Indian drums and music resound in distant Belize

The sounds of Indian drums and music resounded in Belize during a cultural festival held earlier this month to commemorate the arrival of Indians in the Central American country more than 150 years ago. Indians were taken to Belize in the mid-19th century to work on the sugarcane and banana plantations and in the logging industry. Belize, formerly known as British Honduras, is the only English-speaking country in Central America. It borders Mexico and Guatemala on two sides with the Caribbean Sea on its eastern side. Its Maya ruins, exotic wild life, unspoilt beaches and marine life and barrier reef are major tourist attractions. Belize is a multicultural society with more than half a dozen different cultures and languages being spoken by its 330,000 population. The descendents of Indian migrants assimilated in the local society through intermarriages and lost their Indian languages. Now the only signs that indicate their Indian ancestry are Indian sounding surnames, ethnic traits like long black hair and dark eyes and some Indian traditions that they have retained. Indians were taken to the Caribbean islands as indentured workers in the mid-19th and 20th centuries. Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname have large communities of people of Indian descent. Other Caribbean island nations like Jamaica, Barbados, St Vincent and the Grenadines have small Indian communities. It is said that the first group of Indians to be brought to Belize were former Indian soldiers, who were transported for life (exiled) after they rose against the British during the First War of Independence in 1857. Another group of voluntary Indian workers were brought to Belize in 1872 to work on the plantations after their indenture contracts had ended in Jamaica. There are about 7,000 Belizeans who are descendents of the early Indian migrants; they form four percent of the population of Belize. Most of them live in the Toledo, Cozaral and Belize districts. There is also a small community of Indian businessmen and their families, who arrived in Belize in the past three decades. They are traders and merchants and run shops in the cities. They are mainly Sindhis who came through chain migration, most of them calling their family and relatives to join them in Belize. In the past few years there have been efforts by Belizeans of Indian descent to reclaim their Indian identity. There has been a revival of interest in India and Indian culture and this revival got an impetus with the establishment of the Corozal Organisation of East Indian Cultural Heritage in 2009. An annual cultural festival was started two years ago that has sought to showcase Indian culture and traditions in Belize. "Our Indian ancestors had adapted to a different land and despite all the struggles they managed to pass on to us a legacy of a taste of India. Certainly Belize has reaped the rich flavour that the East Indians added to the building of the Belizean nation," Sylvia Gilharry Perez, president, Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin of Belize, told IANS in an email interview. The themes of the two cultural festivals were 'Entrusting our cultural history to our descendents' and 'Infusing our past into the future'. The distance from India has meant that Trinidad and Tobago, across the Caribbean Sea has been the place to get help in "regaining lost Indian cultural forms". Some groups have gone from Belize to participate in festivals and other events in Trinidad to perform Indian dances from Belize such as the "masala" dance. A prominent exponent of Indian classical dance, Shanade Ganese from Trinidad performed at the cultural festival and also taught traditional dance to a group of young girls. A museum display at the cultural festival explained facets of Indian culture and the story of the Indian arrival in Belize.

Music massage naps key to sound sleep

Stressing the need to sleep for moderate durations, a Chinese study has urged people to avoid overuse of networking devices and turn to soothing music, massage, and naps for a better sleep. The Chinese people sleep on an average of eight hours and 50 minutes everyday, but nearly half feel sluggish when awake, found the study prepared to observe Chinese people's sleeping habits and released Tuesday. The report is based on a survey conducted in November and December through random household visits in 20 cities, 20 towns and 20 villages. It found some 55 percent of the respondents admitting to their work pressure affecting their sleep patterns, making them resort to various methods to improve their sleep quality. While observing modern-day media or mode of communication's influence over sleep, the survey found 67.1 percent of people chat on mobile phones or computers before going to sleep, and 43.2 percent of those going to bed after midnight do so due to online gaming and messaging. The survey noticed a trend in which people in south and west China tend to sleep better than those in the north and east. It found bachelors are sleeping better than the married, said Qin Xiaoming, vice head of the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, which sponsored the report. It also found that the men sleep better than women, and people in rural regions have better sleep quality than their urban counterparts, according to the survey results.

Michaela mcclain - cold hearts (Official video)

http://youtu.be/QWBhWtUxmXQ

I started writing songs because I had no friends says Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has admitted that she turned to music for comfort because she had no friends at school. The country star found global stardom thanks to her pretty face and talent for singing and songwriting. But during her younger years Taylor found solace in venting her emotions into her creativity because nobody wanted to talk to her. In an in-depth interview with In Style magazine, Taylor admitted that her classmates left her isolated because they thought she was "weird and different," the Sun reported. "I first started writing songs because I didn't really have anyone else to talk to. As sad as that sounds, I was going through this really hard time at school where I didn't have any friends. Songwriting for me just started out as therapy," she said. The 23-year-old singer also broached the subject of how she still uses her lyrics to vent her emotions - including about ex-boyfriends. Taylor also confessed that her biggest fear in life is becoming self-obsessed and ending up alone. "What I worry about is that I never want to end up kind of a self-centred, vain human being. My fears circle around me making the wrong choices and messing this up for myself. I don't wanna end up being awful and intolerable," she added.