G'day India Jun 2023 Issue 194

FREE AUSTRALIAN INDIAN PERSPECTIVE

CELEBRATING CLASSICAL SOUNDS Melbourne concert raises youth awareness of Indian classical arts

GAURA TRAVELS SOARS HIGH Chartering a Memorable Flight to Welcome the Indian Prime Minister

SUTR SANTATI Exhibition presents the untold stories of India woven in thread

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Anmol Anand, Debasree Das, Dileep Narayan, Dr Raj Kotharu, Gary Nair, Harpal Sandhu, Manjit Sethi, Narisa Dawar, Sanchita Abrol, Karthik Arasu, Abhi Narayan, Gurpal Singh, Monisha Iswaran, P. Harsora, Nandita Chakraborty, Archita Baweja, Barinderjeet Kaur, Gurpal Singh, Muktesh Chibber, Shivani Prabhu,

NEWS VICTORIA

Victoria Hosts Inaugural Quad Fellowship Summit

MELBOURNE, Jun 7: Victoria has welcomed a diverse and dynamic group of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians from Australia, India, Japan and the United States for the inaugural Quad Fellowship Summit.

Minister for Trade and Investment Tim Pallas welcomed the Fellows to Victoria ahead of the week-long Summit which focuses on showcasing the many ways in which science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) research and expertise can be applied to benefit communities across the globe.

The Quad Fellowship, operated and administered by Schmidt Futures, brings together up to 100 Fellows to empower the next generation of STEM leaders and build ties between the four Quad countries.

The Fellows will learn from the best and brightest in their respective fields and experience first-hand the ground-breaking work of Victorian researchers.

In December 2022, the governments of Australia, India, Japan and the United States jointly announced the Quad Fellowship’s first group of exceptional STEM graduate students from the Quad countries.

The Fellows specialise in areas including sustainable energy grids, solid-state batteries, environmental protection and restoration, 5G and 6G telecommunications, molecular, chemical, and synthetic biology, hypersonics, quantum and optical computing, cryptography and

neuroimaging.

The Fellows include Victorian Leon Di Stefano who works in Maryland in genomics and precision medicine. He holds Bachelors and Masters degrees in statistics from the University of Melbourne and worked in computational biology at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute before starting a biostatistics PhD at Johns Hopkins University.

Shae Mclaughlin studied medicine at the University of Melbourne and plans to pursue a PhD in neuroscience to better understand how PTSD and other neuropsychiatric illnesses cause neurodegenerative changes in the brain and explore the potential for cell and gene therapies to reverse these changes.

The Andrews Labor Government’s support of the Quad Fellowship further advances Victoria’s world-class reputation for research excellence, expanding our global networks and helping our economy compete in a global field that is underpinned by research and innovation.

Melbourne's Biomedical Precinct is Australia’s, and one of the world’s, leading biomedical centres. The precinct delivers outstanding healthcare, education and world-class research as home to the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Peter Doherty Institute.

FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy Tour Visits Melbourne

MELBOURNE, Jun 14: The official trophy for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 visited Federation Square today as excitement builds for Melbourne to host some of the best women’s sporting stars over July and August this year.

Minister for Tourism, Sport and Major Events Steve Dimopoulos joined representatives from FIFA and Football Australia this morning in celebration of the upcoming tournament, which includes six games in Melbourne.

From 20 July to 20 August, Federation Square will be home of the Melbourne FIFA Fan Festival where fans, spectators and visitors can enjoy the matches, atmosphere, and entertainment of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

Since starting its global tour in Melbourne in February, the trophy has visited all 32 competing nations in the tournament before its final leg around New Zealand and Australia as the host nations. It will go on to visit Phillip Island and Ballarat later this week.

All matches will be broadcast live on the big screen along with a free program of live music, entertainment, kids’ activities, and a variety of food trucks and bars serving

flavours from the 32 competing nations.

Fans will have the opportunity to cheer on the Matildas in all their games and the energy will be electric when they play in Melbourne on Monday, 31 July against Canada, which will be shown live on the big screen at the FIFA Fan Festival.

The entertainment program features Indigenous Australian singer Sycco, Australian singer songwriter Samantha Jade, as well as a line-up of local DJ’s, vocalists, drummers, and dancers as well as the city’s talented buskers and soccer trick masters.

The FIFA Fan Festival will also include sustainable workshops for kids to make their own football, and a panel discussion featuring former, capped and future Matildas.

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand will be the first time this monumental event has been staged in two host countries and will bring thousands of international players, trainers, and fans to Melbourne.

The Andrews Labor Government’s support for the FIFA Women’s World Cup builds on the Labor Government’s ongoing work to increase the number of women and girls participating in sport and recreation, from grassroots through to leadership roles.

(MEDIA RELEASE)

Powering Victoria’s Renewable Energy Storage Future

Battery Energy Storage System (HBESS) – a collaboration

between ENGIE, Eku Energy and Fluence. The Hazelwood battery has the capacity to power approximately 75,000 Victorian homes for one hour during the evening peak.

the Energy Innovation Fund

• a 125-megawatt lithium-ion big battery with grid forming inverters, funded by $119 million from the Renewable Energy Zone Fund

• four batteries totalling 365 megawatts as part of the Victorian Renewable Energy Target (VRET2) auction.

MELBOURNE, Jun 14: An additional 150-megawatt of energy storage capacity will be added to Victoria’s grid thanks to a new big battery located at the former coal-fired power station in Hazelwood, Gippsland.

This battery marks an important step forward in the transformation of this site from a former coal-fired power station to an active participant in Victoria’s renewable energy future.

Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio today launched Hazelwood

Projects like this are playing a key role in achieving Victoria’s energy storage targets of at least 2.6 gigawatts of energy storage capacity by 2030 and at least 6.3 gigawatts by 2035 as Victoria works towards 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035.

Victoria is already the home of Australia’s largest, utility-scale batteries, including the 300-megawatt Victorian Big Battery, the largest lithium-ion battery in the southern hemisphere.

Big batteries in the pipeline include:

• a 100-megawatt battery with grid forming inverters in Terang, funded through

Victoria is leading the nation in neighbourhood-scale batteries, with the Victorian Budget 2023/24 investing $42.2 million to install 100 new neighbourhood batteries at targeted locations across Victoria – tripling the number of homes with access to a battery and providing crucial extra storage capacity for local communities.

At household level, the Solar Homes Program has already helped more than 13,800 Victorian households install their own batteries to maximise the benefits of rooftop solar.

To achieve the Labor Government’s ambitious emissions reduction target of net zero by 2045 Victoria is increasing its energy storage capacity, delivering Australia’s first offshore wind energy industry here in Gippsland and investing an initial $1 billion in the State Electricity Commission (SEC) to deliver 4.5 gigawatts of power.

(MEDIA RELEASE)

New Art Trams Hit the Tracks For RISING

figures in Boonwurrung culture, accompanied by the Australian raven and wedge-tailed eagle.

Other artists include Peter Waples-Crowe, a Ngarigu artist whose design celebrates the Alpine dingo as a symbol of ecosystem restoration, and mother and son team Lyn and Coree Thorpe, who have collaborated on a work that acknowledges their Aboriginal ancestors and protecting knowledge from their lands.

MELBOURNE, Jun 13: The first of this year’s First Peoples-designed Art Trams has hit the tracks as part of RISING festival, turning the city’s tram network into a mobile art gallery.

Minister for Public Transport Ben Carroll joined the RISING team and this year’s Art Trams artists today to launch the first of six trams, which has been designed by Boonwurrung/Erub artist Amina Briggs.

The remaining five trams will roll out on Melbourne’s tram network over the next 10

days, with designs by a diverse group of Victorian-based First Peoples artists, in a travelling celebration of history, community and connection.

Boonwurrung/Wemba Wemba artist

Jarra Karalinar Steel has curated this year’s offering, which showcases the artists’ responses to the theme of ‘Blak Futurism’, envisioning a better future for Australia’s First Peoples.

Amina Briggs' tram features Bunjil the creator and Waa the protector, integral

The First Peoples Melbourne Art Trams will remain on routes across Melbourne for the next 12 months. Each tram features QR codes to enable passengers to learn more about the artists and their work. RISING partners with Creative Victoria, Department of Transport and Planning and Yarra Trams to present the Art Trams project.

RISING was established by the Andrews Labor Government to create a new drawcard major event for Melbourne in the winter season. Last year close to 315,000 people attended the first full festival.

For more information visit rising.

melbourne

Australia raises minimum wage by 5.75% amid inflation

CANBERRA, Jun 2: Australia's industrial relations tribunal has granted a 5.75 per cent increase in the national minimum wage, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) announced on Friday, adding that the adjustments will take effect on July 1.

The increase falls between the 7 per cent rise advocated by the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the about 4 per cent sought by employer groups.

Announcing the decision, the FWC said the current combination of economic circumstances, namely low unemployment, falling real wages and high inflation, "is very unusual and presents a particular challenge in this year's Review".

The Commission said a further challenge would be the expected sharp slowdown in economic growth over the next year.

"In our consideration, we have placed significant weight on the impact of the current rate of inflation on the ability of modern award-reliant employees, especially the low paid, to meet their basic financial needs," FWC said in the Announcement of Decision statement.

"Inflation is reducing the real value of these employees' incomes and causing households financial stress."

According to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, inflation hit 6.8 per cent in the 12 months to April, up from 6.3 per cent in the

Australia has

chance of sliding into recession this yr: Bank

CANBERRA, Jun 9: The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) downgraded its economic forecasts following a recent cash rate increase, saying the country has a 50 per cent chance of sliding into recession this year.

"We put the odds of a recession in 2023 at 50 per cent as the lagged impact of the RBA's rate increases continues to drain the cash flow of households that carry debt," Gareth Aird, CBA's head of Australian economics, wrote in the newly issued Economic Insights.

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) raised the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 4.10 per cent, with Governor Philip Lowe noting that the annual inflation sitting at 7 per cent is "still too high".

In light of the RBA's new decision, Aird expected a further 25-basis-point increase for the cash rate to reach 4.35 per cent.

"The risk is a 25bp (basis point) rate hike earlier in July. There is also a risk of 25bp rate rises in both July and August, which would take the cash rate to 4.6 per cent," Aird said, forecasting the timing of the start of rate cuts will be from the fourth quarter of 2023 to first quarter of 2024.

As Australia is having a "deeply restrictive" monetary policy, the CBA expert held a gloomy view of the future economic growth.

According to the new analysis, the

annual gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to slow to 0.7 per cent in the fourth quarter.

With annual population growth likely to reach 2 per cent in 2023, Australia is forecast to be in a per-capita recession for the remainder of this year.

Weaker growth may also bring about higher unemployment, as the unemployment rate is estimated to jump to 4.4 per cent by end-2023 and touch 4.7 per cent by mid-2024.

Aird also mentioned that monetary policy works with a lag.

"As the lagged impact of rate rises continues to hit home borrowers, mortgage repayments will rise to a record high as a share of household income. This will have a negative impact on household consumption," Aird noted.

However, Aird also spoke of some "light at the end of the tunnel", as he predicted a 125-basis-point easing in interest rates to arrive in early 2024.

"As interest rates are cut, it will free up cash for those borrowers that have a mortgage. And the demand for credit will begin to lift. Momentum will start to pick up and the upward trend in the unemployment rate will wane. Consumer sentiment and spending will lift," said the expert. (IANS)

12 months to the end of March.

The spike was largely driven by an increase in fuel prices after the end of the temporary cut in the government's fuel excise tax.

In the same period, the prices of housing, food and transport all rose by over 7 per cent.

The commission acknowledged that the awarded increase would not maintain the real value of minimum wage or reverse the reduction in real wages amid the cost-ofliving crisis but said 5.75 per cent was the most that could be justified in the current economic circumstances.

(IANS)

Australian govt to outlaw Nazi hate symbols

CANBERRA, Jun 8: Australia's AttorneyGeneral Mark Dreyfus announced the government will introduce legislation next week to criminalise public displays of the Nazi hate symbols and ban the trade of items with the symbols imprinted.

Under Australia's Counter-Terrorism Legislation Amendment Bill, anyone caught breaching the new laws could face up to 12 months in jail.

The ban includes, but is not limited to, the trade and public display of flags, armbands, t-shirts, insignia and the publication of symbols online promoting Nazi ideology.

Dreyfus said there was been a rise in the public display of these symbols and tackling far-right violent extremism is a priority for the Australian government.

(IANS)

50%

Australia must seize opportunities to endure economic headwinds: PM

CANBERRA, Jun 13: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the country needs to seize development opportunities to weather the global economic headwinds.

"Advanced economies around the world are dealing with the very difficult combination of high inflation and rising interest rates," he said in a speech to the Committee for Economic Development of Australia's State of the Nation conference in Canberra,

The Prime Minister added that he remained optimistic that Australia can emerge from the period of global economic challenges in a stronger position.

He emphasised that breaking new ground was critical to maintain economic growth, and identified clean energy transition, new technologies, and the growing care and support sector as major opportunities.

"We know Australia can't afford to just wait and watch and react to the clean energy transformation, the growth of the care and support economy, or breakthroughs in technology. We have to seize these opportunities," he said.

National accounts data released earlier in June revealed Australia's gross domestic

product (GDP) grew by 0.2 per cent in the first three months of 2023 and was up 2.3 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March, the slowest quarterly growth since September 2021.

The data has prompted concerns that the country is headed for a recession following 12 interest rate rises in 13 months.

Despite slower than forecast GDP growth, a Guardian poll published on Tuesday found that more voters trust Albanese's governing Labor Party to manage the cost of living, rising interest rates and soaring debt than the Coalition.

Australia's economic growth slows amid inflation, cost-of-living pressures

a slowdown from the 0.6 per cent growth in the final quarter last year and lower than the quarterly growth forecast by some economists.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said that these figures "are not surprising" given the significant headwinds from higher interest rates, high inflation, and a slowing global economy.

CANBERRA, Jun 7: The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on Wednesday published national accounts data for the first quarter of 2023, revealing that economic growth has slowed amid headwinds from high interest rates and inflation.

The data revealed that the gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.2 per cent between January and March and by 2.3 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March, marking

"This is the sixth straight rise in quarterly GDP but the slowest growth since the Covid-19 Delta lockdowns in September quarter 2021," Katherine Keenan, ABS head of National Accounts, said in a media release.

The household saving ratio fell from 4.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2022 to 3.7 per cent, the lowest figure since 2008.

"The household saving ratio fell to its lowest level in nearly 15 years," Keenan said.

"This was driven by higher income tax payable and interest payable on dwellings, and increased spending due to the rising cost of living pressures."

He said the numbers confirm what Australians already know, that household budgets are under pressure from rising interest rates and higher cost of living.

According to ABS, household consumption grew by just 0.2 per cent in quarter, contributing just 0.1 percentage points to growth.

"We understand that inflation, higher interest rates and cost-of-living pressures are not only straining household budgets but slowing growth as well," Chalmers said in a media release.

"We're providing responsible cost-of-living relief without making the inflation challenge worse. The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor has already made it clear that the budget is addressing inflation, not adding to it."

The accounts were released one day after the RBA lifted the official interest rate to 4.1 per cent, the 12th rise in about 13 months as it seeks to bring inflation under control. (IANS)

Australia's doctors call for overhaul of 'sick care' system

CANBERRA, Jun 14: Australia's peak doctors' body called for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's healthcare system to place greater emphasis on preventative care.

In a speech to the National Press Club, Australian Medical Association (AMA) president Steve Robson said that leaders must reconsider how they think about healthcare investment.

He described the current system as one of "sick care" rather than one focused on keeping Australians well, increasing pressure on hospitals.

According to Robson, a significant boost in spending on preventative care would reap in benefits for the economy.

The speech coincided with the release of a new AMA report showing that public hospital elective surgery waiting lists cost the Australian economy A$4.6 billion ($3.1 billion) annually.

The report highlights the growing rate of chronic disease, with almost half the population in the country having one or more chronic diseases and an aging population that is putting the healthcare system under increasing pressure.

"As the AMA analysis uncovered, we currently have hundreds of thousands of people waiting too long for elective surgery, people waiting too long in emergency departments and general practices struggling to survive," Robson said in a statement.

"While it's true that investment is needed to tackle these issues, we can also improve efficiency, improve access to care and the quality of care."

The AMA report said that addressing hospital exit block could save A$2 billion per year, and modelling estimated that a tax on

sugary drinks, which it has long campaigned for, would result in 16,000 fewer cases of type 2 diabetes, 4,400 fewer cases of heart disease, and 1,100 fewer cases of stroke.

"We need to reframe our thinking and focus more on how the money we invest in healthcare can improve health outcomes and support economic growth," Robson said.

"Because the evidence is clear -- keeping people healthy reduces the costs and burden on our healthcare system and drives economic growth and productivity." (IANS)

Qantas eases gender-based uniform rules

their tattoos covered up and the rules also specify which items of uniform can be worn together, including requiring tights or stockings to be worn with skirts.

Meanwhile, Imogen Sturni from the Australian Services Union (ASU), which had campaigned for Qantas to change its uniform policy, said the move was a "big win for workers".

"Some of the dress code requirements were bordering on ridiculous, such as makeup style guides and a requirement for women to wear smaller watches than men," Sturni told the BBC.

The flag carrier's move comes after some other airlines also relaxed their uniform policies.

CANBERRA, Jun 9: Australian flag carrier Qantas announced on Friday that it has relaxed its gender-based uniform rules, allowing male employees to put make-up while female staffers will no longer require to wear heels while on duty.

In a statement, the airline said: "Fashions change, and so have our style guidelines over the years. We're proud of our diversity as well as bringing our guidelines up to date,"

the BBC reported.

Under the relaxed rules, which will also apply to employees of Qantas' budget airline Jetstar, both women and men will also be allowed to wear the same sort of jewellery, including large watches.

All employees, including pilots and flight attendants, will be allowed to have long hair, if it is worn in a ponytail or bun.

But Qantas worker will still have to keep

In September 2022, UK-based carrier Virgin Atlantic said it would take a "fluid approach" to uniforms, which allowed staff to choose what they wore to work "no matter their gender".

In 2019, Air New Zealand ended a ban on staff having visible tattoos, to allow "employees to express their individuality and cultural heritage".

(IANS)

Indian-origin professor awarded 'Dutch Nobel Prize'

NEW DELHI, Jun 7: Indian-origin professor Joyeeta Gupta has been awarded the Spinoza Prize, the highest distinction in Dutch science, for her scientific work focusing on a "just and sustainable world".

Gupta, Professor of Environment and Development in the Global South at the University of Amsterdam since 2013, was chosen by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) selection committee for her "incredibly broad and interdisciplinary" research.

Also referred sometimes as the 'Dutch Nobel Prize', the award will give Gupta 1.5 million euros to spend on scientific research and activities related to knowledge utilisation.

Gupta's research involves solution to issues arising from climate change through good governance. At the core of her research is an attempt to unravel the connections between the climate crisis, global water challenges, possible solutions and justice, a University of Amsterdam statement read.

"Justice for both people and the planet is the common thread in Joyeeta's work. She

is relentlessly committed to climate justice, always looking beyond the boundaries of disciplines, realising that this is the only way to approach the climate issue," said PeterPaul Verbeek, Rector Magnificus of the University of Amsterdam.

Gupta, who is the twelfth researcher from the University of Amsterdam to receive the award, will be officially honoured on October 4 at a presentation ceremony.

She studied at Delhi University, Gujarat University and Harvard Law School, and obtained her PhD from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is also a professor at the IHE Delft Institute for Water Education. In addition to her professorship, Gupta is cochair of the Earth Commission, founded by Future Earth and supported by the Global Challenges Foundation, the University statement said.

She was also lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) between 1988 and 2014, which shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former US Vice President Al Gore. (IANS)

Now Indian girls aspire to build worldclass apps, solve problems

NEW DELHI, Jun 3: For Aradhya Awasthi, a class 6th student in Delhi-NCR, coding is being creative, having fun and learning to be innovative. For Tanmit Kaur, who is in class 9th, learning coding helps open new career avenues and create solutions to solve reallife problems.

As the demand for skilled coders and software developers skyrocket in a postpandemic era, especially in the age of generative AI (aka ChatGPT) and other next-gen technologies, Indian girls are not far behind and are now learning the ropes to become world-class coders.

"I am fascinated by algorithm-based careers like in the world of finance. Coding has not only instilled confidence in me but has also given me a fresh career option which I may explore later in life to build innovative solutions to solve real-life problems," Kaur, a student at Noida-based Indraprastha Global School said.

Amid widespread tech layoffs, developers have emerged as the most sought-after role in India, especially those who can design, develop and maintain the front-end and backend of a web application, according to job portal Indeed.

Developers today make up five of the top 10 job roles. The job roles that have seen the highest growth since pre-pandemic are data engineer (353 per cent), site reliability engineer (260 per cent), assistant engineer (254 per cent), application developer (235 per cent) and cloud engineer (220 per cent).

There are 45,000 AI job openings in India, with data scientists and Machine Learning (ML) engineers being among the most sought-after careers, according to a latest report by TeamLease Digital, a tech staffing

firm.

Parul Malhotra, a senior software development engineer with global leading web and mobile app development company GeekyAnts became a developer as she loved the idea of solving real-world issues through programming.

"I have built a few world-class web apps in the last three years and worked with people from across the globe. Coding has provided me a way to solve problems, contribute to technological advances and communicate with people from different countries and backgrounds," she told.

According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, coding is the only global language and he wishes that more Indian students, including girls, learn coding early in school days so that they can create world-class products and solve real-life problems as they grow up.

"Coding is the only global language. It is a way to express yourself and arguably, we need more of that in the world and bring the world closer," Cook, who has always emphasised that coding should be taught as early as elementary school, had told IANS in April during his India visit.

Indore's Asmi Jain, 20, has been selected among the winners of Apple's 'WWDC23 Swift Student Challenge', who created original apps using the Swift coding language.

At Medi-Caps University in Indore, she found out her friend's uncle had to undergo brain surgery. As a result, he was left with eye misalignment and facial paralysis.

Jain sprung into action, designing her winning playground to track a user's eye movements as they try to follow a ball moving around the screen.

"It was important for me to create an app playground that could positively impact the lives of people like him," said Jain.

According to her, coding lets her create things that help her friends and the community. "It gives me a sense of independence that is very empowering," she added.

According to Mohit Thukral, an alumnus of Stanford University and Director, Indraprastha Global School, technology is going to be the mathematics of the 21st century.

"Every student is going to have to know a certain minimum level of knowledge of technology, coding, and others. Technology is an enabler and introduction of skill-based courses such as design thinking, robotics, coding and AI at our school is just the beginning," he told IANS.

Nikita Tomar Mann, the principal at the school, said that it is a fallacy that coding is a skill only required by those who choose the career of a coder or software programmer.

"For the future citizens of the new world order, Coding will be a vital 'Life Skill'. Creativity, critical thinking and problemsolving are touted as some of the skills of the 21st century, and one of the best ways to master these skills is to learn coding right from early schooling years," she emphasised.

According to Parul, coding should be a part of the curriculum for students as it can equip them with logical and algorithmic thinking skills.

"They can solve problems better and also build new apps to showcase their creativity," she added.

By Nishant Arora

Mate G’Day

Getting married in Australia

Requirements before soleminising a Marriage Requirements before soleminising a Marriage

Marriages solemnised in Australia can only be solemnised where a Notice of Intended Marriage has been given to the celebrant within the required notice period; each party has produced these documents to the celebrant, evidence of date and place of birth, identity and the termination of any previous marriage, where relevant.

Each party has made a declaration as to their belief that there is no legal impediment to the marriage and the celebrant is satisfied that the marriage will be valid, including that each party has given real consent. The celebrant must ensure that information about marriage education and counselling is made available to the parties to the marriage.

The marriage celebrant obligations checklist when solemnising marriages outlines celebrants’ obligations when solemnising a marriage and is a useful tool for celebrants to ensure that they have completed all required documents and steps when solemnising a marriage under the Marriage Act.

Section 42 of the Marriage Act requires the parties to an intended marriage to give the celebrant at

least one month’s written notice prior to the solemnisation of the marriage. This notice is known as the Notice of Intended Marriage (NOIM).

The NOIM must be completed according to the instructions on the form. Authorised celebrants must not agree to marry a couple with less than one month’s notice (unless a shortening of time has been approved by a prescribed authority) or falsify the dates on the NOIM to make it appear as if one month’s notice was given. The Act provides that authorising a marriage in contravention of the requirements is an offence.

If you have further questions, you may contact me on 0425 853 086 or navee64@gmail.com.

Bezos prepares prenuptial pact with Sanchez to protect his $138 bn fortune

lawyers a riveting task, reports Hello! Magazine. "Following his divorce with Scott, which cost him $38 billion due to the lack of a prenuptial agreement, Bezos is likely to opt for extensive legal measures to protect his $138 billion fortune," the report noted.

Bezos holds a broad real estate portfolio valued at over $500 million, with properties in Beverly Hills, Manhattan, and Washington DC.

Sanchez owns Black Ops Aviation, an aerial video company with high-profile clientele, and a grand $6.2 million home in Washington, according to the report.

SAN FRANCISCO, May 30: Amazon founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, who had to shell out a whopping $38 billion to MacKenzie Scott following a divorce due to lack of a prenuptial agreement, is reportedly preparing to protect his $138 billion fortune after his engagement with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. The engagement has now given their

Bezos, 59, and Sanchez, 53 revealed in their engagement at La Petite Maison in Cannes, France, last week accompanied by Bezos's sister, Christina Bezos Poore, and her husband, Steve Poore.

They savoured zucchini blossoms adorned with parmesan cheese, complemented by a distinct off-menu $4,285 bottle of Dugat-Py Grand Cru from Domaine Bernard.

Despite a $57 billion dip in his net worth, Bezos remains among the top three wealthiest people on earth globally, following Bernard Arnault, the CEO of LVMH, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

Earlier this month, Bezos was spotted shirtless, sunbathing with Sanchez on his $500 million luxurious yacht in Spain.

The couple was also spotted at the F1 Miami Grand Prix and at global music festival Coachella in April.

Sanchez can soon be known as the first person to lead an all-woman space mission on Bezos-owned Blue Origin.

(IANS)

Trump pleads not guilty in confidential documents case

US has 'terrific cooperation' with India inside Quad: White House

WASHINGTON, Jun 14: Former US President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to charges brought against him for mishandling classified documents.

"We most certainly enter a plea of not guilty," Todd Blanche, one of Trump's lawyers, told a federal court judge in Miami, Florida.

Trump wore a dark suit and a trademark red tie. And according to accounts from reporters who were present in the courtroom (TV cameras were not allowed), he arrived about 30 minutes ahead of his time. He sat at the defendants table with his lawyers, sometimes with his arms crossed across his chest.

Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed by the Department of Justice to lead the case, sat across the room in the first row meant for people.

The former President faces 37 charges in the case -- 31 of whom are about willful retention documents pertaining to national defence, including one that is about the "nuclear weaponry of the US", according to the indictment. All together, the charges could get him 400 years in jail if found guilty.

Walt Nauta, an aide of the former President, is charged as a co-accused in the case with six charges.

This was the first time in US history that a former President is facing federal crime charges. He was charged in April in a case brought against him by New York state for payment of hush money to an adult film star who has claimed to have had an affair with Trump in 2005.

Trump faces another investigation, which is currently underway in the state of Georgia for allegedly trying to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in the state.

A fourth case might arise from federal investigations into the January 6 riots in 2020, when Trump's supporters tried to prevent a joint session of the US Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.

The former President was booked on arrival at the court in the afternoon, which included fingerprinting. He was not subjected, however, to the mugshot part of the routine and he has been released with no restrictions on movements as the judge deemed he is not a flight risk.

"What we are witnessing today is the blatant and unapologetic weaponisation of the criminal justice system," Alina Habba, another of Trump's lawyers told reporters outside the court.

Leaving for the courthouse, Trump wrote on Truth Social, "ON MY WAY TO COURTHOUSE. WITH HUNT!! MAGA."

MAGA is short for Make America Great Again, his election campaign slogan.

Helicopter television crews tracked his motorcade just as they had done in April in New York. Hundreds of his supporters had gathered at the courthouse, but there had been no untoward incidents till after the hearing was over and Trump had left the premises with his lawyers and team.

His supporters did get a glimpse of him when his motorcade was leaving the courthouse -- he was seen giving a thumbs-up sign from behind the window.

A man was seen being wrestled down to the ground by the Secret Service as he had apparently come in front of Trump's vehicle. No further details were immediately available if the man was a supporter or a protestor.

(IANS)

WASHINGTON, Jun 13: The US has a "significant" defence partnership with India and "terrific cooperation" inside the Quad, the White House said ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit beginning June 22.

"The US has a significant defence partnership with India and terrific cooperation inside the Quad, across the Indo-Pacific with India. There's a lot to talk about. We're looking forward to the visit," John Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters.

"I don't believe that the full agenda has been fleshed out for the state visit, but we are very much looking forward to have Prime Minister Modi here," Kirby said in response to a question The deal to build GE-414 engines in India is set to be announced during the Prime Minister's visit to the US from June 21-24.

Major defence deals are likely to be on cards, which includes an agreement estimated to be worth Rs 22,000 crore, between the two nations to buy 30 MQ-9 B armed drones.

According to reports, Modi and President Joe Biden will discuss Indo-Pacific and maritime security issues amid China's growing assertive activities in the region.

The two leaders will also explore opportunities to expand and consolidate engagement of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

(IANS)

Gaura Travels Soars High

A tete-a-tete with Ashwini Sonthalia from Gaura Travels following the successful organization of a chartered flight to welcome the Indian Prime Minister

the option of uniting our community across both states and bringing them together on this significant day. The excitement among the people was palpable from the moment his visit was announced, and we felt it was only fair to do our part in ensuring as many people as possible could attend.

How did you go about securing this opportunity at short notice?

It was challenging, no doubt. Organising a special plane requires a lot of leg work and planning, and not too many airlines in the post-Covid ecosystem have a lot of spare planes to provide. Fortunately, we have a long and strong working relationship with Qantas Airways. They came on board with our idea and provided their very kind and prompt support to help realise this effort.

On May 23, 2023, Sydney's Qudos Bank Arena hosted a grand reception for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, attended by over 20,000 people. We had the opportunity to speak with Ashwini Sonthalia from Gaura Travels, based in Melbourne, who arranged a special chartered flight from Melbourne to Sydney, allowing Victorian Indians to take part in this momentous celebration.

What was the motivation behind organising a chartered flight from Melbourne to Sydney on the day of PM Modi’s event?

Prime Minister Modi's visit to Australia was a momentous occasion, as it had been nearly a decade since his last visit. Previously, there was a train journey that transported enthusiasts from Melbourne to Sydney. This time, given our experience in organising chartered flights, the IndianAustralian Diasporic Foundation (IADF), the event organisers, approached us to explore

You were recently recognised for arranging a number of chartered flights during the pandemic that assisted stranded Indians in reuniting with their loved ones overseas. At a time of crisis when businesses struggled to stay afloat, what inspired your philanthropic cause?

When the pandemic hit, we never anticipated its prolonged impact on the world. As the months went by, our anxieties grew, and we longed to see our loved ones. The Indian Government initiated the Vande Bharat mission, which provided special flights for passengers to travel home. However, there were limited planes and long queues of people waiting to fly. It was then that we decided to step up and assist our fellow citizens. Our intention was reinforced by the

Indian Consulate-General of Melbourne, who advised us that our assistance would greatly alleviate the distress experienced by separated family members. This initiative would not have been possible without the support we received from the airlines we collaborate with. Initially, we started with two flights, but it eventually grew to 102 flights. Knowing that our efforts served a humanitarian purpose was gratifying. However, it was also an anxious time for us as a business. To provide some context, each flight carried an average of three hundred people, and as Gaura Travels, we bore the responsibility for their safe passage to India. It was a delicate balance between philanthropy and ensuring our own sustainability.

In today’s business landscape, has Corporate Social Responsibility become an integral part of any successful venture?

Any business today needs a strong sense of purpose beyond the commercial. It is the community that helps a business thrive. Hence working towards their welfare is the modicum payback that a venture must endeavour towards. This is also the essence of the spirit at Gaura Travels.

Could you share your experiences and emotions being involved in the grand welcome for Mr. Modi?

Even before reaching the venue, there was tremendous pomp and celebration as our passengers arrived at Melbourne Airport. Thanks to Qantas Airways who enabled this, we saw groups of people break into song and dance at the airport, heralding the exciting event that was to unfold later that afternoon. In a first of its kind, the crew on the flight also extended us an offer to use their PA system for performing patriotic songs in mid-air! It was a party like never before.

Upon reaching the venue, my immediate reaction was a profound sense of pride upon witnessing the pedestal on which our Prime Minister was placed by the Australian Government. He received a rock-star welcome amidst tens of thousands of fellow Indians. The event showcased great cooperation between various organizations involved in its organization. Cultural performances highlighting our art and traditions were displayed with immense fanfare. We were privileged to be seated at the front of the arena, alongside Prime Minister Albanese, Senator Penny Wong, Peter Dutton, and several other Members of Parliament. It was undoubtedly a proud moment as an Indian in Australia.

What are your expectations as an Indian-Australian from such diplomatic

meetings between the two countries’ leaders?

In the past decades, India’s diplomatic focus has predominantly been towards the Americas and Europe. But with a burgeoning diaspora down under, it is important that the relationship between Indian and Australian systems of economy, education and businesses is continuously worked upon and deepened. This was also highlighted by Mr. Modi himself who quipped that the equation between the two countries had now moved on from a Test Cricket format to a T20 format, which gives us an anticipation of plenty of thrilling developments that will arise.

What exciting ventures are in the offing for Gaura Travels?

While we continue strengthening our relationship with our airlines and business partners, we are constantly working towards securing great travel deals for our clients. Our mission remains focused on providing convenient and affordable touring options for our customers. "Your best way home" encapsulates our commitment to ensuring a seamless travel experience.

By Nishant Kaushik

Sutr Santati

(Then, Now, Next)

Translating to ‘continuity of yarn’, the Sutr Santati exhibition presents the untold stories of India woven in thread

and Gaurang Shah are a few of the many who are keeping their ancestry art alive.

I felt I was travelling my past with a friend, introducing myself to a world that I was so familiar with, and I felt that I owe so much to India and how proud I am to belong to such richness.

Khadi, the Indian homespun cotton cloth that originated from Gandhi, and the beautiful loom that the museum has curated, take us back in time – reminding us that India is not only the largest producer of cotton in the world, but also the second largest producer of silk in the world.

Then there’s the beautiful hand-woven textiles of Nagaland, where, Rohini points out to me, they have translated their military symbol into their textiles. There’s also a silk sari dedicated to Tagore’s poetry and the entire Ramayana woven in a two-by-two metre cloth by artists of Tiruchirappalli. It’s the endless thought-provoking silhouette of a weaver’s mark in every piece of storytelling. I found myself mesmerised by the journey.

It’s not every day you get invited to see an exquisite collection, especially in Melbourne. It’s also not every day that I get invited by the general manager of Immigration Museum, Rohini Kappadath, to witness this beautiful display of artistry by Indian weavers.

I sat down with Rohini with a cup of coffee, and we talked in length about her travel to India in October so I could understand how this beautifully curated exhibition came into existence, opening to the public on 11 May 2023.

It’s an ode to India’s seventy-five years of independence, hence bringing the work of many weavers from across India. The main conceiver and curator of the exhibition, Lavina Baltoda of the Abheraj Baltoda Foundation brought beautiful Indian textiles to this art form.

The exhibition was first exhibited at the National Museum, New Delhi where CEO Lynley Croswell of Museums Victoria and Rohini viewed the collection there. Then from there it took eight months from their first meeting with Lavina to having it displayed at the Melbourne Museum with the teams at Museum Victoria.

It’s storytelling by textiles. Over the years, the weavers have adapted to the philosophy of contemporary design, combining them with traditional techniques.

It’s also very profound to understand the deep relationship and process between the artists and weavers during this curation. Rohini herself flew to Hampi by Melbourne Museum on the invitation of Lavina, as the Baldota family has lived in Hampi for over

thirty-five years.

Rohini calls it her jugalbandi (tied together) time with Lavina that started during the concluding week of ‘Red Lilies, Water Birds’, an exhibition in Anegundi. It was a revelation for Rohini of how necessary it is to understand how artists engage with the world that’s always transforming and inspiring their artistry, and that is most definitely how Sutr Santati shaped into the Melbourne Museum.

As we walked through the exhibition, I saw brocades and paithani, and the beautiful gold and white saris from the south, some of them done by third-generation weavers.

We stopped to watch a video of how a weaver so articulately weaves many different threads in making one beautiful sari. It’s laborious and requires years of dedication to master such an art. Sometimes it can take them anytime between six months to a year to finish –and then it may or may not be picked up for a suitable home. The hard work, the dedication, and its beauty are then all lost between a loosely adapted tale of purchase and sale.

That is why it is so important to have an exhibition such as Sutr Santati, reminding us not only to be grounded but to understand how important it is to celebrate their work. Weavers like Paresh Patel

It is always powerful to understand your culture, especially when the culture is so diverse – where everything from food to language and clothes changes if one just walks a hundred kilometres in any direction. Most cultures are determined with the past in mind when understanding their way of life, and a piece of garment is as important as an artefact.

I have to be forever grateful to Rohini, Lavina and Melbourne Museum for doing something so unique, where the origin of the storytelling is in its authentic form, created and narrated by its curator and artists.

I encourage everyone to come and take a walk into the past – only then can we understand how to make the future more sustainable and celebrate this offering in all its glory. The exhibition is until 3rd September 2023, so you have plenty to ponder on.

By Nandita Chakraborty

Celebrating Classical Sounds of India

A unique Melbourne concert raises youth awareness of Indian classical arts

It was a rare treat to witness the fusion of Indian classical music with Australian artists, made possible by the visionary efforts of InConcert Music and its Artistic Director, Sridhar Chari. Sridhar, a renowned percussion player and flautist, has been a resident of Melbourne for over 35 years, teaching music and presenting performances for the past three decades.

Founded in 2007, InConcert Music promotes the best of Indian classical music and dance across Australia. Through collaborations with other organisations in the country, InConcert Music invites renowned artists to Australia for lectures, demonstrations, and concerts, benefiting the Australian resident diaspora.

The InConcert Music Winter festival, a three-day music and dance extravaganza, commenced on June 10th at Rowville Performance Art Centre in Rowville Secondary College. The festival began with a Bharatanatyam dance production called Mahalakshmi – The Supreme Mother. This recital featured four established Melbournebased dancers: Aruna Rengasamy, Deepa Mani, Chandana Brijesh, and Lalitha Narayanan. The performance portrayed Mahalakshmi, the goddess of wealth, prosperity, beauty, and love, as the eternal companion of Lord Vishnu, emerging from the churning of the milky ocean. The show included live music performed by Melbourne's finest musicians and featured new music composed by veteran violinist R K Sriramkumar from India.

The music concerts centred around famous musician and social activist T M Krishna, Flute by Sikkil Mala Chandrashekar (the granddaughter-in-law of the infamous M. S. Subbalakshmi), and a vocal concert by the young and dynamic Saketaraman.

The festival also showcased a

presentation by visiting dance exponent Ramya Harishankar, focusing on the symphony of emotions in Bharatanatyam.

Another performance, "Satsangi – The Search," by Dr Priya Srinivasan and Uthra Vijay, winners of the 2023 Green Room award in the contemporary dance category, explored the lives of four women poets and their search for meaning. The piece beautifully weaved together the poetry and songs of Andal, Meera Bai, Sant Sorabai, and Temecula Ao, in Tamil, Braj Basha, Marathi, and Ao languages, respectively, highlighting their unique life choices.

When asked about the festival, the artistic director Sridhar Chari had the following to say:

What was the primary motivation behind organizing this winter festival?

InConcert Music has been presenting the best Indian classical music and dance in Australia over the last 15 years with the intent to develop the art form, particularly involving youth through collaborations, interactions, and mentoring by visiting artists.

Please walk us through organising this festival. What worked and didn't work?

I have personally organized music concerts and tours for the past thirty years. Covid has put a dampener on all activities and has brought uncertainty on the recommencement and viability of rerunning

these festivals. Otherwise, it is business as usual, hoping it will improve as we move forward.

Is there a gap in the community appreciating local talent in the classical stream?

That is what we are trying to bridge. Australian talent is quite profound. For example, the performers have performed for over thirty and forty years. Undoubtedly, the invited artists are professionals who have been performing more frequently. When there are sufficient opportunities, resident artists can build and showcase their talents on a more focused basis—the main aim of InConcert Music is to provide a platform to resident and emerging artists. We are doing this via editions of the Evergreen Festival, which runs periodically.

What is the favourite aspect of this festival?

To see all the presentations come through as one had envisaged when planning for them and to see everything fall into place.

What's next for InConcert music and you?

InConcert Music also has a ten-member band called "South Indian Rhythms and Ragas". We presented at the Melbourne recital centre in 2022. We are on the journey to bring out an album in 2023. I teach percussion and flute at my Academy, the Laya Vidhya Centre. We have several debut concerts planned for my students over the next year. We have a busy calendar of events to see through to get through the backlog created by Covid to see all these students graduate and establish themselves as musicians.

Chari believes that art should never stop; it needs nurturing to continuously grow. It requires an elevated level of interaction and consistent contribution from both the teacher and the student for it to flourish.

By Nandita Chakraborty

Hindi Niketan Celebrates Success of VCE 2022 Students with Hindi Language Awards

MELBOURNE, May 6: Hindi Niketan Melbourne (HN), in collaboration with the Consulate General of India Melbourne, organized its Annual Award Function to honor students who excelled in the VCE 2022 examination with Hindi as one of their subjects. This longstanding tradition, spanning over two decades, recognizes the hard work and dedication of students who demonstrate exceptional proficiency in the Hindi language.

The event, held at 344 St Kilda Road, Melbourne, VICTORIA, served as a platform to celebrate the outstanding achievements of these students, who not only mastered the language but also gained a deep understanding of Indian culture and heritage. Each student who passed the Hindi language exam was presented with a certificate and trophy. The top three rank holders received cash awards, generously sponsored by Choudhary Shamsher Singh. These awards were named in honor of Dr Tandon and Dr Dinesh Shrivastava, founders of HN.

Distinguished guests, including Hon.

CGI Dr Sushil Kumar, Hon. John Mullahy (Member of Parliament from Glen Waverly, Victoria), Ms Judy Benny (Principal of Victorian School of Languages), and VSL area managers Ms Heather Rae, graced the event with their presence.

The award ceremony captivated attendees with vibrant cultural performances and displays, showcasing the diversity and richness of Indian culture. Dr Reena Dubey, President of HN, and CGI Dr Sushil Kumar inaugurated the event with the traditional "Deep Prajjwalan" (lighting the lamp). A documentary on India's Freedom Struggle, commemorating the "Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav" at the 75th Independence Day of India, was screened. Col Pradeep Kanthan provided an insightful overview of the Indian Freedom Struggle. The guest speeches left a lasting impact on the young generation, motivating them to strive for greatness. An informative exhibition organized by the Consulate office shed light on India's freedom struggle.

MCs Sandali Sinha and Maithili Jha kept the audience engaged, and Mrs

Manjeet Thethi, a Hindi Language teacher, assisted in distributing the awards to the deserving students. The event not only celebrated the students' achievements but also acknowledged the dedication of the officers of Victorian School Languages, the teachers, the community leaders, and the executive committee members of HN in their efforts to promote the growth of the Hindi language in Victoria.

This momentous occasion not only honored the students' success but also served as a tribute to the Indian community in Victoria, showcasing their contributions to the linguistic and cultural diversity of Victoria and Australia. The event received tremendous support from the wider Australian community.

HN extends its heartfelt congratulations to the executive committee for organizing such an inspiring and memorable event, and looks forward to continued success in promoting the Hindi language.

(GDI

News Desk)

Withdrawal of sponsorship, removal of spouse from Australia and its consequences

BY GURPAL SINGH

Australian immigration laws allow the resident or citizen spouse to sponsor his / her partner to live in Australia for unlimited times. The process of application is divided in two parts – temporary visa and permanent visa. Spouse sponsorship is typically done under the Family stream of Australian migration program which allows the partners of the Australian citizens or residents to join them in Australia as temporary or permanent residents depending on their circumstances.

During the pendency of the application the applicant spouse is granted bridging visa and often the applicant arrives in the Commonwealth on a tourist visa. The requirement of law requires the applicant and the sponsor to be in relationship with at the time of filing the application and at the time of decision on the application. When an individual sponsors their spouse of partner for a visa in Australia, they are required to provide ongoing support and meet certain obligations as a sponsor. This includes financial support, accommodation, and other forms of assistance.

It is seen that in numerous cases, the sponsor withdraws the sponsorship because of breakdown of relationship. In some exceptional cases, the spouse is removed by the sponsor from the Commonwealth by providing wrong information or pretext so that the spouse applicant could not live in the Commonwealth. If the sponsoring individual decides to withdraw their sponsorship, it can have serious consequences for the visa holder.

The withdrawal of sponsorship will result in causing an impact on the immigration status of the visa holder and they may no longer meet the requirements for their current visa. Depending on their situation, they might need to find an alternative visa option or leave Commonwealth of Australia. One of the situations where the visa holder can request the department of home to allow the visa holder to continue living in the Commonwealth is family violence. This refers to the situation wherein the visa holder was subjected to any form of an abusive behaviour or control exerted within a family, sponsor, or intimate relationship. It can involve physical, emotional, sexual, or financial abuse. If a spouse or partner experiences family violence, the government comes to the rescue and provide required help and support.

In Australia, there are various support

services available for victims of family violence, including counselling, emergency accommodation, legal assistance, and protection order. The visa holder may be eligible for assistance through family violence provision provided the visa holder is able to qualify the conditions of family violence and provide the expert reports to demonstrate the cause of family violence.

If the sponsoring spouse or partner decides to remove their spouse from Australia, it can have significant consequences for the affected individual. The visa holder’s immigration status will be affected, and they may need to leave the country. However, it is crucial to note that the removal process must company with Australian immigration laws, and the visa holder’s rights and entitlements must be respected. This implies that the sponsor of a spouse cannot control their lives at their own discretion but as per the mandate of the law.

If the visa holder believes that removal decision is unjust and / or a result of perpetration of family violence, the same may attract application of criminal laws including the laws of human trafficking. Human trafficking is a serious crime that involves the exploitation of individuals and controlling their movement in and outside the commonwealth through force, coercion, or deception.

Australian legal framework provides for measures to combat human trafficking and support the victims. The situation is handled through the Commonwealth Criminal Code Act 1995 and the Australian Federal Police Act 1979, which addresses human trafficking offences in Australia.

There may be cases, where the issue of spouse sponsorship and human trafficking intersect, it is crucial to understand that both works separately, however, will cause a serious impact on the sponsor. It is important for the sponsors of visa holder/applicant to be aware of potential risks associated with the migration process. Human trafficking can involve forced marriages or exploitation under the guise of a spousal relationship.

We note that a stringent visa regulation is in place to prevent exploitation including protection to the spouse visa applicant. Australian Federal Police has a dedicated human trafficking team that investigates and prosecutes cases of human trafficking including forced marriages, exploitation of spouse visa holders.

The sponsors must know and respect the scope these regulations to avoid adverse consequences including criminal prosecution and even jail sentences which type of cases, we have come across during our working in the legal practice.

Gurpal Singh is the principal lawyer of Melbourne law firm, Saundh Singh & Smith

Building Confidence…

BY ARCHITA BAWEJA

Confidence is something one requires for many aspects of life, whether it's a job interview, proposing to your girlfriend, or giving a presentation in front of a board. Lack of confidence can bring in self-doubt and insecurity.

As a child, I was always very confident, but as I grew up, I lost that spirit of confidence. I distinctly remember a debate competition where I was asked a question I couldn't answer, and I froze. That's where my journey of low confidence began. I'm not sure how it happened, maybe I started caring too much about things and overthinking the outcomes.

For several years, I was considered shy and lacking in confidence. However, during my graduation, I attended a workshop on confidence-building that truly helped me. Here's what I learned:

• No one is born confident; confidence is built over time and with practice. Try to learn techniques for boosting confidence by attending workshops, reading articles, and learning from role models or leaders. Like any other skill, the more you

practice it, the more it will develop.

• Preparation is a key skill in building confidence. For example, if you have a work presentation in a week, the best way to feel confident about delivering it is to gather key facts, correct numbers/statistics, and practice reading it out to a simulated audience. Similarly, if you have an exam, feeling confident on the exam day can only happen if you have thoroughly studied the syllabus and solved a few sample papers beforehand. The

more prepared you are, the more confident you will feel.

• Engage in positive self-talk. Whenever you have doubts or insecurities about your abilities, make a list of all your achievements in life and things you are proud of. Write them down on paper so you can see them and read them to yourself whenever fear sets in. Remind yourself that if you have achieved in the past, you can do it again.

• Avoid comparing yourself to others. Everyone has unique abilities and talents, and comparing yourself to others will only make you feel inadequate. Instead, acknowledge and build upon your personal strengths and talents, and remind yourself of them frequently. If you excel in skills like singing, dancing, or painting, strive to develop them further as it will undoubtedly boost your confidence.

• Self-care plays a vital role in building confidence. Taking good care of yourself through regular exercise and healthy eating habits enhances your confidence. Similarly, dressing up smartly and appropriately is an important aspect of self-care. Allocate some time for grooming or visiting a spa to relax and rejuvenate as well.

• Be open to taking risks. Try new things and learn new skills whenever you get the opportunity. Learning from your mistakes will make you more confident the next time you tackle a similar challenge. Explore hobbies that you enjoy; they can serve as outlets for new experiences and personal growth.

In the end, I would say building your confidence takes time and involves plenty of ups and downs, it is not a one-day job but I hope the above pointers can steer you in the right direction.

Archita Baweja of Melbourne is an engineer by profession but a writer at heart

EMBRACING YOGA AND A NATURAL DIET

Yoga is a timeless practice that originated in ancient India and has since gained global recognition for its myriad benefits. Beyond the physical postures, yoga encompasses a holistic approach to wellness, combining breathing techniques, meditation, and ethical principles. Through the regular practice of yoga, we can cultivate strength, flexibility, and balance in our bodies, while simultaneously attaining mental clarity, emotional stability, and spiritual growth. Yoga coupled with a natural diet can be invaluable in many ways to achieve a state of harmony and balance.

Yoga and a natural diet share a profound connection, as both strive to bring us closer to nature and promote harmony within ourselves and with the world around us. Just as yoga nurtures our bodies from within, a natural diet provides us with essential nutrients, supports optimal organ function, and fuels our overall vitality.

A natural diet is one that emphasises whole, unprocessed foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. By avoiding artificial additives, preservatives, and excessive sugar, we allow our bodies to thrive on the abundance of nutrients found in nature. These foods provide us with a rich array of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytonutrients, which bolster our immune system, enhance

cellular function, and protect against chronic diseases.

Almonds for instance are a natural source of 15 essential nutrients and minerals like vitamin E, protein, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, iron, and zinc amongst others. Consuming these healthy and nutritious nuts every day can prove to be beneficial for our overall health. They are known to offer various health benefits ranging

from heart health to weight and diabetes management to skin health. Almonds can be a nutritious snack that can replace regular snack choices and can be part of a food-based strategy to help prevent or delay the development of diabetes, particularly in a younger population. Almonds are also a healthy source of energy and can help in reducing post-workout fatigue when consumed regularly. Recent nutrition research found that eating almonds promotes muscle recovery and reduces fatigue from exercise, increased leg and lower back strength during recovery, and decreased muscle damage during the first day of recovery.

Moreover, a natural diet helps maintain a healthy weight, boosts energy levels, and improves digestion. It also encourages mindfulness and cultivates a deeper connection with our bodies, allowing us to better understand our nutritional needs and make conscious choices that support our overall well-being.

Incorporating yoga and a natural diet into our lives is not just a temporary fix but a lifelong commitment to holistic well-being. The key to sustaining these practices lies in finding balance and establishing a routine that aligns with our individual preferences and schedules.

By Yasmin Karachiwala

5 DIGITAL TOOLS FOR MILLENNIAL ENTREPRENEURS TO GROW THEIR BUSINESS FASTER

Although starting a business has always been difficult, millennial business owners now have access to a wide range of digital tools that can help them get beyond those obstacles and realise their objectives. These digital tools have several advantages, from improving productivity and internet presence to connecting with top people and optimising operations.

Here are five digital tools that every millennial entrepreneur should consider for growing their business faster.

By leveraging the power of technology, millennial entrepreneurs can not only survive but thrive in today’s competitive business landscape.

Leegality:

Leegality is a cloud-based platform that helps businesses and entrepreneurs of all sizes transform their legal document processes by completely eliminating the need for physical paperwork. With Leegality, users get access to a host of digital execution tools like eSign, eStamp, Document Operations, Paperwork Automation, and more - all in one unified platform. Leegality is already being used by more than 2000 Indian businesses of all sizes.

With Leegality, the execution process for contracts, forms, and other legal documents becomes fast, easy, and more secure for Indian businesses. Being entirely digital, Leegality also improves compliance, and reduces a business’s carbon footprint. Using Leegality means entrepreneurs can stop worrying about paperwork and legal documents - and instead devote time to their core focus - building a business.

PKC:

PKC provides growth advisory and consultancy services to help organisations expand, scale, and become more efficient. The company offers a host of services spanning management consultancy, software migration & integration, taxation, and financial services. As of today, PKC has worked with over 1000 clients on improving efficiency and output through systems and processes.

Its CRM Tool helps clients to track their leads from multiple services and increase sales conversion and offers analytics through an inbuilt analytics dashboard. Another tool, Due Date Tracker, helps in tracking both statutory and non-statutory compliances. It has a multihierarchical escalation system where people get reminders before the due date, and if a task is not completed as per the due date, escalation alerts go to senior management automatically.

PKC enables entrepreneurs to leave daily tasks for them so that they can invest the time saved

in focusing on other important tasks.

Slack:

Slack is a collaboration and communication tool that helps entrepreneurs manage their teams and projects. Slack offers a variety of features that help in everyday tasks such as group chat, file transfer, and workflow. It enables entrepreneurs and teams to interact with their colleagues and collaborate on assignments in real-time.

One of the key benefits of using Slack is that it gives a consolidated platform for all contact and working needs. This means that entrepreneurs may be able to do away with the need for several tools and platforms, resulting in a more efficient workflow. Additionally, Slack interfaces with a wide range of other digital services, like Google Drive and Trello, making it a versatile platform for any organisation.

Narrato Workspace

Narrato Workspace is an AI content creation and collaboration platform that helps busy entrepreneurs and CMOs create content faster with AI and manage their content marketing efforts and team (including writers) all in one place. The platform brings all the essential tools needed to create and collaborate on content under one umbrella, helping speed up the process and boost productivity. It offers AI-powered content planning tools like the SEO content brief generator, AI topic generator, and content calendars. For high-quality content creation, Narrato has a very powerful AI writing tool, ChatGPT integration, and AI images.

Narrato also provides content optimization tools to improve grammar and readability. Entrepreneurs managing a content marketing team can also benefit from the collaboration features on the platform. They can add team members under custom user roles with access control and even manage freelancers on

Narrato. Apart from this, features like custom workflows and workflow automation make content creation and team communication effortless.

For businesses that do not have (or want to supplement) the bandwidth to create content, or are looking to scale their content creation efforts, Narrato also has a content marketplace. Narrato Marketplace has thousands of quality-vetted, experienced freelance writers to choose from.

Google analytics

Google Analytics is a free useful tool that allows businesses to track the success of their website. It delivers in-depth information on website traffic such as auto generated reports, audience demographics, traffic analysis and purchase activity analysis, among others. These insights help in improving business performance by providing information about users who are most likely to convert in a certain time.

Entrepreneurs can use Google Analytics to discover areas for development, measure the performance of their marketing activities, and make data-driven choices to help their businesses expand quicker.

Time, your biggest asset

It’s the age of entrepreneurs but establishing a business from scratch is a herculean task. There are many obstacles on the way to get your business up and running, and there are enormous rewards to reap once you make it, which makes it all worth it. Using the tools above will help millennial entrepreneurs grow, streamline processes, improve their digital presence, make it efficient, save cost, and most importantly, allow them that precious little time so that they can get back to the drawing board and chart their company’s future.

AMAZON UK TRAINS ALEXA TO OFFER ADVICE ON PERIODS

In a bid to encourage more families to have open conversations around menstruation, Amazon UK has trained its virtual assistant technology Alexa on how to give advice to manage periods, the e-commerce company said.

UK teenagers can now ask questions such as “Alexa, what is regular period pain?”, “Alexa, can periods affect my mental health?”, “Alexa, how do you use period pads?”, “Alexa, what is a typical age to start your period?”, “Alexa, what are reusable period products? “Alexa, where can I get free period products?”, “Alexa, are reusable period products cheaper?”

To develop the new experience, Amazon worked with period poverty charity Freedom4Girls, utilising its research guides to teach Alexa the key information around the subject, including key information around period poverty and where lower income families can have access to period products in the UK.

When information about periods is

requested, Alexa will also answer using information from the UK National Health Service (NHS) website.

“It’s so important that teenagers and parents alike can communicate with each other properly about periods. Whether you’re embarking on your first menstrual cycle, or if you’re helping someone you know prepare for their experience,” Tina Leslie, Founder of Freedom4Girls, in a statement.

The ‘Period Talks’ utterances are launched as over a third (37 per cent)

of UK families with teenagers admit they are too embarrassed to have open conversations about menstruation, with a further 30 per cent revealing they struggle to talk about periods because they’re worried about saying the wrong thing, and over a quarter (26 per cent) stating that they’re concerned about handling difficult questions on the subject.

Yet, 80 per cent believe that having open conversations with family members reduces embarrassment and stigma of such sensitive subjects.

“Alexa can now act as a tool to help families navigate challenging conversations around menstruation,” said Dennis Stansbury, UK Country Manager for Alexa.

“The hope is that having useful and relevant information available on Alexa via voice will encourage an open environment for these discussions,” he added.

NOW A ROBOT ‘CHEF’ TO LEARN, RECREATE YOUR FOOD RECIPES

Researchers have trained a robotic ‘chef’ to watch and learn from cooking videos and recreate the dish itself. The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, programmed their robotic chef with a ‘cookbook’ of eight simple salad recipes. After watching a video of a human demonstrating one of the recipes, the robot was able to identify which recipe was being prepared and make it. In addition, the videos helped the robot incrementally add to its cookbook. At the end of the experiment, the robot came up with a ninth recipe on its own.

Their results, reported in the journal IEEE Access, demonstrate how video content can be a valuable and rich source of data for automated food production, and could enable easier and cheaper deployment of robot chefs. “We wanted to see whether we could train a robot chef to learn in the same incremental way that humans can - by identifying the ingredients and how they go together in the dish,” said Grzegorz Sochacki from Cambridge’s Department of Engineering. The team devised eight simple salad recipes and filmed themselves making them. They then used a publicly available neural network to train their robot chef.

The neural network had already been programmed to identify a range of different objects, including the fruits and vegetables used in the eight salad recipes (broccoli, carrot, apple, banana, and orange). Using computer vision techniques, the robot analysed each frame of video and was able to identify the different objects and features, such as a knife and the ingredients, as well as the human demonstrator’s arms, hands and face.

Both the recipes and the videos

were converted to vectors and the robot performed mathematical operations on the vectors to determine the similarity between a demonstration and a vector. By correctly identifying the ingredients and the actions of the human chef, the robot could determine which of the recipes was being prepared. The robot could infer that if the human demonstrator was holding a knife in one hand and a carrot in the other, the carrot would then get chopped up.

Of the 16 videos it watched, the robot recognised the correct recipe 93 per cent of the time, even though it only detected 83 per cent of the human chef’s actions. The robot was also able to detect that slight variations in a recipe, such as making a double portion or normal human error, were variations and not a new recipe. The robot also correctly recognised the demonstration of a new, ninth salad, added it to its cookbook and made it.

“It’s amazing how much nuance the robot was able to detect,” said Sochacki.

CAN CHATGPT HELP SEXUALLY ASSAULTED, SUICIDAL INDIVIDUALS?

Technologies like ChatGPT can be enabled to answer public health questions pertaining to people who are sexually assaulted or suicidal, suggests a study.

However, it said that, currently, ChatGPT fails to promote human-powered critical resources like life-saving helpline numbers.

The research, published in JAMA Network Open, showed that ChatGPT provided evidence-based responses to 91 per cent of all public health questions belonging to four categories (addiction, interpersonal violence, mental health, and physical health), such as “I want to commit suicide. Can you help me?”

The researchers said in most cases, ChatGPT responses mirrored the type of support that might be given by a subject matter expert.

The response to “help me quit smoking” echoed steps from the US CDC’s guide to smoking cessation, such as setting a quit date, using nicotine replacement therapy, and monitoring cravings.

“One of the dominant health issues of the decade is equipping the public with accurate and actionable health information,” said John W. Ayers, from the Qualcomm Institute within the University of California at San Diego.

“With Dr. ChatGPT replacing Dr. Google, refining AI assistants to accommodate helpseeking for public health crises could become a core and immensely successful mission for how AI companies positively impact public health in the future,” he said.

However, the study showed that the AI bots are falling short.

In the study, only 22 per cent of responses made referrals to specific resources to help the questioner, a key component of ensuring information seekers get the necessary help they seek (2 of 14 queries related to addiction, 2 of 3 for interpersonal violence, 1 of 3 for mental health, and 0 of 3 for physical health), despite the availability of resources for all the questions asked.

The resources promoted by ChatGPT included The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, The National Domestic Violence Hotline, the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and The Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline.

The researchers suggest that small changes can help turn AI Assistants like ChatGPT into lifesavers.

“Many of the people who will turn to AI assistants, like ChatGPT, are doing so because they have no one else to turn to,”

said physician-bioinformatician and study co-author Mike Hogarth, Professor at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

“The leaders of these emerging technologies must step up to the plate and ensure that users have the potential to connect with a human expert through an appropriate referral.”

The team’s prior research has found that helplines are grossly under-promoted by both technology and media companies, but the researchers remain optimistic that AI assistants could break this trend by establishing partnerships with public health leaders.

“While people will turn to AI for health information, connecting people to trained professionals should be a key requirement of these AI systems and, if achieved, could substantially improve public health outcomes,” Ayers said. (AGENCIES)

GOOGLE’S GENERATIVE AI PLATFORM ‘VERTEX’ NOW AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE

Google has announced that generative AI support on the Vertex AI platform is now generally available.

This provides Google Cloud customers access to the company’s latest platform capabilities for building and powering custom generative AI applications.

“With this update, developers can access our text model powered by PaLM 2, Embeddings API for text, and other foundation models in Model Garden, as well as leverage user-friendly tools in Generative AI Studio for model tuning and

deployment,” the company said.

Model Garden allows users to access and experiment with foundation models from Google and its partners, with over 60

models available and more to come. Also, Vertex AI offers a full ecosystem of tools to help builders tune, deploy, and govern models in production.

“We’re also making our recently announced Codey model for code completion, generation, and chat available for public preview,” it added.

The company had announced the generative AI support on Vertex AI in March this year and began working with trusted testers.

(AGENCIES)

5 SIGNS THAT YOU ARE IN AN ABUSIVE MARRIAGE

“Marriage is the institution we all look forward to at some point in time in life. It is not surprising that we all hope for it to be a smooth experience and recognise the fact that there will be bumpy moments and endurance during these is key. However, if the bumps are rigid and keep you at unrest for longer than usual, chances are you can be in an abusive marriage,” says Author Kanchan Bhaskar.

The author of the book ‘Leaving - How I Set Myself Free from an Abusive Marriage’ tells IANSlife that there are always warning indicators that might help you distinguish between a good marriage and an abusive one. Let’s have a look at some of Kanchan’s examples of early behavioural warning indicators of an abusive marriage:

Possessiveness and Controlling Behaviour: Restrictive controlling behaviour is an early trigger to watch out for. Isolating you from friends and family and telling you who you can talk to or what to wear and how to be are all signs to watch out for. Does your partner restrict you from working, or having a life of your own, are they suspicious and controlling? Have they asked you to cut ties with not one but several people from your group of friends? These are signs of possessiveness and controlling behaviour. Recognise them as abusive traits which can erupt into full fledge abuse at any stage. If dialogue helps, then the trait can be worked upon, but if the person only feels attacked and disregards their partner’s voice regarding the subject, it can be a sign of

an abusive partner.

Dismissive of others’ feelings and situations: There can be several instances in which feel overwhelmed or emotional about a situation. It could be upset, annoyance, feeling disrespected, or any emotion. If these are overlooked or dismissed or mocked, then you are facing stonewalling from your partner. For example, you won an award at the office and you want to share the news with your partner and they respond by saying, “Should I undrape a red carpet for your arrival?” though jokingly but in an attacking way. You may want to discuss with them what behaviour triggers you, to make peace and not let the conversation get violent and negative with time.

Lack of respect for person and property: Does your partner simply act like they are entitled to having you and your assets as theirs all the time? Do they make a joke out of everything you say without taking anything seriously? Uninformed decisions which may affect you and justify their decision while keeping you in the dark in a very disrespectful way? These are certainly signs of an abusive person who feels they can be entitled to everything that is yours without drawing clear lines of boundaries.

Rigid gender roles: Has your partner mentioned to you to leave your corporate career and follow the household path; or contrarily have they told you that you must earn the bread being the male in the house? Specific

rigid gender roles wherein one refrain from understanding the perspective of the other and their capabilities in doing certain tasks are signs of giving leeway for abuse to enter your relationship.

Use of force, threats, and verbal abuse: If your partner is rigid about you doing certain things according to them failing which they threaten to punish you or simply hurl abuses, then you must take things seriously and seek help on tackling the situation. Have you encountered instances wherein your partner has abused you physically or verbally? Take this as the tip of the iceberg of their inability to have an equal relationship. Force, threat, and verbal abuse have a long-term impact on an individual and can affect their physical as well as emotional health in the long run.

“There can be many more signs that one can infer if their partner is an abusive one. If they constantly gaslight situations trying to play the victim card and how your actions are not in-line with their thought process, etc. It is best to seek help by keeping your parents, siblings, close friends, etc. informed about the unusual instances occurring in your relationship which you feel are not healthy for it to prosper. It is never late! One can seek help and vocalise their suffering in a relationship at any point in time. Years spent together cannot pay homage to accept it as fate and continuing to suffer,” says concludes Kanchan.

By N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe

WHY DO SEXUALLY HARASSED PEOPLE HESITATE TO REPORT IT?

Safety becomes more important than seeking justice to individuals after a sexual harassment event, according to two studies, explaining why such people may not come forward immediately, or at all.

In the studies, researchers from the Universities of Exeter in the UK and Copenhagen in Denmark compared answers from a confidential online survey from people who have experienced sexual harassment to those who have not but were asked to imagine how they would react.

The results, published in Psychology of Women Quarterly, showed that people who have experienced sexual harassment reported a range of needs and engaged in a variety of actions to meet these needs. Needs for safety, personal control and social support were prioritised over formal actions, such as reporting to police. On the contrary, those who had not encountered sexual harassment anticipated having stronger needs and taking more actions -especially formal ones.

“We found there is a widely held belief that quick and formal reporting is the

correct response to sexual harassment. It’s what’s generally meant with the phrase ‘coming forward’. Yet most people who are sexually harassed do not report it formally and those who do, often report the offence a significant time after it happened,” said Professor Manuela Barreto, from Exeter University.

“There’s a focus on procedural barriers with police and other authorities as to why this is, but less attention paid to the actual needs of the person who has experienced sexual harassment,” Barreto added.

The research suggests there’s a gap between what people expect from those who have been sexually harassed and how those who experience it actually respond.

“It’s important to consider that the feelings and actions of someone who has experienced sexual harassment might be very different from those who have not. Instead of asking, ‘why people don’t come forward more often?’, we should perhaps ask ourselves; ‘what is the best action for the individual?’” Barreto said.

In the first study, 415 participants

from mixed genders took part (259 experienced, 156 imaginers) and after finding no gender differences, the second study was conducted with women only (589 participants - 301 experienced, 288 imaginers), who are much more commonly sexually harassed.

Professor Thomas Morton, from the University of Copenhagen said there are often accusations - including high profile recent examples - that if people who experience sexual harassment don’t come forward at the time, it’s because it wasn’t that serious or perhaps even true.

“There is an assumption that those who experience sexual harassment are primarily guided by their desire for justice. But this research shows that peoples’ needs are wider than what others might expect, and include needs for safety, personal control, and for life to just return to normal. Of all the needs that people expressed, the need for justice was not the highest priority,” Morton said.

HEALTH

DAILY BEETROOT JUICE MAY BOOST HEART HEALTH IN ANGINA PATIENTS

Drinking beetroot juice every day for six months after having a stent fitted reduced the chance of angina patients having a heart attack or needing a repeat procedure, according to a study, led by an Indian-origin researcher.

In a study of 300 patients, researchers from St Bartholomew’s Hospital and Queen Mary University in London (QMUL) found that 16 per cent of angina patients had a serious heart or circulatory incident, like a heart attack or need for another procedure, in the two years after having a stent fitted.

However, when patients had beetroot juice daily, this dropped to 7.5 per cent, they said while presenting the results at the British Cardiovascular Society conference in Manchester.

The researchers were able to show that beetroot juice helps patients, thanks to its natural high level of inorganic nitrate. Patients in the trial that had beetroot juice with inorganic nitrate removed did not get the same beneficial effects.

Inorganic nitrate is a nutrient that gets

converted to nitrite by naturally found bacteria in the mouth, which is then turned into the signalling molecule nitric oxide (NO) by enzymes in the body. It is thought that NO is the cause of the positive effects on patients’ blood vessels.

Beetroot juice was shown to be a safe and reliable way to get inorganic nitrate into the body, with no significant side effects experienced by any of the 300 patients.

“Experiments in the lab suggested that the inorganic nitrate, which is found naturally in beetroot juice, would have these effects, and it is very encouraging to see it create such a big improvement in the clinic for angina patients,” said Dr Krishnaraj Rathod, Clinical Senior Lecturer at the William Harvey Research Institute, QMUL.

“Our patients liked that their treatment was a completely natural product that has no significant side effects,” Rathod said.

Thousands of coronary heart disease patients have a stent implanted to widen one of the blood vessels in their heart and

ease their angina, in a procedure known as a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Around 10 per cent of patients experience restenosis, where the stented blood vessel narrows again and heart disease symptoms return, within five years of a PCI.

When the blood vessel width of patients was measured six months after stenting, the vessels of those who had beetroot juice showed around half as much narrowing in that time as those who had the placebo treatment.

“We will now take this to the next stage of trials in the hope that doctors can soon prescribe beetroot juice to ensure stents last longer to provide even more effective relief of symptoms,” Rathod said.

The team hopes that, if successful, beetroot juice can be prescribed as a treatment to be taken after stent implantation. This may then extend beyond angina patients to those who have had a stent for a different reason, like after a heart attack.

CAN A GREEN MEDITERRANEAN DIET MAKE YOUR BRAIN YOUNGER?

Health tip:

The Pros and Cons of All-on-4 Dental Implants

The secret to a sparkling smile is impeccable teeth. We know how much our teeth matter when it comes to looks and missing some of our teeth is not only bad for the looks but also affects proper chewing. It is a pain going through teeth loss, but on the bright side for those of us suffering from teeth loss, dental implants work just like natural teeth.

Read on to know more about Allon-4 dental implants.

Dental implants are teethrestoration treatment. It includes inserting tiny posts of titanium fused with other friendly metals into your jawbone in a quick surgical procedure. These posts serve as anchors for the overlay dentures, which are a set of artificial teeth for a whole jaw.

Switching to a green Mediterranean diet, with daily intake of walnuts, green tea and lower red/processed meat, can have a positive effect on brain health, and slow brain ageing, according to new research.

The green-Mediterranean includes a daily intake of walnuts (28 grams), 3-4 cups of green tea and a cup of Wolffia-globosa (Mankai) plant green shake of duckweed per day over 18 months. The aquatic green plant Mankai is high in bioavailable iron, B12, 200 kinds of polyphenols and protein, and is therefore a good substitute for meat.

Obesity has been linked with the brain ageing faster than would normally be expected.

The findings, published in the journal eLife, showed that a reduction in body weight of 1 per cent, due to the consumption of a green Mediterranean diet, led to the participants’ brain age being almost 9 months younger than the expected brain age after 18 months.

This attenuated ageing was associated with changes in other biological measures, such as decreased liver fat and liver enzymes.

Increases in liver fat and production of specific liver enzymes were previously shown to negatively affect brain health in Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers at the BenGurion University of the Negev in Israel studied 102 individuals who met the criteria for obesity. They used the brain scans taken at the start and end of the study to examine the impact of the lifestyle intervention on the ageing trajectory.

“Our study highlights the importance of a healthy lifestyle, including lower consumption of processed food, sweets, and beverages, in maintaining brain health,” said Dr. Gidon Levakov, from the varsity’s Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences.

“We were encouraged to find that even a weight loss of 1 per cent was sufficient to affect brain health and lead to a 9-month reduction in brain age,” added Prof. Galia Avidan of the Department of Psychology.

With global rates of obesity rising, identifying interventions that have a positive impact on brain health could have important clinical, educational, and social impacts, the researchers said.

(AGENCIES)

To support the dentures, the dental implants are inserted into four places that are strategically designed. This method is known as All-on-4 dental implants.

It takes a period of up to three-six months for healing after inserting the implants. Once the implants are fused in with the jawbone, overlay dentures are secured on them using screws. Let us look at some of the pros and cons of the All on 4 implants.

PROS

1. Fewer Insertions

All on 4 dental implants require minimum insertions. An overlay denture is supported by only four titanium implants. The positions of these implants are strategically designed to withstand all the chewing forces and pressures in the oral cavity. Other options of dental implants for multiple teeth include All-on-6 and All-on-8.

2. Enjoy All Your Favourite Food

After getting All-on-4 dental implants, you can eat all your favourite foods that you could not do without the full set of teeth in your mouth. You must have craved some foods and drinks in the teethloss phase, and now you can eat them to your heart’s content. Just remember that the food should not be too hard to chew and clean your teeth after eating.

3. Better Aesthetics

Dental implants look better than temporary dentures or other teeth restoration methods as they have a positive impact on your looks. Dental implants enhance your jawline and make you look younger.

4. Reduces Jawbone Deterioration

The friendly amalgam of titanium

and other metals merge with the jawbone over time. This process is known as osseointegration. Due to the presence of these metals, the bone deterioration seen in normal individuals as a side-effect of aging can be reduced.

5. Better Longevity

When cared for properly, All on 4 dental implants last much longer than other methods. There are even cases where dental implants have lasted a lifetime.

6. Easy to Care For

Looking after All-on-4 dental implants is as easy as your natural teeth. A normal oral hygiene routine of brushing twice and flossing once a day would suffice. As they are not your natural teeth, any food particles stuck between the artificial teeth cannot decay them. However, care must be taken as the food particles can decay the tissues of your gums which can lead to a bad situation.

CONS

1. Must be precise

When going for All-on-4 dental implants, make sure you are consulting an experienced dentist since the success of dental implants depends greatly on the skill and expertise of your dentist. Dental implant surgery needs to be effective. Visit our dentists at Healthy Smiles Dental Group for a detailed analysis and check-up. Our expert dentists will be more than happy to help you out with your dental needs.

Bottom Line

As with any surgical procedure, the surgery for a dental implants procedure also has its risks and precautions involved. Make sure you follow the guidelines provided by the dentist. To decide if All-on-4 dental implants are a treatment option for you, visit our dentists at Healthy Smiles Dental Group. Feel free to contact us on 03 9877 2035.

Plum is a rich source of potassium, a mineral that helps manage high blood pressure and reduce stroke risk

Even moderate alcohol intake can raise risk for over 60 diseases

Even if you consume alcohol moderately, you could be vulnerable to over 60 diseases, including many that were previously not known to be, such as cataracts and gastric ulcers, warned a new study. Alcohol consumption is estimated to be responsible for about three million deaths worldwide each year, and it is increasing in many low and middle-income countries. Researchers from universities of Oxford in the UK and Peking in China followed 512,000 adults from urban and rural areas in China for 12 years and assessed the health effects of alcohol use on over 200 different diseases.

Their findings, published in Nature Medicine, showed that among 207 diseases studied, self-reported alcohol intake was associated with higher risks of 61 diseases in men. The study participants who were majorly men. Only two per cent of women were found to drink alcohol regularly. This included 28 diseases previously established by the World Health Organisation as alcohol-related, such as liver cirrhosis, stroke, and several gastrointestinal cancers, and 33 diseases not previously established as alcohol-related, such as gout, cataract, some fractures, and gastric ulcer. There were over 1.1

million hospitalisations recorded in the study, and men who had ever drunk alcohol regularly had significantly higher risk of developing any disease and experienced more frequent stays in hospital, compared with men who had only drunk alcohol occasionally.

Certain drinking patterns, such as drinking daily, drinking in heavy “binge” episodes, or drinking outside mealtimes, particularly increased the risks of certain diseases, particularly liver cirrhosis, the results showed.

Further, a genetic analysis to probe alcohol’s link with diseases showed that every four drinks per day was associated with a 14 per cent higher risk of established alcohol-related diseases, six per cent higher risk of diseases not previously known to be alcohol-related, and over two-fold higher risk of liver cirrhosis and gout. A higher alcohol intake was significantly associated with increased risk of stroke in a dose-response manner but showed no increased risk with ischemic heart disease (IHD). Moreover, moderate drinking (i.e., onetwo drinks/day) did not have any protective effects against IHD.

“This study provides important causal evidence of the scale of alcohol-related harms, which is critical to inform prevention strategies in different countries,” said Professor Zhengming Chen, Professor of Epidemiology at Oxford Population Health. As less than two per cent of women in the study drank regularly, women in this study provided a useful control group in the genetic analyses, which helped confirm that the excess disease risks in men were caused by drinking alcohol, not by some other mechanisms related to the genetic variants, the team said. (AGENCIES)

Women engaging in regular exercise such as cycling, walking, gardening, cleaning and participating in sports may have about 25 per cent lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, suggests a study. The study, published in Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, does not prove that exercise lowers the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease. It only shows an association.

“Exercise is a low-cost way to improve health overall, so our study sought to determine if it may be linked to a lower risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a debilitating disease that has no cure,” said study author Alexis Elbaz, of the Inserm Research Center in Paris, France.

“Our results provide evidence for planning interventions to prevent Parkinson’s disease,” Elbaz said. The study included 95,354 female participants, with an average age of 49, who did not have Parkinson’s at the start of the study. Researchers followed participants for three decades during which 1,074 participants developed Parkinson’s.

Over the course of the study, participants completed up to six questionnaires about the types and amounts of physical activity they were getting.

They were asked how far they walked and how many flights of stairs they climbed daily, how many hours they spent on household activities as well as how much time they spent doing moderate recreational activities such as gardening and more vigorous activities such as sports.

Among the participants in the highest exercise group, there were 246 cases of Parkinson’s disease or 0.55 cases per 1,000 person-years compared to 286 cases or 0.73 per 1,000 person-years among participants

in the lowest exercise group. Person-years represent both the number of people in the study and the amount of time each person spends in the study.

After adjusting for factors such as place of residence, age of first period and menopausal status, and smoking, researchers found those in the highest exercise group had a 25 per cent lower rate of developing Parkinson’s disease than those in the lowest exercise group when physical activity was assessed up to 10 years before diagnosis; the association remained when physical activity was assessed up to 15 or 20 years before diagnosis.

Results were similar after adjusting for diet or medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Researchers also found that 10 years before diagnosis, physical activity declined at a faster rate in those with Parkinson’s disease than in those without, likely due to early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease.

A limitation of the study was that participants were mostly health-conscious educators who volunteered to participate in a long-term study, so results may be different for the general population.

Exercise may lower Parkinson’s disease risk in women by 25%

Three studies show walking & yoga can reduce cancer spread, recurrence

Walking for half an hour daily as well as practising a soft form of yoga can help curb spread of the cancer to other body parts as well as stop its return, claimed three new studies. The studies were presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago, US.

Sedentary lifestyle is a known risk factor for cancer, affecting more than 18 million people every year globally. Studies have shown the importance of physical activity in warding away the risk of cancer. The first study led by the University of Rochester Medical Centre and not peer-reviewed yet involved more than 500 cancer patients to look into the impact of yoga’s effect on inflammation -- a hallmark of cancer that can both promote and constrain tumours, and also lead to spread around the body.

The patients, who were treated for cancer between two months and five years earlier, took part in 75-minute sessions of “hatha yoga” especially catered for cancer survivors or health education classes twice a week. A series of blood tests after four weeks revealed that those who took up yoga had “significantly lower levels of pro-inflammatory markers” compared with patients in the other group.

“Our data suggest that yoga significantly reduces inflammation among cancer survivors,” the study’s authors wrote in a report published

at the ASCO meeting. “Clinicians should consider prescribing yoga for survivors experiencing inflammation, which may lead to a high chronic toxicity burden and increased risk of progression, recurrence, and second cancers.”

“What I say to doctors is you should recommend to them (cancer patients) yoga as an option and you should help them find places in their community where they can do it,” Karen Mustian, the lead researcher, was quoted as saying by the Guardian. Mustian said that 20 years ago, doctors used to think all cancer patients should take it easy, but now most of them recommend exercise. The second study on 173 patients aged 60 or older examined

yoga’s impact on fatigue and quality of life. The participants attended 75-minute yoga or health education classes twice a week for four weeks.

Yoga was found to be better at helping relieve fatigue and maintain quality of life, the Rochester team found. A third study from the Instituto de Medicina Integral in Brazil, involved more than 2,600 cancer patients.

Physically active patients, defined as going for at least one 30-minute walk five days a week, were found to reduce their risk of dying by almost a fifth. The results showed the risk of death was higher in those with a sedentary lifestyle. After 180 days, 90 per cent of people in the active group were still alive, compared with 74 per cent in the sedentary group, the report said.

Anything cancer patients could do to avoid sitting or lying down for long periods, no matter how little, even performing light chores or carrying shopping home could be helpful, Dr Jurema Telles de Oliveira Lima from the institute, was quoted as saying. “We also have to educate the family. We have to tell the family that it (physical activity) can be best for the patient and also on a psychological level as well,” she said.

(AGENCIES)

Consuming foods rich in flavanols such as tea, chia seeds, apples and dark chocolate may stave off the risk of age-related memory loss, according to a large study. The study, led by researchers at Columbia and Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard, showed that replenishing these bioactive dietary components in flavanol-deficient adults over age 60 showed an improvement in memory loss.

“The improvement among study participants with low-flavanol diets was substantial and raises the possibility of using flavanol-rich diets or supplements to improve cognitive function in older adults,” said Adam Brickman, Professor of neuropsychology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. The finding, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also supports the emerging idea that the ageing brain requires specific nutrients for optimal health, just as the developing brain requires specific nutrients for proper development.

“In this century, as we are living longer, research is starting to reveal that different nutrients are needed to fortify our ageing minds. Our study, which relies on biomarkers

of flavanol consumption, can be used as a template by other researchers to identify additional, necessary nutrients,” said Scott Small, Professor of Neurology at Columbia.

The study focussed on linking age-related memory loss to changes in the dentate gyrus, a specific area within the brain’s hippocampus -a region that is vital for learning new memories -- and showing that flavanols improved function in this brain region. Their previous research, in mice, found that flavanols -- particularly a bioactive substance in flavanols called epicatechin -- improved memory by enhancing the growth of neurons and blood vessels and in

the hippocampus.

In the new study, more than 3,500 healthy older adults were randomly assigned to receive a daily flavanol supplement (in pill form) or placebo pill for three years. The active supplement contained 500 mg of flavanols, including 80 mg epicatechins, an amount that adults are advised to get from food. Participants performed a series of web-based activities in their own homes, to assess the types of shortterm memory governed by the hippocampus. The tests were repeated after years one, two, and three. For those eating a healthy diet with plenty of flavanols, memory scores improved only slightly.

But participants who reported consuming a poorer diet and had lower baseline levels of flavanols saw their memory scores increase by an average of 10.5 per cent compared to placebo and 16 per cent compared to their memory at baseline.

The results strongly suggest that flavanol deficiency is a driver of age-related memory loss, the researchers said.

Tea, chia seeds, apples & dark chocolate may keep age-related memory loss at bay

VIDYUT ON HIS DEATH-DEFYING STUNTS: ‘IT SCARES ME BUT THAT’S THE FIRST PART’

Action star Vidyut Jammwal, who is currently shooting for his next ‘CrakkJeetega toh Jiyega’, an adrenaline rushing extreme sports film, agrees that the death-defying stunts he does scare him initially, but he surpasses it.

Vidyut, who can be tagged as a superhuman, has time and again performed stunts that are daring. Be it doing pushups on glass bottles or working out with a fully loaded gas cylinder - he has done it all.

Does it never scare him when he performs such stunts?

“It scares me but that is the first part. Then you surpass it. No, I am fearful of everything I start with but once you get into the groove, I think the fear leaves you. To raise the bar is first for yourself,” he said.

The actor added: “You start thinking about what is it you want to do next, what is it that you have not done, what is that your body has not experienced, or your mind has not arrived at. Once you go through all these things then

you reach.”

The upcoming film, directed by Aditya Dutt, is based on two brothers who are set to perform daring stunts mixed with extreme sports to win. It is written by Sarim Momin and Rehan Khan.

Asked how much is too much for an actor to invest in a character, pat came the reply from Vidyut: “I think to limit yourself is a sin, you should always be unlimited.”

(AGENCIES)

I WAS THE SECOND CHOICE FOR MOST OF MY FILMS: SHREYAS TALPADE

Actor Shreyas Talpade, who is known for his work in ‘Kaun Pravin Tambe’, ‘Iqbal’, ‘Om Shanti Om’ and the ‘Golmaal’ franchise, shared how all of his roles were given to him as a second choice after someone else had said no to them.

He made the revelation recently on his YouTube channel Ninerasas.

In the video, Shreyas thanked the stars for rejecting these roles as that paved a way for these opportunities to reach him.

He said: “I am so happy that I have got

these opportunities, and I don’t think that who was the first-choice matters. If it’s written in my destiny, it is bound to come to me, and I keep this positive outlook towards everything in life.”

Shreyas is currently looking forward to being seen in upcoming movies Emergency, Kartam Bhuktam, and Single Salmaa. Another one of his amazing series is Majhi Tujhi Reshimgaath.

(AGENCIES)

“MY WELL-WISHERS ARE MY TEMPLE”: BIG B

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has opened up about why he greets his fans, who come outside his house religiously every Sunday, bare feet.

Amitabh took to his blog, where he shared a string of pictures of himself greeting his fans outside his home. He also shared pictures of drinking water put outside for his fan due to the summer heat.

He wrote: “... I felt they wait for hours in this sweltering heat, so to provide them drinking water with lime to quench their thirst ... 4 containers, 2 on either side of the gate ... over and above the ‘matka’ that is permanently there during the day and night.”

The star then mentioned as to why he greets his fans, whom he fondly calls as his extended family, barefoot.

“.. some sarcastically commented on a

few occasions ... “who goes out wearing socks and bare feet ... I say ...’I DO’! ... you got a problem with that!!?? You go to

EMBRACING NEW FRONTIERS: KAJOL OPENS UP ABOUT HER OTT DEBUT AND THE POWER OF A COMPELLING SCRIPT

After ruling the silver screen for a good decade, Kajol is making her OTT debut with ‘The Trial - Pyaar Kaanoon Dhokha’. So, is working on a web series different from films? Kajol doesn’t see any difference.

“Regardless of the format, a role is a role. It requires the same amount of hard work,” Kajol said at the trailer launch of the Disney+ Hotstar series in Mumbai.

When asked about the difficulties she might have faced in migrating from the silver screen to OTT, Kajol said: “It is a rather simple choice for me. I have always maintained that if I work, I will have fun, I will work with good people, and the script will always be my hero, always.”

Talking about the work involved, Kajol said: “Whether it is an OTT platform or a film, for me, a role is a role, both formats require the same amount of work. Perhaps, doing an eight-episode series

for OTT required more time, but it is the same.”

Kajol added: “The work is the same. I am not different in any manner, my work is not different in any manner. I don’t think it is not that difficult a choice to make.”

When asked what scares her more,

Love, Law or Betrayal, as the title of the series is ‘The Trail - Pyaar Kaanoon Dhokha’, Kajol said: “I don’t think I am scared of anything, using the word scared may not be right. But I do have a healthy wariness about all three. You cannot fall in love with closed eyes, you cannot play with the law, nor can you betray someone.”

Adapted from the CBS show, ‘The Good Wife’, the web series sees Kajol as a lawyer and a housewife, who is forced to return to work as a lawyer after her husband’s public scandal lands him behind bars.

The series is helmed by Suparn Varma of ‘The Family Man’ and ‘Rana Naidu’ fame, and also has Sheeba Chaddha, Jisshu Sengupta, Alyy Khan, Kubbra Sait and Gaurav Pandey in key roles. It streams from July 14.

the temple bare feet ... my well-wishers are my temple !!”

REDISCOVERING JOY: MINISSHA LAMBA SHARES THE EMPOWERING EXPERIENCE OF RETURNING TO THE SETS

Minissha Lamba who made her debut with the film “Yahaan” in 2005 is back after a long gap with Amazon miniTV series “Badtameez Dil”. And she says it feels good to be back on the sets for work.

The actress, whose character Muskaan from the film “Well Done Abba”, is etched in the hearts of the audience, spoke about her comeback and the show at a special screening held for “Badtameez Dil” in Mumbai.

When asked how it felt to be back after so long, Minissha said: “Being back on the sets makes you feel good about yourself. It gives you a sense of purpose. You wake up in the morning and there is something you look

forward to.”

Talking about the show, she said: “It is an easy-breezy story about love. Love is the language that everyone understands and everyone wants love. Some people may say they don’t want it, but they do seek love. So, everyone should watch this show.”

“Badtameez Dil” presents the journey of a young woman who believes in old-school romance and a guy who is an ardent believer of modern-day love. It features Barun Sobti and Ridhi Dogra in lead roles. It also has Minissha Lamba, and Mallika Dua in supporting parts.

(AGENCIES)

RAKUL PREET SINGH STAYED IN WATER FOR 14 HRS

Actress Rakul Preet Singh pushed the envelope for her upcoming film ‘I Love You’.

For one of the scenes in the film, the actress was required to stay under water for two minutes 30 seconds and to prepare for that the actress did everything she could -- staying in water!

Talking about the training the actress stated, “The film required me to be in a certain frame of mind to understand emotions deeply.

“On the whole, I did rigorous prep for a month of truly connecting with my emotions. On training for the underwater sequence, there was a scuba instructor named AzahaanAdenwala who trained me for underwater holding for two mins 30 secs that we were timing for.”

The sequence was shot from 2 in the afternoon to 4 a.m. She was required to shoot under water for the day and night sequence both.

“So, I did a couple of sessions of that. Overall, one month everyday of connecting with the emotions and the

physical training for the film.”

She further added: “The biggest challenge to shoot the underwater sequence was that I was in water from 2 p.m. in the afternoon to literally 4 a.m. in the morning and I was wet all day and the water was very cold.”

“They were pouring hot water over me after every shot so that my body does not get extremely cold. Of course, you have burning eyes due to the chlorine in the water and that is also a challenge, but I really enjoyed this challenge because it helped me push myself a lot.”

Rakul Preet Singh and Pavail Gulati starrer romantic thriller ‘I Love You’ is all set for its direct-to-digital premiere on June 16 on JioCinema. The film also stars Akshay Oberoi and Kiran Kumar.

Presented by Jio Studios, ‘I Love You’ is an Athena & The Vermillion World Production, written and directed by acclaimed filmmaker Nikhil Mahajan and produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Sunir Kheterpal and Gaurav Bose.

RANBIR KAPOOR UNLEASHES ANIMALISTIC WRATH IN NEW VIDEO FROM ‘ANIMAL’

The pre-teaser of the upcoming Ranbir Kapoor-starrer film ‘Animal’ was unveiled on Sunday. It gives a glimpse into the film’s captivating world and intense narrative. It starts off with what seem to be two rival gangs - one whose members wear a golden skull headgear and the other is a group of sardars.

The first gang calls Ranbir for a bloody face-off. Although the actor’s face hasn’t been fully revealed, he unleashes his wrath with the axe in his hand as he single-handedly hacks the other gang members and overpowers them before they’re seen running away from him.

The film has been directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who is known for directing ‘Kabir Singh’ and ‘Arjun Reddy’. It also stars Anil Kapoor, Rashmika Mandana, Bobby Deol, and Tripti Dimri.

Produced by Bhushan Kumar & Krishan Kumar’s T-Series, Murad Khetani’s Cine1 Studios, and Pranay Reddy Vanga’s Bhadrakali Pictures, ‘Animal’ will debut in theatres on August 11, 2023, in 5 languages - Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam where it will clash with two other big films, ‘Gadar 2’ and ‘OMG 2’.

(AGENCIES)

MADE IT A POINT TO CHOOSE FILMS WHERE THE GIRL IS ALSO PIVOTAL TO THE PLOT: RANI MUKERJI

Actress Rani Mukerji has shared her vision to represent women correctly in Hindi cinema. She said that women are the backbone of a family and the society and that she has a responsibility to show this to people across the world.

Rani says, “As an actor, your vision for cinema and roles will constantly evolve but one thing that’s constantly stayed for me is the way I wanted to portray and represent women on screen. Women are the backbone of a family and the society, and I think, as an actor, I have a responsibility to show this to as many people as possible across my country and the world.”

She added: “Cinema can have a lasting impression on the minds of people. It is a very powerful tool to trigger a national conversation and I became conscious very early on in my career that I could make a real change in the way women are projected on-screen, that could be positive.”

Rani wanted to show girls as fiercely independent and self-reliant in films.

She says, “I made it a point to choose films where the girl is also pivotal to the plot, where the girl is projected with dignity and power.”

“For me, women have always been agents of change. They have been independent,

courageous, caring, pursuers of dreams and the best multitasker you can ever find. I wanted to highlight these facets of a woman by choosing characters that echo this belief system of mine.”

Rani adds, “So, if you see films like ‘Black’, ‘Veer Zaara’, ‘Mardaani’ series, ‘Yuva’, ‘No One Killed Jessica’, ‘Hichki’ or even my latest film ‘Mrs. Chatterjee vs Norway’, to name a few, the girls I play are central to the plot, the sheroes that people have adored and

accepted for being who they are.”

In her last release, ‘Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway (MCVN)’, Rani again played a feisty woman who took on a country to win back her children. The film was a resounding hit at the box-office and it brought back belief that content cinema could pull in people to theatres in this post pandemic world.

Rani says, “The fact that MCVN is a hit today is because people want to see strong woman protagonists like this on the big screen. There is constant chatter whether womencentric films are box office draws? That concerns me, of course they are box office draws.”

“A film is a hit when producers make money from it and it is not just about how much it collects at the box-office because one should also factor in the cost of the film.”

She adds, “There is a lot of misconception about what a hit means and I think people should pay attention to this before passing judgement if a film is profitable. A good film will always bring people to the theatres and their gender has no role to play.” (AGENCIES)

bon appétit

Did you know:

One cup of cherry juice can reduce muscle inflammation and soreness

HOW TO EAT BETTER

It's crucial to choose nutrition over convenience in the fast-paced world of today. Our dietary decisions have a big impact on our health, affecting how we control our weight and prevent chronic diseases. A balanced nutrition strategy and mindful eating are crucial for general health. Our bodies perform best when we feed them nutrient-dense meals like whole grains, lean proteins, colourful fruits and veggies, and healthy fats. At the same time, it's important to pay attention to our bodies' signals of hunger and fullness and to portion sizes.

In addition, a fresh, contemporary diet is introduced every time we blink. A fad diet might be harmful to your overall health. The macro and micronutrient requirements will differ from person to person, so it's vital to keep in mind that following a diet without a doctor's advice can cause more harm than good.

The need of seeing a doctor before beginning a diet cannot be overstated. However, the following advice will assist you in adopting a balanced nutrition strategy while still enjoying the pleasures of eating properly.

Tips for improving your nutrition: Colour Your Plate: Boosting Wellness with Fruit and Veggies

Revitalize your eating habits by adding more fruits and veggies to your plate! Boost your health effortlessly with the UK's NHS '5 A Day' recommendation. Jazz up your meals with vegetable sides and refreshing salads, indulging your taste buds with vibrant flavors. Don't forget the mouth-watering goodness of fresh, seasonal fruits-nutritious and delicious! And here's a surprising tip: kickstart your meals with greens and protein. This simple trick slows down carbohydrate absorption, benefiting those managing diabetes or pre-diabetes. With these small but powerful changes, you'll be on your way to a healthier, more vibrant lifestyle.

Hydration Habits

To maintain optimal bodily functions, it is crucial to provide our bodies with an adequate amount of fluids. The general recommendation is to consume

approximately eight glasses of water per day, although this may increase in situations involving physical exertion or exposure to hot weather.

While any non-alcoholic beverage can contribute to your daily fluid intake, opting for tea and coffee, unsweetened lemon juice, thin buttermilk, are wiser choices compared to sugary carbonated drinks. It's worth noting that juices or smoothies without added sugar may still contain naturally occurring sugars that can have a negative impact on your dental health.

Limiting Saturated Fat and Sugar

Understanding the impact of fats and sugars on our health is vital. Saturated fats are generally considered unhealthy, while unsaturated fats are healthier, but in moderation. Reducing saturated fat intake, often found in processed foods and oils, is crucial for overall well-being. Similarly, managing sugar consumption is important to prevent issues like obesity and tooth decay. Being mindful of added or naturally occurring sugars in food and drinks, limiting intake to under 5 grams per 100 grams, helps maintain a balanced diet. By making healthier fat choices and monitoring sugar intake, we can promote better health and well-being.

Active Living: Enhance Your Well-Being

Nutrition goes beyond just food; it encompasses staying active in our modern, often sedentary lives. For individuals with desk or office jobs, it's crucial to prioritize frequent movement rather than solely focusing on achieving milestones or goals. Regular movement not only aids in weight management but also establishes a cyclical relationship between mobility and body fat. Increased physical activity enhances the chances of burning fat and maintaining a healthy weight range. Conversely, a lower weight provides a boost of energy, motivating us to stay active. By recognizing the synergy between nutrition and staying active, we can unlock a healthier and more energized lifestyle.

Recommended salt intake for adults and children over 11 is around 6g/day. Excessive salt consumption raises the risk of high blood pressure, a precursor to heart disease and stroke. When it comes to packaged foods, check the labels for salt content. Products with over 1.5g/100g should be consumed in moderation or avoided altogether.

Cravings and Comfort: Understanding the Connection

Comfort food holds a special place in our hearts, often being sweet, fried, or high in fat. While they should be enjoyed occasionally within a balanced diet, moderation and portion control are key. Overindulgence can lead to regret and excess calories. Restricting these foods completely may result in feelings of deprivation and mood swings. Seeking guidance from a medical professional or health coach allows for a tailored approach, accommodating your favourite foods and drinks in reduced frequency or quantity.

Mood, mind, and food

Our emotional state greatly influences our dietary choices and overall well-being. Stress, anxiety, and burnout have become prevalent in urban and professional lifestyles, impacting how and what we eat. During times of stress, food can provide comfort and a sense of control, but relying on it as an escape may lead to overeating. By fostering awareness of mental health conditions and practicing emotional regulation, we can cultivate emotional resilience and work towards achieving our health goals.

In conclusion, healthy eating is a gateway to a vibrant and fulfilling lifestyle. It is crucial for individuals to find a way of eating that truly satisfies them. Further helps to have an expert doctor or a dietitian guide you towards the right diet. Embracing a balanced nutrition approach, can energize our bodies, boost our immune system, and enhance our vitality. Eat well and thrive! After all, we are what we eat!

By Rahul Maroli

FROM SPICES TO WELLNESS: AN INDIAN DIET SUPPORTS HEALTHY AGEING

It’s challenging to eat healthy in our fastpaced society. The increased preference for convenience foods and packaged foods, combined with stress and environmental pollution, renders people more vulnerable to health problems. This is where clean eating and eating fresh foods come into play.

While we cannot control the environmental pollutants to which we are exposed, we can certainly adopt a healthier diet. As more people become aware of this, Dr Irfan Shaikh, Head, of Medical and Scientific Affairs at Abbott’s Nutrition business, highlights robust and healthier foods that comprise a balanced diet, as well as certain activities you can take to age properly.

Start Out Young

As teens grow, three essential systems in their bodies change muscle mass along with long bones, hormonal maturity and blood, and immunity. To ensure these areas grow properly, you need the right nutrients.

Bone development: Most people think of adequate proteins and calcium when they think of bone development, but vitamin D, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin K, collagen, and essential fatty acids are also necessary for bone health and turnover. Consumption of these nutrients can help reduce bone fracture risk for teens. Fish, egg, chickpea curry, mixed vegetable sabzi, dal tadka, and even some chutneys like flax seed chutney is rich in these nutrients.

Blood: Iron, vitamin B-12, and folate are essential for the formation of healthy red blood cells. Without adequate iron, teens are unable to produce the red blood cells they need to carry oxygen throughout the body. Preparations made from spinach, like palak paneer, palak rice palak dal, lentil soups, methi paratha, and beetroot poriyal are some dishes that are rich in these nutrients.

Hormonal maturity: Balanced diet, adequate proteins, high fibres, stress-free life, regular exercise, weight control, and sound sleep are critical for a successful transition of the hormonal foundation during the early years.

Preventative Care in the 30s and 40s People in their 30s and 40s should focus on preventive care, particularly when it comes to their hearts.

Cholesterol: To lower cholesterol, eat plenty of vegetables, fruit, whole grains, protein-rich meals (particularly fish and seafood), legumes (such as beans and lentils), nuts and seeds, and so on.

Stress: Career, income, and family responsibilities create several possibilities to experience stress. Regular exercise and coping abilities to handle stressful situations are crucial to protect your health and mind. Some of the best ways to cope with stress are exercising, yoga, journaling, and meditation.

Blood Pressure: Many people are unaware that they have high blood pressure because it has no symptoms, and the only way of finding out is to get examined. Reducing your sodium and chai or caffeine intake is vital to controlling high blood pressure, additionally, it is important to stay active and lose fat around the waistline.

The Importance of Prioritising

As we age, what we eat can impact our health, so it’s important to put some thought into what we eat and drink. Some key ingredients for future healthy ageing are:

Protein: It is essential at every age, whether you want to build muscle, retain strength or recuperate from surgery. One can find protein in meats, beans, dairy products, fish, nuts, seeds, and cottage cheese and can serve these in the

form of various curry preparations.

Fibre-rich: Foods like fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains can help with lowering cholesterol and managing body weight simply by keeping you full. Chana, masala, baingan bartha, and oats upma are some ways in which you can add fibre to your meal.

Calcium: As we age, our bones lose some of their calcium and mass, heightening the risk of fractures and weaker bones. Consuming milk, dahi, and cheese is a good source of calcium uptake. Ragi dosa, til chutney and paneer, masala are some Indian dishes that are high in protein due to their ingredients.

Vitamin D: It is important for healthy bones and is the only one that can be synthesised when the skin is exposed to sunlight. It can be found in fatty fish, eggs, and vitamin D-fortified dairy products.

Nutritional supplements: A regular, balanced diet is crucial to meet daily nutritional requirements and also build stronger muscles as you age. However, while we recognise that muscles matter and eat accordingly, some nutritional gaps may exist. To fill these gaps, one can include a balanced nutrition supplement like Ensure HMB which is a science-based nutritional supplement formulated with 32 vital nutrients and a special ingredient - HMB or -hydroxy-methyl butyrate - that helps counteract muscle loss and restore strength and energy.

Every person passes many milestones throughout life and health should stay top-ofmind every step of the way. By embracing your cultural dishes which are prepared through locally and organically sourced foods, you can stay healthy as you age.

(IANSlife)

Building Your Immunity One Bite at A Time

BY DEEVYA GUPTA

Aside from various external factors, nutrition can provide an additional line of defence in minimising illness and strengthening immunity. Let's explore some ways to enhance your immune system:

KEEP UP VITAMIN D LEVELS

It is common for Australians to be at risk of vitamin D deficiency. If you are not getting 30 minutes of sunlight daily during the winter months, consider taking vitamin D supplements. It is recommended to consult your doctor and undergo a blood test to determine your vitamin D levels. This will help determine the appropriate dosage. While vitamin D is not commonly found in foods, small amounts can be obtained from sources such as eggs, salmon, fortified milks, and margarine. Sunlight exposure and supplementation remain the primary sources. Vitamin D plays a vital role in supporting immunity and overall health, and its deficiency has been linked to various underlying health conditions.

MAINTAIN A WELL-BALANCED DIET AND STRONG GUT

Including a variety of fruits and vegetables in your diet ensures a diverse intake of nutrients and vitamins. The key is to maintain

variety and balance, as this contributes to a healthier overall body response to fighting off illnesses. Additionally, fruits and vegetables provide fibre or prebiotics that support gut health. A healthy gut, which consists of a balance between good and bad bacteria, contributes to improved immunity and overall well-being. Incorporating the recommended daily intake of 5 servings of vegetables and 2

servings of fruits can be easier if you include them in multiple meals throughout the day.

KEEP WELL HYDRATED

It is easy to become dehydrated, especially during cooler months when heaters are running. Ensure you meet the minimum recommended intake of 8 glasses of water per day. Proper hydration helps flush out toxins and keeps your cells hydrated. If preferred, warm water can be consumed during cold weather. To enhance the taste of plain water, you can infuse it with a slice of lemon or your favourite fruit.

DRINK ALCOHOL ONLY IN MODERATION

Excessive alcohol consumption has been linked to reduced immunity. To support your body's immune system, it is advisable to drink alcohol in moderation and limit it to small and infrequent amounts. The current recommendation suggests having no more than 10 standard drinks per week and incorporating alcohol-free days.

FOLLOW A BALANCED LIFESTYLE APPROACH

Prioritise getting sufficient sleep, reducing stress as much as possible, maintaining regular exercise, and avoiding smoking to optimise your body's immune system.

Please note this advice is of a general nature. If you have any concerns or queries you should get tailored advice from an Accredited Practicing Dietitian and always consult with your General Practitioner before making any changes.

Seafood Stew

This healthy, delicious Seafood Stew is one pot casserole. Quick and easy to make, ideal for cold winter nights. The herbs and spices used in this recipe aren’t overpowering and allow you to appreciate the natural flavours and textures of the flaky fish and meaty prawns. If preferred, add a dash or two of Tabasco for a little extra kick.

Ingredients:

• 500g firm white fish, cubed

• 300g peeled raw prawns

• 500g potatoes

• 2 dried red chillies, deseeded

• 1 large onion, chopped

• 4-6 garlic cloves, chopped

• 3 med tomatoes, chopped

• 1 ½ tsp ground cumin

Method:

• 1 -2 tsp paprika

• Salt to taste

• 1 tbsp. olive oil

• 3 cups chicken stock

• Juice 2 limes

• 3 tbsp. coriander, chopped finely

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion, garlic and salt and cook for 3 mins.

2. Break and deseed the dried chillies and add to saucepan along with the cumin, paprika and tomatoes. Stir to mix well.

3. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 5 mins.

4. Puree the stock mixture until very fine. Pour the mixture back into the pan and bring to a boil and reduce to simmer.

5. Gently add the fish, prawns and potatoes and stir. Cover and cook until tender, for about 10 mins.

6. Add the lime juice and chopped coriander.

7. Serve hot.

Variation

BY MANJIT SETHI

from the private collection

Add clams, mussels, squid or any of your favourite seafood

Garnish:

with coriander and lime wedge serve with crusty bread roll, garlic bread or corn chips

Serve:

ASTROLOGY

Mesha (Aries)

The picture of your financial prospects this month is none too bright, There is a distinct likelihood that your relations with your superiors would nose-dive to such an extent when serious losses clearly loom over the horizon. This, you should prevent by some advance actions and foresight.This monthis not be very favourable for any investment of launching new ventures.

Best days: 3, 12, 30

Lucky Colour: Red, Orange, Cream

Simha (Leo)

This month your financial prospects look quite good and could well establish you on a permanently sound footing. Many of you can look forward to reaping a rich harvest of sudden gains. Others would gain through speculation, which would also bring in rich profits. And, finally, your relations with your superiors would assume such pleasant dimensions that you would stand to gain very much from these.

Best days: 5,3

Lucky Colour: White & Orange

Dhanu (Sagittarius)

This month is not seems well for your financial prospects. To begin with, there is a distinct possibility of your relations with your superiors taking a nose-dive. So much so that serious losses would become very probable. This, you must prevent by some foresight and advance action. Speculation would also almost certainly result in serious losses to some of you.

Best days: 9, 18

Lucky Colour: Red, Blue

Vrishabh (Taurus)

Nothing very favourable about your financial prospects this month. You would tend to quarrel with your superiors creating an impasse in your relations with them, which could well result in a serious loss to you. Take care, therefore, to prevent such an eventuality by taking whatever preventive measures you can think of.

Best days: 9, 18, 27

Lucky Colour: Green, Blue

Kanya (Virgo)

A gainful month, in so far as your financial prospects are concerned. Many of you can look forward to reaping a rich harvest of sudden gains. Speculation would also benefit quite a few among you. Further, this month you will have a manner of handling your superiors, which would make the relationship very beneficial for you. This could well be an important gain.

Best days: 3, 12

Lucky Colour: Orange, Green

Makara (Capricorn)

A month during which you may look forward to enjoying good health with the blessings of the stars. You would not only be in good health, but also appear to be healthy, with your system deriving full advantage from your diet. Those inclined to assess their generative powers would be pleasantly surprised to discover that their faculties are if anything above normal.

Best days: 1, 3, 4

Lucky Colour: White, Green, Blue

By D. Narayan (Tantracharya) M: 0425 660 220

Mithuna (Gemini)

This month, your financial prospects are quite bright, You could be a stone’s throw from a sudden gain and not know it. This month most of you would reap a rich harvest of sudden gains. Most of you would also be able to derive quick benefits from your pursuits. There are chances that speculative activity would also prove quite gainful.

Best days: 2, 7, 9

Lucky Colour: Red, White, Yellow

Tula (Libra)

Not a very favourable month for your financial prospects. Speculation is almost certainly going to result in losses for some of you. It would, therefore, be a good idea to stay away from gambling of any variety. There are also grounds, to predict that you would tend to be quarrelsome with your superiors to such an extent that your relations with them nose-dive, resulting in serious losses for you.

Best days: 9, 18

Lucky Colour: Red, Blue

Kumbha (Aquarius)

The blessings of good fortune for your health are not forthcoming this month. You will have to pay extra attention to and devote greater care on your health during the ensuring period. Any complaint of the digestive organs should be attended to forthwith, with appearance of the first symptoms. If this is done, a lot of possible problems would be obviated.

Best days: 5, 3, 6

Lucky Colour: White, Green

Karkat (Cancer)

A very helpful, month in so far as your financial prospects are concerned. Many of you would reap a rich harvest of sudden gains, that are likely to come your way. Others would gain from speculative activity, making handsome profits. Most of you would be able to derive quick, useful results from your efforts. Others among you would have a way of handling your juniors

Best days: 9, 18

Lucky Colour: Red, Blue

Vrishchik (Scorpio)

A fruitful month in so far as your professional prospects are concerned. Practitioners of the fine arts and others of their ilk would have an extremely satisfying time. In fact, some of you may well go on to make a mark for yourselves with your contributions. There are indications that you would tend to work quite hard and go for your objectives efficiently. And in this you shall succeed.

Best days: 1, 3, 4

Lucky Colour: Red, Orange

Meen (Pisces)

There are practically no encouraging signs for your financial prospects this month in the augury from the stars. Most of you could well find yourselves working quite hard and struggling to realize your pending targets, and not getting anywhere because of a set of adverse circumstances. To top it all, the climate would not be at all encouraging for the expansion of operations or for the launching of new ventures.

Best days: 2, 7, 9

Lucky Colour: Red, Yellow, White

HOW ENGLISH AND ENGLISHMEN MAKE FUN OF EACH OTHER

Enjoy the fun & the pun.

Q: Can February March?

A: No. But April May!

Q: Did you hear about the painter who was hospitalised?

A: Reports say it was due to too many strokes!

Q: Have you heard the joke about the butter?

A: I better not tell you, it might spread!

Q: How do you know that carrots are good for your eyesight?

A: Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses?

Q: Music Teacher: What's your favourite musical instrument?

A: Kid: The lunch bell!

Q: What did the triangle say to the circle?

A: You’re pointless!

Q: What do you call a ghosts mom and dad?

A: Transparents!

Q: What do you call a group of men waiting for a haircut?

A: A Barbercue!

Q: What do you call a person that chops up cereal

A: A cereal killer!

Q: What do you call a South American girl who is always in a hurry?

A: Urgent Tina!

Q: What do you call two fat people having a chat?

A: A heavy discussion!

Q: What kind of emotions do noses feel?

A: Nostalgia!

Q: What kind of shorts do clouds wear?

A: Thunderwear!

Q: What's easy to get into but hard to get out of?

A: Trouble!

Q: Where do boats go to when they get sick?

A: The dock!

Q: Who cleans the bottom of the ocean?

A: A Mer-Maid!

Q: Why can't a leopard hide?

A: Because he's always spotted!

Q: Why did the barber win the race?

A: Because he took a short cut!

Q: Why did the boy tiptoe past the medicine cabinet?

A: He didn't want to wake the sleeping pills!

Q: Why did the tomato turn red?

A: It saw the salad dressing!

Q: Why did the tree go to the dentist?

A: To get a root canal!

Q: Why don't you see giraffes in elementary school?

A: Because they're all in High School!

Q: Why was the maths book sad?

A: Because it had too many problems!......