Christmas is for everyone

Why should we assume that my festival is a closed shop for believers alone? In the case of Christmas and Diwali or Durga Puja, the celebration is both of a faith and a culture.  By: Swapan Dasgupta, Having spent the first 16 years of my life in Calcutta — as it was then called — Christmas has always  been burra din to me. It was (and probably still is) the best time for visiting the city that has been marginalised by history. It’s the time when, traditionally, the old “white town” around Park Street assumes a joyous character, when the clubs resurrect their long-forgotten specialities such as suckling pig and when gentlemen dress their part. For the small Christian community in the city, there is a special religious character to Christmas. Some of us have even witnessed this in the midnight mass at the grand St. Paul’s Cathedral — an imposing monument to the time when our rulers nominally paid allegiance to the Church of England. In my childhood, the Christian service was conducted in English, and I have extremely happy memories singing robust Anglican hymns at the morning...

Read More........ → December 25, 2015

India celebrates Republic Day with pomp and hope

New Delhi, Jan 26 (IANS) With millions taking part, India celebrated its 64th Republic Day Saturday with pomp and pride, with people in a few areas defying rebel groups to join official flag hoisting functions. Men, women and children participated enthusiastically in numerous events across the length and breadth of the world's most populous democracy which was declared a Republic on this day in 1950. It was the first  Republic Day for President Pranab Mukherjee, and chief guest at the main event in the capital was King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk of Bhutan, India's closest neighbour. In New Delhi, there was a perfect blend of the indigenous military hardware and rich cultural diversity as the country showcased its military strides as  well as its roots with the past. Time was when almost all the hardware on display was of foreign origin. This time around, it was the the opposite barring few exceptions. And what was on view was itself an exercise in contrast. The smartly attired marching contingents came from the armed forces, the  paramilitary forces, the National...

Read More........ → January 26, 2013

First Hindu US legislator makes history with oath on Gita

Washington, Jan 4 (IANS) Five and a half years after a Hindu prayer opened a US Senate session, Tulsi Gabbard, the first Hindu to be elected to the US House of Representatives, created history by taking the oath of office on the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred Hindu text. Raised by a Hindu mother and a Catholic father in "a multiracial, multicultural, multifaith family," Gabbard, 31, the first American Samoan and one of the first female combat veterans in US Congress, became the first US lawmaker ever to take the oath of office on the Gita Thursday. In July 2007, when a Hindu clergyman offered the Senate's first Hindu morning prayer, three persons disrupted the ceremony and were arrested. But Gabbard's oath taking ceremony went without any incident Thursday. Proud of her Hindu religion, Gabbard, who is not of Indian origin but embraced a Hindu identity as a teenager, hopes to make her first trip to India soon. Democrat Gabbard, who represents Hawaii in the Congress previously served on the Honolulu City Council and as a Hawaii state representative. She was the youngest...

Read More........ → January 05, 2013