‘Universal Township’ to ponders crowd control to counter tourism menace
Standing amid his shop’s hodgepodge of saffron Hindu goddess T-shirts and jasmine incense sticks, Krishna Romali said he had moved to the outskirts of this “universal township” in southern India after hearing that business was even better here than at the infamous party beaches of Goa. But after several months of selling toe rings and crystal [...]
Continue reading...2. May 2009
The man who moved a mountain
HOW HE BROKE NEW GROUND The challenge for Manjhi was formidable — a 300-feet-high hill stood between his village and development. With no faith in the government, he chose to go it alone. He sold his goats to buy chisel, hammer and rope. Hammered constantly at the rock-face for 22 years, to create a 16-feet-wide passage. Gahlor Ghati (Gaya): Over [...]
Continue reading...19. February 2009
The “American Dream” Invades India
In the ancient civilization of India, sustainability and moderation in consumption has always been a way of life. This pattern has been respected and left largely undisturbed by Indian consumers who consider themselves a part of the cycle of nature. An interactive relationship with nature and the natural environment is a part of every Indian’s [...]
Continue reading...23. January 2009
At home in the forest
Van Vadi — a collective of city folks who have chosen to move to a forest and live in harmony with nature. The broad agreed aim of the owners was to “live close to the land in an ethical and sustainable manner” Van vasis: Guests prepare and savour food grown organically at Van Vadi. Surekha Kadapa-Bose Van Vadi is a [...]
Continue reading...22. November 2008
This is Nollywood
Nollywood, Nigeria’s booming film industry, is the world’s third largest producer of feature films. Unlike Hollywood and Bollywood, however, Nollywood movies are made on shoe-string budgets of time and money. An average production takes just 10 days and costs approximately $15,000. Yet in just 13 years, Nollywood has grown from nothing into a $250 million dollar-a-year [...]
Continue reading...11. November 2008
The Big Fat Indian Wedding
It might be a ’seasonal’ industry, thriving only during the auspicious months of the year but with an estimated worth of Rs 1,25,000 crore, the Indian wedding industry is getting bigger and fatter. With the industry growing at an average rate of 25 per cent per annum, the lavishness doled out by Indians on weddings is [...]
Continue reading...8. November 2008
Interesting News – Hollywood meets Bollywood in Oscar-hyped `Slumdog’
Hollywood and Bollywood rarely meet. But in the new film “Slumdog Millionaire,” the two international epicenters of filmmaking find an unusually fruitful cinematic union. The connection comes by way of British director Danny Boyle, who shot the film in Mumbai, India, with a cast of mostly Bollywood and local nonprofessional actors. Filming with handheld digital cameras and [...]
Continue reading...5. November 2008
Bhutan’s balancing act: Happiness vs. development
Bhutan’s dilemma: how to reconcile conservation, economic development and happiness in a modern world. Bhutan puts the happiness of its people before development. Landlocked in the eastern Himalayas, the tiny country of Bhutan seems almost untouched by globalisation. Its icy peaks, deep green gorges, sparkling rivers and quaint buildings with multi-tiered sloping roofs strengthen the feeling of a [...]
Continue reading...3. November 2008
Water of Life
Rainwater harvesting means catching and holding rain where it falls and using it. It can be stored in tanks or used to recharge groundwater. From this seemingly simple idea, India is learning some great lessons. If you search for the term on Google, the Internet throws up around 64,000 links. Out of these as many as [...]
Continue reading...31. October 2008
The Free Tree & Bio-Piracy of the West
The “Free Tree” of India The neem is evergreen. It grows fast and in any kind of soil, good or bad. It can soar 25 metres high and can live for 200 to 300 years – that is if it is not cut down. It is one of the most tolerant trees. It is not scared of [...]
Continue reading...21. October 2008
The Doon Boom
The city that houses Doon School is now playing host to a whole array of new education barons–with big money and bigger ambitions. Some weeks ago, a Gurgaon-based businessman walked into the office of Upendra Arora, proprietor of the Natraj Bookshop on Dehradun’s popular Rajpur Road. The visitor was planning to set up an “international-class school [...]
Continue reading...18. October 2008
The Striped Environmentalist
The majesty of the Bengal tiger although considered a threat to their existence by the locals in Sunderbans, is in effect a direct check on the wilful onslaught of nature by unconcerned people. Consider it this way; the threat of the tiger in the jungle and the Crocs in the river has been the major discouragement for the [...]
Continue reading...16. October 2008
Blissfully Baul
Singing soul-stirring songs that speak in simple language of love and human bondage, this 29-year-old Baul has really broken free from what we all struggle to — the self. YOUNG REBEL Parvathy Baul: `City people are scared to talk to me because I have a spiritual inclination. But in our whole nation, everything is spiritual’. Sixteen. A [...]
Continue reading...15. October 2008
Ancient Media – Craft above Creed
They came as refugees from Bangladesh in 1949 with nothing but some scrolls tucked under their arms. Now settled with their families in East and West Midnapore districts of West Bengal, these Muslim women continue to earn their living using the very scrolls they had brought along with them. The scrolls, or patachitra, are part of [...]
Continue reading...13. October 2008
A Life of Selfless Service
Hidden amid the dazzling human mosaic of India are millions of tribal people. For centuries, they have lived apart in remote highlands and forests. The Madia Gonds, for example, occupy 150 square kilometers of dense forest in eastern Maharashtra, bordering Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh states. In a thousand isolated villages, they survive by hunting and [...]
Continue reading...12. October 2008
A Shot in the Arm for Alternative Medicine
In a quiet government office in the Indian capital, Delhi, some 100 doctors are hunched over computers poring over ancient medical texts and keying in information. These doctors are practitioners of ayurveda, unani and siddha, ancient Indian medical systems that date back thousands of years. One of them is Jaya Saklani Kala, a young ayurveda doctor, who [...]
Continue reading...10. October 2008
The Killer has Arrived
India’s rapid economic growth could be slowed by a sharp rise in the prevalence of heart disease, stroke and diabetes, and the successful information technology industry is likely to be the hardest hit, a study has found. So-called lifestyle diseases are estimated to have wiped $9bn off the country’s national income in 2005, but the cost [...]
Continue reading...9. October 2008
The Unknown Innovator
Dr.Anil Kumar Gupta, a professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has been championing the cause of thousands of faceless creative individuals scattered all over India. Because most of them are far removed from the modern organised world of business, they are unaware of their own worth, rights and the opportunities that await them. [...]
Continue reading...7. October 2008
The Carriers
A startling study indicates that almost 40 percent of India’s truck drivers and their helpers are infected with AIDS virus and there is an urgent need to create awareness// among this community to check the spread of the fatal disease. India currently has over 5.1 million AIDS patients and truckers are possibly one of the largest groups carrying the [...]
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6. November 2008
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