HOLI YATRA WALK 2012, STAGE 1: SHREE JALARAM PRARTHANA MANDAL

First stage on the Holi Yatra Sponsored Walk with Leicester Friends of Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies: Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal, Narborough Road. The goal is to visit 15 Hindu temples (mandirs) in Leicester on foot today.

Holi (Hindi: होली) is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus, also known as the Festival of Colours. It is primarily observed in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal and in countries with large populations from India or of Indian descent who follow Hinduism.

Yatra (Sanskrit: यात्रा, "journey", "procession"), in Hinduism and other Indian religions, means pilgrimage to holy places and is generally undertaken in groups. One who goes on a yatra is known as a yatri. It is desirable, but not obligatory, for a Hindu to go on a yatra. One can go on a yatra for a variety of reasons, including festivals, to perform rituals for one's ancestors, or to obtain good karma. To traditional Hindus, the journey itself is as important as the destination, and the hardships of travel serve as an act of devotion in themselves. Visiting a sacred place is believed by the pilgrim to purify the self and bring one closer to the divine. (Thanks to Wikipedia for these definitions.)

Shree Jalaram Prarthana Mandal was the first purpose-built Hindu mandir in Europe. It was dedicated to public worship in 1995. Last year, a plaque was unveiled here celebrating the work of those members of the community who worked from as early as 1979 to raise more than £1,000,000 and establish this place of worship. His Excellency the Counsel General of India, Gururaj Rao, was the special guest at the unveiling of the plaque. This was reported in the Leicester Mercury (and covered in this blog, Tuesday 8 November 2011).

I lived in the West End of Leicester from 2006 till 2010 and my GP's surgery was opposite the entrance to the temple on Westcotes Drive (as seen in the photo above). So I saw quite a bit of this temple from the outside in those days. The only other time I've been inside was on one of the Peace Visits organised by Leicester Council of Faiths, in September 2009. The picture below taken on that date (not by me) is of a painting on the ceiling of the temple's worship hall. It contains images of prophets, teachers, messengers and founders of world religions, including Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus and Guru Nanak.

The most striking external features of this place of worship are the large white turbans, facing on to Westcotes Drive (seen in the photo at the top of this entry) and Narborough Road, as seen in the photo below (by Ned Trifle, reproduced with permission).

When the group sets off, around 0930, there are around 50 of us. Next stop: ISKCON Temple in the West End.

I leave some fliers and A4 posters for the upcoming REDP event Choice Unlimited here (after asking permission, of course). I also leave information about the Council of Faiths next open meeting, a panel presentation entitled "God in my faith" coming up during the week.

ANGER AT CREMATORIUM PLAN

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Anger at crematorium plan

Scores of residents visited an exhibition to learn about plans to build a crematorium near their homes.

Developer Westerleigh Group is hoping to submit a planning application at the end of March for a crematorium in Leicester Road, Countesthorpe.

The £3 million development was unveiled at Countesthorpe village hall on Thursday and yesterday. Residents were given a chance to ask questions about the project.

If approved by Blaby District Council, the crematorium would be built next to a proposed 168-home estate by Redrow Homes, and residents fear it will further increase traffic along Leicester Road.

Liz Swift, who lives within a few hundred yards of the proposed site, said: "My first reaction was shock and horror.

"We've lived here for 28 years and there's been six fatalities on Leicester Road in that time – I don't think anything which brings more cars is a good idea.

"First, there's the new estate being built at the top of the road and now this, we're just concerned about the traffic."

Kenneth Warner, 86, who has lived in the village since he was three, said: "I don't understand why they're building it there, it should be closer towards Wigston, where there are more people.

"I don't have a problem with it, but it will cause a lot more congestion on the roads, we're busy enough as it is. Station Road looks like a motorway during rush-hour." 

Robert Jelves, 68, said: "News of the crematorium is going round the village like wildfire, a lot of people are concerned."

The developer said that the majority of cars going in and out of the site would not be within rush hour times.

Managing director of Westerleigh Group Richard Evans said: "It's going to be a quiet, tranquil place, which is set back from the road and very discreet.

"There's been a need for something like this for a long, long time."Leicester is one of the busiest places in the country for cremations and currently has two crematoria which are holding about 14 services a day between them.

"The Countesthorpe site would hold about five cremations a day."

Mr Evans said the Countesthorpe site could deal with up to 1,100 to 1,300 cremations a year. He said: "We estimate that about 200 will come from the southern wards of the city and the majority will be from this area.

"We foresee that most people will come from around this area, but we want to make it open and available for everybody."

Under the proposals, the facade of the main building will include an interchangeable religious symbol, which can be switched to represent the faith of the service.

There will also be wash rooms and a viewing area for Sikh ceremonies, which traditionally involve watching the coffin entering the furnace.

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (2.463)

Regular update on the number of pageviews received from different parts of the world in the week just ending.

1. United Kingdom 1,158
2. Germany 455
3. United States 422
4. Russia 113
5. France 109
6. Poland 59
7. India 45
8. Canada 42
9. Brazil 35
10. Ukraine 31

This week's total: 2,463 (last week: 2,114). These are aggregates of figures from the top ten countries only. Blogger's stats software doesn't show me numbers of pageviews below the tenth-ranking country.

The world map at the top of this post is the graphic that I see on the stats page. The darker the green, the more pageviews from that country. I can see different versions of that map for "now" (i.e. in the last two hours), "today", "this week", "this month" and "all time" (which seems to mean the last 12 months). They're updated each time I look at them.

MEMORIES OF UGANDAN ASIAN FAMILIES WANTED

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Memories of Ugandan Asian families wanted

Do you remember the arrival of the Ugandan Asians in Leicester in 1972?

Perhaps you were one of those forced to flee East Africa with little more than the clothes on your back? Maybe you were an Indian already living in Leicester who found your life turned upside down by the upheavals of 1972?

Where you were living in the Belgrave Road area at the time and remember what it was like to get a sudden influx of new neighbours?

Whatever your story, whether you were a newcomer or a long-established Leicester family, Mercury reporter Adam Wakelin would like to hear from you. 

Give him a call on 0116 222436 or send him an e-mail: adamwakelin@leicestermercury.co.uk

Please remember to include your name and a daytime contact number. 

MEN AS LEADERS ON INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Diversity Hub is running its larger official International Women's Day event, "Women as Leaders" for women at its Churchgate premises, while half a dozen men meet in their alternative session here in the bowels of Leicester Adult Education College.

You could hardly imagine six more right-on chaps taking part in this (and take that in the most positive light please, faithful reader). While I'm not writing any of this with irony and we're not meeting ironically, still we can't help acknowledge the irony of the situation. There's a frisson of transgressiveness about it. We start off rather self-conscious and self-aware if anything we say could be thought of as condescending or patronising - even though there are no women here to hear us. Still, at the start there is the feeling of looking over our shoulders (that wasn't just me, was it?)

Here are a few of the topics and themes we touched on:

• Collaboration with women as leaders
• How to encourage men to shut up and clear space for women to speak?
• Men as formal leaders, facilitators, managers of meetings
• Difference between leadership styles of men and women in business, education, politics
• Results of men and women adopting typical traits of each other - does that make for a more balanced style?
• Appropriate and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace
• Cultural norms (regarding body language, deference, eye contact, physical contact) that amplify, cut across, subvert gender relations
• How we model kinds of male and female leadership to our children
• Rising above and beyond the blame culture, to allow situations where men and women can work together
• Our ideas of what we can do as men - by ourselves, with other men, with women - are things we've mostly picked up from others, not thought through entirely for ourselves
• Treating people as being all the same is not the same as treating them as equals
• To be a leader, one needs followers
• Can one have followers without knowing it?
• Can one be a leader without knowing it?

THOUSANDS CELEBRATE SEASON WITH FESTIVAL OF COLOUR

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Thousands celebrate season with festival of colour

Thousands of worshippers have celebrated the Hindu festival of Holi by throwing coconuts into a huge bonfire and painting each other's faces.

People from across the city travelled to Spinney Hill Park, in Leicester, for the event last night.

The spring festival, also known as festival of colours, marks the end of winter.

Organiser Jatin Morjaria, 53, from Stoneygate, said: "We have been planning for two months now, so it is nice to see it all come together.

"It represents happiness and joy, and the getting rid of bad things such as greed or lust, putting them in the fire, a bit like a new year's resolution."

The bonfire – and the coconuts thrown in – represent ridding the body and mind of all the sins of the year.

Thousands of people threw coloured powder at each other, while younger worshippers squirted liquid paint, symbolising the colours of spring.

Among guests of honour were MP for Leicester South Jon Ashworth, and city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby. Festivities can last up to 16 days.

REFUGEES OF UGANDA GET TO TELL STORIES

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Refugees of Uganda get to tell stories

Curators of a museum exhibition are inviting Leicester's Ugandan Asian community to share their memories at an event this Saturday.

The exhibition, planned for New Walk Museum later this year, will mark the 40th anniversary of the expulsion of Asian people from Uganda and, for some of them, their move to Leicester.

Using archive materials and oral histories, it will look at how Ugandan Asians adapted to life in the UK and how the community has influenced the city over the last four decades.

Organisers are hoping people will attend an event at the Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre on Saturday to tell their tales.

Museum staff will be on hand to record interviews, scan photographs and gather other material that could feature in the 40 Years: The Ugandan Asian Story exhibition, which opens at New Walk Museum on July 14 and runs until September 30.

The event at the Rothley Street centre runs from 11am until 4pm. To find out more, or if you have an interesting story but cannot attend, call Philip French on 0116 225 4980.

PHILOSOPHY IN PUBS

The first Wednesday of the month is time for Philosophy in Pubs (PIPS), upstairs in the Crumblin' Cookie on Leicester High Street. There are 20 of us around the table this evening, including some first timers. Our stimulus this evening is the question, "Should Leicester welcome all its visitors?"

When I've been talking about PIPS with various people, they usually ask what it's about and how it goes. I've copied this from the national PIPS website, which says it very well:

"The PIP's are a group of like-minded people searching for philosophical stimulation in a relaxed atmosphere (i.e. pubs, bistros, coffee shops, bookstores & community centres). [...]

"Everyone has Philosophical thoughts and as a group we would like to hear yours - whoever you are, wherever you're from and whatever they may be!

"The enquiries are relaxed with groups large enough to enjoy a number of diverse opinions, yet small enough to allow each person time to put their views across. As a contributor you can schedule your own subjects for enquiry and debate. Alternatively, just turn up and listen to the thoughts of others.

"Respect for others and their opinions are a fundamental requirement of the group as it encourages people to put forward their views without fear of ridicule or intimidation.

"No academic or philosophical background is necessary, only a passion for enquiry. Just turn up and enjoy."

Check out the Facebook page for Philosophy in Pubs Leicester.

Follow the Crumblin' Cookie on Twitter: @Crumblin_Cookie

MARRIAGE WILL BE WEAKENED BY THIS CHANGE

Father Gregory Murphy's First Person column appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Marriage will be weakened by this change

Fr Gregory Murphy explains the churches' opposition to same-sex marriage

Yesterday's editorial on the controversy surrounding the recent proposal to legalise same-sex marriages argued that gay couples should have the right to marry, as representing both a personal expression of their life-long commitment to each other, and the concomitant expression in law of a more tolerant society, concluding that this proposal would do no harm and would remove a manifest inequality.

This stance is opposed by most Christian churches. It is important to recognise that, in opposing this move, the Church is not intending to foster discrimination against same-sex couples (although it may be perceived as such), but rather to challenge so radical an extension of the concept of marriage as to render that concept vacuous. Given that the same legal status is applied equally to those who are in registered civil partnerships as to those who are married, the archbishops argue that our present law does not discriminate unjustly when it requires both a woman and a man for marriage. It simply recognises and protects the distinctive nature of marriage.

Sociologically, marriage is an institution constructed to meet the needs of family and society.

General social conditions are decisively affected by married life and family life; and societies have a legitimate concern for the nurturing and socialising of their newest and weakest members. Marriage then has never been regarded just as the private business of two consenting adults, but has always been fitted into a general social context, and also into the contexts of morality and religion broadly applying in that culture. The Christian understanding of marriage views it under two aspects: as a human (social) reality that is also a saving mystery or sacrament, a locus in human lives of the action of the divine. In their lifelong commitment to each other the married couple reflect the commitment of Christ to his church, and through the creation and upbringing of children they become the source and guardians of the next generation, reflecting God's creative work.

This is spelt out especially by St Paul in the reading of the Genesis creation narrative he gives in his Letter to the Ephesians, emphasising that the relationship between man and wife is theologically set apart from all other human relationships – even that, for example, between children and parents. That is the basis of the archbishops' contention that marriage, in our current law and custom, is defined as an exclusive relationship between a woman and a man; which we can trace in the complementary historical development of both civil and ecclesiastical law. The opposition of the churches to the changes is fuelled by the concern that in so widening the concept of marriage the social and cultural values it currently supports would be weakened, to the detriment of society in general.

CUT TRAVEL SUBSIDIES FOR PUPILS AT FAITH SCHOOLS

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Cut travel subsidies for pupils at faith schools

Leicestershire County Council is currently consulting on part of its "Austerity Budget" (Mercury February 23), one aspect of which relates to the subsidies it provides for transport.

The consultation closes on April 2 and the documentation can be found on the county council's website.

Cuts in subsidies are being considered for both travel by the disabled and for home-to-school transport for children attending their nearest church school on denominational grounds.

The consultation document says: "Students currently contribute £240 per year towards their travel. The full cost of providing each seat is £490 per year.

"Leicestershire County Council currently pays a subsidy of £250 per seat, per year for around 1,000 pupils. This costs us £250,000 per year.

"Leicestershire County Council has a duty to take into account the wishes of parents on the grounds of religion or belief, but there is no duty to provide free or subsidised transport (except for children from qualifying low income families)."

I believe the subsidy for children from religious families, which is not available to those outside the favoured denominations, is wrong and should be withdrawn, rather than cut help for the disabled.

The subsidy will only be removed from better off families.

Your readers might like to make their views known by completing the consultation document on the county council's website.
John R Catt, Loughborough