The India Spring Fair yesterday at Taipei City Hall Square brought people together to celebrate the Tamil New Year and experience Indian culture through music, dance and cuisine.
India Taipei Association Director-General Gourangalal Das invited people from across Taiwan to “march and dance together once again” after the lifting of COVID-19 outdoor restrictions.
Friday was Puthandu, the Tamil New Year’s festival, and was celebrated in India throughout the past week.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
Puthandu is a time to renew friendships and close bonds, and for new hope for a humane, peaceful and united world, Das said.
He thanked Taiwanese and foreign residents for “adding spice to our festival” and “variety to our lives.”
Those who came together to organize the event “make me confident that the India-Taiwan partnership is in rock-solid hands,” he added.
Photo: CNA
Tamil New Year is traditionally associated with spreading seeds, and yesterday’s event sowed the seeds of cultures, Das said.
Indian culture thrives through contact with the world, he added.
Das presented a gamusa, a traditional fabric from his home state of Assam, to Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), a gift often bestowed by people from Assam to guests who visit during festivities.
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
Taiwan and India have been working closely on trade, education and supply chains, collaborations that have been fruitful, Wu said.
“I have every confidence that our bonds of friendship will further strengthen in the years ahead,” Wu said.
The two countries are working to help continue prosperity throughout the region, he added.
The Spring Fair featured traditional Indian dance, yoga workshops, Indian cuisine and walls displaying scenery of India for photographs and social media posts.
Visitors tried on traditional Indian clothing such as the sari and received henna tattoos, a traditional form of temporary body art applied to the hands, while enjoying Indian music that played throughout the festival.
There are many “new years” in India, depending on regions, religion and which calendar is being followed. Puthandu is traditionally celebrated on the first day of the Tamil calendar, about April 14 or 15, while Hindus celebrate Diwali in October or November. The Sikh, Malayali, Telugu and Bengali communities observe other calendars.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS