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Page 4 - THE. CANADIAN INDIA ; TIMES '
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D1Q �
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Kft Is heartening to hear that Indianmissions abroad have beeia advised to be helpful and courteous to visitors to and from Indian TMs' is a welcome move that is long, long overdue. -
The situation has been intolerable In many an Indian mission. The so called official representatives of t(ie government of India have been often rude to^ potential visitors 1 to and from India, There lis practically no information available to them. Books on India are rare and if there are any they are not catalogued or kept properly. In short many foreign missions of India jare In a mess. ;
What is being done now, it seenns is Ito provide more facilities and requited materials. Also we hope theite will be a move to select and ilrain better personnel to man these missions. Often one gets the Impression that it Is not the best qualified, equipped and capable who get an oppbrtunity to be in some <if the most important missions abroad. Those who have the pull often get such jobs and often it is pathetic to watch some of those undeflings struggling hard to cope "with the situation. ;�;'']�{
In this context it may be apt to point oat that the Indian mission in Ottawa heeds a capable high commssinoner after the untimely demise of Mr.Rajna. Ottawa needs a high commissioner of the calibre \ of people such as the late Ashok Bhadkamkar or Uma&hankar �:>. BajpaS or Mehmqol* Ahmed.
We hqpe Mrs .Gandhi's government will be able to find a suitable individual soon. It will be In the best interest of India. <
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Book on poet^
ByMichel W. Potto
Berkeley� Although he didn't win this; year's American Book Award for Best Translation, Dr. George Hart was nevertheless gratified that his poets of the. Tamil' Anthologies had been ' nominated. / ">
*'k means someone outside the field has paid attention to it," Dr. Hart ; explained. South Asia studies tend t<> be a very small, ingrown field, even though South Asia accounts for such an enormous part of the world. It's gratifying to know when people who don t spend ,much time with it all of a sudden give it some attention."
The American; Book Awards, which replaced the now defunct National Book Awards, are sponsored by such organization as the Association of American Publishers, the^ American Book-sellers Association).the American library Association and the Association of Aermican Univer^ sity Presses. Publishers submitted titles, along with a $25 fee.
The -books then went "�*< nominating committees in eat category. The committers included publishers, booksellei
ftbwri&ns, critics,' authors,, and
experts in field* relative to the nbm i nation s. The n om in at in g committee chose up to five titles ini each category and a ballot was sent to 2000 people connected with books and publishing who Aid expressed a desire in voting.
r' 4 Soi the nomination, as with the NJBA, is still by conimittee,M Dr. rjlart said, "which makes the nomination alone an award in itself.
A professor of Tamil at U.C� Berkeley for the: past five years, Dr, Hart spent 12 years translating the anthologies. ''The basic problem," he said, "was to make the poems flow without stiffness, because when you're leaping from one totally different culture t^ another you tend to use artificial and awkward expressions. There have been very few good translations of Indian languages; they teiid to come out sounding stilted and archaic. With these old Tamil poems it's ljke trying to translate English v!*iik verse into another
{{ Formerly of W^hington DC. and a graduate of Hatv^ wiih a doctorate in Sanskrit, Dr. uart Studied in Madras for a year. H� is married and lives with his wife, Kausalya, in Berkeley.
�1
By Laddie Dennis d^hlit, India
Everyone is looking for ai travel bargain these days. Here}' s one that's hard to beat: i boat excursion for 1 2/3 cents. Tfhrown in are glamorous-looking people, ocean ships, pole-driven barges, Chinese fishing boats, all; adrift upon (the glorious blue of the Arabian Sea. '��;*� �;� <� �'
The catch is you have to gd as far as India. But wait - is it a catch? The cheapest air excursion [fare to India is close to the 1980 regular fares to London and Paris j And once there, the bargains Continue. . '.; '': ///X:-" �'y;r^rS'--v:':;'
The boat excursions are Actually a means of transportation jamohg; a cluster of islands which ritake up the city of Cochin on thei southwest coast. It is famous !for the variety of its waterscapes, the dramatic power of the dance art Kathakali, and its religious diversity. This diversity was expressed by my first cab driver.
V'I'm a Hindu, but I like this god, "he said pointing to a plastic Christ mounted on his carl dash. Purpje rosary beads swung from the rear view mirror. "Ijbelieve every time,'' he went on Enthusiastically, f Each morning I go to Santa Cruz Cathedral ; or St. Francis Church.'' The fact that one was Catholic and thfe other Protestant, and he was a| Hindu offered not the slightest [contradiction for him. . i � �
His open-minded attitude reflects not only the tolerance of his city, but the state of Keraltu Here Jewsy Christians, Hindus and Moslems live together in jpeace. It has^ m^
Cranganore; St. Thoriias the AposjtJe landed at Kottipuram, and the Krishna tempjie at Guruvaypor was the first in India to open its gates to all \ Hindus irrespective Of caste. ]
My driver turned abruptly to show me -4*his" St. Francis Church. The street was preparations for a religious parade.; Strangely, the atmosphere was not unlike festivities for St. Jeart Baptiste in <3iiebec> Banners left over from a 1973 Eucharist ie Congress were being mounted. People sat in doorways cutting and weaving bleached palm strips into decorations.
St. Francis Church once!held the body of the great explorer Vasco da Gama, who did quite a bit of travelling even after he died. He was buried in this church in Cochin on Christmas Eye, 1524. But 14 years later his remains were removed to CidigveHa, Portugal, an^ another 334 years still later they were transferred to �Lisbon.:-' - 'j;
The Sunday service wasj just over and through the vestry cjoor I got a warm invitation to comje in from the head of the present 650-mem-ber congregation. He explained the interesting history of the church that went front Roman Catholic to Dutch Reform to Anglican to the present Church of South India, itself a merger of Anglican, Methodist and united churches.''; -:;;\
Over at the synagogue (1568) custodian Jackie Cohen gave a dignified and scholarly explanation of his building's importance. The small congregation]owns the Copper Plates, which form the Magna Carta of the ! Jews of Cochin, giving them {permanent high caste status by the king in 379 AD. The exquisite hand-painted Cantonese tiling of the synagogue was instaliddv in 1762 and no two are identical. There are attractively bound (miniature reproductions of the \ Copper Plajtes with their hisjtory; a unique souvenir at $5.^5.
Nightlife in Cochin offers three ^\fferent groups presenting trad-t1tlDn� classical Kerala
The ultimate spectacle in dance-drama is Kathakali. Makeup takes hours and the costumes are among the most elaborate of any theatre art. I was keen on ^a backstage look, as well as the performance. **Of course, _ said the easygoing manager of the local Government of India Tourist Ofice. He directed me to the Theosophical Society Hall where Art Kerala performs daily at 7 p.m. -\
The six actor-dancer/were just starting their complicated makeup, seated on the; floor around a single and inadequate source of light. Mosquitoes lurked in the shadows. There was a mortar and pestle to make the facial colors from indigo plants (for blue), sulphur (yellow), red lead and zinc oxide (white)f Coconut oil is used as the general base for all colors (it was in a mutually shared tin can), and a mixture of rice paste and s'hell-line is used for basic lines. Pitch is added to the natural colors for luminosity. Makeup is applied with sticks, no � brushes. "V.:; -: ���
Noble characters have the face painted a basic vivid green. The jowls are covered with a white chutti For this, the costumer became a makeup manv painstakingly glueing the layers of chutti (layered paper cutouts) to the actor's face as he lay on the floor. The red eyeballs that traditionally identify this character are acquired i by using a tiny flower seed. The actor apologized because his seeds were a bit old as the flower had been out of season. But he popped in a dry one anyway, and with fierce eye rolling worked up an acceptab Ie
The costumes hung in jewelled splendor. A single skirt alone was a full foot in thickness. I handled a towering headdress; it weighed six kilos. The director said proudly they had just completed a set of these costumes for a theatre in Paris.
That night they started the performance with a demonstra^ tion for visitors, so they might understand the gestures better. As the director called them out, a male actor went through a series of facial expressions, eye, hand and body movements. These serve the purpose of communication as well as imaginatively interpreting poetic meaning, sentiments and dramatic action. It was as if the actor's seven years of intensive training Were compressed into 10 minutes. It was/1 a stunning tour de force.
Kathakali plays are written in Malayalam verse from the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata (in this instance shortened and with English commentary). The lines are sung to the Accompaniment of gongs, drums and cymblas. The singer is actually the director of the actors. There are vivid scenes of challenge and combat, which have been enthralling audiences since the fifteenth century. I left the old Theosophical hall with the
conviction it was the most thrill ing night in a lifetime of theah* going.
- Besides the^ three-for-a-nfekel ferry ndes, there are launches especially for sightseeing alone the lagoons' and inland water ways. For a reasonable rate thev take out groups or individuals To have one all to yourself is ideal for a serious photographer. They can be directed close to the harbor entrance to have a from-the-water view of the enormous, picturesque Chinese fishing nets on shore; primitive wood framework counterbalanced by poles weighted with stones. Up smaller water streets village children greet your boat by throwing
, flowers. At Gundu Island mea and women work side by side in a prosperous co-operative coir factory making doormats out of dyed coconut fibre. And on Bolghatty Island, there is a dilapidated palace built by the Dutch in 1744 that offers a golf course. Not to be confused with the other "Dutch Palace," which was built by the Portuguese on Mattan-cherry in 1555, it has beautifully kept rooms where Cochin Rajas held their coronations and have well-preserved seventeenth century murals depicting scenes from
.;. the Ramayana.
A better,place to stay in Cochin can't be found than the renovated ; Malabar Hotel built in 1935. It is on Willingdon Island near the friendly, helpful staff of the Government of\ India Tourist Office, It has 38 air conditioned rooms (single: $21.50 including tax), beautifully situated overlooking the straits with fascinating water traffic passing continuously. The pure salt water pool has three filters and pool-side showers. Including the gardeners, there is a staff of 100. In the kitchen are a Continental and a South Indian chef and a Chinese (born in Calcutta) who serves the best egg rolls and shark fin soup , with crab you'll ever hav^.
Because Kerala is the second smallest state in Iriidia, nearly all its points of interest can be seen in side trips from Cochin: Kovalam, one of the finest beaches in all India: Trivandrum, the capital, built on Seven hills, and an art museum with a good collection of bronzes; tea and cardamom plantations up in the mountains; forests sprouting 600 varieties of trees; and the Peri-yar Wildlife� Sanctuary where hundreds of elephants, deer and gaur can be seen from the comfort and security of a cruising motor launch as they roam the lake shores. '
Like every state in India, Kerala has its abundance of festivals. One of the most exciting is at harvest time (August-September) when the people have their extraordinary boat races. Long boats with 18-foot-high sterns, each with a hundred oarsmen, flash by to the chant of songs and the rhythm of drums and cymbals., ;';.' v.. .;:;'/�
fGIobe &MalI3
New Delhi (IBS) � In a complete rehaul of the intelligence system. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi has rehabilitated her prime intelligence network. The Research and analysis Wing (RAW) to its position as the eyes and ears of the nation.
Mrs. Gandhi has restored 539 senior positions in the department, which had been pruned bv the Janata. She has also rehabilitated, R- ^. Rao, super spy and former director of RAW and three of his deputies have been given non- official roles in the Afghan-Assam ..i^uidl-esi':
One of Mrs. Gandhi's first tasks was to free the passports of Rao and his deputies and reassign them top-level investigation portfolios. Rao and two of his axemen have made trips to Kabul and Islamabad in attempts to patch up Indo-Pak relationships.
Counter intelligence agencies have been given an undisclosed budget for the import of sophisticated electronic equipment. The department is also to be brought back under the direct control of^ the Prime Minster's secretariat, and removing the present Home Ministry control which it ss currently under.
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In registering a grievance of the Indo-Ganadian community against the mass-media, this brief synopsis of societal significance purpotjts to dichotomize an otherwise, bjlurred distinction between : two enltrenched types of racism in Canadja:
1. Ratism by commission,; i.e. that perpetrated by racist products of this Canadian society, e.g. those j who beat up the Indian familyi recently.
2. Racism by omission, i.e. that perpetuated by the mass-media, resulting from its deliberate and biased distortions in reporting criminal incidents of racism.
The last item in the news media made!mention of the response of Indians recently subjects to racial persecution, is setting up a crisis-line. : Guilefully, however, ~-4he reporting of this incident served the mercantile purpose of sehsationalism, at the expense of all victims of iracism, rather than serving as a community-service annotincement of a protective resource available to Indo-Can-adian| people in times of racial persecution.
The establishment of a crisis-line for I'East''^, (an anachronistic, colonial and pejorative term) Indians tjo avail of in time of need was announced. No mention was : made, however, of the number itselft Thus, the presentation of this item of sensationalism, ser-
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I was amused to read, under the aboyje caption, in your highly esteemed paper, the views of the American Astronomer, Bart J. Boki condemning Astrology as ^uttdr nonsense'.
Asi a practising astrologer, who has iaiso been teaching Astrology for the last ten years, at different times in ; different areas, like Kingston, Ottawa and Toronto, I am ; prepared to take on any scientist or astronomer^ as I have already done in the past, and conclusively prove the validity of, and; truth in, Astrology, not in double meaning terms but in words definite and in writing. I must emphasize that what I practise and teach is not what often goes in the name of Astro-
Newspaper astrology is only a funigimick, which has done a great deal of harm by misrepresenting astrology in the popular mind. What is often ^called western astrology suffers from being too elementary and thel use of a zodiac, which is not the- zodiac of constellations, so that signs and other details go off the mark. A well known book, which I have in my possession, mentions that a Brahmin from India, whose wife's name was Sarah, first taught astrology in the west to an Egyptian named Seth, who taught it to Ptolmey, who is regarded as the father of Western astrology. Evidently, what was taught to these people was primary stuff, and furthermore, the interpretative material based on the zodiac of constella-
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Madras, (UNI) � A 20-tonne stone sculpture of Nandi, chiselled by mastercraftsmen of Tamil Nadu, wiil soon adorn a Muruga Temple coming up in the Hawaii Island in the United States.
-Described as a 44masterpiece in stone sculpture" Nandi, the mythical bull that is the k4yahana" (carrier) of Lord Shiva, was carved by a group of sculptors under Master Craftsman Neela Megha Stapati of Poompu-har, the Tamil Nadu Handicraft
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