly to avoid an unfavorable outcome.

7. Swamini Mayatitananda's Deepavali Message
Source

USA, November 8, 2004: Mother sends Light & Blessings for Deepavali. The Divine never gives us more gifts than we can handle at any given time. At this crucial time of challenge for human mind and spirit, the magnificent occasion of Deepavali arrives bringing with it an abundant of reprieve and lightness. Deepavali is the Hindu Festival of Light - celebrated by millions of people throughout India and the world. It occurs on the last day of the dark fortnight of Kartika (October -November). This celebration is derived from several Hindu legends: It is the auspicious time when Goddess Lakshmi - Mother of prosperity & familial wellbeing- comes to visit the home. Traditionally, the hearth is cleaned and decorated with flowers, fruits, and sweets, and windows, gateways and courtyards illumined with dipa -earthen lamps filled with ghee - to welcome the Goddess's presence. The dipa is a metaphor for hope and truth and the acquisition of knowledge that eliminates darkness. Seize this occasion to give hope and offer prayers for inner harmony and world peace. Light a dipa, take a sankalpa ("will; purpose; determination." A solemn vow or declaration of purpose) and make a commitment to life's harmony necessary to alleviate the troubled mind and dark times.

Deepavali also commemorates Lord Rama's victory over the demon Ravana, and the slaying of the horrendous demon Narksura by Lord Krishna - cosmic triumph that symbolizes success of the greater good over the ills of our time. Deepavali is considered Light Time - an illumed juncture in space that is the right time to recognize that all eventualities has its basis in karma - the ever spinning, unrelenting wheel of life that accounts for each and every one of actions past to present - but we do have the power to recast our dismay and grief into love and joy. At this auspicious time, remember to take a deep breath, light a dipa for every wish you make, forgive all, and reclaim your joy!

Lovingly,
Swamini Mayatitananda

8. Pakistan Supreme Court Bars Dowry and Meals at Wedding
Source

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, November 6, 2004: Wedding guests in Pakistan can be served only soft drinks or tea, coffee and other hot drinks, the Supreme Court has ruled. No meals or any other edibles can be served, a three-judge bench of the court ruled, Dawn reported Saturday. The order came on a petition challenging various sections of an act passed by the Punjab assembly on serving food at weddings. "The court said that no person owning or running a hotel, restaurant, wedding hall, community centre or club being the site of marriage ceremony, or any caterer, shall serve or allow anyone to serve any meals or edibles to persons participating in the ceremony, other than hot and cold soft drinks," Dawn reported. The Supreme Court also revoked the Punjab government's permission to entertain guests with one dish.

"The federal government's law of prohibiting meals at (wedding) receptions still holds and, therefore, is applicable throughout Pakistan," said the 23-page judgment. Authored by Chief Justice Nazim Hussain Siddiqui, the judgment invalidated the Punjab government's act to allow serving of one dish to a maximum of 300 guests at wedding receptions. "The chief justice also observed that functions related to marriage such as mayun/rasm-i-henna, baraat and the custom of giving large dowries were of Hindu origin and had nothing to do with the Islamic concept of marriage," Dawn reported. "Social evils emanating from such exploitative customs have not only added to the misery of the poor but have also put at stake their very existence," it said, quoting the judgment. The order also deplored the custom of displaying dowry before guests and held that open demands for dowries had crushed the middle and poor segments of society. "Such evils of extravagance and ostentatious displays of wealth are unacceptable as they are against all norms and values known to a civil society and therefore must stop," the chief justice observed "It is the duty of the state to encourage the celebration of marriage ceremonies in simple and informal ways like performance of Nikah in a local mosque to eliminate inconvenience and harm to society," the order said.

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