More Indian art in museums around the world

'Globally renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art (MMA) of New York is organizing "Scenes from the Ramayana" exhibition

from March 31 to September 27. It will include selection of Indian paintings and sculptures about Rama and a newly acquired spectacular painted cotton textile depicting a scene from the epic.MMA’s collections include Hindu bronzes from the Chola period (ninth to 13th century); Kashmiri- and Pala-period sculptures (sixth to 13th century); Indian court paintings from the 16th through the 19th century; Nepalese religious imagery from the eighth through the 19th century; and sculptures of standing Parvati, seated Ganesha, Krishna on Garuda, Goddess Durga killing Buffalo Demon; etc. It has over 35,000 objects of Asian art, from the second millennium BCE to the early 20th century, which include paintings, prints, calligraphy, sculptures, metalworks, ceramics, lacquers, works of decorative art, and textiles. Art has a long and rich tradition in Hinduism and ancient Sanskrit literature talked about religious paintings of deities on wood or cloth. I appeal other major art museums of the world, including Musee du Louvre and Musee d'Orsay of Paris, Los Angeles Getty Center, Uffizi Gallery of Florence (Italy), Art Institute of Chicago, Tate Modern of London, Prado Museum of Madrid, National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, etc., to frequently organize Hindu art focused exhibitions, thus sharing the rich Hindu art heritage with the rest of the world.

- Rajan Zed, Nevada

Kabul attack, another barbaric act

The terrorist attack in Afghanistan claimed the lives of 17 people in central Kabul including 9 Indian nationals.The attack was made in an area full of hotels and guesthouses popular with foreigners. It was also an area frequented by Indians, who suffered disproportionately in this attack. It seems it was designed to hit the international community in general and the Indian community in particular. Indians are in Afghanistan as part of civilian reconstruction and humanitarian projects to aid the people of Afghanistan. That the Taliban would target them once again shows their callous disregard for human life and their determination to do anything to prevent the peaceful development of Afghanistan into a modern state. The attacks come at a time when the United States and NATO are conducting major military operations against the Taliban in Helmand province. They also come after the arrest of the senior Taliban military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, in Karachi, Pakistan’s commercial capital. President Karzai has condemned the attack, while India has called it barbaric.

- Sanjay Puri, USINPAC, New York

Bring the perpetrators to justice

Jaspal Singh, a resident of Peshawar was brutally beheaded by Pakistan Taliban. He was one of three Sikhs abducted by the Taliban approximately 41 days ago and held for ransom. The other two abductees, Gurvinder Singh, and his uncle Surjeet Singh, are reported to be still in the custody of Taliban, their release pending their families’ payment of the demanded ransom. The beheading of Jaspal Singh by Pakistani Taliban is the most heinous of crimes perpetrated by the terrorist organization. India has to exert pressure on Pakistan to bring the perpetrators to justice and seek release of the Sikhs and Hindus who are in the captivity of the Taliban and to provide the captives protection to live in peace.

- Sandeep Singh, Baltimore

Kudos to the run-machine of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar

Milestone man Sachin Tendulkar re-wrote the record books when he hammered the first double century in the history of one-day cricket to add another feather to his well-adorned cap. Tendulkar, statistically the greatest batsman the game has ever seen achieved a feat which no other cricketer has achieved. This is a man for whom excellence is a habit, who is so devoted to his craft, so enthusiastic still, that with experience he has mastered the art of seamlessly binding talent, discipline and perspicacity, all without compromising on style, for maximum gain in a team cause. The end result is machinelike consistency. So all those who asked Sachin to hang his boots eat your words. He’s indeed a 'Bharat Ratna.’

- Parag Sanghvi, New Jersey

Expected more from MNIK

In spite of the hype surrounding it and for all the solidarity being expressed and the many, many hours of time and energy being spent tweeting and talking about it — "My Name is Khan" turned out to be a very average, ordinary film that goes as haywire as the debate surrounding it has gone. Subjects such as racial biases, the aftermath of 9/11 and war on terror are dicey topics to handle in real life, let alone on celluloid, and director Karan Johar falls in the same trap as films like "New York" and his own production "Kurbaan." The film is on a large scale and beautifully shot, but the story doesn’t live up to even half of that. Karan Johar cannot seem to decide whether he is making a love story, telling the story of a man’s journey or making a statement on the many biases that pervaded the U.S. after 9/11. There is nothing original or even worthwhile about the three-hour waste on the movie. Especially the climax, which was dragged. Shiv Sena created such hoopla before its release and am sure it helped the movie rake in the profits. Or else like Kurbaan and New York, this movie too would have flopped without much ado.

- Shaina Vijay, Washington

Hockey hit or dud in India?

Well Munjal’s of Hero Honda group may have genuine interest in the so called Indian National Game and may have sponsored the Hockey World Cup 2010, question still remains whether people are really interested in the game within India? I doubt as masses still cannot turn heads away from Sachin’s double ton in one-day cricket, which is a "Game Imported" and constantly remind us of British colonization and our slave status. No doubt we have excelled in the Cricket and are no.1 in test cricket and 3 in one-day format, can we say same about Hockey? I believe in hockey, we are just contended if we can defeat Pakistan. Well much has been said about lack of hockey infrastructure, support from government and private institution but I would like to say we as people, as a nation do not have genuine interest in the game. I haven’t seen any kids playing "Gully Hockey" like I have seen in every nook and corner budding Tendulkars spinning the ball and swinging the bat. Well it’s time now to think about changing our national game from hockey to something else.

- Pranav Dave, New Jersey