ambainny

Climates, is a Turkish movie, I saw last week at the film forum. It is directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, he also features as the central character, along with his real life wife Ebru Ceylan. The movie had wonderful scenes of Turkey. Although it was slow and did not have much of a story, the characters grew on one and made it a movie, that was memorable. Here is a summary from Blogcritics Climates traces the deteriorating relationship between middle-aged professor Isa (played by Ceylan) and his noticeably younger TV producer girlfriend Bahar (Ceylan’s real-life wife, Ebru Ceylan). There’s not much in common between them, so when Isa suggests they end their relationship he meets little resistance from Bahar. This break leads both of them in new directions, with Isa reconnecting with an old flame while Bahar pursues her career far away from home. Based on his actions, Isa is portrayed as an unlikeable, selfish character. He decides to leave his girlfriend for no discernible reason other th...

  

  Sandals Padukas- Nanak left his Kharaun behind at several places from Uch to Bukhara, as a blessing and a reminder of his presence. Bairagan Mendicants Armrest, armrests like these are placed under the armpit and establish a comfortable positon for meditation, discussion or rest. Flywisk are made from Yak Tails, and are used for waving over the guru granth sahib. 

  

  

  Music is an integral part of Sikh ritual, prayer and liturgy. A hymn moves through statement, elaboration and synthesis, muscially and poetically. Music becames a vehicle for reaching awareness of the divine. 

  Kamandalu- Mendicants water pot Bulbula- Spouted Ewer 

  This composition describes the account of Guru Nanak at Panja Sahib in Hassan Abdal near Rawalpindi. A jealous Muslim Pir is intent on doing away with Nanak by hurling boulders down on him. Guru Nanak at the bottom raises his hand and stops the boulders in their tracks. An impression of his hand is left on one of the boulders. Seated next to him is Mardana, his disciple who watches in amazement. 

  The carpenter depicted here is seen as a specialist (kharadia) by his peers. He is shown turning legs for beds and stools on his lathe. 

  The man's face is marked by dignity and an air of refinement. The way the craftsmen sits on the worktable is well observed. Next to him are a colorful range of dye-soaked pads lying in wooden frames, wood blocks of different sizes and earthen vessels holding water and color. 

  Drawn by Kehar Singh. The dyer a Muslim is busy at work. The rangrez is celebrated in folk songs for it is to him that maidens ask that their cholis and orhanis be dyed in bright colors of the rainbow. 

'People do the most terrible things in the most unexpected places' 23rd October, 2006 Back in 2004 the writer Gurpreet Bhatti was at the centre of controversy when her play Behzti was rocked by protests and eventually stopped early. On Thursday last week she delivered a speech at the Cambridge University Union. It was in opposition to the motion: 'This House believes that religion is the opium of the masses', as originally postulated by Karl Marx. In the article the writer discusses the reaction to her play, her own beliefs in Sikhism, and the importance of understanding religion properly. Her team won the debate. AIM Magazine exclusively publishes the full speech below. by Gurpreet Bhatti Writer and Playwright One of the most prominent banners at the protests against my play Behzti in December 2004 read 'Shame on Sikh Playwright for her Corrupt Imagination.' These words strike me as being relevant to this debate, because they seem to condemn the idea of mixing ...

Asra Nomani discusses the issue of domestic violence, that has been sanctioned by the Koran, in the current issue of Outlook. When dealing with a "disobedient wife," a Muslim man has a number of options. First, he should remind her of "the importance of following the instructions of the husband in Islam." If that doesn't work, he can "leave the wife's bed." Finally, he may "beat" her, though it must be without "hurting, breaking a bone, leaving blue or black marks on the body and avoiding hitting the face, at any cost." Such appalling recommendations, drawn from the book Woman in the Shade of Islam by Saudi scholar Abdul Rahman al-Sheha , are inspired by as authoritative a source as any Muslim could hope to find: a literal reading of the 34th verse of the fourth chapter of the Koran, An-Nisa , or Women. "[A]nd (as to) those on whose part you fear desertion, admonish them and leave them alone in the sleeping-places and bea...

The New Yorker has an article on Micro credit and finance. Connie Bruck’s article is Millions for Millions, This years Nobel Peace Prize winner and some high- tech entrepreneurs are competing to provide credit to the world’s poor. She compares the difference between Micro credit, which is more what Muhammad Yunus of Grameen Bank prescribes. Micro finance, is what ebay founder, Pierre Omidyar believes in. Yunus claims that more than 50% of borrowers have risen out of poverty within five years of staying in his program. To graduate from poverty he believes a family must have, a house with a tin roof; clean drinking water; a sanitary latrine; warm clothes for winter and mosquito netting for summer; about seventy five dollars in a savings account; and schooling for the children. Omidyar subscribes to Micro finance, which helps the poor, but not the poorest. It is about equal access to capital, similar to the ebay model, where buyers and sellers have equal access to information and oppor...

Interesting article in the New Yorker about the water crisis, the last drop confronting the possibility of a global catastrophe by Michael Specter. Here is an . audio interview. A person needs fifty liters of water a day, the Indian government provides forty. Americans consume 400-600 liters of water per day. In the slums of new Delhi, women line up early in the morning waiting for water tankers to arrive. The slum residents spend a larger percentage of their income on water, much more than other people, whose homes are connected to municipal pipes. Delhi gets fewer than 40 days of rain each year. India has to sustain 20% of the worlds population with less than 4% of the worlds water. When you cannot get enough water from the surface of the water, the only two alternatives are to pray and to dig. In India, Africa and china people are digging for their water. As the population increases, the freshwater reduces, and people begin to dig deeper. If they drill too deep, saltwater and arse...

Excellent article by Arundhati Roy on the trial of Mohammed Afzal, the accused in the attack on Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001. Think about it. On the basis of this illegal confession extracted under torture, hundreds of thousands of soldiers were moved to the Pakistan border at huge cost to the public exchequer, and the subcontinent devolved into a game of nuclear brinkmanship in which the whole world was held hostage. Big Whispered Question: Could it have been the other way around? Did the confession precipitate the war, or did the need for a war precipitate the need for the confession? Here is a link to a statement of the accused Mohammed Afzal under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Reading this makes it quite clear that Afzal is no great mastermind of planning the attack on Parliament. He comes across as a guy who has been tortured and false confessions extracted to serve the purposes of the case. Nirmalangshu Mukherji teaches philosophy at Delhi University. H...

Diwali is celebrated all over India with the lighting of diyas at home to welcome Goddess Lakshmi. The word "Diwali" is the corruption of the Sanskrit word "Deepavali" -- Deepa meaning light and Avali, meaning a row. It means a row of lights and indeed illumination forms its main attraction. Every home the hut of the poor or the mansion of the rich - is alit with the orange glow of twinkling diyas-small earthen lamps - to welcome Lakshmi, Goddess of wealth and prosperity. Rangoli patterns are drawn with rice flour outside homes. Rangoli designs combined with floral decorations and fireworks lend picturesness and grandeur to this festival which heralds joy, mirth and happiness in the ensuring year.