Brisbane Indian Times - March 2021

A Division of Qld Multicultural Times Print Post Approved PP : 424022 1724 | ISSN 2652-6182

Volume 17, Number 7 Saturday, March 13th, 2021

As God is One, we respect all Religions

Telephone: (07) 3192 5188 Mobile: 0430 193 715 E-mail: sales@indiantimes.com.au

How three decades of pain for John Coates

drove Brisbane's bid for 2032 Olympic Games

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Coates worked closely with the likes of Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in putting together Brisbane’s bid.

John Coates does not need much of an introduction.

He is recognised in global sporting circles as Australia's most influential sports administrator, possessing an understanding of how to wield power and play politics.

If politics was a chess game, Coates would be its grandmaster.

He has been Australian Olympic Committee (AOC)

president since 1990, having only been challenged once for that role in 30 years.

Coates is also International Olympic Committee (IOC) vicepresident, president of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport (ICAS) — which governs the powerful sports court known as the CAS — and chair of the coordination commission for the Tokyo

2020 Olympic Games.

But when Brisbane failed to win an IOC vote to host the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, which were awarded to Barcelona in 1986, Coates was by his own admission "badly hurt".

He had relocated his young family from Sydney to Brisbane ahead of the vote and was determined to succeed.

Contd. on pg 17

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 1

Inside

• Local News ..................................4-28 • Real Estate ..................................... 30 • India News ..................................... 34 • Fiji News ......................................... 36 • Entertainment .............................. 38 • Health & Well Being .................... 40 • Astrology ........................................ 42 • Business Directory/Classified ... 43 • Sports News ................................... 44

A Division of Qld Multicultural Times Published Monthly OWNERS / PUBLISHERS: Umesh Chandra OAM & Usha Chandra ADVERTISING: 0430 193 715 sales@indiantimes.com.au JOURNALIST/ CORRESPONDENTS Ram Jattan (UK) / Thakur Ranjit Singh (NZ) Thilliar Varnakulasingham (NZ) Shalendra Prasad (Fiji) / Dhaval Vyas (India) Rama Gaind (Canberra) • ML. M. Nawaaz Ashram • Imam Muhammad Aslam • Pastor Joseph Dass • Haji Abdul Rahman Deen • Jitendra Deo • Nimisha Modi • Ranjita Pillai (Immigration Matters) • Peter Lane Rai • Awadhesh Sharma • Shailendra Singh • Gagan deep Tandon • Ravi Vastrad • Cartoon Corner: Merwyn Machado • Brian Sullivan (Photography) Address: PO Box 197, Taigum Qld 4018 Ph: (07) 3192 5188 Fax: (07) 3865 5864 E-mail: prod@indiantimes.com.au Subscriptions: 12 months 6 months Brisbane Indian Times is a monthly newspaper published in English. No material, including advertisements designed by Brisbane Indian Times, may be reproduced in part or who without the written consent of the manager.

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2 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

From the Publisher Welcome to our March Edition, this in the anniversary month of Covid 19 announcement by WHO ; March 11 — WHO Declares COVID-19 a Pandemic ,In declaring COVID-19 a pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO, said at a briefing in Geneva the agency is “deeply concerned by the alarming levels of spread and severity” of the outbreak. He also expressed concern about “the alarming levels of inaction.”

Though the official discovery was on January 9 — WHO Announces Mysterious Coronavirus-Related Pneumonia in Wuhan, China. At this point, the World Health Organization (WHO) still has doubts about the roots of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that the spate of pneumonia-like cases in Wuhan could have stemmed from a new coronavirus. There are 59 cases so far, and travel precautions are already at the forefront of experts’ concerns.

And on the anniversary Month , In Queensland, where the premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, has said that more than 6,500 vaccines have been administered across the state.She’s said that centres will soon be set up in

Bundaberg and Logan to distribute the AstraZeneca vaccine, as long as supply allows.

The state’s chief health officer, Jeannette Young, also gave an update at the presser, saying authorities are testing a bunch of people who were quarantined with someone who tested positive to the Russian variant of Covid. The cluster still stands at five people, but authorities are still taking precautions.

Per our front-page story, Brisbane is poised to host 2032 Olympic, this is a very welcome news, our premier was in our neighbourhood, officially opening the new premises of Populous on the corner of Macrossan and Adelaide streets. The atmosphere was jubilant, almost makes one wonder if there was some inside information or was sheer luck, any way it is good news, more jobs and economic growth is welcome news.

It would be naive of me not to mention Holi, the spirit of which came to live during BrisAsia , Holi has become a highlight of this event , and it is so good to see the wider community joining in this festival.

Apart from Holi, March also marks the auspicious festival of Maha Shivratri ,

again all religious organisation have been busy arranging for the festival in line with the restriction, this has been a challenging task for them not knowing what restriction would be imposed, never the less wishing everyone all the best for Shivratri.

More and more organisations are observing International Women’s day, and this is very good to see, the awareness has significantly grown over the years, and rightfully so, observing the day is at least a step in the right direction.

Congratulations is order for GOPIO Queensland for putting on a wonderful fundraiser program, the fundraiser was for India Day fair which will be held on 15th August at Roma Street Parkland. The presence of Lord Mayor, many councillors and Patron Dr Maha Sinnathamby added to the success of the night. Jim Varghese as an auctioneer did very well, and GOPIO Queensland were honoured to have him as the auctioneer for the night.

On the home front we finally regained full control of Australian Indian Radio facebook page, we did have access to other pages, and we did have editors right, but without admin rights there were issues especially of third-party posts on our page, I am grateful to facebook for sorting that out for us.

February’s Music Junction live went very well with around fifty thousand views.

Hosted by R J Savi and featuring Yousuf AliKhan the show became a runaway success. Music Junction is live music show presented by Australian Indian Radio, currently the show goes live last Sunday of every month from 6:00pm till 7:00pm. It is live streamed on Australian Indian Radio facebook page and you tube channel. If you haven’t watched it yet please watch it you wouldn’t be disappointed.

I was honoured to be invited as a guest of honour at Srila Bhatktivedanta Narayana Goswami Maharajs’s 100th anniversary celebrations and can I add that it was a very well organised event. So many of our organisations are doing a wonderful human service for the betterment of the whole community.

As president of Queensland Multicultural Council, I am pleased to announce that our observance of national sorry day event went very well, I am privileged to work with such a dedicated team. Aunty Betty as the coordinator did a wonderful job.

Special thanks to the executive members of Queensland Sangeet Mela Association for electing me as your president for another term. What an amazing idea to have a concert along with the AGM, and what a concert it was , all of Shen’s hard work paid off.

I would really have to leave it at that, but I would be failing in duty if I did not thank all the event organisers who had invited us as guests, you all are very special to me and really appreciate the invitation.

Until next Month Happy Reading, stay safe.

—Umesh Chandra OAM

BIT APRIL 2021

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 3

Unfinished: a memoir that’s honest, moving and inspiring Book Review: Unfinished: A Memoir

By Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Michael Joseph, $32.99

By Rama Gaind ‘The world is her oyster’ is a metaphor that aptly describes Indian actress and 2000 Miss World Priyanka Chopra. She admits her memoir is not a tell-all book, but it has been one of the most cathartic experiences of her life.

“The book will give you an insight into my journey in my words … it’s sort of the ‘in-between interviews’ version of my life, the public version versus my real story.”

The chronicle is a window into her soul, as it pinpoints “so many moments of change in my life. It’s vulnerable, honest, brazen ...

It is completely me, and I’m finally in a place where I am ready to share that part of who I am with the world”.

Priyanka, 38, who wears many hats, is a producer, singer, a tech-investor and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. She is also married to American singersongwriter Joe Jonas.

Unfinished traces her life through a collection of personal essays, stories and observations as it was written in four months during the COVID-19 lockdown. "I dove deep. I tried to understand how stories in my life

shaped me, and explored the indelible moments that made me who I am."

Just like the author herself, the result is a book that is thoughtful, lively, stirring, intrepid and, in some respects, seditious.

“It's been one hell of a rollercoaster ride.”

A reflective, though illuminating account from one of the world's most recognisable women, who has become renowned for her bold adventuresome streak, multiculturalism, humanitarian work and activism. "I am a product of traditional India and its ancient wisdom, and modern India and its urban bustle. My upbringing was always an amalgamation of the two Indias, and, just as much, of East and West." She speaks fondly of her parents - Ashok and Madhu Chopra, both physicians in the Indian Army – and the close-knit ties that bind her family.

Global ambassador India’s international superstar, who names numerous high profile global celebrities, also shares experiences from her childhood back-and-forth between India and the U.S. and the racism she faced growing up. It was after her return to India she won the national and global beauty pageants (Miss India and Miss World) that launched her acting career. On 30 November 2000, Priyanka was crowned the millennium Miss World!

In fact, India hit the trifecta that year when all three Miss India winners won their respective

international pageants: Lara Dutta was crowned Miss Universe, Priyanka Chopra was crowned Miss World and Dia Mirza was crowned Miss Asia Pacific. It’s a feat no country has duplicated since.

Priyanka was the first Indian woman to appear solo on the cover of the American Vogue magazine in January 2019. She has also featured in many Hollywood projects and is the first South Asian woman to headline the cast of an American television show, Qantico.

The beloved Bollywood star is now a Hollywood favourite. She’s had roles in comedy films such as Isn't It Romantic? and Baywatch, has recently wrapped up the shoot of Text For You and will also be seen essaying a pivotal role in Matrix 4.

She has received praise for playing a protective mother in the biographical drama The Sky Is Pink, a film she also produced. Priyanka was last seen in Netflix's The White Tiger.

With such an impressive body of work and marrying the man of her “dreams”, who is 10 years younger than her, people may see her life as a fairy tale. That’s far from the truth.

Wedged in between, however, are also the heartaches and the struggles that are candidly discussed in the book, in particular losing her beloved father to cancer. A year before his death, Priyanka got a tattoo on her right wrist, which reads ‘Daddy's lil Girl...’ in honour of her father, Ashok Chopra, who died in 2013.

Unfinished is an honest

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both in India and Hollywood.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas's story is bound to motivate a generation to collect their

courage, embrace their ambition and pledge to the hard work of following their dreams.

THE FAST-FORWARD BUTTON

Pastor Suresh Dass Joseph josephdass@optusnet.com.au Dear reader, it is with

great joy we bring you the word of God. We all have things in life that we want improved or changed.

They are like mountains unwilling to move. We have prayed, had faith, but now it looks like it's not going to get better. It could be a health issue, an addiction, wanting to have a baby or get married. And now we feel that this situation will take a very long time and

we will have to endure it.

But God says, "I am the Lord; when the time comes, I will do it quickly." That means, though it looks like it will take a long time to get your health back, get married, and be promoted, then get ready for it will happen quickly. It is going to happen sooner than expected. Instead of taking years, just like the fastforward button, it will happen soon, and you will know that it was the hand of God. So, I am asking you to be filled with hope and be encouraged. The scriptures remind us that what is impossible with people is possible with God. Today as you keep moving forward in faith, doing your part in living your life in obedience to God, then you are going to come into your season of breakthrough sooner than you expected.

In the scriptures (Exodus

4 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

14), we read when God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, where they had been in slavery many years, and they were moving towards the promised land, that the king of Egypt came chasing after them. The Israelites, who numbered about two million people, were at the Red Sea's deadend with nowhere to go. It looked like the king, and his army would overtake them at any moment. But then Moses held up his rod, and the waters parted, and the Israelites walked on dry ground to get across to the other side. When the king's men came chasing, the waters closed-up, and they were all drowned.

The scriptures say, "The Red Sea saw the Israelites coming and hurried out of their way." That means just like the Red Sea, when your time comes, the enemies that are holding you back from moving forward, those

that are limiting you from progressing, the obstacles and hindrances in your life will quickly move out of the way. Suddenly your health turns around, a door that had been shut for a long time opens, your supervisor, who was restricting you from rising higher, leaves the company. God knows how to take things that look fixed and quickly shift them so that you can move forward.

Here are 3 things we can learn from these.

1) Everything will happen for you, quickly and you will be thankful you didn't give up. You are going to be celebrating something extraordinary soon. You will be so full of joy and happiness sharing your good news. It will seem like out of this world how it happened. Be ready for it. Expect it. This is what happened to the Israelites.

Moses assured the Israelites

by saying, "Do not be afraid but watch what the Lord will accomplish for you today."

2) God is saying to you today, "I am going to open doors for you that have been locked for a long time. Suddenly miracles will happen in your life.

Healing and restoration are being released. For over 400 years, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. But on the day appointed by God, they came out of it and started their journey towards the promised land.

3) It may look like your situation is never going to change. But in a splitsecond, God can change it. When the Israelites came up to the Red Sea, it was deep and wide and impossible for all the people to get across. But the same God who told them to come out of Egypt also controls the Sea. When the Sea saw them coming, it quickly moved aside and let them

pass. You may be facing something today that looks unchanging. But the good news is that God is not only in control of your life, but He controls those who are opposing you. When your time comes, they are going to hear from God and move out of the way. That sickness that would last a lifetime suddenly disappears, the people who won't let you rise higher suddenly retire, the loan that was denied several times suddenly gets approved.

I believe all this is possible for you through having faith in Jesus Christ.

As you keep moving forward in trusting and honouring God, you will come into a season where the doors that had been closed for a long time quickly open so you can move to your next season, of God’s favour and goodness.

God bless you.

Ps Suresh Dass Joseph

Happy

Holi

Best wishes for a happy and colourful Holi

Paul Scarr Senator for Queensland

Scott Morrison Prime Minister

Alex Hawke Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs Member for Mitchell

Amanda Stoker Senator for Queensland

Authorised by A.Hirst, Liberal Party of Australia, Cnr Blackall and Macquarie Sts, Barton ACT 2600.

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The Only Way Out Is In, So Look Deep Within constantly seek a deeper experience of life, one way or the other.

Whatever one may seek – God, alcohol, drugs, meditation or anything that one feels will provide relief, give pleasure or fulfillment – you are only seeking to have a larger slice of life.

The intention is always the same, somehow to have a deeper experience, to extract a little more out of life, to find access to that which is not yet for you.

The question is not of the intention as the intention is always the same. It is only of whether it works or not.

Everything you have done in your life so far has been in pursuit of joy – career, business, making money or starting a family.

From when you were a child till now, is your joy increasing or decreasing?

Now that you have grown up, you have your own life, your own family, your own bank account, everything of your own – has your joy multiplied? In the last 24 hours, how many moments of joy have you known?

When you came into this world, you came with no investment. So whatever happens in your life, anyway you are in profit.

But the reason people are in various levels of distress

Whatever one may seek – God, alcohol, drugs, meditation or anything that one feels will provide relief, give pleasure or fulfillment – you are only seeking to have a larger slice of life.

We

is because there is no lifesense, only ego-sense.

If you are miserable, it is because life is not happening the way you think it should happen. If everything happened the way you think it should, the whole existence would happen within the limitation of your limited thought. Is it not wonderful that so many things that

6 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

you could never imagine are happening? What you enjoyed, your parents were distressed about. What you are distressed about, your children are enjoying.

The nature and basis of your experience is within you. Pain and pleasure, joy and misery, agony and ecstasy happen only within you. The very seat of your experience is within

you. So why try to extract joy from outside? At best, the outside can provide a stimulus. If you depend on the outside to bring joy to you, understand that the outside never happens a hundred percent the way you want it. Those who think that there is something like an ideal situation are not in touch with reality. No situation

or person will ever happen a hundred percent the way you want it. But at least you should happen the way you want yourself to be. Then there would be no need for you to be in pursuit of your happiness.

So the question is not of intention or direction, but of doing that which works.

If you did happen the way you want yourself to be,

joy would be the natural choice.

What we refer to as Inner Engineering means not seeing joy as something that we could achieve in our life, but seeing joy as the very basis of our lives. Joy is not the goal; it is the square one of our life. Other things can happen only if there is joy. Otherwise, you will live constantly with the fear of misery striking at you. What great things you achieve in your life will depend on your capabilities, the situation, and the prevailing times.

Regardless of what you do or don’t, my wish and blessing is that your experience of life is pleasant and graceful.

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 7

GOPIO Qld’s fundraiser a sold-out event BRISBANE, GOPIO Qld organised a function to raise much needed funds for India Day Fair. India Day Fair is their signature event held every year around 15th of August at Roma Street Parkland. To host the iconic event a lot of funds are required, funds are generated via government grants, sponsorship, sale of stall spaces and via fundraising.

This event was held on 19th February at Michael’s Oriental Restaurant in Eight Miles Plains. Being a fundraising Gala dinner, the venue was set accordingly.

GOPIO Queensland received good community support and the event was eventually sold out. Ticketing was via Eventbrite booking platform.

Generous support of the sponsors made the event a financial success.

The event began with meet and greet, and to the surprise of the organiser’s audience had arrived on or before time. So, like most Indian Functions even this function did not start on time, but this one started before time. MC’s Umesh Chandra OAM and Pravinita Singh Pillay ran through the long list of acknowledgements and relieved future speakers of going through the

acknowledgments over and over.

The event was a fundraiser, so the main highlight was the auction and raffles.

GOPIO Queensland was fortunate that Jim Varghese OAM had agreed to be the auctioneer for the fundraiser. For GOPIO Queensland this was quite and honour that a person of his standing had agreed to be the auctioneer. The auction went well with spirited and competitive bidding, there was quite a few items to go through.

Next up the raffles, GOPIO Queensland received and overwhelming number of items for raffles, the committee would like to thank all the generous donors for their generosity.

Just by the sheer number of prizes the draw was run on a first in best dressed basis, where by the winners got to choose their prizes, so the winners came forward drew the next ticket and picked up the prize of their choice. A very popular method in the high-end fundraisers.

Even though not called for, there were few performances by the generosity of some performers who came forward wishing to support GOPIO Queensland.

The performers included Lets

Bollywood group led by Swina Kanwar, Bhangra United led by Kalpana Prasad and karaoke by Chandan Das. The venue being a restaurant is not really suited for performances. It is suited for Gala Dinner, Keynote speech, auction and raffles.

Dr Maha Sinnathamby AM as patron delivered a keynote speech, Lady mayoress as patron of GOPIO Queensland Women’s

council spoke passionately about GOPIO Queensland and put on record her appreciation for the honour bestowed upon her.

President Rakesh Sharma delivered his keynote speech and introduced his hard-working team. Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner joined in and praised GOPIO Queensland for the work they did in bringing the community together.

Other Speakers included Councillor Angela Owen, Councillor Charles Strunck, Councillor Jarrod Cassidy and Jim Valery of New Style Developments. Veena Merz delivered the vote of thanks.

Various multicultural organisations were represented on the night and many community leaders and dignitaries were present.

The event coordinator and sponsorship in charge was

GOPIO Qld thanks all the sponsors

8 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

Usha Chandra Overall the event was a huge success and received very good feedback.

The in-house sound system was the biggest let down.

GOPIO Queensland’s next event will be the annual Girmit Diwas to be held on 14th May at Queensland Multicultural Centre and mark your diaries for India Day Fair 2021 which will be held on 15th August at Roma Street Parkland.

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 9

Saharanpur: A town from yesterday FROM: DHAVAL VYAS. VADODARA. INDIA

A nondescript town straight out of a Chandamama story — Saharanpur hides nothing, tells nothing. But like all small towns of Uttar Pradesh, which wait to usher in a new government today, it has a story There was never any electricity at the ‘kabristan’ in Saharanpur as we cycled to the canal for a swim, after bunking classes. It is a vast expanse of graves, surrounded by dense foliage and dishevelled grass, with people zigzagging across it to the canal for a breath of fresh air, even as little kids jumped into the water to look for old coins.

In the night, as we cycled back across the kabristan, we sang loudly, to scare away the ghosts. We never found any, except in the ghost stories, which were always fascinating.

The local ‘shamshan’ was rarely in use, because most people took their dead to nearby Haridwar for cremations. Even the last rites were performed there. In the evening, the diyas would float at Har ki Pauri, and the mourning would mix with the rippling waters and the floating light, into the dark abyss of the night’s sadness. Life went on.

Until the Muzaffarnagar riots in August-September 2013, there was no communal polarisation in this part of western Uttar Pradesh. In the dingy bylanes of the old town, where genius craftspeople and little children made magical wooden artifices, and near the clock tower and fountain where old restaurants served butter chicken, mutton korma and hot rotis; and beyond, inside the sprawling Gandhi Maidan, where political rallies and allnight Urdu mushairas were held; right across Gill Colony, Mission Compound and the old Railway Ground near Sophia School where we played cricket, or at the bustling sugar and paper mills, Saharanpur was like a story told in Chandamama, replete with sketches drawn with childhood innocence and an isolated lucidity uncluttered by the knowledge systems of big cities. It was like a line of harmony had been drawn on the ground, and the people followed it, with a certain pronounced decency. Until the arrival of vicious communal agenda.

The old wooden bridge at the railway station remains as it is, refurbished, with just the minimalist finesse that marks the town’s everyday ritual.

There are metal straps to make it stronger, like a cobbler patches an old shoe, and it moves and shakes like the Lakshman Jhula as you walk across, with a train rumbling below on the tracks.

Running along the stairs

leading up to the bridge is a hollowed-out track, into which you can hoist the wheels of your bicycle and glide it to the top; some actually cycled across the tattered wooden bridge, never ever afraid that it would fall apart.

Things don’t fall apart in Saharanpur. In its daily chaos, everything is united in symphony with its detached dust and aridity, like Tarantino’s music in retrospect.

Across western UP, now in the throes of the to-and-fro of the ‘mother of all polls’, in Omkara territory, Saharanpur is a nondescript town which hides nothing, tells nothing. However, like all small towns in UP, it too has a story.

From the railway platform, you could hop across the tracks for a cup of tea, and never did we buy a platform ticket.

The wooden bridge often became a moment of revelation, like a blackand-white unedited shot of classical cinema: the train moving through the mist or smoke, the slow evening sky descending onto the railway lines, villagers with their bundles hurrying to their destinations, and the tea boiling in the kettle.

In this slow, suspended architecture of an old railway station, there was no ambition to be achieved — not even unrequited love, or a neatly-written love letter hidden in an Enid Blyton, Gulshan Nanda or Barbara Cartland book.

Across the bridge, outside the railway station on that side, the stables have long vanished, but the strong smell of horses remains.

Horse-driven tongas are few and far between now, replaced by the new jugaar passenger tempos; but the rare tonga that remains still speeds along, resurrecting the ‘tup-

10 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

tup’ horse-shoe rhythm of vintage OP Nayyar songs.

Across the station, near the rundown bus station full of piss and paan-spit, the Peshawari restaurant still runs 24x7; during exams we would gather here in the night and mug up the last pages, always praying to god, “please, please, postpone the exams”. God never gave a damn.

During spring, Maa would tell us to not eat ber (Indian plum) before Saraswati Puja (Basant Panchami). She made us fast that day before taking us to the pandal to offer pushpanjali (flowers) to the benign goddess with the veena and beauteous eyes, who was dressed in an immaculate cotton sari. Maa knew I was weak in mathematics, that I feared numbers, that I hallucinated about numbers during bouts of typhoid — so she would take along the secondhand textbooks, decked in nice brown cover, and place them at the feet of the goddess. We never had enough money to buy firsthand books — so old ones from seniors at half-price were always precious.

In this childhood’s small town in western UP, everything was precious, even though there was no electricity, and we never had a fridge, cooler or television till we were grown-up. All we had was a Murphy radio, with a warm, yellow light, and I used to think that people lived inside it, with their voices and songs. The magnificent Mahalaya early morning recitation, when Durga would arrive by boat, or on a elephant or sometimes even a horse. Or, Binaca Geetmala on Wednesday nights with its signature tune and Ameen Sayani’s golden voice taking us on all kinds of romantic journeys.

The local ‘shamshan’ was rarely in use, because most people took their dead to nearby Haridwar for cremations. Even the last rites were performed there. In the evening, the diyas would float at Har ki Pauri, and the mourning would mix with the rippling waters and the floating light, into the dark abyss of the night’s sadness. Life went on.

Night after night, as the north wind blew over the mango and litchi orchards, All India Radio’s Urdu service rang across the open-to-sky courtyards and terraces, which ran into each other like ghost stories, into unimaginable terrains of wonder, dreams and fantasy. From the poetry of Kaifi Azmi and Sahir Ludhianvi to the melodious tunes of Salil Chowdhury and SD Burman, the songs of KL Saigal, Pankaj Mullick, Rafi, Manna Dey, Geeta Dutt, Hemant Kumar, Kishore Kumar, Talat Mehmood, Asha Bhosle, and Lata Mangeshkar swirled inside the mosquito nets like magic realism, even when the nights were hot and we splashed ‘handpump’ water on the floor to keep our bodies cool.

And, yet, there was never any true despair or longing. Small was truly beautiful. The less we had, the happier we were.

Small towns were like

mothers — they embraced you with their little joys, their intimacies, fantasies and miracles, and healed your wounds. Even the street dogs in the back lane, fed by Maa, would become quiet and listen to the radio, their eyes moist and sad as only those of street dogs can be, forever looking for love.

Those days, too, Saharanpur was part of the bloody Omkara territory.

In the hinterland beyond Shamli, Muzaffarnagar and Baghpat, crisscrossing the mustard and sugarcane fields, along the broken roads, the arid evenings were replete with dust and stagnation, and everything acquired a sinister stillness. The dirty puddle near the jalebi cart, swarming with flies for many long years, would become an eye-witness to a macabre anticipation; the rotting tyre, or the open gutter never changed its contours, despite the four seasons. The mandi (wholesale market) would be as bustling as ever, as money circulated in blind pre-capitalist circles, with no ambition to soar on the winds of the market economy into the affluent society of globalisation.

There were gang wars, katta shootouts with country-made guns, stabbings, the usual reconciliation and compromises, and always with caste politics running amok. But the mustard flowers across the rural expanse were as luminescent as ever, yellow like a dream come true. And when the jaggery melted amid the greenery, its fragrance moved like a delicious memory, soaked with strange desires. The sweetness lingered over the town; outside the crowded courts — badi and chhoti kacheri — farmers came to the halwai shop and ordered with an expressed joy: makkhan maarke chai (tea with butter) and halfa-kilo of the sweetest burfi.

Undoubtedly, even in the most coarse discourse, the sweetness would come by, between the lines.

In the night the bullock carts still move slowly, like an infinite caravan fated to be eternally lost in time and space. In its unhurried journey — loaded with sugar cane, the men smoking beedis or a hookah, rocking to and fro, the black beasts of burden dragging them — the sweet-laden train moved unbearably slowly.

There was no hurry, the destination could wait.

So the kids would hide in unknown corners and run as silently as thieves alongside the carts, pulling out the sugar canes one by one. It was always so silent, secretive and magical, the sweet cane chewed in the mouth, the labour so much worth it, the steal collected

In this childhood’s small town in western UP, everything was precious, even though there was no electricity, and we never had a fridge, cooler or television till we were grownup. All we had was a Murphy radio, with a warm, yellow light, and I used to think that people lived inside it, with their voices and songs. The magnificent Mahalaya early morning recitation, when Durga would arrive by boat, or on a elephant or sometimes even a horse. and shared among friends, brothers and sisters in the mohalla. It was exactly like running after a kite, across meadows and orchards, flying into the sky like Olympic gold medallists, the scratches on the knees like real medals.

The Happy Book Corner is long gone, Gulshan Ice Cream has split between brothers, and the little graveyard with wild flowers at the beautiful church near the hospital is now hidden by a cluster of vertical, ugly houses. No one writes love letters any more at the dirty nullah called dhamola, waiting hours for a glimpse of the beloved, even if for a fleeting moment. You don’t really get to see a Sophia Loren movie in the morning show on Tuesday at Lakshmi Talkies (‘Too bad she is bad’), nor can you hear Chawla Aunty singing Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood’s ‘Summer Wine’ in a voice like velvety wine any more. She worked in the Indian Tobacco Company (ITC). When we were in college, she gave us packets of Wills Navy Cut, with that lovely red logo, freshly rolled out from the factory.

And, yet, things remain the same. As the rickshawpuller struggles up the steep bridge on your way to ghantaghar, like always you get down and walk to make it easier for him. The evening train is trundling across the nullah. You can hear it whistle. On the other side of the railway tracks you can still see the old wooden bridge, rocking like a song from the past. A black-and-white movie — unedited.

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 11

Arya Pratinidhi Sabha of Queensland

Patron Re’t Justice Pandit Devendra Pathik “Arya Ratn”

Trustee Mr. Sukarm Pal Singh

Trustee Mr. Mul Chand

Samaj Havan Yajna Satsang at Queensland Vedic Cultural Centre

होली भारतीय संस्कृ ति की पहचान का एक सुंदर पर्व है , भेदभाव मिटाकर पारस्परिक प्रेम व सदभाव प्रकट करने का एक अवसर है । अपने दर ु ्गुणों तथा कुसंस्कारों की आहुति दे ने का एक वासन्तीय नवसस्येष्टि यज्ञ है तथा परस्पर छुपे वेश्मन्य को दरू करना, अपने आनंद को, सहजता को, और मधुर सम्बन्धों को सरल सहजता के सुख को उभारने का उत्सव है । यह रं गोत्सव हमारे पूरज ्व ों की दरू दर्शिता है जो अनेक विषमताओं के बीच भी समाज में एकत्व का संचार करता है । होली के रं ग-बिरं गे रं गों की बौछार जहाँ मन में एक सुखद अनुभतू ि प्रकट कराती है वहीं यदि सावधानी, संयम तथा विवेक न रख जाये तो ये ही रं ग दख ु द भी जाते हैं । अतः इस पर्व पर कुछ सावधानियाँ रखना भी अत्यंत आवश्यक है । वैदिक युग में होली को 'नवान्नेष्टि यज्ञ' कहा गया था, क्योंकि यह वह समय होता है , जब खेतों में पका हुआ अनाज काटकर घरों में लाया जाता है । जलती होली में जौ और गेहूं की बालियां तथा चने के बूटे भूनकर प्रसाद के रूप में बांटे जाते हैं ।

होली

होली की अग्नि में भी बालियां होम की जाती हैं ।"वासन्तीय नवसस्येष्टि होलकोत्सव" वसन्त ऋतु में आई हुई रवि की नवागत फसल को होम हवन मे डालकर फिर श्रद्धापूरक ्व ग्रहण करने का नाम होली है । और बाद में होला से ही होली बना है । होली का वास्तविक अर्थ और

उसका स्वरुप वसन्त ऋतु में रवि फसल के रुप में जो अन्न हमारे घर में आता है । उसको हवन में आहुति दे कर ग्रहण करना है । क्योंकि भारतीय संस्कृ ति दान दे कर, बांट कर खाने में विश्वास करती है । वेद में कहा है - "केवलाघो भवति केवलादी" अर्थात अकेला खानेवाला पापी होता

है । इसलिए प्रसन्नतापूरक ्व बांट कर खाना चाहिए। दस ू री बात यह है कि होली के दस ू रे दिन जो रं ग खेलने की प्रथा है वह भी एक प्राकृ तिक उत्सव है । आपस में मेल जोल बढ़ाना, एक दस ू रे का सम्मान करना, एक दस ू रे के साथ प्रेम करना, _साल भर में किसी के साथ मनमुटाव हो गया हो, झगड़ा हो गया हो तो उसको भूलकर एक दस ू रे को प्रकृ ति के उपहार स्वरुप प्रदत्त वसंत ऋतु में आए हुए नए फूलों का चूर्ण करके उसका रं ग बनाकर सभ्यता से प्रसन्नता पूरक ्व बिना किसी को परे शान किए लगाना और सम्मान करना चाहिए।_ यह कार्य भी प्रेम पूरक ्व करना चाहिए। जिससे कोई व्यक्ति दख ु ी ना हो आपके रं ग लगाने से परे शान ना हो इसका खयाल रखना चाहिए। तो इस प्रकार भारतीय संस्कृ ति में होली का व्यक्तित्व, शारीरिक सामाजिक, राष्ट्रीय, तथा भूगोलिक दृष्टि से और वैश्विक दृष्टि से भी इसका महत्व है । बड़े प्रेम से अपने-अपने घरों में सामाजिक संस्थानों में होली के दिन हवन करें प्रीति सम्मेलन करें इसी निवेदन के साथ स्वस्थ रहें मस्त रहें व्यस्त रहें ।

MAY ALMIGHTY GOD GIFT YOU ALL THE COLORS OF LIFE, COLORS OF AFFECTION,COLORS OF HAPPINESS, COLORS OF FRIENDSHIP, COLORS OF PEACE AND ALL OTHER COLORS YOU WANT TO PAINT IN YOUR LIFE.

HAPPY HOLI.

APSQ INC Holi होली Festival of Colors Celebrations

Date : Sunday 28/03/2021 (RSVP BY 14/03/2021) Time : 3.30 PM arrival for Havan Yajna Venue : Queensland Vedic Cultural Centre 198 Learoyd, Willawong ,Qld 4110

12 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

President Dr. Sukhvir Singh

Secretary Mr. Hari Chand

TreasurerMrs. Suman Chand

Havan Yajna Agnihotra हवन यज्ञ, अग्निहोत्र

Nowadays it is really good to see many families perform Havan at home and on special occasion like birthdays, wedding anniversaries etc . The agnihotra (fire ceremony) havan yaj has been a very important part of all Vedic Hindu ceremonies since the beginning of time. Havan Yajna. is the most ancient form of Hindu prayer/devotion/invocation.

Havan or fire ceremony is one of the most important rites laid down in the Vedic scriptures for householders and is part of the eternal Sanatan Vedic Dharm/culture.

The benefits of agnihotra are multi-dimensional.

Spiritually, it has an enlightening effect on us because selected verses from the VEDAS and other Vedic literature are recited during the course of Yajna. Other than enhancing intellectual agility, such regular recitation of so many important Vedic mantras leads to them being memorised.. Socially, it strengthens bonds between members of a family,Samaj or community because groups of people get together to carry it out communally. Hygienically, it has the effect of medicinal cleansing of air in the vicinity. Physically, agnihotra also has an uplifting effect on the material domains of human life it encompasses all the meanings that are conveyed by the word YAJNA Yajna is the cornerstone of the Vedic way of life. It is said to be the soul of the sixteen sanskaars (sacraments).Yajna is a very broad term-meaning Dev Pooja, Sangatikaran and Daan, Dev Pooja- prayer to GOD, taking care of the elderly,the learned and performance of Havan; Sangatikaran- in the company of wise people and Daan is donating to the needy.

Saam VED verse 1529 states-Aagne sthooram rayim bhar prithum gomantamashwinam.Angdhi kham vartayaa pavim- meaning When Hawan is performed properly ,it purifies the air and the surrounding environment and provides clean rain water,sunlight and contributes to increase in wealth.

Rig VED 3/32/12-Yajo hita indra vordhano bhut-Yajna is the means for the soul to refine itself and seek prosperity (salvation).Yajur VED 18/11 says –Matischa mein sumatischa mein yajyen kalpantaam meaning Humans ordinary intellect can be successfully transformed into super intellect through the conduct of daily yajnas.

Shatpathbrahman 1/7/1/5 states “Yajao vei shreshthatam karma”-Yajna is the most noble of deeds. With many benefits and in this battle for achieving the goal of getting pollution-free environment,we all should keep performing Havan day after day as fellow human beings at home and other venues without any distinction of caste, creed, colour, region or religion. For further information on Havan Satsang program at Queensland Vedic Cultural Centre 198 Learoyd Road Willawong QLD 4110 please contact Vice President Mrs.Sushila Pathik 33146059.

APSQ Inc officials President: Dr. Sukhvir Singh 0421897157, Secretary: Mr. Hari Chand 0437430062, Treasurer: Mrs. Suman Chand 0401164232 ओ३म ्

GLOBENET REALTY BOONDALL gives back to the community Globenet Realty Boondall has been the longest established agency in the area and has always maintained a good community connection. Be it the School Fete, local festivals or swimming carnival, they are always there supporting the cause.

They are the first prize donors for Boondall Primary School’s P&C Association raffle draw. Usha Chandra, Principal of Globenet Realty says, she believes in giving back to the community they serve. The active agency offers Real Estate sales and rental services to the wider community.

In a listing drive campaign, Globenet Realty Boondall had a promotion of $5000-00 giveaway to a lucky vendor who listed and sold through Globenet Realty. The lucky winner as drawn by Kim from the local hairdressing saloon, and the winner was Jeffrey Neale vendor of 4 Heathwood Street in Taigum.

Jeffrey who is now in a nursing home was very appreciative of the kind gesture and also very happy in the manner the sale of his property was managed by Usha Chandra.

BOONDALL,

In a listing drive campaign, Globenet Realty Boondall had a promotion of $5000-00 giveaway to a lucky vendor who listed and sold through Globenet Realty. The lucky winner as drawn

by Kim from the local hairdressing saloon, and the winner was Jeffrey Neale vendor of 4 Heathwood Street in Taigum.

Indian Medical Association, Record Breaking Valentine’s Day Australian Chapter, Queensland themed Music Junction Branch Launches Aap ki Shehat “Your Health” awareness series

its third instalment Australian Indian Radio, presented a Valentine’s day themed recordbreaking show. The show attracted over Seventy-One thousand views (71K). The show hosted by R J Savi featured Yousuf Alikhan as main artists, Chandan Das and Manju Verma

In

IMA Australia was formed in 2017 to act as a central federation for Medical Associations of Seven different states of Indian Medical Associations in Australia.

They are a body of Medical Professionals who are now proud to be living and working in Australia and have roots or training in the Indian Sub-continent, Combining Doctors of Indian Origin in Australia we are a family of over 8000 Doctors and growing.

Indian Medical Association (HQ in New Delhi) and the IMA National President Dr K K Aggarwal (Padma Shri) vide letter dated 26 May 2017 and as per byelaws of IMA 5B and Rule 7A has authorised the setting up of the overseas

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Indian Medical Association (HQ in New Delhi) and the IMA National President Dr K K Aggarwal (Padma Shri) vide letter dated 26 May 2017 and as per byelaws of IMA 5B and Rule 7A has authorised the setting up of the overseas branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in Australia. branch of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) in Australia.

For the benefit of the community at large IMA-A

Brisbane Chapter has launched an awareness series called “Aap Ki Shehat” on Australian Indian Radio.

The series will include various health topic of generic nature. There will be interviews, presentation and talk back.

The series will be streamed live via Australian Indian Radio Facebook and You Tube Channels on 1st Saturday of every month.

The Audio version of that will be aired on Australian Indian Radio on first Sunday of every month. The timing for both days will be 10:00 am.

The first program featured Dr Manoj Chabra with an interview conducted by Dr Cyril Fernandez. The episode is available on Facebook and Youtube.

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appeared as guest artist.

The show produced by Australian Indian Radio is live streamed by Chantex Multimedia Services.

As a rule of thumb the show will be live stream on the last Sunday of every month at 6:00pm Brisbane Time. Australian Indian Radio is calling upon

budding and accomplished artists who would like to be featured on the show to contact them. It is an excellent platform to show case your talent, you can sing to copyright free tracks or bring in two musicians.

The next show on 289th March would have a Holi flavour to it.

THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 13

THE CHANGING FACE OF HOLI IN NEW ZEALAND: A FUSION OF PURAB AUR PASCHIM, WHERE EAST MEETS WEST

Gabroo. Young children fill their water guns and water bottles with coloured water and chased each other in the open grounds. They also got hold of coloured powders and had a ball with their families.

The older ones smeared each other with coloured powers or gulaal, opening up their usual shyness.

WIA has taken charge of sale of gulaal, or coloured powders, to ensure they are available at reasonable price to all. They sell nearly half a ton of it. The food stalls do brisk business with an outstanding and above average crowds.

Another feature of WIA Holi is the increasingly patronage by Anglo-Saxons and non-Indians.

One estimate places them at around 40% of the crowd. That is the multicultural pull of the allencompassing Holi festival. Many non-Indians danced joyfully to tunes of Bollywood music. This was indeed a day of colours, music and fun for the whole families. Young Indian school children invite their European and non-Indian friends to grace the occasion.

Politicians and community

leaders mingled freely with their supporters and, took photos which are now gracing the pages of Facebook.

The President of WIA traditionally welcomes all and multi-racial dignitaries, community leaders and politicians are welcomed on stage to pass their messages as they get smeared in the colour of Holi. The message rings out that now Waitakere Holi Mela has developed into an event not only for Hindus and Indians but also for wider New Zealand community. Celebrating the festival of colours in our diversely cultural city is seen as a way to continue building better relations with the community.

Politicians and community leaders hail Waitakere Indian Association as the best managed organisation, very transparent, run by credible people with credible leadership. This event signifying victory of good over evil and equality for mankind is the message we should all emulate, as the commendable and exemplary events organised by WIA are praised.

For a migrant community, Indians, and that includes some 50% of Fiji Indians for integrating well into the local community and changed the cultural landscape of the country. Today, Aotearoa is richer because of Indians in general and Hindus in particular for introducing diversity with festivals like Holi, Diwali and other religious, cultural and social events.

And the evolving fusion of East and the West makes Waitakere Holi that much more memorable. Many are already looking forward to the function every year, so powerful is the addiction and transmission of fun at Waitakere Holi. Thanks WIA for making this possible.

See you next year, if you missed the fun this year.

[About the Author: Thakur Ranjit Singh is a former executive of Waitakere Indian Association and current Secretary of its Seniors Group. He is a community worker, a media commentator and runs his blog site FIJI PUNDIT]

inscription that changed my life forever. It said: “For what profits a man if he gains the whole world but loses his own soul”. If I had won that Senate race I might well have gone on to “gain the whole world” and lost my own soul.

Looking back that would have been the real tragedy. My prayer today is that we will all find love and peace in our own lives so that we can focus our attention on helping others rather than just ourselves.”

There is only one way to make your new year a good year. You need to know the true source of Good News and embrace it into your heart and in-to our life style.

If your past years were filled with pain and failure, don’t look back.

Look to the Good News, It is here and it is waiting for the humble and sincere seeker of God; Author of life has given you an unfailing invitation to a genuine relationship.

For I am absolutely convinced that finding and receiving God’s love is the most significant purpose of your life. No religion or tradition can give an unconditional love, and a supreme love offered by Jesus Christ.

To know Jesus as The Lord,

mean to know that He is the author of your life. And to walk in His ways mean, that journey through this life by faith in His Word and in His finished work on the Cross. He is the most loving person you will ever know on this planet.

Therefore, we invite you to pray this with a sincere heart; “Dear Father God, today I thank you for your word that has touched my heart. You have created me in your image and likeness. I want to know you and find true value of my soul. I want understand the true purpose life.

I repent of all my wrongs and I confess with my mouth ‘Jesus is Lord’ and I believe in my heart that Jesus died for my sins, God raised Jesus from the dead for my Mukti (Salvation). Now help me to know Jesus more and more so that I can grow in the knowledge of your grace and mercy. Teach me your ways so that I can be person who will learn to honour you and learn to love each other. Amen.

Please email to us your encounter experience, so we can help you to grow in the understanding your Creator and Redeemer. navig8grace@gmail. com

Non-Indians participating in Holi in Auckland.

Holi Dancing in the park, where East meets West

Traditional Faag Singing by Shri Ram Mandir in 2018 Holi

In Holi Mood in 2018 Waitakere Holi Mela: Thakur Ranjit Singh (left) and Pundit Mahendra Sharma, President of WIA in 2018

Thakur Ranjit Singh, FIJI PUNDIT

Indian Association (WIA) which first initiated public Holi celebrations in Auckland over 16 years ago, continues in its quest to build bridges with the mainstream community through all-encompassing Hindu festivals.

Diwali as well as Holi in New Zealand have transformed into Indian festivals, from being a Hindu one, with values, dignity and decorum of religion maintained. Holi now sees almost half its attendants as non-Indians participating in the joy and celebrations. This is a write up and depiction of Mother of all Holi, Waitakere Holi in Henderson, Auckland, New Zealand, that has registered itself on calendar of events in Auckland Council and Auckland region.

WIA still happens to be perhaps the sole community organisation which is in charge of Holi and not allowing it to be hijacked and diluted by corporate, commercial companies, newspapers or Radio Stations.

Indeed ours is a Purab aur Paschim ka Sangam- where East meets West. The traditional faag and the Western Bollywood-style public dancing are merged and married to make this a memorable event every year.

Holi is a time for joy and building bridges - and that is what happens at Waitakere Holi………………….

Please read on.

As the melodious singing of Faag (fagua, chautaal) rang and echoed against the green picturesque trees at Corbans Arts Centre, Henderson, Auckland, where the first public Holi

Waitakere

celebration was initiated in 2006, or across Trusts Stadium where we now normally hold our Holi, the sound of cymbals and dholak, mixed with Bollywood and Punjabi numbers, herald yet another milestone for Waitakere Indian Association (WIA).

India in general and Hinduism in particular has given the world some festivals which embrace the whole human race, and has more integrating, unifying and all-embracing themes.

They have a message of unity without being founded in divisive, exclusive fundamentalist religious arguments. As mentioned earlier, increasingly, Diwali and Holi have become “Indian” festivals. While Diwali is more rooted in religion, Holi is a merrymaking event which attracts larger number of non-Indian because of its jovial, colourful, and at times, loud celebrations. It has a profound meaning for mankind and equality for all, promoting and enhancing race relations, integration, understanding and appreciation and respect for other cultures Waitakere Indian Association (WIA) is the award-winning organisation, which has been run

Jesus said “Arise and Shine…”

Do you Know the Value of your Soul?

Key Scripture: And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but loose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?

SOUL $$$ (Mat-thew 16:26 NLT) Dear Reader,

We are excited to bring you the Good News on this Planet our temporary Home. Our theme has been very simple and clear. It is to make God Real and Personal to our readers. And to reveal the Creator Heaven and Earth as a God of compassion and forgiveness; so that you understand and learn relate to Him. First, we need to understand that God is not an object or an image or im-agination of human mind. But God Creator of our life, is a living and lov-ing person.

We find this amazing truth

revealed clearly in the pages of The Holy Bi-ble.

Keep reading with a humble heart and an open mind. You will encounter your Creator today.

You don’t need a thousand years for your Salvation (Mukti).

You can receive your greatest miracle ‘Mukti’ today. This is the confidence you can have in Christ alone.

Have your considered the how to a value your soul?

Or what is the value of yourself if you are going to live forever and

14 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

by like-minded volunteers from 2000. It is the pride of Indian and ethnic associations in New Zealand and has set up new standards of yardsticks and milestones on how to successfully run an association and festivals run by the community, by non- paid volunteers and not commercial or media organisations.

It is a milestone for Holi, as WIA listened to public, and did a fusion of traditional and modern Holi celebrations. This is what we call “Sangam” (meeting) of Purab (East) aur Paschim (West) - a meeting place where tradition meets the modern. This was after feedback that Holi celebrations had drifted to modern Bollywood music and dance, overshadowing the

traditional folk singing with which Holi is identified. Therefore, WIA was responsive to the community wishes, and holds a solid two hour performance by various Mandalis (religious groups), followed by Bollywood- style dancing in the park with DJ controlling the music.

And that is where East meets West. This festival resonated into the meeting of youthful revellers with the mixture of relatively older audience, with a taste of all catered by a well-programmed event.

The traditional faag brought all in the mood to play the colours.

Multiracial group of youths crowded the “ringside” stage area to jump to the occasion of dancing to the enthralling music from DJ Manish

WIA Holi Dancing in the park in 2019

ever?

First, we need to define what is soul in order to know its true value. Soul is the real person who dwells inside our earthly body. When our body dies and it will be respectfully buried by our family and friends. But the body will decay in the place where it is buried. It has no life or it has choices left to change its destiny.

But the soul does not die. The real you the inner man is made in the image and likeness of God. That is your Soul.

According to Genesis 2:7 God did not make a body and put a soul into it like a letter into an envelope of dust; rather he formed man's body from the dust, then, by breathing divine breath into it, he made the body of dust live, i.e. the dust did not embody a soul, but it became a soul—a whole new creature. When God’s creative spirit entered the human clay body, man become a living soul. That is why we are referred as human being, and not as human doing.

And the Lord God created man in two formations; and took dust from the place of the house of the sanctuary, and from the four winds of the world, and mixed

from all the waters of the world, and created him red, black, and white; and breathed into his nostrils the inspiration of life, and there was in the body of Adam the inspiration of a speaking spirit, unto the il-lumination of the eyes and the hearing of the ears. – (Targum Pseudo-Jonathan) Many people live their lives with very little understanding of their eternal identity. We have the DNA of God who created us for His purpose and plan. We did not come on our own or designed ourselves into being most intelligent and valuable life on Earth. Nor did we evolve from soup of chemical or monkey. We are clearly and cleverly designed by almighty God. Our Creator has revealed Himself and His purpose for His Creation in the pages of Holy Bible. Therefore, this life is a preparation for our permanent home in heaven.

Michael Huffington who is a former Congressman, activist, film producer said in his post; “I became an Orthodox Christian after spending time in a monastery in Greece, and I joined a church that became my home away from home. And on the back wall of that church was an

Call: (07) 3192 5188

www.indiantimes.com

THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 15

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shivaji is revered as a national hero in India who opposed the tyranny of autocratic rulers during the seventeenth century.

He embodied the valour of Samrat Chandragupta and strategies of his mentor Chanakya of ancient India. Shivaji established an independent Maratha kingdom with its capital at Raigad in Maharashtra.

Shivaji’s grandfather Maloji was an influential general of Ahmadnagar kingdom. He was granted a fiefdom over an area around modern Pune that included the Shivner fort.

Shivaji’s father Shahaji followed his father in the service of Ahmadnagar.

Shivaji’s mother Jijabai was the daughter of a wealthy landowner and a loyal noble of Ahmadnagar, Lakhoji.

Shahaji and Jijabai were married at an early age and had a son named Sambhaji.

After collapse of Ahmadnagar, Shahaji joined the army of Adilshah, the king of Bijapur. Adilshah reaffirmed his fiefdom over the area granted to his father

by Ahmadnagar.

Shahaji fought against Mughals during their attack on the Bijapur kingdom around the area under his control. When the situation became indefensible, he moved to the capital Bijapur, leaving behind his pregnant wife Jijabai in the Shivner fort, which was maintained by his loyal retainers.

Jijabai was a religious woman and worshipped goddess Shivai in the temple located in the fort. When her son was born, she named him Shivaji in expectation of getting divine protection for her son. Shivaji was born in the Shivner fort on 19th February 1630. Some sources mention different dates of birth.

Shivaji spent his childhood away from his father in the Shivner fort where his mother was solely responsible for his upbringing. Both mother and son lived in constant fear of arrest by marauding Mughal forces.

Jijabai was familiar with the stories from ancient Indian texts such as the Ramayan, Mahabharat and others. She used to recount inspiring stories from these texts to child Shivaji infusing in him a sense of hope. He learnt about the deeds of ageless heroes, their courage, and the inevitability of victory of virtue over evils.

Mughal forces were always in search of Jijabai and Shivaji’s whereabouts, to arrest and use them as hostages to demand Shahaji’s surrender. They succeeded in capturing Jijabai but Shivaji escaped with the help of loyal servants. He lived under his retainers’ protection in hiding among his sympathisers.

During this period Shivaji came in contact with many residents of his fiefdom who had been expelled from their homes and were living in forests and hills due to fear of enemy soldiers.

After a protracted conflict

between Mughals and Adilshah, a peace treaty was signed between them. The treaty allowed Shahaji’s fief to remain inside the Bijapur kingdom. Shivaji was united with his mother. Shahaji brought Shivaji and Jijabai to Bijapur. He hoped to engage Shivaji in the service of Adilshah.

Shahaji took Shivaji to Adilshah’s court to pay respect to the king and familiarise his son with the court’s etiquette.

Shivaji was briefed about approaching and saluting the monarch. When Shivaji was presented before Adilshah, he offered his respect by placing joined palms near his chin as he had seen people in his region greet their elders.

The king and courtiers took offence. His father could not sway Shivaji to follow the Islamic court manners.

While living in Bijapur, Shivaji noticed a cow being dragged away by a butcher for slaughtering. He objected to such treatment of cows, which were considered sacred by local Indians. He organised a public protest against cow-slaughter.

Shahaji felt his own position threatened by Shivaji’s behaviour and actions. He came to believe that Shivaji’s temperament was not conducive to servicing the Muslim monarch. He sent his wife Jijabai and son Shivaji back to his ancestral estate. He appointed Dadaji Kondadev, a learned scholar as Shivaji’s tutor and steward.

Pune was the main village of Shivaji’s ancestral domain.

When the last Mughal forces had passed that way, their commander ordered all the walls in the village to be destroyed. The land was flattened, the foundations of houses were tilled with ploughs harnessed with asses and an iron rod was planted in the village centre.

When Dadaji arrived at that place with Shivaji and Jijabai, he dug up the iron rod and threw it away. He had the site tilled with white oxen drawing a plough made of pure gold. Consecrated water was sprinkled on the land to purify it. Dadaji built

16 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

a mansion for Shivaji and his mother on the banks of the River Muta. It was named Rang Mahal, the colourful palace. Old residents of the village were invited to settle nearby. In time, Pune became a prosperous town.

Dadaji loved Shivaji as his son. He taught him strategies of war, and practical skills including horse riding, using arms and war games, considered necessary for protection of his subjects. He also taught him the art of administration.

Shivaji met saints Ramdas and Tukaram, who were well known for their spirituality during this period. Their teachings influenced Shivaji in understanding his role in protecting his people, religion and motherland.

Shivaji visited the surrounding hills and forests and became familiar with the local topography, and traditions and aspirations of local people.

Shivaji came to realise that powerful foreigners with strange traditions subjugated the leaderless local population and violated their customs and religion. He decided that the foreigners’ dominance had to be opposed and destroyed. This could be achieved through a united use of force and strategy.

He organised the local hills men and indoctrinated them with the idea of freedom from foreign occupants of their region. He trained them and created a fighting force, which was small in number but very mobile and dedicated to his cause.

Shivaji started his career of conquest at an early age by capturing outlying forts of Bijapur kingdom. He initially conquered the fort of Torna and thereafter, forts in Kondana and Purandar without using force, but with the use of stratagem.

After Dadaji’s death, he took full control of his father’s estate. Later he attacked and took possession of Kalyan in the Konkan region. Adilshah became irritated by Shivaji’s actions.

He imprisoned Shahaji, assuming his connivance with his son’s

actions. Shivaji approached the Mughal viceroy of the region and with his influence had Shahaji released from prison. For next six years, Shivaji consolidated his possessions.

Shivaji resumed his conquest in 1656, and adopting different strategies subdued powerful feudal lords and captured forts belonging to Bijapur.

The monarch was annoyed at his losses to Shivaji and sent Afzal Khan, a mighty general, to subdue Shivaji.

Afzal Khan was arrogant and disrespectful to local traditions. On his way to start war against Shivaji, he desecrated a number of temples and holy sites.

Shivaji had moved to Pratapgad fort. Afzal Khan surrounded the fort but was unable to defeat him. The battle reached a stalemate.

Afzal Khan devised a plan to meet Shivaji in private on the pretext of negotiating an amicable solution. Considering his past behaviours and actions, Shivaji remained suspicious of Afzal Khan’s intentions but consented to meet him on mutually agreed conditions.

Shivaji wore armour beneath his clothes and concealed a metal Baghnakha, tiger claw, and a dagger.

Afzal Khan was a physically strong man. When they met, Afzal Khan embraced Shivaji aggressively, held him by the neck and tried to stab him.

Shivaji sensed his villainous actions and tore his body with Baghnakha. Afzal Khan was killed and his army was routed.

The captured enemy, both officers and men, were set free and sent back to their homes with money, food and other gifts. Shivaji’s forces were rewarded accordingly.

Captured women were safely returned to their relatives.

Following his success over Afzal Khan, Shivaji captured many other forts and areas of Bijapur kingdom.

Shivaji now directed his attention to liberating the areas under control of Mughals. His officers raided the Mughal territory near

Ahmadnagar and Junnar and carried off booty.

Mughal emperor Aurangzeb sent his maternal uncle Shaista Khan with a huge army to attack Shivaji.

Shaista Khan seized Pune and established his residence at Shivaji’s palace Rang Mahal. Shivaji along with a group of men entered the town in disguise of a wedding party and gained access to the Khan’s compound. There they attacked Shaista Khan.

He escaped loosing only three fingers from a sword attack but many of his soldiers were killed.

In retaliation for Shaista Khan’s invasion, Shivaji attacked Surat, a port city with thriving business activities.

Many European businesses including Dutch, Portuguese, French and British had their factories and warehouses in Surat. It was a major source of revenue for the Mughals. forces carried away a lot of wealth to replenish his depleted treasury.

Aurangzeb was enraged and sent Raja Jai Singh to defeat Shivaji. Jai Singh was persistent and effective in attacking Shivaji’s forces.

Shivaji’s position became vulnerable and he consented to sign the Treaty of Purandar.

Shivaji agreed to relinquish 23 of his forts, keeping 12 for himself, and pay compensation to the Mughals.

Jai Singh persuaded Shivaji to visit the Mughal court in Agra. He held personal responsibility for his safety. Shivaji had a son named Sambhaji by his first wife Saibai. Shivaji along with his son travelled to Agra.

In Agra, he was treated poorly and practically became a prisoner.

He did not lose hope and devised a plan to escape from Agra. He fell ill and did not improve with medicines. He started to send baskets of sweets for distribution among Brahmins and poor for their blessing in the hope of a cure.

Initially, sentries routinely inspected the baskets, but later they allowed them to be sent without checking the contents of the baskets.

Shivaji and his son escaped

from their residence in the sweet baskets, with the help of trusted basket carriers.

Travelling through Mathura, Kashi, Gaya, shores of the Bay of Bengal and Central India, Shivaji reached Raigad, the fort under his control.

After Shivaji’s escape, another Mughal commander Jaswant Singh was sent to fight him. However, he became an intermediary between Aurangzeb and Shivaji for negotiation of a peace proposal. Aurangzeb conferred the title of Raja to Shivaji and his son Sambhaji was restored as a Mughal Mansabdar. However, the peace did not last long as Aurangzeb did not stick to the agreed terms.

Shivaji attacked Surat again and also defeated Mughals and Bijapur forces in subsequent battles. He had acquired a large tract of land but he lacked a title of the king.

Shivaji was crowned the king of Maratha territories on 6th June 1674 at Raigad fort.

Priest Ganga Bhatt of Kashi officiated the ritual. After the ceremony, Shivaji bowed before his mother and touched her feet. Shivaji was entitled Chhatrapati, paramount sovereign and Maharaj, the great king. Shivaji’s mother Jijabai was over eighty years of age. She died soon after the crowning ceremony. A second coronation was held on 24 September 1674 to allay any suspicion of bad omen.

Shivaji continued expansion of his kingdom by capturing more territories.

He entered into a treaty with Golconda sultanate and jointly opposed the Mughals.

Shivaji seized the forts of Vellore and Gingee.

In late March 1680, Shivaji fell ill with fever and dysentery and died on 3rd April. Shivaji established the Maratha kingdom by carving out areas from powerful monarchs of the time. After Shivaji’s death, his son Sambhaji and then another son Rajaram from his second wife Soyarabai, became king.

A grandson of Shivaji and son of Sambhaji named Shahu ruled the Maratha empire from1707 to 1749. At its peak, the Maratha Empire extended from Tamil Nadu in the south to Peshawar in the north, and Bengal in the east to Arabian Sea in the west.

Shivaji used Marathi, the language of his region, as his court language. He stressed on following Hindu political and courtly traditions. His administration was aligned with the ancient Hindu form of governance. He realised the importance of naval forces and established navy along coastlines of his kingdom.

He was a proud Hindu but was liberal and tolerant to other religions. Shivaji allowed Muslims to practice their religion freely and supported them with endowments.

Shivaji has become an inspiration for modern India.

His statues and monuments can be found all over India.

—Awadhesh Sharma

How three decades of pain for John Coates

drove Brisbane's bid for 2032 Olympic Games Contd. from pg 01

At the time, Coates was adept at navigating the domestic sports scene but may have been a little green when it came to IOC politics.

What he has learned in the years since turned the 1992 loss into a potential 2032 victory for Brisbane.

The only way the city can fail now is if the State or Federal governments renege on their early promises to commit to the delivery of the Games.

"I had become a vicepresident of the AOC in 1985," Coates told The Ticket from Brisbane this week.

"I left my legal practice to come and work for (then-Brisbane lord mayor) Sallyanne Atkinson and run the Brisbane bid for '92.

"I moved my family up here in late '86 — the two kids at the time, another one a week away, and we came up here and I worked with Brisbane for the last year [of the bid].

Spaniard Juan Antonio Samaranch was the IOC president at the time of the bid.

"Obviously we weren't going to do better than a Samaranch-led Barcelona and a very strong Paris [bid]," Coates said.

"But we learned a lot, which was then carried over for Melbourne and then Sydney."

While Melbourne lost to Atlanta in the race for the 1996 Olympics, Sydney beat Beijing 45-43 in the votes to win the right to host the 2000 Games.

But that success did not diminish Coates's sense of unfinished business for Brisbane.

It would be wrong to think any decision taken or appointment made on Coates's part since was anything less than strategic.

Even before his appointment as an IOC member in 2001, he had become one of the Olympic movement's most-listenedto voices as both AOC president and a rising power inside ICAS, where he had been a founding member since it was established in 1994.

In 2009, Coates became a member of the IOC's executive board. A year later, he was named ICAS president.

He became an IOC vicepresident for the first time in 2013 and was appointed chair of the coordination commission for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

In 2014, he was appointed chair of the IOC's Legal Affairs Commission and in the following year Call: (07) 3192 5188

well-developed bid — perfectly suited to a new selection process — as a masterstroke. Those in other bid nations were caught out.

Questions will no doubt be asked.

"People can't cry foul about it," Coates said.

"It's what I learned in Brisbane about the IOC and …

I was very badly hurt by us losing, I thought we'd do better." met with South-East Queensland's Council of Mayors regarding a future Olympic bid.

In the years since, Coates chaired the Working Group for Future Games Elections, which decided on the new model of selection.

Cities interested in hosting the Games enter into a "dialogue" with the IOC, followed by a recommendation to move one bid city forward for "targeted dialogue" before "final negotiations" and a rubber-stamping "election" — where the only remaining city is put to a vote of IOC members to show their support.

This week, Brisbane's rivals were surprised when the IOC announced its Future Host Commission recommended only Brisbane be invited to the next phase.

Bids from Qatar, Germany, Hungary and Indonesia were nowhere near the level of development that had gone into Brisbane's bid and they are now left to consider whether they will remain in contention for the 2036 Olympics.

"There should be acknowledgement that … the AOC and the Brisbane City Council and the Council of Mayors started looking at this in 2015," Coates said.

Change of plans When IOC president Thomas Bach visited Australia in 2015, he met with then-prime minister Tony Abbott, South-East Queensland's Council of Mayors representatives and others to float the idea of a Brisbane Games.

"Ours was originally a bid for 2028," Coates said.

"When Los Angeles was given that 11 years out, then we moved our focus to 2032.

"At the same time, the IOC changed its rules to say you don't have to be one city, you can have a region, you can have a couple of

cities, so this is a bid that has a footprint over SouthEast Queensland from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane and down to the Gold Coast.

"The way the new procedure works is that you move from being an interested party … to a targeted dialogue during which period you exclusively deal with the IOC to provide them with the answers to their questionnaires.

"The governments would give the various undertakings and guarantees, things that the Commonwealth government does regularly for big international events.

"If you comply with all of that, and if that's all sweet, then the IOC looks at that and at that point they will or will not make a recommendation to the full

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IOC session for a vote.

"The IOC session could be as early as Tokyo [in June]."

The question was asked why Brisbane cannot just be announced the winner now, since it would seem almost impossible to lose a vote in what is essentially a one-horse race.

"In everything the IOC does, you have to get 50 per cent," Coates explained.

"So, Thomas Bach will stand for re-election in the session in March but there still has to be 50 per cent who support him."

And no doubt there will be.

In the same way, Brisbane can be confident of getting more than 50 per cent of the vote. Bucking the system is not the done thing at the IOC. Those in Australia might regard Brisbane's

Cost savings a priority Under the "new norm" Olympic Games Delivery Executive Steering Committee, which Coates has chaired since 2017, the IOC wants bids that can show reduced costs, using already-built facilities, and no white elephants.

"The IOC now doesn't want to see cities wasting money, they want to see cities using existing venues and if those venues are spread out a bit over a number of cities, and they're existing and you can make do with supplementing them with temporary [venues] then that's a better system," Coates said.

Lessons have also been learned from Tokyo, where savings were found by the IOC's coordination commission — chaired by Coates — in order to lessen the explosion of the budget following the year-long postponement because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We call it the Tokyo model," Coates said.

"When we realised that the postponement and COVID were going to cost the Japanese a lot extra, we separately then together sat down and identified something like 273 possible initiatives to reduce the cost of the Games.

"We didn't implement all of them, we still found I think something like another $280 million [in savings] or something like that.

"I chair this new norm commission and we're continuing to look at the lessons from Tokyo and there will be lessons for Brisbane.

"I very much look forward to sitting down and having a go at the budget we've got at the moment from the bottom up with the IOC's financial people and the Games department, and I back myself and the IOC to find a lot of savings."

Those with experience would be foolish not to back him.

Coates sees Brisbane 2032 as part of his legacy for many years of Olympic involvement.

"I am very, very anxious to finish my work up here and deliver these Games," he said.

It appears he already has.

THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 17

Matri-Pitri Poojan Diwas (Parents’ Worship Day) was celebrated across Australia on 14th Feb

The holy pledge of H.H. Sant Shri Asharam Ji Bapu to celebrate Matri-Pitri Poojan Diwas across the world is becoming true.

‘Matridevo Bhava; Pitridevo Bhava’ – Regard your mother as a god; regard your father as a god.

The Shiva -Purana states that who circumambulates parents, will certainly derive the fruit and merit of circumambulating the earth. Mother is the embodiment of all pilgrimages and father is the embodiment of all deities. He who reveres them becomes venerable himself.

Lord Ganesha worshipped His Parents; so, he is the foremost god to be worshipped. He worshipped his parents and became revered by the world. Whoever sings the Aarti of parents, God and Guru with devotion; he becomes selfrestrained and he becomes righteous in conduct.

Matri Pitri Poojan Diwas (MPPD) also called Matru Pitru Pujan Divas is a festival which was initiated by His Holiness Sant Shri Asaram Bapu Ji. Pujya Bapu Ji had addressed the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago in September 1993, that was 100 years after Swami Vivekananda addressed the same parliament in September 1893. To save the youth who are being ruined due to the lustful festivals like valentine’s day, in 2006 Pujya Bapu Ji initiated celebrations of Matri-Pitri Pujan Diwas (Parents worship day) on 14th February.

On this day, children from all religions worship their parents and seek their blessings by offering them tilak, garland and worship them like a god.

This festival makes a real bond between children and parents and to imbibe good values like respect, obedience and humility in children. In several states in India like Maharashtra, Haryana, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Valentine's Day has been officially renamed as Matri-Pitri Pujan Diwas and is celebrated in schools, parks and temples where children seek the blessings from their parents.

Matri-Pitri Poojan Diwas is celebrated across the globe on 14th February each year.

In Australia, this event was organized by Shri Yog Vedant Sewa Samiti Australia. The event was celebrated with great spirit and fervour in Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney.

In Sydney and Melbourne, free Tulsi plants [Holy basil - Ocimum tenuiflorum] were also distributed along with a yoga session in Sydney. Both the

parents and the kids were seen happy and emotional after this event with their eyes filled with tears of emotions. Parents expressed that they are feeling much closer to the kids. The kids realized that the parent’s love is the only true love. All the attendees were so impressed with this approximately 30 minutes long Vedic celebration of real love that representatives of many other organizations requested Shri Yog Vedant Sewa Samiti to organize this event at other places also in future.

Pujya Bapu Ji always said that love is innocent. Love unites us with God. Love unites us with Allah. Love is the name of the Supreme Being. You may call Him Allah, God or Bhagwan. The name of Supreme Bliss, Supreme Consciousness is love. He only is the real being of Rama, Rahim and God. The humanity welfare lies in it only. The true feelings of love will do good to not only India but the entire Humanity.

Passion and lust give a bad name to love. There is a big difference between love and lust. Lust is centered in the lower Chakras. It gives rise to sexual excitement; and thoughtless gratification of desires. Pure & pious love is centered in the upper Chakras of human body. It gives eternal joy and makes one thoughtful.

Not only the people of the India, but may the whole humanity be saved from the attack of sexualization (of the society).

May the whole humanity go on the path of self- restraint and virtue to live a healthy, happy and honourable life; may good come to the whole world: because this broad mindedness) is what we have inherited.

To know more about His Divine Holiness Bapu Ji, please watch this video AND search “Mangalmay live” on google. https://bit.ly/2uZvJuN To get a free copy of monthly spiritual magazine Rishi-Prasad in your mailbox in Australia or to get free online subscription of RishiPrasad, please contact by email at bskamd@gmail.com or by WhatsApp/phone to Ashok Attri and Anu Attri at +61 426 834 434 & +61 405 277 802.

Please read more about our Vedic culture in the next issue of ‘The Brisbane Indian Times.’

18 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

Indian Seniors Citizens Association Inc elects new committee

It was 10th April 1999 when the original idea for the formation of ISCA was mooted. It is pleasing to see that some twenty-two years on the association is flourishing with many founding members still actively furthering the objectives of the association.

Respected Mr Rajendra Prasad was the first

president.

On 7th January 2021, ISCA held its annual general meeting and the new committee was duly elected.

The members of the newly elected committee are: President - Tirath Achal Vice Presidents - Ram Sumer and Shakuntala Mohan Secretary Rohani

Prasad, email (sec19isca@ gmail.com) Treasurer - Rajendra Prasad Publicity Officer Roshni Sharma Assistant Secretary Asha Maharaj Assistant Treasurer Parshottam Lodhia Committee Members -

Lalta Prasad, Nirmala Deo and Ram Swarat Over the years ISCA has been very active and has held many functions and event and members have participated in many official function and events including Premiers reception for the Indian Community.

With Covid 19 restriction

activities had been limited, but now they have planned International Women’s Day celebration on 14th Of March at Runcorn Heights State School Hall. The vent will be attended by Duncan Pegg MP., Councillor Kim Marx and Special guest of honour will be Mrs Archana Singh Honorary Consul for India in Queensland.

Main objectives of ISCA are; Seniors welfare, social interactions, community support and healthy lifestyle.

Indian Senior Citizen Association had their annual Hawan Yaag on the 20th Feb 2021 at the residence of Pundit Suresh Sharma. We wish the newly elected committee all the best.

Tree plantation by Sant Nirankari Mission

“Let everyone plant trees in your family and nourish them to receive gift from nature”.

Nirankari Mission (Universal Brotherhood) - Brisbane displayed its commitment again, this time on its Bhawan @ 17, Rolleston St. Keperra Qld, Australia, towards welfare of local community and environment by enthusiastically participating in the Tree Plantation.

With the blessings of Satguru Mata Sudiksha ji Maharaj, a Tree plantation was held today (28th Feb, 2021) by the devotees of Sant Nirankari Mission, Brisbane Branch. This was a tribute to Baba Hardev Singh ji Maharaj on his 67th Birth Anniversary on 23rd February, 2021.

Thanks to everyone.

Sant

Call: (07) 3192 5188

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 19

Bal Vikas Resumes at Gayatri Mandir Society of Queensland takes great pride in resuming Bal Vikas classes, conducted by volunteer teachers. We are astounded, once again,

Hindu

by the huge interest shown towards this initiative.

Bal Vikas is a weekly programme that focuses on delivering a balanced learning in oral and

written beginners level Hindi Language, Art and Culture.

The programme encompasses speaking, reading and writing Hindi.

The Bal Vikas term coincides

Teacher Mrs Nirmala Shandil with the Bal Vikas Group 2021

with Queensland school terms. The classes are held at Gayatri Mandir, 178 Lyndhurst Road, Boondall from 9.30 am to 11.00 every Sunday. This is a free

service run by the temple to encourage and promote awareness of Hindi language and Culture.

Many thanks to all the teachers, parents and

organisers who facilitate our Bal Vikas programme.

All enquiries to President: Anita Ram 0452504502 ; Liaison Officer Neelima Chand 0405409156

The day begins with Prayer recital by the students

Upcoming Events at Gayatri Mandir

Maha Shivratri: 3 days Shiv Katha March 9 to March 11 Maha Prasad provided daily For Shiva Ling Abhishek pre-book via Facebook, or contact us on 0468385585 For donation or sponsorship, please contact Treasurer Anit Ram on 0452470467 Holi Festival: 3 April Ram Naumi : 13 April to 21 April

Brisbane Bhakti Yog Inc celebrates 100th Anniversary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja ji

WILLAWONG, on 21st February Brisbane Bhakti Yog Inc celebrated the 100th anniversary of Srila Bhaktivedanta Narayana Gosvami Maharaja ji. The event was held at Arya Pratinidhi Sanga Hall 198 Learoyd Road Willawong from 10 am.

Srila Narayana Maharaja was born in a village named Tewaripur located near the bank of the sacred Ganges river in Bihar, India. The area was renowned for being the place where Lord Ramacandra and Visvamitra Muni came and killed the Taraka demon. He was born

on the Amavasya (new moon) day 7th February 1921, into a very religious Trivedi brahmana family.

Throughout his childhood he had many opportunities to regularly accompany his father when he would go to attend kirtana and pravachan assemblies.

In February of 1947 he had his first meeting with his Gurudeva in Sri Navadvipa Dhama, West Bengal. He had traveled there from his village after meeting a disciple of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura named Srila Narottamananda Brahmacari, who was

20 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

touring and preaching the message of Sri Caitanyadeva in the area.

After initial discussions with this devotee, he was convinced of the paramount position of the philosophy given by the acaryas in the line of Srila Rupa Gosvami Prabhupada, and within days he left home to join the mission of his spiritual master and surrender his life.

When he arrived in Sri Navadvipa Dhama, the annual parikrama was under way and he joined with the group.

Upon its completion on Gaura-purnima, he was

given both harinama and gayatri initiations by Srila Kesava Maharaja and received the name Sri Gaura Narayana.

Very soon afterward, his Gurudeva also awarded him the title of Bhaktabandhava, which means "friend of the devotees," because he was always serving all the Vaisnavas in a very pleasing manner.

He travelled extensively along with Srila Kesava Maharaja in preaching tours throughout India over the next five years, and in 1952, on Gaura-purnima, his beloved Gurudeva

awarded him initiation into the sacred order of sannyasa. In 1954 Srila Kesava Maharaja posted him in charge of the newly opened temple in Mathura named Sri Kesavaji Gaudiya Matha.

Srila Narayana Maharaja began to spend part of the year in Mathura and the other part in Bengal, carrying on extensive services in both areas. This went on over the period of the next fourteen years.

He was also appointed by Srila Kesava Maharaja as vice-president of his institution, the Sri Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti and Editor-in-Chief of its

Hindi publications and the monthly magazine Sri Bhagavat Patrika. In 1968 Srila Kesava Maharaja passed from this world, and Srila Narayana Maharaja performed all the necessary ceremonial rituals for his samadhi burial.

The hundredth anniversary celebration included live bhajans and delightful acts, the children’s act was very good, and they brought their perspective of innocence into the play.

After Aarthi, prasad and Maha prasad was served in the adjacent dining area.

Mozeema Weds Sam in a

Dreamstyle wedding setting

Mozeema Abdul (Bride) & Sam Wallace (Groom)

Mozeema Abdul (Bride) & Sam Wallace (Groom) Mozeema Abdul (Bride), Shabnam Abdul (Bride’s Mother), Usha Chandra and Umesh Chandra OAM

Shabnam Abdul (mother) & Pinky Singh

Bride & broom with bridesmaids & groomemen The Nikhah ceremony of Mozeema Abdul, daughter of Shabnam and Samad Abdul of Dreamstyle decorators to Sam Wallace took place on 13th February. It’s safe to say that without this ceremony, the marriage technically does not exist! The Nikah, in Pakistani/Indian culture or Katb El-Kitab in the Middle East, is the Islamic marriage ceremony that is of utmost spiritual importance.

The couple sit in the presence of a Muslim cleric along with two witnesses for both groom and bride.

Verses from the Quran are read on the vital obligations for their marriage. Think of it like a “for sickness or for health, for better or for poor” type of exchange. A Dua (prayer) is recited and both parties are required to agree to the marriage.

An elaborate wedding reception was held at “lightspace” in the valley.

Shabnam and Sam are well known names when it comes to function and events they are a very popular event decorators, so they are well known everyone in the industry, so they had sourced the best dholi, DJ, Mc, venue, caterers, dancers and yes decorators.

Needless to say, the event was a Dreamstyle success, wishing the newly weds all the best in their wedded live.

Bride’s Family (Malisha, Shabnam, Mozeema, Samad, Waseem) Call: (07) 3192 5188

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 21

Arya Samaj Queensland

BRAHMANAS ARE NOT VEDAS

Jitendra Deo President ASQ As time passed, people neglected the study of the Vedas and began to study the Brahmanas and the Upanishads and held that the later contained the

The Havan Yaj Satsangh is

specially held for prosperity and wellbeing as there is so much suffering and people are losing lives due to COVID. There is devastation in many parts of the world like cyclones, flooding etc.

Let us join hands and pray to almighty for his mercy upon us.

Hence our Samaj is organising Havan Satsangh/ Yaj from Sunday March 7th till Thursday March 11th.

The Sunday program will be from 3.30pm till 4.30pm.

Monday March 8 till

essence of the Vedas. A time came when the Vedas were practically forgotten and their place as the final authority was taken by the Brahmanas and the Upanishads, so much so that when an appeal had to be made for authority for any belief or practice, quotations from the Brahmanas and the Upanishads were cited.

But the distinction between the Vedas and the other two remained, because: 1. Nobody ever claimed the authorship of the Veda for himself. The Vedas, were and are still held to be Apaurusheya, i.e., not manmade.

Thursday March 11 will be from 7pm till 8pm. Dinner will be served after Havan.

Due to current COVID restrictions the numbers are limited to 50 so please RSVP me on either 0411 798 012 or email me so I can keep the numbers under 50.

We will also be Having Zoom so people from overseas and interstates can join us via ZOOM. The event will also be live on Facebook from 7pm till 8pm.

Havan Yaj is a scientific process and it cleans the

22 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

2.

The language of the Vedas is the divinely revealed Vedic language, and not the classical Sanskrit like that of the Brahmanas and the Upanishads.

3.

The Vedas were revealed in the beginning of the creation. Even those, who do not believe in revelation, do admit that the Vedas are the oldest books in the library of mankind and even those who hold the Brahmanas to be the Vedas, admit that the Brahmanas are of a later date than the Samhitas. They also admit that while the Vedas were divinely revealed, the Brahmanas were composed by human beings, i.e., by

spiritually advanced men, known as Rishies or Munies.

As a matter of fact, the Brahmanas are the glosses on the Vedas and are the products of human intellect, and not the works of God. The Brahmanas contain narratives of the event of human history while the Vedas, being the revelation in the beginning of the creation arc free from historical or geographical references and proper names.

The Brahmanas arc commentaries on the Vedas. They quote Mantras from the Vedas and then comment on them and give their expositions. And commentaries cannot be

environment and also by performing Havan at home purifies the home environment. The Havan Yaj is also is held via ZOOM meeting where we are connecting with members all over the globe and livestreamed on Facebook.

The Livestream is very popular, and thousands of people join us and view the videos. This is making a very good impact on our wider society.

The Virtual Ved Prachaar has been part of our monthly program where we

invite Acharya’s from India and talk on specific topic.

Last three Ved Prachaar was full of information and we all learnt a lot. The Ved Prachaar is held via ZOOM meeting and livestreamed on Facebook.

Arya Samaj Queensland Inc has a website and all the details of performing Havan is provided. The Havan mantra’s in Hindi and English , utensils and ingredients required has been uploaded on the Arya Samaj Queensland website www.

held to be parts of the texts they explain, nor can they enjoy the same status as the texts they comment on.

VEDIC LORES Rig Ved I glorify god, who is selfeffulgent, the high priest of cosmic activities, the one who works through eternal laws, who invokes my soul and harnesses material energy in the form of fire, electricity etc., who is the well-wisher of all, who imparts wisdom to all great deeds in a spirit of sacrifice, who grants happiness in all seasons, who is giver of beautiful pleasures and bestower of splendid wealth,

aryasamajqueensland.org.

The files are downloadable and has full procedure for Dainik Yaj( Daily Havan Yaj). Our Facebook page Arya Samaj Queensland has the video where the Havan is explained and performed to make it easier for people. Please visit website and Facebook page for further details or you can contact me on 0411 798 012. We urge people to perform Yaj for their wellbeing.

We urge people to perform Havan if you can,

material as well as spiritual.

Rig. 1.90.8 May our lands he green with crops, vegetables medicinal herbs and trees; be sweet and happiness giving. May the sun and our inner vital air be producers of blissful strength? May our cows, senses, rays of the sun and land be laden with honey showering bliss? (cont. in next issue) Please contact President: Jitendra Deo 3273 3029 or Secretary: Sunil Dutt 5613 3410 for information on activities of Arya Samaj Queensland or log on: www. aryasamajqueensland.org/ Facebook Arya Samaj Qld

do Yoga and meditation and look after yourselves. You can visit www.yogguru.com. au for information of Yoga and meditation.

Please contact President: Jitendra Deo via phone:0411 798 012 or email: asq. president@gmail.com and if you wish to join ZOOM Havan and Satsangh the session is for 60 minutes.

You can send email or PM in the messenger (Arya Samaj Queensland) or we have WhatsApp group as well and I will send you the link.

Queensland Multicultural Council Inc observes 13th Anniversary of National Apology Day

KINGSTON, Queensland Multicultural Inc. on 12th February 2021 held a morning tea function to commemorate the 13th anniversary of National apology day and to honour the stolen generation.

The commemoration was held at Gould Adams Community Centre in Kingston.

The venue secured by Aunty Janeth Deen OAM was provided by

Access community Centre.

Aunty Betty MacGrady, a long-standing member and current treasurer of Queensland Multicultural Council was the event coordinator.

She began the proceeding with the formal acknowledgment of indigenous elders Umesh Chandra OAM, president of Queensland Multicultural Council welcomed everyone to the

morning tea and provided and overview of the event.

Tamara Mcgrady was the keynote speaker and she provided a youth perspective and spoke via a lived experience on what it meant for her.

Dr Asti Mardiasmo had arranged for the sponsored refreshments from Sendok Garpu Indonesian Restaurant. Mok Sandhu delivered a vote of thanks.

On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd publically apologised, on behalf of the Federal Government, to the Stolen Generations – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities by successive colonial and Australian governments.

The Stolen Generations

refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly moved from their families and communities as children The National Apology made in Federal Parliament on 13 February 2008 was a landmark event, as the first formal, national recognition of past atrocities and a first step towards restitution.

It was a significant event for members of the Stolen Generations and their families, the wider Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and other Australians.

Many Stolen Generations members felt that their pain and suffering was acknowledged and that the nation understood the need to right the wrongs of the past.

Queensland Sangeet Mela Association Annual General Meeting and Classical Concert Gravatt East, Queensland Sangeet Mela Association held its classical concert and annual general meeting on 27th February at Finnish Hall, Newham Road, Mount Gravatt East. The concert was free for members and joining members.

The concert was a soldout success, it began by table solo by Arun Pillai, Arun is one of the senior students of Shen Flindell. He recently completed his PRSSV Grade 8 tabla exam and is the recipient of the inaugural Ashu Babu Memorial Tabla School Scholarship.

Currently 15 years old, Arun is very excited about his future in tabla.

He was accompanied on harmonium by Nikhil Deo, who is currently undertaking his Bachelor of Music degree at the Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University under Graeme Jennings on Viola and Mattias Lower in Opera. He found his passion for music through studying harmonium and tabla at the age of 5, studying with his father.

He later went on to study tabla under Shen Flindell, completing his 6th Grade PRSSV exam in 2013. He then found his base in Western Classical music, Mt

Call: (07) 3192 5188

performing in various orchestras around Brisbane.

He has also conducted Queensland Youth Orchestra 2, Young Conservatorium String Orchestra and various small projects with Griffith University. Nikhil now enjoys a life as a performer in both Indian and Western classical music.

The main performance of the nigh was a Bansuri Solo br Darshil Shah , a financial Advisor by the day and Musician by heart, Darshil has been learning and playing Bansuri since 2002. Based in Brisbane, Australia since 2009, Darshil has a dream of passing on the legacy of the Ancient Indian Classical Music to cross-cultural communities and next generation of musicians. Born and brought up in Mumbai, he has had the privilege of learning

music from some of the best Bansuri Players from Maihar Gharana (Lineage).

Darshil was a featured artist at Sangeet Mela 2019.

Darshil was accompanied on table by Shen Flindell, since being initiated into the Benares Gharana of tabla by one of the great old masters of the style in 1994, Shen Flindell has grown to become one of Australia's leading tabla players.

He is the accompanist of choice for Indian classical artists visiting Brisbane and performs in several fusion groups including Tibet2Timbuk2 and Spirit of Bhakti. He is best known for his beautiful sound and supportive accompaniment and has released 6 CDs ranging from Indian classical bansuri to Tibetan world fusion. Shen loves bringing people together to unite

through music, whether it's playing with his many young students or collaborating with top musicians from around the world.

After the concert the AGM was conducted whereby the current committee was re-

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elected to serve for another term. The committee is made up of President – Umesh Chandra OAM, Secretary – Sanjeev Hiremath, Treasurer- Robert Beckerton, committee members – Shen Flindell and Guru Dutt .

Jesinthan ketheeswaran was appointed as youth representative on the committee. The AGM noted that classical concerts should begin with acknowledgment of Maa Saraswati and respect for Guru ji.

THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 23

Who, What, Where, When...

Baha’i Faith celebrates the 100 years of Australian Baha’i community at Queensland Parliament House

Sunnybank Chamber of commerce celebrates Lunar New Year in style at Queensland Parliament House

Guests enjoying the nine-course dinner while President Freya Ostapovitch introduces her hard working team

Acknowledgment of the traditional owners of the land at Queensland Chinese forum lunar New Year Celebration in speakers Green, Queensland Parliament house.

Radio 4EB team at Queensland Chinese Forum function at Parliament house.

Councillor Steven Huang leads Lord Mayor and other councillors with lunar New year wishes and blessings 24 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

Deputy Premier Steven Miles MP with Umesh Chandra OAM, Peter Low OAM, Vera Pottgr, and Jeannie Mok OAM

Lion Dance to mark the auspicious occasion of Chinese New Year

Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress with Dr Cuong Bui , Dr Kim Bui and Umesh Chandra OAM

Who, What, Where, When...

17,000 Queenslanders walked together to raise more than $1 million for the Mater Chicks in Pink who provide vital support services for people battling breast cancer.

Divine creation of Maa Saraswati at Bengali Society of Queensland’s Sarraswati Pooja

Introduction of the dedicated team

Members of Bengali Society of Queensland enjoying the delightful cultural items during Saraswati Pooja

Talented members of Bengali Society of Queensland stage a play on Satyajit Ray

Special lunch in honour of Order of Australia Medal awardees at Kedron Wavell RSL Call: (07) 3192 5188

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 25

Saraswati Pooja at Shree Vishnu Maya Mandir MACLEAN, Shree Vishnu Maya Mandir hosted a grand celebration of Saraswati Pooja on 21/02/2021.

During the pooja, Pt. Raj Kumar Mishra Ji & Mr. Ram Harakh Maharaj Ji were honoured by his Holiness Dharam Guru Acharya Pt Ram Harsh Tripathi Ji & Guru Maa Asha Tripathi Ji with Mandir Certificate comprising of Accomplishments.

Guru Ji praised and thanked respected Pt Mishra ji for his continued support and contribution to the Hindu Society. Pundit Mishra ji has been a role model to many, he has been a true practising Brahmin in every sense, which has been reflected in his way of living, diet and actions.

Mandir also presented blessed Mata Saraswati Gift Packs to children and adults.

Children, scholars, journalist, witters, musicians, public speakers and students all seek blessing of Maa Saraswati for Wisdom, memory, knowledge, music and clarity of thought.

The program as usual concluded with Bhog, Aarti, prasad and Mahaprasaad.

The event was attended by a large number of devotees.

NORTH

Holika Dahan, the lighting of bonfire takes place on the eve of Holi 86 Scott lane, North Maclean /www.shreevishnumayamandir.com.au. Ph: 55486814

Holika Dahan (Prahlad Raxa)

By Dharam Guru Pundit Tripathi Ji

Sunday 28th March – 6:45pm Holi Geet & Bhajans will begin at 5:00pm Courtesy: Dhirubhai Desai Vishnu Maya Mandir will celebrate "Holika Dahan" on the evening of Sunday the 28th of March this year.

The festival will be celebrated with immense joy and enthusiasm. Holika Dahan programme will begin at 5:00pm with Holi songs and bhajans being sung in the temple.

Then there will be a short Prawachan by Dharam Guru Pt. Tripathi Ji and finally everyone will move over to the Holika Dahan wood pile.

This wood pile is initiated by Pundit Ji, weeks earlier as per the mahurat and slowly the pile is made bigger and bigger.

Dharam Guru Pundit Tripathi Ji will then do the necessary Pooja and later the fire will be lit to the pile of wood.

The lighting of this Holi Bonfire is called Holika Dahan. Holika, the sister

Shree

Food (Maha Prasad) will be served afterwards.

Please come and join us for this very auspicious occasion!

Food Sponsor $400.00 For any queries, please contact: Dhiru Desai: 04062 13153, Ranil Dayal: 04031 46575, Bharat: Solanki: 04111 31485, Rajesh Gopal: 04223 44046, Devika Maharaj: 04248 91159, Rabean Singh: 04034 33379 Narendra Singh: 04780 64876 or the Temple: 5548 6814 Or For secured online donation facility visit: www.shreevishnumayamandir.com.au

26 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

of demon Hiranyakashyap (who claimed that he was the God). This represents the EVIL, while Prahalad (Hiranyakashyap's son) who worshiped to Lord Vishnu represents the GOOD. During Holika Dahan, Holika (the Evil) is burnt to ashes while the powers of Lord Vishnu brings no harm to Prahalad (the good) and he walks out of the fire smiling. This signifies the victory of Good over Evil. It is said that Just by being present at a Holika Dahan your whole families, "Dukh, Daridra Sab Mit Jata Hay".

Once the Holi is lit fully, everyone will get an opportunity to do their own Holi Pooja.

Offerings such as popcorn and coconuts are thrown into the fire as offerings to God. In some parts of India and Fiji, the cooked coconut is then collected and eaten as Prasad. Our Dharam Guru Pundit Tripathi Ji believes that as Holika was burnt down in this Bonfire,

it represents a funeral pyre for Holika and therefore whatever is thrown into this fire should not be taken back and eaten. Hence at Shree Vishnu Maya Mandir we do not encourage the eating of coconuts collected from this fire.

Please come along and join us to create a real festive atmosphere at Shree Vishnu Maya Mandir. A delicious Maha Prasad including a full dinner, cooked by the friendly volunteers will be served afterwards.

You are requested to please be on time as the Holika Dahan will take place at sharp 6:45pm. Care will be taken to see that the programme finishes on time and dinner is not delayed.

Those who missed out last year, please note the date in your diary as Holi at Shree Vishnu Maya Mandir is celebrated at another level and we have no doubt that you will enjoy every moment of it, and it will be bigger and better.

हमारे मन में अक्सर विचार उठता है , कि मंदिर मस्जिद

गिरजाघर क्यों बनाये गये हैं जबकि प्रभू ईश्वर अल्लाह तो कण कण में विराजमान है । फिर उसे हम मंदिरों मस्जिदों गुरुद्वारों में क्यों ढू ँ ढते रहते हैं । दोस्तों प्रभू निर्मल निश्चल

दिल एक मंदिर से बात नही करें गे, समझता क्या है खुद को मेरी बात काट

दी। दस ू रे किसी को हर समय ताने मारने का मन करता

के सामने चप्पलों के ढे र पर लेट गये तब उस पल तुम्हारा

इज्जत अुतारूँगा । द्वे ष ईर्ष्या अहं कार का मन में वास हो,

भी गुरू कितना ही महान क्यों ना हो, वो तुम्हें मार्ग दिखा

है , इसने हमारी बेइज़्ज़ती की है , मैं भी सबके सामने इसकी

जगहों पर रहते हैं । वहाँ जहाँ किसी को किसी से शिकायत

तो प्रभू सोचते हैं इसके मन में मेरे लिये तो कोई जगह बची

कोई निर्मल मन से आकर पूजा करे अपनी तकलीफ़ें दिल

चुपचाप लौट जाते हैं । हर समय प्रभू हम पर अपनी आशीष

ना हो, जहाँ किसी को किसी से बैर ना हो। जहाँ हर खोलकर बयान करे ।अक्सर आपने दे खा होगा दो दशु ्मन भी

अगर मंदिर में मिलते है तो वहाँ झगड़ा नही करते बल्कि

पूजा करके शांति से चले जाते हैं ,सबकी निर्मल इबादत के कारण वहाँ के वातावरण

ही नही है । अैसी दषि ू त जगह पर मेरा क्या काम तब वे

भेजते रहते हैं पर हमारे नकारात्मक विचार उस आशीष को

अपने अहं कार अपने अहम को मारने का सबसे आसान

भी हम तक पहुँचने नही दे ते हैं ।

स्वामी विवेकानंद जी बचपन से ही सच्चे और पवित्र मन

के मालिक थे। फिर भी उन्हें प्रभू के दर्शन नही हो रहे थे।

वहाँ एक कोने में दस मिनट भी आँखें मूँदकर बैठ जाओगे

उन्हे प्रभू के साक्षात दर्शन करायेंगे, अगर उन्होनें बिना कोई

तो आपके मन को सुकून ज़रूर मिलेगा

हम घरों में भी मंदिर तो बनाते हैं , पूजा भी करते हैं ,

स्वामि रामकृष्ण परमहं स जी ने उनसे वादा किया कि वे

सवाल किये उनका कहा माना तो उन्हें प्रभू दर्शन अवश्य होंगे। परमहं स जी का प्रवचन था, हज़ारों की भीड़ थी, विवेकानंद जी उनके सहपाठी प्रोफ़े सर्स , उनके शागिर्द सभी

फिर भी वहाँ बैठकर हमें मंदिर जैसा सुकून नही मिलत

प्रवचन सुनने आये थे। उस भीड़ के बीच परमहं स जी ने

ईर्ष्या जैसे नकारात्मक विचार विचरते रहते हैं , इसलिये वहाँ

जाकर लेट जाओ तुम्हें प्रभू के दर्शन होंगे। विवेकानंद जी

क्यों कि घर घर में झगड़ों की आवाज़ गूँजती रहती है , द्वे ष

पर हम मंदिर जैसी शांती और सुकून नही महसूस करते हैं । सबसे बड़ा मंदिर तो हमारा मन है जहाँ हर पल प्रभू

का वास होना चाहिये। हम सोचते है हम इतनी पूजा करते

विवेकानंद से कहा , जाओ सामने सबके जूते पड़े हैं उनपर

चुपचाप सभी लोगों के सामने चप्पलों के ढे र पर लेट गये।

उसी पल उन्हे ईश्वर के साक्षात दर्शन हुअे।

कुछ दिनों बाद विवेकानंद जी के पूछने पर रामकृष्ण

हैं , उपवास रखते हैं , हमारे मन मे तो ईश्वर का वास होना

परमहं स जी ने बताया, यह कोई चमत्कार नही था तुम्हारी

होता नही है , क्यों कि पूजा पाठ तप नियम तभी असर

थोड़ा सा अहं कार था कि तुम श्रेष्ठ प्रोफ़े सर हो इसलिये सारे

चाहिये। गर्दन झुका ली और दे ख ली तस्वीरें यार। पर अैसा दिखाते हैं जब मन निर्मल हो। मन में सोचते हैं फ़लाँ इं सान

अहम मर गया, और तब तुम्हें ईश्वर के दर्शन हो गये। कोई

सकता है , पर मंजिल तक पहुँचने का रास्ता हर किसी को खुद तय करना पड़ता है ।

में सकारात्मक अुर्जा का संचार होता रहता है । इसलिये

आप कितने ही अशांत मन से मंदिर में प्रवेश क्यों ना करो

तुम अपनी इज्जत की परवाह किये बिना उन्हीं विध्यार्थीयों

आत्मा प्रभू दर्शन के लिये तैयार थी बस तुम्हारे मन में

विध्यार्थी तुम्हारी इज्जत करते हैं , तुमसे प्यार करते हैं । जब

तरीक़ा मिर्ज़ा ग़ालिब जी ने ख़ूब सरल भाषा में समझाया है , कहते है ।

हमने अपने जीवन को यूँ आसान कर दिया,

किसी को माफ़ कर दिया, किसी से माफ़ी माँग ली। इसी फ़लसफ़े पर लिखी अपनी गजल अर्ज करती हूँ। दिल की ज़मीन पर जब फ़सल यादों की बोओगे, तो कुछ हासिल नहीं होगा दिल ही दिल में रोओगे।

दिल में उगानी है कोई फसल तो बस प्यार उगाओ.

जो भी आये तुम्हारी राह में बस प्यार लुटाते जाओ! अपनों की नाराज़गी को तुम नगीने की तरह सजाओ , उनके तीखे वचनों पर भी मरहम प्यार का लगाओ। अपने आप शर्मिंदगी से सर उनका झुक जायेगा,

जीवन के इस फ़लसफ़े को दिल से तुम अपनाओ । सारे दशु ्मन दोस्त हो जायें अैसा खेल रचाओ, दिल की ज़मीन पर फ़सल प्यार की अुगाओ।

Kavita ji

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 27

MERAJUN NABI (MIRACULOUS JOURNEY) Prepared by Imam M. Aslam All praise be to Allah Ta’ala the cherisher and sustainer of the world and peace and blessings be upon his prophet Muhammad Sallalahu Alaihi Wasallam "Allahumma baarik-lanaa fee-rajaba wa sha'baana wa bal-lig-naa shah-ra ramadhaana."

"O Allah, make the months of Rajab and Shabaan blessed for us, and let us reach the month of Ramadhan." (i.e. prolong our life upto Ramadhan, so that we may benefit from its merits and blessings).

It would be meritorious to recite these duaas often in the months of Rajab and Sha'ban, as they are a prelude to the auspicious month of Ramadaan.

Doing Zikr, Taubah, Istighfar and at least observing a few fasts are highly recommended in Rajab and Shabaan.

AL-ISRA AND Al-MI‘RAJ Summary of Events Meraj is one of the greatest miracles of the beloved Prophet Muhammad sallallahu Alahi wasallam.

(The Miraculous Night Journey from Makkah to the Farthest Mosque in Jerusalem, and the Ascent through the Spheres of Heavens) The story of ‘the Night Journey’ as we see in the Noble Qur’ân is epitomised in the first verse of the Sûrah Isra’ (Chapter 17 — The Journey by Night) "Glorified be Allah Who enabled His slave, (Muhammad), for a journey by night from Masjid al-Haram (in Makkah) to Masjid alAqsa (in Jerusalem), the neighbourhood whereof We blessed, in order that We might show him (Muhammad) of our Ayat (proofs, evidences,signs etc.). Verily, He is the AllHearer, the All-Seer." This journey is also confirmed in the sahih (authentic) hadith. As such, there is scholarly consensus (ijma) that Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) journeyed in body and soul on the night of al-Isra' from Masjid alHaram in Makkah to Masjid al-Aqsa in Jerusalem and to the heavens beyond.

The Messenger of Allâh (Peace and blessings be upon him) was carried in body from the Sacred Mosque in Makkah to the Distant Mosque in Jerusalem on a horse called Al-Buraq in the company of Gabriel(Jibraeel-alaiyhis salaam), the archangel.

There he alighted, tethered the horse to a ring in the gate of the Mosque and led the Prophets in prayer.

After that Gabriel (Jibraeelalaiyhis salaam) took

him to the heavens on the same horse. When they reached the first heaven Gabriel (Jibraeel-alaiyhis salaam) asked the guardian angel to open the door of heaven. It was opened and he saw Adam (Peace be upon him), the progenitor of mankind. The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) saluted him and he welcomed him and expressed his faith in Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him)’s Prophethood.

Gabriel (Jibraeel-alaiyhis salaam) then ascended with the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) to the second heaven, asked for opening the gate and there he saw and saluted John, son of Zachariya (Yahya bin Zakariya(Peace be upon him)) and JesusIsa(Peace be upon him), son of Mary. They returned the salutation, welcomed him and expressed their faith in his Prophethood. Then they reached the third heaven where they saw Joseph (Yusuf (Peace be upon him)) and saluted him. The latter welcomed the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and expressed faith in his Prophethood. The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), in the company of Gabriel (Jibraeel-alaiyhis salaam), then reached the fourth heaven where he met the Prophet (Idris(Peace be upon him)) and saluted him. Prophet Enoch (Peace be upon him) returned the salutation and expressed faith in his Prophethood.

Then he was carried to the fifth heaven where he met the Prophet Aaron (Harun (Peace be upon him)) and saluted him. The latter returned the salutation and expressed faith in his Prophethood. In the sixth heaven he met Moses (Musa (Peace be upon him)) and saluted him. The latter returned the salutation and expressed faith in his Prophethood. . Then Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) reached the seventh heaven and met Abraham (Ibrahim) (Peace be upon him) and saluted him. The latter returned the salutation and expressed faith in his Prophethood. Then he was carried to Sidrat-alMuntaha (the remotest lote tree) and was shown AlBait-al-Ma‘mûr [(the much frequented house) which is like the Ka‘bah (Sacred House) encompassed daily by seventy thousand angels, so that the angels who once encompassed it would not have their turn again till the Resurrection].

He was then presented to the Divine Presence and experienced the thrill of witnessing the Divine Glory and Manifestation at the closest possible propinquity.

There the Lord revealed unto His servant that which He revealed, and ordained

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fifty daily prayers for him.

On his return, he spoke to Moses (Peace be upon him) that his followers had been enjoined to pray fifty times a day. Moses (Peace be upon him) addressing the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: “Your followers cannot perform so many prayers. Go back to your Lord and ask for a remission in number.”

The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) turned to Gabriel(Jibraeelalaiyhis salaam) as if holding counsel with him.

Gabriel (Jibraeel-alaiyhis salaam) nodded, “Yes, if you desire,” and ascended with him to the Presence of Allâh. The All-Mighty Allâh, Glory is to Him, made a reduction of ten prayers. He then descended and reported that to Moses (Peace be upon him), who again urged him to request for a further reduction.

Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) once more begged his Lord to reduce the number still further. He went again and again in the Presence of Allâh at the suggestion of Moses-Musa (Peace be upon him) for reduction in the number of prayers till these were reduced to five only. Moses-Musa (Peace be upon him) again asked him to implore for more reduction, but he said: “I feel ashamed now of repeatedly asking my Lord for reduction. I accept and resign to His Will.”

When Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) went farther, a Caller was heard saying: “I have imposed My Ordinance and alleviated the burden of My servants.”

Some significant suggestive incidents featured in the ‘Night

Journey’ of the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), of which could be mentioned: The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him)’s breast was cleft by GabrielJibraeel(Peace be upon him), his heart extracted and washed with the water of Zamzam —a sacred spring in Makkah.

In the same context, there were brought to him two gold vessels. There was milk in one, while the other was full of wine. He was asked to choose either of them, so he selected the vessel containing milk and drank it.

He had the opportunity to see Malik, the guardian of Hell, with a cheerless frowning face. Therein, he saw the Hell dwellers, of whom were those who unjustly eat up the property of the orphans. They have flews similar to those of camels, swallowing red-hot stones and then issuing out of their backs. There were also the people who take usury with bellies too big to be able to move around; they are trodden by the people of Pharaoh when these are admitted into Hell.

In the same abode, he saw the adulterers offered tasty fatty meat and rotten smelly one but they make option for the latter.

In Paradise, the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) saw some of the bounties Allah prepared for the inhabitants of Paradise.

In short the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) was shown the different punishments meted out to the inmates of Jahannam(hell) and he was privileged to be shown the luxuries and pleasures of Jannah(heaven).

The ‘Night Journey’

raised a good deal of stir among the people and the sceptical audience plied Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) with all sorts of questions.

He told them that he saw the camels of Makkan merchants to and fro. He also guided them to some of their animals that went astray. He informed them that he had drunk some of their water while they were fast asleep and left the container covered.

The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) Returns to Makkah After all these matters took place with the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him), he returned to the city of Makkah. The next day the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) told the people what happened to him the previous night.

The blasphemers belied the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) and mocked him, saying, "We need a month to get there and back, and you are claiming to have done all this in one night?" They said to Abu Bakr, "Look at what your companion is saying. He says he went to Jerusalem and came back in one night." Abu Bakr (R.A.) told them, "If he said that, then he is truthful. I believe him concerning the news of the heavens--that an angel descends to him from the heavens. How could I not believe he went to Jerusalem and came back in a short period of time-when these are on earth?"

At that, the Companion, Abu Bakr(R.A.), was called "as-Siddiq"--because of how strongly he believed all what the Prophet(Peace and blessings be upon him) said.

The blasphemous people questioned the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him): "If you are truthful, then describe to us Masjid Al-Aqsa and its surroundings."

They asked this because they knew Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) had never been there before the previous night. Allah enabled the Messenger to see Masjid alAqsa, and he described the masjid and its surroundings in exact detail. Moreover, the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) said, "On my way back, I saw some of your shepherds grazing their animals in a particular location. They were searching for a camel they had lost." The Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) continued by giving the description of the camel. When these shepherds came back, they told their people what happened to them-precisely as the Prophet (Peace and blessings be upon him) had already told them.

For the true devout Muslims, there is no difficulty in believing the miraculous Night Journey. The All-Mighty Allâh, Who is Powerful enough to have created the heavens and the earth by an act of His Will, is surely Powerful enough to take His Messenger(Peace and blessings be upon him) beyond the heavens and show him those signs of His at firsthand which are inaccessible to man otherwise. The disbelievers on their part went to see Abu Bakr (R.A.) on account of this event, and he readily said: “Yes, I do verify it.” It was on this occasion that he earned the title of AsSiddiq (the verifier of the truth).

The most eloquent and most concise justification of this ‘Journey’ is expressed in Allâh’s Words: “... in order that We might show him (Muhammad) of Our Ayât (proofs, evidences, signs, etc.)” [17:1].

The Divine rules as regards the Prophets goes as follows: “Thus did We show Abraham the kingdom of the heavens and the earth that he be one of those who have Faith with certainty.” [6:75] To Moses-Musa(Peace be upon him), his Lord said: “That We may show you (some) of Our Greater Signs.”

[20:23] In order that: “He be of those who have Faith with certainty.”

There are the simple facts that emanate from this blessed Journey, and flow along into the flowery garden of the Prophetic biography of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and blessings be upon him) that leave lessons manifest for mankind.

To be continued next month

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 29

CoreLogic’s women and property report reveals more about apparent gender wealth gap Addressing the gender wealth gap in property ownership inaugural Women and Property: State of Play report released on International Women’s Day boosts evidence of the relationship between the gender pay gap and the gender wealth gap. It suggests addressing gender income equality could support closing the wealth gap as it relates to real estate over time.

The report analysed* a 2021 snapshot of property ownership by gender across Australia and New Zealand, by matching ownership gender with 41.2% of Australian properties, and 72.6% of New Zealand properties.

Milena Malev, CoreLogic International’s GM Financial Services & Insurance Solutions, says “There has been a lot of emphasis on understanding the access to wealth and earnings for women, but much of this has focused on income from wages, salaries and wealth accumulation in superannuation.

Using CoreLogic’s extensive property data universe, we sought to understand rates of female property ownership.”

CoreLogic’s

Women appear to lag behind men in property ownership Eliza Owen, CoreLogic’s Head of Research and author of the report, says “Unsurprisingly, the report found that rates of male property ownership are generally higher than women, but with important distinctions that highlight the relationship between the gender wealth gap and the gender pay gap, and have implications for institutional response.

“CoreLogic estimates Australia’s residential real estate to be worth over $7 trillion. Given there’s a high level of equity held in real estate, if you don’t own property, that’s a big source of household wealth and security you don’t have access to.”

Implications for retirement With property ownership being a “pillar” of retirement, outright property ownership reduces housing costs when income has generally dropped, and can significantly reduce the incidence of poverty in retirement.

Property ownership can also provide a source of wealth accumulation to help maintain living standards, service health care or aged care costs, or support intergenerational wealth.

Ms Malev says “This wealth gap becomes a particular challenge around retirement, and it’s well documented that if you still have rental or mortgage

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Women and Property: State of Play Australia & New Zealand

EARLY MARKET INDICATORS Clarity in uncertain times

March 2021

costs at the time you retire, then you have a much higher incidence of falling into poverty.”

The gender pay gap Ms Malev says “We know there’s a gender pay gap, and that income is an important determinant of access to real estate ownership. The ABS reports the pay gap is sitting at 13.4%. An important implication of lower earnings among women is the additional barrier to property ownership this can create.”

To highlight how the reported pay gap can impact access to home ownership, CoreLogic did some simple modelling for Australia.

Based on the average weekly full time earnings for men and women, it would take women an additional 10 months to save for a 20% deposit on the median Australian dwelling value as at January 2021.

“The implications of this are vast. It means men get access to housing sooner, they have more time in market, and therefore have greater wealth accumulation as well.

“It’s also important to note that Australia measures the gender pay gap by average weekly earnings for full time employees, however women represent 67.2% in the part time workforce and only around 37.9% of the full time workforce. This suggests the true gender pay gap in Australia is actually closer to 30% because of the different composition of men and women in the labour force. In that sense women, particularly single women, may be even more disadvantaged in trying to

30 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

access property ownership because they need that income to save for a deposit,” says Ms Malev.

Lone person households Ms Owen says “One of the big findings we get from this report is that the most common type of ownership is two people together, and in most cases it’s a male and a female. That speaks to affordability constraints and infers you often need dual incomes to achieve property ownership.

“The other element of this is that lone households would have less success getting into the property market. What’s important about that, when it comes to women and real estate, is that women make up over 60% of either single-parent or lone adult households. Yet at the Australia-wide level, sole property ownership among women is less than their male counterparts, which means women are over represented in lone households but they’re underrepresented in property ownership.

“The core of this analysis and its findings is that it’s all about wealth inequality and income inequality, and that

doesn’t just span between men and women, it spans among women as well including those that are single, sole parents or part time workers.”

Key findings for Australia & New Zealand • Unsurprisingly, there were higher rates of property ownership among men than women in both Australia and New Zealand. Property exclusively belonging to owners identified as female represented 26.2% of those analysed across Australia, compared with 20.3% of the properties analysed across New Zealand.

• Property exclusively belonging to owners identified as male represented 29.9% of the properties analysed across Australia, compared with 22.9% of the properties analysed across New Zealand.

• In both countries the most common type of ownership was ‘mixed gender’ ownership, where both men and women had ownership of the property.

This accounted for 56.8% of properties in New Zealand, and 43.9% of properties in Australia. The mix of male

and female ownership implies two or more incomes were used to buy the property.

• The high rate of mixed gender ownership in New Zealand means that women have a higher portion of total (sole or joint) ownership (77.1%) compared with Australian women (70.1%).

• Across Australia and New Zealand, rates of female ownership of property tended to be higher in major cities.

In Australia, female property ownership is higher where dwelling values are higher, and incomes are typically higher. This reinforces the idea that property ownership is ultimately a function of income, and fixing the gender wealth gap in property could be about fixing the gender pay gap.

Key findings for Australia • Property ownership rates among women have a positive correlation with dwelling value, in that areas with more expensive housing were found to have higher rates of female property ownership. For men, it’s a negative correlation, so the less expensive the area, the higher the rate of male ownership.

• In Australia, Greater Melbourne and Regional Victoria were the areas with the highest level of gender parity in ownership rates, with less than 2 percentage points separating male and female rates of ownership.

Melbourne also had the lowest rates of properties owned by mixed genders at 38.4%.

• The largest discrepancy between exclusively male and female ownership in

property was across Regional Western Australia, where female owned property represented 19.8% of those analysed compared with 29.3% owned by men.

• Of the 76 SA4 markets analysed, there were 7 submarkets of Australia where rates of exclusively female ownership were higher than the rate of exclusively male owned properties. The biggest difference was across the ‘Inner South’ region of Melbourne, where 32.6% of property is exclusively owned by females, compared with 27.6% of properties analysed being exclusively owned by men, and 39.9% having mixed gender ownership.

• The highest rates of exclusively female ownership was in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, where the properties analysed saw 34.8% exclusively owned by women versus 31.7%exclusively owned by men.

Ms Owen says “The core of our findings come back to income. The areas where women have higher rates of property ownership, also generally have higher median household incomes.

This reinforces the view that women can actually have a higher propensity to buy property than men, therefore women with higher incomes have more success.”

What the findings mean for Australian and New Zealand institutions The findings in this report have several implications for stakeholders across real estate, finance and government, as well as many businesses generally.

Ms Malev says “Property ownership and building wealth are inextricably linked to income, so a long term policy to address the gender pay gap and gender wealth gap must include a plan to reach pay parity across genders.

“For government, there are implications for the provision of social support.

The gender pay gap appears to be creating a barrier for entry into the property market among women, and this is amplified for single or lone adult households.

Women are more likely to exit property ownership after the dissolution of a marriage and that’s where we see women over 50 among the highest growing rates of homelessness in Australia.

“Savings and investment solutions from lending institutions for those on lower and/or single incomes can help provide a leg up into the wealth accumulation that is associated with property ownership,” says Ms Malev.

To view the Women and Property: State of Play report, visit www.corelogic.com.au.

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 33

Myanmar coup: India asked to return police officers who crossed border Myanmar has asked neighbouring India to return several police officers who crossed the border seeking refuge after refusing to carry out orders.

Indian officials said the officers and their families had crossed the border in recent days.

In a letter, Myanmar authorities asked for their return "in order to uphold friendly relations".

Myanmar has been gripped by mass protests and strikes following a military coup last month.

Security forces have taken a hard line against the demonstrations and at least 55 deaths have been reported.

Police carried out raids overnight on Saturday in the largest city, Yangon, ahead of

bullets and stun grenades to disperse crowds, reports said.

There were no reports of fresh casualties.

further protests in defiance of the military.

Video footage showed security forces repeatedly firing at buildings as they moved into one street to make arrests.

Hours later, thousands of demonstrators had gathered again in Yangon and the city of Mandalay.

It followed demonstrations across the country on Saturday, with police in Yangon using tear gas, rubber

What about the police officers seeking refuge?

Deputy Commissioner Maria CT Zuali, a senior official in Champhai district in the Indian state of Mizoram, told Reuters news agency that she had received a letter from her counterpart in Myanmar's Falam district requesting the return of the police officers.

The letter said that Myanmar had information about eight police officers who had crossed into India.

"In order to uphold friendly relations between the two neighbour countries, you are kindly requested to

detain eight Myanmar police personnel who had arrived to Indian territories and handover to Myanmar," the letter read.

Ms Zuali said she was awaiting instructions from India's home affairs ministry in Delhi.

According to Reuters, about 30 people including the officers and their family members have crossed the border into India seeking refuge in recent days.

On Saturday, scores of other Myanmar nationals were waiting at the border hoping to flee the turmoil, AFP news agency reported, citing Indian officials.

How did the unrest start?

Myanmar's military seized power at the beginning

of February after detaining the democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Days later, a civil disobedience movement began, with many people refusing to return to work and some taking part in huge street protests.

Myanmar's security forces responded with a violent crackdown - firing live rounds at unarmed protesters. The military has not commented on the deaths.

More than 1,700 people have been detained since the coup, according to UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet, including members of parliament, protesters, and at least 29 journalists.

Ms Bachelet said the figures could be much higher due to the large scale of the protests and difficulty in

monitoring developments.

Myanmar in profile Myanmar, also known as Burma, became independent from Britain in 1948. For much of its modern history it has been under military rule Restrictions began loosening from 2010 onwards, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government led by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year In 2017, Myanmar's army responded to attacks on police

by Rohingya militants with a deadly crackdown, driving more than half a million Rohingya Muslims across the border into Bangladesh in what the UN later called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing"

India: Farmers mark 100th day Assam polls 2021: Sitting MLA of of protest, block highway BJP’s ally AGP resigns from party In a major setback, a sitting

MLA of BJP's ally Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) resigned from the party on Saturday night.

Ahead of the assembly polls in Assam, Satyabrata Kalita is reportedly joining a new political party Asom Gana Parishad Pragatisil (AGP-P) which was formed by a section of former leaders of AGP with their anti-CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) stand.

Satyabrata Kalita who was elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly from Kamalpur seat in 2016, met AGP president Atul Bora and gave his resignation letter on Saturday night.

“From now I have no relation with AGP and I resigned from my post and Indian farmers have blocked a six-lane expressway outside New Delhi to mark the 100th day of protests against the deregulation of agriculture markets, to add pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.

Farmers young and old headed in cars, trucks and tractors to the highway for a five-hour roadblock on Saturday to oppose three farm laws enacted in September 2020 that they say will hurt them and destroy their livelihoods by opening up the agriculture sector to big private companies.

Modi has called the laws much-needed reforms for the country’s vast and antiquated agriculture sector, and painted the protests as politically motivated.

“The Modi government has turned this protest movement into an ego issue. They are unable to

see the pain of the farmers,” Amarjeet Singh, a 68-yearold farmer from Punjab state, told Reuters news agency.

“They have left us no option but to protest.”

Tens of thousands of farmers from several north Indian states have been camped out on the outskirts of the capital in bitter cold since December demanding that the laws be repealed.

Their movement has gained international attention and support, including from celebrities such as climate activist Greta Thunberg and US singer Rihanna, but several rounds of negotiations between farmer leaders and the government have failed.

Modi’s government has lashed out at supporters of the protests and stands accused by rights activists of using heavy-handed tactics to curb the demonstrations.

While the protests have

34 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

been mostly peaceful, a brief spate of violence on January 26 led to the death of a protester, and the police have filed criminal charges against eight journalists over alleged misreporting of the events of the day.

“The Indian authorities’ response to protests has focused on discrediting peaceful protesters, harassing critics of the government, and prosecuting those reporting on the events,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement last month.

As the capital braces for harsh summers and the harvesting season begins, farmers gathering on Saturday said they had no plans to turn back until their demands were met.

“Bitter cold didn’t affect our movement, and neither will deathly heat,” said Raja Singh, a 58-year-old farmer from Punjab state.

membership. I will disclose all things tomorrow about my new journey,” Satyabrata Kalita said.

Earlier today, Kalita met Congress leaders at a Guwahati-based hotel.

On Friday, BJP had announced the list of the party candidates for 70 assembly constituencies and out of these seats the saffron party has fielded its candidates in four assembly

constituencies from where its ally party Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) won in 2016.

These seats are Barhampur, Lakhimpur, Naharkatia and Kamalpur.

BJP has announced its candidate in the Barhampur assembly constituency from where former chief minister and senior leader of AGP Prafulla Kumar Mahanta has been elected to the Assam Legislative Assembly since 1985.

On the other hand, AGP president Atul Bora said that his party will contest in 26 seats and will have a friendly fight with its ally BJP in at least five other seats.

The assembly polls in Assam will be held in three phases on March 27, April 1 and April 6.

Hyderabad: Gachibowli Police Station gets India's first-ever 'Transgender Community Desk' In what is said to be the first-

of-its-kind gender-inclusive community policing initiative in the country, the Cyberabad Police on Saturday launched a Transgender Community Desk at the Gachibowli Police Station in Hyderabad.

The desk was formally inaugurated Saturday by Cyberabad police chief VC Sajjanar in a ceremony that was attended by over 200 transgender persons. ‘’We get hurt for small things that happen occasionally.

But the Transgender community has been suffering discrimination all through their life. The help desk is a small step towards a great journey. It will herald a huge difference,’’ said Sajjanar.

The desk has been set up by Cyberabad Commissionerate

in collaboration with Society for Cyberabad Security Council and Prajwala. It is the world's first-ever help desk for this community, a press release claimed. The desk will be managed by a Police Liaison Officer and a member of the transgender community who is designated as community coordinator. It will be the focal point for all grievance redressal among the transgender community in Cyberabad Commissionerate.

The desk will provide support to file cases in offences related to violence or discrimination against any transgender person.

Among other services, the desk will also provide counselling, legal aid, life-skills, soft skills training, job placements, and referral linkages to welfare schemes in partnership with

the Department of Women & Child Welfare and District Legal Services Authority.

The Society for Cyberabad Security Council will organise monthly employability training and life-skill training and facilitate access to job opportunities. Prajwala will assist the desk to facilitate safe space for any transgender person who needs an emergency transit stay.

The idea of the Transgender Help Desk came from the community itself in a meeting held ten days back.

In 2014, the Supreme Court recognised the transgender community as a third gender along with male and female and ruled that they have equal privilege over the fundamental rights enshrined in the Indian Constitution.

CHINMAYA MISSION BRISBANE “Children are not pots to be filled, but lamps to be lit” - Pujya Gurudev Swami Chinmayananda

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 35

FOCUS ON FIJI

Flood waters enter some of the shops in Ba Town Flood waters have entered some of the shops in Ba Town especially along the lower side near the market and bus stand area.

This includes the row of shops where Shop and Save and RC Manubhai are located.

Parts of Main street Ba Town are also flooded.

Flood waters started rising in the area after 5 o’clock this morning and by 6.30am, flood waters were already inside some of the shops.

Teams from Ba Town Council are carrying out inspections this morning.

Force plans to review recruitment AS a disciplined force, police officers need to come clean, stay clean and go out clean.

This was the view expressed by Acting Commissioner of Police Rusiate Tudravu in regards to police officers breaching laws.

“Definitely we are human beings, there will be shortfalls somewhere along the lines but as a disciplined force, police officers need to know that you come clean, stay clean and go out clean,” he said “So if there are dirty elements within the force, there are consequences for that within our disciplinary procedures and we are also

guided by law.”

He said police officers were not immune to breaches of any criminal act. He said they were planning to review their recruitment guidelines and

Minister not aware of workers’ plight The plight of Fijians living and working in Samoa remains a mystery to the Minister for Employment Parveen Kumar.

He said he was unaware of problems that Fijian tourism workers in Samoa were experiencing with their employers. “I don’t know anything about it,” Mr Kumar said.

“They need to lodge a complaint.”

Fijians currently in Samoa and back in Fiji claim they had been unfairly treated by management at the hotels and resorts in Samoa they went to work for.

Speaking to this newspaper under the condition of anonymity, Lanieta went to take up a management job but was shocked with what awaited her.

“I would often be belittled in front of the other staff,” she claimed.

“They hired me because of my experience and qualifications to provide

international services to international tourists but they completely disregarded anything I brought to the table, treating me as if I was inferior to the other staff.

“Being a manager in Fiji you have the power to make decisions but here I can’t make the changes for improvements.

“I wouldn’t advise anyone in Fiji to take up hospitality and tourism jobs in Samoa.”

36 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

procedures.

“What I have to make clear is that when they come in, they are out from the education system, so the role of the institution is to train our police officers

and in order for them to be professional and matured, that will take time.

“That is why we are going back to improve our internal process and system. I have stated that when I took over as acting commissioner, we would like to see we go back to the basic of things.

“We need to nurture the recruits well from the start. Once we have that, ground them properly from that level, they will go far.” He said the breach of law by officers was not a clear reflection of the entire force and officers who abused their authority would be held accountable.

Call for more stable policies FORMER prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka says the FijiFirst Government should have more stable policies ––– not ones that change daily, weekly or annually.

He said government’s decision to review the Tertiary Scholarship and Loans Board’s (TSLB’s) decision of suspending and terminating students was “very useless and pointless”.

“If the board has reviewed its decision and confirmed they would be staying with the decision they have made then there’s nothing we or anyone can do and telling them to remediate its errors shows no commitment in that statement or request from Government to change the situation,” he said.

Mr Rabuka said the TSLB was an instrument of government.

“The students should not be really just blaming the board as it is a government decision and I don’t know if they have considered the whole human resource development program before they initiated the program and now that they have made a decision to adjust that policy.

“Every government should know the human resource requirement of the labour force and what sort of preparation is required to properly fill the role of national machinery, whether it’s in health, calculate the wastage as well as the increase in the national increasing population and the acceptable ratio of workers to public and that’s how government arrives at budgets.”

He claimed the constant changes in the policies indicated lack of proper planning and preparation.

“Government and board needed to be realistic about their decision and they must understand that there has been adverse effects of Covid-19 on every aspect of life and when that happens its results are also reflected in students’ performances.

“They must be more humane in their considerations rather than blaming the students and punishing them for something that is way beyond their control.”

Meanwhile, he wished all tertiary students the very best for the new academic year.

Report: Amend law to assemble

FIJI has been urged to refrain from anti-union practices, including arrests, detentions, violence, intimidation, harassment and interference in trade union activities.

The International Labour Organization’s Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has made this recommendation in its Application of International Labour Standards 2021 annual report.

“The committee requested the Government to respond in full detail to the FTUC allegations of continued harassment and intimidation of trade unionists, in particular with respect to its national secretary, Felix Anthony,” states the report.

“The committee notes the Government’s general statement that Mr Anthony has been able to organise and carry out trade union activities without any interference from the Government and that the arrest, search and detention of persons previously alleged by the ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) and the FTUC were not intended to harass or intimidate trade unionists but to allow the Commissioner of Police to conduct investigations into alleged violations of applicable laws.”

The committee states

with “concern” the ITUC and FTUC allegations of continued intimidation by the police, arrests, detention, interrogation and the filing of criminal charges against trade unionists, as well as prolonged confiscation of personal and union property and violent dispersal of gatherings between April and June 2019.

“The committee requests the Government to make serious efforts to ensure that state entities and their officials refrain from antiunion practices, including arrests, detentions, violence, intimidation, harassment and interference in trade union activities, so as to contribute to an environment conducive to the full development of trade union rights.

“The committee requests the Government to consider issuing instructions to the police and the armed forces in this regard and to provide training to ensure that any actions taken during demonstrations respect the basic civil liberties and fundamental labour rights of workers and employers.

Meanwhile, questions sent to the permanent secretary for Prime Minister’s Office, Yogesh Karan and Attorney-General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum remained unanswered when this edition went to press.

Draft Police Bill is draconian – Gavoka SOCIAL Democratic Liberal

Party (SODELPA) leader Viliame Gavoka has called on Fijians not to allow legal drafters to think that we are content with authoritarian rule.

Mr Gavoka said the draft Police Bill 2020 was “draconian” and should raise an alarm to all right-thinking citizens because it encroaches into civil liberties, democratic values and fundamental rights of our people “Fijians have endured too much. Fijians thrown off bridges, stripped naked and tortured, stripped off our rights as Fijians,” he said.

“We should not allow legal drafters to think that Fijians are content with authoritarian rule. “SODELPA is of the view that ramifications of this draft Bill should it become law are deep cutting.”

In a statement released yesterday, he said the draft Bill should not even be allowed to reach the floor of Parliament,

let alone via Standing Order 51.

“And we now chastise Government if they are considering it as an option. It must stop.”

Mr Gavoka said the party would also submit a petition in Parliament to direct the Minister for Defence to cease and shelve this “draconian” draft Bill.

“Government should instead focus on restoring the trust and confidence of our people on police and disciplined forces.

“As a political party in Fiji, we would urge our development partners not to participate in this exercise.

You cannot endorse a draft Bill that infringes people’s civil liberties and human rights and the basic tenet of democracy, particularly for a country with a history of political instability, abuse of power, violation of human rights, and lack of checks and balances.”

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 37

AKSHAY KUMAR AWARDED ‘BEST ACTOR’ AT THE DADASAHEB PHALKE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL AWARDS 2021 International megastar

a renowned producerdirector-screenwriter.

With the impact of Covid19 wreaking havoc on the entertainment industry, many blockbusters have been halted, while companies have seen drastic losses in revenue in what has been one of the toughest ever periods for the industry in India and abroad.

However, the awards still went ahead this year as the releases which did make it on to our screens over the past year certainly brought smiles to our faces during

Akshay Kumar has continued to show why he is one of the most loved stars of Indian cinema as he claimed the award for ‘Best Actor’ at the annual Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards.

Since 1969, the Dadasaheb Phalke International Film Festival Awards have honoured the best in Indian cinema, television, music, and OTT. It is named in honour of the ‘father of Indian cinema’ Dadasaheb Phalke,

such uncertain times.

Akshay Kumar, who is one of the most celebrated actors in the world, was recognised for his outstanding performance in the hit film Laxmii, which revolves around a man who gets possessed by the ghost of a transgender person.

In addition to this success, other notable award winners were Deepika Padukone, who won ‘Best Female Actor’ for her role in Chhapaak while the late Sushant Singh Rajput was posthumously honoured

with the ‘Critic’s Best Actor’ award.

Despite a 30-year career in the industry, Akshay Kumar shows no signs of slowing down. The actor continues to go from strength to strength as his work ethic and efforts to help those effected by the pandemic throughout the past 12 months have won many plaudits.

Later this year, fans will get to enjoy seeing him on screen soon again with films such as Sooryavanshi, Prithviraj and Bell Bottom.

Not so ‘sasti’ anymore, says Taapsee in sarcastic tweets after tax raids NEW DELHI: Actor Taapsee Pannu on Saturday posted three sarcastic tweets talking about an “alleged” bungalow in Paris and an “alleged” receipt of Rs 5 crore in reaction to the recent income tax (IT) raids on her premises.

The actor of Badla and Thappad tweeted, “3 days of intense search of 3 things primarily. 1. The keys of the “alleged” bungalow that I apparently own in Paris.

Because summer holidays are around the corner. 2.

The “alleged” receipt worth 5 crores to frame n keep for future pitching coz I’ve been refused that money before. 3. My memory of 2013 raid that happened with me according to our honourable finance

minister,” she wrote.

Pannu signed off with a veiled dig, ““Not so sasti” anymore,” possibly aimed at Kangana Ranaut’s sister and manager Rangoli Chandel. Back in July 2019, Chandel had called Pannu “a sasti copy” in a tweet.

Her tweet on the 2013 raid referred to finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who in an interaction refused to comment on individual cases, but said that the same people were raided in 2013 too but no issue was made about it then.

The raids, carried out on over 30 properties in Mumbai and Pune, were related to tax evasion cases involving founders of the now-disbanded production

house, Phantom Films: Anurag Kashyap, Madhu Mantena, Vikas Bahl. Later, Kashyap also posted a picture to announce he had resumed work. The photo, which appears to be taken

on a film set, captures him smiling widely, along with Pannu. Both Kashyap and Pannu have been staunch critics of the union government.

On Thursday, Olympics

Bobby Deol gets candid like never before about his sons, Aryaman and Dharam Bobby Deol is probably in his happiest phase right now. Not only is his career going great guns, courtesy Class of '83 and Aashram bringing him back with a bang, culminating in his first ever Best Actor victory with a Dadasaheb Phalke Award, but he also seems to be in a much more serene place in his personal life.

In fact, when BollywoodLife recently got in touch with Bobby Deol for an exclusive interview and quizzed him whether elder son Aryaman wears his costumes and enacts his scenes before the mirror like he used to do with Dharmendra's dialogues, the Solider heartthrob willingly got more candid than we'd expected, about both his sons.

“I have two boys, both my boys are wonderful. They mean the world to me, so, I just can't talk about one of my children. I think, both my kids are blessed with their

own personalities, and I just hope that they both shine and achieve their dreams... so, that's all I can say about

38 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

my boys,” revealed Bobby with a joyous grin plastered across his visage.

We also touched upon his

turning point in life, which has no doubt contributed to the unbelievable renaissance in his career, and Bobby Deol again graciously poured his heart out to us.

“The turning point for me was sitting at home, not working and my kids wondering why my father is not going out of the house, why is he always home.

That was the moment when I realised I have to really work hard, when I realised I have to do everything on my own. This is what I tell all the young boys and girls who're trying to get into the industry that it's not an easy industry to be in — you have to never let yourself down, have faith in yourself, you cannot make others feel less about yourself. If you have something in you, you have a potential, believe in that and it'll come out so smoothly from you when you try to portray characters,” confessed the star.

silver medalist shuttler Mathias Boe from Denmark, also Taapsee Pannu’s boyfriend, tweeted to Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju on the IT raids. The post drew a terse reaction from

Rijiju on Friday. Mathias is currently coaching Indian players at the Swiss Open.

“Finding myself in a bit of turmoil. Representing India for the first time as a coach for some great athletes, meanwhile I-T department is raiding Taapsee’s houses back home, putting unnecessary stress on her family, especially her parents... @KirenRijiju please do something,” he tweeted, while tagging the sports minister.

Rijiju replied to Mathias hours later. “Law of the land is supreme and we must abide by that. The subject matter is beyond yours and my domain. We must stick to our professional duties in the best interest of Indian Sports,” he wrote.

Saif Ali Khan SLAMMED by trolls for getting COVID-19 vaccination

Saif Ali Khan has been called out again and this time for getting a shot of the COVID-19 vaccination.

For the unversed, Saif was spotted in BKC at the COVID-19 vaccination center yesterday. It is believed that the Jawaani Jaaneman actor was there for a vaccination shot. And as soon as the video was shared on social media by Viral Bhayani some social media users slammed Saif Ali Khan for getting a shot. They are of

opinion that he shouldn't have got a vaccination as he does not come in the elderly age group. Some have slammed him for wearing a bandana around his nose and not a proper mask. Viral Bhayani's post is flooded with tons of negative comments for Saif Ali Khan for getting a vaccination shot. Talking about the spotting, Saif Ali Khan even greeted paparazzi by waving at them after getting the shot.

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 39

Hepatitis C: there is a CURE Hepatitis C is a blood borne virus that left untreated can cause liver fibrosis/cirrhosis, liver cancer and liver failure.

People can have hepatitis C and not show or have any symptoms for many years.

Most people are not required to check for hepatitis C when they move to Australia. Doctors at a GP clinic or a hospital also do not normally check for hepatitis C. All people that may have been at risk of contacting the hepatitis C virus should be checked, including people born overseas.

People can become infected with the hepatitis C virus when blood (even the tiniest amount) from an infected person enters the blood of another person.

People can become infected from the following: • Medical or dental procedures performed overseas

reducing further damage to the liver. The medicine is 1 or 3 tablets once a day depending on the treatment that is appropriate for the person.

Over 95% of people that have treatment for hepatitis C will be cured after only 2-3 months of treatment.

However, people can become re-infected if they have blood to blood contact with an infected person.

In Australia if you have a Medicare Card treatment costs around $125, or $20 is you have a Concession Card. If a person does not • Blood transfusions or blood products given overseas.

• Tattooing, acupuncture, and other practices where equipment may have been reused and not appropriately sterilised • Sharing razors or toothbrushes • Infected mother to

baby at birth- very rare • Blood transfusions in Australia before 1990 • Injecting drug use Hepatitis C is NOT spread through social contact such as kissing, cuddling, shaking hands, sharing food, sneezing, mosquito bites etc.

To find out if you have hepatitis C you can ask your GP for a hepatitis C blood test to check for the virus.

Common blood tests do not included a hepatitis C test.

GPs and Specialists can prescribe medication that can CURE hepatitis C and remove the virus from the blood. It will also assist in

have a Medicare Card they can buy treatment online at sites such as www.fixhepc. com.au If you would like any further information please see our website www.eccq. com.au/bbv or contact our Program on 07 3844 9166 If you live in Cairns you can contact HIV, Viral Hepatitis, Sexual Health Coordinator Cairns Sexual Health Service 381 Sheridan St, Cairns North, QLD, 4870 Ph: 4226 4760

Hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health Program Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ)

Homemade Hair Treatments for Dry, Dull or Frizzy hair

by Hetvi Hair & Beauty it into the roots and scalp.

Put on a shower cap, and let it sit for 30 minutes. Then rinse and shampoo until clean.

Nimisha Modi

Hetvi Hair & Beauty 0412350013 Hey Girls, I posted a simple trick for battling brassiness. It’s crazy and weird, but it works. And people always ask food items works with your hair and beauty? Tips for easy DIY hair masks made with simple ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.

1. Avocado (need to moisturize) Avocado has a welldeserved reputation for being one of nature’s perfect foods. Its oils and proteins will smooth and moisturize your locks without weighing down fine hair. Mash up half an avocado and add a couple of drops of peppermint oil.

Shampoo hair, squeeze out the water, and apply the hair mask. Let it sit for 15 minutes and then rinse.

My hair came out super soft—not flat or greasy at all. And the added scent made sitting around with green goop on your head much more pleasant.

If you’re not worried about weighing down your hair, you can amp up the moisture by adding 1–2 tablespoons of oil, egg yolk, or yogurt.

2. Coconut Oil The wonders of coconut

oil never cease! This oil is heavy, which is great for penetrating deep into the hair shaft, but use it sparingly, especially if you have fine hair.

Take a small amount of coconut oil, rub it between your hands, and apply just to the ends of damp hair. If the oil is in the solid form, just warm it in the microwave for about 10 seconds until it becomes liquid, and let it cool a bit before touching it (be careful because it can get VERY hot).

Got really dry hair?

Keep the oil on overnight and shampoo out in the morning.

3. Banana + Olive Oil Not only can bananas work their magic on your feet, but they are awesome for your hair! Mix a banana with 1 tablespoon of organic

40 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

extra virgin olive oil and mash thoroughly until the banana is pureed.

You definitely want a super smooth smoothie-like texture, so you don’t end up with banana chunks in your hair. Then massage into your hair and scalp.

Leave the treatment on for 30 minutes, then rinse thoroughly and shampoo.

4. Pumpkin + Honey This could be the perfect use for canned pumpkin puree.

Pumpkins have lots of amazing benefits— they’re rich in vitamins A and C, beta-carotene, potassium, and zinc.

Add 1–2 tablespoons of honey, a natural humectant, to one cup of pumpkin puree, and pack as much as you can onto your hair and scalp. You’ll need to either wrap your hair in saran

wrap or wear a shower cap to keep the mask in place.

Let it sit for at least 15 minutes and then rinse. Feel free to apply to your face as well!

5. Yogurt Yogurt is naturally high in healthy fats and proteins, which will leave your hair super shiny and loaded with maximum moisture. There are a lot of options out there when it comes to yogurt, but it’s best to opt for the highprotein, low-sugar, plain variety.

Protein strengthens the hair shaft, which prevents split ends and hair damage.

And sugar is a no-no if you want to keep yeast and flakes at bay. Take ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt and stir until smooth.

Apply to freshly washed hair, taking care to massage

6. Aloe Vera We use aloe vera all the time in natural healing remedies, but did you know that aloe also works wonders as a homemade hair treatment? Aloe vera is a great natural conditioner that leaves hair feeling smooth and shiny.

Applying it directly to locks helps promote hair growth, reduces irritation (such as dandruff), and conditions your hair. I like to add a little cedar wood oil to enhance circulation in the scalp, thus promoting healthy growth and slowing hair loss.

Mix two teaspoons of fresh Aloe vera gel with 3 drops of Cedar wood.

Massage into your hair and let it rest for half an hour.

Shampoo and condition as usual.

7. Cocoa powder (need a colour boost) Give brown hair a boost with cocoa powder.

For a stay-at-home DIY with safe ingredients, try a combination of cocoa powder, plain yogurt, honey, and apple cider vinegar to give you a deeper, richer brown. I haven’t tested this one personally yet, but if you can make with cocoa powder, why not try it in

your hair?

8. Lemon + Chamomile To warm up blonde hair, try lemon and chamomile tea. Both have long been used as whitening agents for blonde hair. You can do a simple rinse by tilting your head back over the sink and pouring a cup of cooled tea combined with the juice of a lemon over clean, wet hair.

Let sit for about 5 minutes and rinse.

You can also try this brightening mask that combines egg yolk and lemon with grated potato.

Yes, potato! Shampoo, apply to hair, and blow dry your hair on low for 2–3 minutes.

Then rinse and style. This ended up being more work than you can do on a regular basis, but you loved how bright and shiny your hair ended up.

9. Raw Honey Honey has been used for years to naturally lighten hair and give it a soft, sun-kissed glow. Mix 4 tablespoons of raw honey with 1 tablespoon of water and apply to hair and scalp.

Pop on a shower cap and let it sit for an hour. Rinse the mixture out of your hair and shampoo, condition, and style as usual. We continued this article for next month as well.

Hope you will find this useful. I will see you next month. Have a great time.

Nimisha 0412350013

Poignant story of commitment, boldness and triumph of the human spirit

By Rama Gaind In March 2013 a historic

decision meant colour became a symbol of victory, freedom and rebirth as widows celebrated Holi for the first time in India. That’s because the Supreme Court of India had passed orders for the rehabilitation and empowerment of widows in August 2012.

The right of women to live with dignity has always intersected with outdated norms in Indian society.

The Last Color is about conquest of the human spirit, hope, promise, a true heartening. It’s a valued film in the Hindi language (with English subtitles) that has emotion, intellect and plenty of boldness.

It’s a communal drama about parity and reverence for widows in society, their involvement in

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festivals and elimination of discrimination on the basis of caste, class, gender or sexual orientation. The setting is 1989 Benaras, and Indian Michelin-star chef, humanitarian and now filmmaker Vikas Khanna focuses on an age-old taboo surrounding widows in Vrindavan and Varanasi in India.

Based on his novel of the same name, this is Khanna’s directorial debut highlighting the need for equality and respect for widows in society. Many

Film: The Last Color Director: Vikas Khanna issues are infused into the film that starts in 2013 and gets a flashback of 24 years.

Unfolding on the banks of the Ganges River, Chhoti promises hope to Noor as this poignant story of love, friendship, commitment and triumph of the human spirit unfolds. Nine-yearold flower seller and tightrope walker Chhoti (Aqsa Siddiqui) befriends Noor (Neena Gupta, Woh Chokri, Badhaai Ho), a 70-year-old widow

living a colourless life of abstinence. Gupta is the film’s soul, while the heart belongs to Siddiqui.

Mention also needs to be made of Rudrani Chhetri, who gives a striking portrayal as

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Anarkali, a transwoman.

Cinematography by Subhranshu Das attractively captures the

sedate pace, which is in sync with the silky smooth background score from Priyabrata Panigrahi.

THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 41

MARCH-2021

Aries ( 21st March to 20th April )

Taurus ( 21st April to 21st May )

Gemini ( 22nd May to 21st June )

This is the month where you will pay more attention to your health that you had been ignoring for a while now. It is now crucial for you to exercise daily, sleep tight, and eat healthy food to maintain your health. Also, do seek medical help when required as this month can bring in some complications. Make sure that you do not be aggressive while communicating with either your colleagues or family members as it can bring a negative impact on your relationship. Furthermore, this month will be quite average in terms of love and relationships. Although, your relationships will give you some positivity as well apart from getting things on track. Just try to be more honest and keep up with all your commitments. This can also be an auspicious time for you to dig the rabbit hole and take inventory of what you have to offer in an association. Besides, having clear communication with your loved ones will work wonders for you.

For the ones who are single, there is a possibility that you will meet someone and instantly connect. Apart from this, some financial gains are also foreseen this month, so try to cut down your expenses wisely. There are chances of increment as well at your workplace. However, unexpected expenses can give you some stress. Also, foreign travel is a possibility this month. You may also get a chance to get new projects and work to induce some positive changes in your career. All you need is hard work and determination to do so.

This month is going to be quite an average one for you. Further, there is a possibility of receiving unforseen news or events in the days to come. This period is good for your career, however, there are chances that you may indulge in an argument or debate with your senior or boss. Thus, make sure that you do not involve yourself in such complicated situations with them. Besides, your hard work and determination will prove to be pretty fruitful for you in your career growth. Students, on the other hand, may find this month to be very positive and may be able to bring in the changes they want in life. You may also get some good support from your mentor and father for further guidance. But, your relationships may come across some ups and downs during this time.

Well, singles will be able to find a right partner for themselves. Als,o, you may end up looking for a new residence as well. Additionally, there are some responsibilities that you may have to take up in the daily, hence, be prepared.

There can be some fights with your beloved spouse, accompanied with aggression and debates, but it is best to avoid any unnecessary discussions with her. Also, pertaining to legal matters, this is a favorable time for you to get the desired outcome. This month is also important with respect to monetary gains. So, try to invest in land and property to earn good profit.

Although, some monetary losses are predicted. Take good care of your health without being stressed over anything!

Your creative abilities will enhance during this month.

A possibility of getting your dream job is quite likely as well. Plus, if you are self-employed, then this is a great time to expand your horizons and achieve your goals. Besides, you may get ample opportunities to get into more creative projects and ventures, while your ability to make the best out of these will be great as well. Your sheer hard work, determination, and confidence will assist you in making the right choices this month in any field of career. Moreover, this is also a favourable time to have financial gains as you may get numerous rewarding opportunities.

However, you will be drenched in emotions and may feel the urge to be more romantic. This month, you will feel more passionate about your career and responsibilities. It's the same reason why you may not be able to spend much time with your family and friends. Thus, maintaining a balance is a must for you. You will also have to realize that earning money is not the only way to connect with your close ones, rather surprising them often with gifts and events can also work wonders. With your unpredictable nature and worrisome nature, you may feel a little more weaker than usual which, in turn, may affect your decision making ability. By mid-month, you may come across some complicated circumstances, which make you a little anxious and restless. Well, by the end of the month, you will reach your peak once again, be more adventurous, and spend some quality time with your loved ones.

Cancer ( 22nd June to 22nd July )

Leo ( 23rd July to 22nd August )

Virgo ( 23rd August to 22nd September )

This is a month of optimism and enthusiasm. It may also inspire you to be more creative and artistic in your approach.

You may remain in a good mood too, however, with the influence of Mars there may be some problems and hurdles to pass in your personal and professional areas. It is also a good time to surprise yourself and boost your sentiments during this period. The transit of Saturn will somehow impact your career accompanied with some crucial events in your life. This only goes to say that you may have to make some important decisions related to your career as you may witness some essential career growth opportunities needed in this time.

The planets are also likely to be in your favor, helping you to face the challenges and come out with solutions. It may also provide you with some monetary gains.

Hence, this month is going to be very productive in terms of your finances, but do be careful that you do not end up making impulsive decisions that affect your financial planning. Although the planetary combinations say that they are in your favor, it will be essential for you to be very disciplined in your monetary planning and execution. You are also likely to be very emotional this month. It is a period which will bring a lot of happiness and joy in your relationship, however, the influence of Mars may make you restless and disturb your love life. Lastly, there are chances that you may face some health issues, thus, ensure that you have a good diet and that you regularly exercise to keep yourself fit and fine.

A progressive month is foreseen with a lot of optimism.

The planets will be on your side and may help you to grow professionally, in your job as well as business. But, make sure that you read all the documents carefully before signing any deal. The impact of Mars will be such that you may not crack the best of the deals, however, you can always try your 100 percent with hard work, focus, and determination.

As time goes by, you will get a chance to get profitable deals, although you may have to deal with some financial issues in the beginning of the month.

Both Jupiter and Saturn will support you to bring some drastic changes in your life. It will also assist you in reaching your goals monetarily. The period in the month-end may force you to be more cautious as Mercury can have an influence on your financial status. So, do not overspend, and try to save for future needs. With the transit of Venus, your love life will be enhanced and you may be able to come out of your relationship problems, making your bonding even stronger. But, it is advised to be conscious while making any important decision pertaining to your love life. Hence, be more strong and do not let any negativity influence you. Well, this is also a good time to play with your creativity and learn new skills. Your mentors will give you good guidance to progress in your studies. Moreover, the planetary combinations may give you a boost to look after your health. Hence, you will start meditating, maintain your diet, and exercise regularly.

There are so many things at your disposal this month that it is almost difficult to know where to start. This month can give you promising career opportunities. Favorable planetary influences can help you move forward, and your efforts will be rewarded and praised. At the beginning of the month, you can make positive changes in your career and help yourself achieve the results you want in difficult situations. Financial progress is also planned. But at the same time, there may be unavoidable financial risks that can affect financial planning. However, Venus while traveling, helps to stay financially safe. The planet of love, Venus, can also assist you build a loving relationship. However, due to the influence of Saturn, it may not be possible to clearly convey your feelings to the other party. Some planets associated with karma can cause confusion and affect your relationships. Be careful and calm so that you do not make a decision in a hurry. Saturn can force you to make some life changes to improve your health and well-being. Often there are heights that require more creative and playful games. At the end of the month, you can go out to meet old friends and plan a gorgeous dinner. However, with the passage of Mars, you will encounter some complications at work. Over the course of the month, you can find several career opportunities. Therefore, be vigilant and do not miss any valuable opportunity. Some social or religious ceremonies may be associated with certain costs. But you can do the same very effectively. Students have to work hard to achieve the desired results. During the month, you may also have some health problems due to unhealthy or irregular eating habits. So, maintain healthy eating habits and exercise regularly.

Libra ( 23rd September to 22nd October )

Scorpio ( 23rd October to 22nd November )

Sagittarius ( 23rd November to 21st December )

The month of March may get numerous blessings and amazements in the domain of money and business. This month you might be more centered around personal development.

You may attempt to upgrade your insight and innovative capacities. You are probably going to get some certain transformations too. In this excursion, you may get full help from your loved ones. Moreover, make an effort to not be forceful while speaking with your family members, be delicate with yourself just and your relatives. You may feel forced, and in this manner, it might affect your relationship as well. Attempt to keep up a work-life balance. Likewise, it would be useful if you go for a short get-away to invest some quality energy with your family.

It will cause you to feel new and rejuvenated. Keep in mind, that just acquiring cash isn't your sole obligation. You should likewise discover time for your relatives and sort out the issues and false impressions. You are respected as a solid, legitimate, and reliable sort of man, at the same time, your bogus pride may make you act like an adamant and egotistical person. A recommendation is, do whatever it takes not to be pompous and forceful. You look for adoration, fondness, and warmth, and fortunately, this month you may have that somebody special looking after you.

Moreover, this month may bring spic and span viewpoints. You may get the ideal achievement in the entirety of your undertakings. Your certainty and assurance will assist you to boost your energy level and will inspire you to improve. There are odds of certain issues with your sibling. Attempt to stay away from such debates and guarantee a superior comprehension of one another. It's significant that you keep clear communication!

This month may end up being a difficult period for you as the period of thoughtfulness has just begun in your life.

In the recent past, you have been making a decent attempt to take a gander at your benefits and misfortunes. Ideally, this month, you are probably going to get the lucidity, which will assist you in defeating your difficulties. Nonetheless, it won't be simple for you to deal with troublesome situations, however, with sheer perseverance and determination, you can face them.

Furthermore, a short outing is predicted for the current month. This will support you and give you true serenity. Likewise, it might bring up your energy levels.

You are probably going to meet new individuals, have new encounters, and may attempt to gorge on some street food, so you are advised to take care regarding your wellbeing. There are chances that you may experience the ill effects of not having proper sleep because of stress and extra work duties. Consult a specialist and take the meds recommended by him. This month you are probably going to zero in on yourself and attempt to get positive changes. You will run after your objective with more assurance. Your certainty level is probably going to lift and this may assist you in fathoming your issues adequately. Additionally, you are informed to take care of your folks and seniors in your family, as chances are that they may have some medical problems this month. Have their regular checkups, as it will assist with getting convenient treatment. There are chances that some old issues may manifest, so try to manage them with persistence. If you are hitched and wanting to raise your family, this month is strong. You may end up conceiving a child, which may make you feel pleased. If you’re intending to visit a holy spot, the month will be empowering. Some surprising costs associated with some religious and good cause are predicted too.

The long stretch of March may bring normal outcomes for you. Yet, as the month advances, you may see positive changes occurring in your life. Initially, there are chances that you may confront many testing circumstances and will most likely be unable to settle on an insightful choice.

Nonetheless, as you push forward, there is probably going to be gradual advancement in all aspects of your life. The difficulties you may face may cause you to understand that the torment you get at first will end up being glad occasions with the assistance of your hard work and determination. They will be a crucial wellspring of all types of your learning. Further, as the month advances, you may get extraordinary blessings from the divine. Additionally, blissful and cheerful conditions may emerge in your family and group of friends. You may get great help from everybody, as wanted. The second half of the month is positive for monetary business improvement. There are high possibilities that you may go for a significant distance trip yet the outcomes may not be empowering. Costs are probably going to be high because of your excursion. Moreover, this month you may get significant lessons from a noble or honorable individual. You may be appreciated for good work and respected by numerous due to your work. Beides, there are risks that a few gossipy tidbits may spread against you.

Buckle down sincerely so as to get the ideal outcomes. Also, this month is great for marriage and connections.

Capricorn ( 22nd December to 20th January )

Aquarius ( 21st January to 18th February )

Pisces ( 19th February to 20th March )

This might be an extraordinary month for personal development and for positive changes in each part of your life. In any case, you'll accomplish this only if you put your brain and heart into it. You are exhorted not to rely altogether upon your destiny as karma alone won't assist you with accomplishing incredible things in life. This month, you may have numerous obligations which can be somewhat unpleasant for you. Nonetheless, there may be benefits that you may experience if you comply with your seniors and supervisors. Moreover, you may get a great deal of chances to elevate your profession. There are possibilities that you may get achievement in the field of politics. Be that as it may, this month may not be positive for speculations. Attempt to abstain from putting an enormous sum into business, particularly identified with clothing and beauty items. There are chances that a few contentions may happen among you and your mom, because of a horrible planetary position.

Henceforth, don't be forceful while imparting and maintain a strategic distance from superfluous debates with your mom. Your love life is probably going to improve this month. You may get numerous open doors that will assist you with drawing nearer to your accomplice and make your relationship solid. Attempt to invest greater energy with your beloved and see each other in a superior manner. In any case, the climate at home may not stay genial during this month. Right now, you ought to keep up calm and attempt to determine the issues in the most ideal manners. There are odds of unfamiliar travel towards the month's end. Do take all the important precautionary measures that may empower you to appreciate the outing. Plan your costs as needs be and abstain from squandering cash on pointless things.

This month is probably going to bring mixed outcomes for you. Try to keep up a work-life balance. Monitor your day by day work, and attempt to complete your errands by a given time. Planetary transits may support you and give you the ideal achievement you need. You are probably going to get full support from your seniors and boss at work. Furthermore, reconsider before settling on any significant choice, and do accept guidance from your folks. Moreover, there are chances that you may get some electronic items too. Venus travel might be in support of yourself and carry inspiration to your life. You are probably going to invest some quality energy with your relatives as well. Additionally, karma may be in your favor as the month advances.

Also, abstain from making any false commitments, else it might prompt some budgetary misfortune. You may likewise confront some distressing circumstances, however, you might have the option to conquer them proficiently with your calm mindset. If you are single, there is a possibility that you may meet your life partner this month. In any case, remain wary while settling on any choice with respect to your relationship. Try not to settle on any choice in flurry just to get into the relationship. In case you're hitched, Venus travel will upgrade your conjugal life. You are probably going to get numerous chances to invest energy with your accomplice and restore your marriage relationship. Nonetheless, in the latter half of the month, you may get the ideal outcome in your business and career. You may make some great memories with your mom too. Moreover, her recommendations may give achievement and monetary benefit. Some uplifting news affiliated with land and property-related issues may come up. There are high odds of good returns from your past investments as well. Also, take good care of your health as you may confront some minor medical problems this month. Lastly, try not to engage in pointless arguments with your relatives. Allow them to clarify their contemplations so you may have an agreeable relationship with them.

This month a few difficulties may manifest in your conjugal relationship. Attempt to have an unassuming disposition and be pleasant with your accomplice. The odds are high that this month you may arrange a little party with your parents in law which can provide a decent time. A few presents and monetary benefit from an associate or parents in law might be for you. Besides, do whatever it takes not to be forceful as it can negatively affect your relationship. Make an effort not to engage in any new relationship this month as well. There are odds of some abrupt change in the environment at your work. Remain mindful while settling on significant career choices. Try not to take any choice in scurry or in hostility else you may lament later. Some sudden difficulties are predicted in your business. If you are associated with foreign related business or import and export business, then this month may not be as auspicious for you to make any drastic changes in your business plans. You may get great help from the administration and senior power this month. A female colleague or female partner will help you in your work. Domestic life may have a few difficulties and there are odds of some conflict with a relative. Try not to settle on any significant choices identified with land and property this time. For students, they need to adjust to changed conditions. You may get an awkward condition on account of the change in place. Hostility can influence your examination and wellbeing as well. Attempt to acknowledge the change and get familiar with the new things going ahead your way. Furthermore, there are chances that you may get into an inappropriate company of individuals, so remain alert. Focus on your studies and maintain a strategic distance from overuse of electronic devices as this can give medical problems identified with eyes.

42 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 43 www.indiantimes.com

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‘Pathetic’: Criticism rains down on England after India drubbing has poured in over England’s limp performance in the fourth and final Test of their comprehensive series defeat to India, after the match was sealed inside three days, by an innings and 25 runs.

For the second-straight Test at the Ahmedabad venue – the world’s biggest – the result was decided in much less than five days – after the third Test lasted a mere two days.

After England’s impressive victory in the first Test, the visitors have fallen apart in disastrous fashion, losing the next three tests in emphatic fashion.

The second Test defeat was by over 300 runs, the third by 10 wickets, and the finale by an innings and 25 runs.

England’s inability to play spin throughout the series will prove a major talking point in the days and weeks to come.

The visitors have scored more than 200 just once in their last six innings.

Root stood tall for England as he topped the batting chart with 368 runs including 218 the opening Test — his 100th — that England won convincingly.

But Ashwin and Axar, with 32 wickets and 27 wickets for the series respectively, tore the English batting line-ups to shreds.

Meanwhile England took seven wickets in the final Test from seamers, and just two from spinners. The gulf in ability in playing the turning ball was clear.

Sir Andrew Strauss

Nadroga aims for a win at home ground

Criticism

football will play its first premier league match at their home ground and is calling on fans to show up in large numbers.

President Mohammed Ali says they want to start the season on a high and a win on their home ground will be special.

Ali says they are coming into the league as a senior team having high hopes for a successful year.

Nadroga

told Channel 4: “You are dispirited, aren’t you? You are hoping for England to learn their lessons and show some fight and we didn’t see a lot of that.”

He bemoaned technical problems in the England batting approach to spin, saying: “There are frailties there that have been exploited by some Indian spin bowling on surfaces that have really suited the spinners. England came into the series very confident having won 2-0 in Sri Lanka but those frailties got exposed.

“Steve Waugh used to speak about mental disintegration.

It wasn’t about sledging but about the persistence of the India spinners. England’s batsmen had no real answer. India are a very good side and showed their superiority.”

However, credit must go to the hosts for their continued

dominance – and for their tactical and mental effort in the wake of a disappointing start to the Test series.

India has now won 13 straight Test series at home, a record span dating back to 2013.

They have lost just two of their last 38 Tests at home – against England in this series opener, and against Australia in Pune 2017.

This year’s loss was described by India captain

Virat Kohli as an ‘aberration’.

He said: “It was a bit of an aberration in the way we play as a team. It was a hiccup and England outplayed us. We then bowled and fielded with a lot more intensity [after that].”

The series win moves India into the number one spot on the Test rankings.

The simple truth is that they are utterly dominant on home soil. England are just the latest victims.

He says this will be possible with the support of families and fans.

Nadroga hosts Nadi at Lawaqa Park in Sigatoka today at 3pm.

Also at 3pm, Suva battles Rewa at ANZ Stadium while Lautoka faces Navua at Churchill Park.

You can listen to the live commentary of the Lautoka vs Navua match on Mirchi FM.

Sunil Gavaskar is an icon and inspiration for generations to come: Viv Richards

Swiss Open 2021: PV Sindhu Qualifier Cerundolo Clinches First outclasses Mia Blichfeldt in straight ATP Final In Buenos Aires games to enter women's singles final PV Sindhu dished out a superlative performance to outclass Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark in straight games and enter the women's singles final of the Swiss Open.

World Champion PV Sindhu was at her attacking best in the semi-final against Mia Blichfeldt as she sailed into the women's singles final of the Swiss Open Super 300 tournament. Sindhu crushed fourth-seeded Blichfeldt 2220, 21-10 in just 43 minutes to avenge her first-round loss at the Yonex Thailand Open in January.

Earlier, Sindhu had registered a 21-16, 23-21 win over Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan in the women's singles quarterfinals.

Sindhu gained a 17-12 lead before the Dane shuttler countered with some smart cross-court play and won five points to level at 17-17.

Sindhu will now take on either Olympic champion

Carolina Marin or Thailand's Pornpawee Chochuwong for a shot at the Swiss Open title on Sunday. Notably, this is Sindhu's first final appearance since the World Championships in 2019.

44 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

In Men's Doubles, World No 10 pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty will face sixth-seeded Danish pair of Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen in the semi-final today.

A week after his younger brother Juan Manuel Cerundolo defeated Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the final at the Cordoba Open, qualifier Francisco Cerundolo repeated the upset with a 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-2 victory at the Argentina Open to reach his first ATP Tour final on Saturday.

The big-hitting 22-yearold had to overcome his fifth three-setter of the week to defeat Ramos-Vinolas inside Court Guillermo Vilas. He bounced back after dropping the second set and broke the Spaniard five times to book his spot in the final after a marathon two hours and 35 minutes.

The Argentine owned just one ATP Tour win – which he achieved last week in Cordoba – before qualifying for the main draw in Buenos Aires. But he played with the same fearless tennis and heavy pace that led him to reach three ATP Challenger Tour clay-court finals since November and win titles at

Campinas and Guayaquil.

Right-handed Cerundolo came out swinging and firing winners off both wings, a contrast in style to younger brother Juan Manuel, a counterpunching lefty. He had scoreboard pressure on his side as he edged to a 3-1 lead against Ramos-Vinolas, but the experienced Spaniard quickly levelled the score.

Cerundolo took the first set with a spate of winners in the tie-break, but couldn’t break through in the second as Ramos-Vinolas took the set 6-3. He was back in control in the decider, raising his level on serve to fend off three break points and take a 3-0 lead.

Things unravelled quickly for Ramos-Vinolas after going down another break at 4-2. Cerundolo broke serve once more from 0/40 to reach his first ATP Tour final, collapsing in elation on the red dirt of the Cathedral of Argentine Tennis.

Cerundolo awaits the winner of top seed Diego Schwartzman and fourth seed Miomir Kecmanovic for a shot at the title. After Juan Manuel’s victory in Cordoba last week, Francisco is trying to join him in the winners' circle to become the seventh pair of brothers to win singles titles in the Open Era and the first to do so in consecutive weeks.

Queensland Fiji Football Association QCUP 2021 STRATHPINE, Queensland Fiji Football Association held their 2021 QCUP at Pine Rivers United Sports Club situated at 188 Samsonvale Road, Strathpine.

The tournament began on Sunday 21st February and finals were played on Sunday 28th February.

Teams in premier pool (A) were Nadi, Levuka, Nadroga and Lautoka while Premier Pool (B) had Ba, Tavua, and Ra. Masters Pool (A) had Nadroga, Ba, Suva and Nadi while

masters pool (B) had Ra, Tavua, Lautoka, Rewa and Labasa. The winners in the premier’s section was Nadi while Ra held the runners up position. In the master’s division Nadi once again came out as the winners and Nadroga held the runners up position.

Vishwa Nair QFFA current president welcomed guests including Councillor Sandy Landers of Bracken Ridge Ward and Raj Pratap marketing and sponsorship director of QFFA

Premiers Winners - Nadi

Zain Mohammad, Player of the tournament

Official opening with QFFA president Vishwa Nair, (left), Councillor Sandy Landers (bracken Ridge Ward) and Raj Pratap Marketing and Sponsorship Director QFFA

Masters Winners - Nadi

Call: (07) 3192 5188

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THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 45

Commonwealth Day 2021 Commonwealth Day is an annual celebration observed by people all over the Commonwealth in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Americas, the Pacific and Europe Commonwealth Day 2021 was be celebrated on Monday 8 March 2021, with a schedule of virtual events about which information is available below.

To comply with restrictions made necessary because of COVID-19, the Commonwealth Secretariat is not planning for any events to take place at Marlborough House this year.

Each year, there is usually a service held at Westminster Abbey to mark Commonwealth Day. However, due to the pandemic, no service was held this year. Instead Her Majesty The Queen delivered her annual message in ‘A Celebration for Commonwealth Day’, which was broadcast on Sunday 7 March on BBC ONE in the UK. TRH The Prince of Wales, The Duchess of Cornwall, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and The Countess of Wessex also took part in the programme, sharing their perspectives on the importance of our Commonwealth links. The celebration includes music, prayers and readings from others around the Commonwealth.

This year Commonwealth Day was centred around the same theme as last year, which is also the theme for the forthcoming 2021 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). The theme – 'Delivering a Common Future' – highlights how the 54 member countries in the Commonwealth family are ‘innovating, connecting and transforming’ to help achieve some of its biggest goals, like fighting climate change, promoting good governance and boosting trade.

In Brisbane a multifaith service was held at St Johns Cathedral from 10:00am. His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC the 26th Governor of Queensland and representative of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queensland’s Head of State, deliver Her Majesty’s message. Multi faith prayers were offered.

Her Majesty The Queen’s 2021 Message: Over the coming week, as we celebrate the friendship, spirit of unity and achievements of the Commonwealth, we have an opportunity to reflect on a time like no other.

Whilst experiences of the last year have been different across the Commonwealth, stirring examples of courage, commitment and selfless dedication to duty have been demonstrated

in every Commonwealth nation and territory, notably by those working on the frontline who have been delivering healthcare and other public services in their communities. We have also taken encouragement from remarkable advances in developing new vaccines and treatments.

The testing times experienced by so many have led to a deeper appreciation of the mutual support and spiritual sustenance we enjoy by

being connected to others.

The need to maintain greater physical distance, or to live and work largely in isolation, has, for many people across the Commonwealth, been an unusual experience.

In our everyday lives, we have had to become more accustomed to connecting and communicating via innovative technology – which has been new to some of us – with conversations and communal gatherings, including Commonwealth

meetings, conducted online, enabling people to stay in touch with friends, family, colleagues and counterparts, who they have not been able to meet in person. Increasingly, we have found ourselves able to enjoy such communication, as it offers an immediacy that transcends boundaries or division, helping any sense of distance to disappear.

We have all continued to appreciate the support, breadth of experiences and

knowledge that working together brings, and I hope we shall maintain this renewed sense of closeness and community. Looking forward, relationships with others across the Commonwealth will remain important, as we strive to deliver a common future that is sustainable and more secure, so that the nations and neighbourhoods in which we live, wherever they are located, become healthier and happier places for us all.

RACQ International Women's Day Fun Run

We can't quite believe it!!! what an amazing milestone to wake up to on #internationalwo mensday2021 Participants have raised $1.5 MILLION to help women with breast cancer!

This achievement is simply incredible—there is no other way to describe it! This shows just how generous Queenslanders are in their commitment to make a positive impact on the lives of others.

On behalf of all the

46 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021

women you're helping, and their families, RACQ thanked everyone and said “What a day!! Thank you for everyone who participated, wore their best pink outfits and supported women with

breast cancer. You’ve made an incredible impact” If you were up early on Sunday 7th March morning, there was one colour on the streets of Brisbane. Thousands of Queenslanders threw on pink and laced up

their runners, hitting the pavement for the International Women's Day Fun Run. A massive thank you and congratulations to the highest individual fundraiser Annie Murcdoch, and highest

fundraising team Blue Champs!

Annie has raised more than $12 000, and Blue Champs have raised more than $43 000! These efforts are simply incredible and will do so much to support women with breast cancer.

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www.indiantimes.com

THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021 — 47

48 — THE BRISBANE INDIAN TIMES, March, 2021