Source INDIA, September 2011 (groudreport.com): India is celebrating one of its most colorful festivals – Navaratri. During the 9-day period, the Bengali community all across the globe will also celebrate Durga Puja. According to ancient lore, Durga the mother Goddess will slay the demon king Mahishasura after fighting him for nine days and nine nights, thus ensuring the victory of…
Source UNITED KINGDOM, September 28, 2011 (Harrow Observer): Community leaders took part in a colorful Pothi Yatra procession through Wealdstone to mark the start of the nine-day long Hindu festival of Navaratri. The crowd, accompanied by musicians, left the International Siddhashram Shakti Centre in Palmerston Road before passing through High Street and finishing at Harrow Leisure Centre in Christchurch Avenue…
Source Truth is a snare: you cannot have it without being caught. You cannot have truth in such a way that you catch it, but only in such a way that it catches you.— Soren Kierkegaard, (1813 -1855), Danish philosopher and theologian
Source WISE RIVER, MONTANA, USA, October 1, 2011 (The NY Times): Across millions of acres, the pines of the northern and central Rockies are dying, just one among many types of forests that are showing signs of distress these days. From the mountainous Southwest deep into Texas, wildfires raced across parched landscapes this summer, burning millions more acres. In Colorado,…
Source MUMBAI, INDIA, September 22, 2011 (DNA): Tired of the increasing use of swear words by youngsters, students of third year bachelors of mass media (TYBMM) from RD National College, Bandra have started a campaign called ‘No Abusive Language,’ aiming to convince other students that swearing is not cool anymore. They are trying hard to encourage students to stop using…
(RNS) USA, September 28, 2011 (Religion News Services): Entrepreneurs are significantly more likely to pray several times a day or to meditate than most Americans, according to the Baylor Religion Survey, released September 20. Sociologist Kevin Dougherty, co-author of the survey, noted the survey can’t answer whether prayerful, peaceful folks are more likely to take a business risk, or whether…
Source ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN, September 18, 2011 (dna India): Pakistan’s four million Hindus, the country’s largest minority, are unable to register their marriages, due to continued delays in passing the draft bill for the Hindu Marriage Act that was proposed in 2008. There is currently no system in Pakistan for registering the marriages of Hindus, Sikhs, Baha’is and certain other minorities.…
Source Wealth’s Goddess dwells in the hospitable home of those who host guests with a smiling face.— Tirukkural
Source UNITED STATES, June 25, 2011: A new book, “Unnatural Selection,” by Science writer Mara Hvistendahl looked at the tremendous shortage of women, particularly in Asia, due to sex selection. Hvistendahl focused on the West’s role in exacerbating the disparity by exporting abortion technologies, and in response, many took her to task for not placing the blame on the foreign…
Source SEOUL and TAIPEI, August 20, 2011 (The Economist): Asian women, like those in the West, are marrying much later these days–some not at all. In combination with the selective abortion of female fetuses, this trend is producing a bride shortage that will destroy Asia’s tradition of universal marriage and place great strains on society. Only 30 years ago, just…