March 4 2011 1-24 by Indo American News

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

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Friday, March 04 2011 | Vol. 30, No. 9

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Shah Rukh Khan

has reportedly signed Leonardo DiCaprio for his upcoming crossover project.

Filming on the movie will commence in

2012

Published weekly from Houston, TX

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Icc recognizes Four Physicians for exemplary service through Healing By Kalyani Giri HOUSTON: Dr. Sudha Rajan has advocated holistic medicine almost as long as she received her medical degree. Born in Madurai in south India, she was exposed to Ayurveda from a very young age while sharing many an educative hour in her grandmother’s kitchen avidly listening and learning about the curative and palliative powers of age-old herbs and roots. This year Dr. Rajan, along with Drs. Jay Chavda, K.T. Shah, and Rakesh Mangal, were the four medical professionals honored by the India Culture Center of Houston (ICC – H) in recognition of their outstanding contribution toward the betterment of this city by giving back to the community. The doctors were special guests at the 62nd Republic Day of India celebration hosted by ICC-H on January 29, 2011 at the Stafford Center, where they were feted with the Exemplary Community Service Through Medicine awards. Several weeks prior to the event, ICC-H placed notices in local media exhorting the public to tender nominations; through an exhaustive process that drew sixteen contenders, the four doctors, all distinguished in their vocations, were hand-selected by

This Week Inside:

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Harmony School of Pg 5 Science : Ground Breaking

Dr. Sudha Rajan

a commissioned board. Renowned for being indefatigably committed to their professions and working long hours to fulfill the demands of their covenant, they juggle many roles yet manage to strike the perfect balance that brings them spiritual clarity through volunteerism. “The awardees have strong ties to the community through the self selfless work they do. The community responded by strongly urging ICCH to give them the cognizance they so richly deserve,” said Swapan Dhairyawan, Past President of ICC-H, during whose tenure the awardees were selected. continued on page

Sri Somesvara Temple Consecration

Mallika Sherawat shows off on the Academy Awards red carpet.

Dandi March in US Against Corruption in India

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Gunmen Kill Pakistan’s Cabinet Minister

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Baba Ramdev Huge Conspiracies in Delhi Rally

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texas Board Penalizes three doctors for illegal dispensing of Prescriptions HOUSTON (Houston Chronicle: The Texas Medical Board this month disciplined 15 doctors — including three of Indian origin — for improperly dispensing dangerous drugs, part of an ongoing crackdown of a burgeoning illicit industry of doctors and pharmacists illegally dispensing prescription medicine. Houston in particular has become a national hub for the illegal sale of prescription drugs, especially a narcotic known by such brand names as Vicodin, anti-anxiety drugs and muscle relaxants. Among the Indo-American doctors disciplined include Dr. Kiran and Arun Sharma of Kemah. The husband-wife doctor team were sentenced to prison and ordered to forfeit more than $43 million

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gained from conspiring to improperly dispense addictive drugs and bill Medicare and Medicaid. Dr. Kiran Sharma, 56, was sentenced to eight years in federal prison on Friday, while her husband, Dr. Arun Sharma, was sentenced to 15 years on Feb. 1. As the government begins recouping the $43 million, the Sharmas already have been forced to relinquish their $700,000 home in Kemah, other real estate and $800,000 in cash. Dr. Malini Kumar agreed to receive training in diagnosing and treating chronic pain as well as record keeping. A Houston physician, Dr. Kasturirangan Saranathan, paid a $2,000 fine and agreed to record-keeping and risk management training.

Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai arrive at the 83rd Academy Awards as special guests.

Music maestro AR Rahman and his wife Saira Banu arrive at the 83rd Academy Awards. Rahman also performed his song from the Oscar nominated film, 127 Hours.

Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, A mArcH 04 , 2011 • Online editiOn: Ay, On: www.indOamerican-news.cOm O

Jigar Mehta to make Film on Egyptian Pg 17 Revolution

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

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An Evening Honoring

The Honorable James A. Baker III and Y. Ping Sun Honorary Chair

Nancy C. Allen Co-Chairs

Vijay and Marie Goradia | Albert and Anne Chao Thursday, March 24, 2011 Cocktails: 6:30 p.m. | Dinner: 7:30 p.m. Hilton-Americas Houston | 1600 Lamar | Houston, TX 77010 For ticket information, contact Sylvia LeBlanc Watkins, 713-439-0051 Ext. 16 SylviaW@asiasociety.org Indo American News • Friday, MARCH 04 , 2011 • Online Edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

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Icc recognizes exemplary community service Award winners in medicine, Humanitarianism, and Giving Back to the community

1 day feeds midday meals to Always interested in yoga 1.2 million children everyand breathing practices, Dr. day. Dr. Shah has supported Rajan took lessons locally the organization’s vision and made many a trip to not only through generthe Bangalore-headquarous donations, but also by tered Vivekananda Yoga spearheading the formation Anusandhana Samsthana of a chapter of Akshaya Pa(VYASA), an authoritatra here in this city. tive research organization Dr. Rakesh Mangal, the and university that explores fourth recipient of the ICCyoga as a multifarious apH award, trained as an Inplication to improve the fertility Specialist and as quality of life. She became an Endometriosis surgery the President of VYASAspecialist. As the Indian USA in 2002, a position she Doctors Charity Clinic Licurrently holds; along with aison he organizes coma team of VYASA specialprehensive multi- spectrum ists, Dr. Rajan teaches and free health screenings for trains yoga therapists in thousands of people, notathis city. After finding her bly at the cavernous George spiritual mentor in Swami Community Service Award winners: Hemant Patel, Falguni Gandhi, Veena Ponnaganti, Atul Vir, Mrs K T Shah, Dr R. Brown Convention CenVidyadhishananda Giri, the Rakesh Mangal, CG Sanjiv Arora, Dr Jay Chavda, Dr Sudha Rajan, Vale Subramaniam and Ramesh Cherivirala ter. He volunteers with the founder of the Self Enquiry mainstream Gateway to Life Fellowship, Dr. Rajan’s learn- Dr. Rajan who in 2005 spearhead- preservation and dissemination of that Dr. Chavda maintains within Care organization that offers fiing experiences were enriched by ed a partnership between VYASA Sanskrit and Sanskruti for the sake BAPS, critically ill patients re- nancially disadvantaged and unincoming in touch with some of the and the M.D. Anderson Cancer of future generations and lovers of ceive immediate care and treat- sured patients free treatment. world’s best Ayurvedic doctors in Center to research the therapeutic authentic Vedic heritage. We are ment. The doctor also volunteers For more information visit www. India, practitioners of Siddha or effects of yoga on breast cancer greatly strengthened by the divine extensively with other organiza- icchouston.org nanotechnology, who readily im- patients undergoing radiotherapy. participation of Dr. Rajan and her tions in the community. A stalwart in the Houston compart knowledge that she brings to That the program is still in place family,” added Shivaprakash in a munity is Dr. K.T. Shah whose the treatment of her patients every- bears glowing testimony to the en- glowing tribute to Dr. Rajan. If you receive your paper more than four days after the dateline, day. Nanotechnology in medicine, during power of yoga. Dr. Jay Chavda was inspired by philanthropic spirit and humaniplease file a complaint with your explained Dr. Rajan, are miniscule “Dr. Sudha Rajan hails from a his spiritual master HDH Sri Pra- tarian efforts have been vast and post office or call the USPS particles that get wherever they spiritual family closely connected mukh Swami Maharaj, head of widely documented by many who Consumer Affairs Office at need to be and make just the criti- with the renowned Shankara- the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. have been the beneficiaries of his cally needed change without dis- charya of Kanchi Mutt, Swami With the blessings of his guru, Dr. largesse. A luminary in the local turbing the homeostasis. Chandrasekharendra Saraswati,” Chavda completed his ENT Head/ community, Dr. Shah has consisIndo-American News (ISSN 887-5936) is published weekly on every Friday (for “While allopathy has given us said B. A. Shivaprakash, Secre- Neck training at the Case Western tently donated his time and skills a subscription price of $30 per year) by the best view of physiology at the tary of the Board of Directors at Reserve University in Cleveland, for the past five years to the Indian Indo-American News Inc., 7457 Harwin Dr., Suite 262, Houston, Texas 77036, Tel: cellular level, it is only now catch- the Self Enquiry Life Fellowship Ohio, and relocated to this city to Doctors Charity Clinic, where he 713-789-6397, Fax: 713-789-6399, Email: ing up with Ayurveda. Ancient based in Santa Barbara, CA. “She complete his training at M.D. An- is a board member. For over two indoamericannews@yahoo.com. Periodical postage paid at Houston, healing deals with each individual got involved with our Swamahi- derson Hospital. He has practiced decades, he has shut his thrivTexas. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Indo-American News, as a unique being and tailors the man Mission and its service in the in Houston since 1985 and was a ing medical practice for weeks 7457 Harwin Dr., Suite 262, Houston, medicine accordingly. Ayurvedia United States from July of 2006. founding member of the hugely annually to offer succor and free Texas 77036. texts emphasize gastrointestinal She and her husband Tyaga Rajan successful annual BAPS Medical treatment at camps in health as a primary focus in well- became aligned with the Vedic Health Fair. The fair, culling the Gujarat, Kutch, Surat, ness and in holistic health. Ancient cause of our organization and to- cooperation of thousands of BAPS Rajasthan, and Pakistan. Indian healing systems also reiter- gether took initiation into personal volunteers, offers the community Dr. Shah’s compassion WriterS ... ate the dynamism of the human meditation practice from our head free health services, particularly for the plight of the less- take NOtiCe physiology and the changes that pontiff Swami Vidyadhishananda to those without health insurance. fortunate children in Inoccur in the human system accord- Giri in 2007. Dr. Rajan has been It has often been a lifesaving en- dia drew him to the AkWriters are requested to limit their words to ing to circadian rhythms, the sea- a tireless champion of Vedika- deavor to many a patient, and has shaya Patra Foundation 500 The deadline for advertising and articles sonal rhythm, and the mood cycle. dharma under the auspices of our saved them health costs running in founded in Bangalore is 5 pm on Tuesday of each week. For more There is so much to be said about Nonprofit and has been generous- millions of dollars. As a result of ten years ago. The noninformation, Call 713-789-6397 or email us at: complementary medicine,” said ly supporting our service related to the dedicated and strong network profit organization toindoamericannews@yahoo.com continued from page

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Harmony School of Science: High School Ground Breaking The Harmony School System’s mission is to prepare students for higher learning in a safe, caring, and collaborative atmosphere through a quality learner–centered educational program with a strong emphasis on

math, science, engineering, and technology. In this environment, Harmony Schools promote high expectations for all students while focusing on differentiated instruction to meet each student’s needs.

From left: Huseyin Sari, Harmony School of Science Principal; Congressman Pete Olson, Dr. Soner Tarim, Founder Harmony Public Schools; Sugar land Mayor Pro Tem Thomas Abraham and Yalcin Akyildiz, Harmony Public Schools, South Cluster Superintendent.

SUGAR LAND: The Harmony School of Science – Sugar Land High School will be opening to students for the 2011-2012 school year! In a celebration that was attended by such esteemed guests as Congressman Pete Olson, Sugar Land Mayor Pro Tem Thomas Abraham, Keri Schmidt of the Fort Bend Chamber of Commerce, Josh Daniels of Congressman Olson’s office, and Emily Cole of T-STEM, attendees were treated to an afternoon of enlightening conversation and a ceremonial shovel plunge into the ground surrounding the new school. The development of Harmony School of Science – High School will open approximately fifty new teaching positions in the Sugar Land area and will enable area children to stay within their own community for high school. Previously, Harmony School of Science graduates were bused to the Har-

mony High School at 9431 West Sam Houston Parkway South. Beginning in August 2011, Harmony students in grades seven through eleven will attend school at the new campus, located on 13522 West Aiport.12th Grade will be added for the 2012-2013 school year. Applications are currently being accepted for new enrollees. In his speech, Congressman Olson commended Harmony Schools for the “wonderful job opportunities” that will be available to graduates – NASA being his main example. “Harmony School of Science-High School graduates will become leaders of society,” he said. Harmony School Founder and Superintendent Dr. Soner Tarim was on hand to welcome the community to what will be the 34th Harmony Campus. “Our success,” he announced, “is due to our parents, our students, and our staff.”

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Alcohol s swabs Trigger Federal suit s By CraiG G Malisow HOUSTON (Houston Press): The parents of a two-year-old Houston boy who died af after coming into contact with contaminated antiseptic swabs are suing the manufacturer of the swabs, which have been subject to a recall. In a federal wrongful death suit filed Sunday against the Triad Group, Shanoop and Sandra Kothari claim that alcohol prep-pads contaminated with a deadly bacteria were used on their son during treatment for a brain cyst at Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in late 2010. The child, identified only as “H.K.,” died December 1 of acute bacterial meningitis, according to the suit. His blood had tested positive for Bacillus cereus, “a potentially life threatening bacteria that is normally associated with food borne illnesses [sic],” according to the suit. The presence of the bacteria in the child’s blood remained a mystery until the Wis-

consin-based Triad Group recalled all pads, swabs and swabsticks due to potential contamination by the Bacillus cereus bacteria. In its January 3 recall letter, Triad stated that the recall was prompted by concerns of a single customer and that “to date, we have received one report of a nonlife-threatening skin infection.” Triad reiterated this position on its Web site, stating, “There has been ONE report of a potential contaminant out of hundreds of millions of products sold.” The Triad products are included in prepackaged kits sold by other companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline, Genentech, Bayer HealthCare and Merck, according to the suit. “Triad knew or should have known through the exercise of reasonable care that its failure to properly manufacture, test or inspect its alcohol wipes, pads and swabs for contamination and defects would cause harm to people who use those products,” the suit states. Triad Vice President Eric Haertle wasn’t immediately available for comment.

WriterS ... take NOtiCe Writersarerequestedtolimittheirwordsto500Thedeadlineforadvertising and articles is 5 pm on Tuesday of each week. For more information, Call 713-789-6397 or email us at: indoamericannews@yahoo.com

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Holi Re Holi by Andhra Mirchi Radio

HOUSTON: Andhra Mirchi Radio, a revolution in Houston for providing quality radio entertainment in various Indian regional languages, will play host to ‘Holi Re Holi’, an exclusive event to celebrate Holi, the festival of colors. The March 12 event celebrating the commencement of spring with Holi revelers throwing colored powder and colored water at each other is being organized for the first time this year at Shirdi Sai Jalaram M a n d i r (SSJM) located at 13845 W. B e l l f o r t Street in Sugarland. The celebrations will feature food, drinks, unlimited ‘rang’ (colored powder), the South Asian fusion sounds of a professional DJ, traditional Indian dhol (drum) players, and a special Bollywood-style performance by our local dance schools. “Holi is all about new beginnings by wel-

coming spring with a colorful ‘spring in your step,’” says Prasad Kalva of Andhra Mirchi Radio. “People come here as strangers but leave as friends, and we’re providing a safe, enjoyable environment for all of our guests who want to start a new season with a little color in their lives,” says Sreedhar Aloori of Shirdi Sai Jalaram Mandir. Since its inception in 2008, Andhra Mirchi Radio Group has successfully orchestrated non-profit fundraisers, food festivals, live Concerts and social & cultural gatherings. Shirdi Sai Jalaram Mandir along with Qatar Airways and other sponsors are supporting us in celebrating this event with the community. The event will be held on Saturday, March 12 from 10am - 3pm at Shirdi Sai Jalaram Mandir.

RALEIGH: Located in the mountains of Western North Carolina, this temple is a masterpiece, honoring the deepest values of Vedic architecture. Two sthapatis from the lineage of master architect V. Ganapati Sthapathi, and seven shilpis from Tamil Nadu, have taken 50 tons of hand carved granite from South India to create the magnificent Śrī Someśvara Temple. Please join us for the consecration ceremonies which will take place May 12-16

This five-day event will be the inauguration of a purely Vedic Shiva Temple. Great care has been taken to assure that this exceptional Temple will be consecrated authentically, according to the Shastras. We invite you to share with us this historic victory for the world. The culmination of the consecration ceremony is on Monday, May 16. You are welcome to join us for any or all of the five days. For more information visit www.somanathusa.org or call 828-627-6201

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dandi march arch in U Us s Against corruption in India as the 2G scam, are well known. It is estimated that more than trillion dollars are stashed away in foreign havens, while 80 percent of Indians earn less than 2$ per day and every second child is malnourished,” the organisers said. “While this rampant corruption is a cause for serious concern, the good news is that movements against it have arisen all over the country. Dandi March II is the attempt by NRIs to bring together and escalate these movements into a powerful force.” This effort now has support from the stalwarts in anti-corruption movement and other progressive groups in India such as Lok Satta Party, India Against Corruption, The 5th Pillar (Chennai), Youth For Better India ( Hyderabad) Saaku ( Bangalore) and Save India From Corruption, the organisers said.

WASHINGTON (TOI) : A group of NRIs, inspired by the historic Dandi March led by Mahatma Gandhi in India’s fight for freedom from foreign rule, have organised a 240-mile walk in the US against corruption in India. Starting at Martin Luther King Jr Memorial Park, San Diego, California March 12, “Dandi March II” goes through Los Angeles and ends March 26 at Gandhi Statue, San Francisco. The dates coincide with the dates Gandhi did his historic march in 1930. Every major city in USA, 10 major cities in India and 8 other countries globally join the movement by organizing supporting events March 26, the organisers said. Conceived to fight those who seek to plunder and enslave their own country are to push the government to enact Jan Lokpal bill

and ratify UNCAC which are designed to free India from the clutches of corruption, and to bring back the hidden money from foreign banks, they said. “The recent scams involving unimaginably big amounts of money, such

BOSTON (TOI): A 27-year-old Indian, who worked as a trader at Societe Generale (SocGen), has been sentenced to three years in prison for stealing trade secrets at the French investment bank. Samarth Agrawal was found guilty on November 19, 2010 by a jury of stealing proprietary computer code used in SocGen’s highfrequency trading business and of transporting the stolen code. US District Judge Jed Rakoff ordered Agrawal to serve two years of supervised release following his prison sentence in New York. Agrawal may be deported to India after his release from prison, Rakoff said. Agrawal worked at SocGen’s New York offices during 2007-2009, first as a quantitative analyst and then as a trader in the bank’s High Frequency Trading Group. In 2009, the bank’s surveillance cameras caught Agrawal printing “hundreds of pages” of a computer code, which SocGen had developed, and “stashing the printouts in a backpack”. The bank had spent millions of dollars developing a computer system and the associated com-

trading group and hedge fund, Agrawal claimed he had a complete understanding of SocGen’s trading system and that he wanted to build a copy of the same trading system at Tower. In July 2009, the Tower partners offered Agrawal a job Former Societe Generale trader, Samarth Agarwal (2nd-R), convicted of stealing technology which would secrets and transporting stolen property has have paid him been sentenced to three years in prison in New a total of USD York, a prosecutor said. 575,000 up front, puter code that allowed SocGen plus 20 per cent of the profits gento engage in sophisticated, high- erated by the copy of SocGen’s speed trading on various securities trading system that he intended markets. The code and its associ- to build at Tower. He repeatedly ated trading programmes gener- disclosed confidential details of ated millions of dollars in profits SocGen’s trading system to Tower for SocGen. Agrawal planned to employees. Agrawal was arrested use the information to build a copy on April 19, 2010, the day he was of SocGen’s trading programme at supposed to start work at Tower. a rival company, the FBI said in A subsequent search of his a statement. During a June 2009 apartment revealed the copy of the meeting with partners of Tower stolen code, which was neatly orCapital Research, a proprietary ganised in folders on his desk.

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i indian sentenced for stealing s s t trade s secrets

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Pakistan

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Gunmen Kill Pakistan’s christian cabinet minister

By salMan Masood & Jane Perlez ISLAMABAD (NYT): The only Christian minister in the Pakistan government was shot dead on Wednesday morning as he left his home in the capital to attend a cabinet meeting, an attack strikingly similar to the killing two months ago of another senior politician holding liberal views. Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister of minorities, was shot eight times by gunmen who ambushed him as he stepped into his car, police of officials said. A pamphlet written by a group of Taliban from the province of Punjab was found near the scene in a middle-class residential neighborhood, the officials said. Witnesses said three gunmen stopped the minister’s black Toyota Corolla at the corner of his street, pulled the driver out of the car and began firing. The gunmen were wearing traditional Pakistani garb of baggy pants and long tunic, the inspector general of Islamabad police, Wajid Durrani, said. The pamphlet found at the site warned against changes in Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy law and bore the imprint of the Taliban and al Qaeda, police officials said. It specifically named Mr. Bhatti. Bhatti, like Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab who was gunned down Jan. 4, had campaigned for the reform of Pakistan’s blasphemy law. The law, in-

Police officers and paramedics transported the body of Pakistan’s minister of minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, who was shot dead on Thursday in Islamabad. Photo: Irfan Haider/Associated Press

Shahbahz Bhatti in February 2010. Photo: Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

troduced in the 1970s, calls for the death penalty for those accused

of speaking against the Prophet Muhammad. In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called the assassination “an attack not only on one man but on the values of tolerance and respect for people of all faiths and backgrounds that had been championed by Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan.” Mrs. Clinton, who recently met with Mr. Bhatti, called him a “very impressive, courageous man” who knew the danger he faced. “When I spoke with him, he was well aware of the drumbeat of threats against him,” she told the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee. The Vatican spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, quickly issued a statement calling the murder of Batthi, a “terribly grave

Unidentified relatives of the minorities minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, look at the car in which he was killed in Islamabad. Photo: Farooq Naeem/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

new act of violence” that “demonstrates that the pope’s insistent addresses regarding violence against Christians and religious freedom have been justified.” The identity of Mr. Bhatti’s killers is not known but suspicion immediately fell on members of extremist militant groups. Mr. Taseer was shot by his own government bodyguard, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who within days was hailed as a hero by lawyers who only a few years ago were seen as the hope for a more liberal Pakistan. At court appearances on murder charges, Qadri was showered with flower petals. The killing of Mr. Bhatti is likely to further expose the depth of religious conservatism among ordinary Pakistanis and in the educated middle class, who at the same time are fed up with the shortcomings of a feeble civilian government unable to deliver basic needs. “This is the mindset adopted in the 1980s when Pakistan and the United States were fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan,” said Athar Minallah, a liberal leader of the lawyers’ movement, who has condemned the killing of Mr. Taseer, and now Mr. Bhatti. “It says infidels are allowed to be killed.” Islamist teachings were adopted in the school curriculum in the 1980s under the military rule of the pro-American dictator, Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq, and have remained intact since. Mr. Minallah insisted this militant view remained a minority but “the collapse of the state has given the mindset this space.” President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the killing of Mr. Bhatti. But Zardari did not attend the funeral of Taseer, leaving the impression that he was afraid to show such public sympathy for his friend and colleague. Senior members of the Pakistani military also stayed away from that funeral. In a sign of the retreat of the ruling party on the question of enacting more tolerant laws, Mr. Gilani pledged in Parliament this year that the government had no intention of pursuing the reform agenda on the blasphemy laws. An alliance of conservative religious parties showed their strength in

the major cities in early February, staging rallies of tens of thousands that called the government lackeys of the United States, and too reliant on a reform agenda. Alarmed by the rising tide of militant sentiments, senior American officials suggested to Zardari and Gilani that they make public speeches on the need for tolerance — “Churchillian” presentations, said one diplomat — but the leaders had cited lack of security and fear for their lives. Bhatti had expressed nervousness about speaking out and had shunned public appearances, his aides said. One of Mr. Bhatti’s favorite sayings came from the inaugural address in 1947 of the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, who declared that Pakistan would not be a theocracy, and all religions would be respected. “I am receiving threats on speaking against the blasphemy law, but my faith gives me strength and we will not allow the handful of extremists to fulfill their agenda,” Mr. Bhatti said shortly before his death. The international advocacy group Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday that Mr. Bhatti’s killing represented the “bitter fruit of appeasement of extremist and militant groups” in the last several months. It called for an “urgent” reappraisal of the “political cowardice” that had overtaken the ruling party in the government, the Pakistan Peoples Party. A month before Mr. Taseer was killed, the ruling party, under pressure from conservative religious groups and like-minded politicians, backed off from its support of reform of the blasphemy law. Bhatti, a relative newcomer to politics, had been at the forefront of the campaign to change the blasphemy laws but by December had become isolated on that question within his own party. Aides to Mr. Bhatti said Wednesday that he had feared an attempt on his life and requested security guards. There were was no sign of guards, however, at the scene of the ambush. After the attack, Mr. Bhatti’s government driver rushed him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, A mArcH 04 , 2011 • Online editiOn: Ay, On: www.indOamerican-news.cOm O

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entertainment

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

movie review:

Tanu weds manu

A Jab We Met, may have told a similar, predictable tale while retaining its charm. This feels like unappetising leftovers

By naMrata rata Joshi Starring: R. Madhavan, Kangna Ranaut, Jimmy Shergill, Ravi Kissen, Deepak Dobriyal, Swara Bhaskar, Eijaz Khan. Directed by Aanand L. Raj (Outlook) Tanu Weds Manu begins promisingly on a laidback, quirky note in Kanpur. But merely half an hour later it starts changing hues. You gradually begin to see in it several films you’ve already seen before: Jab We Met, Bunty Aur Babli, Socha Na Tha. A JWM may have told a similar, predictable tale while retaining its charm. TWM feels like unappetising leftovers of JWM. An NRI doctor (Madhavan) obediently decides to go in for an arranged marriage and falls in love with the first girl (Kangna) his parents make him meet. But she won’t have him. The encounters that follow come with a dash of Bihari ethos, lots of mandatory Punjabiyat, besides the UP-ness.

It doesn’t mesh together well and, instead of being firmly rooted, the film seems more wannabe than genuine small town. Ameen Sayani’s voice, Vividh Bharati, old Hindi film songs evoke nostalgia. Krsna’s music score is one of the best in recent times. But they all stand wasted. The love story itself is archaic and the loverboy most passive. Till the end he doesn’t even lift a finger to get his girl, in fact he gets her by doing nothing. The film roots for conformity rather than rebellion in love and not once do you feel a pang for the lovers. Madhavan is earnest. Kangna grates with her over-emotiveness and bad diction. A fine actor like Dobriyal makes a better impact in the promos. The only one who makes her presence felt is Swara Bhaskar as Kangna’s friend, with great presence and a wonderful voice and enunciation that stand out in stark contrast to Kangna’s.

Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, A mArcH 04 , 2011 • Online editiOn: Ay, On: www.indOamerican-news.cOm O

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

india

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Baba Ramdev Elaborates on Huge Conspiracies in Delhi Rally

NEW DELHI: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev launched his campaign against black money by singling out Congress in front of a big crowd at Ramlila Maidan here on Sunday. The yoga guru, who recently confirmed his desire to enter the political arena, was harsh on Congress, calling the UPA government the “most corrupt”. Ramdev held Congress responsible for 99% corruption in the country as the party has been in power the longest. The saffron tilt was hard to miss as poet Hariom Pawar recited a line from his poem: “Lohpurush jaisa sardar nahin milta (No strong leader like Sardar these days)” — an allusion to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel who features prominently in the Sangh pantheon. The focus on Congress as well as the presence of BJP MPs Ram Jethmalani and Balbir Punj, former BJP general secretary Govindacharya and Subramanian Swamy, a known Gandhi familybaiter, deepened the suspense about Ramdev’s plans and can call into question his claim of being non-partisan. The assorted cast that gave him company included leading social activists and Muslim religious leaders. Notably, Baba Ramdev was soft on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, though he said the latter happened to lead the most corrupt government. Following are the highlights of a 45 minute fiery speech given by Baba Ramdev which covers a long list of conspiracies our nation is facing: 1. Rs. 400 lakh crore black money in our economy – Our economy has a huge amount of

Baba Ramdev alleged that Indian nationals had around Rs400 lakh crore in black money, out of which Rs300 lakh crore is stashed in banks abroad. File Photo: Krishna Giri

black money. Rs. 300 lakh crore being stashed away in tax havens and Rs.100 lakh crore being in internal circulation. The government is not doing anything to stop this or to get back the money stashed in swiss banks. This is a massive amount which means that every family in this country would get Rs. 2.5 lakh. Each jila can get Rs. 50,000-60,000 crore for development. Each village would get Rs. 100 crore. It could take our country ahead of many developed nations overnight. 2. Rs. 10,000 lakh crore national resources at risk – Our country has 89 types of minerals and the known reserves of these 89 minerals are worth Rs. 10,000 lakh crore which is at a huge risk. The Government has granted licenses to only 200 companies whereas in reality more than 1 lakh people are mining the resources and illegally generating wealth and black money. If this is not stopped our country could lose a massive amount of natural resources reserves. In this natural resource reserve we have iron reserves worth Rs. 550 lakh crore and coal reserves worth Rs.950 lakh crore which are being deppleted at a very fast pace by illegal miners. 3. Huge money in circulation –

We have Rs. 10 lakh crore of money in circulation which is more than 15% of our GDP. What is so much money doing in our economy ? This is nothing but to facilitate the black money economy. In US, UK, Canada there is a money circulation of only 3% of the GDP. Hence if the money circulation in our country is Rs.10 lakh crore then our GDP should be approximately Rs. 330 lakh crore instead of Rs. 60 lakh crore. So where is the rest of the GDP ? The answer is black money and the location is Swiss Banks. 4. Massive amount of high denomination notes in the economy – In this money circulation of Rs. 10 lakh crore 30% of the money is in Rs.1000 denomination. What is such a massive amount of high denomination note doing in the circulation when 80% of our country gets only Rs.20 to spend per day ? The amount of Rs.1000 notes in the circulation was 1.8% in 2001 which has been cunningly raised to a massive figure of 30% for no logical reason in a period of just 10 years. This is doing nothing but helping in easy transporation of black money in form of cash. Hence the government should recall all high denomination notes instantly.

5. Corruption eating national spending – The government has made budgets worth Rs.200 lakh crore in the past. This is a huge sum of money. But can we see anything ? Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had said that only 10%-15% of the money spent on the nation reaches the people, the rest is engulfed by corruption. Then why is the government not doing anything against it ? 6. Huge amount of scams – The 2G spectrum scam alone is worth Rs. 1.76 lakh crore. That is equivalent to 25% of the annual budget of our country. And what is the government doing ? NOTHING. 7. No punishment for the corrupt – There is not punishment for the corrupt in our country. The government is only claiming to punish the corrupt but WHERE IS THE PUNISHMENT ? The maximum a corrupt person gets is a imprisonment of 2-3 months or if its a huge corruption case then upto 3 years. But even then no one is actually caught because of the corruption in the judicial system and the massive amounts of cases pending in the courts. 8. British Laws still being followed – According to the constitution of India if a person like Binayak Sen speaks against the

Government its considered to be National Betrayal and the person is imprisoned. This law was made by the Britishers to suppress any form of voice against the British government but sadly this law continues to reside in the constitution of India. If the Government is corrupt you cannot raise a voice against them, it will be treated as national betrayal. Voice against the governemnt is betrayal but actions of corruption agaisnt the nation is NOT national betrayal. If you speak against the nation you are safe. If you speak against corrupt government you will be imprisoned. This is what the Constituion of India says. 9. Government turning into property dealers – Huge scame of immoral land acquisitions are going on everywhere. in U.P. 2 km wide fertile lands are being acquired for building a road for Rs.20 lakhs and are being sold at the rate of Rs. 5 crore by the government. What is the government doing ? Buying land from farmers and turning it into waste be feeding it with harsh chemicals and selling it to people for such massive profits ? Why has the government turned into property dealers ? 10. Operation of Swiss and Italy Banks – Why are 8 Italy banks and 4 Swiss Banks like UBS being allowed to operating here ? When no common man has accounts in these banks why are these banks being permitted to operate in our country when its a known fact that these banks come from tax havens ? The answer is obvious. They are allowed here to facilitate easy transfer of black money to tax havens from our country. 11. Demoralization of the youth – 450+ government schemes are running and gloryfying just 1 family. No schemes are named on krantikaris like Bhagat Singh or Chandrashekhar Azad. People who sing songs get national awards like Padmashree which is fine. But people who have died for our country do not get anything. This is a cunning conspiracy to not allow development of nationalistic and independent idealogies in the students and youth. Huge money is spent just to glorify 1 family as if they are the only people who work for our country.

Indo American News • Friday, MARCH 04 , 2011 • Online Edition: www.indoamerican-news.com

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religion

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

Why Do We Ring the Bell in a Temple?

Is it to wake up the Lord? But the Lord never sleeps. Is it to let the Lord know we have come? He does not need to be told, as He is all knowing. Is it a form of seeking permission to enter His precinct? It is a homecoming and therefore entry needs no permission. The Lord welcomes us at all times. Then why do we ring the bell? The ringing of the bell produces what is regarded as an auspicious sound. It produces the sound Om, the universal name of the Lord. There should be auspiciousness within and without, to gain the vision of the Lord who is all-auspiciousness. Even while doing the ritualistic aarati, we ring the bell. It is sometimes accompanied by the auspicious sounds of the conch and other musical instruments. An added significance of ringing the bell, conch and

other instruments is that they help drowned any inauspicious or irrelevant noises and comments that might disturb or distract the worshippers in their devotional ardour, concentration and inner peace. As we start the daily ritualistic worship (pooja) we ring the bell, chanting: Aagamaarthamtu devaanaam gamanaarthamtu rakshasaam Kurve ghantaaravam tatra devataahvaahna lakshanam I ring this bell indicating the invocation of divinity, So that virtuous and noble forces enter (my home and heart); and the demonic and evil forces from within and without, depart.

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Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

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society

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

How Not to Tackle the Black Economy in India Technically, we know how to check the black economy but the problem is political. More studies or committees and treaties with foreign governments are only to stall action. By Arun Kumar (Hindu) Another Joint Parliamentary Committee has been announced. The government has been trying to create an impression of being proactive with regard to tackling the black economy. The President’s address and the speech by Sonia Gandhi in January mentioned the need to curb it. The Prime Minister at various fora, while expressing helplessness, has emphasised action. The Supreme Court has been applying pressure to tackle black savings spirited out of the country and for unearthing wrongdoings in cases of corruption like the 2G spectrum allocation case. Home Minister P. Chidambaram admitted in Davos that in road construction, 50 per cent of the funds are misappropriated. He has stated that there is deficit in governance and ethical functioning of government and the Prime Minister has endorsed this. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has announced studies into different aspects of the black economy and a Group of Ministers has been set up to tackle the problem. Talks are on for Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA) with various countries — supposedly to unearth wealth kept abroad by Indians. Is the government finally serious about bringing back the black funds stashed away abroad, variously estimated to be between $ 462 billion and several trillions of dollars? These figures seem credible when one considers the scale of the current scams (tens of billions of dollars) and the case of Hasan Ali where the tax demand runs into billions of dollars. The CD containing names of Indians with bank accounts in the LTG bank which the Indian government accepted in March 2009, a year-anda-half after it was offered by the German government, has added to the pressure on the government. There are 77 tax havens where illegal funds are stashed away; Switzerland is only the biggest and best known. The government’s actions seem to be in direct proportion to the public pressure on it as exposes come in thick and fast. The problem is not new, so what explains the earlier inaction? Consider Bofors or the 2G spectrum case. Initially there has been denial and then minimal action, allowing the culprits time to escape (as in Hasan Ali’s case where the money has disappeared). Rs.35 lakh crore in black income is generated annually and about 10 per cent of it goes abroad. The capital lost through this route is greater than annual net foreign investment, yet action is minimal. The government pleads that tax havens do not reveal names unless criminality is established and that the Swiss government does not treat tax evasion as a crime. The moot point is why did the Swiss government announce the immediate freezing of Hosni Mubarak’s assets without the Egyptian government giving any evidence of criminality? Further, why did UBS agree first to give the names of 250 U.S. citizens and then another 4,500 names to the U.S. tax authorities in 2007-08 without any criminality being individually established? In the Hasan Ali case, the Swiss government has said that it has not been given the information required. Similarly, in Ottavio Quattrocchi’s case, the Indian government has twice lost in foreign courts because the case has not been properly established. In 1992, Madhavsinh Solanki, then Minister of External Affairs, passed on a chit to a

A cartoon that appeared in The Hindu recently. Serious investigation and prosecution in the country that will also expose the money siphoned off abroad, is the immediate need, say economists.

Swiss Minister apparently to slow down the Bofors case but the Narasimha Rao government quietly buried the embarrassment by accepting his resignation. The few cases of corruption initiated against the high and mighty are apparently spoilt or not pursued. Given this history, will there be seriousness this time or will the government wait out the storm? In the last 60 years, dozens of committees have studied various aspects of the black economy and given thousands of suggestions. Hundreds of these suggestions have been implemented but the size of the black economy has grown exponentially. The Wanchoo Committee report bulges with suggestions. Since 1971, when the highest tax rate was 97.5 per cent, tax rates have fallen but the black economy has grown from 7 per cent to 50 per cent of GDP. Controls and regulations have been drastically eliminated after 1991 but the size of black economy continues to rise. The causes of black income generation lie elsewhere. The recent rise in corporate tax collection is a reflection of rising disparity and not better compliance. Plugging loopholes has only made the laws more complex, as in the case of taxation. The ingenuity of the corrupt thwarts the enforcement agencies by either devising newer ways of circumventing the law or simply bribing the officials. In India, laws on paper and in practice differ because of the ‘Triad’ of the corrupt business class, the political class, and the executive (see the article “Honesty is indivisible,” The Hindu, January 29, 2011) who bend rules to their advantage. The philosophy is: if I am in power, I can bend rules for the favoured. In brief, technically we know what needs to be done to check the black economy — but the problem is political. The top echelons of the leadership are the prime drivers of the black economy. They do not wish to forgo the massive illegal profits they generate. So how can the political will be generated? A voluntary disclosure scheme to bring back black savings stashed away abroad for ‘development’ is being considered. Wasn’t the Mauritius route created to allow round tripping of funds? It has accelerated black income generation by facilitating it. A National Security Adviser alerted the nation

to terror funds entering the stock markets to destabilise the financial markets. The Wanchoo Committee argued that this kind of scheme makes honest people dishonest. A report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India on the 1997 voluntary disclosure scheme pointed out that the same people who declared their black incomes earlier took advantage of the 1997 scheme — becoming habitual tax offenders. Some argue that elections underlie black income generation and corruption. Presently, when a Lok Sabha constituency sees the expenditure of crores of rupees per serious candidate, state funding will make little difference. At best, it can be to the tune of the allowed election expenditure of Rs.25 lakh — just a few per cent of the actual expenditure by most candidates. Further, what is spent on the national elections officially and unofficially is not even 1 per cent of GDP for that year; so this cannot be the cause of black incomes. It is the black economy that works to subvert the elections. Our present day legislators are largely the representatives of the monied and the powerful and not of the people; so they need to keep the public confused to win elections. They resort to vote bank politics and bribing voters and that is what makes elections costly. Genuine democracy would not be expensive. Today, we

have formal democracy with weak content. In this background, it is clear that the government’s actions against corruption will be in proportion to the public outrage and that too the minimum necessary. It is likely that there will be pretence while the real culprits go scot-free. Setting up a committee is to buy time and to stall questions on the subject since the government can claim it is waiting for the report. Later, it can buy time by pretending to look into the recommendations or bury an inconvenient report (like the Vora Committee report). The Supreme Court is going after the names of those spiriting away money abroad but not after the generation of the funds. The black incomes generated in the country are ten times the size of what is siphoned out. In the liberalised environment, those with black money stashed away abroad can turn into non-residents overnight and escape prosecution in India. This is perhaps the reason the Indian government is unable to proceed against the eight entities named in the Liechtenstein disc. For the rest, little money may be left in their accounts, given the inordinate delays. Taxation treaties being entered into by the government with other governments are all about legal incomes traceable to known individuals. But black incomes are typically parked via shell companies and in benami accounts. What is needed is serious investigation and prosecution in the country that will also expose the money siphoned off abroad. The government functionaries generating black incomes personally indulge in various illegalities such as using hawala. So, in principle, there is private knowledge but not public information to stop these activities. The help of foreign governments is hardly needed in this matter. Intelligence agencies provide the leadership with information through tapping and so on, which can be mined instead of being used for political blackmail. The prosecution agencies deliberately spoil cases for political reasons. If prosecution is not possible in India, how can the case be made in foreign lands for booking the culprits? In brief, the policy pronouncements are delaying and diversionary tactics to allow those generating black incomes to escape via shell companies and benami accounts. There were limited gains from earlier JPCs but will this time be different? It will be only if there is political will and action — and not more studies or treaties with foreign governments.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, MARCH 04 , 2011• ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

I Got My Visa I needed to get a tourist visa for India at short notice. Through Travisa, the outsourcing agency working with the Indian Consulate in Houston, I got the visa for myself and my wife without any hassles. Any delays that occurred were due to my own ineptitude. Initially, I thought I would use a third-party service since I needed a rapid turnaround. As I was entering the online forms and saw the document requirements for former Indian citizens were quite complicated, I thought there was no time for back-and-forth courier service, I decided to submit the forms personally. As a result, I had to re-enter all the forms. It was easy to enter the information and review it for accuracy. Subsequently, it was easy to to get an appointment via on the online form. When I got to the Travisa office, I was pleasantly surprised that there were only four or five people in the line. Since it was necessary for us to renunciate our Indian passports, I had to bring our 30-year-old Indian passports and dig out copies of our naturalization certificates. The one thing I had forgotten to get were the $20 money orders. So, it was necessary to run to the US Post Office nearby and return before the office closed for the day. I had submitted the paperwork on Wednesday afternoon and our processor promised the stamped visas would be ready by Friday. In fact, I received an email and instant message at 5:50 pm on Thursday afternoon. I was able to pick up the passports with the visa stamps without any difficulties on Friday afternoon. I don’t have experience with obtaining an OCI or PIO card, which I understand requires longer time, but the local visa processing is now quite reasonable. Pramod Kulkarni

A Changing World Demographers predict that 2008 will be the dawn of the urban millennium, when, for the first time in human history, a majority of the world’s people will live in cities and towns. By 2030, Earth’s population, now 6.6 billion, will grow by about 1.5 billion people, nearly all from cities. On our planet of 7 billion people, the most typical human is a 28-year-old Han Chinese male. By 2030, China will lose its top population status and the most typical human face will be Indian. Of the total population today, 19% are Chinese, 17% Indian and 4% American. In terms of religion, 33% are Christian, 21% Muslim and 13% Hindu. National Geographic

editorial

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The Churmur ........

Finally, it’s the fabled grime that gives street food its defining sharpness By Nilanjana S Roy Where I grew up, the dividing line between heroin and bhelpuri was very thin. Both substances were seen as illicit, terminally dangerous, addictive, and fell into the ranks of the strictly verboten. I never did chase the dragon, because I found bhelpuri first. Like many middle-class Indian children, I’d grown up with dire warnings about street food. It would give you jaundice, cholera, typhoid and worse—incurable acne. The hawkers whose carts displayed tempting chuskis—virulently coloured fruit syrups, piles of ice shavings—and nimbu sodas in those bottles with the marble in the necks secretly added drugs to their wares, just to hook innocent children on the stuff for life. Anything with ice was easily disposed of—according to urban legend, kulfis, chuskis and any ice cream not from a Kwality cart was made of ice sourced from the morgue. Bhelpuri, golgappas, aaloo tikkis, paranthas, chaat were made with contaminated ingredients—and, people hinted, all sorts of bodily fluids made their way into those innocuous leaf plates. Momos and kababs peddled on the streets? They were made of dog meat, we were told, and this conjured up visions of insane momo makers armed with cleavers, sneaking up on poor Tommy or Raja. With that sort of advertising, who could resist? My first experiment with “street food” involved those hideous ice creams, the ones that used to come in plastic tubes and that left sticky orange marks all over your uniform. I waited to die, and when I unaccountably survived without so much as an upset tummy, I became more daring. Jhal muri—puffed rice spiked with fiery mustard oil—on the streets of Calcutta; the sweet-sour riches of golgappas in the markets of Delhi; vada pav from hawkers’ stands in Bombay; kakori kababs in Lucknow’s Chowk. It was the most innocent and most sensuously satisfying of teenage rebellions—and yes, I do mean that. Sometimes the perfect momo really is better than sex. As you graduate from being a consumer to becoming, much to your surprise, a foodie, street food be-

What we in cities ate as a delightful snack, a break from monotony, was meant to be cheap, nutritious meals for workers on the run. comes the most complex of puzzles. Who was the first person to think of frying little discs of suji, stuffing them with potatoes and chana, and dunking them in three kinds of chutneys? How did the dosa remain by and large savoury, rarely moving towards the sweetness of a French crepe? (You can get chocolate dosas, I believe, but most of us sensibly stick with the glories of the paper, the masala and the Mysore masala.) When did chowmein become a dish as Indian as chhola bhatura or fruit chaat? Why did we embrace the hamburger and its variant, the McAloo burger, but not the hot dog? Is the inexorable spread of popcorn (butter, caramel, plain) going to kill off chana jor garam? I spent more time than any reasonable human being should trying to puzzle out these questions, and to this day, I have very few answers. But it was not a fruitless quest: I have, like most Indians, a wealth of taste memories, carefully and jealously hoarded. It was only when I began travelling around the country that the real truth of street food dawned on me: what we in the metros ate as a delightful snack, a break from the monotonous routine of daal-chaawal cooking, was actually meant to be cheap, nutritious meals for the worker on the run, the migrant labourer, those who couldn’t afford a McDonald’s burger or a Domino’s pizza. On the roads of Bihar, we queued up along with labourers for sattu mixed in water, and discovered it was excellent fuel—that combination of dalia and baked gram provided enough energy for a hard day. I never took to churpi-yak cheese—in Sikkim or Ladakh (it tasted like used, hardened chewing gum to me) but fell in love with ema dashi (chillies

with yak cheese) and a jellied chestnut preparation the local teenage girls were inordinately fond of. Travelling in Andhra Pradesh fostered an addiction for bajjis and pakoras; the argument over whether the Andhra version of ‘jhal muri’ was superior or inferior to its Bengali counterpart sustained us all the way into Tamil Nadu, where I gorged on tender set dosas and miniature idlis. Could Bade Miyan’s baida rotis in Bombay compare with the kababs of Old Delhi? And which was better, anyway, the delicate flavours of Lakhnawi kababs, or the more robust but intricate tastes of the Hyderabadi versions? From Goa’s fried mussels on the beach to the mind-blowing shrikhand and dhoklas in Ahmedabad, I’m learning that every corner of this country can be taken on the tongue. Many years after that first, astonishing bhelpuri—the crisp puffed rice, that explosion of tamarind, the slow taunting bite of the chillies, the soothing blandness of potatoes—I come across a description that sounds very familiar, on the menu of a fivestar hotel restaurant: “An inspired melange of puffed rice and tender dices of potato, draped in a velvety date-tamarind sauce, lightly graced with a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds and fresh green chillies—or for the health-conscious, try our version with sprouts.” This was just wrong on so many levels. (Anyone who would put sprouts into a helpless, inoffensive bhelpuri deserves to be flogged to death with celery sticks.) And though we’re used to eating chaat at weddings and even formal dinners, there is something jarring about eating street food—any kind of street food—in a five-star hotel. I have the same reaction to eating street food that has unaccountably merged with fast food, in a bad marriage where no one checked the horoscopes. Maggi Noodle chaat, sold at different locations in Delhi, is a bastard freak, true to neither the fun of the original Maggi Noodles, nor to the delicate inventiveness of chaat. In a parallel development, chow-

IndoAmerican News Founder: Dr. K.L. Sindwani Editor: Pramod Kulkarni Business Manager: Jawahar Malhotra Marketing Manager: Krishna Giri Community Reporter: Kalyani Giri Community Editor: Manasi Gokhale Administrative Manager: Vanshika Vipin Marketing & Food Reporter: Jacob David correspondents Chicago: Nand Kapoor ®All rights reserved. No material herein or portions thereof may be published without the written consent of the publisher. The deadline for advertising and articles is 5 pm on Monday of each week. Please include self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of all unsolicited material. Published at 7457 Harwin Drive, Suite 262, Houston, Texas 77036. Tel: 713-789-NEWS or 6397 Fax: 713-789-6399, email: indoamericannews@yahoo.com, website: indoamerican-news.com

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continued on page 17

society

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Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

....... At The Tip Of My Tongue

continued from page 16

mein has become the scourge of our generation, the poor man’s nutritiondeficient fast food. Genuine streetfood chowmein was tasty and filled with vegetables; the impostor being sold to labourers across the country is msg held together with flour and soy sauce.And the epidemic of boiled American corn, with a few Indian spices chucked on top to make it palatable, is the ultimate swizzle: you could be eating Styrofoam pellets with chaat masala, not know the difference, and have the same, dubious nutritional benefits. Beware of street food mutants: they occupy the no man’s land between fast and street food, and have nothing to contribute to our lives except their empty calories. It’s like this. I have good memories of street food (the adequate vadas, the reasonably good chhola-bhatura), and then I have great memories of street food. I’ve had some good eating experiences in specialty restaurants, food courts, even five-star hotels. But the great memories come from the “street” in “street food”. It’s the way the Bombay crowds

Brekka on the fly ‘I am learning that every corner of this country can be taken on the tongue’ Photo: Saibal Das

will open up and eddy past you if you’re eating vada-pav, making just enough space for you to eat with your elbows out. It’s the rain on the beaches of Goa contrasting with the heat from freshly caught and fried clams. It’s the grime that settles over the city of Ahmedabad and lightly coats everything, even the softies. It’s the hint of dirt under the fingernails of the phuchka-wala behind Calcutta’s

Loreto College, the way the vendor of a simple yam chaat will taste a bit before offering you the plate, the casual way in which the rumali roti man will flip the roti with his sweaty but clean fingers. Take the germs, street food says, take the dirt, the sweat, the pollution from passing cars, because what we do with the dust and grime of everyday life is to make it palatable, irresistible, unforgettable.

Jigar Mehta to Make a Film on Egyptian Revolution

The team will find the clips via search, they said. “Once we have

a collection of the media, we are going to use the community around #18DaysinEgypt to help curate the material for the final documentary.” The just launched first part of the project involves collection: getting the population who took video/photos/tweeted to tag or upload their media. The second part involves distribution of the inter interactive component to tell the story using footage shot by thousands.

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(TOI) An Indian-American filmmaker and journalist is leading a project to create a “crowd-sourced interactive documentary” to tell the story of the Egyptian revolution with the same tools that brought it to the world in real time. A three-person team led by Jigar Mehta, a Knight Fellow at Stanford and for former New York Times video journalist, is asking people to tell what they know of the events in Egypt from Jan 25 to Feb 11 for their “18DaysInEgypt” documentary. Others on the team are Yasmin Elayat, a New York based interaction designer and software developer, who studied Computer Science at the American University in Cairo andAlaa Dajani, a documentary filmmaker born and raised in Egypt. The team is asking people to tag their media on YouTube, Flickr, Twitter with the tag ‘18DaysinEgypt’ and the day it happened plus any additional information they can provided about the media.

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advertorial

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Good Decisions Now can Save your Heirs both Money and Stress with an Estate Plan

By Jimmy Abraham HOUSTON: A well-designed estate plan can help provide your family financial security – and give you peace of mind right now. The goal of estate planning is to help you accumulate, manage and conserve capital and income – taking into account your resources, goals and tax considerations – and preserve those assets for your heirs. It can also help you manage property in an efficient, profitable way during your lifetime. Every case is unique, but some of the key estate-planning challenges include the following. Estate taxes Estate taxes can be a major concern for those with significant net worth. Without an effective plan in place, estate taxes can force heirs to sell real estate and other assets to raise cash to pay the taxes. However, planning can help reduce estate taxes by making lifetime transfers to heirs and providing a source of money to pay taxes, such as a life insurance trust.

Expect the unexpected To understand the value of working with a professional, you only have to take a look at recent changes to the estate tax code. The federal estate tax was officially repealed as of January 1, 2010, but is slated to return in 2011 with an even lower exemption amount and a higher tax rate. During 2010, beneficiaries could still be exposed to capital-gains liability because of a limitation to something known as the “’step-up in basis’ for estate assets.” And additional changes to the estate tax structure are also possible before the tax returns in 2011. If you’re confused, you’re not alone. Business succession For many business owners, their single biggest asset is the business itself, and they often plan to pass that business on to children or others who are actively involved in it. This can leave other children or heirs splitting a smaller part of the estate – which might be further reduced by estate taxes. If providing equal inheritances to your heirs is a goal, one possible solution is life insurance, used either to pay the estate taxes or to equalize the values going to children who are not involved in the business. Gifts Gifts made during your lifetime can allow you to transfer assets that will significantly appreciate, and would drive up estate taxes if still in your name when you die. In order to reduce the size of the taxable estate, you

can transfer assets each year up to the level of the annual gift-tax exclusion. Another option could be a charitable remainder trust, which can allow you to direct income from certain appreciated properties to a designated charity, with possible tax advantages. Other options There are a number of more complex solutions that may be appropriate depending on your specific situation and goals. These include Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts, Qualified Personal Residence Trusts, private annuities, and installment sales. Estate tax issues are not impossible to solve. But to ensure you end up with the solution that addresses your situation most effectively, it makes sense to consult a trusted financial professional and your legal advisor. The information provided is not written or intended as specific tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for purposes of avoiding any Federal tax penalties. Individuals involved in the estate planning process should work with an estate planning team, including their own personal tax and legal counsel. Jimmy Abraham is a financial representative with Strategic Financial Group, LLP, a MassMutual agency who represents Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) and other companies, courtesy of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) © 2010 Massachusetts Mutual Life

Insurance Company. Annuity products are issued by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Springfield, Massachusetts and its subsidiary, C.M. Life Insurance Company, Enfield, Connecticut. CRN201202-131211

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health

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

South Asian Diet, the Grandmother, and the Scientist: A Cautionary Tale on Prevention By AloK KAli AliA liA, m.D. South Asians have among the highest rates of diabetes and heart disease of any major ethnic group in the world. There is also evidence that our diet places us at increased risk for cancer. What has gone wrong, and what can we do about it? We, the South Asians claim our heritage from one of the world’s earliest agricultural societies. For five thousand years, we have had a mostly vegetarian diet with milk and milk products serving as the main source of animal proteins and animal fats. Those of us who ate meat did so in limited quantities. Our dietary practices today seem largely unchanged. But the similarity is deceiving; what we eat today has little resemblance to what we used to eat, and our changed food is not suited to our unchanged physiology. Let us use starch as an example. Starch from grains, vegetables, and fruits has always been a major source of calories in our diet. Starch is made of long chains of sugar or glucose particles. In fact, starch can correctly be called a “glucose necklace.” In natural food, starch is always mixed with fiber. This fiber slows the digestion of starch and thus the absorption of glucose into the body. This is critical, because the rate at which glucose enters the body determines its fate. If glucose comes in slowly, it is used for the body’s hourly energy needs;

if it comes in rapidly, any excess is turned into fat. We used to eat starch in its natural, fiber-mixed state. Now, of course, we remove as much of the fiber as possible because fiber-free starch tastes better! Compare the flour made by a hand-turned grindstone to modern all-purpose “enriched” flour. The former is coarsely ground with the bran still attached; the latter is a fine starch powder with the bran totally removed. If I eat chappatis made from stone-ground flour, the glucose will be absorbed slowly and used largely for energy production. But glucose from enriched flour chappatis will be absorbed rapidly, at a rate that exceeds the body’s hourly energy needs. Some of this glucose

will have to be stored as fat. Moral: Total calories are impor important, but so is the rate of entry of calories! Dr. Kalia will use this and other examples to take the audience on a guided tour through the body. Along the way, he will discuss the special problem of insulin resistance in South Asians, the “idli/triglyceride syndrome,” new evidence for car carbohydrate addiction, the effects of diet on cancer prevalence, and much

Dr. Alok Kalia more. He will conclude with suggestions for some simple and healthful dietary changes. Dr. Kalia has been named one of the Best Doctors in America. He is a national speaker on healthy eating for Vistage®, the Executive Development organization. As a specialist physician, Dr. Kalia edited medical textbooks, contributed chapters to 17 other medical books, and received numerous teaching awards. Dr. Kalia believes that good health starts with the right knowledge, and his presentations are designed to provide that knowledge. The Indian American Cancer Network (IACAN) is committed to promote cancer awareness and prevention through education by organizing outreach educational events in the community. Dr. Alok Kalia will give a presentation on the South Asian diet and its health consequences at the India House on Sunday, March 13 at 3 pm This event is sponsored by the Indian American Cancer Network. for more information visit www.iacannetwork. org or call 713-370-3489.

Diet Soda May Cause Heart Attacks, Strokes LONDON (TOI) : Diet soda may be a wise choice for those who are keen to look after their health, but a new study has claimed that sugarfree fizzy drinks could actually raise the risk of having a heart attack or stroke. The study of more than 2,500 people found that those who had diet drinks every day were 61 per cent more likely to get vascuvascu lar problems than those who did not have any carbonated drinks. “If our results are confirmed with future studies, then it would suggest that diet soda may not be the optimal substitute for sugarsweetened beverages for protection against vascular outcomes,” said researcher Hannah Gardener, an epidemiologist at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. For their study, Gardener and colleagues recruited about 2,560 participants who had to report

whether they drank diet fizzy drinks, regular fizzy drinks, a mixture of the two or none at all, the Daily Mail reported. The researchers, however, said the survey did not include data on the types of diet and regular drinks consumed, which could have given further information on how drinking different brands affected participants. Further studies would have to be carried out to explore how consuming diet drinks po-

tentially raised the risk of vascular problems, said Dr Gardener. Dr Sharlin Ahmed, from The Stroke Association, said: “According to this study, drinking diet fizzy drinks on a regular basis could pose the same or even higher risk for cardiovascular disease as standard fizzy drinks, providing a word of warning to those who often opt for diet versions in order to be ‘healthy’.” “Everyone can reduce their risk of stroke by consuming a balanced diet, low in saturated fat and salt, and exercising regularly,” Dr Ahmed added. The researchers presented their study at the American Stroke Association’s international stroke conference in Los Angeles.

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slum evictions

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Who is Illegal?

Residents in a Golibar slum find that they have very little recourse to the law to defend themselves from being forcibly displaced. The real violator is the builder, they say. Freny Manecksha reports. By Freny mAnec AnecKShA h hA MUMBAI (IT): On 8 February some 50 residents of the Ganesh Krupa Society in the Golibar slums, led by social activist Medha Patkar, stormed the controversial Adarsh building in south Mumbai. The slum-dwellers, whose homes had earlier been ruthlessly broken down in a demolition drive, demanded the same methods be employed with this posh building, which has flagrantly violated environmental and city planning norms. Denouncing the nexus between politicians, slum rehabilitation authorities and rogue developers, Patkar claimed that Adarsh is a symbol of the prevailing paradigm of development. The ongoing battle between these Golibar residents, who have refused to move out of the ruins of their homes, and the builder - Shivalik Ventures - epitomises the struggle of the urban poor to be recognised, with dignity, as a vital cog in the city’s economy. It is a demand for Mumbai’s elite to acknowledge the poor’s need for spaces in a city where, according to the Human Development Report compiled by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the UNDP, one in every two residents of the city lives in a slum. Sitting amidst the rubble of partially demolished homes where tarpaulin, curtains and bits of cloth are stretched to cover the torn-out portions is Devasanandan Nair, a resident of Ganesh Krupa Society. Nair, who is a storyboard artist in the movie and advertisement industry, reflects the aspirations of people whose services keep this vibrant megapolis moving. He outlines the residents’ stand and epic fight. “At the very onset one must clarify that this is not a fight against development. It is a fight against corrupt builders and their connivance with those who use development as a ploy to treat us like dirt.” Nair says that despite attempts to demonise them, the residents have from the very beginning made an effort to be responsible citizens. The society was formed in 1994, declared a slum in 1996 and after an assessment was made the residents began paying property tax. In 2003, Madhu Constructions was given the go-ahead for redevelopment under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority by 322 residents. But not a single brick was laid, nor any kind of activity carried out between 2003 and 2008. In 2010 the residents were shocked to receive an eviction notice under section 33/38 by a new builder - Shivalik Ventures. Fraud and connivance They wondered how the builder had procured the necessary approval of 70 per cent of the residents. Through a Right to Information (RTI) petition they learnt that Shivalik Ventures had

Amidst partially demolished homes in Guru Krupa Society, the residents are determined to stay on. Photo: Dilnaz Boga

connived with a former resident Shubhangi Parshuram Shinde to manufacture the necessary consent through a forged document of a general body meeting in February 2009 that had never taken place. “It was quite clearly forged and we could prove it because of several anamolies like the signature of a woman, Sulochana Pawar, who had actually died way back in 2005. The document also bears my signature although I was in Kerala at that time,” says Nair. A complaint was submitted to the CEO of the SRA, who refused to respond. Thereupon efforts were made with the Nirmal Nagar police station to file an FIR, but the police refused, saying it was a civil matter. Subsequently 180 members, who had decided not to bow down to the builder, went to court and on 15 September 2010 the court directed the police to file an FIR. However the residents’bid to stop the eviction notices in another civil suit was not successful, and the court passed an order confirming the evacuation of the premises on 3 September 2010. Demolitions were subsequently begun. A total of 48 homes were demolished in early February this year despite spirited protests by those resisting the evacuation move. “Our contention is that if the very foundation of the builders’ credentials are in doubt, if they are involved in a fraudulent case for which they are liable to be arrested, and if the letter of intent can then be cancelled by the SRA, then why should we be evicted?” says Nair. Shoddy resettlement, and shady deals The protesting residents have two other major

concerns. Balaram Kishanji Nalawade points out that while it is incumbent on the developer to accommodate the residents in a transit camp within 300 meters of the site, the present camp does not fulfil this criterion. “Moreover it is filthy, has hardly any water supply and the lifts don’t work.” A visit to one of the transit camps revealed that this “vertical slum” was indeed in shabby condition, with a huge open drain running through the compound and rust corroding the exteriors. Another fear expressed by the residents is that the building meant to rehabilitate them lies in disputed property, with the ministry of defence claiming rights on the land and having filed a case in the high court. Nalawade also points out that Shivalik Ventures, which has been given the rights to cluster development of the entire Golibar slum lands, has demolished 10,000 houses but has thus far only resettled 550 of them. “Why this unholy haste to break our homes?” asks Nalawade. Like the others he questions why the police

has to date not acted or made any arrests in the forgery case against Shivalik Ventures despite the court’s orders. Significantly Unitech, the real estate firm that is currently under the scanner for the 2G spectrum scam, holds some shares in Shivalik Ventures. The fight by the slumdwellers has led to a new revelation - that Maharashtra has been using Section 3(k) of the Slum Rehabilitation Act to grant development rights to private builders, whereby they get to develop huge tracts of land without competitive bidding. Media reports allege that by using this clause the state has virtually gifted large acres of land to private builders. It is the compounding of all these factors that has led activists of the Ghar Bachao, Ghar Banao Andolan to allege that the implementation of rehabilitation projects is in effect over overriding the basic Constitutional rights of the citizens, and that there is a state-builder-mafia nexus to enable this. It has set up a People’s Commission to initiate an inquiry into all these issues and to examine what is happening in the name of SRA. Says Nair, “It is strange that we are portrayed as the goondas when we have done nothing illegal. And the builders are the white collared people against whom the police refuses to act despite court orders.” Through social networking sites and blogs the Golibar residents have asked Mumbaikars to visit their slum, interact with them and uncover the real truth. The fight continues even as many residents have lost their jobs while staying at home to protect themselves against demolitions. Children have fallen ill with malaria because the gaping holes in the walls are an open invitation to mosquitos. Nalawade and others point out that the vast tract of land in Golibar stretching between Santacruz and Khar stations are of great strategic value today in terms of real estate. “We came here when it was marshy land and when there were no amenities. We developed it. Today when the land value has appreciated they want to evict us.”

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advice

Indo American News • Friday, March 04, 2011

Change the Way you Look at the World, See the Difference! Story of a little boy who made others change the way to look at a problem

By Prakash Iyer Do you hate your job and feel that you get paid much less than you deserve? Is there a subject you totally despise and hate studying? Is there someone who’s being rude and nasty to you all the time? And have you been wondering why it’s all that way? Maybe you should hear the story of the evil monster and the little boy. The story goes that long, long ago there lived a monster in a tiny village. The villagers were all terrified of him, and felt their village was cursed to have such a creature living in their midst. Several men tried to fight the monster. One man attacked the monster with a sharp sword. The monster grabbed the sword and almost magically pulled out another sword, twice as large, twice as sharp and cut the man into half. Another time, a villager set off with a large wooden club to hit the monster. The monster responded by slamming the man with a wooden club, twice as large as the one that the villager had. On another occasion, a villager tried to set the monster on fire. But the monster opened his mouth and spewed huge flames – that roasted the poor man. Scared by these events the village folks gave up trying to fight the monster. They felt this was their lot, and they had to learn to live with it. And then one day a little boy said he would go and vanquish the monster. People were surprised, and despite their disbelief, went along to see the little boy take on the monster. As the boy looked up at the giant, the monster just flared his nostrils and glared back. The little boy then took out an apple

and offered it to the monster. The monster grabbed it, held it to his mouth, and then thrust his clenched fist in front of the boy. Bang! As the fist slowly opened, the people were astonished to see two delicious apples there. Twice as red and twice as large as the apple that the boy had offered.

The boy then took out a little earthen pot with some water and gave it to the monster. And the monster took that and responded by placing in front of the boy two urns made of gold, filled with delicious juice. The people were ecstatic. They suddenly realised that the monster was not a curse – but a boon to the village. The little boy smiled. And the giant just smiled back. While the story is centuries old, the monster is still around. In colleges, in the office, and in our lives. And it’s a good idea to remember the lessons from that story. Most of our problems appear that way because of the way we look at them. You get back what you give. Twice as much! Is someone being rude to you? Maybe you need to change the way you behave with them. And no, don’t wait for them to change; you need to change first! At work too, if you go in to work, hating every moment, it’s unlikely that you’ll do a great job.

If you don’t contribute, don’t expect to get paid a fat salary. You get what you give. Resolve today then to change. Love your job and give it everything you have. Be nice to the “Ms Nasty” in college. Look at Maths as a cool, fun subject. And you’ll discover that the evil monster is in fact a benevolent giant. It’s significant that it took a little child to discover the true colours of the monster. Children don’t have preconceived notions. They believe the world is a wonderful place. It’s only as they grow up that the optimism vanishes, and negative conditioning sets in. Go on. Let the child in you take over. Look at everything you dread with fresh eyes – be it rude friends, tough subjects or lousy jobs. Maybe the monster is really a nice guy. Change the way you look at him. And see the difference!

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India House Gala

O.P.Jindal Center

“Communities Coming Together”

Saturday, March 12, 2011 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm

At Intercontinental Hotel Houston (near the Houston Galleria) Some Program Details for Entertainment..

DJ & Dance floor for your overall enjoyment ‘Rhythm Experience’ [Taal Anubhav] ‘Speed and Melody’ [Nritya Kala] Halla Gulla Dance

Gala Chair: Gopal Savjani Co-Chairs: Dr. Renu Khator and Dr. Suresh Khator Judge Ed Emmett and Gwen Emmett For up to date information! Visit our new website at:

Contact India House to sponsor the Gala Event:

http://www.indiahouseinc.org

Fax: 713-772-9015 Phone: 713-929-1905 email: gala@indiahouseinc.org

Sponsor India House Today Platinum Palladium Benefactor Grand Patron Patron Sponsor

Attendees Couples Individual

$50,000 $25,000 $10,000 $5,000 $2,500 $1,000

$500 $275

2 VIP center tables; VIP Reception; Advertisement 1 VIP center table; VIP Reception, Advertisement 1 VIP center table; VIP Reception, Advertisement VIP Seating for 6 VIP Seating for 4 VIP Seating for 2

Seating for 2 Seating for 1

*Complimentary valet parking to all sponsors & attendees

Thanks to all our early sponsors! Platinum Sponsors:

Brij & Sunita Agrawal Durga & Sushila Agrawal Jugal & Raj Malani Prithvi Raj & Arti Jindal Govind & Renu Agrawal

Palladium sponsors:

Anil & Mukta Aggarwal Rajendra & Sangeeta Agrawala Anand & Bela Jain Virendra & Nalini Mathur Manish & Manju Rungta Tilak & Manju Agarwal Jiten & Shalu Agarwal Vikie & Chrisha Agrawal Ricky Agrawal Gopal & Urvashi Savjani Bal & Rita Sareen Amit Goel Kewalram & Shanti Khetpal

Benefactor:

Paul & Stephanie Madan Rakesh & Shonali Agrawal Ajay & Ranju Aggarwal Hari & Anjali Agrawal

Grand Patron

Deviprasad & Saroj Rungta Sewa Singh & Kuldip Legha Nagraj & Shila Eleswarapu Kul Bhushan & Suman Uppal Swatantra & Bimla Jain Ramesh & Kiran Bhutada Beth Madison Naresh & Madhu Mittal Bobby & Jasmeeta Singh Prabhakar & Janaki Guniganti Arun Verma

Patron:

Raj & Kanwal Bhalla Ashok & Mohini Bhambhani Hari & Poonam Kewalramani Showri & Raju Nandagiri Devesh & Namrata Pathak Raj & Krishna Syal Lachhman & Lalita Das Hindus of Greater Houston [Vijay Pallod] Music Masala Madras Pavilion ( Mahesh Shah)

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, MARCH 04 , 2011 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM