Maldives celebrates world yoga day
Unfazed by protests from religious conservative groups, Maldives joined in on world yoga day celebrations on Tuesday.
22 Jun 2016, 9:00 AM
The students were confounded. Stand on your knees with palms resting on the floor, then take the left knee forward and raise your right arm? A bizarre set of instructions indeed. The lesser of them couldn’t hold themselves back any longer. Soon, the entire auditorium with around 80 students of Billabong International School was in splits.
“You need to maintain silence,” Dr Savita Harish, the instructor for this session, pleaded. “Yoga is nothing but peace.” The teachers joined in, helpless at the sight of the rogue bunch derailing the proceedings.
The celebrations for the International Yoga Day had already kicked off in the neighbouring India; nearly 2000 km away, Maldives was only just warming up. The last time the students of this school in Malé were made to go through such contortions was exactly a year ago.
Unlike the last time, the celebrations this year were tainted by right-wing extremists.
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