1. Dhandayuthapaniswamy Temple Gets Updates Facilities for Pilgrims
2. The Quest for Britain's Best Sari
3. Invest in Your Child's Education, Says Crusader for Dalits
4. Daily Inspiration

1. Dhandayuthapaniswamy Temple Gets Updates Facilities for Pilgrims

www.hindu.com

PALANI, INDIA, September 4, 2008: A redesigned rope car system and a new panchamritham-making facility were inaugurated here Tuesday, as well as several other improvements. The temple will have a modern hall for the offering of hair, additional seating at the winch station and a massive dining hall at Dhandapani Nilayam.

The Minister for Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments, K. R. Periakaruppan, said 48 temples are being renovated in Tamil Nadu. The golden raths of nine temples have already been renovated, and work has commenced on 13 more. Collector R. Vasuki said the much awaited Kodaikanal-Adukkam-Periakulam hill road would be opened for traffic by the end of September.

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2. The Quest for Britain's Best Sari

www.hindu.com

LEICESTER, ENGLAND, September 2, 2008: Fashion designers in Britain are gearing for a national competition for the best bridal sari, reflecting the hopes, dreams and aspirations of a British-Asian bride. The competition, British Sari Story 2008, is calling for people to create their own embroidery, embellishment and beading with patterns that reflect present-day British Asian life.

Leicester's Indian-origin Lord Mayor, Manjula Sood, who makes it a point to wear a sari at every public function, is one of the judges. The other judges are Baroness Sheela Flather, the first British Asian woman in the House of Lords, and couturier Roy Allen.

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3. Invest in Your Child's Education, Says Crusader for Dalits

www.nytimes.com

AZAMGARH DISTRICT, INDIA, September 1, 2008: When Chandra Bhan Prasad visits his ancestral village in these feudal badlands of northern India, he dispenses the following advice to his fellow dalits: Get rid of things that demand children's labor. Invest in your children's education instead of in jewelry or land. Cities are good for outcastes like us, and so is India's new capitalism.

The last 17 years of new capitalism have already allowed the dalits to "escape hunger and humiliation," he says, if not residual prejudice. Now, at a time of tremendous change in India, Mr. Prasad is a lightning rod for one of the country's most wrenching debates: If India's embrace of economic reforms really uplifted its people. He is conducting a qualitative survey of nearly 20,000 households here in northern state of Uttar Pradesh to measure how everyday life has changed for dalits since economic liberalization began in 1991. The preliminary findings reveal subtle shifts. Today Ddalits are far less likely to be engaged in their traditional occupations and more likely to enjoy social life.

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4. Daily Inspiration

www.hinduismtoday.com

Nothing ever will be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome.
   Samuel Johnson

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