Source: The Hindu PATHANAMHITTA, December 24, 2001: The Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple has seen unprecedented crowds since Saturday. The police had to detain pilgrims for up to three hours as part of crowd-control measures. The line of devotees was extended on the trekking path this morning with many pilgrims waiting for eight to ten hours to enter the temple. Meanwhile, traffic…
GO TO SOURCE INDIA, December 24, 2001: With 90% of Indians unable to speak and write English, the language barrier has become a real issue as most modern day computers have an English keyboard. In an attempt to develop software that will adapt the English language alphabet so that the keys produce Indian text, many companies did not coordinate their…
Source: Chicago Tribune LONDON, ENGLAND, December 27, 2001: The days when people identified with the Church of England as an institution are past, according to this report. One recent study predicted that within a few decades, Anglicans will rank third in weekly worship, following Catholics in second place and Muslims in first. A church spokesman disagreed with the numbers, stating…
GO TO SOURCE KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, December 25, 2001: With the erstwhile Taliban regime destroying all musical instruments in the country because they were “un-Islamic,” the new Afghan interim government has sent an SOS to India for despatch of a set of musical instruments to compose the new national anthem. The Afghan cultural ministry said the country had only one recorded…
Source: The Hindu MYSORE, INDIA, December 25, 2001: The priests and employees of Sri Lakshmi Venkataramana Swamy Temple at V.V. Mohalla staged a dharna (picketing) outside the temple premises in protest against the alleged assault of a cook by a temple trustee. The representatives of the Temple Staff and Workers’ Union lodged a complaint with the V.V. Puram police. They…
GO TO SOURCE December 26, 2001: Bala N. Aiyer (“source” above) writes to HPI, “The Microsoft Windows fonts under wingdings has Om on it under \ but the Om they have shown is wrong as the second circle after the “3” is in reverse.” He said his appeals to Microsoft have gone unnoticed and that a lot of publications are…
Source: News Reports December 26, 2001: President A.N.R. Robinson has appointed the leader of the PNM party, Mr. Patrick Manning, as the new Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago. For many it was a sad moment, as Mr. Basdeo Panday, the country’s first Hindu prime minister was expected to be reappointed. However, the December 11th elections resulted in an 18/18…
GO TO SOURCE BHUBANESWAR, ORISSA, INDIA, December 26, 2001: Gold and silver ornaments worth about US$851 have been stolen from the Jhadeswari temple, police sources said. Gold jewelry of Goddess Jhadeswari, silver ornaments of Goddess Laxmi, a silver crown and a silver canopy were stolen on Sunday night, they said. Police are yet to find a clue about the miscreants…
GO TO SOURCE NOVEMBER 21, 2001: A new gravity map of the Earth shows that the pull of gravity is less in India. If you were in India you would be slightly less than 1% lighter than elsewhere on the planet. The gravity map has been prepared to help scientists plan the forthcoming Grace (Gravity Recovery And Climatic Experiment) satellites,…
Source: The Hindu THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, KERALA, INDIA, December 20, 2001: At this state’s third national conference focusing on Ayurveda, Health Minister. P. Sankaran said, “The preservation of the ancient science of Ayurveda and promotion of development and research in the traditional branch of medicine will be among the prime agendas of the government.” The state government has already established the Central…