Two years ago when half saree made a revival, we were more than happy to have this elegant and peppy ensemble make a come-back. And now, it’s half sarees everywhere! Celebs and the rest of the folk are wearing nothing but half sarees for festivals, functions and events alike.
Every few months, a new half saree design makes its way into the fashion scene and makes waves continuing the country’s new-found obsession with them. So what should you pick among the many half sarees designs that are trending for the festive season that is to come? We list out some of the best half saree trends that are haute to make your decide easily.

1. Go Traditional.

Like Deepika wore it in Chennai Express and Alia Bhatt wore it in 2 States, wearing half saree in its most traditional form, made with Kanchipuram Silk cloth or with a cotton cloth and a zari border is a simple, classy and elegant way to don the half saree.

2. Colour it Up.

Weaving as many colours as you can into your half saree is all the rage now. It not only makes your half saree look super colourful but also makes you look young and preppy. Diya Mirza here adds as many as 5 colours to her half saree still retaining the elegance and classiness of the half saree.

3. Monochrome Half Sarees.

Going monochrome i.e., with the lehenga, dupatta and the blouse of the same colour can make your half saree look great too. Lots of designers seem to be loving going monochrome this season. This pretty blue lehenga designed by Bhargavi Kunam has shades of blue through out it and despite that, does not look boring in the least bit.

With a half saree that was made entirely out of red colour, Tamanna showed us how to don the monochromic half saree with not just perfection but also a whole lot of cuteness.

4. Floral Half Sarees are In.

Flowers never fail in imparting beauty to any dress, especially to a half saree. Lehengas filled with flowers are totally in vogue this season. Anushree Reddy’s creations are proof of how lovely floral half sarees can be.

5. Black Half Sarees Are All The Rage.

Gone are the days when wearing black was considered to be a bad omen for weddings and other events. When it comes to half sarees, it’s black that is reigning this season. Here are some black half sarees that show you how stunningly regal black half sarees could be.

6. Impart Grandeur To Your Half Saree With Heavy Work.

Nothing adds beauty to desi wear like some really beautiful stone work on it. And when it comes to half sarees, work imparts a definite sheen and grandeur to them like nothing else can. Be it with stones or pearls or zardosi or mirrors, some heavily worked upon half sarees are what are trending at the moment.

7. Adding Heavy Gold or Silver Borders.

Thick and heavy gold and silver borders have replaced Zari borders on half sarees (as well as sarees) these days. Along with adding all the sheen and elegance that a zari border adds to the half saree, these borders make the half saree look very contemporary. That orange half saree that Charmme wore to the ETV awards that was designed by Shilpa Reddy was completely drool worthy.

8. Net Half Sarees.

The best way to add a contemporary and edgy twist to a half saree is to make it netted. Netted half sarees made fully out of netted lehengas and netted dupattas are doing quite well this season especially with the younger lot. Sonakshi Sinha’s red netted half saree is a treat to the eyes.

9. Bridal Half Sarees.

Thanks to all the popularity that they are basking in, half sarees have taken over weddings as well in the recent times. Most of the brides these days are ditching the saree and opting gorgeously, heavily embellished half sarees. Here are some gorgeous bridal half sarees by Tarun Tahiliani that you might want to steal design-ideas from if a half saree is what you’re planning on wearing for your wedding.

Need we say more? Go get yourself a half saree for the upcoming festive season already (or for no reason at all) by picking the model that you loved from the above list!

 http://www.southindiafashion.com/2015/07/9-half-saree-designs-to-try-out-the-coming-festive-season.html

Lessons from Finland: helping homeless people starts with giving them homes.

Sounds simple but Finland’s housing first model shows it’s always more cost-effective to try to end homelessness rather than manage it

‘It should go without saying that you can’t offer homeless people homes if the homes do not exist.’ Photograph: Marja Väänänen/Courtesy of Helsinki City Museum.

A recent report by the communities and local government committee on homelessness pointed out that the “housing first” model “appears to have had a positive impact in Finland”. From 2008 to 2014 the number of people who were long-term homeless decreased by approximately 1,200, and homelessness continues to decrease. However, the conclusion of the committee is puzzling: “We are cautious about investing further in housing first in England because of the severity of England’s homelessness challenge and the scarcity of funding and of social housing.” This certainly requires some further comments.

The housing first model is quite simple: when people are homeless, you give them housing first – a stable home, rather than progressing them through several levels of temporary and transitional accommodation. The idea stems from the belief that people who are homeless need a home, and other issues that may cause them to be at risk of homelessness can be addressed once they are in stable housing. Homeless people aren’t told they must conquer their addictions or secure a job before being given a home: instead it is accepted that having a home can make solving health and social problems much easier.

Finland is the only European country where homelessness has decreased in recent years. At the end of 2015 the number of single homeless people was for the first time under 7,000 and this number includes people living temporarily with friends and relatives, who constitute 80% of all homeless people. This development is mainly due to a national programme to reduce long-term homelessness.

The main explanation for this success is quite simple: when the national programme started housing first was adopted as a mainstream national homelessness policy. This common framework made it possible to establish a wide partnership of state authorities, local communities and non-governmental organisations. Cooperation and targeted measures in the implementation of the programme led to the aforementioned results, which were backed up by independent international evaluations.

Implementing housing first is not reasonable without proper housing options. It should go without saying that you can’t offer homeless people homes if the homes do not exist. It is this scarcity of homes that engenders the system in Britain, with demand outstripping supply, and people in crisis forced to jump through hoops to avoid sleeping on the street.

In Finland, housing options included the use of social housing, buying flats from the private market to be used as rental apartments for homeless people, and building new housing blocks for supported housing. An important part of the programme was the extensive conversion of shelters and dormitory-type hostels into supported housing, to address the huge need for accommodation that offered help to tenants. The last big hostel for homeless people in Helsinki with 250 bed places was run by the Salvation Army. A couple of years ago this hostel was renovated and now consists of 80 independent apartments with on-site staff. The disappearance of temporary solutions like hostels has completely changed the landscape of Finnish homelessness policy in a very positive way, for vulnerable individuals and in combatting antisocial behaviour.

All this costs money, but there is ample evidence from many countries that shows it is always more cost-effective to aim to end homelessness instead of simply trying to manage it. Investment in ending homelessness always pays back, to say nothing of the human and ethical reasons.

To get the most out of housing first in terms of social and economic benefits it needs to be mainstream homelessness policy, not just individual pilot projects. Housing first needs housing stock and there is no real homeless policy without the housing supply to implement it. The cornerstone of any decent housing policy is the sufficient supply of affordable social housing. Especially in these times of economic scarcity building new housing is an economically wise and value-creating investment with positive side-effects ranging from reducing youth unemployment to boosting the local economy.

To say that the scarcity of funding in any western European country is the reason for lack of affordable social housing is either an understatement or a conscious misunderstanding. It is simply a question of political will.

Juha Kaakinen is chief executive of the Y-Foundation.

https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/sep/14/lessons-from-finland-helping-homeless-housing-model-homes?CMP=twt_gu 

Is Christianity Oppressive to Women?

Sometimes our Christian heritage must be overcome, not celebrated.

From the beginning of Christianity, women have been included in the New Community. In some times and places, they have found the church more affirming and liberating than their surrounding cultures. But in others, the church has fallen far from its Bible—which sees both sexes as of equal worth.

During its early years, Christianity taught a spiritual unity that at least potentially mitigated the harshness of Roman law, in which women were considered non-citizens with no legal rights. Inequality was everywhere in this system; for example, while men's adultery was assumed, women's was punishable by death. Over against this culture, the ideal of the early church is captured in the words of Paul, "Be subject to one another in the fear of Christ" (Eph 5:21). And women did, as we will see, gain some status "in Christ," filling key roles within the church.

This continued to be true in the Middle Ages, when society at large assumed women would marry and bear many children—indeed, among the elite, parents often arranged or forced marriage on their daughters. Monastic life offered many women an attractive alternative. This was a life of devotion, scholarship, travel, and spiritual fellowship and equal dialogue with male monastics and church leaders.

Nonetheless, the potential equality embedded in Jesus' message often failed to pan out in the teachings and practice of the church. In Men and Women in the Church: Building Consensus on Christian Leadership (InterVarsity Press, 2003), Dr. Sarah Sumner examines the church's decidedly spotty record on treatment of women.

Sumner cites several expressions of a deep prejudice against women in the writings of the Church Fathers. The first is from a 3rd-century treatise titled "On the Dress of Women," written and presented to an audience of women by Tertullian—the influential teacher and coiner of the term "Trinity."

Here Tertullian likens all women to Eve, calling them "the devil's gateway," "the unsealer of that forbidden tree," and "she who persuaded him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack." It was because of Eve, Tertullian argued, and therefore because of all womankind, that "God's image, man" was condemned to death, and that the Son of God himself had to come and die. In light of this, he added, how dare any woman "think about adorning yourself over and above your tunics of skins?"

Sumner also cites Ambrose, the bishop of Milan from 374 to 397 A.D. In his treatise "On Paradise," Ambrose wrote that "though the man was created outside Paradise, an inferior place, he is found to be superior, while woman, though created in a better place, inside Paradise, is found inferior." For Ambrose, it was a fact of nature that men are superior to women.

Augustine, probably the most famous theologian in all of church history, believed that God did not create the woman for any reason other than procreation. Explicitly he said, "I cannot think of any reason for woman's being made as man's helper, if we dismiss the reason of procreation." He felt that companionship was no part of God's plan for the relationship between the sexes. For the purpose of conversation, he argued, "how much more agreeable it is for two male friends to dwell together than for a man and a woman!"

Declares Sumner, "If the church fathers were prejudiced against women, and we know it, then we should be careful not to absorb their bias." In other words, "Traditional Christian thinking is not the same thing as biblical thinking about women."

Tertullian lived in a Roman culture where marriage and women were degraded. And much of early Christian thought was influenced by Plato and Aristotle, neither of whom were Christian thinkers. Aristotle believed that women were irrational in relation to men and unequal in virtue.

The idea that women are equal in worth to men has only recently received widespread acceptance. As Sumner argues, we must face the difficult fact that we do not read Scripture objectively, but rather through the lenses of a long tradition of gender inequality. When we try to set these lenses aside, we begin to see a God who is counter-cultural in this respect. He is not a respecter of persons—He shows no partiality! (Acts 10:34).

From the Bible emerge three clear pictures about women. Together they show that God is an equal opportunity Creator, Forgiver, Equipper, and Empowerer.

The first picture is one of Creation: we see that like men, women are created in God's image. It takes both male and female to bear God's image. We are bone of man's bone and flesh of man's flesh. (Gen. 2:23). Right after the first woman was formed and introduced to the first man, the man was told that from that time forward, "therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined (cleave) to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." God blessed both man and woman and charged them both to have dominion over the earth. God intended them to experience oneness and to work—have dominion—side by side. That's the first picture, the creation picture.

Before the second picture, a terrible event occurs. In Genesis 3, there is the temptation and the fall. Given free will, both the woman and the man make disastrous choices. There are stunning consequences, curses from God upon the tempter, the woman, and the man. But, there is Good News: both the woman and the man are eligible for forgiveness. They can both be restored to a right relationship with God.

Again, God himself takes the initiative and provides a way back into fellowship through the life and death of his Son. Jesus is the Light that comes into the world. Men and women who believe in him are placed together into a new family. They become the children of God (John 1:12).

In the new "body of Christ," men and women are both given gifts for serving one another. Oneness between a man and woman in marriage was always God's idea. And now, oneness in the body of Christ is God's idea. He is impartial in the giving of the gifts. "But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleases," (I Cor. 12:18), "for the profit of all." (I Cor. 12:7).

Where in the Bible record do we see the consequences for women of this new order? In Luke 10, Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard his word, and when her sister, Martha, complained that Mary had left her to do all the serving (traditionally woman's work), Jesus told Martha that "Mary has chosen the good part, which will not be taken away from her."

That is no isolated incident—women are right there in the center of things throughout the New Testament accounts: Women watched as Jesus died. Women were at the tomb. Women were included as Christ followers. They prayed and supported the body of Christ with their gifts and talents. Later, women such as Priscilla served as teachers. This second picture of light shows Jesus not only forgiving women, but equipping women and welcoming women to learn from him and to serve the body.

In the third picture, women are of equal worth in heaven. The third picture is the eternal picture. In heaven, men and women will stand shoulder-to-shoulder praising God. Here is a description from Revelation 22:3-5:

"The throne of God and of the Lamb is at the center. His servants will offer God service—worshiping, they'll look on his face, their foreheads mirroring God. Never again will there be any night. No one will need lamplight or sunlight. The shining of God, the Master, is all the light anyone needs. And they will rule with him age after age after age."

Has Christianity been oppressive to women? Yes. Is Christ? No. As the apostle Paul insisted, "In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in common relationship with Jesus Christ" (Gal. 3:28).

In the beginning, God created man and woman to have oneness in marriage. In the body of Christ, the church, God intends for us to have community with one another. In eternity in heaven, we will be praising God together. God's will is for men and women to be together, side-by-side. His heart is oneness… (By Linda Hartz Rump)… Linda Rump holds a Masters of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, IL and is a wife and mother of two adult children.

http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/2008/august/is-christianity-oppressive-to-women.html?share=eviTuiksXBAaRRCk2yFt6mskj3167ZIW