“How can you call yourself a Hindu?…YOU EAT MEAT!!!” I heard two Hindu boys yelling at a girl in a recent event at City University Hindu Society. The discussion was supposed to be on the subject of “Karma and Reincarnation”, and hence quite unrelated to an individual’s dietary habits. But somehow the discussion had sidetracked onto whether a non-vegetarian person can consider him or herself to be a good Hindu…
One of the most boring times I can recall from my childhood is when I had to sit through lengthy pujas, ceremonies and kathas. This is not at all to say that I had no faith in my religion. Far from it, I have always been a devout Hindu in my own way. The boredom from lengthy religious ceremonies is inevitable, and virtually every young Hindu I have known, has felt the same way.
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In the first such incident since Idi Amin’s regime, Ugandan-Indians have been targeted by violent mobs in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. Three Indians are reported to have been killed, and countless Indian owned establishments, including a Hindu temple, were ransacked by roving mobs.
On April 16th, a bitter and twisted student waltzed into Virginia Tech University in the USA and killed 32 of his fellow students, before taking his own life.The attacker’s name was Cho Seung Hui. From all accounts and reconstructions, his life over the years preceding the attack indicates that he was a very psychiatrically disturbed individual. He was taken to a mental health clinic in 2005, after a judge ruled that me might be dangerous. This occurred due to unwanted messages that he was sending to female students. However a medical examination found he denied any suicidal feelings and posed no immediate harm to anybody.
The Metropolitan Police Hindu Association have slammed plans to introduce so called “positive discrimination” into the police recruitment procedure.Under proposed positive discrimination, certain ethnic minorities would have their job applications fast-tracked compared with white candidates. The aim is to create a more inclusive police force that ethnically resembles population that it serves.
On March 9th Elizabeth Hurley (British model) and Arun Nayar (Businessman) wed in the desert city of Jodhpur, Rajastan. They may now risk prosecution there with a judge set to decide whether they should be prosecuted after hearing testimony presented by some enraged Hindus.
Hurley and Nayar had allegedly drunk alcohol prior to the Hindu wedding where religious rites were going to take place. They had supposedly acted innappropriately near a sacred fire. Nayar was photographed wearing leather shoes during the actual ceremony.
Fashion in clothing is an ever-changing phenomenon, which varies every year with the changing of the seasons. Much of the Western fashion has gained inspiration from traditional clothing from other cultures, particularly those from the East. Last summer we saw traditional batik design which originated from Rajasthan and Gujarat in Western India, hit the top London stores with the designs being printed on skirts, shawls, handbags, tops, pyjamas, just to name a few! One piece of clothing however, which has stood the test of the seasonal changes of the shop rails and shelves, is the Sari.
A $10,000 deity of Lord Subramaniam was stolen from Gita Bhavan temple, Manchester, UK.The precious bronze-plated, hand-crafted icon was taken soon after an afternoon worship session. The raiders entered by breaking the first entrance, where they then hooked a rope from the door of the living quarters of the priest and a radiator which then locked the priests inside.
In your opinion, to be a conscientious Hindu, do you have to be vegetarian?
