Photo of the Day (11/10/07)

by Justin Glow on

Even though it’s nearly impossible to take a bad photo of the Taj Mahal in Agra, India, I’d still like to congratulate Gadling reader pixelskew for snapping this amazing shot. It’s so perfectly symmetrical, the only way you can tell it’s not just half of an image doubled over is by looking at the crowd of people at the base of the mausoleum. Just as impressive is the sky, which gradually changes from blue to pink to white to green. Magnificent. Pixelskew also gets bonus points because I was there not even a week after this picture was taken, back in December of 2006.

If you’d like to contribute a Photo of the Day shot for consideration, please visit our Gadling Flickr pool and upload your favorites.

The wacky closing of the India/Pakistan border

by Neil Woodburn on

Today’s earlier post about Michael Palin’s new travel series reminded me of one of the more spectacular clips I’ve seen on his travel programs; the closing of the Pakistan/India border.

Every evening an extravagant ceremony accompanies the border closing with soldiers from both sides strutting about in exaggerated bouts of bravado and peacock strutting. There really is nothing quite like it anywhere on this planet. It even puts silly goose-stepping soldiers to shame with its over-the-top slathering of machismo.

Spare just a couple of minutes today to check out this video; it will leave you slack-jawed and amazed.

Diwali–Festival of Light

by Jamie Rhein on

This year Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Light is November 9. As with many celebrations that involve candles, it symbolizes the rescue from a dark period of time where evil has had control into a time of peace, goodness and well-being. Diwali,signifies when Lord Rama, his wife Sita and brother Laxman returned to Aydhoya from their 14 years of exile after Rama killed King Ravana, the demon. Ravana was one nasty fellow. After Ravana’s death, Lord Rama is crowned king and all is right with the world.

The story of Rama is a long one with many chapters and is the subject of much drama, story-telling, dance and art throughout the year. This segment is my favorite. In India, the different regions have different Diwali traditions.

I first learned of Diwali when we lived in Singapore. In Little India, during the days leading up to it, you could buy wonderful brightly colored decorations depicting Rama and Sita. But, my favorite items were the simple, shallow clay candle holders that held small tea light-sized neon candles.

People place these candles everywhere-on window sills, on tables, along walkways– to symbolize the light that comes after darkness. In India, Diwalli decorations are as plentiful as Christmas decorations are in the U.S.

For Hindus, this is a time for giving thanks for one’s wealth and prosperity no matter how poor one might be. This is a time of year when people exchange cards, sweets, clean their houses in preparation, wear their nicest clothes and go to temple to pray. The temples are decorated as well. Here are some pooja decoration ideas you can try at home.

There are other places in the world where you might come across Diwali celebrations. For example, in Kenya and Tanzania, 1% of the population is Hindu and live in closely knit communities. There are enough Hindus that Diwali is a national holiday. Other Diwali hotspots: Mauritius, Nepal, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Japan Thailand, South Africa, Britain, Australia,Trinidad & Tobago, Guyana, Surinam, Fiji.

We do have a few candle holders left. I gave some away as presents. I need to remember to get them out. The street scene photo is at the entrance of Little India off Serangoon Rd. in Singapore. It was posted on the Diwali entry on Wikipedia.

India to put an end to public defecating

by Catherine Bodry on

If you travel through India there’s a couple of bodily-function issues you might notice (outside your own, that is). One is that there’s a large poor population that doesn’t have access to any form of plumbing. Railroad tracks tend to become the local slum toilet — at least that’s what I noticed while traveling by rail. The other is that areas where public toilets are in place, the stench is often overwhelming (I’m thinking back to some roadside urinals I constantly passed en route to my guesthouse in Delhi).

The World Health Organization estimates that 2.6 million people live without access to a proper toilet, and more than half that number live in India. It’s difficult to imagine a solution to a problem that huge, but India is working on it. The government aims to eradicate “open-air defecating” by 2012, promised Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad at the World Toilet Summit.

Only problem is, he didn’t say how.

Read the report here.

10-year-old teaches himself 10 languages

by Abha Malpani on


Little British-Indian kid Arpan Sharma, taught himself how to speak French, Italian (when he was 7), German (at 8), Spanish (at 9), Swahili, Mandarin, Polish, Thai and Lugandan (Uganda); and of course he speaks Hindi and English.

His dream is to travel the world as a doctor, and he wants to be able to speak the native tongue of the country he works in. He is 10.

My primary education was in England too. My mother would force me to study Hindi every Sunday; I hated it. All I wanted to do was read and make snowmen. I speak English, Hindi and Spanish — but there is room for a lot of improvement in all three. Constantly changing countries of residence can teach you new languages but can also destroy your language basics.

Hats off to this child who sitting in one country seems to be fluent in 11 languages.

In Dubai, it is not uncommon to find Middle-Eastern nationalities who speak, read and write English, Arabic and French fluently; they are brought up with these languages. Also, with a large Indian/Pakistani population, many understand and can speak basic Hindi/Urdu.

I’m so envious of multi-lingual people. But if this 10-year-old kid can teach himself, I suppose I have no excuse if I want to be one of them.