SAJAforum

TIBET: 50th Anniversary of Dalai Lama's exile to India

It's night time in NYC, but it's already daytime in India, where the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's exile to India is being marked. I am looking at the latest postings in the Twitter feed of Stephanie Nolen, South Asia Correspondent for Canada's Globe and Mail, who's in the town of Dharamsala and doing Twitter updates from the ceremony there.

the #Dalai Lama has left the temple in a swirl of monks and pipers and drummers and Tibetan flags
7 minutes ago from mobile web
#Dalai Lama concludes by asking for peace for all beings
13 minutes ago from mobile web
#Dalai Lama: "We must prepare ourselves in case #Tibetan struggle goes on for a long time."
18 minutes ago from mobile web
#Dalai Lama: "I have no doubt that justice of #Tibet's cause will prevail iif we continue path of truth & non-violence."
19 minutes ago from mobile web
#Dalai Lama - "Very few Chinese people have a true understanding about Tibet" due to deliberate misinformation by authorities

FILM: "Chandni Chowk to China" angers Nepali audience

In 2000, Hrithik Roshan's comment that he dislikes Nepal in a show with Simi Garewal triggered riots in Kathmandu. But the issue was resolved, and it was proved that the Indian actor had never made an anti-Nepal remark.

Now there's fresh trouble over a Bollywood movie, "Chandni Chowk to China." The Warner Brothers production has created a stir in the Nepali capital because of the reference made in the movie that Buddha was born in India.

From The Economic Times:

Chandni Chowk to China, India's first made-in-China film, has angered Nepal for its erroneous references about the Buddha. Enraged students on Wednesday tore off the posters of the romantic comedy at Kathmandu's Jai Nepal cinema and the furor caused authorities to shelve the screening of the film.

The protests began over a comment in the film that the Buddha was born in India.

Born as Prince Siddharth, the founder of Buddhism, the Buddha was born in Lumbini, in present day southern Nepal, which draws thousands of visitors every year.

According to the Nepali language Web site, dainikee.com, K.P. Pathak, spokesperson for the Nepal Film Development Board, has urged the people to reject the movie.

"This movie presents a wrong fact," he said. "We request the audience to boycott such a film."

Earlier this month, CC2C was premiered in Los Angeles and New York and was attened by the film's cast and director.

Earlier on SAJAforum:

• Webcast with Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone and director Nikhil Advani of "Chandni Chowk to China"

Post your comments below.

POLITICS: Muslim conference prompts gay-evangelical love, peace, harmony

President-elect Barack Obama's selection of conservative fundamentalist minister Rick Warren, who supported California's Proposition 8 in last month's elections, to deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration has caused many of Obama's progressive supporters to feel a sense of "betrayal," as Neil Buchanan has written at Dorf on Law. Singer, songwriter, and Prop 8 opponent Melissa Etheridge, who is openly lesbian and has been a longtime activist for gay rights and other progressive causes, had much the same initial reaction. While she had never previously heard of Warren, she wondered whether Warren was a "hate spouting, money grabbing, bad hair televangelist like all the others," and whether she should boycott the inauguration on account of his selection.

Given the controversy, Etheridge was "stunned" to learn that Warren would be giving the keynote address at the Muslim Public Affairs Council's annual convention in California -- where Etheridge herself was scheduled to appear with Junoon's Salman Ahmad to perform "Ring The Bells," a song they had co-written "call[ing] for peace and unity in our world." (Since December, apparently, is "Using Music to Change the World Month," the MPAC performance was intended to initiate a broader "Ring the Bells for Peace" Campaign, which you can read more about here.)

Etheridge says that she initially contemplated canceling her appearance at MPAC on account of Warren's appearance. However, as she recounts at the Huffington Post, Etheridge ultimately decided on a different approach to the situation:

HALLOWEEN: Heidi Klum's idea of a good costume

[UPDATE: Klum's explanation about her costume appended below]

Supermodel Heidi Klum throws a big Halloween party each year - a bash attended by many celebrities. Last year, she went dressed as a cat. This year, she chose to dress as the Hindu goddess Kali.

Hard to imagine it would be all right for her to dress as a god of any other religion. What do YOU think? Post your comments below.

In the photo below, you will see that her husband, the singer Seal is dressed in a costume that appears to be that of Angulimala ("garland of fingers"), a killer who was converted by the Buddha to a life of faith (or is that some figure associated with Kali?).