Category: News

The Headpriest Speaks

And now comes another blow at the Sangh Parivar and BJP. Straight from the head priest of Ram Janmabhoomi, Satyendra Das.

But Babri Masjid was demolished so that Ram Mandir could be built.

The demolition of the Babri Masjid was an unfortunate incident. It was like a mandir only [sic]. It protected Ram Lalla and pujas were regularly organised there. Thousands of devotees thronged the place. After they destroyed the masjid, Ram Lalla stands unprotected in storm and rain. There’s only a makeshift structure. They said they would build a mandir; their intention was to grab power. Earlier, nobody had a problem with the fact that pujas were held inside the masjid, nobody protested. But all problems started after the Babri Masjid was demolished.

Local Muslims never had a problem with pujas being held inside the Babri Masjid?

Nobody had any problem. They even used to say that let us all sit together and find a solution to the Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue. It was only when the BJP and the Bajrang Dal came and started the Ram Janmabhoomi movement that relations soured between the two communities. There was bloodshed, mandirs were destroyed. Now everything is normal again. It is not an issue in Ayodhya, never was. Hindus and Muslims have always lived in peace in Ayodhya. The BJP’s lust for power created all the problems.

Read more at Mid-Day.

(Image courtesy: Mid-Day)

An American Malayalam Professor

Check out this interview (courtesy: Asianet) with Prof. Rodney F Moag, who has been teaching at the University of Texas, Austin. See how he speaks Malayalam with ease, considering that he is a foreigner. Check out his profile at Kerala Tourism website. He is also a country music performer. See his music profile at his music website.

(Thanks to Uma for the link)

Ammathu – Children’s Camp

Meandyou Peforming Company is an initiative by Mr. Manu Jose, who was anchor of many popular TV shows like Asianet TV’s Chirakukal, India Vision TV’s Oridathoridathu, Kairali TV’s Mittayivandi etc. Ammathu is a children’s camp organized by Meandyou Performing Company which is entering it’s 3rd year. This year, Ammathu is taking place at Kodanad Mana (this Mana is an Ettukettu), Vellerakkad, Thrissur from April 18th to 25th, 2009.

Major attractions include:

Accelerated Learning

A breakthrough system of learning that will help kids to ease their learning process. It will empower them to:

1) Improve memory and concentration
2) Remember facts and figures with ease
3) Make revisions fun and enjoyable
4) Plan answers calmly during exams
5) Pass exams in flying colours
6) Become optimistic about success

This session will be handled by Mr. Haridas Mani, principal, Govt Polytechnic, Thrissur and is a member of ITAA, USA.

The Dare Devils

This is an adventure games session and will be facilitated by National Adventure Academy, Devikulam in association with Kestrel Adventures, Munnar.

Meet the Masters

A rare chance to interact with maestros like Usha Nangiar (the great exponent of Nangiar Koothu) and V K K Hariharan, an expert in Mizhavu who will juggle you with rhythm.

Write & Recite

This will be a child friendly session on poetry and recitation led by poets like P P Ramachandran, Anvar Ali, P N Gopikrishnan, K R Tony and P Raman.

Games you NEVER played

Have you ever heard of a university for children? That too in Kerala? Yes, we have one at Kalady, beautifully named NILAVU. E K Sukumaran and Biju P Naduvattam, two activists from NILAVU will introduce you to some of the traditional games which many of you may not have seen, heard or played.

Apart from these, there are other popular programmes such as Sing Along, Art Mad, Trekking, Yoga and Film screening.

The organizers say that their aim is not to ‘teach’ children any art or anything in particular, rather to help them develop sensitivity, flair and taste towards different facets of life and art. And they say that have taken all precautions for ensuring the safety of children, providing them with a secure and hygienic lodging, good quality healthy food and enough number of male and female volunteers.

So if you would like to send your kids to the camp, register on or before March 15th. Or contact Manu Jose at 94471 94411. You can also email at actormanugmail.com. For more details visit http://meandyoutheatre.blogspot.com.

Business & Politics Over Mahatma Gandhi

 

James Otis: First of all was to try to increase the GDP from 1 per cent to 3 per cent to the poorest of Indians. Gandhi would have deeply supported that proposal because the Indian Government since the Mumbai attacks have shifted more of its focus on the military and reduced on the GDP. [Source]

Anand Sharma: Gandhi himself would not have agreed to the conditions. Government of India who has to protect the sovereignty of the people cannot entail to such conditions. [Source]

For Gandhi’s descendants, the sale seemed to contradict his aversion to materialism. Gandhi himself had given away several of the items. [Source]

PS: Meanwhile, Congress party has spent some money for buying the rights of Jai Ho, the Oscar winning song by A R Rahman.

PPS: Why do our nationalistic pride remain in materials and symbols, and not in action?

(Image courtesy: Sky News)

Desicritics V-Day contest

My Valentines Day special song was an entry to the Desicritics V-Day contest. The results have been announced and I got an honorable mention. Thanks to DC and Templestark for his kind words. This is what he had to say:

Honorable mentions:

Joseph Thomas (Jo) for a song – yes a song!!! (Valentine Day’s Song – Let Them Sleep – that he arranged and sung himself. Top effort. It’s not quite my speed of music but inspiration clearly hit him right between the ventricles.

Video Directions for Bangalore

If you are visiting Bangalore and lost without directions, here comes VidTeq to give you the clear-cut video directions for locations in Bangalore. Just enter the “from” and “to” spots and you will get to see a video showing you the entire route which also displays the landmarks on left and right hand side. You can also request them to send you the text directions in an email (that also has the pictures of important landmarks on the way) or get the route directions delivered in your mobile as an SMS. Moreover, they also have the traditional maps. I hope they will have this wonderful service extended to other cities as well.

Indian Taliban back in action

The names change, from Bajrang Dal to Sri Rama Sena, but the radical Hindutva organizations continue to assault the countrymen in the name of ‘protecting Indian culture’. This time they attacked women. When I had written against such groups earlier in this blog, there were people protesting and saying that calling them Indian Taliban is too much. But just read the news quote given below and tell me how these Senas are any different from Taliban. Also tell me how come we are vocal against Taliban but so silent on such home-grown organizations.

The Sena activists accused the women of involving themselves in immoral activities, including consuming alcohol, dressing indecently, and mixing with youths of other faith”.

And don’t think that they would stop having fun now. The day when these organizations conduct their annual ritual of cultural protection is coming up. And yes, you guessed it right – the Valentines Day on February 14th. Last year, it was the turn of Bajrang Dal to clean up the culture. We got to either speak up against these groups or get ready to be Talibanized in the near future. Taliban too, started out with small scale operations.

Related posts: The Hindutva hypocrisy again

(Image courtesy: Times of India)

A R Rahman nominated for Oscars

It was a proud moment for the musical genuis of A R Rahman and his fans in India when he won the Golden Globe this month. Now A R Rahman has three nominations for Oscars in two categories – Best Original Score and Best Original Song. Rahman’s competitors for the Academy Awards are no less than Thomas Newman and James Newton Howard. Both of them are extremely talented musicians who have given some gem of works in the recent past. So this will be a tough competition and even though I like both Mr. Newman and Mr. Howard for the musical talent they possess, my prayers and wishes goes to our own musical genius A R Rahman and I hope he wins.

All the best Sir!

(Image courtesy: arrahman.net)

You Tube’s Project: Direct

You Tube seems to be coming up with so many innovative ideas. Recently You Tube Symphony has made news and it looks like they have been doing another wonderful project, Project: Direct, for all wannabe movie makers. You Tube’s Project: Direct is a short film contest which is in it’s second year and the winners for this year have been announced. All the entries are 5 minutes long and all the chosen videos are funny to watch. It must have been a real tough task to convey a story within 5 minutes and the winning entries seems to have been made in a professional manner.

Read the news about Project: Direct from Cnet site and also check out the winning entries.

(Info via email from Sandeep Raja)