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Hindu culture
By nandan on May 5, 2010
I recently learnt something really interesting- the religious idea behind women having their menstrual cycle. I tried to learn about it because I often hear about women considered as impure during their menstrual cycle and a lot of crazy ideas associated with it. The religious reasons I found behind women considered impure during their menstrual [...]
Posted in Hindu culture, Women in pain | Tagged hindu women, Hinduism, indian women, menstrual cycle, monthly periods, women body, women rights
By nandan on April 27, 2010
I worked again with Irene who was doing her M.A. from Ca’Foscari University of Venice and her research topic was Hindu widows. I had already worked with her in October 2009 in Benares but this time she wanted to visit Vrindavan because she had heard a lot about Bengali widows living in Vrindavan and how [...]
Posted in Business, Corruption, Hindu culture, Women in pain | Tagged gender discrimination india, hindu widows, Vrindavan, widows in Vrindavan, widows varanasi, women rights
By nandan on March 25, 2010
I worked with a photographer named Jane Becker from Canada. She wanted to photograph widows and hospices in Varanasi. Since I had already worked with a researcher from University of Venice who did research about widows in Varanasi, I already knew where to take them. About two years ago I worked with a research from [...]
Posted in Business, Hindu culture, Varanasi | Tagged ashrams in varanasi, benares, dying in varanasi, hospices in varanasi, kashi mukti bhawan, moksha in varanasi, research assistance varanasi, translator varanasi, Varanasi
By nandan on March 3, 2010
Posted in Hindu culture, Varanasi
By nandan on March 1, 2010
Holika is a festival which is celebrated on the Holi eve. It was on the 28th of Feb. this year but I could not attend it. This festival has a very interesting story behind it. It is said that there were two brothers named Hiranyakashyapu and Hirnakchya. Both of them were evil souls and [...]
Posted in Hindu culture, Varanasi | Tagged hindu festivals, holi, holika, Varanasi
By nandan on February 13, 2010
It was Shivratri on the 12th and I was super excited for it. Shivratri is the biggest festival of Benares. Actually it is celebrated because it is wedding anniversary of Lord Shiva. There are more than six thousand temples in Varanasi but 11 out of them organize a wedding parade of Lord Shiva. The parade [...]
Posted in Hindu culture, Varanasi | Tagged bhang, bhang lassi, bhang thandai, mahashivratri, shiva, shivratri, Varanasi
By nandan on October 15, 2009
I am hosting a FulBright scholar, Megan, who is doing her research from University of Pittsburgh. Her research topic is tawayaf culture. She has rented a whole flat and will stay till June 2010. We discussed a few things about tawayaf culture in Varanasi. I already knew that Lucknow was the most famous place of [...]
Posted in Groovy Ganges Guest House, Hindu culture | Tagged red light district varanasi, Tawayaf, Varanasi
By nandan on June 9, 2009
Yesterday it was an important day for the God Jagannath’s temple. Many people all over India go to the Jagannath temple and make the God bathe with water. This happens for the whole day and in the evening time it is said that the God gets sick because of this all-day-long bathing. Usually people offer [...]
Posted in Hindu culture, Varanasi | Tagged Rathyatra, rathyatra festival india, Varanasi
By nandan on October 31, 2008
Richard Gere kissed Shilpa Shetty in public and had to go to court. It happened during an AIDS awareness program where Shilpa Shetty, a Bollywood actress, was the hostess. Richard Gere has been working with lots of NGOs in India that educates people about AIDS. He came on the stage and started kissing Shilpa on [...]
Posted in Hindu culture, politics | Tagged kiss, sex
By nandan on October 29, 2008
It was Diwali yesterday and I enjoyed it a lot. I had invited a few couchsurfers to celebrate Diwali with me. I invited two US students and two British travelers. They came to my home around 6 o’clock and were just sharing their travel experiences of India. Later uncle Udo also joined us. My mother [...]
Posted in Hindu culture | Tagged Diwali Varanasi