Thaipusam

25 Jan 2011 - About a week ago Malaysia observed a national holiday for Thaipusam. Thaipusam is a Hindu Festival celebrated mainly by the Tamil community. The festival commemorates when Parvati gave Murugan a spear so he could vanquish the evil demon Soorapadman. It has now been revealed that more than 1,4 million devotees and visitors were at Batu Caves to celebrate Thaipusam on Thursday alone. The Secretary says he had never seen such a large crowd in recent years. "We expected 1.3 million people to come this year, but the actual figure is 100,000 more," he said, adding that last year sw 1,2 million people thronging to the temple. One of the problems connected to the large crowds is rubbish collection. Although the cleaning-up process started immediately after Thaipusam, it took several days to clean up the mess. Workers had collected two rubbish bins of slippers besides finding several identity cards and some money.

Fatwa on Women Cashiers

7 Nov 2010 - Women cashiers were at work in several supermarkets in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia as their employer ignored a fatwa by the country's highest religious authority forbidding female checkout clerks. The popular Marhaba chain kept the women on the job despite the week old ruling, which contradicted a key government policy to create jobs for women. A Marhaba official said the women would keep working until they received an order from the Labor-ministry to stop the practice, which only began in the past three months after the Ministry said it was permitted. Marhaba has more than 25 women working in its branches. The official fatwa-issuing body under the Council of Senior Scholars ruled that the cashier jobs were not permissible, because they resulted in the women mixing with unrelated men.

The Mirhbox

21 Sep 2010 - There is money in everything, but people fail to see it. A Paris imam saw his opportunity though. The imam is also a part-time inventor and created a portable mosque to help the faithful concentrate better on their prayers wherever they are. He invented a two meters high structure called the Mirhbox, which takes the form of a mirhab - a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction of the holy city of Mecca - whenever in use. The Mirhbox may be a bit bulky, but it can easily be carried in an average car. The price is reasonable, as for Euro 450 (HKD 4,450), for a top range model, which includes a built-in loudspeaker, to as little as Euro 69 for a smaller children's model. The imam is working on the portable mosque next.

Australian Anthems

19 Sep 2010 - Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart issued orders to more than 200 catholic churches that some popular sports anthems and songs as Frank Sinatra's My Way have to be banned from funerals. The Archbishop said sport songs were not appropriate for a service that emphasized the solemn nature of death. The edict follows a study that found the signature song for Australian Rules Football team Collingwood was one of the the top requests at Melbourne funerals, along with My Way and Bette Midler's The Wind Beneath My Wings. Other favorites are Louis Armstrong's Wonderful World and Unforgettable by Nat King Cole. It is not known what music the Archbishop recommends, but he probably fancies hymns, gospels and cantates. It is rather sad that one cannot select one's favorite music for the last moments among near and dear ones.      

Halal Burger

8 Sep 2010 - In the middle of the Ramadan and French fast-food chain Quick started serving halal-food only in 22 of its French outlets. Quick targets the underexploited market long ignored by other business. The bacon is gone from the bacon burger, replaced by smoked turkey. A new certificate on the wall proclaims that the rerstaurant's beef comes from cows slaughtered in line with Islamic law. Quick says that sales have doubled in the restaurants where they tested the concept, but the move has also triggered another debate about what it means to be French. Some fear Quick's policy will lead to further segregation with people eating in separate restaurants. Others said the restaurants will become muslim hang-outs preventing them from mingling with others. But Kentucky Fried Chicken France said it already serves halal chicken in its outlets for 19 years. Quick responded by saying it simply wants to sell its products to a larger number of people. Who is right?

Guanyin

28 June 2010 - More than 300 young beautiful Chinese girls have been competing since April for three places as image representatives of Guanyin, an East Asian Buddhist figure known for her compassion. Literally 'Guanyin' means 'observing the sounds', which means that Guanyin will always observe all sounds from the world and listen to requests from her worshippers. She is usually depicted wearing a white flowing robe and wearing necklaces of royalty. In the right hand there may be a water jar containing pure water, and in the left she holds a willow branch. The legend of Guanyin, known as the Bodhisattva, has led Sichuan, Henan and Xinjiang provinces to spend billions of yuan developing tourism programmes, with each province claiming to be her home province. It will be interesting to follow who will finally be the winner of the image competition, because - if I am well informed - it was not clear if Guanyin was male or female.