SourceWASHINGTON, D.C., December 25, 2004: (HPI note: This article appeared in the Washington Post. ) The humble handshake — cornerstone of civilized behavior, ancient gesture of greeting among friends and strangers alike — is in trouble. Politicians are avoiding it. Church officials are worrying about it. Business people are wary of it. Shaking hands is slowly being transformed from a…
HPIKAUAI, HAWAII, December 29, 2004: With the help of input from HPI readers, we’ve assembled the following list of organizations in several countries who are involved in the tsunami relief efforts. They include both organizations collecting money for the relief effort and those actually on the ground in India and Sri Lanka doing the work. This is not a complete…
SourceCHENNAI, INDIA, December 28, 2004: The RSS issued the following press release from “source”: The purpose of the press release is to appraise the public of the relief work organised by the RSS and to appeal for assistance in the form of medicines, clothing, blankets, sarees and more importantly donations for relief and rehabilitation includes housing, boats and fishing nets…
SourceYALA NATIONAL PARK, SRI LANKA, December 29, 2004: Wildlife officials in Sri Lanka expressed surprise Wednesday that they found no evidence of large-scale animal deaths from the weekend’s massive tsunami — indicating that animals may have sensed the wave coming and fled to higher ground. An Associated Press photographer who flew over Sri Lanka’s Yala National Park in an air…
HPIKAUAI, HAWAII, December 28, 2004: With thousands of news stories available on the Internet, HPI is not attempting full coverage, but only to fill in with stories of special interest to Hindus and otherwise likely to be missed. We are requesting recommendations for the names of relief organizations able to operate in the impacted areas (especially Sri Lanka and India)…
SourceKANYAKUMARI, INDIA, December 27, 2004: Bravery of fishermen in Kanyakumari helped to save the lives of over 500 people at the Vivekananda rock memorial on Sunday. Undeterred by the menacingly high tides, fishermen put their boats out into the sea and went to rescue the stranded tourists after the deadly Tsunami waves hit India’s southeast coast on Sunday morning. They…
SourceVIRGINIA, USA, December 28, 2004: The Christian website, Crosswalk.com, published a long story about Christian relief efforts following the tsunami (“source”). While the Christian charity exhibited by the rapid response of Christian organizations is admirable, the ulterior motives of conversion expressed by some are disturbing: Some excerpts: ….”Doctor Ajith Fernando, who is considered by some to be the “Billy Graham…
The Hindu KURNOOL, INDIA, December 26, 2004: The centuries-old Sangameswara temple at the confluence of the Krishna and the Bhavanasi near Muchumarri in Kurnool district is facing permanent submersion. This follows the Andhra Pradesh Government’s decision to raise the minimum level in the Srisailam reservoir from 834 feet to 854 feet to make the Srisailam Right Main Canal operational for…
HPIDELHI, INDIA, December 24, 2004: The Sri Venkatadri Veda Vidyapeetham Trust in Delhi has produced the entire four Vedas–Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva–in 100 hours of chanting on 8 CDs. This is, to our knowledge, the first time the entire Vedas have been recorded, an extraordinary accomplishment. The files are in MP3 format, and the recording quality is reasonable. Our…
SourceCOLOGNE, GERMANY, December 18, 2004: Today marked the opening of the Hari Om Mandir, the first permanent Sanatan Hindu temple in Cologne, Germany. The grand, two-floor temple, with a capacity of up to 800 people, was opened as a result of the hard work and perseverance of the Afghani Hindu Community of which there are approximately 250 families residing in…