By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,

Thrissur (Kerala) : Over 600 dancers painted like tigers and 300 percussionists took to the main thoroughfare of this sylvan Kerala town to perform the ancient Pulikali or the tiger dance as part of the Onam festivities.

More than 20,000 people Thursday lined the streets of this town, around 300 km from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram, braving the steady drizzle to witness the Pulikali folk dance that is being promoted as a tourist attraction and competitive event like the snake boat race by the state government.

By TCN News

New Delhi: “Destination Aligarh”, a television documentary which is budgeted to cost USD40,000, is a cross-border (Indo-Pak) project initiated by a UAE-based documentary filmmaker Amna E Khaishgi. “This documentary is a first of its kind and a unique audio visual tribute to this great university which has changed the lives of millions of Muslims in the Subcontinent,” she said.

By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,

Kozhikode: Ramzan is going active in Kerala with believers flocking to masjids for tharaveeh and iftar parties inviting people of different religions. The occurrence of Kerala’s state festival Onam during the Ramzan paved way for special Onam iftars also this year.

By TCN News

Panaji, Goa: Prominent scholar and litterateur Mrs. Asma Saleem was awarded Sahitya Akademi’s award for her Urdu translated book Safar at a ceremony in Panaji on August 20.

The Sahitya Akademi translation awards presentation ceremony was held at the Kala Academy’s Dinanath Mangeshkar hall. The welcome speech was delivered by the secretary of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Agrahar Krishnamurti. The president of Sahitya Akademi, Mr Sunil Gangopadhyay presided over the function.

By Dr Omar Khalidi

Dr. Anwar Moazzam, former professor of Islamic Studies at Osmania University in Hyderabad, Deccan, India and Ashhar Farhan, an info-technologist and entrepreneur has compiled a massive, epoch-making bibliography of works in social sciences in Urdu. Dr. Moazzam launched the project way back in 1976, under the auspices of Indian Council for Social Science Research and National Council for the Promotion of Urdu Language, both institutions funded by the union government of India in New Delhi.

By TCN News

New Delhi: Eminent Urdu critic and writer Shamsur Rahman Faruqi has been honoured by the Pakistani government by giving its third most highest civilian award “Sitara-i-Imtiaz.”

Faruqi edited Urdu literary magazine “Shabkhoon” which was published regularly for forty years before ceasing publication in 2005. In 2009 he was awarded “Padma Shri” by the Indian government for his work in the field of literature.

Link:

http://www.shamsurrahmanfaruqi.com/

By Madhusree Chatterjee, IANS,

New Delhi : Once confined to temples, Indian classical dance is crossing the seas, creating new cross-cultural idioms and churning out foreign exponents.

Classical dancers of foreign origin say genres like bharatanatyam, kathak and mohiniattam have become fashion, wellness and cultural statements among GenNext in Southeast Asia and in the West because of their heritage and mystic pull.

By IANS,

Mumbai: Veteran actor Shammi Kapoor, some of whose most memorable songs like 'Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee Kahe' were in the voice of Mohammad Rafi, Saturday remembered the legendary singer on his 30th death anniversary and admits he is incomplete without Rafi.

By IANS,

New Delhi : India's culture ministry and the British Museum are working closely to conserve Indian art, architecture and traditional textiles, says director of the museum Neil MacGregor.

He is part of the British cultural delegation touring India with Prime Minister David Cameron.

By IANS,

Mumbai: Mafia don Haji Mastan's daughter Shamshad Supariwala Tuesday filed an additional affidavit in a city court against Balaji Telefilms, the producers of "Once Upon A Time In Mumbaai", demanding that they be shown the film before its release.