What happens to society if women become extinct? This is the subject of "Matrubhoomi". GOWRI RAMNARAYAN talks to filmmaker Manish Jha.
A NEWSPAPER reported that a village in Gujarat had no women left; it had to seek brides in neighbouring villages. It disturbed young Manish Jha so much that he had to come to terms with it by making a film on the subject. But as the ironically named "Matrubhoomi" took shape on mind, paper and screen, the location shifted to the northern belt and the time to the future. Meanwhile statistics continued to record alarming falls in the population of women in many Indian States, indicating that the future was imminent. Infanticide and abortion after sex determination tests during pregnancy were the cited as major causes. UNESCO reported that 50 million women were missing from the population of India due to gender discrimination. Not surprising in a society where getting a daughter married often spelt financial disaster for the family. ...
A cookbook review -- one that I'm certainly going to buy: The Holy Food
Prasadam: Food of the Hindu Gods
By Nalini Rajan
... Prasadam is ... made up of lucidly written recipes of festive dishes we hold sacred, particularly because they are what we offer to domestic deities, and consume as ‘prasad’...
If this was a mere recipe book however, it could hardly have had the impact it does. What makes Prasadam of more long-standing interest is the manner in which it looks at the themes and motifs of Hindu worship and practice, and connects them to the social and historical developments that took place alongside. This makes for a layered narration which does not dismiss the myths and beliefs that buttress our festivals, but provides ways of looking at these myths that enrich our understanding of the context that gave birth to them. There is a charming, digressionary quality to the text that saves the book from being too structured or unappealing...
Whether it is Moon worship and milk-rich recipes, the Laxmi theme being celebrated with grain and pulse, our food staples, the profusion of tasty fare around the Harvest theme of Pongal, and the dry, storable sweets and savouries around Divali and Kartikkai Deepam, the food and the myths that serve to give it meaning and significance have been convincingly presented to the reader...
Metrowater seeks divine intervention _ with yagna at Puzhal lake
CHENNAI: With the North East monsoon playing hide and seek with the City and nearing its withdrawal stage, Metrowater, the primary water supplier here, now has nothing else to bank on but divine intervention.
With experts forecasting a dry summer for City residents and the water level at the reservoirs around the metropolis decreasing very fast, the Metrowater officials have gone ahead with their plans to appease `Varuna', the god of rains, to bring the much-needed showers to the City and enable them to maintain the minimum water supply to residents.
According to sources, they performed a five-hour `yagna', a special form of worship, at the Puzhal lake, one of the main sources of drinking water to the city....
A very scary article from the New York Times: Pakistan Is...
For a liberal and thoughtful Pakistani view, see the weekly Friday Times (free registration required) and its sister newspaper, The Daily Times.
(Today's issue of The Daily Times includes an excerpt from Barbara Tuchman's The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam, a book that I am frequently reminded of these days.)
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