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COMMUNITY & CULTURE
Join us for fun and frolic at the ‘Anand Mela’ Asian Business Publications Ltd have a proud history of publishing the popular Gujarat Samachar and Asian Voice news weeklies - the largest sold Asian news weeklies in the UK. The publications are in its 40th year and to commemorate this special occasion we are a special organising Summer mela in London. The mela promises to display diverse colours of South Asian Culture especially Gujarat by bringing people together in a festive ambience where everyone
can enjoy food, music, dance. The mela will be mainly divided into seven stall zones viz. food & drink, education and entertainment, Health & Medical, Travel & Tourism, Property & Investment, Banking & Finance, Fashion & Wedding and many more. Visitors will have opportunity to have endless fun, do some shopping, enjoy the days entertainment, eat some tasty food, meet near and dear ones or dance to their favourite folk songs. The
event will attract more than 5000 visitors over 2 days period. For exhibitors it will also be a great opportunity to engage with the focused and carefully targeted audience. Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar do not have any kind of affiliations with any other event or mela organisers.
Leaders from UK’s major faiths meet to promote organ donation
The faith leaders at the organ donation campaign launch
ties. She spoke about the distribution of leaflets in 5 Indic languages including Gujarati, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali and Hindi to raise more awareness amongst the locals. However she concluded that despite of a lot of efforts and government support to spread their message extensively, the leaflets failed to grip people’s attention and there has remained a lingering gap between the spiritual advices and the necessary act of ‘sewa’. Varsha Dodhia, representing the Oshwal Jains agreed with Bhartiben and urged people to extend their kindness beyond faith, values and superstition. Lord Indarjit Singh
and Dr Parvinder Singh Garcha from British Sikh Consultative Forum spoke about how could Sikh temples be a source of change in believes and help in eradicating prejudices. Sally Johnson NHSBT’s Director of Organ Donation and Transplantation, said, “This is the first time that representatives from all the major religions have met to discuss organ donation, and it is hoped this event will help develop the relationship and links between faith leaders and NHSBT and assist in dispelling any myths and concerns that people in these communities may have.”
London Asian Film Festival to bedazzle Britons
Pat Nabhan (QiComm CEO), Yasmina Dramsi (Roshan Director of International Carrier and Roaming Services), Wojciech Ploski (Roshan Chief Customer Officer) , Saj Nabhan (QiComm Head of Carrier Sales)
Vizz Mobile announced the launch of a partnership with Roshan, Afghanistan’s leading total communications provider. By inserting the custom Vizz Roshan co-branded SIM card into their mobile handset, Afghans in the United Kingdom will now be able to use their mobile phones to access unrivalled call quality, clear pricing, flexibility and reliability when calling family and friends in Afghanistan.
Leading Lights
by Rani Singh
Special Assignment Editor
Nita Nicole Upadhye, 41
Date & Time: 9th and 10th June 2012, 10am to 8pm Venue: Harrow Leisure Centre, Christchurch Avenue, Harrow HA3 5BD For more information contact Nihir Shah at nihir.shah@abplgroup.com
Faith leaders from all the major UK religions came together on International Women’s day (Thursday 8 March 2012) for the first time to promote organ donation amongst different ethnicities at the Britannia International Hotel near Canary Wharf. Leaders representing faiths such as Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Jainisim and Sikhism participated in a panel discussion about the social, cultural and ethnic influences on deceased donation in the UK, at the UK’s first national Organ donation Congress held by NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT). They also launched NHSBT’s new religious belief leaflets. Thrust were given on improved understandings and removal of prejudices to focus on wider community needs. Bharti Tailor, Secretary General, Hindu Forum of Britain told Asian Voice, last July the community leaders had met to discuss ‘service for the community needs’ through organ donation. They had distributed DVDs too to pledge support from the communi-
Asian Voice - Saturday 17th March 2012
The 14th London Asian Film Festival will be held between 16 to 24 March 2012 in London. Patrons Abhishek Bachchan and Meera Syal, will attend the opening night gala. In conversation with Abhishek Bachchan, an acting masterclass will also be taking place on the 17 March at the May Fair Hotel where the famous actor will takes the participants through his experiences and teach the tricks of the trade. The closing night awards ceremony will be at BAFTA on 24 March.
Nita Nicole Upadhye is a London-based American immigration attorney with ten years’ experience in the field of U.S. business immigration law. She was a partner in a Mayfair law firm before launching a successful solo practice. Nita represents global businesses, start-up companies and entrepreneurs across a range of industries including media, technology, entertainment, and financial services.Nita is recognized in Who’s Who of International Corporate Immigration Lawyers. She was educated at the University of California, Irvine and University of Notre Dame Law School. Prior to embarking on a legal career she served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia. Q: Where does the Nicole in your name originate? A: I was born in Canada and became a naturalized American My citizen in 1977. mother let me choose a middle name to add to my naturalization certificate. I am proud of my Indian roots and heritage but growing up, my westernized middle name helped me feel more anchored to the United States. Q Did your father emigrate to the US from India? A: My father had his first taste of life abroad working in Germany as a talented engineer in the 1960s. That experience led him to pursue a job in Canada. I was born in Toronto and shortly thereafter, my father was offered a job in the midwest. Historically the area attracted immigrants from Scandinavia and Poland and I hated looking different. I wanted to be blond-haired and blueeyed like all of my classmates. My father’s career later took us to Texas and we finally settled in the melting pot of California. The cultural diversity was refreshing. Q: What did you find most interesting during your law studies? A: I loved the immigration clinic. Working on deportation defence and political asylum cases stimulated me in a way that textbook study didn’t. Another highlight of my legal studies included an internship at the US Embassy in South Africa. After law school I had considered pursuing a career in government but decided to go the law firm route. I had loans to pay and at the time the dot.com world was booming so I moved into business immigration.
Q: What brought you to London, England? A: I inherited wanderlust from my father. A few years into my legal career I landed a job in and left London California to experience life across the pond. The business culture was much more formal than my California experience but I adapted quickly and eight years later acquired dual citizenship (American and British). My sense of adventure paid off. Q: You have lots of high profile clients –any niche areas? A: I‘ve worked with many successful media companies. I am also developing a clientele of brilliant, superstar technology entrepreneurs who are establishing start-up companies in the U.S. where there is more access to venture capital. This, most certainly, is a growth area.
“In the US you are raised to believe you can do anything if you work hard.” Q: Is there a common attitude among your clients about America? A: The high-tech entrepreneurs I work with embrace the entrepreneurial spirit of the United States. The stumbling block is obtaining the appropriate U.S. visa. The U.S. government is seeking to design and implement better policies and practices surrounding immigrant investors and entrepreneurs, but in my view it can’t happen quickly enough. Q: What do you notice about British Asians wanting to settle
Nita Nicole Upadhye
in the US? A: My observation is that British Asians are business-savvy, efficient at running businesses and take advantage of existing connections in the United States to broaden their business holdings. When you have trust within a close family network of business-minded people, why not leverage those relationships to their full advantage? Q: Have you absorbed the American mindset? A: In the U.S. you are raised to believe you can do anything if you work hard. The more obstacles you have the more motivated you should be to succeed. My parents were educated, sophisticated immigrants who left everything behind to start a new life in North America. Their sacrifice and courage added another dimension to my desire to achieve things. Q: I see you have kept up your interest in humanitarian causes. A: India has over 350 million people living below $1.25 per day, which inspired me to sign up for a volunteer vacation at an orphanage in India. The lesson that has stayed with me is that a community can be abundantly rich in culture, friendship and love without a drop of wealth. This star-studded event will be attended by the acclaimed director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the beautiful Humaima Malick and so many more. The gala ceremony itself will be presented by the gorgeous Preeya Kalidas in the theatre upstairs, followed by a black tie sit down meal in the David Lean room. For more details see.