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Oct 2004
Cultural performance brings Kullu Dussehra alive Kullu: Though people across India have begun preparations for the festival of lights, Diwali, northern picturesque Kullu is still celebrating the Dussehra festival which concluded across the country on Friday (October 23) with the burning of the effigy of demon king Ravana. As part of the ongoing week-long festivities, which began last Saturday, an international cultural performance was held in the town. Dance troupes from across the world including Uzbekistan, Russia and from different provinces within India enthralled the audience with their mesmerising music and dance performances. Uzbek dancers, who have earlier been to India, said they were ecstatic on the visit and found similaraities in their dance steps with Indian classical dance Kathak. "I came here just to see what kind of a basic difference is there between the dances of Uzbekistan and India. The only difference lies that we wear shoes and dance and they wear ghungroos. The hand movements and way of singing is same," said an Uzbek dancer. India's singing sensation Sunidhi Chauhan, famous for her husky voice, also gave a stirring performance on the occasion. Dussehra
in Kullu is unique that, unlike the rest of the country, it is celebrated
without the Ramlila or the burning of the effigies of demon-god Ravana,
and his son Megnath and brother Kumbkaran. The history of Kullu Dussehra
dates back to the 17th century when the local King Jaganand installed
an idol of Raghunath on his throne as a mark of penance. After this
Raghunath came to be known as the ruling deity of the Valley. After
being declared an "international festival" in 1972, the Kullu Dussehra
has assumed multilingual dimensions and cultural troupes from abroad
perform during the festival. The festival, which symbolises the triumph
of good over evil, is marked by prayers, processions and musical programmes
based on the epic Ramayana. Legend has it that Rama's consort Sita was
abducted by king Ravana of Lanka (said to be the present day island
nation of Sri Lanka). Rama went in war against Ravana to release his
wife from captivity. Rama's victory over Ravana is described as the
triumph of good over evil. Myanmar military ruler visits Bodh Gaya (Go to Top) Bodh
Gaya: Myanmar's military ruler Senior General Than Shwe today visited
the world-famous Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya. Shwe along with his wife
performed prayers at the shrine, which has received the UN heritage
monument status. Lord Buddha attained enlightenment in Bodh Gaya. Here
in the Deer Park, he delivered his first sermon, or in religious language,
set in motion the Wheel of Law . Both Bodh Gaya and northern Sarnath
town are visited by millions of Buddhist followers every year. Accompanying
Shwe are his ministers of industry, energy, rail transportation, communications,
science and technology. Shwe is also due to visit the famous monument
to love, the Taj Mahal and the eastern city of Kolkata. Tigress gives birth to 4 cubs (Go to Top) Jaipur:
Authorities at a wildlife rescue centre in Jaipur are jubilant as
their most prized possession - a tigress - has given birth to four cubs.
The cubs are only the second successful captive breeding in 12 years
for the center, which is a home to a range of battered and tortured
lions, elephants and other endangered wildlife. Since then almost the
entire center has been busy ensuring the wellbeing of the newborns.
The little ones along with their mother have been put up in a special
enclosure. The entire family is on regular vaccines and a high-protein
milk diet with some extra beef dishes thrown in for the nursing mummy.
The tiger family, however, still has a long way to go as the risk period
for cubs is at least one year during which they are highly susceptible
to infection, and would need round the clock care. "The fourth cub is
not well but we are sure that he will be fine soon. We are keeping all
of them with their mother because she has accepted them. Soon we will
be shifting them to the city zoo," said Akshay Singh, a conservator
at the center. India is home to less than 3,000 tigers, which accounts
for 60 percent of the global population of the animal. Tiger is the
country's national animal. Malaysian festival a huge draw (Go to Top) Ludhiana:
The Malaysian tourism recently held a ten-day festival in Ludhiana
to bring to the people in the state's Doaba region the culinary delicacies
from the far off South East Asian country. Known for adapting the culture
and traditions of others, it was all a gastronomic experience for the
people of the city. Different varieties of Spicy Malaysian food like
satay, nasi lemak, rendang, roti canai, murtabak and laksa apart, the
festival also witnessed people enjoying an endless fare of Chinese,
exotic North and South India cuisine as well as Nyonya and Portuguse
food. The high point of the festival was the interaction on the finer
nuances of food preparation and expert tips by the chefs with the locals
who thronged to the venue in large numbers. "They try steaming, they
even boil vegetables and use it in their food which helps maintain the
nutritional value in the food. In Punjabi food, however, there is too
much of cooking at high temperatures. As a result the food doesn't retain
its nutritional value. I think that's the best part about Malay food,"
said Sujata Jain, one of the visitors to the festival. . Officials from
the Malaysian tourism are also very happy with enormous response they
have received from the people here and are optimistic of carrying ahead
the success to other mini metros in the country. "Our national focus
now is to move out of the metros and what we are trying to do is to
move to mini metros now, because the awareness level of Malaysia is
already very high. We are trying to move out and expand the market.
That's the reason why we are coming to places like Ludhiana, Chandigarh
or Jaipur because we feel that the market here is expanding," said Bhupesh
Kumar, marketing manager of Malaysian tourism. It's shopping time in Kolkata (Go to Top) Kolkata: Durga Puja is round the corner, and people in Kolkata are on a high shopping spree. It's not the big shopping malls only that are attracting the people, the petty hawkers are too making a brisk business these days. Brisk buying is going on from Elgin Road to Camac Street and from Gariahat to Salt Lake. Both the City Centre and the Forum, the new multiplex-cum-shopping malls saw a phenomenal 70 per cent jump in the number of visitors over the last week. Retail chain outlets like Shoppers' Stop and Fab India have done around 25 per cent more business than last weekend. The momentum has picked up after various food courts began service in the malls. Also, various companies have organised contests and prizes to attract more people. "The population of Kolkata is moving to stores now. The festival time is on..........the festive season is rising high after the rains subsided and enthusiasm is brimming and people are really happy. Fun and festivity are on that is why Shoppers' Stop has got to you with all the fun part of it," said Naveen Mishra, Customer Care Manager at the Shoppers' Stop. Sale of beauty products and semi-precious jewellery also registered an increase in sales this year. "We get to see lots of ghaghras this year and a blend of eastern and western. Last year it was shorts and mini-micro top but this year it is more of all the western cuttings in eastern fabrics, lots of ghagras, kurta with lots of work on it are in," said Amrita Raj, a shopper. -Oct 20, 2004 Tourists flock to Shimla for festive season (Go to Top) Shimla:
Tourists inflow into Himachal Pradesh is on the rise these days
even as schools across the country are closed for the festival season.
A large number of tourists are visiting Shimla from West Bengal and
Gujarat which are celebrating the Durga Puja and Navaratri festivals.
In Shimla streets are filled with tourists who can be seen enjoying
having a scoop of ice cream or hot soup. Hotels are booked beyond capacity
and owners say the upswing is going to get better than last year. "A
large number of tourists are coming from West Bengal as there are Durga
Puja holidays. And like every year this year the graph is likely to
go up. But we expect that this year the inflow of tourits will be more
as compared to last year," said Tej Prakash, a hotel owner. Situated
at a height of 2130 metres above the sea level with temperature rarely
crossing 25 degrees during summers, Shimla is a favourite haunt of people
from northern parts of the country. Shimla holds a variety of options
in shopping, sports and entertainment and the local shops are doing
brisk business. "We had heard a lot about Himalayas and Himachal Pradesh
specially. I like the climate, it's very cool out here. Chidlren also
wanted to visit the place so we thought of coming here for the snow
also during the holidays with family," said a Bankey Das, a tourist
from West Bengal. The tourism department has made elaborate arrangements
as tourism is a major contributor to the state's economy. HP car rally delayed by heavy snowfall (Go to Top) Manali: The sixth Maruti Suzuki car rally 'Raid De Himalayas' which was flagged off at Shimla on October 7 and was expected to end on October 12 at Manali, was delayed by six days due to heavy snowfall and have reached today. Ninety cars and bikes are participated in the car rally. It was for the the first time in the history of this 'Raid', an Army Truck team also participated. The rally was expected to run in five legs but it was forced to finish in four legs due to heavy snowfall in some areas like Rohtang Pass and other hilly areas. South Indian movie actress Revti also participated in this rally. Revti experssed her experience amazing. She said that she enjoyed a lot but because of snowfall in some areas there suffered some problems. "Today, I should have been in Chennai. But as you know, because of snow in Rohtang we got stucked up. But, everything was amazing. I was awesome. I have heard and read in the books about the beauty of Himalyas but nothing matches the beauty of Himalaya. It was just amazing. i enjoyed a lot," said Revti. The participants also seemed very excited. They felt that they passed safely from various areas but they suffered some major problems in the areas of Rohtang Pass and some hilly areas. They expressed their experience good as well as bad. They also thanked the army for their effective support. "We were stuck for six days, five days in snow and one day with the officals. The experience was bad as well as good," said Karan , a participant in 'Raid De Himalayas'. The
Army has already warned the organisers about the bad weather. But the
organisers of the rally went for it. Manjeet Bhalla, the organiser of
the rally said that they have not given any warning given to them by
the armyabout the bad weather. Bhalla also declared that the rally has
been declared completed after the fourth phase and informed that the
results of the rally will be declared tomorrow on Internet. He also
informed that any participant who wants to file any objection can file
within the meantime. "There was no warning given to us by the army.
We have not ignored any warning. No organisation in writing or verbally
had given any warning. If that has happened, army would not have provide
us any accomodation and other facilities," said Bhalla. 30 pilgrims killed in Uttarkashi bus accident (Go to Top) Dehradun:
At least 30 pilgrims, including ten women and a child, were killed
and six seriously injured when a bus carrying them to Yamunotri temple
skidded off the road and fell into Yamuna river in Uttaranchal's Uttarkashi
district. The accident occurred at a place around 250 km from Dehradun.
Twenty nine bodies had been recovered till the last reports reached
in. The injured were admitted to a hospital in Naungaon. The ill fated
bus, which was on way to Yamunotri temple from Hardwar, reportedly broke
into two as it fell into the river. |
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