Buckingham Palace to swing to Bollywood music!

BUCKINGHAM PALACE to the hefty rhythms of Bollywood music and dance soon, in what promises to be a boisterous celebration in anticipation of a coming visit by President Pratibha Patil.

British Asian dance group Nutkhut is to stage its massive dance, inside Buckingham Palace in a reception in advance of Patil’s Oct 24-27 visit - a first for the 172-year-old royal residence.

The dance, which played out to audiences of thousands at the Town Hall in the city of Birmingham recently, has been choreographed by dancer Simmy Gupta, whose rehearsals were so loud she blew speakers, she said.

“There were eight ‘dhols’ on the stage. They were really loud, so we had to have the music really loud. We literally blew a speaker during rehearsals. We had it on full blast! We had smoke coming out of it, but it really sounded amazing,” Gupta said. While she has described Bollywood Steps, created two years ago, as “spectacular” and a “really big show”, it remains to be seen if the dance will shake the 775 rooms of Buckingham Palace.

A Palace spokesman would only say the show will run for 15 minutes inside the palace ballroom before a reception for some 250 invited guests - prominent members from among the two million strong British Indian community.

Invitees who will be received by Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip include screen actors Meera Syal, Sanjeev Bhaskar, cricketers Monty Panesar and Vikram Solanki, TV newsreader Krishnan Gurumurthy and Tim Singh, founder of the successful New Look chain of high street fashion stores.

“There will be a cross-section of guests. The reception will be Indian-themed,” said a spokesman for Buckingham Palace. The guests will be drawn from Indian nationals who live or work in Britain, or British nationals with a strong connection to India or those who work for Indo-British organisations.

The Indian food and canapes served at the reception will be cooked by chefs from Buckingham Palace and London’s oldest Indian restaurant, Veeraswamy.

The Palace spokesman wouldn’t speculate if the Queen was a fan of Bollywood music and curry, saying, “I wouldn’t really want to go into it. That’s not really the reason for the reception. It’s a tradition for the Queen to throw a reception in advance of all state visits.”

IITians plan to make India global knowledge hub

THE SEVENTH ANNUAL Pan-IIT Global Conference ended with alumni of the prestigious institutes chalking out plans to make India the global knowledge hub by 2022.

“One of the major initiatives we have planned to reform India’s education relates to Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). They are crucial to meeting India’s manpower needs and creating jobs,” conference chairman Ray Mehra told IANS after the conclusion in Chicago. He said, “Reforming them is part of our agenda to boost vocational manpower in India. Though this initiative is already under way, we are now creating a guidebook for these institutes.”

Mehra added: “We are involving retired IITians in India in our work to reform ITIs. To begin with, we will target major cities across India. “IITians have also decided to support the Akshaya Patra Foundation to bring both education and nourishment to India’s deprived children.”

Promoted by California-based IITian Desh Deshpande, the Akshaya Patra Foundation helps run the world’s largest mid-day meal scheme, feeding more than a million children.

The summit also firmed up its plans to push educational reform in India as outlined in their so-called Panch Ratnas presented to the Indian president in July. “Under the Panch Ratna or five-point plan, we want India to become the global hub for knowledge creation. In our education session attended by Sam Pitroda and Indian minister D. Purandeswari, we decided to facilitate MoUs between Indian and US universities,” Mehra said.

The MoUs, he said, will boost research collaboration between Indian and US universities and facilitate faculty exchanges. As per its theme of `Entrepreneurship and Innovation in a Global Economy’, the IIT summit was addressed by top guns from energy and health care sectors.

“CEOs and top people from these sectors shared with us where future opportunities lie. Among others, we had CEO Jim Rogers of Duke Energy and Tulsi Tanti of Suzlon Energy,” Mehra said.

Bill Clinton, who was the main speaker at the summit, called the IITians India’s `best and brightest’. Holding a cheap toy lamp which can light two rooms, the former US president urged IITians to innovate to usher in cheap technologies for the common man.

Aneesh Chopra, Obama’s chief technology officer, also touched upon major areas in technology with immense future opportunities. Other prominent speakers at the summit included James Owens, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar Inc., and Raghuram G. Rajan of the University of Chicago and former chief economist of the IMF.

Canadian parliament celebrates Diwali

THE CANADIAN PARLIAMENT celebrated Diwali recently, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other top leaders lighting the traditional lamps.

Immigration minister Jason Kenney, finance minister Jim Flaherty, public safety minister Peter Van Loan, parliamentary secretary Deepak Obhrai, opposition leader Jack Layton and parliamentarians were among the 450 dignitaries to attend the festivities Thursday night.

High commissioner Shashisekar Gavai of India and envoys from Pakistan and Malaysia were also among those who attended the evening gala.

After lighting the traditional lamp, Prime Minister Harper said the “growing IndoCanadian community is at the forefront of Canada’s quest to build an even better country for generations to come”.

“From coast to coast our country has been and continues to be immeasurably enriched by your contributions,” he asserted.

After the prime minister, Obhrai and other guests lit the Diwali lamp and participated in a Hindu traditional ceremony conducted by priests from temples in Toronto and Ottawa. Obhrai, who began celebrating Diwali at the Canadian parliament in 1998, thanked the prime minister and other dignitaries.

“Since 1998, Diwali on Parliament Hill (the seat of the House of Commons) has grown in significance and stature, and today can truly be considered as Canada’s National Diwali Festival,” said Obhrai, who is parliamentary secretary to the foreign minister.

The guests were shown how Diwali is celebrated differently in various parts of India. After the ceremonies, a traditional Diwali dinner was laid out and the guests were treated to Indian delicacies.