Eid al Adha: a day of joy,
reflection and sacrifice
A day of remembrance and joy, Eid Al Adha begins with making a fresh start to the day by wearing nicest clothing, most fragrant perfumes and attending an Eid prayer in the morning
_By Ali Ahmed al Riyami_

ISM students keep audience captivated
_By A Staff Reporter_

THE three-day Annual Exhibition of middle section of Indian School Muscat ended on Saturday. The audience was kept captivated by the rendition of two melodious Hindustani classical songs. This was followed by two popular foot-tapping Western numbers. The highlight of the evening was a mesmerising Odissi dance performance by five graceful and talented students from classes 5-8.

Yusuf Nalwalla, Chairman, Board of Directors, Indian Schools in the Sultanate, presided over the inaugural function. The chief guest formally inaugurated the exhibition. The students had painstakingly prepared charts, PowerPoint presentations, models, files, folders, scrapbooks and models in all the subjects, the fine arts that included music, band, art, photography, computer science, digital horizon and physical education.
The school’s English department portrayed literature through the ages, grammar and English vocabulary.

The main attraction was the Activity Room, where the students put up a puppet show on the courtroom scene from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. Apart from the language related topics, the Hindi department depicted festivals of India and environmental issues. The visitors to the exhibition were also entertained with a ‘Hasya Kavi Sammelan’.

The French department presented the culture and tradition of France along with an insight into its cuisine. The audience was also entertained with French authentic music. The Arabic department provided a window, to look into the Arab world, while showcasing the rich culture and tradition and also the unique calligraphy, so typical to the region.

Kerala was projected by the Malayalam department, with its history, traditions, architecture and cuisine, in all its glory, through PowerPoint presentations, models and live enactment. The Mathematics department displayed through various projects topics such as tessellations, 3-D figures, optical illusion, data handling etc. Through the various models and objects, the applications of mathematical concepts in daily life was made clear.

Budding scientists of the Science department presented the principles, processes and phenomena that make the world go round, through their enthralling working models. ‘The World Connected by Sea’ was the theme chosen by the Social Science department, this year. A glimpse into the maritime activities of the Sultanate was one of the highlights at the exhibition. The visitors to the exhibition were given a glimpse into the world of the vast oceans and seas and how trade has connected all the continents, otherwise separated.

The world of computers and how technology has today made human life quite stress-free and uncomplicated, were made evident through various computer applications like Simulation, PowerPoint presentations, made by the students. Various Network topology models were also on display. Seven IT wizards from classes 7 and 8 with their contextual speech on the current topics related to the world of the Digital World like Blue Ray Disc, Nano Technology concepts, etc, kept the viewers riveted to their seats.

The Art department, where the students gave free rein to their imagination, bore testimony to this fact, through the splendid works done in water colours, oil pastels and glass paintings. Forty-eight young photographers displayed their aesthetic sense, as seen by them through the lens of the camera. Nature’s wonders, the marvels of architecture and the beauty, that is so unique to Oman, were up on display.

The viewers also got an opportunity to see the vast and immense collection of books, on a wide array of topics, that is available to the students, in the Middle School library. The Annual Exhibition, thus became a platform for students to showcase their talent, creativity and imagination.

Iconic keffiyeh brings colourful clash to Beirut
This is not the first time the keffiyeh has been co-opted by others. The garment has come in and out of fashion, with youths in the 1960s and 1970s wearing it as a sign of revolt or sympathy with the Palestinian cause. The scarf has also become a signature item for anti-war activists, writes Rima Abushakra from Beirut

THE iconic black and white keffiyeh, or Arab headdress, famously donned by late Palestinian president Yasser Arafat has hit the streets of Beirut in a rainbow of colours — much to the chagrin of older Palestinians.

Stylish youngsters, both men and women, can be seen in the city’s chic cafes and restaurants sporting red, blue, pink, brown and purple versions of the keffiyeh. Western and Arab tourists are also snapping up the hip item.

The trend, however, is seen by many as an insult to a symbol traditionally linked to the Palestinian cause. “These colours aren’t for us... it’s nonsense, it’s a fashion show,” said Salim Ali Kayd, 74, who has been a Palestinian refugee in Lebanon since 1948, when Israel was created.

“The keffiyeh stands for a person’s honour and manhood. It was a rite of passage to wear one upon reaching the age of 18,” he added explaining the customs of his generation.

A Lebanese girl wears a blue keffiyeh around her neck

Some young Palestinians, however, are proud to see the craze gather steam. “I have about 10 of them... The keffiyeh belongs to us no matter its colour. I am happy they have become popular,” said Ahmed el-Hassan, 22. Keffiyehs are hard to come by in Lebanon’s 12 Palestinian refugee camps that house an estimated 400,000 refugees. They cost on average five dollars but some high-end designers in Lebanon are selling them for over $100. “The original one was white and black,” El-Hassan said. “These might be copies but they’re still called keffiyeh which represents Palestine’s heritage.” — AFP

Plastic jeans, denim paper, thanks
 to fashion’s eco-warriors
_By Claire Rosemberg in Paris_

TAKE a load of empty plastic water bottles to manufacture jeans, or turn waste denim into paper: as eco-consciousness spreads, makers of the planet’s most popular item of clothing are increasingly resorting to recycling. High-end makers of the denims and accessories that go into producing the now 150-year-old jean placed environmental concerns top of their agendas at a gathering in Paris this week of the denim-to-jeans industry.

And given the environmental fall-out of the emblematic blue pants since they crept to the top of the fashion charts from the 1960s, jean-makers have little other choice. Greece’s Hellenic Fabrics, for instance, a leading supplier to iconic jeans firm Levi-Strauss, is launching a new denim fabric made from 37 per cent of waste plastic bottles recycled as PET, a polyester synthetic fibre.

Italy’s specialist tags and labels company Cadica is transforming used denim into paper pulp, while hi-tech Belgians UCO Sportswear weaves denim from waste threads. “We are 100 per cent ethical,” the Greek company’s research and development manager Panos Sofianos said. “We already had an organic line, but wanted to find a way to use waste. “This is not just business, it’s for the environment, for our children.” Likewise in Belgium, said product development manager Sibilla Vanderlinden, who explained that her company collects cotton thread leftovers in spinning mills in Italy and Belgium to make new fabric.

‘We are 100 per cent ethical’
“It’s not as solid and is harder to dye than new thread,” she said. “But we are sceptical that much of the so-called organic cotton on the market is really chemical-free and prefer to work this way in favour of the environment.” The Italian labels firm for its part collects unsold pants from jean-makers to produce paper pulp then turned into labels which are sold back to jean-makers.

“Our philosophy is to maximise the use of natural products and to recycle,” said Italy’s Paolo Pavarotti. Cotton has long been criticised for harming the environment, but since fashionistas cottoned on to jeans, the up-market version of the once-upon-a-time workwear too has come in for flak. Making brand-new jeans look 10 years old or more to please buyers is one of the most technologically advanced processes in the textile business.

Jeans are made to look naturally aged only once stitched together, by being washed and distressed over and over by pumice stones, then frayed, stained and ripped. The process not only causes water wastage but the chemicals and dyes impact on the environment. Using organic cottons, or weaving denims with linen or even silks, is definitely on the increase across the industry, but environmentally-correct items remain a niche product, according to specialists at this week’s “Denim By Premiere Vision” event. Denim-makers meanwhile are also moving into “intelligent” fabrics, with hi-tech weavers developing cloth that regulates body-heat, keeps the rain out or even moisturises the skin. — AFP

‘Internet enthusiasm is cooling’

ENTHUSIASM for the Internet is cooling, said German futurologist and trend analyst Matthias Horx. “It’s becoming increasingly apparent that virtual worlds can replace actual ones only up to a point,” he said in Frankfurt during an interview. “A small but growing group of people who had a strong affinity to the Internet and digitalisation are dropping out now,” remarked Horx, noting that many companies had declared e-mail-free days. He cited studies showing that some 2.6 million people regard themselves as “ex-onliners,” having cut down on their digital communication to enhance the quality of their lives.

Born in Dusseldorf in 1955, Horx founded his Zukunftsinstitut, or “Future Institute,” in 1998 near Frankfurt, central Germany. In their intensive use of social networking websites such as Facebook, Berlin-based studiVZ and Hamburg-based Xing, many people have found “their social bonds slipping through their fingers, and that virtual ‘zombie friends’ are not so reliable,” Horx said. The problem of “digital fakes,” he noted, was now a topic of discussion in many Internet forums.

In a growing number of restaurants and cafes, cellphones and laptop computers are no longer welcome. “They don’t want an atmosphere in which everybody’s looking into his or her virtual tunnel, but rather social spots where people really meet,” Horx said. He said that many companies, having recognised the flood of e-mails to be a “time and productivity killer,” regularly switched off internal e-mail communication, usually on Fridays. “Instead, they encourage people to drink tea together again, which is a lot more productive.”

“Offline” is one of nine societal trends named by Horx in his institute’s Trend Report 2009. This “tendency to digital weariness” begets another trend, which Horx and his team of scientists call “club couture.” “Club formations will become very important for society in the future,” Horx said, explaining he did not mean the sort of clubs that elites have always organised themselves into, but new clubs based on particular themes or interests.

This development, he said, was so far most evident in the tourism industry, where exclusivity had gained in significance as a marketing tool — for example in hotels for specific target groups. Many banks, too, have turned to literature, art and culture — instead of financial products like derivatives — as a means to retain wealthy private clients in the wake of the financial crisis, he said.

Horx also sees a “renaissance of civic activity,” citing numerous private-school foundings by parents, growing citizen involvement in foundations, and community engagement portals on the Internet devoted to donation distribution and the like. Regional action groups are also proliferating, “new settlement movements” that combine multigenerational living with ecological architecture, he said.

Politicians and political parties have not yet really noticed how social commitment has shifted to more individuality and creativity, Horx remarked. “People no longer want to be merely a number in a large organisation, but to be able to develop their own style,” he said. Other examples of this were “green” shopping portals on the Internet and travel that combined relaxation with social or environmental activism, he noted.

Although the organic-food trend continues, Horx noted, he said the industry faced a crisis due to hugely increased demand. “The market has got so big that they now need to mass-produce, so it loses some of its charm and comprehensibility,” he said. Horx foresees more scandals and turbulence in the organic-food industry. “It’s losing credibility, but people still have the need for a different kind of nutrition and food production,” he said. One of the consequences was the increasing number of people who grow and preserve their own food, Horx noted and pointed to the United States, where hundreds of city dwellers had jointly leased a farming cooperative to produce organic food for themselves.  — DPA