HOW SIMPLE CAN A WEDDING GET?

Establishing strong families is the key theme here. The goddess wants to assure this and so weddings are in order. Nonetheless, the bride-groom ceremony itself is kept to a bare minimum. The description provided is extremely simple. The ritual consists solely of an exchange of flower garlands and nothing else. These are early times and
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Tamil street festival in Toronto

We have just returned from a fabulous Tamil street festival in Toronto, the first of its kind. Our Legend of Ponnivala was told by a street drama troupe on a large stage! This, too, was a first ever! Roughly 3,000 people watched this excellent teru kuttu (street drama style) performance. The troupe leader, who goes
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Exhibition by an eighth grade school class in Toronto

Here are a few photos of a very recent exhibition by an eighth grade school class in Toronto where the students were asked to develop their own visual comments on a medieval Indian story. They had been assigned to read “The Legend of Ponnivala” (www.ponnivala.com) with special attention to issues related to Social Justice and
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Visited the village of Olappalayam in the South India

During my recent visit to South India I had a marvelous opportunity to revisit the village of Olappalayam, the site of my doctoral field research done some fifty years ago. Of course there are many changes, in fact so many that the place has become totally amazing. Although I have been back before, on this
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Participated in the huge Thyagaraja festival over Easter weekend

Over Easter weekend Eric and I drove to Cleveland to participate in the huge Thyagaraja festival being held there. This event caters to lovers of South Indian classical music and dance and drew a crowd from all over North America. We were happy to put our Ponnivala story materials on display and attendees showed a
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The Legend of Ponnivala enters elementary school curriculum

The Coppard Glen Public School (JK to 8) in Markam, Ontario has recently committed to launching a brand new Ponnivala initiative. This will be a school-wide undertaking where students at all levels will be exposed to the telling and related study topics that feature the Legend of Ponnivala story. A series of planning meetings to
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ATN Signs “The Legend of Ponnivala” for Canadian Broadcast

ATN Signs “The Legend of Ponnivala” for Canadian Broadcast – Animated epic series to air spring 2013 – GORE’S LANDING, ON (March, 2013) – The Sophia Hilton Foundation of Canada and Soft Science Associates, Ltd., creators of the animated “Legend of Ponnivala” series, have signed on with the Asian Television Network for Canadian broadcast of
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Dr. Brenda Beck at UWO

Dr. Beck was invited by the English Department at London’s University of Western Ontario to deliver four separate presentations. Three of these were given to classes, and a fourth was a general lecture open to faculty and students. A number of people in attendance expressed considerable interest in the Ponnivala project. Several even picked up
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Ponnivala Education Project Kicks Off in Scarborough

Dr. Beck and the Sophia Hilton Foundation experienced an excellent kick-off reception this morning for our new, semester-long program for grade six students at the Sathya Sai School in Scarborough, Ontario. The Sathya Sai School is a private, non-denominational, co-educational day school of 160 students from Junior Kindergarten to Grade 6 that balances both academic
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Ponnivala on Crossroads with Manjula Selvaraja

Here’s a great clip from Dr. Beck’s appearance on Crossroads on TVI. Ms. Selvaraja is clearly a fan 🙂
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