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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS