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Asian Voice - Saturday 12th March 2011
British Tamil Launch 2011 The evening of March 3rd 2011 saw Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar launch a one of its kind project at the House of Lords. The special magazine issue, "British Tamils 2011' was launched in presence of the creme de la creme of the Tamil community. Amongst the high profile names, Baroness Shreela Flather, the first Asian woman in the House of Lords was the Chief Guest, Cllr Paul Sathianesan, Cllr Unmesh Desai, Shri Jitendra Kumar, First Secretary (Consular & Community Affairs)- High Commission of India, Mayor Cllr Masood Ahmed (Waltham Forest), Cllr Harshad Patel (Conservative leader, Brent), Cllr Logie Lohendran (Wimbledon) were also present. From 7pm onwards the esteemed guests graced the occasion, adding to the buzzing atmosphere of the evening. The event started with a short welcome by Rupanjana Dutta, Associate Editor of Asian Voice, who introduced the compere for the evening, Mamta Saha. Mamta is a Chartered Business Psychologist and director of the Mamta Saha Ltd. She is married to Rishi, a former parliamentary candidate and now a special advisor to David Cameron. She is also a regular commentator on Sky News, the BBC and has written in print media including the Asian Voice. Once on stage Mamta invited Mr CB Patel, Publisher/Editor of Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar, Baroness Shreela Flather, Cllr Paul Sathianesan, Mr Pat Nabhan, Chief Executive Officer, QiCOMM and Mr Anandan S Anorld, Partner, BBK Partnership Chartered Accountants to light the lamp/deep to start the ceremony/event formally. This was followed by a Tamil Hindu prayer by Dr Vijayambigai Indrakumar. Dr Vijaymbigai is an Indian
classical dancer and choreographer in Bharatnatyam and Kuchipudi dances. Next invited on stage was Cllr Paul Sathianesan, who gave a touching speech on the journey of the Sri Lankan Tamils till now from the day they arrived in Britain. He spoke about how the Tamils reached Britain 25 years ago, seeking asylum, leaving behind a satisfied life back in Sri Lanka. Now, these British Tamils are not only a part of the main stream politics in Britain but also own many corner shops all over the UK. He thanked Cllr Unmesh Desai for introducing him to politics. Cllr Sathianesan also emphasised that the Tamils did not come to Britain to live on benefits and he praised the British Asians for honouring the Tamils and giving them equal opportunity to flourishwhich has made some of those non Tamils honorary Tamils! After Cllr Sathianesan, Mamta welcomed Cllr Unmesh Desai to give a speech. Cllr Desai spoke about the hostility that the British Guajartis faced
Mr Selva Warren - Man and Co Estate Agents, Mr Siva Ranjan & Mr Anandan Arnold both of BBK Partnership, Mrs Meera Arnold of AM Management Consultants
Nathan Birac (Bahamas), Merul Patel (Director -ABPL Group), Tamara Andrews (Bahamas)
when they arrived in Britain after Idi Amin expelled them from East Africa. He welcomed all the British Tamils and insisted that they join politics in Britain more. Next invited guest on stage was Mr Siva Pillai, Dept of Educational Studies, Goldsmith Collegem, University of London, who spoke about the importance of Tamil education, language and developments. The evening then turned to a wonderful Bharatnatyam performance by Dr Vijayambigai and Sharlina who is just 9 years old. D r. Vi j a m b i g a i Indrakumar founded the dance school “ Vi j a y a n a r t h a n a l a y a ” (academy of Indian arts)was founded in 1972. In 1982, she took the dance scene by storm choreographing Tchaikovsky’s Swan lake in the style of Indian classical dance. In 1983, the Soviet government invited her to the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow. Sharlina Kirubaraj is 9 years old. She has been studying dance from Dr.Vijayambigai for the last
CB Patel (Publisher and Editor of Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice), Cllr. Paul Sathianesan (London Borough of Newham), Baroness Shreela Flather (Windsor and Maidenhead in the Royal County of Berkshire, House of Lords) Anandan Arnold (BBK Partnership) Pat Nabhan (QiCOMM) at Deep Light Ceremony during the launch of “British Tamils” A4 size magazine at House of Lords
5 years. She has achieved Bharathanatyam Arangatram in India at the age of 8. She has danced with her guru in many programs presented by Vijayanarthanalya in London and India. Sharlina is currently studying in year 5 at Park hill Junior School Essex. In addition she learns western violin in her school! She has performed Indian classical Bharathanatyam, in school premises since year 1. She has also performed Kuchpudi (Tharangam) on various seasonal occasions such as Diwali, Pongal, Independence day and Dussera since the age of four.
T.S.Tharmalingam (Luckva Accountancy), Maheswaran Marisamy and his Guest
Victor I. Sivagunam - CEO of TCHA, Kuhan Kuhachandran, HOM of TCHA
The beautiful and elegant performance was followed by a lavish spread of vegetarian dinner. At the end of the dinner, Surendrabhai Patel from Bhavans performed two melodious Bollywood classical numbers. Mamta then invited Anandan S Arnold from BBK Partnership Chartered Accountants to give a speech. Anandan spoke about the success of the 250,000 British Tamils who are in Britain. He spoke about the petroleum exports made by the Tamils for the last 20 years. He was proud to talk about the positive contribution of the Tamils to Britain. At the end however, he expressed his
concern regarding the Tamil talents in the field of cricket and urged for more playgrounds or clubs to help their developments! Jitendra Kumar, from the Indian High Commission was the next invitee on the stage. In an inspiring speech he said that Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar are symbols of Indian culture. He spoke about the secularism and diversity of the Indians that helps Indians to be tolerant and open to versatility. He congratulated Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar for launching such a unique project especially for the non Gujarati population. Mr Kumar also
Thambirajah Jeyabalan (International Tamil Magazine), Mr & Mrs Sripathy Sivanadiyar Head of Operation Europe DAN Tamil Television
Mr and Mrs Arpit Khamar and Devangi (Glenmore)