My first recollection of Diwali is of my parents telling me to take two days of school. For these two days, the dreary routine of school was replaced by wonderful food, gatherings of friends and relatives, and of course fireworks. It might have been for shallow reasons, but how can any kid not grow up loving such a festival?
Extensive pressure has forced London’s BlagClub to back down on the display of Hindu deities in its premises. Several Hindu groups and individuals had been campaign against BlagClub after receiving complaints from Hindu clubbers over the extensive use of images of Lord Ganesh and Lakshmi in the nightclub’s interior décor.
‘Words of Power’ is a monthly section of Hindu Voice UK, consisting of a series of quotations from Hindu sacred literature (shastras) to help introduce the timeless wisdom contained within.
Mohammed Afzal was convicted for masterminding the audacious terrorist attack on Indian parliament on December 13th 2001. On that day, a group of gunmen broke through tight security and killed 12 people, before themselves losing their lives. Although it didn’t have a huge number of casualties, it is thought of as one of the most serious attacks against India, because it came within a whisker of wiping out the entire political leadership of the country, which would have plunged India into an unprecedented crisis.
by Rajun Shah
If you look at most Asian or Indian societies at a university campus in Britain, you will notice that Diwali celebrations usually feature prominently in the annual schedule of activities. And what is done in these Diwali celebrations? Often merely a club night, or for the more creative societies, a show followed by an after-party. What do the shows consist of? Cat walks, hip-hop, RnB and Bollywood dances, a couple of Karate or Kung-fu displays and… well that’s pretty much it. Of course many people take it as an opportunity to get drunk, and there will be an after party of some sort, that is the same as almost any other club night that most students go to three or four times a week.
The term ‘nation’ is defined differently by different sources. One definition is: “A people who share common customs, origins, history, and frequently language.”Hindu nationalism can be defined as the tendency of Hindus to define themselves as a nation. It is often said that the late 1980’s and 90’s saw an upsurge of Hindu nationalism in India. Translated into the realm of politics, this resulted in an increased tendency for Hindus to define their political activity in terms of common Hindu interests.
by Rudra Chatterjee
“A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man”
- Don Vito Corleone
There is a lot of talk about family values nowadays. It’s a buzzword with Fundamentalist Christians, Bush was elected on this as an issue, Margaret Thatcher was nuts about it. But growing up in a Hindu family I never really understood what the pressing concern was.
The recent dramatic entry of Dalip Singh Rana into World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) has brought back to life the interest in the art of wrestling in the land of its origin - India. The sight of the 7ft 3inch, 450 pounds Dalip striding with the worlds most popular wrestlers has evoked memories of the great age of Indian wrestling (or pehlwani).
The Vested Property Act first appeared in 1965, when Bangladesh was part of Pakistan. It was at that time called the “Enemy Property Act.” In that year, war broke out between India and Pakistan. The law was directed primarily against the property of the numerous Hindus who had temporarily fled to India in fear. The state was enabled to take their property into custody, with the rationale that a Hindu who went to India was an ‘enemy of the state’.
Recently there as been much furore in India over the fate of ‘Afzal Guru’, who is due to be hung for masterminding the 2001 attack on Indian Parliament.
What is your view on capital punishment? Do you agree that governments are right to use the death penalty for punishing certain heinous crimes? Or do you think that capital punishment has no place in a humane society?
