Vol. 6
| issue 2 | Apr-May 2015
www.desitoday.ca
How Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade gets organized
Planning a Nagar Kirtan
Jyoti India’s Daughter
Hindutva’s Killing Hinduism
Man of Steel: Arvind Kejriwal
PM 40013094
CARGO & PRORATE SPECIALIST
MELVIN JOHAL
AMARJIT JOHAL
ROBBY JOHAL
604-537-7200
604-562-7780
604-537-7888
TSN insurance services ltd. 2
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
VANCOUVER 735-SE Marine Drive 604-322-1113 / 604-322-1138 mjohal@tsninsurance.ca
SURREY #140-8080-120 St. 604-594-2123 ajohal@silverwinginsurance.com
SURREY 110-17767-64th 604-575-2222 604-575-2081
SURREY 110-15122-72nd Ave., 604.593.5922
rjohal@tsninsurance.ca www.desitoday.ca
ICBC CLAIMS BADLY INJURED? UNABLE TO WORK? FRUSTRATED? We work hard to get the settlement you deserve. Quickly! • ICBC INJURY CLAIMS • CAR ACCIDENTS • BICYCLE & MOTORCYCLE • PEDESTRIAN CLAIMS • PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION • WRONGFUL DEATH
Fee Paid Only When You Collect!
Same Day Appointment
Free Initial Consultation
EupieMtmYNt ausy idn PIs klym dI rkm imlx qoN b`d
Road To Recovery Includes Choosing The Right Lawyer 11 years doing ICBC defence work. Now serving the community.
Cedric Hughes
mu@Fl` sl`h mSvr` iblkul muPq
CALLED TO THE BAR IN 1976
kI qusIN zKmI ho Eqy EYksIfYNt klym qoN pryS`n ho gey ho? kI quh`nMU lgd` hY ICBC v`ly quh`fy n`l ivqqr` krdy hn? kI qusIN klym dI rkm qoN sMquSt nhIN ho? 11 ICBC Â Â? Â? Â? Â? Â? Â? Â Â
TOLL FREE: 1-877-888-6028
VANCOUVER: 501-1128 HORNBY ST. RICHMOND 604-273-8518
SURREY: 105-14914-104 AVE. NEAR GUILDFORD MALL
COQUITLAM 604-552-8958
www.desitoday.ca
CHILLIWACK 604-792-8816
ABBOTSFORD:
SURREY/DELTA: 7164-120TH STREET. SCOTTSDALE BUSINESS CENTRE BURNABY 604-602-1828
LANGLEY 604-588-8288
260-2655 CLEARBROOK RD.
MAPLE RIDGE 604-552-8958
www.hughesco.com APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
3
08
what’s inside
COVER S TO RY
Features
PB MORTGAGE SOLUTIONS Borrow • Invest • Insure
604-593-5116
08 Planning A Nagar Kirtan: How Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade gets organized 14 Rethinking the global fight against extremism 16 How will Netanyahu victory affect Iran deal, Palestinian future? 18 It’s a fight to the finish over Land Acquisition Bill, declares united opposition 20 Modi struggles with religious extremism 22 Kejriwal’s soft exterior hides a man of steel 24 As common as it gets: Designers okay Arvind Kejriwal’s style 26 PROFILE: Body Work: Physiotherapy centre making a mark in Surrey 28 Courageous creators of their own destiny 30 Jyoti India’s Daughter 32 Indian government should hang its head in shame: Leslee Udwin 36 Hindutva’s Killing Hinduism 38 Jeffrey Archer : Feel very safe on censorship issues in India 40 India needs habitable cities before smart cities
Love & Relationship 42 The modern Indian girl: Battling the stereotyping 44 You can find love at workplace
Business & Career 46 How to have Healthier Grocery Shopping 48 Fashionista Gauri Khan prefers saris over gowns
Health & Wellness • Custom Mortgage Solutions • Residential & Commercial • Construction • Land Development
50 Unhealthy, excessive tech use affecting kids’ development 52 Hair Woes? Resort to natural solutions 54 Alcohol blackouts not funny at all 54 30-minute nap can reverse effects of poor sleep 55 Eating seafood increases risk of autoimmune disorder 55 E-cigarettes less addictive than tobacco cigarettes 56 Sit at your own risk: Make office your mini-gym
PLANNING A
How Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade gets organized
Food, Art, Entertainment 58 Comedy is about telling the truth - Russell Peters 60 PROFILE: Family firm snacks on growing demand Sweet Success 62 Kareena Kapoor: Age gracefully, don’t cover the lines 63 Aamir learning wrestling, Haryanvi for ‘Dangal’ 64 Big B ‘honoured’ to unveil Gandhi statue 64 LGBT community gets its first music video 64 Rhea Chakraborty to endorse online fashion brand 66 Don’t let go of uniqueness Nawazuddin to newcomers 67 John Abraham ‘Rocky Handsome’ a step ahead of ‘Force’ 68 Why is Divyanka scared of villainous roles?
Life, Etc 68 Around Town 72 R.K. Laxman: The Uncommon Man passes into history 74 Indian coach best option for team - Dhanraj Pillay 75 Going solo - more indian women travelling alone! 76 Child marriage leaves deep psychological Scars 78 ‘Indian Cuisine is pretty big in Britain’ 80 Desis dominate sector in U.S. south - Motelwaale 82 The world’s most powerful women: Three US secretaries of state and their accounts
• Private Financing Publishers Sanjeev Katyal Rakesh Gupta
Paul Boparai
, CFP
MORTGAGE SPECIALIST 204-8120-128 St., Surrey V3W 1R1 pboparai@dominionlending.ca Fax: 604-594-2886
www.pbmortgages.ca
Dominion Lending Centres Ace Capital Group Independently Owned & Operated
4
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
Editor Bachan Rai Photos by Surya Photo Studio Chandra Bodalia Mahi Photo Studio Profile Pictures Saji Photography - Purelife Gopal Sharma - Gurulucky Cover Photos Chandra Bodalia
No part of this publication may be used without written permission from the publisher. © 2013. Every effort is made to avoid errors, misspellings, and omissions. If, however, an error comes to your attention, please accept our sincere apologies and notify us. Thank you. The opinions expressed by writers do not necessarily reflect the views of the publishers. information presented is compiled from sources believed to be accurate, however, the publisher assumes no responsibility for error or omissions. Customer No. 2390434, Publication Agreement No. 40013094.
Letters editor@desitoday.ca Layout & Graphic Design Mohammed Ahmed Sales Desi Today Group 604.537.7500 info@desitoday.ca subscribe@desitoday.ca email: editor@desitoday.ca Published By Desi Communication Inc. #102-9360 120 St., Surrey, BC V3V 4B9 604.537.7500
One Year Subscription - 6 Issues $35 cnd per year Subscription Inquiries: subscription@desitoday.ca
www.desitoday.ca
Publisher’s Note
RTn Appeals E P X E atio igr
Imm
Expertise in all areas related to Canadian Immigration matters and provides representation and advice to foreign nationals who are looking to obtain a Canadian Visa & enter Canada on a permanent or temporary basis. Our Immigration Services are focused on getting clients to Canada in the shortest possible time through a variety of avenues, including finding work in Canada. We also do all immigration and spousal appeals. We also represent our clients in immigration appeal division (IAD), Immigration Division (ID) and Immigration refugee Board (IRB)
PR Card Renewal & Citizenship Applications
Visitor Visa Work Visa Study Visa Spousal Appeals Immigration Appeals PNP Class Family Class Spousal Class Business Class Canadian Exp. Class
We Specialize in Spousal Appeals BC, Saskatchewan & Manitoba PNP Class Student Visas
Free Consultation Guaranteed Best Services
604-288-7080 Email: Nav@BIS.ca • Fax: 604-357-3254
DELTA OFFICE : 8843-120th Street, Delta BC V4C 6R6 VANCOUVER OFFICE : Suite 501-535, Thurlow St, Vancouver V6E 3L2
April is the first full month of spring. It is a time of renewal as we emerge from what has been called the “dark tunnel” of fall and winter. The days get longer and brighter, the weather gets warmer and the surroundings burst into multi-colored hues as plants awake from their slumber and flowers of all shapes, sizes and aromas start popping out. The renewal and colors of spring are perhaps best reflected in Surrey’s annual Vaisakhi nagar kirtan which takes place this year on April 18. More than a quarter million people, many dressed in multicolored South Asian suits, will descend on the Newton area of Surrey in a spirit of goodwill and celebration to create a festive mass gathering. It is by far the biggest yearly event in Surrey, and you have to wonder what goes into organizing such a major undertaking. Well, Desi Today went behind the scenes to look at the process that puts together the parade, and that is the subject of our timely cover story for this issue. The Vaisakhi parade is generally a happy exposition of religion. But religion in today’s world is unfortunately more frequently associated with negative processes, particularly when it becomes enmeshed with politics. And we look at a number of religion-related issues elsewhere in the world which do not quite reflect a spirit of goodwill and celebration. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has been the subject of much criticism due to the alleged over-zealous attempts by elements associated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to carry out religious conversions among minority religious groups. We look at that issue from various angles. Elsewhere, terrorist incidents claiming to be done in the name of religion are happening with alarming regularity, and have provoked stereotypical reactions. We analyze a recent major conference on the issue which was held in Washington DC, and how it attempted to fashion a fresh perspective on this issue. India, and Modi’s government in particular, have also been in an unwelcome spotlight in recent weeks following the release of a documentary on the rape and murder of a 23-year-old Indian woman on a bus in Delhi in 2012. That brutal crime brought the spotlight firmly onto the alarming frequency of sexual assaults on women in the country. India’s government chose to ban the screening of the film, and that has provoked a storm across a vast spectrum of the Indian public as well as abroad. We examine the reactions and what they mean. We also look at another emerging thorn in Modi’s side. Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party were thought to have been dead and buried alongside the BJP’s other opponents following Modi’s landslide victory in the last general elections. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Kejriwal has bounced back in a big way by fashioning his own landslide in the recent Delhi polls. We profile the man with the common touch who Modi might need to glance frequently at over his shoulder in the foreseeable future. Elsewhere, you will find the usual mix of stories and tips that keep you entertained and informed by the magazine. Happy reading as you go about enjoying what many call the best time of the year!
Sanjeev Katyal Rakesh Gupta
www.BestImmigrationS.com 7 DAYS LUNCH BUFFET
30
www.newnoveltyrestaurant.com
different mouth-watering sweets
Fullysed i L cen
WE DO SPECIAL CATERING FOR GURDWARAS & MANDIRS 6
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
BEST TASTE IN TOWN
NEW Sweets & Restaurant 6669 FRASER ST., VANCOUVER 604-326-1111 • 604-322-0956 OPEN : 7 DAYS A WEEK : 9 AM TO 9 PM
Surjit Bhandal www.desitoday.ca
COVER
EXCLUSIVE
Planning A
N BY BACHA
RAI
How Surrey’s Vaisakhi parade gets organized The Vaisakhi nagar kirtan is by far the biggest event held yearly in Surrey. Last year, the event, which was first held in 1999, attracted its largest-ever crowd of an estimated 260,000 people. By contrast, the annual Cloverdale Rodeo, probably the second-biggest yearly bash in Surrey, was attended by 86,000 people. What makes it even more remarkable is that the nagar kirtan is a one-day event – in fact, more of a half-day event – while the rodeo runs over a number of days. Surrey’s Dashmesh Durbar gurdwara, who organize the nagar kirtan, expect the number of attendees to continue growing as the years go by. “The first nagar kirtan in 1999, held to celebrate the 300th year of the Khalsa, attracted about 60,000 people. It has just kept growing since then,” temple spokesman Gian Singh Gill told Desi Today. So organizing such a huge event is no small matter. When crowds exceeding a quarter million gather in one place, it naturally involves a whole range of considerations – 8
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
security, health-related issues, safety issues, various official permits and permissions, firesafety issues, and the not-so-small matter of keeping the crowds well-supplied with nutrition. The huge amount of food distributed free during the nagar kirtan is one attraction for many people. As temple president Davinder Singh Grewal says, there is no longer any sort of fixed date on which organization of the nagar kirtan begins. “It is now a year-round process. Even as we are approaching the home stretch for this year’s nagar kirtan (to be held on April 18), we are already preparing the various applications for permits for the 2016 parade. We will announce the date for the 2016 parade just as soon as this year’s event is concluded. “In fact, work on some of the props for next year’s event will begin shortly after this year’s parade is concluded.” With all that in view, one would think the organizing process is a major operation
requiring high-paid professional expertise, and some sort of high-traffic organizational centre of operations. Perhaps one with lots of charts on walls, and banks of telephones manned by people indulging in constant, urgent chatter. Well, it’s nothing of the sort. Grewal says while there is some formal organizational structure, much of the work is done on a fairly informal basis. “Most of the people who do the work have been involved right from the beginning. After 15 years of doing it, they all know exactly what needs to be done. There is no need to issue any instructions to most of those involved, and they just go about doing what they have been doing for all these years. The only time when there is a need to issue any new instructions is whenever there’s going to be some kind of major change in the way something is done. That has almost never been the case,” he says. “Everybody knows their part. For instance,
interview
the people who have been doing cleanup operations after the event know exactly what needs to be done, and go ahead and just do it on their own. “Another good example is the process of building the floats that take part in the parade. There are various processes to putting a float together, and different kinds of expertise is needed. So the first step is the carpentry work to construct the skeletons for the floats. The carpenters know when to come in and do the work, and once they are done, the next group of people - for example, the decorators - will come in and do their part. Each group has its timing down perfect,” adds Gill. That does not mean there are no new people getting involved as the years go by. “But it is not a situation where there is wholesale change of the personnel involved. It is a gradual process, and the level of knowledge and experience is always maintained at a high level. There are always enough experienced people around not just to ensure smooth organization of the event, but also to train newcomers who eventually will gain their own experience as the years go by,” says Gill. Even the timing of when work is supposed to begin does not have to be formally set. “It’s pretty much the same cycle every year. Everyone basically knows how long something is going to take to get done, and people have nailed down their schedules based on their individual styles of working,” added Gill. Still, some form of formal structure does need to be in place for reporting, coordination and problem-solving purposes. “We don’t have a separate committee to organize the nagar kirtan. The regular temple committee (which has 15 members) oversees the whole operation. However, we do set up various sub-committees dealing with specific issues. We have a sub-committee that liaises with City Hall, another to coordinate langgar (food) matters, others that deal with security, health, safety, media matters and so on,” says Gill. The gurdwara committee does not choose who the members of each sub-committee are. “We choose individuals to head each subcommittee – and as we said earlier, they are usually the people who have been dealing with the same matters every year - and they in turn decide who is going to be part of their sub-committees. We don’t specify how many members each sub-committee should have. That is left to the discretion of the sub-committee heads. They do what they are most comfortable with,” says Grewal. There is also no rigid reporting schedule. “We don’t usually have a sort of meeting calendar set up. Of course as the nagar kirtan gets close, we have one or two major gatherings of all the people involved – this year we held such a meeting on Sunday, March 15 – but other than that, if there is a need for www.desitoday.ca
Gian Singh Gill (left) and Davinder Singh Grewal (yellow turban)
Not only are many people from the community directly involved with us in the organizing, a large part of the event itself is independently driven by people acting on their own as individuals, families or organizations communication among the people involved, it is very much done on an informal basis,” says Gill. He says as almost all the people involved are regular visitors to the gurdwara, they are all around anyway, usually on weekends. “Almost everyone involved is usually at the gurdwara on Sundays, and discussing nagar kirtan developments are just part of the regular conversations that go on,” Even the external institutions who are drawn into the organization of the nagar kirtan have by now become totally familiar with their roles. “Meetings with City Hall, the police, ambulance and healthcare services, the fire services etc. are held throughout the year, starting from a review of the nagar kirtan just concluded and going on to plan for the next one. We have a process that has been in place for years and works smoothly,” says Grewal. “City authorities place a lot of importance on the nagar kirtan. It is one of the big events in the city every year and it has grown to an extent where the city as a whole, and not just the Sikh community in particular, benefits greatly from the huge number of people who attend,” adds Gill. Gill says even at City Hall and the other
government departments which are usually involved in some capacity, the same personnel have been handling nagar kirtan-related duties for many years. “So there is a familiarity not just in terms of what needs to be done, but also personal relationships that have been built over the years,” says Grewal. The other factor which makes the organization of this event a relatively smooth affair is the enthusiastic contribution of the local Sikh community. “This event is something that is done almost completely on a volunteer basis. We get thousands of people every year making all kinds of contributions to the effort. We are never in need of labour as hundreds willingly lend a hand. And neither do we need to source any kind of technical or other expertise because there are many within the community who have that kind of expertise and willingly use it in the service of organizing the event,” says Grewal. He says the remarkable thing is that the majority of the volunteers are young people. In fact, “freelance” volunteering is a large part of the whole nagar kirtan experience. “Not only are many people from the community directly involved with us in the organizing, a large part of the event itself is indepenAPR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
9
COVER
dently driven by people acting on their own as individuals, families or organizations,” says Gill. Dashmesh does the formal organization, but a lot of what makes the event tick is independently organized. The gurdwara does not put up any food stalls along the route. Those are all put up by community members or organizations. If there are any permits to be obtained or permissions to be sought from private property owners, they do it themselves. They provide their own supplies, they purchase their own groceries, and they cook and serve the food themselves,” says Grewal. The number of stalls along the route is, like everything else connected with the nagar kirtan, large. “We know that last year, there were 145 stalls along 128 Street who used the facilities provided by the gurdwara to do their cooking. But we have absolutely no idea how many other stalls there were that did not use the gurdwara facilities at all,” Gill says. And there are many organizations that create a presence at the parade. With such a big crowd in attendance, it is no surprise that
major business, political and media organizations all set up stalls, booths and stages. The one feature that’s on a downward trend is the number of floats allowed. “We had 30 floats at the first parade in 1999, but the number has progressively come down, and this year, we would ideally like the number of floats to be a maximum of 12,” says Gill. The reason is traffic and crowd-safety concerns. “Floats are large structures, and the parade route is a fixed one. So the floats compete for the same space with the evergrowing crowds. The RCMP regard it as a safety issue and they have requested for the number of floats to be reduced,” adds Grewal. It’s not going to be an easy task though, as requests to put floats in this year’s parade numbered more than 100. “If we accepted all the requests, there wouldn’t be enough space along the parade route to put them back to back in a stationary situation, let alone move!” says Gill. Dashmesh itself puts up just one main float. Requests to put up floats come from all sorts of independent organizations hoping to make an impression on the crowd. The large volunteer and independent ele-
BLACK PUSHPINDER 604.720.3511 10
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
mall S r o Big o It All! We D
ment involved in the event also means hard and fast figures on various things are difficult to collect. “It’s not just out on the parade route that people independently do things. The nagar kirtan itself is just the last event of Vaisakhi celebrations that start a week earlier with the nishan sahib ceremony (raising of the Sikh flag at the gurdwara compound). “Throughout the week, crowds are coming and going virtually non-stop at the gurdwara. And most of them donate all sorts of things in kind, mainly groceries. So while we may be able to collate figures on what the gurdwara itself spends and uses – and frankly, even that is very difficult to do in view of the non-stop operation of the gurdwara kitchen – it is impossible to accurately estimate a total for everything consumed. During that week, people also set up their own tents all around the gurdwara compound, where they cook and serve their own food,” says Grewal. Gill says on any regular Sunday, the gurdwara serves between 60 and 70 sacks of atta (flour used to make chapatti). “So you can imagine the consumption during Vaisakhi week,” he added. With all that in mind, it is remarkable that
& • Auto Glass Replacement • Complete Body Repair and Paint • ICBC & Private Claims
#16B-7823-132nd St. Surrey, BC • Off: 604.503.0988 / Fax: 604.503.0989 • Email:blackandwhiteauto@ymail.com
PRINCE 604.366.6474 www.desitoday.ca
HAPPY VAISAKHI ! Protect those you love All throughout your life, you’ve accumulated various assets to ensure that your family enjoys the very best. But if you suddenly died, the fruits of your labour could disappear, along with the plans you had for your loved ones. To prepare for such an eventuality, it’s important that you have a sound plan in the event of death. We have a wide range of life insurance products for all your needs.
Protect those you love — plan for the future!
security plan, please call me.
Perminder Chohan
Managing Director Registered Health Underwriter
210-21900 Westminster Hwy, Richmond, BC. V6V 0A8 Phone: 604-592-7550 | Fax: 604-592-7559 Cell: 604-825-1926 perminder.chohan@dfsin.ca | www.dfsinrichmondsouth.ca
ÂŽ Registered trademark owned by Desjardins Financial Security.
COVER
A MAJOR IMPACT Parade is an economic bonanza How much of an impact does Surrey’s Vaisakhi nagar kirtan make each year, especially economically? There is no doubt it makes a major impact on various areas of public life in Surrey and B.C. in general. This year’s event on April 18 will be the 17th consecutive year the parade will be held. The first parade in 1999 attracted 60,000 people, and the turnout has been growing every year since then, peaking at 260,000 last year – meaning total aggregate attendance over the years has almost surely run into at least a million or more. It is naturally difficult to get accurate figures on various aspects of the event’s impact, but based on an economic-impact study done last year by a professional firm, as well as various official figures provided by the organizers and other sources, the following facts and estimates emerge: Attendance in 2014: 260,000 people (Official RCMP estimate) Estimated overall economic contribution to the B.C. Economy: More than $20 million last year Policing costs (2014): $80,000 Total spending on 2014 parade by organizers and independent participants: Between $8.5 million - $16 million Estimated expenditure per stall: Up to $50,000 for the biggest ones Number of stalls that used gurdwara cooking facilities: 145 Total spending by out-of-town attendees: Between $14.2 million - $29.8 million Number of full-time jobs supported by parade’s economic contribution: Up to 215 Estimated total tax revenues for various levels of government in 2014: Between $2.3 million - $4.4 million Number of parade participant groups in 2014: About 2,500 Average length of stay: Attendees from rest of B.C.: Seven days. Attendees from rest of Canada: 15 days Attendees from the U.S.: 15 days Other international attendees: 30 days. 12
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
during its 15-year run and the large crowds that have been turning out each year, the nagar kirtan has never experienced any major emergencies or disturbances. “You have to give credit to the community for that. People obviously realize it’s a spiritual event, and conduct themselves in a responsible way, in a spirit of goodwill and celebration” says Grewal. He added that this was not particularly unique to the Surrey event. “It mirrors how Vaisakhi is celebrated in Punjab. In Anandpur Sahib, the annual Vaisakhi celebrations attract millions, yet it is always a peaceful and joyful celebration.” There is also a charitable aspect to the nagar kirtan. “Because of the large amount of food made available, we get the Food Bank to set up collection areas so that people can donate appropriate non-perishable food items, such as cans of pop and water. “Last year, the Food Bank set up collection trucks at three locations along the route. We usually request people who set up stalls to donate non-perishable items that are leftover to the Food Bank, and they usually do that,” says Gill. Nevertheless, the organizers are also keenly aware that should something go wrong, the finger will point at them even if it is something that was completely beyond their control. The parade in its early history was enmeshed in the conflict between the so-called “moderate” and “fundamentalist” factions for control of various B.C. gurdwaras. For a number of years, there were competing parades organized respectively by Dashmesh on one hand and the Surrey Gurdwara on Scott Road on the other. Eventually, Surrey Gurdwara stopped organizing their version of the nagar kirtan. There’s also been some thunder generated by the politics of the moderate-fundamentalist divide, with heated and accusatory political speeches made at the parade aimed at people supporting one side or the other. Some of that political rhetoric gets played up by the local mainstream media. A couple of years ago, someone involved in organizing the nagar kirtan publicly warned certain politicians to stay away from the event, and warned that if they attended, dire consequences could follow. “We cannot stop individuals from saying things. In that particular case, the official organizers quickly made it clear that the individual who made the threats did not represent the views of the organizers as a team. The RCMP tackled the issue on their own,” says Gill. “Our stand is clear. Irrespective of political differences and opinions, everyone is welcome to the nagar kirtan. It is a public event
and not something that anyone owns, including the organizers.” Gill also said the rising incidents of terrorism around the world had not led to any more stringent security requests from the police and City Hall. “We have lots of conversations with the relevant authorities, but where the attending public is concerned, they will not notice anything different.” Another area where the organizers try to be proactive is in the area of health safety. With so many people setting up food stalls on their own, there’s always the risk that some unhygienic practices may be involved. Some years back, for instance, it came to the attention of the organizers that some stall owners had bought 2-by-4 pieces of lumber to use for steering curries cooking in big pots. “When we found out about it, we made it a point to tell them not to do that as the 2-by4s are processed timber and contain various chemicals,” says Grewal. Aside from such minor incidents, however, there has never been a food-related problem. “We issue guidelines on the best practices, and people who set up stalls and serve food have adhered to them. You must remember it is also in their own interests to not end up with bad consequences from their actions,” says Grewal. The organizers also work hand in hand with the Fraser Health Authority (FHA) to ensure food safety. “The guidelines we give out are based on FHA advice. And on the day of the event, FHA inspectors go around making inspections to make sure things are done properly,” says Gill. “We are proud that year after year, FHA post-mortems have always given a clean bill of health to how things were done.” During last year’s municipal elections, the question of who should pay for various public services utilised for the parade, particularly security services provided by the RCMP, became an issue. The gurdwara has been asking City Hall to foot the bill for these services since the nagar kirtan makes a whopping contribution to the city’s economy (see accompanying story), and one candidate for mayor said that if elected, he would make sure the city foots the police bill for the day. However, that candidate did not win. But Gill said there appeared to be some good news coming down soon. “We understand that there is a proposal for the city to foot up to $35,000 of the costs involved in organizing any of the big events in Surrey. However, we must emphasize that this is still in the works and has not been confirmed. If it does come about, we’ll welcome it. Any little bit to help us defray the costs will be good,” says Grewal. So about the only thing that the organizers worry about every year is that it might rain on the parade! www.desitoday.ca
WE HAVE IT.
SELECTION, SELECTION, SELECTION. Visit The One and Only Brian Jessel BMW — Boundary & Lougheed
Happy Vaisakhi! — From the Brian Jessel BMW Team
There’s Only 1 BRIAN JESSEL BMW Now with 2 locations
Boundary
Lougheed Hwy.
N
NEW CAR 2311 Boundary Road, Vancouver, BC V5M 4W5 (604) 222-7788
Brand Centre
New Vehicles Senior Sales Manager 604.657.8773
@BrianJesselBMW
Boundary
Raj Desor
E 1st Ave.
N
PRE-OWNED 1515 Boundary Road Vancouver, BC V5K 5C4 (604) 222-8820
Pre-Owned
FEATURES
RETHINKING
the global fight against
extremism
A
large conference on ‘Countering Violent Extremism’ convened in Washington, bringing together political and diplomatic representatives from over 60 countries, law enforcement officials, religious leaders and experts. The meeting constituted a reaffirmation of the need for an effective multilateral strategy to counter and prevent violent extremism in today’s increasingly challenging environments. At the same time, it hinted at a very significant change in the international community’s approach to these problems: scope, strategy and semantics are being duly reconsidered. And yet a series of contradictions threaten to hamper the possibility of making credible headway.
A change in scope 9/11 is considered the paradigmatic moment that transformed definitions of terrorism and the general global security framework. Today we are experiencing another paradigm shift. The scope of the “problem” itself has changed dramatically and the response to the problem is slowly following suit. The crucial distinguishing feature of today’s threat boils down to one word: territory. That violent non-state actors - epitomized by Daesh - are in control of territory as large as 14
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
Britain, marking a serious evolution, both tactically and strategically, from the Al-Qaedaesque organizations of the last decade. They also act as trend-setters for other non-state actors - Boko Haram, for example - that “territory” is both up for grabs and attainable. Indeed, “black holes” - to borrow a term from John Simpson - are traceable across the Middle East and North Africa from Mali to Iraq, from Libya to Syria. The counterterrorism and counterinsurgency architecture in place since 2001 and customized to Al Qaeda-style organizations is therefore out of tune with the realities on the ground. Shortsighted military response - while necessary at times - is no longer adequate to deal with such deep-rooted entities that have a persuasive ideological premise. The sustained use of terror by said rogue elements may constitute continuity, though today’s actors are proving to be true “entrepreneurs” of violence. Tactics and methods have evolved. Daesh is the innovator of barbarism par excellence with its sophisticated video productions of immolations, beheadings and other atrocities, all of which is part of a sensationalist propaganda campaign that intends to both shock the world and inspire new recruits. With over 90 nationalities now represented in Daesh, a dynamic online presence and reverberations in Ottawa, Paris
and Copenhagen, it is a decidedly “global” operation.
Getting the strategic diagnosis right The statements that came from Washington indicated that we are slowly coming to the correct strategic diagnosis of the problem. In his remarks, President Barack Obama raised the “undeniable” nexus between oppression and the socio-economic exclusion that gives rise to terrorism. This is a clarion call that fighting extremism is anchored in human rights. But it is also a reminder that violent extremism is a symptom of an underlying cause and a physical manifestation of governance deficits. Member states are thus faced with asking an important introspective question: what policies are incubating violent extremism? What are the economic, social and political circumstances that render certain individuals vulnerable to recruitment and prone to radicalization?
Elephants in the room When it comes to the appropriate response, a number of elephants continue to crowd the room in which this discussion is being had at the highest level of international diplomacy. First, the discussion on human rights and opwww.desitoday.ca
pression becomes more complicated when some of the major players in the fight against extremism are amongst the least inclusive and undemocratic countries in the world. This is a paradox that requires overcoming and serves as an example of the real disconnect between the “national” and “multilateral” channels of political play. Second, a similar contradiction exists in the “global” will to address the scourge of terrorism versus the tendency by some members of the international community to instrumentalize the use of armed groups to further national interests at the expense of the sovereignty of other states. There has yet to be a frank and open conversation about this two-tiered chess game: the one taking place on the table and the other taking place directly below. This geopolitical contradiction will continue to undermine any concerted international effort to address violent extremism. The third and final elephant relates to the issue of religion. President Obama’s deliberate decision to opt for the umbrella term “violent extremism” rather than the more specific “Islamist” label has some practical benefits. It keeps the conversation broad by recognizing other “extremisms”, from the ilk of Anders Breivik in Norway to Buddhist groups in Myanmar. Additionally, it prevents the United States - and the world at large - from feeding into the propaganda ploy that the West is at war with Islam more generally (a statement President Obama choose to deliberately refute in his remarks). This should not deter from the reality that the majority of extremist groups are “perverted” variations acting in the name of Islam. Part of addressing this burden thus falls on the Muslim world itself, to play a more engaged role and mobilize a counter-narrative through its religious institutions, authorities and civil society groups.
Residential & Commercial
Ceiling Painting
Wallpaper
tion of For a wide collec Paintings Modern Traditional & rt gallery at visit our a
, DELTA 9353 120 ST 4 778-395-535
We sell and install High Quality Wallpaper For High Quality Decorative artwork for your home or business please contact
See more pictures online:
tejpalsingh.mann
Tejpal Singh : 778.885.2197
Cool
Clear
ptical EYEGLASSES • SUNGLASSES • CONTACT LENSES
604.859.2005
2450, Mc Callum Rd., Abbotsford (Near CIBC Bank) 1-800-221-3911 Mon-Fri : 10am-6pm www.clearcooloptical.com Saturday: 10am - 4pm Email: clearcooloptical@hotmail.com
www.desitoday.ca
*
EYEGLASSES Frame + Standard Single Vision Lenses
OR TRIAL CONTACT LENSES FOR OUR FIRST TIME SIGHT-TESTING CUSTOMERS
50
$
FROM
REG $220
BI-FOCAL COMPLETE FROM
110
$
REG $220
PROGRESSIVE COMPLETE
150 70%
$
FROM
REG $310
SUNGLASSES UP TO
OFF ANY REG PRICES
CONDITIONS APPLY
SINGLE VISION COMPLETE
CONDITIONS APPLY
ieMfIE` n`loN vI G@t kImq~ qy ssqIE~ Eqy vDIE` EYnk~ s`fy koloN lvo| PrI srivs 2 s`l~ dI grMtI n`l
CONDITIONS APPLY
By Hardeep Singh Puri, Vice President - International Peace Institute, New York and Omar El Okdah, Senior Policy Analyst - International Peace Institute, New York. The views expressed are personal. They can be contacted at hardeepsinghpuri@ yahoo.com and okdah@ipinst.org
FREE
CONDITIONS APPLY
There is now momentum for a meaningful change in the global fight against extremism. It first manifested itself following an international solidarity rally in Paris last month and more recently at the Washington meeting. But to go beyond the symbolic pageantry of a street rally and a political summit requires a serious and frank conversation that addresses how best to implement and frame the question within the lens of social inclusion and effective governance, and one that acknowledges the troubling disconnect between so-called national interests and global security when it comes to violent extremism.
*LIMITED TIME OFFER. SOME RESTRICTION APPLY.
Conclusion
xperience 47 Years Eti cal FieldLS p in the O STIMONIA TE F O
HUNDREDS OVER THE YEARS RECEIVED
1
HOUR SECRRIPVTIOICNSE
ES MOST PR
BEST PRICES VERSACE D&G VOGUE GIVENCHI ESCADA GUESS EASY-CLIP TITANIUM FLEXON
an 3000 More Th Frames r e n ig es Latest D In Store
We will meet or beat any competitor prices, including online. APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
15
FEATURES
How will
NETANYAHU VICTORY affect Iran deal, Palestinian future?
16
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
Just when the US thought it would mop its brow, having tried hard to tame the West Asian rodeo, the Israeli horse has kicked up dirt. Americans, like everyone else, were waiting for Benjamin Netanyahu to lose the March 17 elections, before proceeding with their script of a nuclear deal with Iran towards some conclusion in the coming weeks. Does the Netanyahu fourth term throw a monkey-wrench in the works John Kerry has been pursuing with such dedication? His primary strategic goal is to sign a nuclear deal with Iran. Since a military option was just not feasible, keeping Iran out of regional balance of power was impractical for the US. Without Iran in the regional solar system, the US would have to be ready for intervention to keep the regional equilibrium. This doesn’t serve a useful American purpose any more. Riyadh, Cairo, Ankara are regional power centers Jerusalem was comfortable with. In this galaxy, Jerusalem, and to a lesser extent Riyadh, had relied even on a recently reluctant Washington. Jerusalem was a special case. It was more equal than others. With new legitimacy about to be conferred on Iran, Tehran will automatically become an important power for regional balance. This amounts to a relative decline in Israel’s regional status and Israel will resist it until Israeli lobbies around the world including the US see the writing on the wall. Unfortunately for Israel, Netanyahu has manufactured victory on such an uncivilized platform - no state for Palestinians, and racist venom for Israeli Arabs - that the international community would have difficulty engaging with him. Of course, he will turn, but then he will be a proven turncoat. Even the Saudis, who in recent years made common cause with Israel against Iran, will have difficulty resuming with an Israel so configured. The new balance of power the US has finally persuaded itself to create in the region is attended by a paradox. Riyadh, Cairo, Ankara, Israel - no one wants the status quo to be altered. And yet the situation on the ground is slowly eroding the status quo. In shaping the new balance of power, Washington does come across on occasion as playing a double game. Take Washington’s reluctance in launching air strikes against the ISIS when it had just begun to menace the region. Barack Obama let the cat out of the bag. Airstrikes against the ISIS at that stage, he said, would take the pressure off Prime Minwww.desitoday.ca
ister Nouri al Maliki in Baghdad who had lost US confidence. Maliki had to leave. To that extent the Americans played the ISIS hand in helping shape a local situation. Likewise, during the siege of Kobane, US power helped Kurds, not the Turkish hegemon. So pressure here, tinkering there all, to avoid anyone becoming too powerful. An abridged version of recent history can begin with the mess left behind by Prince Bandar bin Sultan, given total charge of the Syrian operations by the late Saudi King. The most macabre cruelty was perpetrated on world TV by forces financed from outside and supported by the West. Hillary Clinton, the then Secretary of State and a possible Democratic Presidential candidate, demanded with an imperious wave of the hand. “Get out of the way, Assad!” Years later, John Kerry sees no future for Syria without Bashar al Assad being part of the solution. But isn’t this what Iran and Russia have been saying from the day a gameplan was designed to break the Iran, Syria, Hezbullah, Hamas chain by, first, bringing about regime change in Damascus? After four years of exertion, there is no regime change. Someone has eaten crow but the world didn’t see it. Meanwhile, the ISIS continued to menace all and sundry including the Saudis whose General, incharge of the Northern Border with Iraq, became a recent casualty. The Sunni-Sunni tussle intensified when the ISIS virtually took over Tikrit, once Saddam Hussain’s stronghold. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif lew to Baghdad to sign an agreement which removes visa requirements for Iranian citizens (troops). Flushed with reinforcements, Iranian troops broke the back of the ISIS in Tikrit. Obviously, the regime in Baghdad is beholden to Iran. Likewise, the Houthis and Shia Zadidis of Yemen have trusted Iranians as overseers. Can Iran be kept out of a regional balance now? This exponential growth of Iranian inluence is anathema to Israel, Cairo, Ankara and Riyadh but they have to lump it because the alternative is for the US to remain directly engaged in Arab-Arab squabbles much to the neglect of more urgent business in the Pacific where China and a Sino-Russia axis are sources of anxiety. An unexpected source of comfort to all those supporting a two state solution in Israel is Netanyahu’s last minute denial of a Palestinian state. Nothing will help the Palestinian cause more. By Saeed Naqvi, a commentator on political and diplomatic affairs. The views expressed are personal. He can be reached on saeednaqvi@hotmail.com
Customized Solutions for Any Space We custom make every order, so your space is unique and tailored to your family's individual needs. Our caring staff will guide you in choosing the best layout, style and details to suit & enhance your life style.
SATISFACTION GUARANTEED
Award-winning service
Do Modification Work On ✓ We Different Types Of Minivans In Rear Entry ✓ Specialize Wheel Chair Accessible Minivans We are proud to provide Wheel Chair accessible Vehicle for private and commercial use since 1999.
DARSHAN S. MOOKER Unit 124 & 125 - 11071 Bridgeport Rd, Richmond, BC • Ph.: Off: 604-270-3317
1-888-319-5116
For Wheelchair Van Inquiries Please Call
PINDZ 604-618-4394 APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
17
FEATURE
IT’S A FIGHT TO THE FINISH over Land Acquisition Bill, declares united opposition
The opposition is determined to defeat the government’s controversial land acquisition bill, Congress president Sonia Gandhi declared after leading leaders of 14 political parties in a protest march to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In the first major display of opposition unity after the 2014 Lok Sabha election, Gandhi told the media that they had urged President Pranab Mukherjee not to let the government go ahead with the bill, saying it would badly hurt the interests of farmers. Gandhi said that “democratic, secular and forward looking forces are determined to defeat the (Narendra) Modi government’s designs” to promote corporate interests at the cost of farmers by taking away their land. The protest that Gandhi led drew members of 14 political parties, including her own Congress, Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal-United, Janata Dal-Secular, the DMK, the Communists, Trinamool Congress and Nationalist Congress Party. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh also joined the protest. JD-U leader Sharad Yadav said Tuesday’s protest had brought together all the opposition forces that had got scattered since the 18
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
Lok Sabha election catapulted the Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party to power. “This is a land of farmers. It is the farmers who have made this country self-sufficient in food. To snatch their land is a sin,” he said. “This is the beginning of a major battle that will be waged in every nook and corner of the country,” he said. The MPs converged at the Gandhi statue in the parliament complex from where they launched the march, raising slogans like “Kisan Virodhi, Narendra Modi (or anti-farmer Narendra Modi)”. “This is a historic march. All parties are in it together and we hope the Modi government is watching this march,” Trinamool leader Derek O’Brien told reporters. The opposition parties submitted to the president a memorandum against the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Amendment) bill, 2015. Referring to the bill that introduces amendments to the existing act, passed by the UPA government in 2013, Congress MP Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “The clauses which we, the Congress, had inserted for the farmers’ benefit have been taken out.”
Will continue fight over land bill, Sonia tells Hazare Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to social activist Anna Hazare saying that she agrees with him that the land bill brought by the NDA government was not in the interest of farmers and her party will continue its fight over the issue. In her response to Hazare’s letter to her on the land bill, Gandhi said that Congress will oppose the bill in every forum. “I agree with you that the ordinance brought by the NDA government and the amended bill in parliament are not at all in the interests of farmers,” Gandhi said in her letter sent Tuesday but released to the media on Wednesday. The bill, which has been passed by Lok Sabha, is yet to be passed by Rajya Sabha, where the government does not command a majority. “I assure you that our fight will continue on this issue,” Gandhi said. Hazare had sent a three-page letter on land bill to Gandhi March 14. - IANS www.desitoday.ca
l l A o T i h k a s i a V y p p a H
SH O
Get Out of Pain, Restore Your Mobility Regain Your Quality of Life
K PAIN BAC
IN R PA DE UL
OUR SERVICES: • Physiotherapy • Massage Therapy • Active Rehab • Hip & Knee Care • Pre & Post Natal Care • Spinal Decompression • One-on-One Training • Yoga & Exercise Therapy • Counselling • Personal Fitness Training Exercise
SPECIALTY CLINIC AT CITY CENTRE ONE ACROSS FROM SURREY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL
PURE LIFE Physiotherapy & health centre UNIT 702 –13737 96 AVE, SURREY UNIT 1-12088 75A AVE., SURREY
AY AT CALL US TOD
3 7 8 7 4 6 5 8 7 7
We keep you moving!
P U R E
www.desitoday.ca
erapy.ca
hysioth p fe li e r u .p www
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
19
FEATURES
Modi Struggles with religious Extremism An essential skill for being a successful head of government is to manage the troublemakers in your own party. David Cameron is failing to do that now with the anti-European Union wing of Britain’s Conservative Party, but Tony Blair did it successfully in the late-1990s when he curbed the power of trade unions and left-wingers in the Labour Party. Narendra Modi is turning out to be a Cameron rather than a Blair by failing to curb the unruly and often fanatical Hindu-nationalist anti-Muslim wing of the Sangh Parivar, the family of organisations that embraces his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the primary Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Stories about mass Hindu conversions, anti-Muslim insults and activists’ dreams of building a Hindu India have mushroomed to such an extent that Modi was reported by a Marathi language newspaper in Maharashtra two days ago to have warned RSS leaders that he could resign if they and others (including at least one government minister) do not curb their extreme Hind rhetoric. This followed at least two other warnings 20
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
to MPs not to speak out of turn and not to stir up communal issues. Modi probably did not mean he would resign, if he ever said it – surely he is not the resigning type! But the story, which has spread across the media, serves as a warning to the BJP-RSS family, who know that they are only in government because of his electoral appeal. The trouble started three weeks ago when a controversial new woman minister, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, reportedly implied at a political rally that non-Hindus (i.e. Muslims) were illegitimate: “Aapko tay karna hai ki Dilli mein sarkar Ramzadon ki banegi ya haramzadon ki. Yeh aapka faisla hai. (You have to decide if you want a government peopled by the children of Ram or one full of bastards.)” She had made similar remarks on earlier occasions but eventually apologised, and Modi persuaded opposition parties, after long Rajya Sabha protests, not to insist on her resignation. Then the accident-prone human resources minister, Smriti Irani, caused a row when schools and universities were told by
her ministry to observe Christmas Day (a religious public holiday) with events marking it as Good Governance Day. Since then, another BJP MP has praised the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi as a “patriot” and there have been widespread condemnation of mass conversions to the Hindu religion. The BJP says it is prepared to introduce national legislation banning forced conversions. Such a law is already in force in some states (including Modi’s Gujarat). It can be used to block freedom of choice (people are usually responding to offers of economic benefits rather than changing religious beliefs), but conversely it does not necessarily stop forced conversions. There is no doubt that conversion is the aim of the RSS and its supporters. Mohan Bhagwat, the chief of the RSS, has talked about “bringing back” people who have converted to other religions. “Our target is to make India a Hindu Rashtra [nation] by 2021. The Muslims and Christians don’t have any right to stay here. So they would either be converted to Hinduism or forced to run away from here,” the leader of an extremist Hindu organisation in Uttar Pradesh was reported to have said. “We are going to take percentage of Hindus to 100 in country. Currently there are 82 per cent Hindus in India, and we don’t want this number to be halved. We won’t tolerate Hindus becoming a minority in the country,” a senior Sangh Parivar leader, Pravin Togadia of the hard-line Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), said on December 21, relecting unrealistic fears of Muslims increasing from the current 12 percent of the population to a majority. Such statements have often been made in the past, but they have more resonance, and are seen by supporters of a broad-based Indian society as being more threatening, when the BJP is in government and the Sangh Parivar is invigorated by the triumphalism of that power. Opposition political parties have seized on all this with glee and have been stalling parliamentary proceedings in the Rajya Sabha (upper house), where Modi’s BJP does not have a majority, blocking or slowing the passage of key legislation including sales tax, coal mining and insurance bills. The Congress and other parties had not expected to be able to undermine Modi so early in the life of the government, just seven months after the general election. Nor could they have expected to have such an easy target as Hindu nationalism, which is Modi’s most vulnerable point. He finds it hard to stem the unpalatable low because he himself is an RSS member, as are many ministers in his government, and he has tried to avoid making public statements on the issues. His priority is undoubtedly economic growth, but that does not necessarily go for everyone www.desitoday.ca
around him. This must be galling for Modi, who has proudly paraded himself on the world stage as a new and powerful political figure, befriending world leaders and drawing massed crowds of up to 20,000 overseas Indians in New York’s Madison Square Garden and in Sydney. London’s Wembley Stadium is rumoured to be his target when he visits the UK next year, and has the capacity to could hold up to 90,000 adulatory and applauding admirers. Such displays lose some of their sheen however when the star turn lacks authority, and that is what has begun to happen to Modi, though he is still having some election successes. On performance and policy issues, Modi is delivering neither the reforms to change the way that government is run, nor the economic growth, that had been expected by this time. He has launched high profile schemes such as cleaning India, spreading financial inclusion and involvement, and boosting manufacturing (which has slumped along with fixed investment). But he has not shown how these are being, or will be, implemented. He has new and competent ministers in charge of railways and defence (where substantial progress is being made on urgently needed equipment orders and other initiatives), but changes are evident in few other areas. Bureaucrats are turning up for work on time in some government departments, but this does not seem to have shown many results in terms of policy decisions. This would have been politically tolerable if the government had managed to dominate the winter session of parliament ending on December 23, but it has not done so. Unless the Rajya Sabha is allowed to operate in the time that is left, two potentially major successes will be among measures that have been stalled. One deals with urgently needed new coal mining laws and the other raises foreign direct investment in insurance companies from 26 percent to 49 percent, which has been pending for six years. Also awaited is a new Goods and Services Tax (GST), which has also been delayed for years. Arun Jaitley, the finance minister, has negotiated compromise legislation with individual states and other political parties and a bill has been tabled in the Lok Sabha (lower housed) but not the Rajya Sabha. Modi is reported to have told BJP MPs last week: “Our party agenda is development and good governance and we should not dither in it. Nor will we allow anyone to deviate us from that commitment”. Now he needs to turn those words into reality – if he can. By John Elliott, courtesy www.newsweek.com. His new book is IMPLOSION: India’s Tryst with Reality (Harper Collins, India). He can be read at ridingtheelephant.wordpress.com.
www.desitoday.ca
STERLING KITCHENS & BATH Classic Contemporary Urban Complete Kitchen & Bath Concepts
COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL #212-213-12745 78th Ave, Surrey, Ph.: 604-590-8820 Fax: 604-590-2525 Web: www.sterlingkitchens.ca Email: info@sterlingkitchens.ca
MEHARBAN (RON) RANAUTA HI-RISE APARTMENTS
SINGLE FAMILY HOMES
MULTI-FAMILY HOMES
604-551-6074
ARE YOU IN DEBT? Arvinder S. Kalsey
Avineet S. Kalsey
kalsey@bscc.ca
akalsey@bscc.ca
Business Solutions & credit counselling services “Helping You Become Debt Free”
604-951-8984 SURREY ABBOTSFORD #205-12033-92A Ave. #1A-2497 Clearbrook Rd.
WE CAN HELP... • Reduce your debts by more than 50% • In Bankruptcies • Credit Card Debts • Personal Loans / Line of Credit • ICBC Debts • Canada Revenue Agency Debts - CRA Income Tax Debts - GST / Payroll Debts • Stop Collection Calls • Stop Wage Garnishment • Stop Property Foreclosure • Stop Paying High Interest On Credit Cards • Make One Small Payment With 0% Interest
Serving the community for over 15 Years Late Evenings & Weekend Appointments Available First Consultation is FREE and Confidential CALGARY: EDMONTON TORONTO: 905-789-8984 403-714-8984 780-716-8984 Toll Free: 1-866-790-8984
www.bscc.ca APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
21
FEATURES
es a d i h r o i r e t x e ft Kejriwal’s so
L E E T S F O N MA For one dubbed a maverick and written off politically less than a year ago, Arvind Kejriwal has proved to be more wily than his seasoned political rivals who underestimated this slightly built, doughty fighter who has made an incredible comeback by scripting his second sensational election victory in the space of just 15 months. After being a lone ranger for years when he battled corruption by contractors and officials in a Delhi slum, the former government official-turned activist-turned-chief minister has become a household name across India with his direct style and unconventional dressing that earned him this time the sobriquet of “Muler man” because of the way he campaigned through Delhi’s severe winter wrapped in colourful mulers. But those who have known him for long say Kejriwal is much more than an activist-turned-politician devoted to battling corruption. He knows his mission. “AK is really focussed,” said Pankaj Gupta, a former IT professional who has known the 46-year-old leader for 15 years. “He has clear thinking. He is a very tough taskmaster.” Gupta, who has been with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since it was born in 2012, says the former Delhi chief minister, otherwise a diabetic, is very energetic -- a trait he shares with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But what friends like about Kejriwal is that despite his stunning political success, he lives and dresses simply, has no airs about himself, has a spiritual bent of mind and respects elders. In fact he displayed a puckish sense of humour when he reportedly told the online chat show The Viral Fever: “Political parties criticise me for my political statement; you are criticising me for my fashion statement. At home
22
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
my wife criticises me for my bank statement. Everyone just criticises me.” After the AAP was routed across the country in the 2014 Lok Sabha election, and Kejriwal personally lost a prestigious battle to Narendra Modi in Varanasi, there was gloom in the party. Kejriwal - who had earlier quit as Delhi’s chief minister after just 49 days - became a butt of jokes. The I-care-a-damn Kejriwal was the first to come out of the shock. Showing uncommon resilience for a political rookie, he immediately began to rebuild the bruised AAP, now determined to claw back to power in the capital. His personality ensured that despite some desertions, the bulk of AAP’s volunteers remained with him, sharing his idealism and confidence that the the party could bounce back. And when it did in Delhi election, the BJP and the Congress -- who had mocked at him a “bhagoda” (quitter) -- had egg on their face. There was also a grudging respect for the born fighter. Much before embracing politics, Kejriwal for years fought for the rights of the urban poor as he took up issues -- from transparency to corruption. But few knew him, even after he got the Ramon Magsaysay award in the Philippines, an honour often described as Asia’s Nobel Prize. It was Kejriwal who dramatically transformed the anti-corruption movement of social activist Anna Hazare into a successful political party in just two years and took to politics much against his mentor’s wishes as he knew that, if he had to change things in the country, there was no other way but the political route. Kejriwal was born Aug 16, 1968 in a middle class family in Siwan village in Haryana where he had early education in English-medium missionary schools. The eldest of three children grew up with a Hindu religious mindset. But religion faded away in college. Kejriwal wanted to be a doctor. But he went to the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur instead, studying mechanical engineering. He went on to join the Indian Revenue Service. He married a colleague, and they have two children, Harshita and Pulkit. As an officer in the income tax department notorious for corruption, Kejriwal did
www.desitoday.ca
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
23
what few would have dared -- he tried to clean up the system within. A chastened income tax department was forced to implement his reforms to make itself more transparent and less capricious. While on leave, Kejriwal unleashed a “Don’t Pay Bribes” campaign at the electricity department. He asked visitors not to pay bribes and offered to facilitate their dealings for free. By then, he had founded an NGO, Parivartan (Change), which put to use the Delhi Right to Information Act of 2001 to expose mind-boggling swindling of money by corrupt officers and contractors at Sundernagari, a slum area. His dedication fetched him the Ramon Magsaysay award in 2006 -- for “emergent leadership”. But it was his decision to join forces with Hazare that made Kejriwal a household name in Delhi in 2011. While Hazare returned to his village in Maharashtra after the government caved in to mass protests, Kejriwal kept up the tempo, branching off from the India Against Corruption group to form the AAP in November 2012. The AAP steadily expanded its inluence in Delhi as it took up one public issue after another, undermining the Congress and the BJP. Kejriwal was not content with just fighting petty officials. He called Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra corrupt. And he also targeted then BJP president Nitin Gadkari. In December 2013, the AAP stunned everyone by bagging 28 of Delhi’s 70 seats, reducing the then ruling Congress to a single digit and preventing the Bharatiya Janata Party from getting a majority. Kejriwal himself created history by defeating three-time chief minister Sheila Dikshit by over 25,000 votes. But the 49 days he was chief minister with Congress backing proved to be tumultuous. Kejriwal lost much of middle class support as he took to the streets against Delhi Police and did a two-night long ‘dharna’ (sit-in) close to Rajpath just before Republic Day 2014. Critics declared the man would always be a street fighter and an anti-establishment protester, never an administrator. Kejriwal re-invented himself after the Lok Sabha debacle, rebuilding the AAP brick by brick, with the help of close associates and dedicated volunteers. By the time Delhi elections were announced for February 2015, the man had gained much of the goodwill he had lost. For all his activism and politics, Kejriwal is a movie buff and loves to crack and hear jokes. Friends say he would often pull others’ legs. “He is honest to the core,” says Manish Sisodia, who was a minister in Kejriwal’s government. “And courageous. It is not often you find a man both honest and courageous.” By M.R. Narayan Swamy, IANS
24
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
As common as it gets Designers okay Arvind Kejriwal’s style His “sloppy pants”, loose untucked shirts and casual footwear may not make a hip fashion statement, but AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal relects the common Indian man through his choice of dressing, Indian designers say. When IANS asked a few designers if the ‘muler man’, as he is called for his mulerwrapped look in winter, needs a style check, a majority said he’s good as he is - and that instead of his dressing, he should focus on delivering what was promised in the AAP manifesto. Samant Chauhan, who promotes Bhagalpuri silk and belongs to Bihar, is an admirer of the politician as well as his fashion. “He’s setting a common man’s image through his casual styling of loose shirt and scarf (muler). That’s what the common man is about. He should not change anything about his dressing,” Chauhan told IANS, adding that if at all Kejriwal wishes to add a formal touch to his look, he must experiment with waistcoats or Nehru jackets. Designer Kiran Uttam Ghosh feels that his dressing helps him better reach out to his target - the ‘aam aadmi’, the common man. “I think Arvind Kejriwal dresses just fine. His style is functional, individual and suited to the people he wishes to reach out to. It is in sync with his ‘aam aadmi’ message. He shouldn’t change a thing in his look and should just work towards better governance,” she told IANS. Another fashion designer, Varija Bajaj, agreed, and said that as Chief Minister, he will have more to think of than to focus on his clothes. And she also believes that he can be a trendsetter with his own fashion style. “If he performs (well), his shirt, pant and muler will be the new fashion! Only performance can give credibility to any fashion statement he will try to create. If he performs, he will be a fashion icon in himself, trust me,” Bajaj told IANS. However, she pointed out that if something needs to be changed about his style, it’s his “sloppy pants”. “I would for sure wish he does away with sloppy pants, as a code of conduct for formal appearances. A well tucked-in shirt with proper fitting trousers along with formal shoes is something basic that he can begin with. It will help in staying simple, but formal enough to carry a Chief Minister’s image,” she added.
Designer duo Rimple and Harpreet Narula believe that in his capacity, Kejriwal can promote textiles and handlooms. “As the newly elected CM, Kejriwal is going to be the global face of Delhi for the next five years. We would love that he also adopts various indigenous textiles as part of his sartorial choices so as to promote the dying crafts,” Rimple told. Harpreet suggests lightweight kurtas for summer season. “Given how hot and humid the Delhi summer gets, he can forgo the shirt-pant style and opt for lightweight airy kurtas in muted colours made in fabrics such as cotton mals and Bhagalpuri silk blends,” Harpreet told IANS. “As the muler is now associated with his inherent persona, Kejriwal can go for light weight shawls and stoles done in fabrics such as Chanderi cottons/silks and Maheshwari cottons,” he added. By Nivedita, IANS
www.desitoday.ca
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
25
DESI TODAY PROFILE
FEATURES
PICS: SAJI PHOTOGRAPHY
Body Work
Physiotherapy centre making a mark in Surrey
26
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
hen Dr. Manvir Singh Purewal opened the Pure Life Physiotherapy & Health Centre at Innovation Boulevard, close to Surrey Memorial Hospital in Surrey, about 10 months ago, he brought with him six years of top-level experience that he had gained while working as a physiotherapist for others. “I had previously worked with some of the biggest (physiotherapy services) companies in B.C. and some of the best physiotherapists in Canada. So I had the opportunity to be mentored by lots of good physiotherapists before I opened Pure Life,” said Purewal. During the time he was working for others, Purewal says he treated more than 1,000 patients successfully, and was consistently given the highest ratings for the quality of his work. He said his aim in opening Pure Life was to open a facility that focused on innovation and cutting-edge methodology in the field of physiotherapy. But even he could not have imagined how popular Pure Life would become. The demand was so high that he’s opened a second Pure Life centre just off Scott Road to cater for a wider Surrey client base than his facility could service at the first location. “Within several months, I think about eight months, people were recognizing that our level and quality, and the strength of our services was unparalleled. So the demand became really high for us to service more across Surrey. So now, barely 10 months after opening the first centre, we’ve been able to expand to this second location,” said Purewal. Purewal gained his Bachelor’s degree in Cell Biology and Genetics at the University of British Columbia before heading out to Leeds in the United Kingdom to gain his Masters of Science in Rehabilitation. The new facility, which had its official
www.desitoday.ca
SUPER VISA INSURANCE 100% MONEY REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF VISA DENIAL
WE HAVE GUARANTEED PLAN PAYABLE IN 10, 15, 20 YEARS • Life Insurance • Critical Illness Insurance • Special Disability Insurance for Taxi and Truck Drivers • Visitor Insurance • Travel Insurance • Out of Province Coverage • Dental & Medical Plan • RESP, RRSP's • Money-Back Term Insurance
opening a few weeks ago, provides a whole range of physiotherapy-related facilities, including a 2,000-sq. ft. gym facility which includes a yoga room. Also provided at the same facility are massage therapy, counselling and a comprehensive range of other physiotherapy services. Purewal moves between the two Pure Life facilities, while each facility also has a resident male and female physiotherapist respectively. Pure Life treats patients who need physiotherapy due to various reasons. These include accident victims requiring rehabilitation, people suffering from work-related ailments as well as a host of others. “We are able to help anyone who needs physiotherapy,” said Purewal. In fact, someone who feels they need physiotherapy need not get referred to be looked at by Pure Life. “You can walk in off the street and we will be able to look at you and provide a diagnosis,” said Purewal. He said Pure Life does not plan to open more locations in the near future. “For now, we just want to make sure we are able to provide innovative and cutting-edge services of the highest quality at our two locations,” he said.
SHERJANG SINGH RANA
604-996-6868
#301-8128-128 St., Surrey (Payal Business centre)
ranasher@gmail.com
SANDEEP AHUJA
604-996-6862 sandeepahuja@punjabinsurance.ca
hi k a s i a V Happy o All T
SPECIAL ON MAGNET BUSINESS CARDS AND CAR TOP SIGNS
Fax: 604-593-5011 • info@jassalsigns.com
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
27
FEATURES
opalan Anjina Rajag Lope Anna Marie
Omkar devi
s r o t a e r C s u o e g a r u o C R I E H T F O y n i t s own de For six years, Anna Marie Lope lived in constant fear and depression. Exhausted by continuous emotional, physical and sexual abuse, she twice attempted suicide, only to enrage her husband who would then doubly punish her for finding different ways to “escape” their marriage. The trouble was her family was in continuous denial of what was happening to her and
would often suggest not to confuse “marital discord” with “domestic violence”. And her husband believed he had successfully caged his wife in his prison forever. Little did they know she, with support from her friends, had decided to leave the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for good in a true Bollywood style thriller with a meticulous plan in place.
SRL Diagnostics honoured the real heroes on Women’s Day
28
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
“The first time he physically abused me was in 2007 when he got to know that I was thinking of leaving the marriage. And the punishment for this was 30 minutes of beating during which he used belts and punches to teach me a lesson,” Lope, who now lives in south Delhi, told IANS. “That was also the first time I attempted suicide and then again in 2010 because I had no one to talk to and I had to put up a happy face whenever I went out to meet his friends and family. I was living under his constant surveillance. I was living a dual life,” recalled Lope who was born in the UAE and moved to India in 2012. The 28-year-old now works as a programme officer in communications at Maitri, an organisation that works with vulnerable population. Not always is the “domestic violence” a trigger to charge your courage. Women in our society are still seen as “homemakers” who can have conventional jobs that require them to balance their professional and domestic life. But Delhi-based Omkari Devi always wanted to do something that was different as she admits studies were never her cup of tea. So when she learnt about driving classes she jumped with enthusiasm to take on to www.desitoday.ca
the road. However, the hurdles were many. “My family was completely against this idea of driving. They told me that I had gone mad because it is only men who are drivers. ‘Auratein yeh kaam nahi karti’ (women don’t drive) was the most common statement I heard from everyone, including my husband and daughter,” Omkari Devi told IANS. The 35-year old was in no mood to give up and worked extremely hard to prove for the sake of her happiness. “I knew this was something I wanted to do. So, during those 8-9 months of training, I would get up at 4 a.m. to prepare meals for my family and then head for training,” she said. This hard work has paid off as for the past four years, Omkari Devi has been working as a commercial driver and her family has adjusted to her erratic timings. The courage of these women along with a few others was acknowledged by SRL Diagnostics, which honoured them for their achievements. One of them was Anjina Rajagopalan who calls herself a mother of “orphaned and abandoned.” Way back in 1988, on her way to work, a man was mercilessly beating a boy. Her heart melted as she witnessed this incident and brought this deaf-and-dumb boy home, much to the chagrin of her parents. “My friends and family told me why I was getting involved in something that was useless. Bringing this boy right into my home was not at all welcomed, but I always knew that I wanted to do something for the orphans,” the 61-year-old Rajagopalan told IANS. So she started “Sai Kripa”, a home that looks after the abandoned and orphaned children and gives them shelter, educates them and even arranges their marriage. “People will always find ways to discourage you, especially if you are a woman. They would question you and mock at you, but as women we are compassionate and courageous to take bold steps, only if we believe in ourselves,” she said. Today the shelter houses 60 children and she chose to remain single to dedicate all her life to improving their lives. For Lope, adversaries in life are the best lesson to prepare you for a great life ahead, as she admits she finds it difficult to trust anyone, especially a man, but she hasn’t given up hope on marriage. “I completely believe in the institution of marriage and companionship. And this phase of life has left me with a deep desire to be loved and I am willing to give marriage another chance,” she concluded.
“Dedicated to Excellence in Dentistry and Beautiful Smiles”
Dr. Gurdeep S. Bhangu & Associates B.Sc. (Pharm) UBC, D.M.D. (Hons) Univ. of Manitoba
FAMILY DENTIST • • • • • • • • • • • •
Comprehensive Dental Care Complete Implant Dentistry Hospital Dentistry / General Anaesthesia Children's Dentistry Wisdom Teeth Surgery / Extractions Oral Cancer Screening Mercury Free Restorations Gum Treatments & Surgery Root Canal Treatments Smile Makeovers Dentures (On Staff Denturist) Orthodontics (Braces / Invisalign / Clear Aligner Therapy) • Crowns, Bridges • Bonding, Veneers • Teeth Whitening / Bleaching
Missing Teeth? Loose Dentures? Affordable solutions available with Dental Implants! Evening and Weekend Appointments Available
New Patients & Emergencies Welcome
Digital X-Rays (90% Less Radiation)
Serving the community with pride for over 11 years
SURREY #203 - 7928 - 128th St. (In York Business Centre)
604-501-4030
By Shilpa Raina, IANS can be contacted at shilpa.r@ians.in
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
29
FEATURES
JYOTI
The story is about the light of her parents’ life. They named her Jyoti. But five rapists and murderers blew that light out at a very young age of 23 years, just when she was getting ready to dispel the financial darkness out of their lives.
BY SURESH KURL
30
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
In the majority of murder cases, public generally gets a cursory account of a tragedy -- the 5Ws of the crime -- what, when, where, who and why? This rarely gives them a full picture of the offender’s thinking and cultural upbringing, essential to assess his or her redeeming and rehabilitative capacity. I congratulate Ms. Leslee Udwin, the BBC and the CBC to document and put Jyoti’s story on their Internet sites, show it in the form of a documentary, and educate us about this “India’s Daughter”. Emotionally exhausting, it is Ms. Udwin’s face to face interview with Mukesh Singh, the convicted death-row offender. At the end of her interview Ms. Udwin, comes out exhausted and gravely disappointed. Actually, interviewing criminals is always an exhausting experience. I know it first hand. What made her feel so emotionally drained? It was the subject of her documentary, a psychopath. Ms. Udwin went looking for remorse in him, perhaps not thinking through that remorse is an outcome of deep soul searching. It is an expression of deep regret and guilt. It is that torturing feeling that keeps gnawing at you. It remains a mental and emotional burden until it is sincerely expressed. It lifts only when expressed, only when publicly expressed. During my professional years at the National Parole Board (Canada), I do not recall I ever had a psychopath expressing his remorse. They show no remorse, not because they cannot, but because they do not have it. Looking for remorse in a psychopath is like trying to find leftovers pieces of a lamb in the den of a hungry lion. Mukesh Singh holds Jyoti responsible for her death. His self-serving statement, “It takes two hands to clap.” He justifies and rationalises her torturous life ending experience. “A decent girl won’t roam around at nine o’clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. About 20% of girls are good….,” He makes it look as though Jyoti and her male companion boarded the bus for some ex-rated action with those drunken criminals. Mukesh Singh is a text book example of a psychopath. His irrational thinking, untruthfulness, insincerity, antisocial without apparent compunction, egocentricity and absence of insight, and most certainly, inability and www.desitoday.ca
unwillingness to learn from previous mistakes, “She had to be taught a lesson. …If she had quietly given in to the offender(s)’ wishes she would not have been harmed or dead.” Another indicator of them being psychopaths is how fast, after gang raping and throwing their victim on the lonely roadside, they returned to getting rid of the evidence of their heinous crime and then to resuming their normal life; eating drinking, chatting and moving around. While I was watching the documentary on the Passionate Eye, I noticed a bus. Perhaps it was the same bus or exactly the same bus, which was used as a mobile shelter for Jyoti’s
ML Sharma, once before, right after this brutal incident, on January 10, 2013, had shared his opinion with Bloomberg News that he had never heard of a “respected lady” being raped in India. Wow! Who is this man? Lawyer, A.P. Singh said he would not hesitate to honour kill his own daughter or sister. “If my daughter or sister engaged in premarital activities and disgraced her self and allowed her self to lose face and character by doing such things, I would most certainly take this sort of sister or daughter to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight.” Bravo, Singh Sahib!
A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes. - Mukesh Singh gang rape. It had garlanded idols of Lord Shiva, goddess Parvati and Son Ganesha sitting on the dashboard. This religious façade sealed my assessment of who they really were; most certainly psychopaths. They were using religion to hide their true identity; in reality they are monsters; fit to be removed from this planet. And no Rama and Krishna have to reincarnate for this small task. The Government of India can do it. Mukesh Singh and his band are not the only dark characters in this tragedy. There are their defence attorneys, M.L. Sharma and A.P. Singh as well. They obviously hold similar views about women as Mukesh Singh does; seems as though they all went to the same school of ethics and culture. ML Sharma opines, “In our society, we never allow our girls to come out from the house after 6:30 or 7:30 or 8:30 in the evening with any unknown person. …. (I) you are talking about man and woman as friends, sorry, that doesn’t have any place in our society. We have the best culture. In our culture, there is no place for a woman.”
Most probably, they all were culturally educated by a so-called Holy man Asaram Bapu, who thinks that the rape victim should have invoked the goddess Saraswati to seek her protection, and surrendered to the offender. He was only a drunk. (Hindu; January 7, 2013). A week later, Mohan Bhagwat, the Head of a right wing Hindu organization offered this astute wisdom on rape. “Rape only occurs in Indian cities, not in villages, because women there adopt Western style.” Who are these people? They all sound more like a diluted version of Boko Haram to me. Boy! Given these views, PM Mr. Narendra Modi has a steep mountain to scale and come down of it safely. Until then, I would genuinely remain fearful of taking my family back to my birthplace.
By Dr Suresh Kurl Dr. Suresh Kurl is a former university professor; a retired Registrar of the BC Benefits Appeal Board and a former Member of the National Parole Board. APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
31
FEATURES
Indian government should
hang its head in shame LESLEE UDWIN
32
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
A decent girl won’t roam around at nine o’clock at night. A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes.
If my daughter or sister engaged in pre-marital activities and disgraced her self and allowed her self to lose face and character by doing such things, I would most certainly take this sort of sister or daughter to my farmhouse, and in front of my entire family, I would put petrol on her and set her alight.
- M L SHARMA
- A P SINGH www.desitoday.ca
Jyoti was just 23 years old, a promising medical student determined to make a better life for herself and her parents. “India’s Daughter” the documentary is based on Jyoti Singh’s brutal gang rape and murder in Delhi in 2012 sparked worldwide outrage and galvanized a movement to end the culture of silence on violence against women. The horrific crime and the debate it ignited are the focus of the new documtary by British filmmaker Leslee Udwin. India’s ban on the documentary has drowned out the real issues in a chorus of righteous protests over the “wrongs” done by foreign media - the plight of women in India. Without even watching the documentary “India’s Daughter” about the Dec 16, 2012, rape of the woman who has come to be known as ‘Nirbhaya’ or ‘Braveheart’ in a bus in New Delhi, critics have accused BBC of “voyeurism” and worse for interviewing one of the convicted rapists. Those who have watched the movie would agree that it does not give a platform to the rapist, but effectively brings out how some in the male dominated Indian society view women as relected in the rapist’s “callousness and lack of remorse” as also two defence lawyers’ rant on how “decent” women should behave. Leslee Udwin says the Indian government should hang its head in shame for banning her documentary on the December 16, 2012 fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old Delhi woman. India banned the BBC documentary - “India’s Daughter” - on the rape of the woman who has come to be known as Nirbhaya or the Fearless, following an uproar over convicted rapist Mukesh Singh’s comments blaming the victim. “The home minister (Rajnath Singh) blamed the protesters when these were protests on the Gandhian level, peaceful and right and good,” Udwin told the Los Angeles Times. “The irony is it only became violent when the police got involved.” “The government should hang its head in shame” for the ban, she was quoted as saying in an interview before the U.S. premiere of her film at an event in downtown Manhattan ahead of an airing on PBS later this year. Udwin has also denied accusations in the Indian media that Mukesh Singh was either paid for his time or interviewed without his consent. A title card at the start of the film refutes the latter claim. Actresses Meryl Streep, Freida Pinto, Dakota Fanning and singer Chris Martin were among those at the premiere, an event organized by women’s rights groups Vital Voices and Plan International at Manhattan’s Baruch College. The celebrities became involved because of the initial interest of Alan Rickman, who is www.desitoday.ca
a friend of Udwin’s and began spreading the word among other entertainers, the Times said. Streep led a candle-lighting ceremony before the screening, reading some of the victim’s accounts of the assault, then issued a plea to the audience. “We’re called here to contend with something more than rape,” Streep was quoted as saying. “What is worse than violence? Violence sanctioned by misogyny.” “Tonight we light these candles to honour the value and the work of Jyoti Singh’s short, promising life,” Streep said. “She was India’s daughter. Tonight she’s our daughter too.” Pinto, a producer on the movie, told the Times in an interview before the screening that she saw this as “a universal story, and something I got involved with because it’s not just about what happens in India”. She gave an address after the screening in which she criticised even Western attitudes about the Indian gang-rape, noting a TV script she had been sent recently that contained a joke about it. She also issued a wide-ranging plea to people as diverse as policy-makers and teenage boys to shift their thinking. She closed her speech by asking people to close their eyes and be “bathed in the light, the light that was Jyoti.” Udwin also took the stage after the screening as part of a panel discussion about women’s rights issues. “The disease is not rape, and the disease is not human trafficking,” she was quoted as saying. “The disease is gender inequality. And all these things are the metastases of the primary tumour.” In a related development, after veteran Bollywood writer-lyricist Javed Akhtar voiced his strong opinion in favour of “India’s Daughter”, his son Farhan Akhtar also came forward to support the documentary, saying filmmaker Udwin’s intent was not to defame India. Farhan watched the documentary at its premiere in the US. “Watched #IndiasDaughter last night at the U.S. premiere in NYC. Raises some serious questions about the concept of masculinity... The filmmaker’s intent is clear. It is not to defame India but use an event that reverberated around the globe as the basis for her study...” Farhan posted on Twitter. The actor-filmmaker, who himself launched a social campaign MARD (Man Against Racial Discrimination) in 2013 to promote equality and women empowerment, added: “The director’s focus on the aftermath i.e. public outrage/protests/amendment of law speaks volumes of our vibrant democracy.” In India itself, the government’s decision to ban the documentary has met with a var-
She was India’s daughter. Tonight she’s our daughter too. Meryl Streep at U.S. premiere
ied response. Actress and producer Anushka Sharma too believes that the concept of a ban of any kind must be scrapped as people are mature enough to take their own call. “I have not seen the documentary and I can’t comment on various things that people are talking about. But I can tell you broadly as someone who represents the film industry, you should leave to the public discretion,” Anushka told reporters. “People are intelligent enough to make that decision for themselves. We are old enough to deal with those emotions. By saying people are not ready to see this, I think they are judging their evolution. There is a feeling that they can’t watch it. I believe in ‘let people decide for themselves’,” she added. Meanwhile, the Editors Guild of India appealed to the government to revoke the ban, terming it “wholly unwarranted”. The Guild said the documentary portrayed the courage, sensibility and liberal outlook of a family traumatised by the brutality inlicted on their daughter, and the continuing “shameful attitudes” towards women from the interviewed rapist as well as the educated, including the defence lawyers. “The message that emerges from the documentary is wholly positive and its power is such as to make people re-examine their own attitudes and the attitudes of people around them,” it said. APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
33
FEATURES
On the other side of the issue, critics have accused the BBC of “voyeurism” and worse for interviewing the rapist. The Indian government has chosen to focus on questions like who gave BBC permission to interview the convict in India’s Tihar jail, and whether he was interviewed while still on trial. And now Delhi is contemplating action against the BBC for airing the film. One Indian woman parliamentarian is re-
ported to have expressed concern over how the documentary would affect India’s image abroad and hurt tourism. At least one Indian journalist wondered why the Indian media did not do the story itself. Other critics have asked the BBC to first put its own house in order and interview its own child rapists - a reference to the child sex abuse scandal that rocked the corporation a couple of years ago.
“They could go to the U.S. and do an interview with a college rapist,” a critic suggested, citing research by the National Institute of Justice that one in five women students are raped during their college career in the U.S. A suggestion that U.S. media and activists are trying to divert attention away from the U.S. situation by denouncing India as a society of violence towards women is beside the point, others say.
ACTIVIST’S & BOLLYWOOD’S REACTION SOHA ALI KHAN daughter of former Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairperson Sharmila Tagore, tweeted: “Pls see Leslee Udwin’s doc India’s Daughter-we need to understand why rape happens so often in this country Only then can we find a solution.”
Member of Rajya Sabha Jaya Bachchan discussed the topic in the parliament and was enraged with the ongoing scenario. She asked the government to take a strict and speedy decision about the rapists. Mrs. Bachchan irately asked the government to handover the convicts to the women MP’s of the Rajya Sabha Who could ‘take care’ of them. In a statement given by her she said, “Dear Home Minister I appreciate what you did. But it’s 3 years since the incident. I want to know what relief are you giving her family?”
ABHISHEK KAPOOR: #indiasdaughter is a punch in the gut 4 evry Indian, a spit in the face 4 the defense lawyers of the accused & ne 1 who wants to ban it. CHETAN BHAGAT: I found #IndiasDaughter far more sensitively done than many angry ugly invasive debates on the same issue that happen on our TV channels. He also said “India’s Daughter is a must watch. Anyone who watches will understand devastation caused by regressive attitudes. Face it. Fix it.” ANURAG BASU: We have this Ostrich Mentality Banning #IndiasDaughter is like putting your head in the sand so no one can see me. KABIR BEDI: Govt’s decision to BAN #IndiasDaughter - a BBC documentary by an award-winning director - damages India’s image the most.
SHABANA AZMI: India’s Daughter is a very powerful film that celebrates India’s spirit to fight back and not be cowed down. The utterances of Mukesh Singh (the convicted rapist) and his defence lawyers only reveals the deeply entrenched misogynist, patriarchal values we as a society have to root out of our system. Audiences can feel nothing but revulsion for the criminal. The film does not lionize him. Remedying horrific crimes needs exposing the sick mentalities that underlie them. Banning the film is an unfortunate response and does great injustice to her (the victim, known as Nirbhaya) parents who have supported the film and to the brave young men and women who forced the government to set up the Justice Verma Commission. 34
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
FREIDA PINTO #IndiasDaughter. Proud to be part of this documentary film that dares to examine the mindset of the rapists! PRAKASH JHA: My fear is #Nirbhaya doc might serve the same purpose! We already know the deep rooted rot! Let’s just find ways to clean it. RAM GOPAL VARMA: The fact that we can’t stop such heinous crimes in india is worse enough,so we shud atleast have the moral courage to accept it. I don’t know if politicos who banned india’s daughter are dumb or they think ppl are dumb or they are dumber to think ppl are dumb? RITEISH DESHMUKH: Disturbed after watching #IndiasDaughter, But glad i watched it. This is India’s shame, this is our shame, this is my shame-#DeathOHumanity
Shocked at the views of the lawyers. They need help. #GetWellSoonMamu #IndiasDaughter
PRAKASH RAJ: Watched #IndiasDaughter in tears. We Men of my country should hang our heads in shame ... Shame on those who are banning this documentary. RAKUL PREET SINGH: Stunned, moved, speechless after watchin d doc. so much anger in me. I am bad cos I Step out late? 830pm? #IndiasDaughter, such an eye opener. Such horrible inhuman comments coming frm a lawyer. Which democracy r v living in? wt rights do v talk about!! #time for change! DIVYA DUTTA: I am disgusted beyond limits to hear this man talk like this about Nirbhaya. They are all so unapologetic! They look like they’d do it again if they are released. I am asking, why are they not punished yet? They should be hanged. Why is the government telling us it takes ages for justice to prevail? Until then, Nirbhaya’s parents must keep running in and out of courts. ESHA GUPTA: The documentary is a wake-up call not only about what happened but also a relection of the mindset of the rapists and even their lawyers. We place our trust in the educated classes. But aren’t these lawyers educated? Their attitude only shows what most men in India think of women. And to think that the juvenile rapist who knew how to rape and torture a woman will be released next year... Bharat Maa has been put to shame. KUNAL KOHLI: “it’s important to see the rapist hang rather than watch a documentary” and Hansal Mehta said it was difficult for him to comprehend the government’s order and questioned why the government was restricting cinema from relecting the truth of society. www.desitoday.ca
A Special Place for Your Special Moments... DHALIWAL SWEETS & RE S T A U R A N T VANCOUVER
DHOOM RE S T A U RA N T & B A R #112-7938, 128 St., Surrey
604-543-2222
DHALIWAL B A N Q U E T H A L L & RE S T A U RA N T
604-598-1165 #230 8166-128 ST., SURREY
6555 Fraser St.
604-325-4911 SURREY #4-8430, 128th St., Khalsa Mall
604-596-1312 ABBOTSFORD 2636 Cedar Park Pl.
604-649-2338
DETAILED ARRANGEMENT
DHALIWAL VE G E B A K E R Y #104-7790, 128 St., Surrey
604-598-8889
www.desitoday.ca
BEAUTIFUL PRESENTATION
DAIRYDAY 6531-148 Street, Surrey
778-384-2004
NICE CATERING
FEATURES
killing HINDUTVA’S HINDUISM
Why Hindu extremists must stop the mindless violence against Christians in India now. In 2010 I visited The Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata to pay homage at Mother Teresa’s tomb. Along the road towards the building were swarms of the sick, disabled, disfigured, the mentally ill, the aged, and the homeless. A leper put his hand out. I took a coin from my purse. I meant to place it on his outstretched palm. But on leaning over, I cringed. I try to be kind, each day a little more, but I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t touch him. So I tossed the coin in his direction, avoided his reddened
36
APR / MAY 2015
News With A DESI View
eyes and quickly walked away in shame. I entered the Mother Teresa’s sober tomb and my shame worsened. While I shuddered at the thought of touching a leper, she had embraced those with the disease. She had given shelter to hundreds of destitute while living in austerity that was in deep disproportion to her fame. Only a person in possession of a great sense of service to others could have spent her entire life like this. Five years later, RSS leader Mohan Bhagwat claimed that the primary objective of Mother Theresa’s missionary work was conversion. Three weeks later a 71-year-old nun of a convent school was gang-raped near Kolkata by six men. It was one of India’s most shame-
ful moments. I have spent a big portion of my life around Christians. My school, Villa Theresa, was Roman Catholic and St Xavier’s, where I went for college, was run by Indian Jesuits. We sang ‘Jana Gana Mana’ in the morning, followed by The Lord’s Prayer. We went to the school church and sat on the pews listening in rapture to stories about Saint Francis of Assisi and Shivaji. We prayed to Lord Jesus and we prayed to Lord Shiva. Diversity was a way of life, not an effort at brainwashing or conversion. The Christians in India are a small minority. At 2.5 per cent of the total population, they are significantly smaller than other minorities, like say the Muslims who are 14
www.desitoday.ca
per cent of our populace. And even in those small numbers, they have given India its most prized asset: Education. And what is India giving back to them? In recent months many acts of violence have taken place against the Christian community, including burning of churches, re-conversion of Christians to Hinduism by force, distribution of threatening literature, and defacement of Bibles. March 14, around the same time as the nun was raped, a cross at a church in Haryana was forcibly replaced with a Hanuman idol. The ongoing violence is a matter of great national shame, especially in our country that has a history of tolerance. Worse still, most of it is politically motivated. According to media reports, much of it stems from fringe elements of Hindu organisations such as the Bajrang Dal, Vishva Hindu Parishad, and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. They’re doing this to avenge Christian missionaries and their alleged ‘aggressive conversion drives’ which they think have forced good Hindus to covert. Forced conversions? Look at our population figure. Does it look like we’re running out of Hindus? Read our law. Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Conversion is an individual choice. If a person wants to convert their religion, their shoes, their refrigerator, it is their choice. It is not the business of the state to check whether someone is spreading their mat or crossing their heart or ringing a bell. Yet, since December 2014 the VHP and RSS have been conducting re-conversion ceremonies of Christians to Hindus for their ghar wapsi (homecomings) campaign, and attacks on Christian institutions are becoming more frequent. Instead of leading by violence, the first call of the weak-minded, why don’t fanatics lead by example? Make Hinduism a religion that attracts those in need of faith. Instead of disparaging dead saints and denigrating charitable work for the poor, look after your people by providing basic education, decent living conditions and selfless service to those in need. These extremists are emboldened because they expect Christians not to react. After all, Christians in India are generally viewed as a peace-loving community. Christians don’t regularly attack our temples, bomb our malls or rape our women. But against the power of evil, even the good fold into a Faustian pact. If such attacks continue then at some point the Christian community will react. At some point they will snap. Julio Ribeiro tells us that they’re already feeling under siege. So what will they do? It will be sad if Christians also become the bad guys. It will be shocking if Christians also start www.desitoday.ca
A church under construction was demolished in Haryana’s Hisar district. The miscreants even hoisted a Vishvwa Hindu Parisshad flag with “Shri Ram” written at the site. Later, the flag being removed in police presence from demolished church. seeing violence as necessary in the name of a higher good. It will be even worse if they take back what they’ve given so generously to our nation: Their educational institutions that shape the brightest minds in India and give the youth a moral rudder, and their charitable institutions that provide selfless service to the needy. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Prime minister Modi, the finest thinkers of our nation have said attacks on Christians increase each time your party rises to power; back in 2003 and again since 2014. You remember what it’s like when your government is accused of allowing sectarian violence, religious intolerance and bloodshed to spread? We are happy that you are finally speaking
out against these acts of religious fanaticism. We know that you are as concerned about extremism as we are. But that is not enough. You have to do something to stem the violence. You have to take punitive action. You have to stop the aggressors. Don’t let this unconverted Hindu woman be shamed in front of her Christian friends. Don’t let the rights of religious minorities in our predominantly Hindu country be forsaken. Stop this madness now. If not you, Mr Modi, then who? By Meghna Pant, an award-winning author, journalist and columnist. Article courtesy - Mumbai Mirror.
A group of Muslim families seen doing a ritual at a ceremony organized by a Hindu organization to “convert” to Hinduism in Agra
APR / MAY 2015 News With A DESI View
37
FEATURES
No
JEFFREY ARCHER :
FEEL VERY SAFE
on censorship issues in India
alien to controversies, British author Jeffrey Archer says he’s not a provocative writer and “feels very safe” in India when it comes to censorship
issues. “I don’t try to provoke. I am a simple storyteller. I feel safe in India, very safe,” he said. In contrast, he said, he had to go through a lot of trouble in South Africa years ago because of his views. “I went on television and defended (former South African President) Nelson Mandela and criticised the apartheid system and they threw me out. But I felt very strongly about it,” Archer told IANS in an interview here. The best-selling author of over 35 books was in India to launch his book “Mightier Than The Sword”, the fifth in the seven-part Clifton Chronicle series brought out by Pan Macmillan. The next book in the saga will have eight chapters set in Mumbai. “I think there is a genuine affection here. I have met Indian cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman and Rahul Dravid and I never sensed that they don’t like the English. They are friendly straightway and warm. One doesn’t get that if someone doesn’t like your country,” said the former politician. Published in 97 countries, in more than 37 languages, the 74-year-old conceded that British novelist and screenwriter Ian McEwan and British-Indian author Salman Rushdie are superior writers. “I see differences in the sense that I see Ian McEwan as a far better writer. I think Salman Rushdie is also a far better writer, but it was the London Times and your Times (Times of India) that said (I was) probably the greatest storyteller in the world. He also likes it when people compare him to Alexandre Dumas, one of the most widely-read 19th century French writers. “You feel (good) when you see that from the Times of London and from the Indian times. And then The Washington Post came out after my ‘Prisoner of Birth’ and said the English had found Dumas. “So you do sit back and think about it,” Archer mused. On his 11th visit to India, Archer interacted with audiences, particularly wannabe writers, in Mumbai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kolkata, hosted by the Crossword bookstores. During his whirlwind tour, the author met Indian entertainment entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala to seek advice on a possible Indian partner for the television series on ‘The Clifton Chronicles’. Archer said it was Screwvala’s nudge that pushed him to say Bollywood filmmakers had “stolen” his works and adapted them into films. He says ‘Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less’ was made into ‘Ladies Vs Ricky Bahl’ and ‘Kane and Abel’ into ‘Khudgarz’. “That’s the brightest guy I have met in a long time. He is straight and he is sensible and he gave me a lot of good advice. He almost gave me the courage to come out and say, which I haven’t said before, ‘you have stolen my books’ Once he had said it, he repeated it several times during his interactions in India: ‘You have stolen my books’. But he was surprised by the reaction his comment attracted. “I thought Indians would be cross with that. The surprise is Indians say ‘you are quite right, we all know that’,” said the author lightheartedly. Despite irritation with plagiarism, Archer is keen to have his books adapted for films, provided it is with his consent and the right person comes along. “If anyone approached me I would go to Ronnie and ask for his opinion immediately. If he says that’s a serious director I will accept it straightaway,” Archer asserted. - By Sahana Ghosh, IANS
38
APR / MAY 2015
News With A DESI View
www.desitoday.ca
IWcikd] =WbWno Dej[ *
Iedo Nf[h_W P)
IWcikd] =WbWno I+ B= =)
Available at the following Bell stores:
CLOVERDALE
Cloverdale Square village 778 574-4447
DELTA Sunshine Village 604 599-9099
SURREY Panorama Village 604 574-3957
SURREY 13578 88th Ave 604 501-1236
SURREY 2940 King George Blvd 604 560-6009
As of February 25, 2015. (1) Based on total square kms of coverage on the shared LTE network available from Bell vs. Rogers LTE network. See bell.ca/LTE for details. (2) Based on comparison of the shared LTE network theoretical download speeds of up to 75 Mbps (expected average download speeds 12-25 Mbps) vs. the enhanced shared LTE network theoretical download speeds of up to 110 Mbps (expected average download speeds 14-36 Mbps). Actual speeds may vary due to topography, environmental conditions, device type and other factors. Samsung Galaxy S5 is a trademark of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., used in Canada under license. Sony is a trademark of Sony Corporation. Xperia is a registered trademark of Sony Mobile Communications AB.
FEATURES
INDIA NEEDS
habitable cities
BEFORE SMART CITIES
A girl walks on a railway track past piles of dumped garbage in Mumbai
Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his government’s plans to create 100 smart cities, there is a rise in the clamour by chief ministers to get the tag. From Ajmer to Allahabad and from Salem to Srinagar, the list of contenders grows, even as India gives shape to a plan and an agreement on what constitutes a smart city. Smart cities feature in Modi’s discussions with world leaders like US President Barrack Obama to Infosys’ chief Vishal Sikka. The union ministries for urban development, information technology and telecom are engaged in getting inputs on best practices around the world on how to fix infrastructure 40
APR / MAY 2015
News With A DESI View
issues. Even though bigger issues like air quality, suspended particulate matter and, above all, the safety of women continue to make headlines, they seem to be low down in the priority list for smart cities. Air pollution in India’s capital New Delhi, among the worst in the world, is threatening to reduce lifespans of its citizens by three years. And it comes as no surprise that in a global survey, ‘Mercer 2015 Quality of Living Rankings’, which examines the quality of living in over 230 cities around the world, not one Indian city features among the top 135. The Mercer report notes that the rise in population has multiplied the existing problems
of Mumbai (152) and Delhi (154), including access to clean water, air pollution and traffic congestion. Austrian capital Vienna, that prides itself with over half its area under green cover, tops the list of most livable cities in the world. At 25, Singapore is the best in Asia.
Green, clean and safe before smart Isn’t it time that India took a look at making its existing cities habitable - ones that offer a green, clean and safe living environment to its inhabitants? We need a plan for metros www.desitoday.ca
we get smart cities.
Moving jobs to cities where talent exists
Children protect their faces from Delhi’s smog. The WHO said Delhi had a yearly average PM2.5 level of 153 – London’s is a tenth of that. and mini-metros so as to stem population rise, offer a seamless and effective public transport system that discourages commuting in personal vehicles and ultimately leads to acceptable pollution levels. Over a billion Indians expect uninterrupted clean water and electricity supply, a drainage system that works and a mobile and broadband network system that lets them communicate. Reports of Delhi Development Authority making a part of the national capital a smart sub-city, in three years, brings up visions of more concrete monstrosities - a la Nehru Place, Bhikaji Cama Place or even a Hudco Place or a Pragati Vihar. Delhi has a rich heritage that needs to be protected, preserved and should gain World Heritage status even if it means sacrificing additional built-up area in Lutyen’s Delhi. Its citizens want suspended particulate matter in the air to go down, its safety track record on the roads to improve and its women to feel safe through better policing. A WHO study shows 13 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world are in India, including the worst-ranked Delhi. India has the highest death rate caused by chronic respiratory diseases in the world. By focussing on just the brick and mortar smart cities, India could well ignore the health consequences of air pollution.
to its city roads adding to pollution, congestion and long commute time to work and back. An efficient transport system in the top 100 cities, with a smart travel card allowing people to move seamlessly between buses, Metros and shuttle services, may be the answer. We also need to build roads that are pedestrian-friendly and cycle-friendly, just as Vienna and many other European countries have, where differently-abled and the wheelchair borne are not disadvantaged. We need pothole-free levelled sidewalks that help smooth and safe travel for pedestrians before
To stop migration of the rural population to the metros, India needs to create job opportunities closer to the talent. There are enough towns with population between 200,000 and two million offering access to good education as well as skills. We have examples of IT and BPO firms choosing cities like Jaipur, Indore, Nashik, Mysore and Visakhapatnam over established technology hubs like Delhi’s National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai. At a recent Asia BPO Summit 2014-15, Teleperformance India was awarded for its path-defining strategy of moving away from the metros. What began as a move by the $3.66 billion BPO leader to be closer to the source of talent turned out to be a win-win as it set up operations in Indore and Jaipur eight years ago. Even when these cities follow a six-day routine, the employees spend less time out of home due to a much shorter commute time and get to work fresh compared to their counterparts in metro locations. A sixday schedule rewards customers with higher productivity. To top it all, India’s competitive advantage in the global market gets better. This presents an opportunity to locate several manufacturing units under the Make in India policy and services businesses in cities and towns that are not bursting at their seams and are, therefore, a better candidate for building smart cities. India needs more habitable cities that show strong commitment to sustainability before we get the smart cities. By Sanjiv Kataria, IANS
Build an Ef�icient Public Transport System Indian cities don’t have the best and the widest roads. Yet India adds over 5,000 cars a day www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015 News With A DESI View
41
LOVE & RELATIONSHIP
She is multitasking but doesn’t know how to cook, she doesn’t have the patience to deal with nagging in-laws, doesn’t want children within a year of marriage and her focus is on building a successful career. Meet the new age 20-something Indian girl who’s fighting the ‘matrimonial ad’ battle with her parents every day and shattering the stereotype of what is expected of a conventional Indian wife. It took one brave ‘tomboy’ Indhuja Pillai, a Bangalore-based 24-year-old, who calls herself ‘not marriage material’, to awaken the underlying frustration in many girls across the country on the issue of being pressurised by parents to find a groom via matrimonial websites, ahead of International Women’s Day. Sumesh Menon, co-founder and CEO of Woo, a women-centric matchmaking app that highlights women’s expectations and concerns about marriage, says that Indhuja’s plight echoes the sentiment of millions of Indian women, who don’t subscribe to the idea of the ‘ideal bahu’. “They long to be accepted for who they are and not forced into any boring, uncomfortable moulds. Women now want marriages of equality, where whatever applies to the man is equally applicable to the woman - be it independence, social life or work,” Menon told IANS. A string of regular surveys by popular matrimonial website Shaadi.com has indicated that marriage queries annoy single Indian women the most; that Indian girls are more forthright about their preference to meet a prospective groom before his family; and that meeting match-seekers due to family pressure tops the complaints of eligible women. That notwithstanding, their parents, in
The modern Indian girl:
Battling the stereotyping
42
APR / MAY 2015
News With A DESI View
www.desitoday.ca
the endeavour to settle them down at a ‘right age’, resort to finding arranged matches, via relatives, friends, and now often through matrimonial sites. According to a news report, the very fact that Pillai’s parents made her sound desperate to get married to a “good groom” in the “groom wanted” ad, drove her to create her rebellious “matrimonial CV” on a website marry.indhuja.com -- to ensure that the right message reaches the ‘right’ candidate. The profile created by her parents highlighted her education and occupation, while her self-created profile shared more insights about her personality, interests and expectations. This included her revealing: “I’m not a drinker and I hate smoking. An eggitarian, not a foodie. I play badminton, sing and dance. “I wear glasses and look dorky in them... NOT a womanly woman. Definitely not marriage material. Won’t grow long hair, ever. I come with a life-long guarantee and I commit for life.” Her partner preference is also as clear as it gets. Kudos to Pillai, says 28-year-old Trisha Naik, whose family sits with profiles of shortlisted candidates on a matrimonial site every weekend. “I thought of doing the same as Indhuja the moment I got to know my family has started searching for a groom for me. Indian families are patriarchal, and they believe in showing an unreal version of their daughters,” Naik, who felt proud upon seeing a younger girl take a bold step and break the stereotype, told IANS. “Ultimately, it is us who face the complications later in our married life. So why not clear things now rather than regretting it for the whole life,” Naik added.
Sujata Shekhawat, a 34-year-old single working woman, has been going through the ‘matrimonial process’ for a long time. “I was depressed and irritated after a few encounters with prospective grooms and their families. Questions like living with the family, cooking, as if it is women’s only job, made me so furious that I decided not to settle down till the time I get someone who wants a soulmate, not a maid,” Shekhawat told IANS. Relationship counsellor Jai Madaan says being your real self and honest is the key of any good relationship, and that’s what Indhuja aimed at. “Honesty reflects from her talks. Nobody is ‘perfect marriage material’, else there had been no fights and divorces. So to be honest and vocal about yourself is very important so that nothing raises false expectations,” Madaan told IANS. Alas, that for many Indian families, a “subdued”, not a “rebellious”, bride fits the bill of a ‘bahu’. Still, Madaan feels that “sensible men get attracted to a woman’s honesty and boldness.” By Nivedita, IANS
Women now want marriages of equality, where whatever applies to the man is equally applicable to the woman be it independence, social life or work,
www.desitoday.ca
Story of Role model brave ‘tomboy’ Indhuja Pillai A self-proclaimed ‘tomboy’ has unwittingly become a poster girl for Indian women rebelling against arranged marriages. Indhuja Pillai’s parents posted a “groom wanted” advert on a matrimonial site hoping to find the perfect match for their daughter. But instead they discovered she had already posted her own advertisement in which she describes herself as a “speccy dork”. Indhuja calls herself a tomboy, and says she is seeking a macho man who doesn’t like children and isn’t close to his family. Thousands of young Indian women are married off every year to men chosen by their parents. They are then expected to live with their husband’s family, carry out duties and bear his children. Many rebel against the tradition, but around the world there are also worrying examples of forced marriages, while many woman in India face sexual violence and intimidation. Indhuja, 24, who works at a Bangalore technology site, has been hailed for her advert, which has led to more than 1,000 messages of support and at least 30 proposals of marriage. Hosted on her website, marry.indhuja. com, the viral ad reads: “Friendly but I don’t prefer friendship. NOT a womanly woman. Definitely not marriage material. Won’t grow long hair, ever. I come with a life-long guarantee and I commit for life. Looking for: A man, preferably bearded, who is passionate about seeing the world. “Someone who earns for himself and does NOT hate his job. Must be flexible with his parents, also means, it’s better if he is NOT a family guy. Won’t grow long hair, ever. I come with a life-long guarantee and I commit for life. Looking for: A man, preferably bearded, who is passionate about seeing the world. “Someone who earns for himself and does NOT hate his job. Must be flexible with his parents, also means, it’s better if he is NOT a family guy. APR / MAY 2015 News With A DESI View
43
LOVE, RELATIONSHIP
You can find
at workplace Can office be the place for finding love? If one goes by a survey, many workers are attracted to people who work in similar jobs as them. Online jobs site CareerBuilder.in’s annual survey on office romance found that 36 percent of Indian workers have dated someone who worked for the same company, and 37 percent said they went on to marry the person. The national survey was conducted online in January 2015 and included a representative sample of 1,000 fulltime workers across industries and company sizes. While 56 percent of the workers said they were attracted to people who work in similar jobs as them, for some, office romances can be potentially career risky. Of those who have had an office romance, 55 percent have dated their boss, and around 68 per cent workers have admitted to dating someone in a higher position than them. Also, 34 percent of those surveyed have had an affair with a co-worker where one person involved was married at the time. Secrecy is an issue. In days when social media networking is on a high, 71 percent of the workers said they have had to keep their office romance a secret, although 72 per cent have accidentally run into co-workers while out on a date with their office sweetheart. Tips for handling a workplace romance:
Check the company handbook Some companies have strict policies around office romances. Acquaint yourself with the rules before turning a professional relationship into a personal one.
Proceed with caution Some romances lead to marriage, but others can lead to disaster. Seven percent of workers reported having to leave their jobs because of an office romance that soured. Take the time to get to know someone first and carefully weigh risks and benefits.
Compartmentalise Keep your work life separate from your home life. Avoid public display of affection in the office and don’t involve co-workers in personal disagreements.
Think before you post Be careful what you post on social media. You can end up spilling the beans on your relationship before you’re ready to discuss it. 44
APR / MAY 2015
News With A DESI View
www.desitoday.ca
CAREER & BUSINESS
How to have
Healthier
Y R E C GR Shopping
The grocery store can be a tricky place and even the most knowledgeable shoppers can end up putting mistakes in their cart. But with a few tricks up your sleeve, it’s not all that tough to make smart decisions at the store. A group of nutrition experts shared tips for making healthy grocery shopping a success, reports huffingtonpost.com. Here are their suggestions:
Make a list Know your grocery store and go with a list of healthy foods in the order they are laid out. That will help you resist temptation, and it speeds up shopping because you’re not wasting time cruising the aisles for what you need.
Don’t go hungry Healthy eating choices start with the gro-
46
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
ceries you have on hand. Grocery shop with a plan and shopping list. Do not attempt to grocery shop when you are hungry, as you will be surprised at the significant number of impulse buys in your cart.
Stock up on canned foods Many shoppers overlook the canned foods aisle because they don’t realize that canned fruits and vegetables can be just as nutritious as fresh and frozen. Plus, canned foods are always available. I stock my pantry with canned veggies, fruits, legumes and broths so I can make a healthy meal in minutes.
Go plain The original versions of foods and beverages like cereals, soy milk, yogurt, pasta sauces and more, are usually the most nutritious. That’s because as brands extend product lines, they
move into more decadent offerings that cost more and have worse nutritional profiles.
Be selective when buying organic Buying all organic isn’t realistic for most (people)... but you can easily and affordably minimize pesticide exposure when you buy according to the lists.
Do a final check Before you pull into the checkout line, pull over and do a final cart check. Make sure your cart has visually 50 percent fruits and veggies, 25 percent lean and plant proteins, 25 percent whole grains -- and don’t forget to double check there are enough healthy fats, like avocado, nuts, seeds, nut butters and liquid oil.
www.desitoday.ca
Look no further for all your wireless and TV needs. From amazing superphones on Canada's largest LTE network1, to the best Satellite TV service in Canada, Bell has got you covered.
Available at:
SURREY #1-7711 128th Street, Surrey, BC V3W 4E6 604-597-3115
ABBOTSFORD #105-2955 Gladwin Rd, Abbotsford, BC V2T 5T4 604-854-3114
Current as of June 16, 2014. Available to residential customers where access, line of sight and technology permit. Available with compatible devices within network coverage areas available from Bell Mobility; see bell.ca/coverage. Subject to change without notice. Other conditions apply. (1) Based on total square kms of coverage on the shared 4G LTE network available from Bell vs. Rogers LTE network. See bell.ca/LTE for details.
CAREER & BUSINESS
a t s i n o i h s a F
n a h K i Gaur prefers
48
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
s n w o g r saris ove
www.desitoday.ca
A creative entrepreneur and wife of Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Gauri Khan, who has lent her creativity to Satya Paul to mark the fashion brand’s 30th anniversary, says her personal style is more about saris than western gowns. Her debut clothing and accessories collection for Satya Paul is called ‘A Tropical Wonder’, which she presented at the ongoing Lakme Fashion Week summer-resort 2015 at Hotel Palladium here. Expressing her love towards the six-yard wonder, Gauri said: “When I talk about the brand Satya Paul, the first thing which comes to my mind is sari apart from all the shirts and various things. “If I have to go out for an event, I would choose a sari over gown. So, for me to design the sari for them is very apt. I really enjoyed that experience to create, compose the look and get it alright. Sari is my favourite garment.” She, however, opted for a mini skirt matched with a tucked-in top and jacket while taking the final bow for her Satya Paul show. Gauri incorporated the use of luxurious prints for a line of casual and occasion holiday wear. There were mix and match separates in the form of sheer tunics, luid kaftans, versatile shift dresses and elegant saris. Revealing the inspiration for the collection, the mother of three -- Aryan, Suhana and AbRam - said: “I was an artist before I got into interior designing. Satya Paul always uses very vibrant colours. The colour that they always used in the past was very inspiring as an artist and that’s where I got inspired for my collection. I took inspiration for the brand itself and their past collection.” On her clothing line for the brand, the newly turned fashion designer used palm motifs and calligraphic scribbles. The collection of swimwear ranged from bikinis to monokinis and maillots while the kaftans in myriad colours, sarongs, and tunics impressed many. However, what captured the audience’s attention was her sari range, teamed beautifully with cholis in different cuts. There were crossover halters, cut-out necklines and brief bikini styles on saris in satin georgettes, cotton silk, chiffon, georgette, luxe organza and more. In terms of colours, the palette had fresh citrus, aquatic shades, deep ombre and sunset tones. Gauri was upbeat about seeing her designs “come live on stage”. Her show saw celebrities like Karan Johar, Kunal Kohli, Ali Fazal, Zarine Khan, Elli Avram and Sophie Choudry occupying front row seats. - By Nivedita www.desitoday.ca
w w w. r a d i a n c e s p a . c a
UNIT #201-13190 64TH AVE., SURREY
• CLINICAL FACIALS • SEA C SPA • COLLAGEN 90-II • ANTI-AGING FACIAL • CHEMICAL PEELS • ACNE FACIAL • AYURVEDIC FACIAL
We specialize in Clinical Facials and carry Celebrities' Choice GM Collins Skin Care Products !
radiancespa_
AVOID BOTOX Try Proven Treatment
BOTINAL FACIAL You can compare the results with Botox Therapy
We speak Hindi, Punjabi & English
Please Book Your Appointment Online or by Phone
604.503.6000 • 604.727.9649 radiancespaa@gmail.com
e lifetimned a n i g i e l des r onc e you ur Specia t a r b o Cele ts with en mom
y r e l l e w e J g in
ilver and Sates! d l o ble r nd, G iamo y reasona D f o r tion le at ve Selec b Huge lery availa l e w Je
Wedd 5 years limited warranty
3 years limited warranty
We also sell Citizen & Seiko Watches We Sell All Kinds of
We make
Birth Stones.
22 & 24 Kt. Bangles
Shipment Arrives Every Month
& All Kinds of Jewellery.
FREE No Labour Charges on Local Bangles & Mens Kada
Get
Better Rates Than Market for
Old Jewellery
#102-8166 128th St., Surrey (Payal Buss. Centre)
Imported &
DUBAI
Custom made 22 Kt & 24 Kt Jewellery
CALL:
KANDA - 604.502.8823 APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
49
HEALTTH & WELLNESS Pestered by his parents to go out and play, 10-year-old Ashwin refused to budge from his gaming console. It was only after his harried parents promised more gaming time that he ventured out - that too for a bit. Instances of conlicts between parents and their tech-obsessed wards, poor social interaction and worsening of basic skills are some of the consequences of addiction to and excessive use of technology among children in India, experts warn. And it is not just a child health issue but a public health concern as well, National Indian Public Health Association President J. Ravi Kumar said. “Technologies like the internet, smartphones and electronic gadgets like gaming consoles, tablets and the like are essential for development, but the side-effects of overuse is a concern for public health,” Ravi Kumar told IANS. He said this has brought to the fore the importance for parents to be aware of the extent to which they themselves spend time on gadgets.
“Children tend to follow what their elders do. So when they see parents working for long hours on their laptops, they are bound to get inluenced. “This, in turn, results in conlicts: when parents try to limit their children’s exposure to electronic devices, they are smart enough to question why the elders are tinkering with their laptops so much,” Ravi Kumar said. Ashwin’s parents, both employed in the IT industry in Kolkata, agree. “We do need to monitor our usage, especially in presence of Ashwin,” M. Bhargav (names changed) told IANS. While for pre-teens like Ashwin, the attractions are mainly video games and gaming apps, for teens, social networking and internet activity (on smartphones or computers) are the top draw, said Manoj Kumar Sharma, associate professor at the Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore. Sharma said the institute’s SHUT clinic (Service for Healthy Use of Technology) receives
Unhealthy, Unhealthy ,
excessive tech use affecting
kids’ kids ’ development
50
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
three to four mails per week from other states of India - from parents of teenagers - enquiring about the service as well as possibility of online help or telephone counselling. “We get users of video gaming, mobile texting, social networking sites and pornography in the age group of 14-19 years, belonging to midto-upper socio-economic class. “They are predominantly male and indulge in online activities on their smartphone or at home computers or cyber cafes and have low to zero knowledge of cyber laws,” Sharma told IANS. Counselling was sought by parents in the wake of declining academic grades, behavioural changes in the form of irritability or angry outbursts when restricted in usage of technology by adults, said Sharma. “Another consequence is decreasing contact with family, inclination to be hooked on to IT-enabled devices and indulgence in high risk behavior due to online pornography. In these situations parents should explain to their children why too much technology is inhibitive. They should limit the time of exposure to gadgets and spend more time with them. “Restricting them from using devices in totality is not the solution in this age,” Sharma added. What about technology-enabled education processes? Can students today have a holistic educational experience sans the intrusion of virtual world? Do the cons sideline the pros of technology in child welfare? Bani Bhattacharya, associate professor, Centre For Educational Technology, Indian Institute of Technology -Kharapgpur, said the benefits of playing video games and the like are usually not incorporated in the educational set-up. “Though it is known computer games and the like help in strengthening relexes, multitasking and other functions, such things are not much wanted in educational set-up. “Parents are mostly worried about marks and academic excellence. There are good sides to games also, but that is not relected in the educational curriculum of schools,” Bhattacharya told IANS. Connecting the dots, award-winning educationist Devi Kar highlighted the category of small children who are also adept at handling devices. However, she said, one must also consider the fact that they are born in the era of highend technology and a balanced approach must be taken while using gadgets in classrooms and more interaction with nature should be encouraged. “Small children too love to fiddle and know what buttons to press to get what they want. There is nothing wrong with it as long as they are not deprived of other things. They are born into this kind of world. “But we have to be very careful about the addiction facet. Schools can help. There should be judicious combination of traditional methods and use of gadgets,” Kar, the director of Kolkata’s Modern High School for Girls, told IANS.
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
51
HEALTTH & WELLNESS
Hair Woes?
RESORT TO NATURAL SOLUTIONS Plagued by problems like hair loss and greying, most young women’s crowning glory is no longer their hair. With help from experts, convert the bane in your life to a boon by trying out natural solutions. According to a random survey by IANS, hair loss, dandruff, greying and split ends top the list of hair problems faced by women in their 20s. “At this age, the body undergoes lots of hormonal changes along with (sometimes stressful) landmark events happening in women’s lives, like marriage, pregnancy and job worries. “All of these events occupy a great deal of time, which means hair can go unattended. Not taking adequate care, combined with nutritional changes, can lead to havoc for hair,” Kapil Dua, co-founder and chief hair transplant surgeon at Delhi-based AK Clinics, told IANS. It is also the time when women want to look their best and stay in shape, for which some end up doing crash dieting. Seema Saadikha, an expert in clinical nutrition, says it is one of the causes of hair loss. “Crash dieting causes nutritional deficiencies like magnesium, vitamin B12 and vitamin D3. People on diet should get their blood investigation done and consume proper nutritional supplements,” she said. Beauty and hair expert Shahnaz Husain suggests including oil in your beauty regime for luscious locks. She says oiling the hair once a week a night before washing it off is a good idea, and using olive or pure coconut oil are conducive for healthy hair. A tip -- try not to vigorously massage your head as in case of hair loss, the roots are already weak. “Use only fingertips and move the scalp in small rotary movements. If the hair is dry, shampoo twice a week. Those with oily hair should avoid oil applications and shampoo three or four times a week. But use less shampoo. Dilute it with water and then apply,” said Husain, who also advises to keep dandruff in check as it is one of the reasons for hair loss. But you can’t battle dandruff if you don’t know its root cause! Sachin Dhawan, Dermatologist, Fortis Memorial Research Insti52
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
By Natalia Ningthoujam
www.desitoday.ca
WE SPECIALISE
tute (FMRI), explains what leads to dandruff. “Dandruff is caused by malessezia yeasts naturally growing on the scalp. It happens more on oily scalps and due to hard water. Dry allergic dandruff happens due to shampoo allergies and use of hot water. “Natural ways to treat dandruff include using apple cider vinegar mixed with water to wash off and using a mix of lemon and hung curd as a hair pack for 20 minutes,” he said. Though every star promotes ageing gracefully, no one really wants salt and pepper look when they are just in their 20s. Sadly, grey hair is the story of many young women’s lives. Use gooseberry, says Husain. “Soak a handful of dry gooseberries in two to three cups of water overnight. Next morning, strain the water, but do not throw it away. Grind the gooseberries. To henna powder, add the ground gooseberries, four teaspoons each lemon juice and coffee, two raw eggs, two teaspoons oil and enough gooseberry water, mixing into a thick paste. “Keep the paste for two to three hours and then apply on the hair. Make sure the entire head is covered. Keep it on for at least two hours and wash off with plain water,” she said. Another way to maintain black hair is to use a mixture of beetroot juice and coconut oil. “It will give white hair a crimson colour, but if there are a few white hair strands, the colour will mix with the rest of the dark hair and provide coloured streaks,” she said. Young women also complain of split ends, lack of shine and frizziness. Sirisha Singh, founding member and partner consultant of The Skin Center, says these problems are related to the hair shaft. “The hair shaft is composed of keratin, which is essentially dead. These problems of the hair shaft are generally related to hair styling products, use of other hair care products and the general hair care,” she said. The problems can be greatly minimised by using a conditioner first. Also, minimise the use of hair dryers and hot irons. “When the hair is wet, there’s water inside the hair shaft. Use of a heating device causes the water inside the hair shaft to bubble. These bubbles make the hair rough and increase the tendency to split ends,” she said. Natural ways to to prevent split ends is to have a healthy protein-rich diet, especially animal and milk proteins and soy proteins, says Dhawan. “Use a combination of rose hip oil and castor oil for hydrating the hair and conditioning with egg white,” he added.
• Photo Rejuvenation • Skin Polish • Laser Facial • Hot Oil, Aroma & Hot Stone Massage • Bridal Make-up & Mehndi • Mehndi • Facial • Waxing • Bleaching
• Hairstyling • Perming • Manicure/Pedicure • Threading • Men’s & Women’s Cuts • Hair Style • IPL Cold Laser • Permanent Eye Lashes • Microdermabraison • Phytobiodermie • Special Facials
PROFESSIONAL SERVICES •••••• 7 DAYS A WEEK
FREE FACIAL
FREE CUT
with every treatment
with Hair Color
With 14 Years Experience: US Certified Medical Grade Laser Treatment
Hair & Skin Salon Ltd. & Laser Clinic #101-6955-128th St., Surrey • 778.593.7141 2nd Location: SEEMA ELEGANT SALON 9503-132 St, Surrey • 778-858-7450 3rd Location: #102-14377-64 Ave., Surrey www.SandysSalon.ca E-mail: sandy@sandysslon.ca
Translation • Interpretation Citizenship • Driving License
ONE
Interpretation & STOP Translation in English, Punjabi and Hindi TRANSLATION &
Dr. Major S Randhawa M.A. (English & Punjabi) Ph.D. (Certified Member of Society of Translators& Interpreters of BC)
SERVICE
Ph.: 604-543-0841 Cell: 604-807-2931
7138-140 St, Surrey • Fax: 604-543-0891 Email: msrandhawa@telus.net
INTERPRETATION
* We don't fill legal forms
Before getting Mortgage Insurance from a Bank or if you already have a Bank Mortgage Insurance, then better go for your personal insurance."
• Life Insurance • Travel Insurance • Visitor Insurance • Dental & Medical Plan • RESP, RRSP's • Money-Back Term Insurance • Critical Illness Insurance • Special Disability Insurance for Taxi and Truck Drivers • Out of Province Coverage
SUPER VISA VISITOR INSURANCE UPTO 100% MONEY REFUNDABLE IN CASE OF VISA DENIAL*
Insuring your Life, Ensuring your Trust...
*conditions apply. ask for details.
Proud to be your Professional Insurance Broker
We have GuaranteedPlan Payablein 10, 15, 20 Years
Jasvir Grewal : 778.317.6262 jasvirgrewal0596@gmail.com APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
53
HEALTTH & WELLNESS
Alcohol blackouts not funny at all 30-minute nap can reverse effects of poor sleep
Some people think that alcohol-related blackouts, bad hangovers and outrageous behaviour at parties are funny. It is actually not. According to new research, blackouts are likely to occur when the drinker is vulnerable to a range of additional dangerous consequences. Blackouts occur when a person’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) is likely significantly above what is considered “legal intoxication”. The higher one’s alcohol levels are, the greater the chance of a blackout. “Women might have unprotected sex, place themselves in a situation where they can be raped or not be fully capable of protecting themselves,” said Marc A Schuckit, professor of psychiatry at University of California, San Diego. While men can get into fights, use very bad judgment regarding another person and are often the driver when blackouts can lead to a car accident. “Blackouts are very dangerous for both men and women,” Schuckit warned. 54
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
They also found that not all but certain adolescents in age group 15-19 with particular characteristics are more likely to drink to the point of blackouts and experience the accompanying additional alcoholrelated dangers. For the study, the team evaluated the pattern of occurrence of alcohol-related blackouts in 1,402 drinking adolescents (837 females, 565 males) in Britain. “Our results showed that blackouts were common and repetitive in these young British subjects,” Schuckit noted. For example, 30 percent of those who drank reported alcohol-related blackouts at age of 15 and 74 percent reported alcohol-related blackouts at age of 19. “No matter what country, when kids are drinking, they are not likely to understand what is going on with their systems and how dangerous it can be. And if they are drinking to the point of having blackouts, this is dangerous,” the authors said. The results are set to be published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
A short nap for half an hour can help relieve stress and bolster the immune systems weakened by poor sleep - as little as two hours the previous night, says a study. “Our data suggests a 30-minute nap can reverse the hormonal impact of a night of poor sleep,” said one of the study authors Brice Faraut from the Paris Descartes University in France. “This is the first study that found napping could restore biomarkers of neuroendocrine and immune health to normal levels,” Faraut added. Lack of sleep is recognised as a public health problem. Insufficient sleep can contribute to reduced productivity as well as vehicle and industrial accidents, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers examined the relationship between hormones and sleep in a group of 11 healthy men between the ages of 25 and 32. After a night of limited sleep, the men had a 2.5-fold increase in levels of norepinephrine, a hormone and neurotransmitter involved in the body’s fight-or-light response to stress. Norepinephrine increases the body’s heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar. Researchers found no change in norepinephrine levels when the men had napped following a night of limited sleep. Lack of sleep also affected the levels of interleukin-6, a protein with antiviral properties, found in the subjects’ saliva. The levels dropped after a night of restricted sleep, but remained normal when the subjects were allowed to nap. The changes suggest naps can be beneficial for the immune system. The study appeared in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM). www.desitoday.ca
E-cigarettes
LESS ADDICTIVE than tobacco cigarettes
Eating seafood increases risk of autoimmune disorder
Exposure to mercury through seafood could increase the risk of autoimmune disorders, especially among women of childbearing age, a study says. Autoimmune disorders, which cause the body’s immune system to attack healthy cells by mistake, predominately affect women. “We do not have a very good sense of why people develop autoimmune disorders,” said lead author Emily Somers, associate professor at the University of Michigan Medical and Public Health Schools. “In our study, exposure to mercury stood out as the main risk factor for autoimmunity,” Somers added. Autoimmune disease - which can include such conditions as inlammatory bowel disease, lupus, Sjogren’s syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis - is among the 10 leading causes of death among women, the study noted. For the study, the researchers analysed data among women aged 16-49 from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 1999-2004. Greater exposure to mercury was associated with a higher rate of autoantibodies, a precursor to autoimmune disease. Fish such as swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish contain the highest levels of mercury while shrimp, canned light tuna and salmon have lower levels. The authors noted that there were many health benefits to seafood, a lean protein packed with vital nutrients. However, they added that women of reproductive age should be mindful of the type of fish they are eating. The study appeared in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. www.desitoday.ca
E-cigarettes are less addictive than tobacco cigarettes, finds a research, adding weight to the argument that vaping could help quit smoking. “We found that e-cigarettes appear to be less addictive than tobacco cigarettes in a large sample of long-term users,” said Jonathan Foulds, professor of public health sciences and psychiatry at Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine. The popularity of e-cigarettes (ecigs), which typically deliver nicotine, propylene glycol, glycerin and lavourings through inhaled vapour, has increased in the past five years. While the long-term effects on health and nicotine dependence are unknown, Foulds pointed out, “We might actually need e-cigarettes that are better at delivering nicotine because that is what is more likely to help people quit.”
While carrying out the study, the researchers developed an online survey, including questions designed to assess previous dependence on cigarettes and almost identical questions to assess current dependence on e-cigs. More than 3,500 current users of e-cigs who were former tobacco cigarette smokers participated in the survey. The researchers found that people with all the characteristics of a more dependent e-cig user still had a lower e-cig dependence score than their tobacco cigarette dependence score. “We think this is because they are getting less nicotine from the e-cigs than they were getting from tobacco cigarettes,” Foulds explained. “Any common sense analysis says that ecigs are much less toxic. And our paper shows that they appear to be much less addictive, as well,” he added. The study appeared in the journal Nicotine & Tobacco Research. APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
55
HEALTTH & WELLNESS Be it the Metro, car, bike or workplace, most office-goers tend to sit at one spot at a stretch every day at the cost of their health. So how about taking a little time out to exercise at your workplace every now and then? A survey done by Qi Spine Clinic in 2014 shows that 57 percent of professionals in office jobs are affected by visible symptoms of sedentary workplace behaviour. Experts agree and suggest that by taking breaks to stretch or to run on the spot, people can work towards a healthier lifestyle. “Desk work puts a huge mental and physical stress on our bodies, especially on our lower back, leading to low back pain,” Garima Anandani, chief spine specialist at Qi Spine Clinic, told IANS. “The combination of high stress at jobs (which puts people at greater risk for habits such as smoking), sitting for long periods (sitting for over two hours at a stretch is considered a long period) at the desk in poor posture, and lack of physical activity, puts us at greater risk for low back pain,” she added. Stressing the importance of an active lifestyle, Ibrahim Khan, master trainer at Talwalkars gym, said: “A sitting job would lead to lower back pain and spondylosis. A side effect of not working out would be slowing down of Basal Metabolic Rate (the rate at which we burn our calories), and weight gain.” Leading holistic health guru Mickey Meh-
ta has some easy-to-follow solutions. “Use the staircase at least three times a day. Walk from your house or office to the bus stand. After every two hours, get up from the chair and take a deep breath and stretch backwards. Then breathe out and come and touch your toes,” he said. “Twisting will also help. Hip rotation clockwise and anticlockwise is good too,” he added. Another simple way to workout in office is to run on the spot, suggests Neeraj Mehta, director of Growth For Fitness Instructors Fitness Academy. “You can do that for 30 seconds or a minute. Then do a little bit of stretching,” he said. Anandani is also in favour of stretching. “For the benefit of the back and neck, stretch from head to toe, beginning with the neck. Slowly tilt your head towards your shoulder. Hold for 10 seconds. Do alternate sides. Next loosen up your shoulders. Roll both shoulders forward in a circular motion then backward. Repeat 10 times,” she said. Tightening stomach muscles at work is also possible! “To work your abdominal muscles, hold your stomach for a few seconds when breathing in, then release when breathing out. “If possible, get some fresh air in your lungs by taking a walk outside,” master trainer Aminder Singh at Anytime Fitness, told
IANS. For your hips, try kicking...in the air! “Leg kick front is good for hips. Kick front in a controlled way, do 10 counts for each leg. Another one is side kick. Kick sideways in a controlled way, do 10 counts for each leg,” said Khan. While taking the staircase is a must to keep the legs strong, Singh also suggests to sit upright on your chair and straighten one leg out in front of you. Your hands should rest on the chair. Hold the position for three to five seconds. Repeat it between 12 and 20 times, then switch to the other leg, he said. And just in case you don’t want bingo wings, don’t forget to keep your arms fit. “Stand up and place your hands (each about a shoulder width away from your body) on the desk, and twist them in so they point towards your body then lean forward. “Then push your shoulders and elbows closer to the desk. Repeat it five times,” said Singh. Thanks to computers, office work also strains the eyes, so you need to exercise to strengthen them too. “Gaze at a distant object for 15 to 30 seconds, then relax eyes,” said Neeraj Mehta. Now stop sitting and reading, get set going towards a fitter and more active you. By Natalia Ningthoujam, IANS
Sit at your own risk
MAKE OFFICE YOUR MINI-GYM 56
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
it is not just about losing weight, but also about what kind of weight you lose. ” Happy Boyal before losing weight
“I Lost 50 lb IN 12 WEEKS ”
Happy Boyal, Pharmasave Sullivan Square, Surrey
A medically developed weight loss program. Weekly one-on-one coaching. For more information about Easy Slim Program call HAPPY BOYAL:
604-303-6343
Email: happy@pharmasaveeasyslim.com Or you can personally drop by at: Pharmasave Sullivan Square #106, 15325 – 56 Avenue, Surrey.
FOOD, ART, ENT
COMEDY IS ABOUT TELLING THE TRUTH Comedy is about telling the truth in a funny way, says world-famous stand-up comedian Russell Peters, ahead of his multi-city tour in India, where a group of humorists are currently facing criticism for showcasing an insult comedy show. Peters, whose Almost Famous World Tour, will be staged in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai, as part of the Stage42 Festival organised by Only Much Louder, says he’s aware of the “growing comedy scene” in India. “It’s great that that’s happening. Unfortunately, I’m not really familiar with all the guys that are doing it,” Peters told IANS in an email interaction.
58
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
By Siddharth Jha, IANS
www.desitoday.ca
Born in Toronto to Eric and Maureen Peters, the funnyman is of Anglo-Indian descent. His late father lived in Mumbai and later migrated to Canada. Peters often features personal incidents and stories in his comic acts, and says: “I don’t think there’s anything that I do that would ‘hurt’ someone’s feelings”. “Comedy is about telling the truth and people can tell if you’re just trying to be mean. They can sense your intent. My intent is just to be funny. “Everything I talk about is real and based on things that have happened to me or my friends. The audience always knows when you’re lying, so never lie to them,” added the 44-year-old entertainer, who has regaled comedy lovers across the globe. When he started performing stage shows back in 1989, Peters was just 18 years old and says he started doing stand-up comedy because he had always wanted to it. And he does it well -- considering the record-setting attendance he draws with his shows. But he says he didn’t choose to be a comedian “to set records”. “I started doing stand-up because I had to. It was a calling. If you’re doing stand-up for fame or to get rich, you’re doing it for the wrong reasons. I’ve been doing this for 26 years now,” he said. For now, he’s upbeat about enthralling the “energetic” Indian audience. “I love India. I’m not just saying that. It makes me happy just to be there. There’s no other place in the world that has the energy that India has. I live in Malibu but would be very happy living in Bombay (Mumbai),” Peters said. He feels his Indian fans “are very smart and aware of the world”. “They have a good understanding of not just India but the rest of the world as well.” When he’s not travelling and performing, the humorist loves to spend time with his Crystianna, his four-year-old daughter with his former wife Monica Diaz, thanks to whom he has seen Oscar-winning Hollywood animation film “Frozen” about “two thousand times”. Otherwise, he has no time for films -whether Hollywood or Bollywood. “I don’t have time to watch Hollywood films, let alone Bollywood films...I never grew up watching Bollywood movies; it just wasn’t a thing in our house,” he said.
www.desitoday.ca
Peters notable performances: In 2007, Peters was the first comedian to sell out Toronto’s Air Canada Centre, selling more than 16,000 tickets in two days for the single show. He ended up selling over 30,000 tickets nationally over the two-day sales period. He broke a UK comedy sales record at London’s O2 Arena when he sold over 16,000 tickets to his show in 2009. His show in Sydney, Australia on 15 May 2010 had an audience of 13,880, making it the largest stand-up comedy show in Australian history. Peters’ performances on May 5–6, 2012 in Singapore also set attendance records for a single stand-up comedian at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Peters hosted the Canada Day Comedy Festival 2006, and participated in a USO tour of Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, Africa and Greenland in November 2007 with Wilmer Valderrama and Mayra Veronica. He also currently produces and stars on the radio situation comedy series Monsoon House on CBC Radio One. Peters was the host of the televised 2008 Juno Awards ceremonies in Calgary on April 6, 2008, for which he won a Gemini Award for “Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series”. The show received the second-highest ratings of any Juno Awards broadcast. Following the show’s success, Peters accepted an invitation to host the Juno Awards for a second consecutive year; the 2009 Juno Awards took place in Vancouver on March 29, 2009.
On September 28, 2013, Peters was awarded the 2013 Trailblazer award by the Association of South Asians in Media, Marketing and Entertainment (SAMMA) for his contributions to the world of comedy. He is among the first South Asians to achieve international success in the field. Peters’ stand-up performances feature observational comedy, using humour to highlight racial, ethnic, class and cultural stereotypes. He often refers to his own experiences growing up in an Indian family, and impersonates the accents of various ethnic groups to poke fun at them. As he told an audience in San Francisco, “I don’t make the stereotypes, I just see them.”In a 2006 interview with The National, Peters observed that he didn’t intend to put down or offend different races and cultures, but tried to “raise them up through humour”. Peters is widely known for his punchline, “Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad.” It ends a joke he tells about his childhood with a traditional Indian father, who used corporal punishment on his sons. Another punchline he utilizes is “Be a man! Do the right thing!”, which relates to a story of a Chinese man trying to get him to pay more for an item at a shop. When interviewer Larry King asked Peters, “Is there such a thing as too taboo?”, Peters replied, “I don’t talk about religion because I think people are a little weird about religion, especially nowadays, and I’m more of a science guy than I am a beliefs guy. I’m more into facts than I am beliefs.” In an interview with Al Jazeera, Peters said he “refuses” to talk about religion.
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
59
DESI TODAY PROFILE
cks on a n s m r fi y Famil and m e d g n i w gro
Until about 10 years ago, you would have been hard-pressed to find most kinds of ethnic products on the shelves of the major grocery chains such as Real Canadian Superstore, Saveon-Foods and others. If you needed Indian items, you had to go to the smaller Indian specialty stores. All that has of course changed now. These days, whole aisles in the major stores are devoted to ethnic groceries, especially Indian and Chinese items. If you’re shopping in the Indian aisles, you will almost surely come across the GuruLucky brand of Indian snacks. It is now a household name when it comes to packaged Indian snacks, especially the salty, spicy variety. The company behind the brand, GuruLucky Snacks & Sweets Ltd., operates out of a 10,200-sq.-ft. facility in the Newton area of Surrey, and supplies a large variety of packaged Indian snacks all over B.C. and other parts of western Canada. The business, owned by the Patel family, has a long history behind it that began generations ago in Surat, Gujarat in India, moved to Fiji in the 1950s with the family, and then moved again to Canada in 1986. It remains today a family-run business. “We’ve been operating in the Lower Mainland, first Vancouver and now Surrey, for the last 28 years,” says Jeetu Patel, the eldest son of owner Kantibhai Patel, and the company’s sales, marketing and branding head. Jeetu Patel’s grandparents had started making and selling sweets in India, and when the family moved to Fiji, Kanti Patel continued the business there. But after a military coup in Fiji in the 1980s, the Indian community in Fiji came under a lot of pressure, forcing many in
60
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
the community to move out to countries such as Canada. And so Kanti Patel and his family came to Vancouver. “My father initially got a job in 7-11, but we continued our sweets business as a homebased enterprise. Well, our sweets business was doing so well that my dad decided to turn it into a full-ledged and full-time enterprise,” says Jeetu. So the family registered their business under the company name of H.B. Kaysons and there’s a fascinating explanation for that name. “Lots of people have asked the explanation for the name,” says Jeetu with a laugh. It’s actually very simple. H stands for eldest daughter Harshila, B stands for younger daughter Bav, while Kaysons was the compressed version of the family’s business name in Fiji, Kantilal & Sons. In 1987, the family bought over the existing Guru Lucky sweets business, which was then a small family-owned enterprise. “We retained the name of the business, and we have turned it into our brand name,” says Jeetu. The family continues to be active in the business, with Kantibhai still the active head of the company, and with Jeetu’s mum Indira and brother Dinesh also involved in running the business. It is largely a wholesale business, supplying packaged Indian snacks not just to the major grocery chains such as Superstore, Save-onFoods and Fruiticana, but also to smaller Indian outlets. Jeetu says the business supplies an average of two truckloads worth of products every month to the different outlets.
t e e w ssuccess
They manufacture various kinds of bhujias, sabzi pakoras, savoury nuts, Punjabi mixes and a whole range of other products. “We are constantly looking at coming up with new products. Tastes are ever-changing, and we have to keep up with that,” says Jeetu. One area where Jeetu says the company has invested heavily and has an edge is in making healthier products. “So we have invested in high-priced fryers that use cutting-edge technology to keep the oil content low in our products. People are very health-conscious these days, and we fulfill that need,” he says. GuruLucky, which has 15 employees, faces a lot of competition, not just from other local manufacturers who make Indian snacks, but also from Indian manufacturers whose products are imported into B.C. Jeetu says the competition is welcome. “Competition is always good. It keeps us on our toes, and we need to be constantly innovative in order to stay ahead,” he says. One strength that GuruLucky has over the competition is that their products are not just made in Canada, but almost all the ingredients used are sourced from Canada. “So while products imported from India generally have a generic taste, irrespective of the brand, our products have a Canadian twist to them. We don’t put too many preservatives and other additives in our products. What you get is a natural, wholesome taste,” he says. The company continues to look forward. It is in the process of fully automating its Surrey plant, while in terms of marketing its products, it is actively working to penetrate the U.S. market. Lots more information is available at the company’s website at http://gurulucky.com
www.desitoday.ca
Happy Vaisakhi
To All From Guru lucky & Family
Spice Up
Your Life with
All natural authentic gourmet Indian Snacks made from time honored family recipes since 1942 Guru Lucky Snacks are made in Canada with Canadian grains and lentils. These snacks are made with all natural ingredients and spices, no artificial flavours or preservatives and are wheat and gluten free. Made with canola oil, Guru Lucky Snacks have no trans fat, no cholesterol and are high in fiber and protein.
Now available in Eastern Canada
H.B.KAYSONS LTD. 7660-134th St., Surrey BC Canada V3W 7T8 Tel: 604.594.9800 • Fax: 604.594.9852 guruluckysnacks@yahoo.com
www.desitoday.ca
0 Trans Fats High in Fibre No MSG All Natural Gluten Free Ingredients visit us at www.gurulucky.com for whole range of products
Ready to eat snacks available in packages and bulk at all major supermarkets and IndianAPRStores / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
61
FOOD, ART, ENT
KAREENA KAPOOR:
‘Age gracefully, don’t cover the lines’
Bollywood’s fit and fabulous Kareena Kapoor is on her way to turn 35, and she’s clear about not attempting to be 22! She feels the key to ageing gacefully lies in letting the “lines” be, especially when it comes to men. “I think one should age gacefully. I am proud to be 34 and I think aging is wonderful. I hate it when I look at somebody and know that they have tried to cover the lines,” Kareena told IANS in an inteview on a recent visit to the capital. Looking svelte in a golden shimmering gown, exuding a are glow and charm, Kareena shared her thoughts about the prevalent nip-and-tuck trend to battle agerelated troubles, when asked about it. “I find men with lines on their faces more intelligent and sexy. Even for women, I think Mahaani Gayatri Devi was vey gaceful. The way she aged with the grey hair -- that is elegance,” added the wife of actor-producer Saif Ali Khan, who is 10 years her elder, and daughter-in-law of Bollywood’s ageless beauty, Sharmila Tagore. There’s a notion that “Never ask a woman her age”, but Kareena asks “What’s wrong in saying your age”. “I don’t want to be an 18-year-old or a 22-year-old girl. I am just done with that phase of my life. That is why I don’t even ty to be 22,” added the actress, who was in Delhi to launch Magnum ice-cream. “I’m 34 but I’m still endorsing an icecream, which people enjoy from an age of 6 to 60. That is an achievement in itself,” she said. When it comes to endorsements, Kareena has a long list that include bands like Lakme and BoroPlus. Her criteria is to choose a band that relects a little “bit of her personality”. “Each band that you endorse relects your personality. That’s why I don’t endorse meat, cigarettes and alcohol,” added Kareena, who has cemented her space in Bollywood with movies like “Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham”, “Jab We Met”, “3 Idiots”, “Omkaa” and “Talaash”. On the film front, Kareena is set to pack her bags soon and leave for Amritsar to shoot for “Udta Punjab”. She says the milieu of the film, based on drug busting in Punjab, will leave “eveyone shocked”. “People are going to be really shocked. The film revolves around drug busting in Punjab, which is a big menace in that area. I am not allowed to divulge much information, but I play a pivotal role in the film,” she said of the movie. Kareena will also be seen in Salman Khanstarrer “Bajangi Bhaijaan” this year. By Sugandha Rawal, IANS
62
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
FOOD, ART, ENT
Aamir learning wrestling, Haryanvi for ‘Dangal’ For actor Aamir Khan, prepaations are on in full swing for his next film “Dangal”. The actor, who’s often known as a ‘pefectionist’, is now prepping up for his role in “Dangal”. He has gone out of his way to gain weight for the role of a wrestler. He is busy learning how to wrestle and how to speak Hayanvi, for his role. “I am learning wrestling and Hayanvi language for the film (‘Dangal’) and this prepaation will continue for some months. Then we will stat shooting for the film,” Aamir told repoters at the DVD launch of his film “PK”. Aamir has stated preparing for the film, but it is yet to go on the loors. “We are still doing the prep on it. I think in the next few months, it will go on the loors. We have not locked the date yet. Casting is being done,” said the 49-year-old, who now weighs 90 kg. In “Dangal”, Aamir’s role is said to be inspired by wrestler Mahavir Phogat. Talking about his diet for the film, Aamir, who has recently turned vegetarian for his role in the film, said: “At this time I can eat anything. I eat whatever I like. I have turned vegetarian now, so I’m not taking non-vegetarian and also eggs. “Except these two things, I am eating eveything and that too in huge quantity.” He has spent over 25 years in the Hindi film industy, giving action-packed, comedy, romantic and emotional peformances; scoring hits and becoming a successful filmmaker. But Aamir Khan, turned 50 in Februay, won’t like to say that he’s reached the peak of his career yet. At an event here, the “PK” star was asked if he feels that he has reached the pinnacle of his career. He said: “I’m still 18 years old. I don’t feel that I have reached at the peak of my career. According to me, ‘peak’ means you are about to go downwards, so I hope I am not at the peak of my career.” Aamir has regaled his fans with films such as “Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak”, “Hum Hain Rahi Pyar Ke”, “Safarosh”, “Lagaan”, “Rang De Basanti”, “Fanaa”, “Ghajini”, “3 Idiots” and “Talaash”, during his acting career. “Taare Zameen Par”, which saw him in the role of a teacher, and which marked his debut as a director, was highly appreciated. www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
63
FOOD, ART, ENT
Big B ‘honoured’ to unveil Gandhi statue Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan says he was “honoured”, “humbled” and felt “touched” to unveil a bronze statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Parliament Square here. Big B, who also read out an excerpt from Gandhi’s “The World of Tomorrow”, shared his excitement on social media. “A historic moment and a historic presence. I am honoured and humbled. I am so touched and honoured to have been given this pride of place at this most prestigious occasion,” Amitabh wrote on his official blog srbachchan. tumblr.com. He added on Twitter: “At the unveiling, the respect and dignity given... So humbling. David Cameron, Arun Jaitley, Gopal Gandhi and self on stage! Honour.” British sculptor Philip Jackson created the statue, which was unveiled on Saturday. The 72-year-old Amitabh was joined by British Prime Minister David Cameron, Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Gopalkrishna Gandhi, a gandson of Mahatma Gandhi. Amitabh also posted a series of photogaphs from his visit to London.
LGBT community gets its first music video The LGBT community now has a music video titled “Head Held High” which focuses on love and acceptance as the cental theme. The music video was released on Friday by Anjali Gopalan of Naz Foundation - which actively suppoted the LGBT community while leading the legal battles earlier in the Delhi High Cout and now at the Supreme Cout against Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalising gay sex. The music video, directed by Payal Shah and produced by Sharif D Rangnekar, features nine people from different walks of life
Rhea Chakraborty to endorse online fashion brand Actress Rhea Chakaboty has been roped in to endorse online shopping potal Yepme.com to add a zing of freshness to its new band campaign centered on the ‘Fresh Fashion, Fresh Look’ theme. The actress will feature in a series of ten advetisements, in which she will take on cliches being carried foward by shopaholics, social media addicts or fashion designers in a witty and humourous way. Rhea, who foayed in to Bollywood with film “Mere Dad Ki Maruti”, says band’s new approach towards fashion caught her attention. “Yepme is an exciting fashion band, connecting the youth of India. As a young actor, eveything new and different is an oppotunity and woth its while. This new series of films is really fresh in its approach and provides for a fantastic idea,” Rhea said in a statement. A collection dedicated to Rhea, who will next be seen in Yash Raj Films’ “Bank Chor” opposite Riteish Deshmukh, has also found its way on the virtual potal. 64
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
Hayer Bros. Siding & Sundeck COMMERCIAL & RESIDENTIAL • LICENSED • BONDED • FULLY INSURED
Professional Quality, Experience with Customer Satisfaction that is all we carry and offer...
SPECIALIZING IN:
HARDIPLANK • Hardi & Vinyl Shake • LP Replacement • Vinyl • Pine • Cedar Siding • Aluminum/Vinyl Soffit • Aluminum/Vinyl Facia • Custom Trim Work • Vinyl Skirting
CALL FOR A FREE ESTIMATE
Harcharan (Harry) : 604-862-2174 South Indian Family Owned & Operated Authentic South Indian Cuisine
With a bright colour palette and gaphic prints, the ‘Rhea collection’ line consists of apparels and accessories that the actress is spoting in the videos. The campaign, conceptualised and produced by YRF Films, focuses on 20-29 age group and is currently live on all the channels, broadcasting the ongoing cricket World Cup tournament. “The campaign is about a fresh take on various aspects of our lives is exciting and vey new in its thought. The whole campaign is about ‘No more same old, Go Fresh, Go Bold’. Rhea is a great fit for this idea to be brought out alive. She is the fresh new face and a talent to look out for” said Anand Jadhav, president of the band. Other Bollywood stars who have endorsed Yepme include the likes of Shah Rukh Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Sonu Sood and Esha Gupta. www.desitoday.ca
Desi Dosa Madras Restaurant 8859 120th St., Delta
604-591-1591 Sun-Thu: 11.30am - 10pm Fri & Sat: 11.30am - 11pm
DINE IN - TAKE OUT
EAN • COMFO E • CL RTA M O BL FH E O E T Extensive Menu S A 30 Different ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Vegetarian Varieties of Dosas ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Non-Vegetarian & ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Special Biryani 11 Item ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• South Indian Thali Halal AUTHENTIC, GLUTEN-FREE SOUTH INDIAN FOOD AT
- two from the LGBT community - bringing out the different emotions of a human being be it despondency, confusion, frustation or confidence, joy and triumph. “The vey idea to work around this concept was a big thrill as it relected my inner self - free spirited and comfotable in my own skin. Acceptance, judgement, norms, society etc are constricting formats and this video aims to break through these vey layers and emerge libeated. I feel even more empowered today! Empowered and libeated,” Shah said in a statement. Producer Rangnekar, who also wrote the lyrics to “Head Held High”, said: “The video is about emotions with love at the centre. When it comes to love, it can be anyone! That is what we wish to say and hopefully people will understand that.”
Book Us For Private Parties, Events & Catering Including Dosas Made On-Site
Residential & Commercial Licensed • Insured • Experienced
EXCAVATING LTD.
Backfilling Land Clearing Sand & Gravel Truck Rental Drain Tile Installation Drywall Removal Drywall Disposal
604-290-4767
Serving All Lower Mainland APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
65
FOOD, ART, ENT His poweful avant-garde roles in obeat Indian films have set Nawazuddin Siddiqui apat from the true-blue heroes of Bollywood. And that is why the actor, a ‘hero’ in his own right, suggests that newcomers never let go of their “uniqueness”. Nawazuddin, who was last seen as a Machiavellian villain in Sriam Raghavan’s “Badlapur”, feels that once most actors get a taste of fame, they stat behaving in “a hero- type manner”, which takes away their individuality. “Among what young actors bring with them, there is a uniqueness in evey one of them. Don’t let go of that when you join the industy. What geneally happens is that when people get into the industy, they tend to behave in a paticular hero-type manner. “This shouldn’t happen; it takes away one’s uniqueness. When you’re embodying a chaacter, you should have your own uniqueness, that is vey impotant,” Nawazuddin told IANS in an inteview. His own talent to slip into chaacters with ease has been seen and appreciated in films like “Gangs Of Wasseypur”, “Kahaani”, “Kick”, “The Lunchbox” and “Talaash” - and most recently, in “Badlapur”. The 40-year-old admits “gay chaacters” attact him the most “because there are layers and complications”, but he’s also happy spreading laughter through some of his works. One of such projects will be “Ghoomketu”, in which the National Award winning actor has a comic role to essay. “I don’t paticularly enjoy potaying plain white chaacters or staight negative chaacters. I like challenging chaacters. “My chaacter in ‘Kick’ made people laugh. Even in ‘Badlapur’, there were chuckles among the audiences, but in my upcoming film ‘Ghoomketu’, I’ll be seen in a typical comic role,” Nawazuddin said. He is paticularly happy that “Badlapur”, which also starred Varun Dhawan, Radhika Apte, Huma Qureshi and Yami Gautam, managed to pull in the audiences despite its release in the midst of the ICC cricket World Cup. “I’m extremely happy about the success of ‘Badlapur’. We were vey nevous at first because the film had an ‘A’ cetificate and the release was around the cricket World Cup. But when the film released, the response was ovewhelming. “Word of mouth worked wonders for the film. And now eveyone is happy, from the producers to director to the actors,” he said. Promising a surprise for his fans in evey film that he does, Nawazuddin also said it’s difficult for him to take time out for his family. “It’s difficult to take time out from work and that’s the reason my family members are somewhat miffed with me. My daughter and my wife aren’t vey happy about me not being able to spend much time with them. “Just keep watching my films and I will surprise the audiences with evey film; that’s my promise,” said the actor, whose film “Haaamkhor” is heading to the Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA). By Siddhath Jha (12:10) 66
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
Don’t let go of
uniqueness Nawazuddin to newcomers
www.desitoday.ca
FOOD, ART, ENT
JOHN ABRAHAM
‘Rocky Handsome’ a step ahead of ‘Force’
www.desitoday.ca
John Abaham may have played comedy roles in many films earlier, but he says vetean actor Paresh Rawal has helped him immensely in excelling at comic timing in the fothcoming film “Welcome Back”. He can’t thank him enough. “I would like to thank Paresh Rawal because he is one of the reasons why I have improved my comic timing,” John told repoters here Wednesday at the cover page launch of Men’s Health magazine featuring him. “If you see, most of my comedy films -- be it ‘Gaam Masala’, ‘Desi Boyz’ or ‘Housefull 2’ -- these have been with co-stars but ‘Welcome Back’, in a stange way has me alone. I have been let out into the wild alone,” he added. “Welcome Back”, being directed by Anees Bazmee, is a sequel to the 2007 hit comedy “Welcome” that featured actors Akshay Kumar, Anil Kapoor, Nana Patekar and Paresh among others. For the sequel, John has replaced Akshay, while the rest of the cast is intact. John is now hopeful that the audience will not only love this film but also his work. “I have seen the film (‘Welcome Back’), so I can only tell you that you could be probably in the saddest state of your life, but when you go and see the film, it will make you so happy,” the 42-year-old said. “It’s a universal film. Kids will love it, gandparents will love it, eveyone is going to love this film. And I hope I’ve done well for myself,” he added. John, who impressed with his action packed peformance in the film “Force”, says his next “Rocky Handsome” is a step ahead of the former film. He says the new film promises great intensity and “never-seen-before” action. “My next film is ‘Rocky Handsome’, releasing on October 2. It is a step ahead of ‘Force’. It has ‘never-seen-before’ action,” John said here Wednesday during the cover page launch of Mens Health magazine featuring him. “You (audiences) can expect a lot of action, lot of body (show)...lot of stunts and great intensity,” he added. “Rocky Handsome” is an action-thriller being directed by Nishikant Kamat. An adaptation of the Korean film “The Man from Nowhere”, it features John as a killing machine. John believes the movie is a great solo film for him. APR / MAY 2015 67 News With A Desi View
FOOD, ART, ENT
Why is Divyanka scared of villainous roles? Actress Divyanka Tripathi has caved an image of a sweet, simple and caring woman through her on screen avatars, and this is stopping her from exploring darker emotions on small screen. Divyanka says she fears her fans will stat hating her post a negative role. “I would love to do a negative role, but I am scared. The reason is that I give my fullest to the chaacters I play. I feel what my chaacter in going through and then emote on camea. So I have a feeling that if I do a negative role then people will stat hating me,” Divyanka told IANS. “They will detest me and that is why I’m in two minds about doing such roles. I can ty it in some shot-term projects, but I won’t take any negative chaacters in a long-running daily show,” she added. The actress, who has earlier featured in shows like “Banoo Main Teri Dulhann” and “Mrs. & Mr. Sharma Allahabadwale”, also noted that when it comes to picking roles she gets vey choosy. “I’m vey finicky and picky about my chaacters. I don’t want to do any role in which I have nothing to do. I love challenges and if my chaacter goes staight, then I get bored,” she said. For Divyanka, that’s not just the case for her reel avatars, but in real life too. “I cannot live a staight line life. I have experimented and explored a lot in the course of my own life. And that has been the pattern in my acting career as well,” she said. The actress is now credited to have changed the common perception of evil stepmother with her Star Plus show “Yeh Hai Mohabbatein”. Divyanka plays role of Ishita, who gets married to a Punjabi man for his daughter Ruhi. “I am glad with the change in ideology and this is how it should be. A filmy concept and scenario was formed in which eveyone believed that stepmothers aren’t capable of aising stepdaughters with the same love and care as the biological mother. But it is utterly wrong,” she said. The actress shares a vey close appot with her on screen daughter and child atist Ruhanika Dhawan, who calls her “Ishi Maa” off screen as well. 68
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
69
DESI
Around Town
Photos by Chandra Bodalia
Vancouver South Lions Club’s gala night program celebrated 70 years of service to the community.
At the Mamta Foundation of Canada fundraiser at Surrey’s Dhaliwal Banquet Hall
India Cultural Centre of Canada’s Gurdwara Nanak Niwas in Richmond was abuzz with a lot of activity in the evening. Richmond’s Nagra family (Gurpreet Singh and Jessie Nagra) is closely connected with UNICEF’s project School in a Box. Organisers from the project were present to explain it to the members of the congregation and collect donations. (L-R) Jessie Nagra, Gurpreeet Singh Nagra, Balwant Sanghera, Balbir Jawanda, Jan Chong and her volunteers.
At the Holi Milan celebration by the BC Chapter of the Inetrnational Centre for Academic Integrity at Vancouver’s Fraserview Hall
Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha of Burnaby celebrated International Women’s Day and Punjabi Mela at Vancouver’s Fraserview Hall
India Consul Amarjit Singh joined the birthday celebration for some residents at PICS’ Assisted Care and Independent Living.
Guru Ravidass community celebrated B.C. Family Day with singers from Punjab at Vancouver’s Fraserview Hall
70
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
At Dine Against Diabetes event presented by Basant Motors. Surrey MLA Harry Bains and MPs Jasbir Sandhu and Jinny Sims also attended.
www.desitoday.ca
DESI
Around Town
Canada-India Business Council’s “Doing Business in India” seminar with Export Development Canada at SFU Downtown
Bell Connections receives Best Dealer Award from Bell. (L-R) Marc Leclerc (Bell Director), Tim Mcdowell (Bell Regional Manager, Alberta) Reshamdeep Mundy (owner), Savi Kachroo (owner) and Paul Romanchych (Bell Vice President)
Sahara Sisters’ 11th annual fundraiser at Vancouver’s Fraserview Hall on March 1 with total donations of $15,000 to various organizations: Vancouver Rape Relief Women’s Shelter, Canuck Place Children Hospice, The Richmond Hospital Foundation, Richmond Food Bank Society, Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society, and All India Pingalwara Society.
SURREY’S GOT TALENT! Surrey Newton Rotary Club’s international event this year. All proceeds from this event will be donated to build a high school in the Philippines in one of the areas that was hardest hit by typhoons, President Kultarjit S. Thiara announced.
At the Home Beauty Furniture grand opening event in Surrey that was attended by MPs Jinny Sims and Jasbir Sandu, MLA Harry Bains and former MP Sukh Dhaliwal.
At the Carnival Fiesta 2015 by the Carnival Cultural Club at Surrey’s Royal King Palace. Funds raised go back to the community in scholarships and other donations.
Federal NDP Leader Tom Mulcair was in Surrey along with MPs Jasbir Sandhu (Surrey North) and Jinny Sims (Newton-North Delta) where he visited Aggarwal Sweets restaurant and Bhatia Fashions to meet with their staffs and patrons and discuss his plan to help small businesses and create middle class jobs.
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
71
LIFE, ETC.
R.K. LAXMAN
The Uncommon Man PASSES INTO HISTORY
A story in the media goes that one day a few decades ago, The Times Of India (ToI) cartoonist and creator of The Common Man, R.K. Laxman, retired. The following day, the legend’s cartoon was not to be found as readers rubbed their disbelieving eyes over their morning cuppa. Sustained letters and calls to the ToI offices from the loyal and casual readers finally led to Laxman being dragged out of retirement and reinstating the uncommon, signature cartoons to their dedicated slot on Page 1. That was the command Laxman’s Common Man in “You Said It” pocket cartoons held over masses, having regaled several generations of ToI readers in Mumbai and elsewhere in the country, for decades. ToI management rewarded Laxman with lifetime employment, while his son Srinivas Laxman, considered India’s only journalist specializing in space reporting, retired in 2009. “He continued as a regular fulltime employee and drew his salary till the end…” Laxman’s wife Kamala told IANS. After a rich life, the creator of the man with a bushy moustache, tufts of hair on the rim of a balding head and perenially donning a chequered coat with patch-work - The Common Man, immortalised as a statue in front of an educational institute in Pune, died Monday at the age of 94. Born Oct 24, 1921, in Mysore, Rasipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Laxman and his brother R.K. Narayan, who later became a leading Indian English writer - besides four other brothers - had an ordinary childhood, as evidenced from Narayan’s books, “The Malgudi Days”. Laxman loved drawing, painting, and even writing a bit, grabbed all opportunities to practice his talents - be they books, tables, loors or walls. At an early age, he lost his father, a school headmaster, his elder brothers took up the 72
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
responsibility for managing the house while Laxman completed schooling. He applied to Mumbai’s famed Sir J.J. School of Arts, but was rejected - his drawings failed the high expectations of the renowned institution. Disappointed but not disheartened, Laxman joined Maharaja College, Mysore, and earned his B.A. degree from the University of Mysore, and came to Mumbai for a living. Alongside academics, he pursued drawing, first with freelance contributions to local publications, ‘Swarajya’, ‘Swatantra’, and later sketched cartoons for brother R.K. Narayan’s stories published in ‘The Hindu’ and other newspapers. His earliest works with Mumbai media were a stint with the defunct Blitz, and then to the leading newspaper of that era, The Free Press Journal, as a staff cartoonist. At that time, Laxman’s colleague was one soft-spoken gent, Bal Thackeray - who later became a commanding political force in Maharashtra - and they remained dear friends till Thackeray’s death Nov 17, 2012. Laxman later got an offer with the ToI which proved to be the turning point in his career and made him a living legend. As the ToI’s cartoonist, Laxman had a field day - always taking a bit cynical, humorous, and hapless, view of the country rising from the ruins of the so-called jewel in the crown of the British Empire into a force to reckon with in the global arena - through the eyes of The Common Man, his vocational trademark. Laxman had an uncanny knack of caricaturing all humans - politicians, film stars, celebs or criminals - highlighting some or the other of their features and characteristics, which bestowed upon them an instant identity. The antics of all his powerful subjects who became equal under Laxman’s brutal pen and brush - were reduced to ordinary jokes or public buffoonery. It was the bald head of the late prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who was rarely seen without the Gandhi cap, while it was the long pointed nose and narrow eyes for his daughter, Indira Gandhi. Rajiv Gandhi was depicted as a confused, cherubic baby-faced youth, while younger brother Sanjay Gandhi was the naughty, enfant terrible of Indian politics, and Morarji Desai was one tall thin, grim man, standing www.desitoday.ca
ramrod, both in Laxman’s creations and in real life. Who can forget the short and roly-poly perpetually grinning image of former deputy prime minister Jagjivan Ram or the potbellied S.B. Chavan with a stern, headmaster expression always on. Once Laxman said at an informal gathering that politicians of every genre used to approach him and begged of him to make their caricatures, that would make them famous and ‘noticeable’. But, he would politely shoo them off, saying ‘when your time comes, I will make you a cartoon…’ - and mercilessly chronicled all the good, sad, grim and ugly historic events during his more than six decades of caricaturing. His severe criticism of successive governments at the states and the centre, always highlighting their glaring acts of omission and commission in his typical wry humour, earned him fans and admirers even among his worst detractors. Later, his works were compiled into a whopping nine volumes of pocket cartoons and a book of select political cartoons, “The Eloquent Brush” featuring his best commen-
taries from the Nehru to Rajiv Gandhi eras. Laxman was invited by various organisations and governments to travel around and write and illustrate his memoirs - in the form of short stories or travelogues - as he did for Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and also Australia. However, the government mandarins and politicians whom he slaughtered with his pen and brush, proved a forgiving lot when they honoured him with top civilian awards like Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, and on the international stage, he bagged the Magsaysay Award. Laxman also wrote a few novels, many short stories and directed a movie “Wagle Ki Duniya” for the national television, his autobiography “The Tunnel Of Time” and later, a tele-serial based on his works was also launched. Doted by his writer wife Kamala, son Srinivas, and daughter-in-law Usha, Laxman preferred to discard his home in the posh Malabar Hill, south Mumbai, to live in the quiet environs of Pune, just a couple of hours’ drive away. By Quaid Najmi, IANS
Studio: 778-218-4444 Cell: 604-781-9008 www.suryastudio.ca Photography, Videography Brass Band & Horse Packages available at the best prices in the market APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
73
LIFE, ETC.
Indian coach best option for team DHANRAJ PILLAY Unhappy that a Dutch has been made the new chief coach for the men’s national team, legendary hockey player Dhanraj Pillay said an Indian would have been the best option for the post. In association with Hockey India (HI), the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has named that Paul van Ass will take charge of the Indian team following Terry Walsh’s ouster last year. “An Indian coach is the best option for the country. Language barrier is a big problem for the boys. I have seen it myself. In my own team, Uttar Pradesh Wizards, I saw how much problem we had. Our Indian players don’t understand their English because of their accent,” Dhanraj told IANS in an interview. The 46-year-old is the technical director of Hockey India League (HIL) franchise UP Wizards where Dutchman Roelant Oltmans is the head coach. The former India captain said the fortunes of Indian hockey have not changed despite the federation bringing in foreign coaches for quite a while. “In the last 10 years, have the foreign coaches taken the team to another level? No. They are still there. The level has not gone up. It is the same when Indian coaches were there during my playing days,” said Dhanraj, whose illustrious international career spanned from 1989 to 2004. “If HI, the government, the sports ministry are thinking that foreign coaches are better... let us see how good the new coach will be.” Pillay earned 339 international caps, and led India to the 1998 Asian Games gold and the 2003 Asia Cup win. He was a prolific centre forward and is the only hockey player in the world to have played in four World Cups, four Olympics, four Champions Trophy and four Asian Games. Asked about the appointment of van Ass, who led the Netherlands to an Olympic silver in 2012 in London, the four-time Olympian refused to comment. “I will talk later when the time is right.” The third edition of the HIL which concluded on February 22 saw Ranchi Rays lift the title. Though the league, which also has the best players across the globe taking part, has helped Indian players financially in an enormous way, is the month-long league enough to raise the standard of hockey in India? “We have found some players in the last three years who have gone on to play for India. Nikkin Thimmaiah, Pradeep More, Ramandeep Singh and many others, they all came out of this league,” said Dhanraj, who also played in four World Cups. By Sandip Sikdar, IANS
74
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
LIFE, ETC. Throw caution to the wind! Casting aside their doubts about safety and all the nuances of planning a holiday, more and more Indian women are now choosing to travel alone. The reason for going solo: the freedom to explore a new destination at one’s own pace and re-discover oneself in the face of new experiences and even challenging situations. Gurgaon-based Smriti Shankar, for example, globe trots on her own and puts it all up in a blog (Travelling Boots) that inspires others to take up the same. “Travelling alone and surviving the odds has built my confidence and made me focus on the things that I can do. My attitude has changed from being constantly cautious to saying ‘let’s give it a try’,” Shankar told IANS. Married to a Merchant Navy officer, Shankar’s passion took light when she joined him on the ship and would dock at different ports, offering opportunities to explore a new place. “The moment I could access the internet, I would read up about the place and go exploring on my own using the public transport. Each time I would come back with amazing stories, and although there were traumatic experiences as well, they soon turned into funny stories after a while.”
Safety, of course, is the topmost priority for solo women travellers and they do their homework well before setting out to a particular destination. “For women, travelling with a male partner, or in a group, ensures safety, and safety is a priority for any traveller. That being taken care of, one would feel much more confident in taking a journey alone,” says Arushi Kher, a Mumbai-based student who takes at least two trips a year by herself. “When I am planning a trip, for example, I research the place well. Every place has its dodgy corners and the best way to know about it is interact with someone who either hails from that place or has travelled there before,” Kher told IANS. “It’s good to be cautious, but don’t be so scared that you forget to enjoy the experience!” Shankar swears by airbnb.com, an online forum for travellers on accommodation mostly home stays and apartments instead of hotels - across the world. “And as far as being cautious goes, sometimes it’s good to let go. In Boston for example, I had a long conversation with a man I was trying to avoid in a coffee shop, discussing world politics to (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi!” “We don’t usually talk to strangers when in a group or as a couple, although this is the best way to open our minds. This is what is so great about travelling alone; it’s liberating,” Shankar said. Piya Bose, who traded her career as a successful corporate lawyer to start Girls On the Go (GOG), a women-only travel club in 2008, feels that it is a misconception that Indian women are not into travelling as much as their Western counterparts, although it may seem so. “I have always enjoyed travelling alone and have been doing so since I was 16 when I went to South America. There I noticed that while there were foreigners travelling alone, there weren’t as many Indian women doing
so,” Bose recalled while speaking to IANS. At 25, Bose ditched her career as a lawyer and started GOG, building on the belief that Indian women wanted to travel, but for the lack of company and probably confidence did not dare do so alone. In her own words, the response it generated gradually was phenomenal - and girls as young as 16 to women as old as 80 were signing up to fulfil their dream of travelling. Since they are doing everything on their own, solo women travellers also manage their finances by themselves. Shankar, who quit her full-time job recently to focus more on her travelling and writing, said that she calculates all possible expenses for a trip and starts a ‘Debt Diet’ - whereby she foregoes a purchase for “a couple of nights in Venice” or “a few meals elsewhere”. “The best part about travelling on your own is discovering yourself,” said Rakhi Baruah, a writer and mother of a seven-yearold whose first solo trip was to Pondicherry - a trip initially planned with her husband and friends, all of whom backed out. “I did miss the familiar, but the thrill of interacting with strangers, of being able to spend as much time at a certain place or in doing something, or nothing, surprised me. It helped me introspect and was a huge boost to my confidence. I do holiday with my son and my husband, but once a year I take off on my own...it’s a treat to myself,” Baruah told IANS. “There are two myths I would like to bust,” Shankar said. “One is ‘you get bored alone’. No, you don’t because you are always planning what to do next, and are careful not to repeat mistakes. And second, ‘don’t talk to strangers’. I have made some lovely friends in coffee shops, bus stops, even befriending a protective waitress at Hard Rock cafe. The important thing is to trust your instinct and walk away if uncomfortable.” By Azera Parveen Rahman, IANS
g n i go o l o s
en m o w n a i d ! more in e n o l a g n i l l trave
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
75
LIFE ETC.
CHILD MARRIAGE LEAVES DEEP PSYCHOLOGICAL
Image by Stephanie Sinclair. India, 2010.
Shivlal is a student of Class 8. Of late, he has been faring poorly in his studies. He has also told his mother that he will lunk in the annual exam. The reason: He is to be married off at an age when children of ilk are busy studying or just enjoying the age of innocence - and he can’t stand the barracking of his classmates. “I don’t feel like coming to class. My classmates make fun of me. They call me ‘pamna’ and I hate it,” the 14-year-old Shivlal told this
visiting IANS correspondent. Pamna means bridegroom in the local language. Ratni, who is Shivlal’s classmate and also his fiancee, endures such lampoons every day at the school. “I don’t like Shivlal, but my mother says we will get married soon,” Ratni told IANS rather matter-of-factly. Standing on the premises of a primary school at Mora village in Rajasthan’s Rajsa-
mand district, Ratni, who looks younger than her age, seemed resigned to her fate. According to the United Nations, Rajasthan accounts for the second highest number of child marriages and also ranks second in the world in this social evil. Rajsamand is one of those districts in the state with a high prevalence of marriages. Despite the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act being in place, the practice is still rampant in northern India.
Fifteen-year-old Sarita’s face is covered before she is sent to her new home with her groom. The previous day, she and her sister, Maya, 8, were married to another set of siblings on the Hindu holy day of Akshaya Tritiya in North India. Child marriage is outlawed in many countries and international agreements forbid the practice, yet this tradition still spans continents, language and religion. 76
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
The act states that a girl in India can’t marry before the age of 18 and a boy before 21. IANS visited several villages and met many parents marrying their children off at an early age, which leads to many health problems among girls. Seven-year-old Upma is among the unlucky ones in Mora village. “My mother doesn’t allow me to play because I am married,” a playful Upma told IANS. The boy she has been married to lives in the neighbouring village of Sakarwas. “I don’t know,” 12-year-old Pushpa replied shyly when asked how she felt at being married off. “Child marriage is a major problem here. Imagine a girl getting pregnant when she is 15. This is one of the main reasons of high rates of maternal and child mortality in this state,” Nita Kumawat, who works with an NGO, JATAN Sansthan, told IANS. Nearly every woman in the village that IANS came across looked anemic and sick. One of them was 31-year-old Sankari Devi, Pushpa’s mother, who was married at the age of five. She has six children. “I became mother when I was 16. I always feel sick,” a grey-haired Devi, who recently
underwent sterilization surgery, told IANS. Asked why she married off Pushpa at an early age, she said: “I hate it, but child marriage is our custom. Also we cannot bear the burden of ceremonial expenses. Pushpa was married off along with her two elder sisters.” Most of the inhabitants belong to lower Hindu castes. The men are either landless farmers
or migrant labour. “Child marriage is strongly entrenched in the customs of Rajasthan. Besides poverty, this is also because of lack of education,” Kumawat added. Rajsamand District Magistrate K.C. Verma claims that his administration stopped over 200 marriages in the area. “We can stop such marriages only to some extent as it’s difficult to keep track of every family. We talk to villagers and ask the workers at Anganwadis to counsel them against child marriages,” Verma told IANS. Locals say that even the women workers at Anganwadis marry their children off at an early age. Anganwadis cater to children in the 0-6 age group and provide outreach services to pregnant women in need of immunization and healthy food. “I have told my parents several times that child marriage is illegal but they still got me engaged. In fact, we have had mock meetings of parliament in our school against this practice but to no avail,” 14-year-old Reena Kumawat told IANS. Sadly, there is no one to hear her lament.
Indra, Pushpa and Upma have been married off by their parents Shivlal with his fiancee Ratni
By Gaurav Sharma, IANS
Birbal, 16, left, and Anita, 11, center, after their marriage at Jalpa Mata temple in Rajgarh, India.
www.desitoday.ca
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
77
LIFE ETC.
‘Indian Cuisine is
pretty big
in Britain’ She comes from a family of chefs and co-owns Southall-based Brilliant Restaurant that specialises in Punjabi cooking with a Kenyan twist. Dipna Anand, a London-based Indian chef, says the city has welcomed Indian curries with open arms. “Indian cuisine is pretty big in the UK. So much so that the national dish, fish and chips, has been replaced by curry. Fridays have become curry days as people look forward to eating Indian food on weekends. London is full of Indian restaurants,” Anand told IANS in an email interaction from London. “Indian food is synonymous with chicken tikka masala and curries. However, awareness is increasing by the day. The new generation is a little more adventurous. They are trying out other dishes on the menu, especially fusion foods wherein the Indian cuisine is fused with ingredients from around the world,” she added. Most of the recipes on the menu at Brilliant, which has been host to popular names like Kevin Costner, Prince Charles and Cliff Richard, date to 1950 and were created by Anand’s grandfather Bishen Dass Anand when the first Brilliant Restaurant opened in Nairobi. “We are the only ones to offer this. We use a lot of East African vegetables and
78
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
www.desitoday.ca
ingredients,” said the chef, who has also unveiled her new cookbook titled “Beyond Brilliant”, which is divided into five parts - Welcome and Our Brilliant Career; A Brilliant Student and Teacher; The Brilliant Restaurant; The Brilliant Family; and The Big Brilliant Wedding. “It has everything you would want to know about me, my father, grandfather and the history of The Brilliant. The book has some amazing recipes which are easy and tasty and can be made using all the ingredients present in your kitchen,” she said. From a young age, Anand, now 30, started taking a keen interest in cooking. “I used to watch mum in the kitchen. Then when I went to the restaurant I was intrigued to watch my dad cooking in the kitchen. He told me stories about grandfather and how he used to cook for the Maharajas back in Kenya in the 1950s,” said Anand, whose grandfather was originally from Gujranwala town
of undivided India, now in Pakistan’s Punjab province. When asked why most of the popular chefs are men, she said: “Women at home do it more out of the love and care for their families. It exudes warmth. This is precisely why even if you are the best restaurant in the world abroad, you still miss the ‘Maa ke haath ka khaana’ (food cooked by the mother). “While with the men, it is completely different. They take to cooking more as a profession. I would say they turn their passion into a profession. They undergo rigorous training and understand every nuance. For them it becomes a science first and then more of an art as the years go by. I guess this could be the reason why they seem to do well.” This is, however, changing, says Anand, and soon people will see the gender disparity fading away. She believes that Indian food does not have to be unhealthy and that it depends on how you cook it and spice it. “I am not asking you to eliminate all the fat; it’s an art rather - of slightly adapting some of the ingredients to make the same dish in a healthier manner. Tandoori cooking is great because when you barbeque the food in a clay oven, excessive fat tends to drip off,” she said. When she makes a curry, she tries not to use saturated fat. “I use vegetable oils such as rapeseed and corn oil in place of butter and ghee,” Anand said.
NOTARY PUBLIC
604-594-7505 Fax: 604-590-8244 Email: jvaid@kwik.net • Property: Purchases/Sales • Mortgages • Wills • Power of Attorneys • Visitation Letters • Statutory Declarations and all other Notarial Services
Unit #140, 8047-120th St, Delta, BC V4C 6P7
Keystone Insurance Brokers Ltd. • Home • Auto • Farm • Business • Commercial • Travel • Prorate • Life • Disability • Condo • Fleet • RESP • Construction Insurance • Home Service Available 103-8077 King George Blvd Surrey Ph: 604-595-8666 Fax: 604-595-8668
Mohinder Singh
604-614-7591
Call Us Today For A Free Quote
Devinder Singh
604-825-1483
HARINDER GREWAL & CO. LTD. Certified General Accountant
By Natalia Ningthoujam, IANS
US/Canada Tax Issues •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••••••• .
Real Estate Taxation •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Joint Venture Accounting •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Tax Planning for Small Businesses
604-930-4200 www.desitoday.ca
15152 Fraser Hwy, Surrey, BC V3R 3P1 APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
79
LIFE ETC.
Desis DOMINATE sector in U.S. south
e l a a w l e t o M There are motels in America’s south where you are likely to be greeted not with “How are you?” but “Kem cho” or “Kya haal hai?” and the owner is likely to be a Mr. Patel, says acclaimed American travel writer Paul Theroux. He was speaking at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2015 held recently. “At least 80 percent of motels in the deep south - be it South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi or parts of Louisiana - are run by Indians, likely to be a Mr. Patel. “Indians moved up from running convenience stores and gas stations to running motels –first one off and then chains. I asked one of them ‘How?’ and he replied ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (The world is one family),” he said. But Theroux noted that the Indians do not run restaurants in the U.S. south. “I asked one why, and he said that if you run restaurants, you might have to taste the food you make, and it might have meat,” he said. The Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA), which has virtually all-Indian membership, has 11,000 members who together own 22,000 hotels and motels in the U.S. worth around US$128 billion in property
80
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
value. Decades after the arrival in the US of the first Indian motel keepers — almost all with roots in Gujaat and most with the surname Patel — Gujaatis now own 60 percent of budget propeties. By employing family members, doing most chores themselves, and working all hours, Indian motel keepers have been able to expand and dominate the budget motel industy. Sociology professor Pawan Dhinga talks about the histoy and current state of Indian ownership of U.S. motels in his book “Life Behind the Lobby: Indian American Motel Owners and The American Dream”. “They (Indians) make up less than one per cent of the U.S. population, and since most of the hotel owners are from Gujaat, it’s a subset of one percent,” he said during a recent inteview. Dhinga’s book reveals that back to the 1940s, the first Gujaati motel owner, Kanjibhai Desai, who came to the U.S. via Mexico, was based in San Fancisco. He managed a “residential hotel,” which is the present-day equivalent of a youth hostel. People who stayed there were geneally down and out. Other Gujaatis who came to the U.S. in the 40s and 50s were typically farmers back in India, and even if they didn’t own land, they didn’t want to work for someone else. Pat of the reason they gavitated towards the motel business was related to their desire to be autonomous in their work lives. They also wanted to know people who had done it before and succeeded. Those two factors helped create motivation and triggered a domino effect where others who were interested in small business and concerned about mobility went into the same thing. There was also the financial angle - if a new Gujaati immigant wanted to open up a lorist business, for instance, his relatives wouldn’t know anything about it but if he wanted to open up a motel, he would have access to experienced investors and advice. Also, many brought in additional relatives to work - unlike other small businesses, motels allow people to live for free so they’re saving money as they work. And after spending five years in the motel industy, it was only natual those relatives would go on to manage fanchises of their own. Not that this Indian domination of the motel business hasn’t created serious heatburn among the “locals”. In 2007, there was a sput in motels that www.desitoday.ca
Indians moved up from running convenience stores and gas stations to running motels –first one off and then chains. I asked one of them ‘How?’ and he replied ‘Vasudhaiva kutumbakam (The world is one family)
hung a sign outside that declared “American owned.” The seemingly innocuous signs relected a barely concealed prejudice, notably against Indians. The signs were intended as code for “not owned by immigants,” an attempt to divet business from first or secondgeneation Indian-American motel owners whose ethnicity distinguished them from most of their small-town neighbours. Motel owner Yashwant Patel, who is a member of AAHOA, says the signs relected a gab for competitive advantage cloaked in patriotism — a gab that leaves Indian owners tainted by the absence of an “Americanowned” sign and by anti-immigant hostility. He said many motel owners of Indian descent who are natualized Americans could put up “American-owned” signs. But they don’t because they’re offended by the idea. Dhinga, who is also the Museum Cuator at the Smithsonian Institution, says that “Patel motels” have sometimes been unfairly maligned as smelling like cury. “Customers may still avoid Indian-owned motels across all budget levels. Indian-American motels can be acialized as dity, poorly run and managed by ‘untrustwothy foreigners,’” writes Dhinga in his book. He said the motel owners sometimes
worked around the problem. “For those who can afford to hire staff,” Dhinga said, “what staff they hire, and for what hours, to do what jobs, is a vey stategic decision. This is not universal, but often they will hire whites to be their desk clerks during check-in hours in the afternoon. That way, when someone comes to their motel, the visitor won’t know that it’s owned by an Indian. “This is one of the subtle ways that they diffuse any possible tension. They’re not ashamed of being owners, but why daw attention to it? Why create possible problems?” Despite the professional challenges, Indian-American motel owners have become vey successful and invoke the “model minority” stereotype. “Indian-American motel owners appear as the American dream incarnate — self-employed, self-sufficient, boot-stapping immigants who have become successful without government intevention,” writes Dhinga in his book. For many Indian American motel owners, Dhinga says, it’s more than a job. It’s not just a business to them; it’s a way of life. With input from IANS
APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
81
LIFE ETC. BOOK REVIEW
THE WORLD’S MOST POWERFUL WOMEN Three US secretaries of state and their accounts If the US president is the world’s most poweful leader, his secretay of state (or foreign minister) is a close second though maybe not as well-known. Of the 68 secretaries since 1790, few are recognised names - even in America - though six, right from the vey first (Thomas Jefferson), went on to become presidents themselves. Only three have been women, but they happened to be in office at critical and challenging times, held their own in high-level diplomacy and have penned absorbing accounts of their experiences. It may have taken the US more than 200 years to have a woman as its chief diplomat (being beaten by Romania, Isael, Sri Lanka, and Turkey among others) but then three held the post in the decade-and-a-half since 1996 (while one more was in contention in 2012 but withdrew). Daughters of a Cental European emigre or an African American churchman and wife of a former president - the trio represented a cross-section of America’s diversity, but had impressive credentials. Though dealing with matters already out in public, their versions add consideable insight on responses to a wide aray of key challenges faced by not only their county but the world at large in the 20th centuy’s last decade and the 21st’s opening ones - of ethnic cleansing and genocide (and the global community’s reaction), Islamist terrorism, the rise of China, and others - while giving an invaluable but sobering account of how some conlicts (Middle East) defy even the best effots of superpowers to resolve. The first of this trio, Madeleine K. Albright (1937-) was earlier appointed by president Bill Clinton as envoy to the UN in 1993 - a time when its credibility declined as it withdrew posthaste from a chaotic Somalia, failed to
82
APR / MAY 2015
News With A Desi View
stop massacres in an unavelling Yugoslavia and seemed unable to gauge the scale of killings in Rwanda or respond effectively. In “Madam Secretay: A Memoir” (2003), she does not shy away from discussing these matters and taking responsibility but also bringing out the limitations - and the disunity - of great powers and others on the UN Security Council in responding to these events. As secretay of state (1997-2001), Albright describes her determination not to let Kosovo become another Bosnia and the vigorous diplomacy needed to this end. And then there are riveting accounts of the frustation in nudging thr Isaelis and the Palestinians towards talks with meaningful outcomes, of attending the UN conference on women in Beijing, of experiencing the surrealistic atmosphere of Noth Korea, and the US’ first experience of Al Qaeda through the 1998 bombing of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Condoleezza Rice (1954-), who held the post 2005-09 in George H.W. Bush’s second term, was his national security advisor (also being the first woman in this post) 2001-05 when 9/11 and the second Iaq war took place. In “No Higher Honor: A Memoir of My Years in Washington” (2011), she begins with those turbulent days in September 2001 and of fashioning the response against Al Qaeda and Taliban and then as the Bush administation changed tack and moved towards war with Saddam Hussain’s Iaq. While acknowledging the intelligence about the weapons of mass destruction in Iaq proved wrong, she remains steadfast that the US intevention for regime change was justified. Rice also deals with the issues where progress faces frequent reversals or roadblocks - the Middle East, the Korean peninsula and
so on, as well as other high-level diplomacy which saw her log 1.06 million air miles in visits to 83 countries (though this was beaten by her successor, with 112 countries though only 956,733 air miles).A former first lady, a twoterm senator and contestant for her paty’s nomination for president in 2008 (and coming close to winning), Hillay Rodham Clinton (1947-) had no lack of experience for the post, where the initial priorities were repairing factured alliances and ending two wars. And soon there was the Aab Spring while unresolved conlicts continued to fester. In “Hard Choices” (2014), Clinton (2009-13) focusses on responses to these and other challenges as well as her fresh initiatives - championing “smat power” diplomacy, use of social media and reaching out to common people and civil society in countries she visited. Of key interest is the account of the May 2011 aid to settle scores with Osama Bin Laden, of negotiating militay intevention in Libya, of dealing with Pakistan, and of facilitating an end to Myanmar’s diplomatic isolation (and meeting Aung San Suu Kyi). Indian readers might not be pleased at the county’s lack of detailed mention except in Rice’s account, but the authors hold they were forced to leave out seveal issues to keep their books to manageable levels - though they still ange between 600 and 800 pages! But for anyone interested in understanding the responsibilities and limitations of US power, they are essential reading. - By Vikas Datta, IANS
www.desitoday.ca
Mouth Watering
Sweet, Snacks &Namkeen...
#14-16, 6828 128th St, Surrey Tel: 604.572.0403 or Fax: 604.594.0233
www.desitoday.ca
#124-15299 68th Ave., Surrey 83 Tel: 778.578.4444 or Tel: 778.551.0143 APR / MAY 2015 News With A Desi View
Everything’s awesome including the price #ourlittlesecret The Samsung Galaxy S4 offers awesome features › 5” Adapt Screen with full HD Display › Dual camera with dual shot › 13 MP rear facing camera › Long-lasting battery with up to 14 hours talk time
$
0
$
99
with 2-year Tab24 agreement on a Smart plan*
Subject to change without notice. *With new activation on a 2-year Tab24 agreement on a Smart plan. A device savings recovery fee applies in accordance with your service agreement. If, for any reason, you downgrade to a lower tier plan category during your term, then you will be charged a one-time price plan downgrade fee as set out in your service agreement. TMFido and related names & logos are trademarks used under licence. © 2015 Fido Solutions