Kumbh Mela to be showcased in US

Spiritual groups will celebrate the sacred Hindu festival abroad first time.

New York: The sadhus with matted locks and ash-smeared bodies might not be there but India’s biggest faith jamboree is going global. The Kumbha Mela will be held for the first time in the United States on September 10 at Bren Centre, University of California Irvine.

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The aim: ushering in world peace by infusing collective positivity. The highlights of the celebrations include a Vishwa Shanti Yagna, an abhishekam, or offering of water from 21 holy rivers of India to all the deities, and a grand procession with participation by various spiritual organisations from across the US. Yagnas and aartis will add to the daylong rituals.

The event is being organised under the auspices of Paramahamsa Nithyananda, Nithyananda Foundation; Swami Ishwarananda, Chinmaya Mission; Swami Sarvadevananda, Vedanta Society; Dr Acharya Yogeesh, Yogeesh Ashram; and the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh.

Rajasthan’s cyber kids

Jodhpur: The cyber revolution has touched every life — even children in urban sprawls in three districts of Rajasthan. Thanks to the "explosion" on the information super-highway. The Rajasthan government is bringing computer literacy at the doorstep of poor students in the slums with the help of five mobile vans in Jaipur, Jodhpur and Bikaner. The Japan Fund for Poverty Nations has sanctioned Rs 8.5 crore to Rajasthan for the project. The Rajasthan Council for Primary Education has provided five buses fitted with 18 computers each - three of which have been given to Japiur and one each to Jodhpur and Bikaner. The mobile computer centers conduct four shifts a day. The crew will teach the basics of computers to children studying in class VI to VIII.