Sangam Supermarket

By Poonam Naik

People dying at an alarming rate, hospitals running out of beds, supplies of oxygen and other medication running short is the reality of India today. We piece together the shortcomings that led to this acute crisis of COVID19 in India.

The answer to this crisis is a collective failure of the central government, state government, opposition parties, covid task force, and pubic as well.

It is now well understood that the central government in India has failed to anticipate the fast approaching second wave. During this impending crisis, no red flags were raised to alert people at large. Infact, the central government made it look like as the worst was behind them. The centre failed to implement lessons from the first wave of COVID crisis. While the fabulous job in vaccination program was underway, 64 million doses were exported to 84 countries in need. But what the central failed to do here was to prempt vaccine shortage for its own population. And this is where, central government has received a lot of criticisms for not following vaccine universalization and to prioritise our population first. And the most important failure was to anticipate dangers of mutant strains found in India.

The State governments have failed miserably as well. After the worst covid 19 of 2020, the entire health care systems are maxed out. The state governments did not step up and strengthen health care facilities. They fail to anticipate shortage of oxygen supply. Infact, they went a step further by choosing to dismantle covid facilities from the first wave. State governments failed to create plasma banks. They instead indulged in playing vaccine politics. Some states were giving vaccines for free. While others were busy blaming the central government for their failure. They should have raised the flags around health care infrastructure and asked for help in much advance.

Political parties collectively added to the mess. Instead of encouraging people to get vaccine, every opposition party mainly sparked vaccine hesitancy among the minds of people. People were scared to get the vaccine because of fears Photo Source:- theatlantic.com

about the credibility of the vaccine offered in India. And furthermore, to make it worse, several political parties carried out massive campaign rallies across 5 poll bound states in India.

The Scientific Covid task force too failed in genome sequencing of the mutant variants. There was no actionable pre-emptive advice to the government. The seriousness and urgency to act was clearly lacking and there were no contingency plans to articulate to the government on what to do and what not to do.

Finally, the accountability came to the people of India where they failed despite several alerts to ensure social distancing and not to be part of gatherings and always wear a face mask. Indians everywhere let their guards down even in such times of high infectious rates. Some part of the population even deemed covid 19 as a hoax. Despite vaccination starting in January, there was scattered discipline on taking the vaccine offered.

Ultimately the lockdown fatigue forced people to violate covid protocols in places leading to cascading effects. Today India is witnessing unimaginable crisis in history. We have lost several lives and counting. And, if we want to stop here, we need to show collective responsibility.

By Poonam Naik

Pains, Aches, Stresses, Traumas, Tensions, Constant sickness, Depression, Anxiety, Injuries – Let healing hands help you get back to your optimum happy and balanced self.

Vimla Rao from Ambient Health has over the years provided healing touch to many of her clients in relax and repair mode through her alternative therapies like Bowen Therapy and Hypnotherapy. She had been employed at various universities as a physics technical officer until 2003. Her thirst for working in the health industry led her to a role of Home Care Worker. During this time, she built an amazing rapport with the elderly, sick and disabled clients. Her passion led her to the Bowen Therapy world.

In 2005 she completed her Diploma of Bowen Therapy and started on her new journey of helping clients with various physical and emotional ailments. She pursued this career further and by 2010 she trained herself as an international instructor of Bowen Therapy, teaching in Australia, Fiji, India, and Pakistan.

While on the path of healing, Vimla realized that there was a subtle aspect beyond the physical and emotional. Her search led her, where she mastered clinical as well as spiritual Hypnotherapy. Vimla also learnt talking to the organs and systems of the Body as well as treating clients with such issues.

Bowen Therapy is a gentle and noninvasive form of body work that can heal the entire body at all levels. The therapist does a gentle subtle move over muscles and connective tissues which sends messages deep into the body, retrieving cellular memory of a preferred, relaxed, balanced way of wellbeing. There are frequent but very essential pauses throughout the session that allows the body time to respond and begin the healing process. Bowen technique does not use forceful manipulation. Bowen therapy is considered gentle for newborn babies to pregnant women to the frail and the elderly. Bowen Therapy works for back pain and sciatica, digestive and bowel problems including IBS, migraines, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Women health issues like infertility, menstrual and hormonal irregularities are also successfully treated. Bowen is gentle to cure colic babies, frequent bed wetting for young kids.

Hypnotherapy is so successful because it uses the powerful resources of the subconscious mind to change our behaviour and our feelings. With hypnosis, you have a fantastic opportunity to enter into a dialogue with your subconscious mind and achieve your goals. Hypnotherapy helps with behavioral issues, addiction, weight loss, to quit smoking, eating disorder, anxiety and stress and phobias.

Jyoti Dixit is another healing hands fairy. She has a corporate career behind her. But her passion is curing and healing others. Jyoti mentions maybe it was my destiny, I got curious about the therapy, experimented it and was amazed by the results. It is such a gentle therapy with solution of any aches and pains in our body.

Deborah is another of healing hands fairy. She had worked entirely within an office environment until she decided to follow her dream of helping people through Bowen Therapy. Having been the recipient of Bowen Therapy treatments since her early 20’s, she understood the physical and emotional benefits this modality offers.

Vimla’s message to mankind is “Help yourself live a vibrant life and contribute to a loving, peaceful and happy ambience in your surroundings, hence living a joyful life with your loved ones”.

“The Girl from Mumbai” was launched across Australia by Hon. Alex Hawk MP, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs last week. In the presence of Federal member for Parramatta Julie Owens MP, Thevan Krishna, State member for Baulkham Hills & NSW Police Minister David Elliott, Mayor Michelle Byrne, Councillor Reena Jethi and CEO’s of all Settlement agencies in the country. It is an incredibly inspiring migrant story of purpose, people and passion. Outlining an inspiring journey of resilience, drive and the perseverance it takes to build and work across diverse communities. It highlights Melissa’s work in the community sector over the last three decades in India & Australia.

The book is all about this Girl from Mumbai, why it needed to be written, explains Melissa Monterio Who is this Girl? Over the years this is something so many people have asked me. Where do you come from and why do you do what you do? Who inspired you and Why? Last year in September I completed 20 years in my job here at the MRC. Like every migrant seeking a better life I came to this land of Milk and honey with my husband and our son.

The Book is about my own journey in community and the people that helped shape me. Nothing is by chance or accident but purpose and plan.

The Girl from Mumbai is about this 12-year-old who wanted to help people. And help she did. But along the way there were people that shaped and moulded her into someone with an undying passion for service. A calling that seeks to inspire you about my past that shaped my future. It is about the motivation, the loves, the people, the reason, the season, the challenges, the calling, the purpose, passion and why?

I have spent many hours on understanding the changes in our world around us. New challenges for the social work profession throughout the world, the changes to my own Settlement. The love of family, support of extended family and my journey through the Not for Profits I was involved in.

I have highlighted the impact and influence of people around me over the last 40 years and highlight the people, the issues and organisations that shaped my thinking as a growing girl.

I was moved by poverty when I was as little as 8, by inequality, social injustice, issues like Dowry, attitudes to adoption, street children, breakdown in family andrelationships, chasing the Australian dream. From exposure to the world of prostitution as a field placement during my masters, to street children and not for profits here in Australia I am shaped by you and I give thanks for every opportunity I have had. From getting lost in the Narmada valley and awaking in the middle of the night to realise I was sleeping under 7 bats, yes, bats to a prison experience for getting caught in an uncoordinated aid imitative to now helping settle hundreds of families in a new country is the Girl from Mumbai. But that’s not all.

During my Masters one of the things that Dr D’lima taught me was something that has stayed with me all these years. It was the importance of ‘To Have or To Be, by Eric Fromm. It meant so much to me then and this is something I have carried all my life. Eric Fromm is a psychoanalyst that wrote a book to Have or to Be in 1976. He talks about the difference between ‘Having and Being’. The realities of material abundance, having more, consumption, possessions and unlimited happiness versus unlimited happiness in what is good for man and what he needs only. He says that we have deviated and moved away from our actual path. The materialistic nature of people of ‘Having’ has been more developed rather than us trying to ‘Be’. This resonated with me and Dr Lima gave me the best path helped me understand these early in my life. Today as I look around, I can see there is so much of greed and want and yet no inward peace and satisfaction. The more I interact with people I see the emptiness in many. The reason is because they have chosen to fill themselves with want and more and more material things. I firmly believe that in order to live a fuller life it is important to Be rather than to have.

I was determined to have a balance of what I need rather than on greed and wanting more. To me ‘Being’ became more important at an early age. I was always interested in fulfilling my calling. Being available to people, going out of my way and making a difference to someone’s life. To this day I get great satisfaction in reaching out and helping people.

Of course, it describes the two worlds I lived in Mumbai and my life here in Australia.

How I met every settlement outcome and why? My faith and the reason .

By: Poornima Menon

Ihave always enjoyed writing, but I am an accidental writer. I write for pleasure and I generally write about my experiences, my observations of life or anything that captures my attention. Creative writing has never been my forte and I appreciate the immense thought process that is involved in writing a piece of poetry or a story. While most pieces of short poetry are seen as a sudden burst of emotions and powerful feelings, storytelling is a completely different ball game. While poetry does not need characters or a plot and generally has no boundaries, as everything is open to interpretation, short stories need a plot, characters and a certain perspective. Creating a character and then navigating the growth of that character as the story line progresses, while continuing to hold the attention of the reader is no mean task. A short story also has to be succinct and get to the denouement or the climax without giving too much away.

My friend, Anu Shivaram is a very talented writer, and she definitely is not an accidental one. She recently released her first book of short stories, “Silver Lining” and I was fortunate enough to get a copy. Anus’s writing style is minimalistic, and she has the distinctive talent of narrating stories in the most simplistic way. Her stories prioritise brevity and there aren’t any grandiose use of metaphors, descriptions or other figurative language. The stories relate to real people living real lives in a real world. She handles each character with utmost dexterity and compassion as they come alive in the pages of her book. There is an odd familiarity that her characters propagate and as a reader you get this feeling that you have met these characters somewhere along your journey of life.

I feel I may have met a few ‘Tara’s in my lifetime. Her struggle and her journey, her victory and her destination are personal and heart wrenching. The ‘Award’ she receives is priceless in more ways than one. ‘Compatibility’ is such a complex word, and I don’t think we understand its meaning too well. Anu has touched upon this in a very heart-warming way. We do not realise how unwillingly discriminatory we can be in our thoughts and assumptions. There is an element of ‘Uma’ in all of us. Belonging and ‘Identity’ are an integral part of our existence. We would be lost without it. Each of us have our own belief about our identity, which is very personal and often outside the realm of logical understanding. Anu treats this idea with great finesse through her character, Khem. ‘The Tree’ is one of the stories that touched me the most. We underestimate our silent, yet deep rooted and spiritual connection with Nature. How often does this happen to us – we recognise the value of something when we are close to losing it or have lost it.

The Corona virus has touched and changed our lives in more ways than we can imagine. ‘The Viral Wedding’ captures this essence beautifully as priorities shift and change. lives of most students they teach, more so the vulnerable ones. It goes without saying that they can make or break lives. The words of your teacher, especially when in primary school is nothing short of gospel truth. ‘The Debt’ is one such story – who is indebted to whom? The teacher to the pupil or the pupil to the teacher? ‘The Reunion’ with friends from one’s school and college days while exciting, comes with loads of anxious moments and unchartered feelings. Though mature and worldly wise, we often surprise ourselves with some of the teenage angst we may continue to harbour even in our adulthood. This story by Anu’s has a very dewy-eyed ending ……in a nice way though.

I am a massive dog lover and have often wondered what it would be like if my pet could talk to me or if I could read her thoughts. ‘Friend’ is the story of a Maltese terrier and his journey, his thoughts and his feelings. It is often said we need to walk in someone’s shoes to know more about the person and the person’s behaviour. Taking a parent overseas as a babysitter and caretaker is not a foreign concept, but how many of us think about what she/he may be going through. ‘Decision’ is one such story, touching and brave. Many tales of friendship and animosity between Indians and Pakistanis have been told before. ‘The Invisible Line’ is one such story with a difference. Incidents along the border touch lives of families on either side of the border. ‘Profession’ and ‘The Trip’ are both stories of self-discovery and both very different.

Well, you will now have to get your hands on a copy of the “Silver Lining’ to know more about and enjoy each of these beautifully written stories.

Guru Nanak Dev Ji is not associated with any one religion. In Sikhism, he is given the status of ‘Guru’. In Islam, he is called ‘Peer/Wali’. Whatever the religion, people who sincerely believe in Guru Nanak Dev Ji, they believe in him as their mentor; as their companion. They feel that Guru Nanak Dev Ji is always with them and helps them travel on his path of spirituality, hard-work, unity, equality and humility.

Saaz Nawaz (Record Label) has released a Punjabi song dedicated to Guru Nanak Dev Ji. The title of the song is ANG-SANG (Present with / Omnipresent). The main lyrics of the song translated in English are “Baba Nanak Peer Wali resides inside me”. Just by listening to the lyrics of the song, a wave of holiness and calmness begins to engulf your body and soul. Hassrat has sung this song with great enthusiasm and perfection. The voice of Hassrat seems to be made to convey the message of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. It also seems that there can be no more suitable voice for the lyrics of the song. The writer of this song is Sydney based Lyricist, Mani Manjot. He has once again proven that he is a talented song-writer and his lyrics are meaningful that have a strong literary touch to them. Hassrat and Navneet Jaura have produced the music of this song. The music is powerful and soothing with the Rabab and Sarangi being the main instruments on display. As the Video Director, Harjinder Johal has portrayed a beautiful story on screen through which he has flawlessly illustrated Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s message. The story would not have been complete without splendid acting performances by Aman Bajwa, Jaskaran Singh, Hassrat, Nazam Preet Kaur and Saavi.

The story of the song starts from the arrival of a girl in Australia. The song shows the different kind of difficulties she has to face by migrating to a foreign country. She gets a chance to fast-forward her life by being dishonest but she decides to follow the path of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and thus gradually but surely reaches success. She is satisfied that she did not choose to deviate from the path of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. As she senses that her daughter has upheld the same values, she remembers her own childhood. She recalls how she gave bread to a ‘Fakir’ (Monk / Hermit) and in return the ‘Fakir’ gave her blessings and an ‘Ek-Onkar’ (God is One) Locket, which she always kept with her. The locket has been with her through the good and bad times and has always reminded her of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and his philosophy. The song ends with her giving the locket to her daughter. Vaisakhi, this song sends a very good message to the society. Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s teachings hold out hope for us all. We should follow his path to achieve unity, harmony, peace and success and should carry his message across generations. Guru Nanak Dev Ji’s true philosophy/ideology has not been portrayed in this form before. This uniqueness needs the support and cooperation of the public so that a vision can be created for the betterment of the society. Hopefully in the future we will get to see/hear more of such spiritual songs.

– By YOGESH VERMA (Punjabi Front)

By: Sarang Vengurlekar

COVID-19 has become an unprecedented modern global emergency, with an ever-rising number of countries taking extraordinary measures to respond to the virus. In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, many organisations have moved towards remote working. This presents new challenges. There are many factors that come into perspective from technology perspective.

Most of us working from home have many challenges specially if you are still on the old ADSL 2+ Internet connections as you will now be sharing your internet bandwidth with other\ members in your home. Your spouse as well as kids will be working and studying from home which will mean the connection will be slow since it will be shared between all the devices. In this scenario make sure you have a backup connection such as a 4G backup router or a smart phone which can be used as a secondary means.

It would simply be a matter of switching on the hotspot from your smartphone to connect to work system. It would also be advisable to use an NBN connection if you currently have it available in your area. There are few plans available that are 20Mbps, 50Mbps and 100Mbps.

A household of 4 should opt in for a 50Mbps as that would provide the correct amount of speed when everyone has to work or study from home. New technology such as a 5G connection available from Optus/ Telstra may also be useful as it provides faster speeds than NBN Connection. It also provides sufficient amount of data to utilise for your work purposes.

Software and services such as Microsoft Teams, Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, WebEx can be very useful as a communications channel. Most of the time I have personally be using Skype or Zoom to conduct meetings with work colleagues as well as external vendors. Make sure you sign up with these services they are free up to certain extent. Some links given below if you like to sign up.

You will also need to ensure you have sufficient protection for all your computers at home such as a security software which has a virus protection as well as a software firewall. It would also be a good idea to have a VPN connection to the outside world, so your systems are not prone to hacking. Due to COVID-19 there has been an outburst of various malwares as well as a lot of Cyber Criminal activity.

Data Protection Connect using a VPN account Digital Identity Ensure your accounts have Multifactor Authentication Cyber Defence Monitoring software such as Norton Security, McAfee, Kaspersky, Trend Micro to name a few

If you are a business, these points are even more important as you are more vulnerable to\ attack as many of your employees would be working from home hence a greater exposure. All businesses will need to ensure proper delivery of all the services such as VPN, Remote Authentication, Firewall, Endpoint Management, Organisation applications etc.

You must have seen/heard your Muslim friends around you fasting this past month. And you know what’s coming next...Eid, or as it is officially known, Eid-al-Fitr. This day marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan. It is a very important time in Islam and allows families, loved ones and communities to come together and celebrate following a month of abstinence and dedication to Allah.

During Eid al-Fitr, the “Festival of Breaking the Fast”, dates will again be an unmissable part of feasts across the globe, in its natural form, or as part of innumerable dishes. we are adding our own easy to make, but with a twist recipe:Cream Cheese Stuffed Dates with Walnuts

Quick, simple, yet elegant, these cream cheese stuffed dates feature walnuts, or your choice of nuts, and maybe a perfect addition to your holiday appetizer lineup this year.

4Pitted dates of your choice 4Few nuts of your choice (I have used walnuts here) 4Cream cheese 4Mint sprigs for garnish 4Open up the pitted dates, and fill them with cream cheese of your choice. 4Press a walnut half into the cheese-filled dates. 4Garnish with mint sprigs 4Repeat this with as many as you wish to serve.

Eid Is never Complete without Haleem .... Haleem is a type of stew popular in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent.This dish is slow cooked for seven to eight hours and then vigorously stirred or beaten with a pestle-like stirring stick. This results in a paste-like consistency, blending the flavors of spices, meat, barley and wheat Popular variations include keşkek in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and northern Iraq; hareesa in the Arab world and Armenia; halim in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India; khichra in Pakistan and India. While we thought a lot of you would have explored it at your nearest Popular restaurants selling it during these months, heres a simple recipe for you to try at home... It’s a very simple recipe close to our hearts and has a story too...

The moment you step into a Pakistani Restaurant, the aroma of freshly prepared Chicken Karahi brings people from all religions together on the table.

Chicken Karahi is one of those dishes from

Pakistan which has many variants across the country but the use of Julienned Ginger and half slit green chillies is unanimous.

In our version of the Karahi, we have cooked the dish directly on the Wood flame:(traditionally known as Chulha) to bring that charred and smoky aroma into the karahi.

44-5 Cloves 41 stick Cinnamon 42 tbsp Coriander seeds 44-5 Green Cardamom 41 Black Cardamom 41 Star Anise 41 tbsp Cumin Seeds

44 Medium Sized Onions - Sliced 42 Medium Sized Tomatoes - Chopped 41 kg Chicken cut into curry pieces 42-3 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste 41 tbsp Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder 44-5 Dried Red Chillies 41/2 tsp Turmeric 43 tbsp Julienned Ginger 49-10 Half slit Green chillies 4Salt to taste

In a wok, heat desi ghee or mustard oil as per your choice and add Chicken once hot.

Add onions and ginger garlic paste and sauté it until the onions turn golden brown.

Add the rest of the ingredients and garam masala.

Cover the chicken with a lid, reduce the flame and cook for at least 20 mins.

Once excess water is dried out from the chicken, bhuna (sauté) the mixture on high heat until the mixture leaves the oil on top.

Add some water just enough for the curry consistency and garnish with julienned ginger and green chillies.

Squeeze some lime juice and coriander at the end.

Hope you enjoy these recipes as much as we did while cooking it...