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TRAVEL & WOMEN
Asian Voice - Saturday 21st April 2012
WOMEN ACHIEVERS Mallika Sarabhai danseuse and social activist
Mauritius
Pearl of the Indian Ocean
Mauritius is an idyllic island, and a dream holiday destination with perfect sunny weather most of the year. There is a plethora of activities for anyone to enjoy an amazing holiday. For budget conscious travellers, stay at the 3* Le Tropical Mauritius resort, offering rooms with sea views and a balcony or terrace, set on a stunning beach on the east coast of the island. With watersports, boat rides and excursion tours available, this hotel is affordable and offers all you need. A weekly entertainment evening is held with a traditional
Mauritian band playing, and you can enjoy a wide variety of cuisines including European, Chinese, Indian and Mauritian. The hotel also offers a free shuttle boat service to the neighbouring Ile Aux Cerfs island. Or you can book a tour including a boat cruise to a turquoise lagoon, a safe haven dedicated to glass-bottom boat rides, or try snorkelling in the crystal clear blue waters and discover why its coral reefs are so famous, filled with an abundance of exotic fish to spot. For the more adventurous, there are diving tours available, so you can swim with a dazzling array of tropical fish. If you’ve got cash to splash, stay at the Beau Rivage 5* beach hotel, located at Belle Mare on the east of the island. With traditional Mauritian
décor, an array of cuisines, and magnificent sea views, this is the place for you. The large pool offers amazing sea views, and with their beach service where drinks and food will
be brought to your sun lounger, you will feel spoilt with the excellent, friendly service. If you decide to venture outside of the hotels you are staying in, top sightseeing spots include
Casela Bird Park, Pamplemousses Park; there are 18-hole golf courses available, and for bargain hunters, you can pick up some excellent designer clothes at discounted prices in the city
tainment system in every seat offering a wide choice of films and music. With friendly staff, experience flying in comfort in business or economy in its latest state-of-the-art Airbus A340-300. If you can, choose business class for a luxurious flight offering lie-flat seats with a 5 feet seat length, a choice of three gourmet hot meals with a selection of vintage French wines, spirits, and Brut Champagne. To arrange your holiday to Mauritius, book with Brightsun Travel, who offer a complete holiday service with helpful and friendly consultants. They negotiate fantastic deals on hotels, and will
By AV Correspondent Mallika Sarabhai is a social activist and an accomplished Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam dancer from Ahmedabad and daughter of classical dancer Mrinalini Sarabhai and late space scientist Vikram Sarabhai. She started her dancing lessons as well as her film career when she was 15. Mallika played the role of Draupadi in Peter Brook's play “The Mahabharata.” Mallika has won many accolades during her long career, the Golden Star Award being one of them, which she won for the Best Dance Soloist, Theatre De Champs Elysees, Paris 1977. She, along with her mother manages the Darpana Academy of Performing Arts located at Ahmedabad. In 1989 she performed hard-hitting solo theatrical works, Shakti: The Power of Women. Later she directed and acted in numerous productions reflecting current issues. She also wrote the script
for the play ‘Unsuni’ based on Harsh Mander's book ‘Unheard Voices.’ Arvind Gaur later directed it as a play, with the same name. Darpana launched the people awareness movement through ‘Unsuni’ which travels all
over India. In 2009 Mallika acted in Bertolt Brecht's Indian adaptation of “The Good Person of Szechwan” (Ahmedabad ki Aurat Bhali-Ramkali) directed by Arvind Gaur in the 34th Vikram Sarabhai International Art Festival.
Mallika met Bipin Shah during her college days and eventually married him. They were divorced seven years later. They have two children, a son, Revanta and a daughter Anahita. Bipin and Mallika co-founded Mapin Publishing in 1984 and continue to run it together. During the Lok Sabha elections in March 2009, Mallika contested as an independent candidate against Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate L K Advani for the Gandhinagar seat. She described her candidature as a Satyagraha against the politics of hatred. She eventually lost to Advani by a huge margin. She also opposed Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘sadbhavna’ (harmony) fasts. The holder of MBA and doctorate degree from IIM Ahmedabad, she is a multitalented personality. She has proved her worth in all the streams, be it editing, anchoring, film making, dancing, acting etc.
Deoband urges Muslims to avoid polygamy
centre. Mauritius manufactures many designer garments and exports them so by buying from there, you’ll get them at bargain prices. The easiest way to get
to Mauritius is with its national airline, Air Mauritius. It flies several flights a week direct from Heathrow and features the latest audio visual on demand in-flight enter-
arrange transfers and travel insurance at your request. For flights and 7 nights half board, Brightsun have many special offers on the hotels mentioned and more, with packages starting from only £1059 pp. For example you can get great deals at the luxurious 4* Le Meridien Ile Maurice (subject to availability). Travel between 1st June and 30th September 2012, and you will get 14% off if you book a month in advance, or 12% off if you book for a minimum of 7 nights. Brightsun Travel offers a price match promise on worldwide flights and holidays so you will get the best deals. To book your dream holiday, call Brightsun Travel on 0208 819 0486 or visit www.brightsun.co.uk
Deoband, the influential seminary, has directed Muslims in India to avoid practising polygamy, an initiative that has won instant approval much like the 2008 advisory that denounced terrorism as a grave sin against Islam. Responding to a query from a person who wanted to marry again while his first wife was alive, the Deobandi scholars advised him against another marriage. "It is hard to provide equal justice to two wives in the Indian custom," the Deoband fatwa said, pointing out that although marrying a second time is "allowed" in Islam, it is not encouraged. "Although Islam permits two wives at the same time, Indian traditions do not allow it," the seminary's verdict said, referring to the particular question. Deoband's words carry a lot of weight for many Muslims across the world. The Islamic seminary, founded over 150 years ago in a small western Uttar Pradesh town of the same name, trains thousands of imams, muftis and qazis who spread the ideals of Sunni Islam across South Asia, Europe and North America.
Naeem-Ur-Rahman Siddiqui, secretary of the Lucknow-based Islamic Council of India, welcomed Deoband's thrust on social reforms. "There are a lot of myths about Muslims and polygamy that need to be clarified. First, it is not binding on Muslims to marry more than once. Second, the idea of permitting second, third or fourth marriages has certain conditions that
need to be fulfilled. Islam prohibits extra-marital relations and views marriage as a social contract," he said. Naeem, 42, added that the important aspect, as the Deoband fatwa has emphasised, is the idea of ensuring justice and equality when a man chooses to marry for the second time. "Religious sayings state that if a man fails to impart justice to his wives, he would be tilting, as if unable to stand erect on the day of judgment," Naeem said. "Can you
name any top 10 Islamic personality who has married twice or more?" Bhopal's city qazi, Maulana Mushtaq Nadwi, said Deoband's words put the Islamic view of marriage in a correct perspective. "Islam champions justice and equality in the social sphere, too. If a man does not fulfil his obligations towards his one wife, he will be penalised for that, too. In Indian socioeconomic conditions, most Muslims do not practise polygamy in any case," he said. Echoing these sentiments, the president of the Uttar Pradesh I m a m Organisation, Mufti Zulfikar, said that although Islam allows a second marriage on condition that the husband would ensure equal maintenance, "it is difficult to accord the same treatment to both women". Noted scholar Ghulam Rasool Wastanvi, who had a brief and controversial stint as rector of the Deoband seminary, had explained fatwas as "opinions" based on Islamic Sharia law to an individual's query. "They cannot be generalised," Wastanvi had said.