GO TO SOURCE PARIS, FRANCE, February 20, 2002: About half of the world’s 6,000 languages are under threat of disappearing under pressure from more dominant tongues or repressive government policies, a new study says. From France and Russia to the Americas and Australia, minority languages and the heritage that goes along with them are at risk of dying out, according…
GO TO SOURCE CHITTAGONG, BANGLADESH, February 19, 2002: The Hindu community celebrated the Saraswati Puja in the port city of Chittagong on Sunday. Students especially paid homage to Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge and learning, at the different puja mondops, temporary temples. Parents also honored the Goddess for the bright academic future of their sons and daughters. The devotees gathered…
Source: Jakarta Post PROLINGGO, EAST JAVA, February 16, 2002: Hindus in East Java perform a cremation ritual that helps the soul who has made their transition reach heaven. The ritual is similar to one practiced by Balinese Hindus. In the ritual, small statues made of leaves and flowers are created to represent the deceased person. Offerings are made while traditional…
GO TO SOURCE NEW DELHI, INDIA, February 16, 2002: The sacred river Ganga which flows more than 2,500 kilometers through India is in dire need of attention. According to this article pollution levels at certain ritual bathing areas are 3,000 times the level safe for human beings. Two organizations, one headquartered in India called the Campaign for a Clean Ganges,…
GO TO SOURCE MYSORE, KARNATAKA, SOUTH INDIA, February 20, 2002: Police in the southern Indian city of Mysore have arrested nine members of the hardline Hindu group Bajrang Dal in connection with an attack on a church. Police said activists attacked the church at Hitkal village and assaulted worshippers during Sunday prayers. They said the men demanded the priest end…
GO TO SOURCE LONDON, ENGLAND, February 19, 2002: The great sub-continental divide is alive and well, 7,000 miles away from India and Pakistan as Britain digests the news that people like 12-year-old ethnic Indian Abhay Patel and his Pakistani classmate Ahmed Rasul will grow up to be painfully different. According to an interesting new government study of U.K.’s one-million Indians…
Source: HPI USA, February 18, 2002: Readers have complained to HPI about the January 31st episode of the NBC hit series, “Friends.” One report reads, “I was watching the latest episode of ‘Friends’ in NBC. There was a scene, in which Ross and his girl friend were sitting in a sofa, Ross explains the ‘Lord Ganesh’ is an artifact from…
GO TO SOURCE TEANECK, NEW JERSEY, February 15, 2002: A Hindu swami known as an activist for the poor and as a critic of religious fundamentalism will address the annual Interfaith Brotherhood/sisterhood breakfast on Monday at the Marriott Glenpointe hotel in Teaneck. Swami Agnivesh, chairman of a United Nations trust fund on slavery, will speak about “Interfaith Cooperation as a…
GO TO SOURCE BANGALORE, INDIA, February 17, 2002: About 50 Hindus attacked a Roman Catholic church in southern India on Sunday and injured several worshippers, police said. V.V. Bhaskar, the police chief in the city of Mysore, declined to say how many people were hurt in the attack. The assailants threw stones at the church, angry at what they said…
Source: Sandhya Times (Hindi) DELHI, INDIA, February 18, 2002: It was Vasant Panchami. On this auspicious occasion, millions of dollars were spent on around five thousand marriages held in Delhi. Traffic was snarled all over Delhi as a result. The cost of each marriage ran from US$5,000 up to $32,000. Marriages — and traffic jams — will continue through the…