Diwali, the festival of lights, also known as ‘‘lichtjesfeest’’ in the Netherlands, is one of the major Hindu festivals celebrated around the world. It is a five-day-celebration, day three, which falls today, is the day of the Laxmi Puja and the return of Lord Rama, after defeating the evil king Ravana on Dusshera, 20 days prior. Since there is a large population of Indians in Amstelveen, for the past…
On November 3, the 10th edition of the Diwali Festival was celebrated in Amstelveen, which gathered over 23,000 participants. Diwali is a hindu festival of lights, which takes place over the course of five days during Kartika, the 8th month of the year in the Hindu calendar. It represents the spiritual victory of the light over the darkness, or the good over the evil, and it is characterized by brightly…
Dr. Jordan Peterson, Canadian clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto, has been the subject of many controversial debates. Last Wednesday, on October 31, UvA’s Room for Discussion received him as the final interviewee for the last part of their Lustrum interview series at Roeterseilandcampus, despite students attempts to avoid the occurrence of an interview with him altogether. Nonetheless, the discussion hardly seemed to justify the…
Opened on September 16 and running up to February 3 next year, De Nieuwe Kerk offers a new perspective on Buddhist history and thought in its current exhibition, Buddha’s Life: Path to the Present. The display aims to educate on the life of Buddha, born Siddhartha Gautama, and on Buddhist values as they have since continued. The exhibition includes artifacts dating from the third century and art from the present…
What is love? Aside from “Baby don’t hurt me, don’t hurt me, no more”, does anyone truly have an answer? There are so many different interpretations of love in our modern and chaotic times: does it even exist? We are told what love is by our parents, pop culture, advertisements – it’s seemingly everywhere we look. Is love a societal construct, a sales tactic, or just a fluffy word? Whatever…
On a beautiful summer day, I was having lunch with Kuldeep, who was my couch-surfing host for a few days. He asked, “What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done in your life?” I paused and laughed while I had an epiphany. I replied, “according to the majority of Europeans, this is the craziest thing I could do. Couch-surfing at a house of Indian stranger while backpacking the country all…
