Grand launch of the 2019 Raksha Bandhan celebrations in Glasgow
The ancient Hindu festival of Raksha Bandhan that celebrates the love between brothers and sisters was celebrated this year among the Armed Forces and Scotland Police to symbolise their work of protecting (raksha) the UK borders and the civil society, thereby showing gratitude and brotherhood among the organisations and civilian groups. Organised this year by the Hindu Forum of Britain...
World Mental Health Day 2020: Trailing Spouse Syndrome
You're faced with an exciting opportunity. Your wife, husband, partner, other half, has the chance to get a new role in another country. Odds are that there is a pay rise involved and new challenges, possibly extra responsibility...for them. Even though some of those things will improve your life too it might lead to depression, anxiety, and loneliness. The...
Teacher turns author to keep Gujarati alive for future generations
Growing up in a multicultural, multiethnic, and multilingual London has been a key factor in shaping my identity. I am British – born and bred. A true Londoner. And I am as Indian as they come. My childhood was an Indian one, from the food, the language, the weekend activities, to the way I interact with people; my experiences have...
MCR Uni engages with Bengalis to promote peoples’ traditional music
Manchester University enhanced its engagement with the South Asian diaspora at a recently held workshop on live performances of Bengali folk music. Manchester University academicians and art historians from Modern India and humanities departments, engaged proactively with the South Asian diaspora in Manchester through an event and workshop: SINGING HERITAGE: AN AFTERNOON OF BENGALI FOLK SONG PERFORMANCE, in end July....
KASHISH 2020 to screen India’s first gay film ‘Badnam Basti’, lost and found after 49 years
Register for KASHISH 2020 at http://mumbaiqueerfest.com/attend/ Director Prem Kapoor's 'Badnam Basti', India's first gay film released in 1971, only to be lost to obscurity for around five decades, and found in a Berlin archive, will be screened at KASHISH 2020. Considered as one of first Indian films to explore same-sex relationship, Badnam Basti was made in 1971 and features a...
World Mental Health Day 2020: a tribute to the selfless Sumitra Tevani
In recent months, everyone has been talking about getting used to a new ‘normal’ in a COVID-19 world. In reality, my new normal is learning to live life to the fullest without my beautiful Mummy sending me WhatsApp messages, calling me a gazillion times a day, video calling me but then putting the phone up to her ear, sharing the...
Trupti Patel: the first woman to become the Hindu Faith representative and Trustee to the Interfaith Network UK
The world is changing, with an ever-increasing desire to improve the inclusivity and diversity across all walks of life. One positive sign of this was when Trupti Patel was voted in as the first female President of The Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) back in 2014. She has now become the first women Hindu Faith representative and Trustee to the...
Freedom
Freedom is to fly like a bird upon the sky. Freedom is to climb the mountain so high. Freedom is to be free and do whatever you want, Freedom is to write freely, using any desired font. Freedom is to fight courageously for your nation, Freedom is to provide every unlettered education. Freedom is here to free you after being trapped for all those...
The Kashmiri Imbroglio: whose freedom, whose azaadi is it?
London 15.08.2019 After winning the elections in 2019, the BJP led government of India wasted no time to bring in the required legislative bill ‘J&K Reorganisation Act 2019”, that has provisions to reorganise the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two union territories, one to be called Jammu and Kashmir, and the other Ladakh. The introduction of the bill was...
Surviving the Nepal earthquake in 2015: a memoir of a calamity
This is a topic I have written on countless times in my life. And over time, although the topic has remained the same, the days and the events have changed. During my school years, it progressed from the day I got scholarship in fifth grade board exam to being placed at the top of the list in HSC and...
