FESTIVAL PROMISES TASTE OF ASIAN LIFE

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Festival promises taste of Asian life

The tastes, sights and sounds of Asia will take over the city centre this weekend for the annual Mela festival.

On Sunday, two stages in the city centre will host dance and music while the market place sizzles with the finest curries, bhajis and samosas.

The organisers of the Leicester Belgrave Mela promise it will be "a glittering mix of live music, dance, fashion and food".

Festival director Sanjib Singh Sahota said: "It promises to be bigger and better than ever before.

"This summer, we are inviting the whole of the UK to experience our famous Mela Shopping Bazaar, a whole host of free South Asian arts activities, delightful dance, music, electrifying entertainment – and a few celebrity guests.

"It's going to be a great day out for the whole family."

Special guests flying in from India especially for the event will include Rucha Hasabnis and Vishal Singh, who play the characters Rashi and Jigar in the popular Star Plus series, Saath Nidhana Saathiya.

BBC Asian Network, which helps organise the Mela, has invited performers including Navin Kundra, the Stranger Family, Foji and Mobo award-winner Raghav.

Hosts on the stages will include Leicester-born Star TV presenter Nishil Saujani and BBC Radio Leicester's Rupal Rajani.

Other fun will include a climbing tower and sports activities.

Pradip Popat, of Mirch Masla restaurant, which will have two stalls at the Mela this year selling food, said: "There's always an amazing atmosphere with brilliant music and culture and there are always more people than ever in the city centre when the Mela's on.

"I've got my fingers crossed for good weather and I think it will be the best and the biggest ever."

About 25 youngsters from Kuntal's School of Bollywood Dancing will be performing on the main stage in Humberstone Gate and on the smaller stage near the Clock Tower.

Kuntal Indulkar, who runs the school, said: "We have dancers aged from six to 25 who will be performing and they're very excited.

"It will be our third year taking part. We had rehearsals at the weekend with the costumes all the parents helped make and we can't wait for Sunday."

The Mela was first held in 1982 on Cossington Recreation Ground, Belgrave, as the Belgrave Festival before moving to Abbey Park, and then the city centre. It became the model for similar summer festivals in Manchester, London, Cambridge and Newcastle.

This year's event, which will be broadcast on BBC Asian Network, starts at 11am and finishes at 6pm.

Photo from 2011 Leicester Mela sourced from Kiran Parmar, with permission. 

CHRISTIANITY DEFINITELY NOT A RELIGION, IT'S A WAY OF LIFE

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Christianity definitely not a religion, it's a way of life

While FO Hipwell is perfectly free to be an atheist (Offensive, but I'd go further, Mailbox, July 3), I notice he only "suggests" God "may also be a fairytale".

So there does appear to be an element of doubt in his mind.

Like Mr Hipwell, I started out (in my case almost 60 years ago) believing there could not be a God, but life has taught me a lot about God, about people and the world we live in, and I now believe in God 100 per cent.

I was not misled by anyone, but made my own mind up.

I believe God created the world, but it is actually "ruled" by other forces. which explains why bad things happen.

Some people are good and some are bad. Sometimes things on Earth can get so bad that God may intervene to avoid his plans being thwarted.

I believe this may have happened in the 18th century when John Wesley preached in the British Isles and America.

People in our towns and cities were smitten by the power of God which accompanied Wesley and other evangelists when they preached, so this outpouring of the Holy Spirit is a historical fact.

This was especially relevant in Leicestershire. Further study of the Baptist preachers of Barton in the Beans, Lady Selina, Countess of Huntingdon, and Thomas Cook, provides a great deal of evidence of the existence of God.

Above all else in my own mind is the belief that Christianity is definitely not a religion, but a way of life.

Minimal regulation is necessary. God only requires us to love Him and to love our neighbours.

God actually came to Earth in the form of Jesus Christ.

I have found that in accepting this amazing fact, everything else fits into place and documentary proof is not needed.

Nigel Mutimer, Coalville

COSMOPOLITAN CARNIVAL AT MANOR HOUSE NEIGHBOURHOOD CENTRE

At Manor House Neighbourhood Centre, Haddenham Road, this afternoon, for Leicester's (self-styled) first "Cosmopolitan Carnival". The event has been organised by Kaleidoscope Arts - which appears to be a one-woman outfit consisting of the redoubtable Amanda Leandro (correct me if I'm wrong).

Manor House and its neighbouring playing fields are an underused community resource. This event showcases the features and benefits of the venue. Great support from volunteers and a terrific mix of stalls, displays, workshops, master-classes - with love music and comedy outdoors. My only complaint would be that there's no vegetarian hot food. I ask one of the ladies serving Caribbean cuisine through a hatch from the kitchen if she has anything that doesn't have either chicken or goat in it, but there's nothing, not even normally omnipresent salt fish. Oddly though, she offers me hot dogs as a vegetarian alternative. I ask if they have meat in them. She says they do.

There's the biggest, most complex, bouncy castle I've ever seen. In fact, it's a bouncy Noah's Ark! I have to step quite a long way back to fit it all in the photo above.

Events like these, that used to be just for fun, or to raise money for a local good cause. Now they're exploited (I mean that in a positive way - mostly) by small businesses and social enterprises as a source of income. Changed days.

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (1,701)

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

1. United Kingdom 778
2. Russia 375
3. United States 310
4. India 74
5. France 53
6. Germany 26
7. Canada 25
8. Ukraine 23
9. China 22
10. Australia 20

This week's total: 1,701 (last week: 1,517). 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". They're updated each time I look at them.

CITY DEAN "HONOURED" BY NEW ROLE AT YORK MINSTER

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

City's Dean honoured by new role at York Minster

Dean of Leicester, the Very Rev Vivienne Faull, has been given the task of running one of England's biggest cathedrals.

Downing Street announced yesterday that Dean Faull was to be the new dean at York Minster – one of the most senior and prestigious deaneries in the Church of England.

Dean Faull, 57, has been responsible for Leicester Cathedral since 2000, when she was appointed provost of Leicester, the first woman to lead a Church of England cathedral. She became Dean of Leicester in 2002.

She said she was delighted and honoured to have been given the task of running one of England's biggest cathedrals.

She also thanked the people of Leicester for their support.

"The people of the parishes of the diocese, and of the cathedral, have gently and generously taken me into their care as I have learnt with and from them how to be a dean," she said.

"It is, of course, daunting to move from one of the smallest to one of the largest cathedrals, but I know there are many people who care deeply for York Minster, its mission and ministry, and I look forward to leading a large team on its continued development."

The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, said: "I am delighted Viv Faull has been appointed as the next Dean of York.

"She has been a great ambassador for the cathedral and will leave it in a stronger position. I am glad her vision and leadership qualities will continue to be used in cathedral ministry."

Dean Faull has been at the forefront of the role of women in the church and was ordained in 1994.

She has been a member of the General Synod since 2004 and is on the panel of Chairs of Synod.

In 2009, she was elected chairman of the Association of English Cathedrals, the cathedrals' representative body.

She was also one of the founder directors of the company tasked with delivering St Martin's House, in Leicester, as the new centre for mission for the diocese, housing the offices of the diocese and cathedral. She succeeds Keith Jones, who retired in April, and is expected to take up her new post in September.

Although excited to be moving back north, Dean Faull says she will miss Leicester.

She said: "Having lived here for 12 years, I will leave part of my heart here, the city is very special."

Details regarding a service of farewell in Leicester Cathedral and her installation in York Minster will be published soon.

PHILOSOPHY IN PUBS, JULY 2012

Leicester PIPs (Philosophy in Pubs) meets on the first Wednesday of the month, upstairs in the Crumblin' Cookie on the High Street. There’s a dozen of us around the table and our stimulus this evening is an article from The Guardian blog by Jon Henley, reproduced below.

Mount Everest: the ethical dilemma facing climbers

Since the first recorded deaths on Everest in 1922, 233 people have lost their lives trying to reach (and return from) the summit of the earth's highest peak. As expedition organisers' experience has grown and equipment improved, the ratio of fatalities to success has fallen. But the sheer numbers of people now climbing Everest – more reached the summit on a single day in 2010 than in the 30 years after the first 1953 ascent – means 70 deaths have occurred since 2000 – including 10 this year.

The deadliest situations occur when large numbers of climbers, all relying on the same forecasts, decide to take advantage of a weather window to make their summit bid at once. This can quickly lead to dangerous, oxygen-wasting bottlenecks of two hours and more, particularly on the more popular southern approach pioneered by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in 1953, which follows a single rope line over almost 10km to the summit.

That is what happened when Leanna Shuttleworth, 19, and her father Mark headed for the 29,035ft summit on May 19-20. Up to 200 others had the same idea; six of them lost their lives. "There were quite a few bodies attached to the fixed lines and we had to walk round them", Shuttleworth said later. "There were also a couple who were still alive." Shuttleworth describes coming across one man who she assumed had perished. "As we passed he raised his arm and looked at us," she said. "He didn't know anyone was there. He was almost dead. He was dead when we came back down." Their sherpa did manage to help one of the people they found who was still alive.

The debate around ethics on Everest has raged since 2006, when an estimated 40 climbers passed a dying British mountaineer, David Sharp, without stopping. A week later a US climber, Don Mazur, and his team gave up their own summit bid to co-ordinate the rescue of an abandoned Australian, Lincoln Hall. He survived. On the weekend the Shuttleworths reached the summit, an Israeli climber, Nadav Ben Yehuda, carried a Turkish-born American climber, Aydin Irmak, to safety on his back for eight hours. So should the Shuttleworths have stopped and tried to help? There are no formal guidelines issued to climbers, and we don't know the risk it might have meant for their own lives. But can it ever be right, in the words of mountain leaders Chris and Simon Holloway, for climbers to "carry on to the summit, while there are living people dying behind them"? Ben Yehuda, a former soldier, described his decision to stop as "automatic". For others, it plainly isn't. In an era when climbing Everest has become a form of extreme tourism open to anyone with $10,000, has human life come to count for less than the fulfillment of a personal ambition?

BBC RADIO LEICESTER: DISCUSSING RECONCILIATION WITH MONICA WINFIELD

On BBC Radio Leicester this morning with Monica Winfield, talking about reconciliation. John Florance contacted Jan McDonald, Secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Leicester earlier this week to ask if a Bahá'í could take part in the show, speaking to the topic from a Bahá'í point of view. Jan asked me and I said yes. Our topic arises from the "highly symbolic" handshake between the Queen and Martin McGuiness that took place on Her Majesty's recent visit to Northern Ireland as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebration.

The other two guests on the panel are Canon David Monteith from Leicester Cathedral, who was born in Northern Ireland and is newly appointed Chair of Trustees at St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society and Denise Carter, who is a director of local company, AIM, which offers mediation services to families in crisis. They're in the photo below with Rebecca Bryers, producer of Monica's show. I'm introduced on air as both being a Bahá'í and working for Leicester Council of Faiths. Monica asks me questions that draw on both those threads.

I appeared on Monica's Sunday morning show back in February this year, on a panel of three discussing the topic of forgiveness (blogged here). When we're off-air, I tell her that next time she has to get me on to speak about something juicier, such as - vengeance!

THIS WEEK'S VISITORS (1,517)

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

1. United Kingdom 702
2. Russia 313
3. United States 270
4. India 89
5. France 47
6. Ukraine 40
7. Canada 17
8. China 15
9. Australia 13
10. Germany 13

This week's total: 1,517 (last week: 1,863). 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". They're updated each time I look at them.

WEST LINDSEY VOLUNTARY SECTOR FORUM

Today I'm attending the quarterly meeting of West Lindsey Voluntary Sector Forum (incorporating Learning Communities) at Park Springs Community Centre (photo above) in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire on behalf of the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP).

To be more accurate, for most of the day I'm going to or returning from Gainsborough. It's a three-hour train trip there and three hours back. The whole meeting lasts two hours and I have a quarter of an hour for my presentation.

There are 40 attendees, representing Voluntary and Community Sector (and a few public sector) organisations in the area. There are four formal presentations, each lasting roughly fifteen minutes:

• Grant White from Lincolnshire County Council, on their Lincolnshire Funding Portal
• Me from the Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership, on our Equality Standard
• Christina Daly from CG Partnership, on their apprenticeship scheme
• Steve Ward from Lincolnshire County Council Trading Standards Illegal Money Lending Team, on their week of action in September

At the start of my presentation, I ask how many attendees have attended an REDP event: none. I ask how many people have heard of REDP before this presentation: none. While I'm here to promote our Equality Standard, I have to take the first five minutes or so to introduce REDP, say who we are and describe what we do. I also show off some of the free literature which I've brought with me.

After the four presentations, we go round the room, giving everyone else the opportunity to introduce themselves and their organisations, updating everyone on activities, needs and news. There's an impressive range of projects and a heartening variety of responses to the pressures they are enduring in these austere times. Before the end of the meeting there's a chance to chat, to mingle and to pick up literature from the various groups attending. Several people express their interest in getting their organisations involved with REDP. We exchange contact details and make promises to follow up. More than one person tells me that they could have done with knowing about us three years ago and they ask where we’ve been hiding! While my purpose here today is to encourage these VCS organisations to take up our Equality Standard, which is one of our ways of ensuring REDP's continuity and sustainability, those who have had no information or involvement before are more interested in more general aspects of our work.

REDP’s three-year period of funding by the Big Lottery ends tomorrow: 30 June. This is the last working day that we’re funded. Today's experience goes to show that even if we'd had another three years we still wouldn't have reached every part of the East Midlands or drawn in every VCS organisation in the region.

This may well be my last paid gig for REDP. After all this time building and promoting partnership, it’s ironic that I’m here doing this on my own today. We core partners are sure that REDP will continue. It’s entering a period of transition and it’s not yet clear what will emerge to carry on the work or who will be doing it. I hope I don’t fall off the back of the truck as it progresses along this bumpy road.

PLANET LEICESTER: WEAVERS CLOSE PRIMARY

This morning I'm at Weavers Close Church of England Primary, Earl Shilton, taking part in the school's community cohesion programme. "Planet Leicester" is a week-long series of activities organised by the Leicestershire Education Business Company (LEBC).

I was invited at short notice (Monday lunchtime) to take part in Planet Leicester. I was supposed to be with these children on Tuesday morning at Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, but I had to cry off as Grace was too poorly to go to school and I was obliged to stay home with her.

Jon from LEBC picks me up (along with a Chinese chap called Li) at Leicester University and drives the half hour or so to Earl Shilton. We're joined at the school by James, from Leicestershire County Council.

Mrs Herbert's Year 3 class is split into four groups of seven or eight. We have 25 minutes with each group in turn. To the children, Scotland seems just as distant and exotic as China! Each pupil has a workbook, with one page to complete for each person whom they see. Each of us answers the same set of questions and we have to do one distinctive thing with our groups, that they can show at a display on Friday morning.

• What's your name? George
• Which country do you come from? Scotland
• Which continent do you come from? Europe
• Why did you come to Leicester? Someone offered me a job here
• How did you get to Leicester? Train
• How do you say "hello" in your country? Hello
• What's your national dish? Irn Bru (yes, I know it's not a "dish", but I wasn't going to let anyone say deep fried Mars bar - or haggis for that matter. And the pupils know what it is - many of them have had it and like it!)
• What's your religion? Bahá'í (I have to make it clear that  Bahá'í is not the national religion of Scotland though!)

As for the distinctive part we do with each of our groups: Li is showing them how to write their names in Chinese characters. James is helping them make friends with a potato (he should be wrting his own blog!). I teach my groups some useful Scots phrases, such as:

"Keep the heid an ah'll buy ye a bunnet"

"Dinnae day yer dinger!"

"Many a mickle maks a muckle"

"Gie it laldy hen"

I give each group one of these phrases each. I write them on the board, one word at a time, getting the pupils to pronounce them together as we go along. I explain what each phrase means and ask them to think of circumstances in which they could use their phrase. I also coach them how to say their phrase in the style of an old man at a bus stop on a rainy Saturday night. I tell the children that when it comes to the display on Friday morning, they can say the phrase together as a group or they can choose one from amongst them to say it on behalf of the group.

When we all get together for 20 minutes at the end of the group sessions, Mrs Herbert asks me to say a bit more about being a Bahá'í, since the name is new to her and to her pupils. Nice to be given that opportunity.

Nice to be given the opportunity to take part in this event as a whole. I look forward to something similar comes my way again.