Posts in Art & Culture
A Larger Slice of Life

Balarama asked Krishna a question when they had to leave Mathura and were going through all kinds of hardship: “Why are all these things happening to us, and that too with you around?” Krishna’s answer was, “Don’t you complain when life is happening to you in great measure. It is because you look at certain situations as good and others as bad, or certain situations as desirable and others as undesirable, that you ask yourself why these things are happening to you rather than just seeing life as life.”

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Art & CultureThe Indian News
The festivals of Navaratri and Dussehra

Navaratri (nava-nine, ratri-night) and Dussehra (dus-ten, hara-annihilation) are festivals celebrated over a period of ten days. The first nine days constitute the Navaratri festival. The tenth day is called Dussehra, marking the triumph of Lord Rama, seventh Avatar of Vishnu, over the demon king Ravana, who abducted Lord Rama's consort, Mother Sita. Since this Vijaya (victory) happened on Dashami (10th Lunar day of the Hindu calendar month), hence also known as Vijayadashami.

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Fighting stigma and stereotypes: All Day, Every Day

The ongoing exhibition at Depot Artspace in Auckland, Sex Workers of Aotearoa – a day in the life of, is unique in every possible sense. While challenging the beliefs, the stigma and the stereotypes that surround New Zealand’s sex industry, it is also a behind-the-curtain into an industry still fighting for mainstream space, almost 17 years after the Prostitution Reform Act was passed in 2003, which decriminalised sex work in Aotearoa New Zealand. “But most importantly, the exhibition is about sex workers taking charge of how they want to be represented. We need to tell our own stories. Sure, stereotypes exist, but they don’t represent everyone,” says Jordan Quinn, the curator of the exhibition.

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Raksha Bandhan: a festival of love and compassion

Raksha Bandhan, is a very popular and traditional Hindu festival which falls on the full moon day of Shravan month of Hindu calendar every year. Raksha Bandhan is celebrated in India, Nepal and some other parts of Indian subcontinent. Though this tradition of women tying sacred thread to men’s wrist is centuries old where ladies would tie a sacred thread for the safety and wellbeing of men folks going for wars.

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Stranded Indian in Auckland pens a book celebrating Goddess Durga and womanhood

When Rajshree Anand, a teacher, left Dehradun in January to visit her daughter in Auckland, little did she knew that she would be stranded in New Zealand for few more months than originally planned. Credit to her though, she used her time wisely and has just released her 33-page-long book on Amazon titled, Kaushiki The one who is enveloped in silk: The Goddess in every women.

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Four events get inaugural funding from the Creative and Cultural Events Incubator fund

Four celebrated Māori and Pasifika events will receive up to $100,000 each in funding from the new Creative and Cultural Events Incubator fund, Economic Development Minister Phil Twyford has announced. The four events that were successful in the inaugural funding round are: Kia Mau Festival, Wellington; Māoriland Film Festival, Otaki; Te Tairāwhiti Arts Festival, Gisborne; and Te Matatini, Auckland 2021.

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To all theatre lovers in New Zealand – free online sessions with eminent theatre personalities from India

Coconut Theatre, a wing of Coconut Media Box, has taken an ambitious and challenging project during this world-wide lockdown, called “Chai-Wai & Rangmanch - 2020”. We organize daily online session with one theatre expert from India and various other countries on our official Coconut Theatre Facebook Page at 6pm Indian Standard Time.

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