Indian Carnatic in Western Classical Rendition

Cross cultural renditions of South Indian Classical / Carnatic and Western Classical are a rarity. In the 1980's composer and music writer Illayaraja experimented with it, though like the work of contemporary A. R. Rahman they depended heavily on synths. No doubt the cost of getting a full Western Classical ensemble easily dwarfs the small crews required to get a South Indian Classical gig going which is why this effort by Shweta Mohan and Navneeth Sundar is of note. The rendition of Chinnanchiru Kiliye as a Mother's Day tribute on Youtube is well worth a listen. Please click here to go to this Youtube Page which I have also added to HinduSearchEngine.com to come up in Indian Classical music searches. Kudos to Swetha Mohan and Navneeth Sundar who have promised that there is more to come.

Hinduism and the Environment–a good summary

Hindu teachings have a lot of wisdom to inspire the environmental movement, however there isn't a website dedicated to Hinduism's perspective on care for the environment. You can find some very brief summaries here and there but by and large the environmental movement has so far glanced over the possible support Hindu spiritual leaders can provide the battered green concerns of the world. Hindu teachings go very well with sustainable living since the general creed of Hindus connect humans, nature and God as a whole. Experiencing Divinity through nature is a spiritual goal for Hindu mystics, many of whom teach the  reverence of nature and non-wastage of her bounty. There are two webpages I have highlighted in HinduSearchEngine.com that give basic summaries of the Hindu perspective on environmental care: the first is from www.environment.Gen.tr . This page also provides a link to the Bhumi project, a Hindu based international environmental movement meant to spur environmental action amongst Hindus through religious establishments. The other page from www.treehugger.com gives a better academic summary of Hindu teachings related to environmental care, but it is in bad need of editing for language errors; however it does the job in providing a starting point for research that is otherwise hard to come by on the web.

Comparing Vastu and Feng Shui

Vastu and Feng Shui are respective Indian and Chinese architectural traditions. Of these two ancient building codes Feng Shui has become universally popular. In comparison Vastu is less known even among ethnic Indians until recently. There are more websites on Vastu consultancy now then just a few years ago, needless to say the web is replete with websites on Feng Shui. In looking for websites on Vastu that is not ubiquitous Wikipedia, the dearth of information still glares from the screen. Most websites are astrology-numerology-vastu generic sites with a few Indian engineering-vastu consultation firms website. However About.com has created simple pages on understanding Vastu by comparing its similarity and differences to Feng Shui. It is a good site to understand the origins and basics of both these traditions and even gives a few home organizing tips by juxtaposing advice from  both traditions. Click here to get to About.com's article comparing Vastu with Feng Shui.