Culture
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www.abplgroup.com - Asian Voice 26th January 2013
UKTA celebrates Makar Sankranti The House of Commons of British Parliament donned an Indian Festive look on the occasion of Makar Sankranti Celebrated by UKTA (United Kingdom Telugu Association), for the Third consecutive year on Monday, the 14th of January. The event is a mark of pride for all the Telugus as it is a rare privilege to celebrate a festival in such a prestigious venue, sponsored by Members of Parliament, Rt Hon Virendra Sharma and Rt.Hon Dan Byles ,who fully enjoyed the programme. Rt.Hon.Alok Sharma also attended the event. The programme was inaugurated by the Managing Trustee, Prabhakar Kaza, who gave a recap to the audience about the performance of UKTA in the last two years, requesting them all to become Life Members of the organisation and join UKTA as friends on Facebook. Rt Virendra Sharma congratulated UKTA for organising such a colourful programme, and . He recollected his memories of the festival ‘Maghi’ in Punjab on the same day as Makar Sankranti. He expressed pride in associating himself with UKTA and said that he is looking forward to many such cultural events in Parliament by UKTA. Rt Hon Dan Byles also expressed his heartfelt feelings of joy for being invited and congratulated UKTA for the success of the programme. He congratulated all the artists for their amazing performance and said that, being married to
a Telugu, he is looking forward to the day when his daughter also will become a Kuchipudi dancer. The prayer, E k a d a n t a y a Vakratundaya,a beautiful composition by Shankar Mahadevan, was sung by baby Shriya Sistla and Ms Vaishnavi Dokka. Baby Ankita Somisetty stole away the hearts of audience by her brilliant Kuchipudi dance on the song ‘Om Namah Shivaya’ from Telugu movie ‘Sagara Sangamam.’ Three lovely kids, Shriya , Bhavana Ratakonda and Dakshita Jonnalagadla, performed a semi-classical dance on ‘Muddugare Yashoda’,a Beautiful Kirtana by Annamacharya .The dance was choreographed by Shri K V Satyanarayana,a famous kuchipudi dancer and Nandi award winner. The students of Upahaar School of Dance, run by Ms Shalini Shivshankar, presented four excel-
lent dance items. Two items were short nrityas based on Jatiswaras in Ragam Bilahari and Ragam Hamsadhwani. Ms Shalini Shivshankar herself performed Mohini Attam, a padam on Anandabhairvi raagam, captivating the audience. Tillana in raagam Kathana Kutuhalam was presented by three senior students of the school ,Ramya, Anekha and Reema. The last cultural item was presented by a fresh talent in the world of kuchipudi , Diksha Reddy. Diksha performed two brilliant Kuchipudi items Bhama Kalaapam and a dance on the song Chakkani Talli ki Changu Bhala. The vote of thanks was given by Mrs Geetha. She thanked one and all and also invited all Indian cultural dance schools in the UK to send their students for future cultural events of UKTA. The sponsors, artistes and the multicultural thrust given by the UK Parliamentarians came in for special mention. The programme was anchored by Dr Bhanu Sistla and photographed by Aaditya Kaza.
BOOK Review Shantaram
"It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured." This quote is from taken Gregory David Robert’s book Shantaram and just as gripping as this is in isolation; it is extremely meaningful and enthralling when you read the novel as a whole. Set in B o m b a y , folShantaram lows the story of Lin, narrated by Lin, who is an escaped convict from the repressive prisons in Australia and who makes his way, by the use of a false passport, to the tiny alley ways of India. Quickly, we witness Lin’s descent into Bombay’s underworld of drugs, prostitutes, gangsters, war and everything in between. Accompanied by his friend Prabaker, Lin establishes a free health clinic, joined the mafia
and works as a money launderer, forger and street soldier. A conglomeration of conflagrating slums, passionate love, criminal wars, Bollywood films, mujahedeen fighters, prison and torture – this
novel whole-heartedly maps a world of attainable experience, all through the voice of the person that experienced it. The novel is truly a tribute to the author’s willpower to write and finish the story of his life; after having it slammed three times by prison guards, his voice can finally be heard.
The Loomba Foundation joins forces with UN Women and Government of Punjab to empower widows with a sewing machine and the necessary training to make garments.
When the Loomba Foundation was founded in 1997, its initial focus was on relieving the desperate plight of impoverished widows and their children in India, by educating the children of poor widows in all 29 states in the country. Since then the focus has expanded to include the empowerment of widows in several other countries. The plight of widows is not limited to those in India, it is a universal problem, and in the past we have worked in the partner organisations in Rwanda, Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Syria, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. On 22nd November 2012 we signed a new partnership agreement between the Loomba Foundation and UN Women, the United Nations’ body for gender equality and the empowerment of women. This agreement will fund projects across three continents, in India, Malawi and Guatemala. These projects will run for three years, and will allow the Loomba Foundation to reach a far greater number of
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widows facing discrimination and poverty. At the signing of the partnership agreement, UN Women Deputy Executive Director Mrs Lakshmi Puri described the desperate situation faced by many millions of widows around the world: ‘For many women, the loss of a husband is only the first trauma in a long-term ordeal. In many cases, they are also victims of multiple and compounding discriminations, prejudice, exclusion, exploitation, disempowerment, violence and stigmatization on account of widowhood in conjunction with poverty, living in remote or rural areas, bearing the brunt of conflict or post-conflict, post natural disaster, displacement, harmful traditional practices and HIV-AIDS pandemic’. Late last year the Government of Punjab agreed to match funds raised by the Loomba Foundation for its empowerment project, to empower 5,000 widows in the state of Punjab by providing them each
On 5th January 2013 I had the pleasure of travelling to Punjab to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Punjab government to help 5000 widows in the state. The MoU was signed by myself and the Principal Secretary (NRI Affairs) SS Channy on behalf of the Punjab Government at the NRI Sammelan in Punjab., in the presence of the Honourable Chief Minister, Sardar Parkash Singh Badal. Through this MoU the Foundation will provide sewing machines and training to 5000 widows in Punjab. This will enable them to become self-reliant, to educate their children and to lead a life of dignity. In addition to the Punjab programme, the Foundation has also initiated sewing machine projects in Delhi, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh. Discussions are taking place in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. The Foundation is confident that this programme will be fully implemented in 20132014. Widows have been neglected by all sections of society. They were not looked after by
governments or NGOs and were shunned by society. It's such a big problem, and yet nothing has been done about it. Until the Loomba Foundation established International Widows Day in 2005, which was adopted by the United Nations in 2010, nobody in the world, including the United Nations, had ever addressed the
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plight of widows. However, through the efforts of the Loomba Foundation, an increasing number of governments and NGOs have around the world have come to recognize the plight of widows and their children, who suffer the double discrimination of being both female, and widowed – and the destitution, poverty, and violence that often follows.
Fo r further info rma tio n plea se visit o ur w ebsite
www.theloombafoundation.org or contact P rit i Patel at prit i@th eloombaf ou ndation.org