Source KEDARNATH, INDIA, September 23, 2013 (Times Of India): More than three months after flash floods, landslides and rain destroyed large parts of Uttarakhand the tortuous exercise of rebuilding shattered lives is on. The immediate task of evacuating thousands of pilgrims and tourists is over. But the residents suffer, each day a grim battle to tackle the fallout of a…
Source They have “Dial-a-Prayer” for atheists now. You call it up, it rings and rings, but nobody answers.
Source MUMBAI, INDIA, September 21, 2013 (Manthan K. Mehta, TNN): The 10-day Ganapati festival brought a major revenue boost to Central Railway (CR) and Western Railway (WR), with the two collectively earning US$1.6 million more than usual. The suburban railway network saw an average of 430,000 passengers more per day during the just-concluded Ganeshotsav festival. On Monday, September 16, the…
Source UNITED KINGDOM, August 15, 2013 (BBC): The lives of Burma’s (Myanmar’s) Tamil minority are in the centre of a 12-part weekly series launching on BBC Tamil radio on Sunday 18 August. “The Tamils Who Stayed Back In The Golden Land” (Thanga Mannil Thangiya Thamizhargal) explores the conditions in which Burma’s ethnic Tamils live today and talks about their collective…
Source In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Ministry of External Affairs said Robert Schrimpf, a private art collector in Paris, had acquired the 400-kg stolen sculpture of Vrishanana Yogini, a Goddess with a buffalo-shaped head. After his death, his wife Martine Schrimpf donated it to the Indian Embassy in Paris in 2008.Indian Ambassador Arun Kumar Singh told The Hindu…
Source KATHMANDU, NEPAL, September 21, 2013 (Niti Central): The Indian chief priest of Nepal’s fifth-century Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu submitted his resignation after 21 years of service for personal reasons. Mahabaleshwor Bhatta, who hails from Tamil Nadu, gave his resignation to the Pashupati Area Development Trust, the body that looks after the Hindu temple’s affairs. The board of the trust…
Source To the growing soul, to the spirit within us, may not difficulties, obstacles, attacks be a means of growth, added strength, enlarged experience, training for spiritual victory? The arrangement of things may be that, and not a mere question of the pounds, shillings and pence of a distribution of rewards and retributory misfortunes!— Sri Aurobindo Ghose (1872-1950), Indian philosopher…
Source MUMBAI, INDIA, September, 2013 (Washington Post): During Ganesh Charturthi, Hindus, whether they live in Mumbai or Hyderabad, bring homes murthis of Lord Ganesha to invoke His Blessings for wisdom and prosperity and good fortune. This year the ten-day festival began September 9 but artisans start working on these elephant-headed deities weeks before and the final touch is given just…
Source TRINIDAD AND TOGAGO, September 19, 2013 (Trinidad Express): Ganesh Utsav, an Indian festival brought to Trinidad and Tobago by indentured laborers more than 150 years ago, was this week celebrated by Hindus throughout the country. The ten-day worship to Lord Ganesh, remover of obstacles, culminated with a procession where Ganesh murtis were immersed in the sea yesterday. Pundit Khemraj…
Source Wealth’s Goddess dwells in the hospitable home of those who host guests with a smiling face.— Tirukkural