Puppets are a part of popular culture and entertainment across the world, especially in the South Asian region. They reflect the cultural heritage of their region, its mythology, music, beliefs, rites and rituals. Puppetry has been around since ancient times, writes cultural anthropologist Dr. Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai in newsin.asia
Cultural anthropologist Dr.Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai looks at the various traditional grass mats of South Asia to bring out their aesthetic value, and the various materials and techniques that are used in their manufacture.
Terrorist bombs have killed 232 persons and wounded 645 in Afghanistan in the first half of 2018. On Wednesday, eight civilians, including women and children, were killed in northern Afghanistan on Wednesday when a roadside bomb apparently targeting security forces ripped through the vehicle in which they were travelling, officials said.
The Pakistan Foreign Office on Thursday expressed ignorance about a reported meeting of spy chiefs of Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan in Islamabad over the growing threat to the region from the militant Islamic State (IS) in Afghanistan. But both the US and Russia have reported the meeting and there is speculation that this might lead to the formation of a “Quad” to solve problems posed by Islamic militancy in Afghanistan, a group without Western nations.
Visual anthropologist and South Asian culture aficionado, Dr. Lopamudra Maitra Bajpai, takes the reader through the history of the postal system in South Asia, highlighting the role of the postal runner – the messenger who delivered mail until early 20 th.century in some parts of the world..
On Thursday, Afghanistan’s national cricket team played India in a Test match, a form of the game — taking place over five seven-hour days — reserved for a select group of nations. In cricket’s near 150-year history of international fixtures, only 11 countries have competed at that level; Afghanistan becomes the 12 th. The achievement marks another high point in a remarkable ascent: Emerging from refugee camps in Pakistan and only officially formed in 1995, Afghanistan’s cricket team has surmounted obstacles unknown to most athletes — terrorism, displacement, war — and with flair and panache that have won admirers the world over,writes Sidharth Monga in New York Times.
The Afghan President Ashraf Ghani announced a ceasefire with Taliban insurgents on Thursday until June 20, coinciding with the end of the Islamic fasting season.But he added that fighting against other militant groups such as Islamic State will continue.
Ghani made the announcement in a televised address.
For the first time since its inception, the South Asian University will be handing out PhD Degrees to 6 of its scholars – one each from Afghanistan and Bangladesh and 4 from India, said Dr.Sasanka Perera from Sri Lanka, who is the Vice President of the university, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Professor of Sociology.
In India, the Modi Government “celebrates” curtailment of the freedom of the press through coinages like “news traders” and “presstitutes”. Its supporters troll Government’s critics in the media as Swati Chaturvedi points out in her book ‘I Am A Troll’. In Pakistan ,the single most dangerous place for journalists is the capital, Islamabad, writes P.K.Balachandran in DailyFT.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Association (FCA) of Sri Lanka has “strongly condemned” the “cowardly killing” of ten journalists by terrorists in Afghanistan. In a release issued on Tuesday, the FCA said that it was deeply shocked by the attacks and urged the authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice at the earliest.