Desi News Corp - Index

Desi News Corp - Desi News - Feb 09 - Index

while the Indian Institutes of
Management get 200,000 applications
each year for 1,200 slots,
the Indian Military Acad-emy at
Dehra Dun, the next higher
training centre for officers after
they pass through the NDA, got
only 86 applications for 250
slots in the same period. According
to the latest numbers,
there are just 918 women
officers – less than 0.0055 per
cent of the officer Corps –
THE COMMONWEALTH
serving in non-combat roles in
the army. Women are recruited
only on short-service commissions
of five to ten years and
cannot rise above the rank of
a major. Every six months,
about 5,000 women graduates
and post-graduates between
the ages of 21 and 25 years
apply to join the army. Barely a
fifth clear the written test and
only a tenth of those who do
are selected.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, visited
Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) temple in Tividale, West Midlands, in
Britain recently. Indian high commissioner Shiv Shankar
Mukherjee, representatives from all the major faiths in the United
Kingdom, members of parliament, mayors, councillors and
members from many local organizations were also present on the
occasion. Commemorating his visit to the temple and the
friendship between Christian and Hindu communities in the UK,
the archbishop unveiled a plaque and planted an olive tree near
one of the seven ‘faith hills’ created in the 21-acre temple site. In
his address, he said: “All our faith communities in their long
histories have had moments where they have made others afraid,
when they’ve exercised violence towards each other. We all, looking
at our history, have to say, ‘May God forgive us and may God heal
us for making others afraid’. We are here to affirm that we are
able to sense something of the dignity and the beauty and the
humanity, in one another ...To hear the ancient words of the Gita
and other sacred texts, about compassion, about love, of course
awakes the strongest echoes in a Christian mind.”
Anil Bhanot, general secretary, Hindu Council, explained that
Balaji temple’s faith hills show that each religion at a practical
level, at the bottom of each hill, is different; but at the top of
the hill, at a metaphysical level, our aims unite in one God.
The Balaji temple was built in the traditional Dravidian style
and when it was opened in 1999, it was the largest temple of its
kind in Europe. In keeping with the basic tenets of Hinduism,
the Balaji temple and community centre are open to the public
for prayer, meditation, spiritual, cultural and educational activities
irrespective of one’s creed, religion and ethnic origin.
Film banned in Nepal
Nepal has banned the
Bollywood blockbuster Chandni
Chowk to China following protests
over a scene suggesting the
Buddha was born in India.
Siddhartha Gautama, who became
the Buddha 2,500 years
ago, was born in south-west
Nepal and appears on bank
notes in the Himalayan nation.
The offending section of the
movie about an Indian chef
who is mistaken for the reincarnation
of a fabled Chinese
warrior, was cut at the request
of Nepali censors, but with
protests escalating, the film was
banned. The scene may have
been deleted from the movie,
but could not be removed from
illegal videos that are smuggled
into the country, said a Nepalese
ministry spokesperson.
Correction
This is in response to
the report published
in the January issue of
Desi News about Sahaja Yoga
School and Shri Mataji
Nirmala Devi. She was born
in 1923 in Chindwara, Maharashtra,
India. In 1947, she married
Chandrika Prasad Srivastava.
They were blessed with
two daughters, Kalpana and
Sadhana. Bollywood actor
Govinda is not her son, as
stated in your article. Sahaja
Yoga has been spreading in
Canada for more than 25
years. There are centres in Barrie,
Brampton, Burlington, Hamilton,
etc. Classes are open to everyone
and free. More info at
freemeditation.ca.
– SANDRA BRAR,
Sahaja Yoga practitioner
Bollywood movies and samosas in Lisbon
Archbishop of Canterbury visits Balaji temple Indians in Portugal, numbering around 60,000, are mostly
concentrated in Lisbon and Porto. Not included in this count are
Portuguese citizens of Goan origin, who number nearly 100,000.
The Goans, who originally came to Portugal in the 18th century,
were the elite. They became priests or civil servants. There have
been MPs of Goan origin in the Portuguese parliament since the 19th
century. Prime minister Alfredo Nobre da Costa (1978) was the
grandson of a Margao-born doctor of the same name. Their total
integration into Portuguese society was also facilitated with mixed
marriages. Another group of Goans migrated to Portugal after Goa
was liberated in 1961. Casa de Goa is an association of Goans. A
charming little restaurant serves typical Goan fare and activities include
publishing a quarterly magazine called Goa.
The second largest group are the Gujaratis, who came after the
end of Portuguese rule in Mozambique. Almost all of them are
Portuguese citizens and speak Portuguese. Most are engaged in trade
and commerce, manufacturing, aviation, apparel and hotel industry,
export-import and retail businesses. Many of the recent arrivals are
from the former Portuguese enclaves of Daman and Diu in western
India. By a quirk of colonial history, people in these enclaves are
eligible for Portuguese nationality, which gives them the right to settle
and work anywhere in the European Union. There are enough Diu
Indians in Lisbon that there is a Hindu community centre and a
wholesale market for Indian spices. A cinema hall shows Bollywood
movies on weekends. Lisbon tour guides list Navaratri as an important
Lisbon seasonal event. One remarkable offshoot of this migration is
that NRI savings accounts held in local banks in Diu amount to $40
million. That’s $1,000 for every man, woman and child living in Diu.
The next largest group, the Punjabis, introduced Indian food to the
Portuguese by opening many popular restaurants.
February 2009 Desi News 27