Tuesday 6th June saw the launch event of City Hindus Network, an organisation aiming to promote networking, education and charity fundraising amongst Hindus working in ‘City Jobs’. The event took place at Digress City, a London based bar-restaurant, which was packed to capacity for the entire duration of the event.
A London exhibition of paintings by controversial Indian artist M. F. Hussain was cancelled after unidentified vandals defaced erotic paintings of Durga and Draupadi. The attack caused an estimated £200,000 of damage.
The exhibition, hosted by Asia House, contained some controversial images of Hindu deities, including one painting of Durga in what looks like a sexual act with her lion. Certain Hindu groups in Britain had been campaigning to get some of the paintings removed from the exhibition.
An earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale hit parts of Indonesia on May 27th, causing 
the worst humanitarian disaster the country has faced since the 2004 Tsunami. The earthquake struck Yogyakarta and parts of Central Java. Some 6,200 people have died and 25,000 have been injured; 135,000 homes were also destroyed.
by Rudra ChatterjeeÂ
What was in a detriment to me being a young Hindu was the fact that I was born in India!! This may sound surprising to some, but the fact is that India, the very land that has been almost synonymous with Hinduism and nourished by it for eons is perhaps the worst non-Islamic nation to be a Hindu! The tragedy haunts and the irony blinds.
Many people of my age group (I’m 21, just for the record) have commented that there is very little drama or literature based on the youth cultures of Indians living in typical ‘Desi areas’ of England. It was with this in mind that I picked up Londonstani, a novel based on a group of A-level re-sit students living in Hounslow (an Asian area in West London). All of them are Punjabi, three Hindus (Ravi, Amit and Jas) and a Sikh (Harjit, who makes everyone call him ‘Hard-jit’).
Fanaa (literally meaning ‘destroyed in love’) has been one of the most highly anticipated Indian films in recent times, having a star studded cast together with a controversial story line.
The Kashmir conflict provides the backdrop for the film. The plot is based around the relationship that develops between a high profile terrorist named Rehan (Amir Khan) and an innocent blind Kashmiri girl Zooni (Kajol), while the latter is in Delhi to perform for India’s Republic Day celebrations. The unlikely couple fall in love, but Zooni thinks that he is simply a tour guide. Torn between love and his desire to ‘liberate’ Kashmir, Rehan chooses the latter. He fakes his own death just before the couple were about to marry, and leaves poor Zooni, seemingly for good.
For a film being marketed with the slogan, “This summer, discover the truth,” The Da Vinci Code is surprisingly uncontroversial. In the original book, our protagonists had been thrust in the midst of a Dark Age style witch-hunt, where powerful forces had been mobilized against them on a global scale. However in the movie adaptation, we lose that overriding sense of danger and lurking menace that had been the main driving thrust in the book.
by Sheena Patel
There is a lack of awareness across the world about the very existence of a significant yet dwindling Hindu community in Pakistan. Presently it is estimated that Hindus make up 2% of Pakistan’s population. This is at least five times the number of Hindus in Britain.
For the first time, superstar yoga-guru Swami Ramdev is set to hold a yoga camp outside of India. And the venue is right here in Britain! The event is set to run from 15th July through to 22nd July 2006, and is to be held at the Elmbridge Club in Ilford.
