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Self-proclaimed custodians of
tradition and a rusty ethical code, the khaps
of Haryana have gained notoriety for their lopsided diktats. The
rural society in the state seems to be grappling with the old and new
value systems,
writes Geetanjali Gayatri
LOVE
may know no barriers elsewhere and marriages maybe a personal affair
but in the caste-centric and male-dominated rural society in Haryana,
the ‘meddlesome’ khaps or jati (caste) panchayats are
playing spoilsport. Calling the shots, sometimes literally, on the
issue of love and marriage, these panchayats are part of a legacy
carried forward from the medieval era.
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Wedded
to a cause
Ashvini Jojra, a resident of
RS Pura, has arranged 880 marriages of girls living below the poverty
line. The founder-president of charitable organisation Sehyog is
working for the welfare of differently abled children, the aged, as
well as widows, writes Ashutosh Sharma
from Jammu
Certain
incidents leave a deep impact on our lives. But in certain cases the
impression is lasting on the psyche. One incident in the life of an
aspiring civil servant changed his entire orientation. Ashvini Jojra,
a resident of RS Pura, 35 km from Jammu city, relates the incident
that took place when he was studying in Aligarh.
A
literary delight
Marrying the centuries-old
tradition of mushaira to modern stagecraft, Jashn-e-Bahar,
2009, held recently in the Capital, was a visual and literary delight,
says Aparna Srivastava Reddy
A
poet from China, a litterateur from England, a journalist from
Afghanistan—what do they have in common? Their love of Urdu, a love
they share with hundreds of thousands of Indians.
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A handout picture from the Dubai-based Camel Reproduction Centre shows Injaz, claimed to be the world’s first cloned camel. Injaz, a female, was born on April 8, 2009, after five years of work by scientists at the Camel Reproduction Centre and the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory, the local national newspaper reported
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In
the tiger country
Lt-Gen
Baljit Singh (retd) on Bandhavgarh Game Reserve, which has the
highest density of tigers in the wilderness in India
IN
May 1951 an unknown forest-patch in Central India became the focus of
attention of zoologists and wildlife enthusiasts, the world over. The
reason behind this frenzy was quite special.
Guerrilla
Girls on the go
Guy Adams
AFTER
a quarter of a century railing against the establishment, the art
world’s most prominent group of radical feminists has decided to
join it.
Dark
seduction
By bringing us back to the first primal response, horror movies act as a safety valve, writes
Johann Hari
SHOW
me what scares you, and I will show you your subconscious leeching out
into the world. Every culture — every person — imagines there are
terrors waiting for us in the dark: the shape of the monsters changes
from year to year, but the fear remains. Man, it seems, needs dread
and circuses.
View
of the Valley
Santosh Sivan’s Tahaan
is an attempt to realistically, powerfully re-imagine
Kashmir, writes Shakuntala Rao
AS
a young girl, growing up in one of the affluent colonies of South
Delhi, I rarely noticed the Kashmiri carpet vendors who roamed our
streets in their tongas. All I remember is my mother haggling with one
vendor to buy a woolen carpet which still sits in my living room
today, its colour faded and the wool coarse, after 35 years of
excessive use.
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