INDIA NEWS
Jan 16-31, 2022 - Vol 2, Issue 13
COMMUNITY NEWS
Three-day ‘Kashi Film Festival’ with cultural events and movie screening held in Varanasi Net India
I
ndian Ministry of Information & Broadcasting inaugurated a three-day ‘Kashi Film Festival’ in Varanasi under the Divya Kashi campaign. The festival was launched on 27th December 2021 by UP Tourism Minister Neelkanth Tiwari and Apoorva Chandra, Secretary, Ministry of
Information & Broadcasting at Rudraksh Convention Center. The opening day of the film festival featured live shows by singer Kailesh Kher, comedian Raju Srivastava and actor Manoj Joshi. The thought-provoking movie “Toilet-Ek Prem Katha” was also screened. A cultural
performance by veteran actress Hema Malini was the most enticing among all the features lined up for the following day while a panel discussion on “Varanasi-Journey from a cultural, mythological and historical heritage to a modern city” and “Music and Songs-
Virasat of Banaras” also proved to be quite enlightening. Bhojpuri film “Humke Disha Mil Gaya” added a regional twist to the special event. On 29th December, the final day of the film festival, another panel discussion on ‘Uttar Pradesh as an important center for film production and
the potential of regional cinema’ was conducted. Performances by singer Ravi Tripathi and actor Ravi Kishan held the audience enthralled while the day as well as the three-day long festival culminated with the airing of the historical movie “Manikarnika”.
he Queensland Multicultural Council (QMC) celebrated the highs and lows of an eventful 2021 with an end of the year dinner at The Golden Palace on
December 9, 2021. The spots were strictly limited for the 10-course sumptuous feast and there were various entertainment programs planned along with the meal.
Lord Ganesha temple in Brisbane marks QMC bid farewell to New Year with sacred food offering 2021 with special dinner T Continued from page 1
The Census shows that the migration of Tamils to the State of Queensland started only very recently. Prior to 1985 there were only a few Tamil families living in the state. Only in 1983 some of the Hindu families felt the need for community worship so monthly congregational prayer meetings were conducted first at homes and then at the SWARA Hall. Since then, regular prayer meetings have been conducted at this hall at Spring Hill.
From the survey it is clear that the worship of Vinayakar in Brisbane was originally started in the form of congregational worship. As this congregational worship continued to expand, the building of a traditional Hindu temple in Brisbane became a necessity for obvious reasons. As a result a Convening Committee was formed on 25 April 1986 and subsequently this committee registered under the name, 'Hindu Ahlaya Sangam.' The members of the first Management Committee were unanimously elected on 12 October 1986 and the second in March 1998. The subsequent Committees continue to be elected yearly.
The major task for the Management Committees during the period 1987 to 1990 was to raise sufficient funds to purchase a suitable block of land to build the temple. Finally in 1990, the Management Committee succeeded in purchasing 4.5 acres of elevated, virgin bushland at South Maclean, 35 km South of Brisbane. Similar to the locations of the Hindu temples in India, this virgin land in Brisbane is also situated in the midst of areas of natural scenic beauty, in proximity to the Logan River at South Maclean.
An application seeking special consent to build Selva Vinayakar Temple was submitted to the Beaudesert Shire Council in July 1991 and permission was granted through the Planning and Environment Courts, Brisbane in May 1992. At the initial stage the committee started building a centre for Selva Vinayakar and additional shrines for Siva, Vishnu and Navagraha. The building plans were approved by the council in August 1992 and a plan for the centre began to unfold with the laying of the foundation on 10 June 1993. As the
first stage the Maha Mandapam (main hall) was completed and the major shipment of the deities, shrine doors etc. was received from South India. At the same time stapathies and the three sculptors arrived from South India. The construction of the shrines commenced on 24 June 1994 and after completion of the Brisbane Selva Vinayakar Kovil the consecration ceremony was held on 5 February 1995. This traditional Kumbabishekam was witnessed by hundreds of devotees and well-wishers from the other states and territories also.
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