KOLKATA, India — When Sanchita Chakraborty Sinha, 34, visited the Adina mosque, around 13 miles from Malda town in West Bengal for the first time in 2004, she was surprised to see how terracotta bricks and tiles had been used to grand effect in the heritage structure. Adina is considered to be one of the largest medieval-era mosques in Bengal. It was built in 1373 AD by Sikandar Shah, the second sultan of Bengal. Terracotta is the art of creating glazed or unglazed ceramic by baking clay and has a strong association with the architecture of the Hindu temples of Bishnupur…
Author: zenger.news
SRINAGAR, India — “Wazwaan” is not just a multi-course, non-vegetarian feast for wosti (Chef) Shafi Ahmad Khosa (60) who has been preparing delicious Kashmiri dishes for 35 years. It isn’t a merely a matter of skill either; it is a question of prestige. And when you ask him if wazwaan can be prepared with vegetables, he asks, “do you mean herbs?” a tad befuddled. He repeats the question to confirm if he has heard correctly. “What on earth is a vegetarian wazwaan?” he wonders. Well, Khosa has clearly not heard of Vivek Agnihotri, a Bollywood filmmaker who, on a recent visit…
By Naama Barak With the recent New Year’s Eve being a rather underwhelming event courtesy of Covid-19, it’s a good thing that there’s another one just around the corner: Tu B’Shvat, the Jewish New Year of the Trees, which is celebrated on Jan. 28 this year. The festival is one of the lesser-known ones on the Jewish calendar, tucked in between the more famous Hannukah and Purim. Nonetheless, it’s pretty cool and also very easy to celebrate — even in accordance with health regulations. Here are 10 fabulous facts about Tu B’Shvat to get into the holiday spirit, best enjoyed…
JERUSALEM — During the Six-Day War in June 1967, 36 Israeli soldiers and 71 Jordanian soldiers fell into a fierce and pivotal battle on Ammunition Hill in northern Jerusalem. The hill has since been preserved as a national heritage center and memorial site for those who died in the conflict between Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Syria. Each year it hosts thousands of visitors. During the coronavirus pandemic, however, the site has remained dormant — and something amazing happened. “Nature, uninterrupted by tens of thousands of feet for 10 months, rose up like a waking giant and reconquered the hill,” Alon…
NEW DELHI — Dragon fruit is not particularly popular in India. However, this exotic and expensive fruit that is usually found on the buffet tables of five-star hotels and fancy wedding receptions, has suddenly taken center stage. Vijay Rupani, chief minister of the western state of Gujarat, has decided to change the name of the fruit to the Sanskrit word “Kamalam,” meaning lotus. “The Gujarat government has decided the word dragon fruit is not appropriate. The fruit’s shape is like a lotus, and hence we have given it a new Sanskrit name, Kamalam. There is nothing political about it,” Rupani…
KARACHI, Pakistan — When Muhammad Murad was offered a job carrying books on his 12-year-old camel to nearby villages, he had no idea that he would become so popular with children. Many of the youngsters wait for “Murad Chacha” every week, so they can read their choice of a storybook. Murad, who is 41, lives in the remote district of Balochistan. He has owned a camel since he was 15. Every day he and his camel would head to the mountains to collect wood to sell in the nearby villages at a low price. But after sisters Zobeida Jalal and Raheema…
Mohan Khatri, 60, a small farmer of Nathuwali village in Uttarakhand, is upset over the state government’s decision to denotify the northern Indian state’s only elephant reserve — the Shivalik Elephant Reserve —for the expansion of the Jolly Grant Airport. His village and adjoining areas witnesses frequent human-elephant conflicts. And, he fears that this conflict may get intensified if the decision is implemented. “Elephants frequently raid our fields, destroy paddy and maize crops,” said Khatri, who heads a five-member family dependent on less than one hectare for their livelihood. His village is at the edge of the elephant corridor and…
KOLKATA, India — When you can’t get to the quiz site, the only thing to do is bring the quiz to you. This is what Indian quiz buff Movin Miranda did once the pandemic lockdown went into effect in March 2020. Miranda, who works in industrial product marketing in Kuala Lumpur, started the Asian Quiz League, modeled after the World Quizzing Championships (WQC), which Miranda has attended over the years. The Asian Quiz League, which started in November, has 32 teams from Asia, Australia and the United Sates vying in online matches. WQC, a 240-question written quiz on eight subjects,…
A green Mediterranean diet — the regular vegetable-loaded one, only with the addition of walnuts and green shakes — reduces the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by half, Israeli researchers recently found. NAFLD affects 25% to 30% of people in the United States and Europe. While some fat is normal in the liver, excessive fat leads to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk. Since no drug is available to treat fatty liver, the only intervention is weight loss and curtailing of alcohol consumption. In an 18-month trial conducted at the Negev Nuclear Research Center in Israel,…
NEVATIM, Israel — After two Bedouin teenagers bragged on TikTok about vandalizing a Jewish graveyard, a group of their young adult peers sprang into action. Armed with paint and brushes, the approximately 20 volunteers headed to the cemetery located in Nevatim, an agricultural community about five miles south of Beersheva, last week and worked for hours to repair damaged tombstones and paint over hateful graffiti. All those who joined in the effort are recent alumni of Desert Stars, a nonprofit organization that creates a cross-tribal network of young Bedouin leaders in the Negev desert. Bedouins are members of an ethnic…