2010-09 Sydney (2)

INDIAN LINK

PUBLISHER

Pawan Luthra

EDITOR

Rajni Anand Luthra

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Sheryl Dixit

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Preeti Jabbal

CONTRIBUTORS

Mamta Sharma, Farzana Shakir, Farrha Khan, Thomas King, Ritam Mitra, Raka Gujral, Sanjiv Dubey, Gaurav Surati, Sunil Ranadive, Saroja Srinivasan, Priya Nair, Noel G deSouza, Petra O’Neill, Shivangi Ambani-Gandhi.

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GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Darren Monaghan

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Test for India

Indian Australians, just as Indians all over the world, are desperately hoping that the Commonwealth Games in Delhi are staged without a hitch, and that India comes out shining from staging the Games.

When India won the rights to host the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the thought that these Games will portray modern India was echoed by all Indians, including non-residents.

However, with the Games just a few days away, the negative publicity coming out of India makes one cringe. To date it seems to be a public relations disaster – be it issues with construction of the facilities or alleged corruption rampant within the ranks, or the fear of dengue fever or security issues in Delhi. As India will be the focus of all Commonwealth countries from October 3 – 14, it will be a test for the nation to stage these Games successfully. As and when they conclude we can fully analyse some issues, but at this critical time other important ones should not be forgotten.

It is but strange that as India stages these Games, in other parts of the country another sporting competition will take place. The India-Australia cricket series will clash with the Commonwealth Games, and it seems as if cricket, deprived of its time in the spotlight, is hastening to take centrestage. Rather than have this clash, it would have been better for the whole nation to enjoy and take pride in the

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

various disciplines of the Games. Dividing the nation like this shows the arrogance of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Deferring this competition for a few days in complete support of Indian athletes and other sports is one sacrifice the self-serving Board could easily have made.

The corruption scandals and cost overruns prior to these Games are a clear indication of the divide between the Government and private projects. Perhaps it could have been an option to tender out the construction and execution of the CWG venues to the private sector, which may have fulfilled the task better. A Tata or a Birla undertaking this prestigious project as a private enterprise would have showcased a modern India, with which the world would have found a reassuringly positive link. To date, most of the work undertaken by the Government has been found wanting in the run up to the Games.

A prime example is a lack of tourism promotion here in Australia. What could have been a golden opportunity to showcase Delhi and its neighbouring attractions such as Rajasthan has been

glaringly absent. Other than a couple of promotions on billboards and on the monorail, Tourism India in Australia has failed in any endeavour, to promote India as a tourism destination for these Games. While Channel 10 and Foxtel (broadcast partners for the Games) are spruiking Delhi and opening the minds of Australians to travel to the country, Tourism India has completely missed the bandwagon. They have not even attempted to offer tourism incentives through stalls in the City or even promotions in sports clubs etc, which could have incited interest in India and the Games. This pathetic apathy has been shameful to witness, and we can only hope that there are strategies in place to showcase Incredible India, as at the moment, it seems to be “Invisible India”.

But like most things, it will be the foot soldiers on the ground who will win the battle. Here’s wishing all the athletes participating in the Commonwealth Games the very best in their endeavours, and may their hard work and determination take them to the height of their personal goals.

What’s On

STAGE

Combined Universities’ Cultural Night

Sat 25 Sept The annual cultural extravaganza organised by the Indian societies of the major universities in Sydney will be held at Hills Centre, Castle Hill. The theme this year is A Mystical Rendezvous: Elegance Through the Ages, and the night includes a special dance competition segment entitled Flaunt Your Flava. Details at www.sydneyculturalnight.com

Hindustani classical music

Sun 3 Oct Enjoy a traditional baithak-style concert featuring Anindya Banerjee on the sarod with Bobby Singh on the tabla (pictured), as well as Sydney’s own sarod star Adrian McNeil. Faculty of Arts building, Macquarie Uni, 6.00pm. Details at www.bobbysingh.com.au

SPIRITUAL

Chinmaya Mission’s Men’s Retreat

Sat 25 and Sun 26 Sept Chinmaya Mission presents a Men’s Retreat, Who is Blessed? based on the Adi Shankara-acharyaji text Dhanyaashtakam. Details at www.chinmaya. com.au

Spiritual leader Bhagyaji visits

21 Sept – 11 Oct Global Organisation for Divinity announces the Sydney tour of spiritual leader Bhagyaji. He will give public lectures, conduct a mass prayer for world peace and harmony, and attend workshops and seminars. Details Jayanthi Ramanan 02 9614 1784, 0430 487 781.

EXHIBITIONS

Runa Islam

19 Aug-21 Nov London-based awardwinning artist Runa Islam presents her work of 16mm film installations. Islam’s works are about the act of viewing and the possibilities of cinema. Museum of

Contemporary Art 140 George Street, The Rocks, NSW 2000. Details 02 9245-2400 or visit www.mca.com.au

Sathrung

30 Aug – 24 Sept Sydney artist Sadhana Desai presents Sathrung, her first solo exhibition of paintings and sculpture. Check out Sadhana’s use of beautiful colours and different textures such as sand, eggshells and fabric liner, to provide the viewer an opportunity to experience Indian culture and glimpse in to the magic that is India. Lane Cove Music & Cultural Centre 266 Longueville Road, Lane Cove. Details 02 9427-8027.

SCREEN

Satrang: South Asian Queer Film Festival

18, 19, 25, 26 Sept Satrang, Trikone Australasia’s South Asian Queer Film Festival, kicks off with the Australian premiere of yet-to-be-released Bollywood movie Dunno Y … Na Jaane Kyun. Other entries in the film festival include Shamim Sarif’s The World Unseen and I Can’t Think Straight, Sridhar Rangayan’s 68 Pages, Nani Sarah Walker’s Other Nature, Sarav Chithambaram’s It’s My Life: A South Asian Queer Story In USA; Manoj Pandey’s Struggle Within, Faryal’s Pictures of Zain, and Sydney director Visakesa Chandrasekaram’s Finding Kamal, a short film produced in Sydney. Trikone Australasia is a not-for-profit social support group for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community of South Asian descent in Australia. The film festival will be held at UTS. Details at www.trikone. org.au

Documentary film screening

Thur 30 Oct The Indian Ocean and South Asia Research Network (IOSARN) at UTS announces its second event in

the Talking India Series, a screening Does Gandhi Matter?, a documentary film by Manoj Raghuvanshi, to be followed by a discussion with the Consul General of India Amit Dasgupta. 12.30pm – 2.00 pm. Details Cornelia Beltzer 02 9514-2768.

SCHOOL HOLIDAY PROGRAMS

Chinmaya Mission

Tue 28 to Thur 30 Sept Spend three days with Br Gopalji and Brni Sujataji learning about the Divine Mother Ma Annapoorna, the Giver of Nourishment. Activities include workshops, team building games, videos and yoga, besides prayers and stories based on Ma, for kids 5 to 12. Details Chinmaya Sannidhi 02 8850 7400. Indian Australian Arts & Film Association Inc

Tue 28 to Thur 30 Sept A fun holiday workshop with activities such as yoga; Bollywood and classical dance; Bunnings arts and crafts workshop; Dos and don’ts public awareness by Police, RSPCA and paramedics; Hollywood and Bollywood movies, and ancient Indian Sports and games. Kids 5 to 14. Jones Park Hall, Burnett street, Mays Hill (Cnr Banks Street); 8am to 4.30 pm. Details at www. iaafa.org.au

DANDIYA GARBA

Dandiya with Atul Purohit

Fri 24 and Sat 25 Sept Indian Cultural Association presents Dandiya with Atul Purohit (and Rutumbhara Group) at Whitlam Leisure Centre, Memorial Ave, Liverpool. Details Gitesh Shah 0433 558 326 or visit www.ieventsaustralia.com.au

Dandiya Bash with Falguni Pathak

Sun 3 Oct Get ready with your dandiya sticks to join Dandiya Queen Falguni Pathak who will perform live for the first

time in Sydney at Roeshill Racecourse. Details at www.oxidesgroup.com.au

Navartri Raas-Garba

Sat 9 Oct The Navratri Cultural Group announces an action packed Navartri RaasGarba: 6:30pm at Menai High School, Gerald Road, Illawong. Sydney’s most prominent singers and musicians will provide live music. Details 02 9543-8686

DIWALI CELEBRATIONS

IITAA Diwali

Sat 9 Oct IIT Alumni of Australia announce a talent quest and Diwali Dhamaka, at a Dolls Point Restaurant. Details Sukesh 0424 750 763 or Dipankar 0403 333 560

India Club Diwali

Sat 23 Oct India Club (IC) presents a stylish celebration of prosperity and happiness. Spectacular show, feast on lavish Indian cuisine, network with IC guests, politicians and dignitaries, and dance the night away. Details at www.indiaclub.com.au

Sneh Milan: Deepavali 2010

Sat 30 Oct A Diwali extravaganza featuring pooja, talks, children’s performances, puppet show, raffle and lucky dip, DJs and dance. 6.00pm at St Ives Community Hall, Memorial Avenue, St Ives.

Details Kamini Sahni 0401 059 923

Iti Sydney’s Diwali

Sat 30 Oct Iti Sydney will celebrate Diwali and worship of Kali mata, at Cumberland High School, 183 Pennant Hills Road, Carlingford, 4:00 pm. Following prasad and dinner, cultural program including Bollywood dances starts at 8:30 pm. All voluntary donations will go towards charity activities in India. Details Aditi Coomar 0438 777 586.

EVENTS AT SINGH FOOD SPICES & SINGH DA DHABA

aMehendi ki Shyam on Sunday 24th & Monday 25th October 2010 (No booking, 1st come served basis)

aParantha eating competition at Singh da Dhaba on 31st October 2010, 11am to 1pm Winner gets $100. Registration fee applies

aMid Night shopping on Thursday 4th November 2010 (With HOT Jelabies on 4th & 5th November 2010)

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An epic tale of two brothers

This must-read book chronicles the history of a corporate Kurukshetra that’s still unfolding

BY MAMTA SHARMA

The Indian business family of Ambanis needs no introduction. After the release of the Bollywood film Guru (2007), the inspiring rags-to-riches story of Dhirubahi Ambani has become legendary. His company Reliance, which emerged from the textile industry, is now one of India’s major corporations. From humble beginnings at Chorwad in Gujarat, Ambani learnt life’s lessons early. As an ambitious entrepreneur, he ruthlessly embraced all capitalism had to offer, and went on to become one of India’s richest men, despite his own superstitions, the politics of his country, his investments (both legitimate and clandestine) and his corruption of politicians and officials. His textile company Reliance was one of the first to produce polyester in India and has continued to grow and expand since.

Following Dhirubhai’s demise in 2002, his sons, Anil and Mukesh took over their family empire Reliance, split it in two and went separate ways. Thus began the feud between the World’s Richest Brothers. Their respective arms of the company are bigger than the parent company ever was. The brothers are now worth $43 billion and $42 billion respectively, largely from petrochemicals, telecommunications and entertainment. The hostility, arguments and tension between the Ambani brothers is wonderfully analysed and examined by Australian writer Hamish McDonald in his latest book Mahabharata in Polyester: The Making of World’s Richest Brothers and Their Feud.

McDonald, a former New Delhi bureau chief for the Far Eastern Economic Review, is currently the Asia-Pacific Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and has authored several books on Indonesia and India.

His book Mahabharata in Polyester was launched in Sydney recently by Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Chairman of Gujarat NRE Minerals Ltd, the Indian entrepreneur who has revitalised the Illawarra coal industry. The book is a wonderful narrative of the trails and tribulations between the Ambani brothers, Jagatramka said at the launch. In reference to the title of the book, the Indian entrepreneur said, “It’s an apt title as the Mahabharata is one of major Hindu epics of India. It is about the Kurukshetra War and the fates of the brothers, Kauravas and Pandavas, something similar to the story of the Ambani brothers. It gives an insight into modern India. I would want my children also to read it.”

From the same region in India as the subjects of this book, the Ambani family, Mr Jagatramka reflected on their legacy, the business outlook for India’s emerging giant economy, and the opportunities and challenges for Australia. “The Indian businessman creates favourable environments for his venture and when he is unable to do so he converts the unfavourable into a challenging opportunity.”

Mahabharata in Polyester is said to be the revised story of The Polyester Prince, McDonald’s first controversial publication on Dhirubhai Ambani in 1998. The Polyester Prince offers an account of Ambani’s rise from a school teacher’s son to the head of the biggest polyester and petrochemicals company in India. It touches upon the rivalry between Ambani and Bombay Dyeing’s Nusli Wadia, Reliance’s financial expertise especially in raising money, and the company’s ability to manage the external environment. The Ambanis however, didn’t think the book would do them any good and approached a court in India against it. The court sent a notice to HarperCollins, the book’s publishers, which admitted before it that the

the author has trimmed the older material by around 20% and expanded the material to focus more on the feuding brothers and offering key insights into India’s transformation into a global economic powerhouse.

“Big brother Mukesh Ambani seemed to have learned more from his father and has often taken the upper hand in the squabbles with his brother,” McDonald says in his latest book.

“There was also a curious rolereversal. Mukesh had become the high-life socialite, with estimates of the cost of building his (high-rise mansion in Mumbai) Antilla getting ever larger despite his attempts to downplay them,” he adds.

About Anil Ambani, the author says, “The perceived playboy Anil was portrayed as more ascetic, making frequent pilgrimages to Hindu shrines, even journeying on foot to circle the holy Mansarovar Lake and Mount Kailash in Tibet.”

“He ran daily for kilometres before dawn and stayed in cheap business hotels instead of luxury suites on his travels.”

On the infamous years-long succession battle that led to the division of Reliance empire, he says that communication between them came down to stiff press comments by spokesmen and a mounting number of court actions.

“However, both were said to put on a display of politeness at weekly breakfasts with their mother at Sea Wind (the Ambani residence in Mumbai).”

When asked who he thinks is better of the two Ambani brothers, Mc Donald reveals, “The pen-portraits

of the Ambani brothers in the book makes clear that they have differing personalities and mixes of strengths. I don’t think you can measure relative success by comparing their group earnings or their networths. They are in sectors where success has different yardsticks -for example, Anil’s media and entertainment arm where results are not just dollars and rupees but in creative achievement, an intangible”.

To say that the sibling tycoons are not close is an understatement; their feud - personal and business - is an extraordinary story in itself. But as McDonald’s latest book shows, the Ambani saga tells a bigger story about modern India, not only as an economic powerhouse but about the complicated links between government and big business.

Do these complicated links leave the general public at a loss in the long run, or are the arrangements good for all?

McDonald replies, “I think the Indian public is the loser, because the Indian government has been strong or assertive in the wrong things like trying to direct investment, and weak in the things where it should be strong and respected, like enforcing rules of corporate behaviour. India needs simpler rules and better resourced agencies like the Securities and Exchange Board of India to monitor compliance.”

The book comes incidentally within months of reconciliation between the two brothers.

The Ambanis, however are not the only billionaires in India. So what was it that inspired McDonald to script the sequel to his earlier book on Ambanis and not go for some other millionaire’s story?

“Because the Ambani story wasn’t finished - it only got more interesting,” says Mc Donald. “The last few years of Dhirubhai’s life saw him fulfill his dream of building a huge oil refinery. Then the group diversified into new sectors like mobile phones. Then there was the almost incredible public rupture between Mukesh and Anil over 2004-5, the division of the Reliance group, and the feuding that followed. There simply aren’t hotter stories in Indian business. But there are many other interesting

The author says his interest in the Ambanis experienced a revival when he was holidaying in India in December 2004, when the split between the Ambani brothers became news. And he began collecting material.

The book is an outsider’s account, he confesses. “I realised that the political economy, the intersection of business and government, was relatively unexplored. That it was a touchy subject for domestic writers indicated it was an area where I might actually expand understanding of contemporary India,” he notes.

Despite his efforts to reach out to the Ambanis for his sequel, no one from the two groups meet with McDonald. “I made approaches to both brothers during the research period, but got no response. I did try to include as much of their own direct words as possible within the flow of the narrative”.

Talking about the challenges he faced while writing/ getting information for the book, the author says, “For the update the biggest handicap was obviously that I was no longer living in India, but getting my information from published sources, long distance contacts, and the occasional visit to Delhi and Mumbai. So the excitement of being a witness to the events, and walking the territory, is perhaps not so strong.”

In India, biographies of businessmen are usually authorized versions commissioned by the business houses themselves - sanitised and censored. Independent biographies are not too common. McDonald’s experience with his book on Dhirubhai Ambani is a good example of what would happen to authors who dare to be frank and independent.

However, McDonald is hoping for better luck with the sequel for its release in India this time.

“This new book is being published by Roli Books in a special Indian imprint, under the title Ambani & Sons and with a different cover. So far, so good,” the author says with hope.

Media reports say that despite going on sale only this month, pirate copies have already been sighted on the streets of Mumbai.

….the Ambani saga tells a bigger story about modern India, not only as an economic powerhouse but about the complicated links between government and big business

Hamish McDonald with Gujarat NRE’s Arun Jagatramka during the launch of his new book MahabharatainPolyester

Hindi hain ham, vatan hai...

Sydney’s Indian community pays tribute to the national language on Hindi Divas. MAMTA SHARMA

“The first instrument of a people’s genius is its language,” said the French writer Stendhal.

Literacy, learning, social integration…. everything transits through language, which embodies the national, cultural and sometimes religious identity for human beings.

Our native tongue has a special place in our hearts, whichever part of the world we choose to live in. To pay tribute to Hindi, their national language, people from the Indian community in Sydney came together to celebrate Hindi Divas 2010 on September 14 at the Parliament House of New South Wales. The date marks the 61st anniversary of the adoption of Hindi as Official Language of India by the Constitutional Assembly.

The program was organized by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) Australia, the institute of Indian art and culture.

Various dignitaries from Australian politics also joined the Indian community to celebrate the day. Among those present were Mr John Aquilina (Leader of the House, Parliament of NSW), Mr Laurie Ferguson (MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services), Rob Stokes (Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Planning and Infrastructure representing Barry O’Farell MP) and Dr Phil Lambert (Regional Director, Sydney, NSW Department of Education and Training.)

Welcoming the guests, BVB Australia

Director Abbas Alvi said, “Hindi is a language of harmony and understanding. It is a ‘link language’ which not only connects the Indian community with each other, but also with the rest of the world.”

Currently, Hindi is spoken by almost 500 million people the world over, and is the third most spoken language. Today Hindi is truly going global: Microsoft programmes, Google frames, even websites like eBay, and Facebook are coming up with Hindi versions for increasing users. Programs like text to speech, voice to text, are all available in “Devnagari lipi” on the net.

Appreciating the long association with BVB, John Aquilina said, “It is a pleasure to celebrate the immense contribution made by the people of the Indian community and Hindi as a language, in making the multicultural lifestyle of Australia.”

He added, “To lose a facility with a language is like losing a treasured jewel. Language is the cradle of a culture, so if you lose a language you lose your culture.” All parents should impress on their children the beauty of their language and culture, he stressed.

Stating that language is an important instrument of the knowledge of people, Mr Laurie Ferguson said, “Hindi is a worldrenowned language and I hope that people have a wide knowledge of this language in Australia.”

This was the first time that the Hindi Divas was being celebrated in the NSW Parliament House. “The word “parliament” comes from the French word ‘parlement’ which means ‘to talk’, so what better place to celebrate this day than in our Parliament House,” said Rob Stokes, highlighting the significance of the place chosen for celebration.

The occasion also saw the launch of the book Guldasta, a collection of Hindi and Urdu original poetry contributed by

professional as well as amateur poets of Indian subcontinent heritage living in Australia. The poems in the book are based on a variety of themes like creativity, art, dayto-day life in Australia, emotions, feelings of migrants and unity in the world.

Taking about the exclusiveness of the book and the effort which went into making it happen, Abbas Alvi said, “It’s a one of a kind book. I always thought about people who like poems and can read Hindi, but miss out on poets who write in Urdu and vice versa. The result of that thought is Guldasta which is published in Hindi and Urdu incorporating translations, Hindi poetry to Urdu script and Urdu poetry to Hindi. The exclusiveness of the book is that it has poems from 47 poets in Hindi and Urdu, all Australian citizens. A total of 87 people put in their efforts to make this book happen which, apart from the poets, included 40 volunteers who knew both Hindi and Urdu well, so that no word was related in an incorrect manner.”

The unique book is an Australian initiative of BVB Australia in association with Bhavan’s Book University, Mumbai (India) and will be available worldwide through the distribution of over 300 BVB centres.

Appreciating BVB’s effort in putting together the book, John Aquilina said, “The

book is an example to that the rest of the world of how the Indian community has contributed their culture to the Australian culture,” adding that he will ensure that a copy of the book is preserved in the NSW Parliament library.

“Even though the languages Hindi and Urdu come from the subcontinent, the content and feelings are from Australia. The book is a testimony of the acceptance of Australia and its culture by the Indian community,” said Consul Vivek Kumar, who represented the Consul General of India, Sydney at the occasion.

The cover of the book is appropriately designed by Utkarsh Doshi. It has an image of the map of Australia on a guldasta (vase) holding different types of flowers.

The book launch was followed by recitation of Hindi poem Ek Boond (raindrop) by twin sisters Nabeela and Naida Rasheed in full fluency and command of the language.

Talking about their future project to promote Hindi among school children, Dr Phil Lambert said, “Our next development is with India. We will be starting a programme in primary schools in Hindi, promoting training in the language.”

Next followed a recitation of poetry from senior citizens Mr Dhan Raj Chaudhary,

Mrs Vimla Luthra and Mr Santram Bajaj, capturing messages of the environment, forgetfulness by old people and unity in the world.

Acknowledgements were given to 64 people from all over Australia and, for the first time, from New Zealand for their contribution and efforts to promote Hindi as a language. The awardees from NSW included, Mala Mehta, Vimla Luthra, Rekha Rajavanshi, Shubha Kumar, Shailaja Chaturvedi, Dev Tripathi, Dhan Raj Chaudhary, Gunjan Tripathi, Meera Raheja, Rajeev Chaturvedi, Nirupama Verma, Pradeep Upadhyay, Brahma Dev, Rakesh Mathur, Richa Srivastava, Sanjeev Sharma, Anuj Kulshrestha and Hari Parasad.

Presenting the vote of thanks, BVB Australia President Gambhir Watts said his institute knows no discrimination and sees all languages, be they Hindi or Urdu, through the Gandhian point of view.

Experts estimate that within only a few generations, more than half of the 7,000 languages spoken in the world face extinction, because they are not represented in government, education and the media. Globalisation through the internet compels us to use the standard of English as a language; yet we stand to lose a lot if we abandon the command over our native languages. Events like Hindi Divas are a reminder that our national language is a cultural treasure which needs to be protected and kept alive.

John Aquilina and Laurie Ferguson launch Guldasta, a book of poetry

“(Hindi) is a ‘link language’ which not only connects the Indian community with each other, but also with the rest of the world”

Abbas Alvi

Surviving on $2 a day

Finding the courage to live a meagre existence

and enlightening experience. FARZANA SHAKIR chats with Surjeet Kaur Sidhu,

When I heard about Surjeet Kaur Siddhu’s attempt to Live Below The Line from 5 – 10 September, I wanted to know more. The Glenwood resident survived on $2 a day in a bid to raise funds for the underprivileged.

Many people spend their lives cocooned in a cosy existence, blanketed from the harsh realities of life. For many, their greatest dilemmas and hardships could be as trivial as a loss in share prices, not being able to afford the latest Ferrari, or giving up a holiday in the Bahamas because of these as legitimate reasons to whinge and be ungrateful. Man! Life’s hard for some! Never mind those who go hungry often, have little to cover themselves with, or are deprived of basic necessities like education, healthcare or even clean water to drink.

Currently 1.4 billion people worldwide live below the extreme poverty line, which means they subsist on AU$2 (US$1.25) a day.

“No way, impossible!” many would say. But that’s the sad truth and to drive the message home, the Global Poverty Project and the Oaktree Foundation ran Live Below the Line, campaign, from 2 – 6 August. The idea was to help understand the trials faced by those currently living in extreme poverty by inviting Australians to take up the challenge to feed themselves with just $2 a day, and in the process raise money for lifechanging education programs.

Currently 1.4 billion people worldwide live below the extreme poverty line, which means they subsist on AU$2 (US$1.25) a day

profession, working with people with disabilities. I ask what prompted her to take up the challenge.

the Line information was not entirely new but the article triggered something in me.

who could ride around the world to raise funds, nor am I a celebrity who can persuade people to donate. Living on $2 a day is something I could do. I knew it was not going to be easy but that is what a challenge is all about”.

Surjeet had missed the original dates of the challenge, but persistence found her surfing the net in search of the relevant people to contact.

“A number of emails and phone calls went back and forth and finally, I was able to attempt the challenge on my proposed dates and they set up a fundraising page for me, even though I was late,” she reveals.

Surjeet has some fascinating tidbits to share on the experience.

“I must say it was not easy, but I managed. I found a very limited variety and getting a balanced meal was not possible on most days. No indulgences like chocolates, cakes, soft drinks or Indian sweetmeats etc. I shopped at Her meals were meagre. “On most days I ate dal or do your bit to make a difference.

even for the cause of fundraising, can be a challenging

who did just that

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Troubles behind, India readies for Commonwealth Games

The eyes of the world are set on India as it gets ready for the prestigious Commonwealth Games 2010 in its national capital New Delhi from October 3-14.

With only a week to go for the Commonwealth Games and delegates starting to arrive in the capital, the organisers reiterate that everything is ready for the mega sporting event and almost all the projects for the Games, including beautification and infrastructure-related, have been completed.

The Commonwealth Games 2010 has been a classic soap opera of Indian sport. The saga has already witnessed the big elements that make for a hot climax. Action, words, graft, sleaze, floods, terrorist shooting and what not. Sceptics wrote it off as an organisational disaster followed by allegations of corruption and delays as well as various infrastructure problems. Finally, however, the mega sporting event that will bring together 71 countries and participating teams to the Indian capital is now round the corner. The Organising Committee (OC) is confident it will pull off the event well, for which the Indian government has allocated Rs.15,000 crores (Rs.150 billion/over $3 billion).

The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee is expecting to receive over 100,000 spectators and delegates during the Games and New Delhi is all gearing up for the main event.

Allaying doubts about the readiness of the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games venues, Organising Committee (OC) secretary general Lalit Bhanot has said that all venues are ready. “International bodies (concerned) have certified that all venues are fit to host events,” Bhanot said. “Though there was some delay in the completion of some venues, every stadium is completely ready now”. Saying that the stadia for the Games are world class, he added, “These stadia can host events like the Olympics and world championships.”

Chef-de-mission of the Indian contingent Bhubaneswar Kalita said that chefs-de-mission of all

the 71 participating nations have already visited all the venues.

Games Village

Regarding the Commonwealth Games village, of which much has been written about, Bhanot said that International Olympic Committee (IOC) members have expressed satisfaction at its readiness. Situated next to the impressive Akshardham Temple, the Commonwealth Games 2010 Village is spread over an 11-hectare area near the Yamuna banks. More than 8,000 athletes and officials will call the Games Village their home for a little less than a month. A total of 1,168 flats (with 4,008 rooms) distributed over 34 towers will accommodate the huge influx of sportspersons from around the world. The village has three distinct areas: a residential zone, to which no one but athletes and officials will have access; an international zone, which is a “gathering” area for residents and visitors, complete with a media centre and an entertainment and shopping centre; and an operational zone, with car parks, security centres, a logistics centre, etc. There is also a fitness centre for athletes, complete with training areas for various disciplines including weightlifting and wrestling, as well as a 50m swimming pool and an eight-lane 400m synthetic track. The Rs 1,350 crore spent on the Games Village is by far the largest amount spent on a single unit of infrastructure for the CWG.

The village also features green building concepts — fly ash bricks used in construction, glazed glass with double insulation to let in light and trap heat, and a rainwater harvesting unit. Recycled water will be used for flushing and horticulture. The village also has a 1MW solar power plant as well as its own power substation. Officials say the grid, which will generate 50MW of electricity, will also serve nearly 200,000 people living in areas nearby. The Games, the biggest sporting event in the country after the 1982 Asian Games, will feature 17 disciplines to

facilitate passengers’ movement at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium station during the Commonwealth Games. The station will have five entry and exit structures so that the public can access the station easily and extra staircases of much wider width are being provided so that more people can be accommodated easily. There will also be four escalators connecting the concourse with the platform. There will be 20 automatic fare collection (AFC) gates instead of eight AFC gates normally provided at most stations. Volunteers and Sahayaks (helpers) will be posted to assist passengers at all the important points of the station such as the AFC gates, escalators, platforms and entry and exit points where first-time Metro users may face difficulty. A special control room will be established at the Stadium Metro station from where public announcements will be controlled and LED signs will be displayed for guidance of passengers. Railings will be installed and there will be extra lighting for good visibility.

All information related to the CWG 2010 will be made available at all metro stations in the form of a booklet which includes various places of interest in and around Delhi, how to reach them, and all related and detailed information of hotels, important emergency numbers, railway stations, markets, etc.

CWG special road lanes

Special road lanes have been dedicated for Commonwealth Games officials, athletes and visitors There are 36 reserved lanes stretching from the airport to the Games Village and various Games venues. These lanes will be on the right side of the roads and earmarked by broad blue bands and Commonwealth Games logo. They will be guarded by the expanded force levels of Delhi Traffic Police, which will reach 5,500 personnel and over 1,000 volunteers. Besides these lanes, the traffic police has inducted 200 fast interceptor bikes and 300 traffic policewomen.

Fool-proof power supply for Games venues

To ensure uninterrupted power supply to all the 12 Games venues, power distribution company BSES has created a multi-pronged fool-proof arrangement. All the CWG venues in BSES area will have ‘double source’ power supply from different grid stations. This is to ensure that if one source fails, there is no disruption of power supply to the venue. To tackle any power-related emergency during the Games, the Delhi Government has constituted a high powered Emergency Response Team.

3-tier security ring

Security has been a major international concern in the wake of terror threats, but India’s internal security department has assured participating countries that it will be a “safe and secure” Games.

“We are fully prepared for the mega sporting event. Our force is trained, ready and positioned and I am fully satisfied about the preparations for the mega event,” Delhi Police Commissioner Y.S. Dadwal declared recently.

Apart from around 80,000 Delhi Police personnel, over 17,500 paramilitary personnel, 3,000 specialised

Participating countries

commandos and 100 anti-sabotage check teams, besides a 123-member dog squad, will be deployed across the city. Delhi Police has also procured armoured vehicles and has formed a special commando force to ensure that the event passes off without any trouble. Continuous aerial surveillance, about 2,000 closed-circuit cameras and latest security gadgets would be employed for extensive three-tier security ring that the Indian government has planned for 2010 Commonwealth Games

The Indian government has conveyed to the heads of missions of all Commonwealth countries that there is no specific threat to the Games but every precaution was being taken to make it incidentfree. This includes taking adequate precaution even for tackling chemical or biological attacks.

Situated next to the impressive Akshardham Temple, the Commonwealth Games 2010 Village is spread over an 11-hectare area near the Yamuna banks

Every vehicle meant for athletes would be put through an antisabotage test every morning while each of 23 venues would be completely sanitised seven days ahead of an event.

“We are in full command of the venues. Adequate security arrangements are in place to ensure an incident-free Games,” Rajan Bhagat, spokesperson of Delhi Police said.

Each venue will be connected to a central command room (command, control, coordination and communication centre) at the Delhi Police headquarters where CCTV cameras will relay every activity from the venues.

Besides, Delhi Police will have 62 National Security Guard (NSG) commandos in case of any combat situation, Special Protection Group (SPG) commandos for VVIP security, and local police personnel in and around a two-kilometre area from a particular venue, as well as helicopter surveillance.

Likewise, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main venue where the opening and closing ceremonies will be held, would be secured by 1,500 trained officers, the Major Dhyanchand National Stadium by 1,000 officers, Indira Gandhi National Stadium by around 1,200 personnel, Talkatora by 800-1,000 officers, Siri Fort Complex by 1,000 officers, and similar number for the other stadium. At the apartments where athletes will be staying, Delhi Police will have commandos deployed on every building, apart from trained private security guards to look after peripheral security. The practice venues will have commandos and dog squads round the clock and the whole area would be lighted up.

Dengue scare

The Indian government has issued a health advisory about Dengue to the participants visiting Delhi for the Commonwealth Games stating that the “H1N1 influenza has now peaked in India”. The advisory, issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, says that if the athletes find any symptoms of flu, they should consult the medical officer in the contingent. If required, they should also get the medical advice of the polyclinic in the competition venue or hotel. If the advice of the doctor is to stay in the Games village, they should “use triple layered surgical mask and avoid close contact with others for a week”. If the symptoms aggravate, they should report to the nearest notified hospital in Delhi.

“Anyone who contracts H1N1 during the Games will be given free consultation, diagnosis and treatment,” the statement said. The advisory carries a detailed Dos and Don’ts list to prevent swine flu. The athletes have been asked not to shake hands or hug while greeting. The health ministry has advised athletes “to carry full sleeved clothes and mosquito repellents while travelling to India”.

Continued on page 16

Competition Schedule and stadia

There are 26 new stadia which will be utilized for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, along with some older ones that have been renewed and upgraded.

windows of their apartments open during their stay for the Games.

The dengue scare, however, has not deterred the “biggest” Australian contingent from going to Delhi for the Commonwealth Games, Peter Varghese, the country’s high commissioner in India, said. The envoy said that despite the dengue scare, Australia was looking forward to the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games. “We are looking forward to the Commonwealth Games and have a very large team of 650 Australians that would be the biggest we would be sending. So, we will be looking forward to some very good competition in the Games,” Varghese said.

Opening Ceremony

The Commonwealth Games, also known as the ‘Friendly Games’, are a multinational, multi-discipline sports event held once in four years and participants come from the Commonwealth of Nations - or former colonies of the British Empire. Hosting the 19th Commonwealth Games, India will have an opportunity to present its culture, its achievements, its warm hospitality and its organisational capabilities to the world.

The Games’ Opening and Closing Ceremonies will be held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. In the opening ceremony on October 3, there will be a flag parade of countries participating in the Games. Australia, being the host country for the last Games (2006) will lead the parade. As per custom, India, the current host country will stand last in the parade. The opening ceremony parade is an important event. During the parade, India’s national anthem Jana Gana Mana will be played. The Queen’s Baton relay is also an important event and is the curtain raiser for the Games. The first and the last baton carrier are chosen from a list of well known athletes belonging to the host country which is India for 2010 commonwealth Games. It is expected that Indian President, Mrs. Pratibha Patil will grace the Queen’s baton relay at the opening ceremony. India’s ace shooter, Olympic gold medal winner Abhinav Bindra will be the first baton carrier for 2010 Commonwealth Baton relay. (For Canada, the Indian-origin Ken Pereira, Canada’s hockey team captain, will carry the national flag). At the opening ceremony the baton will be handed over to her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II or her representative by the last runner. Queen Elizabeth II will not attending the Games inauguration this time breaking a 40-year-old tradition due to a very packed schedule, according to reports. However, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla will be present during opening ceremony. There will also be a welcome ceremony after the inaugural ceremony where athletes of all the participating nations will be welcomed and Green Flag will be shown as a sign for commencement of the games. Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium will hoist three flags, the flags of the present host country (India), the last host country (Australia) and the next host country (Scotland).

Apart from the traditional events associated with Commonwealth Games, the 2010 Commonwealth Games will also host musical performances as part of opening ceremony. The musical performances will be delivered by many well known and established foreign and Indian artists. Oscar winner A.R. Rahman will be performing live. Many Bollywood personalities and celebrities from the field of politics, sports and media will also be present. Impressive fireworks will light up the

Green Games

The Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games has been recognised as the first ever “Green Commonwealth Games”.

The CWG organisers had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Program to show the intention to host a “sustainable games” and to take the environment into consideration when constructing and renovating venues. Taking further the efforts to conduct a Green Commonwealth Games, recycled paper and stationery will be used for official work during the event and this would be applicable in respect of functions, events and offices. ‘Green’ Sheras, the Games mascot, will greet visitors at the Commonwealth Games venues - with leaves springing out of their wire mesh structures - giving a literal touch to the concept of green Games. Besides Shera, the Games logo is also green.

High definition coverage

The Commonwealth Games Organising Committee has finalised deals with rights holding broadcasters from 13 countries across six continents. Prasar Bharati is the host broadcast partner for Delhi 2010. The international broadcast exposure will beat all records set. The Games are to be viewed across Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Asia, Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and the United States, with additional daily news coverage reaching across 160 countries. For the first time in the history of the Commonwealth Games, all 17 sports disciplines and opening and closing ceremonies will be covered on High Definition Digital Format (HDTV)

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) will be sending a crew of 250 while an Australian broadcasting team will comprise 280 people (Channel Network Ten/ Foxtel/ABC Radio). Prasar Bharati has appointed Satellite Information Services (SIS) Live of UK for production and coverage services. SIS Live will deploy over 1300 experts across all venues. Approximately 345 HD cameras, including 38 Super Slow Motion cameras, 55 Robotic cameras, 40 RF cameras and 100 Slow Motion Servers are going to be part of the technical infrastructure. A range of ‘Speciality Cameras’ will include ‘Fly Cam’ for overhead tracking shots at the ceremonies, athletics and swimming, ‘Crawl Cam’, ‘Pole Cam’ and ‘Turn Cam’ for underwater shots at the swimming venues. ‘Dive Cams’ will follow divers from the diving board into the water. The ‘Track Cams’ will run alongside the track for events like the 100 metres. Helicopters with specially mounted cameras will cover the entire route. Special motorbikes equipped with RF cameras will follow the athletes for the coverage during the whole course of route.

Troubles and controversies behind and with just a week to go for the sports event, the only message of the CWG organisers to all participating nations is - come to India and play well.

The closing ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games will be held on 14th October 2010 at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium, New Delhi.

Games Village

Game On, Delhi 2010! Game On, Delhi 2010!

The Commonwealth Games will be a test of strength, endurance, talent and ability for the thousands of participating athletes, and a time of excitement and cheer for spectators of this prestigious sporting event. Meet some high achievers on the Australian team, who are raring to cover themselves in glory at Delhi

Australia’s former fastest sprinter Matt Shirvington is not a name yet forgotten. Although we will once again see his familiar face at this year’s Commonwealth Games, he is not going to Delhi as a competitor, but as a

Shirvington is famous for claiming 5 consecutive national titles for the 100m sprint, as well as holding the Australian record for the event at 10.03 seconds for 5 years, until Patrick Johnson topped this mark in 2003. He has recently joined Sky Sports as a sports presenter, and will be commentating for the Commonwealth Games with his wealth of

experience.

The sprint star feels that the Games definitely have a huge bearing on an athlete’s career. “The Commonwealth Games from an Australian athlete’s point of view is really significant because not only has it shown in the past some great and historical Australian performances, it’s also a testing ground for future athletes. It is a real stepping stone and a significant space in the progression of your performance as well as a sign of things to come,” says Shirvington.

Speaking from a track point of view, Shirvington believes the Jamaicans possess the biggest threat. “The competition in athletics is very high – if you take the Americans out of it, historically so many good performances come from the African

nations…Jamaica is a superpower in sprinting at the moment; they currently have a number of very fast, strong athletes in track and field,” he says. Although Usain Bolt is out of the Games with a back injury, the Jamaican squad, which includes former world record holder Asafa Powell, is still a potent force. These games do however, Shirvington says, allow the athletes to “…show Australia’s dominance over the rivalry within the British Empire, in which it is one of the less significant nations.”

This is not without reason – Australia have had the most gold medals at the last five Games, including a staggering 222 medals in 2006, more than double of second-placed England’s tally. Shirvington has been to India as recently as May, and received quite

Matthew Shirvington Commentator, not competitor (and Brett Lee’s brother!)

Matt Mitcham Diving into India

The 2010 Delhi Games will be Australian diving champion Matt Mitcham’s second Commonwealth Games, having represented Australia at the 2006 Games in Australia.

22-year-old Mitcham has already won gold at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 for the 10m platform with the highest single dive score in the history of Olympics. So what are his hopes for the Delhi Games?

“I want to do all my dives well. And I know when I do my dives well I get good results,” he explained.

Mitcham will be competing in the 10-metre platform, 1-metre springboard, 3-metre synchronised spring and the 10-metre synchronised springboard.

“I don’t want to put a lot of pressure or high expectations on myself,” he said.

Mitcham began diving at the age of 11 but had been competing as a trampoline gymnast for years before taking on diving as well. However, soon Mitcham had to choose between the two sports.

“It became too much and I couldn’t do it any more. So I chose diving which I think is a very good decision now,” he added with a laugh

Having been placed in the spotlight from a very young age, Mitcham has handled the pressures that come with being a professional athlete very well. In 2008 he openly declared he was homosexual, making him one of very few openly gay athletes in the Olympics.

“I was quite lucky because I did a lot of discovering and learning about myself. I discovered the person I was and I came to accept and came to like the person I was,” he said.

Mitcham has never been to India but is keen to be able to visit the country during the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

“It’s very different and very exciting. A new experience for me. But, I love new experiences and discovering new places. I think Delhi has so much interesting

Susie O’Neill Australia will definitely win

culture that I think they’ll do a good job of keeping the athletes entertained and surprised”.

Participating in four different events, Matt Mitcham has been training hard. But who are his rivals?

“On platform, Thomas Daly from England. He won the World Championships last year and is just a fantastic platform diver. In springboard events it would be Alexandre Despatie from Canada. He has been the King of Springboard for very many years,” Mitcham explained.

And how does he think Australia will do in these Commonwealth Games?

“I’m hoping all the Australians get the best results, but the other countries are very close and very competitive,” Mitcham replied. There have been ongoing criticisms of the Delhi Games’ preparations and setbacks like flooding that has been the source of a lot concern about the Athletes village and stadiums not being prepared in time. But Mitcham is not worried.

“Before every major Games, the host city always has a whole lot of problems that happen in preparation of their Games. They always manage to pull it off in the last minute. I think India definitely has the ability to pull it off in the last minute. I have every faith in Delhi and in India that everything will be ready,” Mitcham said.

In terms of possible health and security concerns that may arise in India, Mitcham is pretty relaxed.

“The Australian government and the Indian government have been working very hard to ensure us of our safety while in India. I trust the Indian and the Australian governments,” he said.

Mitcham said he would only back out of the Games if the Australian and Indian government advised him to.

“There’s nothing that can stop me from going. I’m too excited to go!”

Susie O’Neill, also known as ‘Madame Butterfly’ will be going to the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, but only as a commentator for Foxtel.

“It’ll be really exciting. The English team, especially the women, will be a real competition for Australia.” O’Neill said of the swimming events.

Susie O’Neill’s first national competition was at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in New Zealand. She has won 8 gold Olympic medals and her last competition was at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

So how does it feel to be out of the water and on the other side as a spectator?

“I feel really different. I don’t feel part of the team. Though, I don’t miss it at all,” O’Neill explained.

“The first major Games after I retired, I really missed it. I was watching and thinking: I wish I was in there. But now I’m really glad I’m not in there, I’m glad I’m not competing now,” she said.

It’s been 10 years since her last competition as an athlete but has been following the sport and keeping an eye out on the Australian swimming team and the upcoming Australian champions.

“Emily Seabohm, who is swimming at least 8 events, has a good chance to medal in all of them. And the youngest girl in the swimming team, Yolane Kukla who is turning 15 just before the Games. I’m really looking forward to seeing her and seeing how she handles it all,” O’Neill said.

“I was 15 at my first Commonwealth Games and I found it terrifying,” she said. And undoubtedly it would be a lot of pressure on the younger athletes, facing not only the competition but the media spotlight as well.

“The advice I would give is to just be yourself,” O’Neill said.

For O’Neill though, she believes that in many ways, the competitions are easier to deal with when younger.

“You’re not expected to do as well, so it takes the pressure off. There was always the next time. For me, it was just getting in there and doing my best,” O’Neill said with a laugh.

And how does she think India, or more precisely Delhi, will handle the pressure of hosting the Games?

“I think it’ll be fine. You always hear things before any event about things not being ready, but they obviously have a lot of man power. I think it’ll be good. Obviously they’ve shown they can do big sporting events with all the cricket and IPL”. She does have a few concerns for the athletes and even herself.

Shirvington received quite a shock when the public thought he was none other than Brett Lee

a shock when the public thought he was none other than Brett Lee. Even though the cricketer’s popularity is almost unrivalled in India, Shirvington handled it well, joking that he

“told everyone I was Brett Lee’s brother!” While Delhi is in a frantic rush to get the city ready for the Games, Shirvington says of the capital, “There was so much work being done, it was a little bit chaotic, while they get all the venues finished…but Delhi is a very eclectic city anyway, not the type of place that settles down.”

Shirvington is clearly no stranger to Indian culture, and having lived in the United Kingdom for a period of time, he was exposed to the country’s strong Bollywood followers. Of Bollywood movies, he comments, “They’re always entertaining and everyone’s dying in anticipation for the Opening Ceremony to see the Bollywood side of things.” He also “doesn’t mind a little bit of naan” with his favourite biryani and chicken tikka masala.

Although the days of seeing Matt Shirvington burn up the track are over, watching the newer generations of Australian sprinters will make for fascinating viewing, and it is good to know that one of the our sporting legends will be bringing these Games to our TV screens.

Ritam Mitra

“I think it’ll be hard as an athlete to go over to India and compete. Just because of being in a different country with different food with the threat of getting gastro…” she explained.

In terms of safety, O’Neill believes there are obvious concerns but knows that necessary procedures are in place.

“I think it’ll be fine. Obviously India have shown they can do big sporting events with all the cricket and IPL”

“Hopefully there will be a lot of security. From a logistics point of view that means it’ll be slow to get to places going through all the security but they’ll stick to doing that because of the risk,” she noted.

O’Neill though, is still excited about the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

“A few people in Australia are saying the [interest in the] Commonwealth Games is dying out, but I think it’s just as popular. I think any time you have a multi-sport, multi-country competition, it’s really exciting. Most athletes see it as second only to the Olympics in terms of what they want to achieve,” she said.

Susie O’Neill may no longer be a part of the Australian swimming team, but she still has all her faith in them.

“England are definitely up and coming, but I think Australia will definitely win.”

Farrha Khan

Farrha Khan

“I think Delhi has so much interesting culture that I think they’ll do a good job of keeping the athletes entertained and surprised”

Geoff Huegill Going for gold

As the Commonwealth Games draw ever closer, there has been a lot of attention placed on activities outside the sporting field – slow preparation of the venues, security concerns and the record rains experienced in Delhi at a most inconvenient time. Geoff Huegill, however, does not pay much attention to this. On a spectacular comeback trail, Huegill, one of the heroes of the Australian 2000 Sydney Olympics swimming team, is back and ready to once again dominate the water.

Huegill holds a previous world record in the 50m butterfly, as well as being a dual medallist from the Sydney Olympics. Having quit the sport following the 2004 Athens Olympics, he announced his comeback in November 2008, having shed more than 40 kilograms in preparation. 2009 saw steady improvement, and now in 2010, he is racing as well as ever, having already clocked his second-fastest ever time in the 100m butterfly.

Speaking about the motivation behind the comeback, Huegill says, “I have a passion for swimming and a passion for racing and everything that comes with it. My biggest advice (to young athletes) is to enjoy what you do.” And enjoy he will – while he hopes to return victorious with a couple of medals in the 50m and 100m butterfly. Huegill says, “Overall it’s my first time going to India, and I’m really going to enjoy it for what it is; the smells, the colours, the sounds and the people. I’m really looking forward to going over!”

Huegill knows, however, that there will be stiff competition even without the United States’ always-ominous presence. While he believes there will be some strong competitors from England and Canada, he recognises that Indian athletes are also a possible threat to

Australia’s traditional dominance at the Games. “When you have a major competition in your own backyard, as athletes you tend to rise to the occasion,” states Huegill.

There have been numerous concerns raised over the inherent safety issues at such major sporting events – especially when they are taking place on such a grand scale in one of the most populated countries in the world. Huegill says, however, that “in terms of security concerns, we have very good information coming in from the government, and that’s their area of expertise… Until we hear that it’s not safe, we’ll definitely be there.” Indeed, Huegill says he will draw on his own travel experiences, having journeyed around the world throughout a long and successful career.

Like many athletes, Geoff is a fan of many sports. His favourite team in football is Manchester United; apt, given that he was given the privilege to “go out and kick a ball” at Old Trafford during the 1998 Commonwealth Games. He is also a fan of cricket, and enjoyed watching Matthew Hayden help the Chennai Super Kings to the IPL title earlier this year.

So where does Geoff go from here?

As a start, he plans on getting through this year and competing in the World Short Course Championships in Dubai in December. He assures, however, that he will be in London for the Olympics in one way or another – as either a competitor or a commentator.

When you’re competing on one of the biggest stages in world sport, with the burden of millions of expectations, along with billions of people watching your every move, there’s not a lot you can do to calm your nerves.

Prashanth Sellathurai, though, will be thinking back to his preparationalthough “the dream is to win a team competition”, this 24-year old gymnast simply hopes to do his routines neatly like he does in training. It is not Prashanth’s first Commonwealth games – even though he is still a young man, he was in the thick of the competition at Melbourne four years ago.

Prashanth was introduced to gymnastics when he was young. He says, “My mother put me in when I was little – I was really energetic, always climbing trees…” Of course, many children have too much excess energy; not all children, however, manage to convert that energy into several international medals, the bulk of which, for Prashanth, have come in the difficult Pommel Horse discipline.

Although his family hails from Tamil

One thing is for sure though, with a lean, muscle-bound build comparable to Ali, it’s not hard to see that in the pool, Geoff Huegill floats like a butterfly and stings like a bee…He’s definitely someone to watch out for in Delhi!

Ritam Mitra

out of Australia together on the 26th, and even though the Games are only weeks away now, Prashanth has no concerns about the hype surrounding the delayed preparations of venues in Delhi at the moment. “China was behind schedule and they got everything done in time and it’s not like there’s not enough people there to do the work, so it should be okay!”

Speaking about potential health or security concerns, like many of us, Prashanth says “I always get a bit of diarrhoea when I go there, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary”. However, he believes the Games will be a safe experience for both members of the public and competitors.

Nadu, Prashanth was born in Australia, and his parents are, as they should be, very proud to have their son representing this country. Of course they will be travelling to Delhi to cheer him on. It will be Prashanth’s first time travelling in the north of India, and he looks forward to the tough competition

that Canada and England in particular will provide. Prashanth will be a worthy opponent however, being one of “four men in the world that do the difficulty of the routine that he does” according to Gymnastics Australia chief executive Jane Allen.

The Australian gymnastics team flies

With the absence of powerhouse gymnasts China, Prashanth Sellathurai will be considered a real threat in Delhi 2010, and he’s definitely someone to look out for. Prashanth, however, will be doing his own thing – sticking to his routine and stamping a greater authority on a sport fast becoming his own.

“I’m really going to enjoy India for what it is; the smells, the colours, the sounds and the people. I’m really looking forward to going over!”

Ritam Mitra

Prashanth Sellathurai An Indian-origin gymnast in Aussie colours

A traditional Onam in Sydney

The Sydney Malayalee Association celebrated Onam at Redgum Function Centre in Wentworthville recently. About four-hundred and fifty people enjoyed a visual feast of performances by local artists and later on an Onam sadhya (feast) with traditional vegetarian ingredients.

President Mr Padmanabhan Karamil received the guests including Mr Gautum Roy (from the Consulate of India), Mr Laurie Ferguson MP (Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services), Mr Philip Ruddock MP (Shadow Minister for Immigration & Citizenship), Clr Vasee Rajaduri (representing Mayor of Holroyd City Council), and Mrs Aruna Chandrala (President UIA).

Mr George Thomas, Vice President of Sydney Malayalee Association gave the welcome address.

Mr Gautum Roy, Mr Laurie Ferguson, Mr Philip Ruddock, Clr Vasee Rajaduri and Mrs Aruna Chandrala lit the lamps to begin the program.

Clr Vasee Rajaduri formally invited Mahabali to the function and the multilingual Mahabali expressed his happiness in visiting his subjects and wished them well. This year a few Awards were launched by Sydney Malayalee Association (Sydmal).

Jacob John, Executive Committee member, formally launched Sydmal’s Distress Relief Fund.

Jayakumar Sadananda, Secretary of Sydmal spoke about Excellence Award for three students who scored the highest marks in the past HSC examination and was presented to three recipients (Mr.Mathew Benjamin George, Ms Sandhya Menon and Mr Jaison Jacob) by Mr Gautum Roy.

Biju Kurien, Executive Committee member, Sydmal spoke about Service Award and the inaugaral award was presented by Mrs Aruna Chandrala to Mr S. Cherian.

Anish Philip, past Vice President of Sydmal spoke about the vision and future direction of the organisation. The performances were enthralling to say the least. It

, classical dances, popular songs, comedy skits, electrical dance, etc.

This year’s interesting feature was Ottamthullal, a satirical dance performance that originated well over 250 years back in Kerala. It is performed mostly in Malayalam unlike other performances which are mostly in Sanskrit. Pt Jawaharlal

Kathakali. Ramdas performed Ottamthullal and entertained the audience.

The program concluded with Babu Menon, Executive Committee member, Sydmal giving vote of thanks.

Check out snippets of the Onam celebrations on You Tube.

Mahabali arrives to give Onam blessings

An afternoon of varieTea, musicaliTea and frivoliTea

Combining outrageous humour, beautiful music and quirky poetry, Oz Asia’s AFTERNOON AbsurdiTea will take audiences on an incredible experience of that wonderfully addictive beverage, says Anne Norman aka Camellia Cha, in an interview with SHIVANGI AMBANI-GANDHI, sharing her journey of tea discovery

Shivangi Ambani-Gandhi: What exactly is a Tea Performance? And what can the audience expect from AFTERNOON AbsurdiTea?

Camellia Cha: In AbsurdiTea, rather than focusing on making tea, we tell the story of tea and its journey through various countries and cultures, using poetry, narrative and music from the countries where tea is grown and consumed. I have written a poem which challenges those of us who mindlessly partake of tea, to think about where it comes from and who plucked it. Just what is the story behind tea, and how did it get into my teacup? In one poem, rhythmically delivered lyrics will be supported by the Indian rhythms of Jay Dabgar and Josh Bennett.

SAG: Will you share a snippet of the kind of humour and quirky poetry that will be a part of this show?

CC: You think tea is British, well, of course you’re right, it’s true. Iraqis and Sri Lankans think that too.

And if you’re Yank, it’s what you drank, then you sank it, now you thank it for your country’s liber-TEA teabag sucker sucker TEA! But the Chinese had it first, Japanese then got the thirst, and the Portuguese prayed on their knees till Chinese coffers burst...

SAG: You have previously collaborated with a tap dancer and cabaret performers.. CC: Yes. And with a cellist, and a recorder player, and a calligrapher, and a shamisen player with Japanese dancer... It has been an interesting learning curve and transition for me to ‘perform’ my book, Curiosi-tea. It is one thing to spend years researching and travelling and writing, and another to memorize parts of what you have written and deliver it with music or other art forms. Because we have such talented musicians on stage in the OzAsia presentation, I will keep my talking to a minimum in order to make time for the music to unfold. And I want to jam with the musicians on my shakuhachi where possible. Until tea took over my life, performing shakuhachi (bamboo flute) has been my primary occupation, and it still is my forte, although things are shifting a little.

SAG: Tell us about your book, Curiosi-tea. CC: Curiosi-tea is a flippantly presented, but thoroughly researched, book on tea: tea’s history, health properties, and cultural associations. It makes use of the strange quirk of the English language, where over 2,000 English words end with the sound tea, such as CuriosiTY, serendipiTY etc. I had initially not envisaged a serious or scholarly book, but rather a bit of fun with puns and cartoon-like illustrations. So of course, the first chapter just had to be “Antiqui-tea” and

the last “Infini-tea”, and then I thought I would fill it out with frivoli-tea... And having the naugh-tea, cheeky mind I have, I had to include chapters on promiscui-tea and sexualitea as well as topics which didn’t feel like they should really be in a tea book at all, such as radioactivi-tea and insani-tea. However, the more I researched and read, the more I was confronted by the dark side of tea, not just the froth and bubble of a whisked matcha, or the spice of a masala chai. It was when I began to read books like Roy Moxham’s Tea: Addiction, Exploitation and Empire, that the chapter entitled Inhumani-tea and Mortali-tea resulted. I tried to avoid including this darker material for quite a while, but the more I read I realised I couldn’t ignore it. The clincher came when I read an article in The Times of India on March 1, 2007 entitled “Tea estate closure results in 100 deaths”. The nature of my book became more weighty from then on.

SAG: Which is your favourite Indian tea?

CC: I was very impressed with the organic teas of the Makaibari tea estate in Darjeeling. I came home with samples of their Silver Tips Imperial white tea and their green and oolong teas. However, when I want a kick that is more filling than a cleansing and subtle white or green tea, I sometimes make myself a milky masala chai using ‘black’ Assam tea in a saucepan on the stove at home.

SAG: You recently spent 5 weeks in India visiting tea plantations….

CC: I confess it was my first trip to India. As India came to the international tea trade late in the history of tea, I hadn’t written as much about the country in my book, as I had about China and her eastern neighbours. The historical significance of India and China in relation to Britain’s tea drinking habit is enormous. I began my trip to Assam to see where the British began their tea plantations, but first I went to Kolkata and met up with Ali Zaman, a wonderful fellow who gave me leads to his colleagues in the tea industry in Calcutta and Assam. I met the Tea Board of India, visited the tea auction rooms and the secretary general of the Indian Tea Association. I then travelled to the Experimental Station of the Tocklai Tea Research Association in Jorhat. Their motto is: SustainabiliTEA through research. Now that’s my kind of spelling!

The scientists at Tocklai are brilliant and their state-of-the-art facility is the best tea research one I have ever encountered. They had trans-genetic engineers and biotechnicians analysing DNA and making super clones of tea. Impressive work! They were also looking at finding natural ways to avoid the use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers.

I visited the Kaziranga National park, then Dibrugarh and on to the Hollonghabi Tea estates. These have an enormous burden of responsibility to look after a large number of workers and their families, and I began to get an inkling of the planters’ side of the story, and the headaches they face in managing their

charges.

I also met members of the original tea tribes of upper Assam near the border with Burma and drank green tea in a bamboo stilt house with a bright fellow of the Singpho tribe who makes organic tea commercially. He was a powerhouse of knowledge on the tea history of his tribe and has helped anthropologists from around the world with their research.

One day I hope to return to upper Assam and Arunachal Pradesh with Rajan to explore the Chinese border region, and see what we can find in the way of evidence of a branch of the ancient Tea and Horse road that the Chinese scholars write about.

In Darjeeling I met several knowledgeable and helpful men who have worked in the tea industry all their lives. I visited numerous temples; improvising music with the male ‘wives of Shiva’ in a Bhakti monastery on the island of Majuli; wandered around the blindingly white and glorious Taj Mahal. I had adventures on trains, planes, rickshaws, an elephant and overly crowded ‘taxis’; I even fitted in a leisurely day on a river boat in Kerala... It would take a book to tell you all my adventures! I love India and can’t wait to return.

AFTERNOON absurdiTEA, as part of the Oz Asia Festival in Adelaide will show at the Space Theatre on September 26, 2010, at 2pm. For more information, please visit ozasiafestival.com.au/ afternoon-absurditea

Anne Norman

Improvising with the Brides of Shiva on Majuli Island

The gentle art of tea spitting: Tea tasting with scientists from Tocklai

Rummaging through India’s history

that Dr Masselos developed an interest in using Indian origin objects to build up a sense of history.

BY SHIVANGI AMBANI-GANDHI

Scouring through junk shops in Australia and London, Dr Jim Masselos began his collection of the now large and wonderfully varied Portvale Collection. “I would go through shoe boxes full of photos and other material in shops full of all sorts of old objects. I accumulated the collection by hunting and rummaging. Now you can buy some such materials over eBay – it is far less exciting!” claims the historian.

The Indian Empire: Multiple Realities exhibition currently on show at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, presents a selection of objects from this collection built up over 40 years of travel across India, London and Australia. Dr Masselos is donating a large portion of the items in the exhibition to the Gallery.

Dr. Masselos, an honorary reader in history at the University of Sydney, has visited India over 50 times. His first visit in 1961 was to Mumbai to do his doctorate at St Xavier’s College under the Commonwealth Scholarship Scheme funded by the Government of India. His doctorate, about the rise of nationalism in Mumbai and Pune, was completed over a 4-year period in Mumbai leading to his book, Towards Nationalism

“When I came back to Sydney to teach, there were no visuals available, such as those now easily available on the internet,” he recollects. So he, along with a colleague, put together an exhibition of India-related objects at Sydney University in 1967. Included in this exhibition were objects from Sir James Plimsoll (Australian High Commissioner to India) and some from Mohenjodaro that had been gifted to the Nicholson Museum by the Indian Government. It was with this humble exhibition

One room of the exhibition is dedicated to beautifully embroidered textiles from Kutch and Saurashtra in Gujarat. “Lotika Varadarajan, who was also doing her doctorate at St Xavier’s at the time, got me interested in textiles,” says Dr. Masselos. “I decided to go to Kutch and look at the folk embroidery to create a sense of what preoccupied the women who wore this embroidery, and how they saw the world and depicted it in their designs.”

“I could have used French post-colonial theory to analyse their embroidery designs, but instead I decided to ask the women what their designs meant,” says Dr. Masselos. He found that although designs could have several different meanings in different areas of the region, one common image was of the famous story of women churning curd – but it had become so stylized that one couldn’t see the literal story in the image.

Another common symbol used by these women was that of a scorpion usually embroidered onto the left shoulder of the choli. This scorpion directed towards the heart, Dr Masselos found, symbolized the sudden pain of love, the love of Bhakti. Also included in the exhibition are the some cholis of the Maharani of Kutch who Masselos befriended over long conversations about her life. “Sometimes I think I know her better than I know anyone else!” says the collector.

Looking through the Empire exhibition though, it becomes apparent through the extensive display of photographs and albums, that Dr. Masselos has a particular interest in this medium. “At the time I was doing my research on Mumbai and I had to start collecting maps and drawings to build up a picture of what

India was like a century or so earlier,” says Dr. Masselos. “Now you just wouldn’t bother – you would just go on the internet and surf for pictures. The photographs were also visually very interesting, and my interest grew from seeing the photographs as just historical information to aesthetics as well; seeing them as images that are beautiful in their own right.”

One of the albums on display is a Panorama of Delhi, containing stunning images of the city in 1858. In a jointly authored book Dr Masselos has written an essay on Beato, the photographer of this album, while Delhi historian Narayani Gupta has written about the same places as they were then and as they are now in a book titled Beato’s Delhi. “We found that between the Old and New Delhi was another Delhi – the Delhi of the 1800s before the uprising of 1857, a Delhi that wasn’t Shahjahanabad nor the Delhi of Lutyens and the British raj, but was based around the Ridge and the then civil lines,” says Dr Masselos talking about this project. His other books include Bombay then and Mumbai now, (with Naresh Fernandes) and The city in action: Bombay struggles for power.

“India has been very well portrayed in early photographs. The way India is represented through these photographs and their sheer range; there is nothing in comparison to that in 19th century Australia. There was great attention paid to the Indian landscape as well as to the many different facets of Indian life and living under the British,” says Dr. Masselos. “There is thus the Imperial view of British power that they convey, but also the picturesque.” And it is these multiple visions of India under the British Raj that is brought forth by the new exhibition of his collection.

The Indian empire, multiple realitiesSelections from the Portvale Collection, runs at the Art Gallery of New South Wales until November 7, 2010. Entry to the exhibition is free.

“The way India is represented through these photographs and their sheer range; there is nothing in comparison to that in 19th century Australia.”

Dr. Masselos

Mahars of Bombay

Dr Jim Masselos in India

Dr Jim Masselos

Unforgettable, that’s what you are

They said the melodies would be unforgettable, and they got it right! It was an intimate evening of masti and naach-gaana, singing and dancing along to the tunes of a golden era of Indian music that has never, and will never be forgotten.

With star performers Bobby Mullick, Gargi Mukherjee, Jeet Das and Kiran Porey, along with a superb live band headed up by the well known Dr Dinakar, it was a wonder the legendary Helen was not dancing along with the audience in the aisles of Homebush Boys High School herself!

The program, headlined Unforgettable Melodies, was organised by Anandadhara Readers Forum, an event-based initiative whose mission is to “spread and share the joy of innovation and creativity with willing and capable members from different walks of life.” It is a lovely philosophy which is summed up aptly as a journey: Anandadhara – The Stream of Joy. It is no surprise then, that the night was indeed a joyous occasion.

The night began with a lovely rendition of Musafir hoon yaaron, followed by Yeh shaam mastani. It was very refreshing to see the tunes of Kishore Kumar performed

with a modern spin by Jeet. Jeet really did capture the antics of Kishore Kumar on the mic, including the yodelling! The entrance of Bobby was heralded with a duet, jaan dhoondta phir raha – one of many Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar covers of the night. The audience was very involved already, and this would not change as the night grew older – indeed Gargi was introduced with a Bengali classic: Takhon tomar ekush (You were 21 then), drawing wild cheers from the Bengali majority of the full house.

With all the main singers introduced, it seemed that there was already too much talent for just one stage. Not nearly - the young lead guitarist Kiran then surprised the audience with a cover of Manna Dey’s Zindagi kaisi hai paheli hai. It was great seeing some young faces on the stage!

Seeing Kiran on stage truly emphasized the fact that music is indeed timeless.

Raka Gujral

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Harris Park locals enjoy Family Fun Day

Parramatta City Council organised the Harris Park Community Day on September 5 at the Robin Thomas Reserve and James Ruse Reserve. Thousands of locals gathered together for a day of fun, competitions and entertainment, and even windy weather didn’t dent the crowd’s enthusiasm. Over a hundred children from the local community area participated in the unique skills competition organised by New Australian Sports Association and Footwork Sports Academy, supported by Parramatta Council.

The children also competed in a round robin soccer tournament played between six teams, the Westmead Rabbits, Blacktown Knights, Harris Park Eels, Westmead Tigers, Parramatta Panthers and Wentworthville Titans. The tournament was won by the local team, the Harris Park Eels who defeated the Parramatta Panthers in the finals.

The Harris Park local community enjoyed the tournament, cheering their children until they were hoarse, and fond memories of fun and excitement will stay with all for a long time to come.

Becoming an integral part of the Parramatta community

Governor Macquarie’s 200th anniversary was celebrated at the Parramatta Park on September 12, with an open day themed “Colonial Kids Down at the Dairy”. The event was part of a series being organised in Parramatta, in conjunction with the Parramatta Park Trust and the local community.

The family fun day offered the

community an opportunity to get a close look at the historic Dairy Cottage in Parramatta Park, and featured a reenactment of the group 73rd Regiment on Foot, which originally came out with Macquarie. On display were attractions like a military camp with black powder gunnery displays, a blacksmith and a bush band. Families could milk cows, children could pet

the animals or take a ride on the cart and horses, all as part of the celebrations.

Children from Footwork Sports Academy in collaboration with New Australian Sports Association, were invited to manage and organise the Parramatta Spring Soccer tournament, in which more than a hundred children participated.

Russell Crowe’s Rabbitohs star rugby fullback Ryse Wesser presented the winner and runner-up mementos to the players. His very presence worked wonders for the local Westmead Rabbits team who won the round robin tournament, and the Blacktown Knights who finished as runners up. Sanjay Nambisan of Blacktown Knights was judged the best player, Smit Patel of Westmead Rabbitohs got the best goal award and Jash Patel was presented with the encouragement award. The awards were distributed by Parramatta Park Trust Director Chris Levins and Ryse Wesser. The Old Government House and Domain in Parramatta Park was recently inducted as one of the 11 historic sites that together form the Australian Convict Sites World Heritage Property. Parramatta Park has joined the Sydney Opera House, Kakadu National Park, the Great Barrier Reef and other Australian icons on the World Heritage List.

Sanjiv Dubey

This unparalleled effort from the Parramatta Council will definitely increase the level of connectivity between residents of Harris Park. In particular, its staffers Gavin Lawrence, Supervisor Recreation Programs and Chris McAlpine deserve a special mention.

More spice was added to the celebration as Parramatta City Councillor John Chedid presided over the formal awards ceremony, and he presented the winners with mementos. In the Soccer and Cricket Skills competition, Aditya Dhond, Louie, Aditya Kadam, Dave Sarang Dubey, Surya, Yatin, Ryan Anson, Ayush Gupta, Sanjay Nambisan, Mohak Issar, Shubhika Dubey and Sreyan were all victorious in their respective age group. Cr Chedid also officially opened the James Ruse playground, saying, “The playground will provide children with entertaining play equipment in the enjoyable outdoor setting of James Ruse Reserve.”

The new, colourful playground incorporates an agricultural theme to reflect the area as being part of the first land grant and the first successful farm in Australia. Children from Footwork Sports Academy were among the first to enjoy the playground and other activities organised.

The fun day also featured many activities for children and special guest professional skateboarder Jacke Hayes wowed the audience with a live skateboarding demonstration at the James Ruse Reserve Skate Park.

“The family fun day brought together people from all different cultures and provided a wonderful opportunity for locals to get together, mingle and spend a warm spring day outdoors with the family,” said Cr Chedid.

The fun day helped provide the community at large and especially young children, an opportunity to access activities which are usually rare to come by. The communities need to work together more often and develop a feeling of being a part of something bigger.

Special thanks goes to students from Macarthur Girls High who offered help through the day, and parents who contributed their time to make the event a very special one. Another event of this kind is planned in week 7 of the next school term, and if you would like to be a part of this, please call Sanjiv Dubey on 0433 669 334.

Sanjiv Dubey

Tendulkar shortlisted for three categories in ICC Awards

India’s Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag are in the running for the International Cricket Council’s ‘Cricketer of the Year’ award.

South Africa’s Hashim Amla and England’s Graeme Swann are the two other players short-listed in the category.

The votes have been cast by the independent 25-member academy and one of them will be awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Cricketer of the Year at a glittering ceremony in Bangalore Oct 6.

In addition, Tendulkar, Sehwag and Amla are also short-listed for the Test Player of the Year alongside South Africa’s Dale Steyn at the seventh annual LG ICC Awards, presented in association with the Federation of International Cricketers’ Associations (FICA).

Tendulkar is also in contention for the ODI Player of the Year award as he is shortlisted in that category with the Australian

duo of Shane Watson and Ryan Harris as well as South Africa’s AB de Villiers.

For the ‘Twenty20 International Performance of the Year’ New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum has been short-listed alongside Australia’s Michael Hussey, Sri Lanka’s Mahela Jayawardena and South Africa’s Ryan McLaren.

This year’s LG ICC Awards includes nine individual prizes, including the new LG People’s Choice Award and also features the selection of the Test and ODI Teams of the Year besides the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ award.

The long-lists of nominations were made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd. The panel also includes former players such as India’s Ravi Shastri, Matthew Hayden of Australia, Angus Fraser of England and Zimbabwe’s Duncan Fletcher.

The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its seventh year and this year is being held in Bengaluru. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007 and 2009) and Dubai (2008).

Short-lists of nominees (in alphabetical order)

Cricketer of the Year: Hashim Amla (SA), Virender Sehwag (India), Graeme Swann (England), Sachin Tendulkar (Ind)

Test Player of the Year: Hashim Amla (SA), Virender Sehwag (India), Dale Steyn (SA), Sachin Tendulkar (India)

ODI Player of the Year: Ryan Harris (Australia), Sachin Tendulkar (India), AB de

Villiers (SA), Shane Watson (Australia)

Emerging Player: Umar Akmal (Pakistan), Steven Finn (England), Angelo Mathews (Sri Lanka), Tim Paine (Australia), Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate (The Netherlands), Trent Johnson (Ireland), Kevin O’Brien (Ireland), Mohammed Shahzad (Afganistan)

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Michael Hussey (Australia), Mahela Jayawardena (Sri Lanka), Ryan McLaren (South Africa), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand)

Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Katherine Brunt (England), Shelley Nitschke (Australia)Ellyse Perry (Australia), Stafanie Taylor (West Indies), Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar, Steve Davis, Tony Hill, Simon Taufel Spirit of Cricket: India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe

Pune woman sets record by ‘flying like a bird’ over Spain

Pune sportswoman Shital V. Mahajan-Rane

‘flew’ like a bird over Spain and successfully created a new Indian record of jumping from an aircraft at 13,000 feet.

Attired in a costume known as ‘wing suit or a birdman-suit’ with attached wings, she jumped from the aircraft and soared in the skies like a bird till 4,000 feet.

Later, she opened her parachute and had a safe, normal landing on the ground below as hundreds of assembled people clapped and cheered her.

“Such a jump has not been tried by any

Indian woman so far and it has become a national record for me,” Shital said.

Describing her experience, she said: “It was too great to describe in words.”

“I got to know how birds can fly in the air and I am really happy that I did it successfully,” she said.

Shital, born and brought up in Pune, is no stranger to creating records around the world.

On April 18, 2004, she made an amateur jump over the North Pole in minus 37 degrees Celsius from a height of 2,400 feet.

Two years later, Dec 16, 2006, she travelled to Antartica and jumped on the South Pole from a height of 11,600 feet in minus 38 degrees Celsius.

These two records, Shital said, make her the only woman in the world to have jumped over the earth’s both poles.

Shital and her husband Vaibhav Rane set another record April 19, 2008, by wedding in a hot air balloon, India’s first.

The priest and some family members travelled for the marriage rituals - which were conducted in the huge hot air balloon hovering 700 feet in the sky above Pune.

After their marriage, Shital and Vaibhav Rane have settled in Finland and the couple has a pair of twins.

Mumbai attack: Hearing on confirmation of Kasab’s death sentence from Oct 18

The Bombay High Court Monday fixed Oct 18 for starting daily hearings to confirm the death sentence awarded to Mumbai attack

South Australian premier Mike Rann helps his wife Sasha Carruozzo roll a chapatti, a traditional flatbread, during their visit to the community kitchen of the Golden Temple, Sikhs’ holiest temple, in Amritsar on Sept. 10, 2010. Rann is on a business tour to India with senior business figures, university representatives and Government officials.

Photo: AP

convict and Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab.

A division bench of Justice Ranjana Desai and Justice Ranjit More also declined to entertain Kasab’s application seeking physical presence and ruled that he would remain present through video-conferencing, his lawyer Farhana Shah said.

“As per the court’s directions, I met Kasab and discussed the issue. He wanted to remain personally present in the high court during the hearing,” Shah said.

The prosecution, led by Special Public Prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, expressed apprehensions about brining Kasab to the Bombay High Court on a daily basis from the Arthur Road Central Jail and said it may pose a threat to him.

Shah said in view of these developments, Kasab was unlikely to be brought to the court and would appear before it through video-conferencing as he did Monday.

She said she planned to file her appeal against the death sentence by Sep 27.

On May 6, Kasab was awarded the death sentence by Special Judge M.L. Tahaliyani after finding him guilty of 86 different offences.

Kasab’s two co-accused - Fahim Ansari and Sabahuddin Ahmed - charged with conspiracy in the terror attack, were acquitted on the grounds that the prosecution evidence against them was doubtful.

Kasab is lodged in the Arthur Road Central Jail, where the trial was conducted.

India gives Pakistan $20 mn for flood relief

India’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Hardeep Singh Puri, has given a cheque for $20 million to the

UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, as India’s contribution towards the ‘Pakistan Emergency Response Plan’.

The cheque was handed over to Ban in the presence of Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon.

Puri recalled the messages of solidarity,

sympathy and support from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna to their Pakistani counterparts in the immediate aftermath of the devastating floods that affected parts of Pakistan in August this year.

“Natural disasters do not respect national boundaries. This is a small but significant

gesture from the highest levels of the Indian government conveying the message that the people of India stand by the people of Pakistan in their hour of need,” he said.

This amount of US$ 20 million is in addition to the amount of US$ 5 million that the Government of India has already contributed to the World Food Programme for its relief efforts in Pakistan.

Later at a meeting for the launch of the ‘Revised Pakistan Floods Emergency Response Plan’, Puri noted that Pakistan has been severely affected by the massive floods and the humanitarian catastrophe continues to unfold.

“India is familiar with the consequences of natural disasters and therefore understands very well the trauma and the suffering that our Pakistani brethren are going through,” he said

“We cannot remain unconcerned with this grave humanitarian crisis of enormous magnitude in our immediate neighbourhood,” Puri said. “As a member of the international community and more significantly as a close neighbour, India recognizes its responsibility to support Pakistan.”

The envoy said he had no doubt that the people of Pakistan have the strength and resilience to overcome this natural disaster. However, the magnitude of the tragedy makes it incumbent on the international community to pool its energies and resources and to assist Pakistan in its efforts to rebuild and rehabilitate the devastated region, Puri said.

Continued on page 34

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India’s Somdev Devvarman, left, and Rohan Bopanna celebrate victory over Brazil in the Davis Cup Tennis world group playoff in Chennai on September 19, 2010. India won both reverse singles matches to complete victory over Brazil in the playoff

Photo: AP

India doing well in reducing maternal mortality: UNICEF

UNICEF has lauded India’s effort in reducing maternal deaths.

“India ranks 25th among the countries in terms of percentage decline in maternal mortality rates, reducing it by 59 percent since 1990. There is no dispute that India has done well in reducing maternal mortality,” Unicef Chief of Communication in India Angela Walker said.

The “Trends in Maternal Mortality” report released by the WHO, Unicef, UNFPA and the World Bank Sep 15 says India recorded the world’s highest number of maternal deaths in 2008 at 63,000, more than countries like Nigeria, Congo, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.

This is despite of the fact that India’s MMR (Maternal Mortality Rate) stood at 230 per one lakh population in 2008, down from 570 in 1990, 390 in 2000 and 280 in 2005, the report said. This is a 59 percent drop in maternal mortality levels.

“According to these new set of estimates, in 2008 India had a MMR of 230 and ranked 116th among 171 countries for which estimates are available in the report. India is now ranked above Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan which have MMRs of 380, 340 and 260 respectively. The MMR for the SubSaharan countries for 2008 is estimated to be 640,” she said.

Walker clarified that the higher absolute number was due to the high number of live births.

“MMR is expressed in terms of 100,000 live births, and India has the highest number of live births in the world being 27 million.

China ranks second with annual estimated live births of 18 million followed by Nigeria

at six million. This largely explains why India has the largest number of maternal deaths in the world (63,000 in 2008),” Walker said.

1984 riots: Supreme Court rejects Sajjan Kumar’s plea

The Supreme Court has rejected Congress leader Sajjan Kumar’s appeal to quash the framing of charges against him in a case of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.

“We are of the view that it cannot be concluded that framing of charges against the appellant by the trial judge is either bad in law or abuse of process of law, or without any material,” said the bench of Justice P.Sathasiivam and Justice Anil R. Dave.

The court vacated its interim order of August 13, 2010, by which it had stayed the framing of charges against the Congress leader.

Writing the verdict for the bench, Justice Sathasivam said: “At the time of framing of the charges, the probative value of the material on record cannot be gone into, but before framing a charge the court must apply its judicial mind on the material placed on record and must be satisfied that the commission of offence by the accused was possible”.

The trial judge would proceed with the trial without being influenced by the “adverse comments, observations and explanations” emanating from judgment of the Delhi High Court, the apex court said.

“We clarify that all those observations of the high court would not affect the ultimate analysis and final verdict of the trial judge,” the court said.

A single judge bench of the Delhi High Court in his judgment had made strong adverse observations and comments against Sajjan Kumar while declining his plea that

he be discharged in the case.

Sajjan Kumar has been named the main accused in a case in which Jagdish Kaur of Palam Colony (near Delhi Cantonment) lost her husband, son and three brothers during rioting and arson by mobs in the aftermath of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination Oct 31, 1984.

Bihar’s Super 30 in Newsweek list of 4 most innovative schools

Bihar’s free coaching centre Super 30, which helps economically backward students crack the Indian Institute of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE), has been selected by American magazine Newsweek in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.

Nearly four months after Time magazine selected Super 30 in the list of the “Best of Asia 2010”, Newsweek in its latest edition included Super 30 in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.

“This is a great recognition, which will not only motivate me, but also the students to perform better. I am happy that my small initiative has brought Bihar on the international map for positive reasons,” Anand Kumar, the institute’s director-cumfounder, said.

He said it was really a matter of happiness that Newsweek had included Super 30 in the list of four most innovative schools in the world.

According to Newsweek, the work of Anand Kumar for the underprivileged students is “incredible”.

“With help of educational and moral support from Anand Kumar, underprivileged students study almost 16 hours every day and qualify the entrance test

of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT).

This entrance test is known as the toughest test in India,” reported the magazine.

The Time magazine had described Super 30 as the Best Cram School in its list in May this year.

Every year, around 230,000 students take the exam for a seat in the IITs but only 5,000 grab it. “Last year, 30 of them came from one coaching centre in Patna, capital of the impoverished north Indian state of Bihar. That may not seem like many, but for the Super 30 centre it’s a pass rate of 100 percent,” the magazine reported in its latest issue.

“What makes that feat even more remarkable is that these students are the poorest of the poor, who would otherwise never be able to afford full-time coaching,” it added.

Kumar, who himself missed a chance to study at Cambridge because he didn’t have enough money, gives full scholarships, including room and travel, to every batch of 30 students. They pass a competitive test just to get into Super 30, and then commit themselves to a year of 16-hour study each day.

In the last three years, all 30 students of Super 30 have made it to the JEE, drawing worldwide attention. Since 2003, more than 200 students have made it to one of the IITs.

“The project has even won the notice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who met Kumar in February to hear his plan to launch a national programme for talented rural children. In a country that has struggled to offer those students even basic education, Super 30 is an example of what’s possible when human potential is tapped,”

the magazine said.

The institute was started by Kumar along with Bihar’s Additional Director-General of Police Abhayanand in 2002 in Patna. But two years ago, Abhayanand dissociated himself from the institute.

Salman Rushdie’s heritage house in Himachal crumbling

Salman Rushdie’s ancestral home, where the acclaimed India-born British novelist spent many summer vacations as a child, is succumbing to the ravages of time and neglect.

The roofs of the single-storey villa, built in 1927 in typical hill architecture style with smoke-emitting chimneys, have developed leaks and rainwater finds its way through crevices into the rooms. Most of the walls of Anees Villa, the six-bedroom bungalow locked over the past 13 years, have developed moulds.

Though the roofs developed leaks around four years ago, it got worse this monsoon. “The roofs have developed leaks and the recent heavy rains have badly affected them.

Due to seepage, most of the inside walls have developed black mould spots. Even wet rot has set in on structural woodwork,” caretaker Govind Ram told IANS.

He said since most of the time the rooms remain locked and there is no ventilation, the rot problem has got aggravated.

“Since sahib (Rushdie) took possession of the bungalow in 1997, he has only visited here once. His lawyer (Vijay T. Shankardass) is taking care of the property. We have already informed him about the leaking roofs,” said Ram, who has been taking care of the house for more than a decade. Rushdie last visited the villa along with his son Zafar for a few hours on April 14, 2000.

Last month the gate of the house got damaged when a big eucalyptus tree fell on it following heavy rains. The 150-foot-tall eucalyptus tree even blocked the passage to the villa.

Built in 1927, the Rushdie estate, spread over three bighas (one bigha is 0.4 hectare), was purchased by Mohammad Uldin, grandfather of Salman Rushdie. When the Rushdies left for Pakistan, the government declared it an evacuee property and transferred it to the revenue department.

Salman Rushdie’s father Maulvi Anees Ahmad gifted the villa to his son in 1969 and Rushdie put a claim to it in 1992.

After being convinced, then deputy commissioner Shrikant Baldi granted the property back to Rushdie in November 1997.

Rushdie’s neighbour B.K. Aggarwal said the area is highly moisture-prone due to the presence of thick deodar forest.

“The villa housed several government offices before Rushdie took its possession again in 1997,” said Aggarwal, who settled here more than four decades ago.

According to him, it was a trip down memory lane for Rushdie during his visit in 2000.

As he stepped in his house, his immediate remark was: “How can one forget one’s childhood days?”

Rushdie, during his visit to the villa in 2000, announced that he wanted to develop it as a writers’ retreat, but that promise is yet to see the light of day. He has since never referred to it again or bothered to look up the property for which he fought a legal battle.

Australian-born Richard Gayle, the coach of India’s lawn bowls team for the October 3-14 Commonwealth Games, speaks to media at the Synthetic Lawn Bowls Arena in Delhi on Sept. 13, 2010. Gayle says Australian security and health fears surrounding the Delhi Games are unfounded.

Photo: AP

COME OUT AND PLAY!

COMMONWEALTH GAMES OCT 3-14

Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium

Jawharlal Nehru Stadium

Watch all the action on FOXTEL

FOXTEL’s coverage of the upcoming Delhi 2010 XIX Commonwealth Games will be “the most comprehensive coverage of any sporting event ever in Australian television history”.

The international competition will be screened on six exclusive new high definition and six standard definition dedicated interactive channels (not FOX SPORTS), showcasing over 500 hours of live events and more than 1700 hours of total coverage.

All the amazing drama and action – from the heats to the podium – will air on six channels in crystal clear High Definition and Standard Definition: Delhi 1 Gold, Delhi 2, Delhi 3, Delhi 4, Delhi 5 and Delhi 6.

FOXTEL will simultaneously stream broadcast through the foxtel.com.au/ delhi2010 on-line site.

The Delhi 2010 XIX Commonwealth Games will be the biggest cultural and sporting event ever held in India. It will showcase over 4,000 of the world’s best athletes from 71 nations – representing one third of the world’s population, not to mention over 400 of Australia’s most elite athletes.

Star commentators

FOXTEL’s exclusive commentary will be provided by some of Australia’s most recognised and experienced sports journalists alongside many of Australia’s most high profile athletes and coaches.

Steve Liebmann, one of Australia’s most respected journalists, broadcasters and television hosts, will anchor the 27-strong reporting team. Liebmann will bring viewers all the amazing moments each day of competition on the dedicated highlights channel, Delhi 1 Gold.

Also in the studio will be seasoned sports journalist and SKY NEWS sports host Tiffany Cherry, respected international sports journalist Tracey Holmes, and FOX Sports News presenter Adam Peacock. Each host will bring viewers all of the day’s events – from the pool to the track, to the courts and the veladrome. There will also be reports from the Athletes’ Village, as well as from the streets of Delhi.

Pawan Luthra to be part of the FOXTEL team covering the Opening Ceremony

Indian Link’s Pawan Luthra will join veteran commentators Steve Liebmann and Tracey Holmes, during the telecast of the Opening Ceremony of the Delhi Commonwealth Games on FOXTEL. Pawan will bring his unique Indian Australian perspective on the celebration of the Games which will be depicted in the Opening Ceremony.

Pawan is the CEO of the Indian Link media group. Indian Link newspaper was established in 1994 and is the leading Indian Australian media organisation, with a fortnightly Sydney newspaper and monthly editions for all major Australian states. Indian Link Radio is a 24/7 channel broadcast from Sydney and can be heard through subscription radio and on the internet.

Pawan has been living in Australia for over 25 years. Prior to migrating here, he was a regular on Indian television channel Doordarshan hosting a weekly program for the youth, Youth Forum. He was also involved in television in India through programs for teenagers and children. He has acted in children’s TV dramas, besides theatre in Delhi with a short stint on stage in Mumbai. An active debater in his younger days in Delhi, he also was involved in programs for All India Radio, hosting youth programs on Yuvvani.

In Australia, Pawan has commented on various issues affecting the Indian Australian community on Lateline and Compass (ABC TV), Today Tonight and Sunrise (Channel 7), for India’s Newsx TV and for BBC Radio’s Hindi service. Besides, he has also offered his views on different topics on 702 ABC radio, Radio National and 2GB.

“I am looking forward to this opportunity to be a part of the commentary team for the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games,” Pawan says. “These Games are a great opportunity for India to showcase its modern side and if the Indian participation at the Closing Ceremony of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in 2006 are anything to go by, it will be an awesome Opening Ceremony spectacle on 3 Oct in Delhi. It will be great privilege to bring a bit of my country of origin into people’s living rooms”.

FOXTEL is Australia’s leading subscription television provider and is connected to almost 1.63 million homes on cable and satellite through retail and wholesale distribution. FOXTEL strives to ensure subscribers find TV they want to watch every time they switch on through delivery of more than 200 channels covering news, sport, general entertainment, movies, documentaries, music and children’s programming. FOXTEL is owned by Telstra Corporation Ltd (50%), The News Corporation Ltd (25%), and Consolidated Media Holdings Ltd (25%).

Talkatora Indoor stadium

Aquatic complex

Thyagraj stadium

Thyagraj stadium

Loving Delhi!

Aussie writer Fiona Caulfield launches a new book on India’s capital city

Australian author Fiona Caulfield believes that India’s capital needs a stylish and authentic guide that helps both the timepoor traveler and new and long time residents discover the best experiences in the city. It seems her readers agree, since the first edition of Love Delhi was released in 2008, this acclaimed book has become the essential luxury guide to India’s capital.

The Australian High Commissioner to India, Peter Varghese, recently launched the third edition of the book, which has been comprehensively updated, expanded by 16 pages and now includes an introductory essay by acclaimed author, William Dalrymple.

“I am pleased to launch the third edition of Love Delhi. The book, authored by Australia-born Fiona Caulfield, comes at a time when this historic capital city and indeed India are marching forward. Delhi has expanding modern infrastructure side by side with rich tradition and a history of which its citizens are justifiably proud. This book is a celebration of Delhi and I congratulate Fiona on her book and wish it every success,” said Mr Varghese.

“Delhi is a destination in and of itself,” says Fiona. “It rivals Athens and Cairo for history, matches Washington for political power and now gives Paris and New York a run in terms of great shopping and eating”.

This “must have” guide contains all the savvy inside knowledge that a stylish traveller craves. The passionately curated guide is designed for the discerning luxury vagabond who wants authenticity in style. The 168-page book comprises eight sections including an overview of the city with ‘must knows and must dos’ and presents the best places to eat, drink, shop, be pampered, get fit and explore.

Unlike mass tourist books, using this guide is like being

chaperoned by a good friend. The entries are ‘love stories’ sourced from in-the-know locals including chefs, artists, designers, architects, ambassadors, foreign correspondents and taxi drivers.

William Dalrymple, acclaimed author of City of Djinns seven more award-winning books on India, opens the book with an insightful essay, where he shares an intimate view of Delhi – his home for the last 20 years.

The book also contains mini destination guides to Agra, Jaipur, Varanasi, Amritsar, Rishikesh, Ranthambhore and Darjeeling.

As founder of Love Travel Guides, Fiona believes that falling in love with a city is just as exciting as falling in love with a person. “Your senses become more engaged and you simply feel more alive,” she says. “The simplest criteria for inclusion in the guide was ‘does this place help you fall in love with this city?’ If yes, then it was in; if no then, it was out. Simple”.

Completely hand made in India, Love Delhi celebrates Indian luxury and pays homage to India’s rich craft legacy. It is printed on paper handmade in Jaipur and handcrafted with care by local fashion designers and crafts people. The hand-loom khadi covers were developed in partnership with Delhi based designer Sonam Dubal of Sanskar.

This is part of the hugely successful Indian series, which comprises Love Bengaluru, Love Mumbai, and Love Jaipur, Rajasthan. Future Indian titles will include both cities and regions including Love Chennai, Love Kolkata and Kerala Love Goa will be the next title and is scheduled for release at the end of 2010. “The great world cities, Paris, London, New York, trip off the tongue. Where are Lhasa, Cairo and Jaipur? I believe it is time for people to fall in love with more than just the cities of the west,” says Caulfield.

Mythical icons become heroes in new Indian fiction

Rama, Ravana, Arjuna, Jesus Christ, Lord Shiva, Ganesha and the epics are becoming fodder for contemporary Indo-Anglian literature. Writers say it is a new way of looking at Indian culture and draw young readers.

The reprint of two popular titles by Westland Ltd

- The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathy and The Rozabal Line by Ashwin Sanghi last month - brought the gods back from their heavenly abodes to play action games on earth.

Amish Tripathy re-tells a folkore from Jammu and Kashmir about the descent of Lord Shiva in his blue-neck Neelkantha avatar from Tibet with his warriors to Meluha, a modern-day Indus Valley city located in Srinagar, to save the city. Sanghi spins a murder mystery around the supposed grave of Jesus Christ at the Rozabal shrine in Kashmir.

Three new fiction tomes - The Ganesh Scripture by Alice Albina, The Golden Sacrifice of the Mahabharata by Maggi Lidchi Grassi and Kalika and Dimna: The Panchatantra Retold by Ramsay Wood - published by Random House this year use Ganesha, Vyasa, Arjuna and mythical demons to narrate gripping stories.

“People normally write about things steeped in our culture. I think it is very natural that they will write about gods,” says award-winning writer and MP Shashi Tharoor, whose seminal work, The Great Indian Story was a contemporary re-telling of the epic Mahabharata in the context of Indian polity.

Mythology is present in our common lives, he notes.

“Gods are very accessible in our land - they jostle against our shoulders in buses. Our lives are marked by a sense of divine in every sphere”.

The genre of spiritual or religious fiction has come of age many many times and has many more ages to come, the writer-politician said when asked if “religious fiction had come of age”.

New Zealand-based fantasy fiction writer David Hair, who has been exploring the country and studying scriptures since 2007, this week published his first Indian title, Pyre of the Queens from his new The Return of Ravana adventure series. It has been published by Penguin-India.

Ravana is reincarnated as modern-day sorcerer Ravindra Raj in Hair’s book to chase enemies from previous life. Writer Tripathy is gung-ho about the commercial prospect of spiritual fiction.

“The Immortals of Meluha is part of a Shiva trilogy. The second book will take off from where the first one ends,” Tripathy revealed.

Besides the sequel, the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Kolkata graduate plans to write fiction about a lost Middle Eastern empire and an unknown aspect of emperor Akbar’s life that biographer Abul Fazl mentions vaguely in his work.

The writer believes that “gods are people from a higher world who transcend mortal world on the strength of their exemplary karma”.

“Religious fiction is a new way of looking at culture and Indian spirituality to rekindle interest of young readers,” the writer says. Novelist Sanghi adds: “All books that have a theological and historical theme fits into a genre.”

The writer, a businessman by profession, said he was inspired to write about Jesus after reading a book on the shroud of Turin by Holger Kersten, who has also authored a book on the life of Jesus in India.

“Later, I studied the papers of Nikolai Notovitch in 1818 about Jesus Christ’s visit to Hemis monastery in Leh,” he notes. Sanghi says evidence suggests that Christ may have returned later to Kashmir after rising from the cross “because the tomb at Rozabal is home to a saint Yuz Asaf who was buried around 112 AD”.

He is currently writing a fiction based on the life of economist Chanakya, the creator of Artha Shastra.

The idea to write fiction about Ravana

crossed David Hair’s mind at Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur in Rajasthan. “It was the site of ancient Mandore, the capital of Ravana’s in-laws,” he notes.

“Indian spirituality, karma and the theory of past life are great concepts for fiction. Reincarnation as a literary theme is a new genre,” says Hair, who is currently writing a sequel to his first book.

The sequel, set in Mumbai, harks back to Rajput ruler Prithviraj Chauhan and the Swayamvara of princess Samnyukta with whom he eloped and Bollywood presenter Rakhi Sawant’s Swayamvara

India has seen great novels in the past based on mythology, says Renuka Chatterjee, editor of Westland Ltd. “Mythological characters are part of our homes and families that help us form an immediate connect”.

Madhusree Chatterjee

New Zealand writer David Hair

Bolstering our borders

BY GAURAV SURATI

In my last article Tackling hostile hacking (Indian Link Aug2), I shed some light on how China, India’s neighbour has involved itself in secretly stealing the country’s secret documents by the means of hacking and internet espionage. In this article, I will focus on China’s military and infrastructure readiness, mainly from India’s perspective.

China and India were engaged in a war (the SinoIndia war) in 1962, whilst Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister of India. On October 20, 1962 China attacked India when nine Indian divisions from the eastern and western commands were deployed along the Himalayan border shared with China. None of these divisions were up to their full strength and were also short of equipment, artillery and tanks. Unsurprisingly, India lost this war badly. And even though today, when both countries are scrambling to be superpowers, the question is: how much can India trust the Chinese, especially after the changed dynamics of the world?

Ever since the Sino-India war and almost up until now, India’s policy towards developing infrastructure in the border areas in its north eastern sector has been reluctant. This is mainly due to India’s concern that China might attack again, and use these border roads and infrastructure to carry out offensive operations. On the other hand, neither has China bothered to develop its infrastructure along these adjoining areas. However, since the past few years, China has changed its strategy and engaged itself in improving its border infrastructure through drastic means. This infrastructure includes border roads, railway lines, airbases, and bunkers. So today, it is a fact that China’s infrastructure in border areas is well in place, while India’s is still underway. India, with the help of Border Roads Organization (BRO) which was specifically formed in 1960 to build roads in border areas, is still slowly building roads on the eastern front. As per the latest report, India is gearing up to build at least 75 strategic roads in its eastern sector totalling to 2,770 km. Building roads in Arunachal Pradesh in particular, has become a top priority as the state shares a 1,030 km border with China.

Latest reports from the Pentagon indicate that China has moved some of its strategic missiles near border areas facing India and to counter such threats,

India is preparing to deploy its Agni II missile in the eastern front too. China has already built runways up to the length of 5 km near these border areas, and one such runway is in Kunshajiang, not very far from the frontline. The Indian Air Force (IAF) is in process of large scale upgrades of its airfields and helipads across India. Major upgrades of Chabua (Arunachal Pradesh), Dibrugarh (Arunachal Pradesh), Jorhat (Assam), Mohanbari (Assam), Hasimara (West Bengal), Guwahati and Bagdogra (West Bengal) are on the cards. The goal is to make all airbases capable of handling all kinds of aircrafts. Furthermore, to counter China’s massive build up of military infrastructure along the border, India has deployed its most modern Sukhoi-30MKI’s in Tezpur, Assam. The Indian Army (IA) is busy raising two mountain divisions (one division has approximately 15,000 troops) explicitly to counter any threat from China, and the divisions will be eventually based in Arunachal Pradesh for which the state government has already allocated land. The IA is also considering buying 145 ultra light howitzer field guns which can be lifted by choppers and swiftly moved at short notice to the difficult north eastern terrain.

Strategically, China has been playing the Pakistan card against India to restrain our strategic reach in southern Asia. Notably, China has helped Pakistan build the port of Gwadar located between three increasingly important regions: the oil-rich Middle East, the heavily populated south Asia area and the economically-

emerging resource-laden region of central Asia. China has acknowledged that Gwadar’s strategic value is no less than that of the Karakoram Highway, which helped cement the China-Pakistan nexus. Gwadar Port is now being expanded into a naval base with Chinese technical and financial assistance. Of course, China can use this port of Gwadar to control the Indian Navy’s influence at times of war. On the other hand, India is seeking a counter-balance in Asia by helping Afghanistan build the strategic Zaranj-Delaram road and training Afghan security personnel. The fact remains that once the Taliban regime was overthrown, New Delhi was eager to make massive inroads into the country for strategic reasons. Afghanistan is the backyard of Pakistan and gaining access to the country is important for India.

Currently, the BRO’s efforts of building roads in border areas are constrained by a lack of resources in high altitudes, areas due to extreme weather conditions. Workers in these far flung areas are prone to stress, cause by isolation from their families. Regardless of these difficulties, India must go ahead ensure that the infrastructure in border areas shared with China is absolutely available and in readiness, in case dragon opts to flex its muscles against India. The significance of such measures can be noted from recent reports, when India’s defense minister AK Antony asked the chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force to be prepared for a twofront war scenario with China and Pakistan.

India’s north-eastern region is gearing up its military defenses, to keep on par with its neighbour and rival, China

Map showing 5km Kunshajiang runway built by Chinese near frontline area

Today, it is a fact that China’s infrastructure in border areas is well in place, while India’s is still underway

The clout of country Australia

Rural Australia made a significant impact on the recent Federal elections, and for good reason

BY NOEL G DE SOUZA

The 2010 Australian election gave six independent Members of Parliament the balance of power; four of these have resulted in the Labor government being retained. The four independents come from rural Australia, holding what were once safe National Party seats. Two others come from traditional capital city Labor electorates. Labor lost several seats in Queensland where the rural component is strong.

Rural Australia (the “country” or the “bush”) is in revolt and asserting itself.

Australia’s capital cities, unlike in Europe and Asia, were established prior to the population later spreading out into the country because of farming and mining. With increasing modernised farming and mechanised mining, fewer jobs came progressively available in country areas; simultaneously, industries began springing up in the big cities thus attracting people from the countryside. This rural-urban drift considerably depopulated country areas and crowded the cities. This crowding was exacerbated by large scale migration, the migrants overwhelmingly choosing to live in the big cities.

The bulk of Australia’s population is concentrated in small areas in the metropolitan centres and in their satellite cities. That leaves only a minority which is spread over a vast area, where agriculture and mining prevail. It is those areas which are the source of most of Australia’s exports. The notion that country Australia creates the wealth and that metropolitan Australia spends the income has considerable truth in it.

Australia’s mineral wealth is formidable. It exports large quantities of metallic ores which include iron, copper, zinc and nickel. It has large deposits of coal of which it is the world’s largest exporter. It also exports natural gas and uranium, and gold and diamonds add to its wealth. Australia has some of largest deposits of high quality iron, uranium, coal and gold in the world.

The proposed mining supertax was perceived by voters in mining areas as a tax on themselves, which would be then spent on the metropolitan dwellers.

Australia’s agricultural production and export is very impressive: wheat, barley, oilseeds and sugar as well as cattle, diary products, lamb and wool and fruit, nuts and wines. Almost every type of grain, vegetables and fruits are produced within the country’s varying climates. But Australia also imports foodstuffs and some farmers complain that they are being placed at a

disadvantage by several factors like “free trade” agreements which allow food imports tariff-free.

Agriculture and mining are not just money spinners. Those industries face several vagaries, both natural and human. Frequent price fluctuations create uncertainty about incomes and Australia agriculture is vulnerable to frequent droughts and occasionally to floods. The Murray-Darling Basin which is the bread bowl of the country has become almost extinct because of water shortages, large areas depending on irrigation. Places which once had plentiful water supplies and had water-filled lakes now lie parched and dry. Many farms in marginal areas have had to be abandoned.

Mining and agriculture require considerable investments and are often burdened with large loans before any profits can be realised. Farmers have often seen very hard times. Some mining corporations have been disposed at rock-bottom prices because of heavy borrowing.

With so much natural wealth and so much agricultural production, one would expect country Australia to find life to be good. But the reverse is true: life can be harsh in these regions. As the population is so sparse in places, it becomes difficult to provide services such as medical and educational. Some places lack doctors whilst dentists and other specialists are in short supply. That is why foreign doctors have been imported into some places and incentives have also been offered for local doctors to relocate to the bush. Travel to larger centres for medical attention is common and the Flying Doctor Service often gets calls for urgent medical help. Large areas of rural Australia suffer from isolation.

Because Australia is so large and its population is so small in comparison to European and Asian standards, infrastructure building to connect places is both difficult and expensive. What has been achieved in this regard up to now is remarkable. A fast speed train network like that in France could be only economically feasible in limited areas. In fact, some inland areas such as in NSW have had their train services replaced by buses.

Rural Australia is considerably disadvantaged. Even making phone calls to country areas is more expensive than within the large cities. Establishing the National Broadband Network would hopefully overcome some of these problems. Such a network would greatly help to connect isolated places to the world. It would help in the educating of children who have to study at home and would also help businesses. The cost, currently touted at $ 43 billion, is large in Australian terms. That is because of the enormous distances involved in laying out the network. This is unlike the small and well populated countries of Europe.

Because Australia is so large and its population is so small in comparison to European and Asian standards, infrastructure building to connect places is both difficult and expensive

Cyber blackmail gets personal

Internet related scams are not new, but they have now reached a new and more dangerous level of intrusiveness

BY SUNIL RANADIVE

The fight against internet threats seems to have taken a turn for the worse with increasing reports of internet users being intentionally infected with malware and then later being mysteriously contacted and blackmailed to remove the offending malware, if a fee is paid.

While malicious attacks on computer software are far from new, with millions of attacks per day reported worldwide, the addition of a follow-up email or phone call with a mysterious offer to remove the offending material takes the threat to a new level.

Reports have been received from users about a concerted campaign to infect computers, but the offer to remove these infections means that infected machines are being tracked and contact details for the victims are being obtained. This possibly occurs through key logging software placed onto the computer or by searches performed on the computer’s registration system.

One of the methods of infecting a computer is through email spam. The user inadvertently downloads the malware, generally through clicking on an embedded link in the email. In itself, this is not a new technique; but now the initiators are also getting hold of the user’s contact details for following up later.

The symptoms of the attack are similar to a regular virus or spyware attack, with a slow deterioration in the system performance in the computer over time and the occasional message pop up. However users have reported that the mysterious caller is able to quickly identify the symptoms affecting the PC. One user reported that he felt like the caller knew more about his computer than him. He was shocked that the caller seemed to know the troubles he was experiencing, which were only recent ones.

The extent of the malicious blackmail is unknown, as is the number of people who have paid the blackmailer’s fee and had the malware removed. However, people are warned that although their computer may appear to return to normal, not all of the rogue software may be removed, leaving the

possibility of the threat being reactivated at a later date.

Today’s cyber criminals know that the easiest way to extort money is by getting access to your computer and then getting your bank details with your permission, usually by posing as an expert on a subject you may know little about. These ‘trust scams’ are the latest threat against which you must become vigilant. Always be cautious about what you give people permission to do on your computer, and to whom you hand your credit card number. Like any purchasing decision, think about it and be wary of unsolicited offers of help.

Over the past few weeks, this writer received several reports of a “Computer Support Company” cold calling users, asking them to log on to their computer as they have detected serious viruses or that their internet connection is affecting their neighbours. They say they are from companies like Microsoft or simply a local Computer Support Company. They get you to log on to a website, where you enter in a code and they get a remote access to your computer. They then show you problems on your computer and convince you to complete a credit card transaction to fix the Do not talk to these scammers and do not let them take control of your computer.

Furthermore, here are some tips to help prevent exposure to cyber blackmail:

l Never click on links in emails when you do not know the email’s sender;

l Always have your firewall turned on;

l Always have active internet security software protection against viruses and spyware, particularly software that can scan web links

l Subscribe to a spam filtering service to help limit both the amount of unwanted email and reduce the associated risk;

l Call a computer professional if you are experiencing a decline in your system performance, before you lose important information or your system crashes;

l If you get a mysterious call offering to remove software or a pop-up message offering to sell you software to remove spyware, it is likely you are already infected, so call a computer professional;

l When dealing with a computer professional make sure that you know their background and the reputation of their brand. Beware of cash deals and cheap software.

Today’s cyber criminals know that the easiest way to extort money is by getting access to your computer and then getting your bank details with your permission, usually by posing as an expert on a subject you may know little about

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Finding meaning in life

We all strive towards a greater goal of discovering the truth of existence which goes beyond the materialistic

BY SAROJA SRINIVASAN

Some years ago, I read the translation of Hermann Hesse’s ‘Siddhartha’ by Kohn. The author talks of the journey of Siddhartha’s life as it strips away, one by one, life’s values. Siddhartha’s journey to find meaning starts with orthodox religion, life-denying asceticism, an affirmation of self, the material world, enjoyment of sensuality, intellectual understanding and finally, the abandonment of the ‘spiritual project’ itself. What this reflects is the view of a notion of suffering and sinning and nihilism that underpins several of the world’s philosophies and thinking.

A true grasp of the Yoga/Vedanta tradition starts with the understanding of the basic premise of transcendence of the ego/self. The very first step is to surrender to ‘God’ or a higher force. Only then can one start on this journey, which is both experimental and experiential, to try and discover the truth of existence or the true meaning of life. Without the arrogance or the exaggerated sense of ‘I’, there comes openness and eagerness to experience. There is an enthusiasm of a totally different nature that seeks to unite with the ultimate in a joyous reunion. Yes, it is not a union but a reunion, for we are already there. We do not know it and in our ignorance we have created distance and barriers along the way. The way back to the center can take all the paths of conventional religion, materialism and intellectual mind-games. But no, there is no need to abandon it as a final nihilistic misadventure. Once the journey starts with the surrender of the ‘I’ or the self, there is no sadness, only bliss, and a sense of contentment that defies words. The reunion is one of sheer bliss and joy. Many a sage has experienced it and attempted to describe it, and the closest they can say is to describe what it is not. The Sanskrit phrase of ‘neti neti’ (it is not that) is the closest one can express in words. Everyone has to experience the journey and the joy for themselves.

There is a higher purpose, a goal to each of our lives other than the conventional goals we set our selves or what our families expect or society dictates. Our life’s journey is all about seeking this goal or at least making as many strides as we can towards it. The main

difference between conventional goals, which are like shifting goal-posts in a sporting match, and the true goal of Life is the fact that the latter exists as an innate part of the striving itself. It is the act of striving that is Life, not ‘reaching an arbitrary destination’ out there somewhere.

The conventional reality as we know it in our day to day existence is influenced by certain given premises. In our human form we are endowed with a body that is perishable as all things material go. We are also endowed with a brain which is hardwired to allow certain machinations to occur that drives the material body. Over and above the body and the brain within the body, we do possess a mind, which synthesizes and creates the uniqueness to each individual existence that allows for life to be experienced in a quintessential way by each one. As with all the other life forms and life forces around us, we too have only a finite amount of time to experience the reality of the kaleidoscope of creation. The progress we make on this journey to find meaning and the purpose of life depends on the capacity to think and reflect, which differs from person to person. In this journey, amidst all the turbulence and buffeting that one experiences along the way, the stillness of the mind is what generates the meaning. The silence of the vastness within our mind

which is both resounding and silent at the same time has to be experienced and cannot be explained in words alone.

In conventional life, once we start down a certain path, we need to accept the reality that it creates. A domestic life brings joy and sorrow, success and failure, contentment and frustration. An ascetic’s life is no different. Perhaps the adage of the Indian thought that one needs to ‘go into the woods’ (Vanaprastha) only after one’s householder duties are complete, does make sense. This does not literally mean going into the woods; what is intended is for individuals to withdraw from everyday sense-based activities and move into a deeper mind-based activity that will allow reflection, contemplation and a general making sense of one’s existence. This would then allow one to experience both domestic life as well as allow the individual to go into a more monastic-like retreat to contemplate and seek what was not possible before.

The modern paradox is that many youngsters want to take to the woods – i.e. drop out of conventional society. Is it that having already experienced all the material things in life, they have also inadvertently ‘experienced’ the futility or the lack of fulfillment that materialism alone brings, and are now looking for something more? Alas, the motivation to go into the forest to seek true knowledge is one thing, but when resorted to as an escape, leads only to further disillusionment. This is reflected in more and more despair among the youth, sometimes leading to self-harm. Finding meaning in life is achievable in many simple ways. A joyous surrender to an all-pervading higher force allows one to carry on one’s duties with joy and enthusiasm and find fulfillment in every activity, however trivial. It is the living, the actual putting into practice the true values of human life in every way that creates meaning.

Once the journey starts with the surrender of the ‘I’ or the self, there is no sadness, only bliss, and a sense of contentment that defies words

The silence of the vastness within our mind which is both resounding and quiet at the same time has to be experienced and cannot be explained in words alone

Pulsating Pulsating Pulsating, thundering grooves

London-based percussion group The Dhol Foundation has taken an ancient Indian instrument mainstream. SHIVANGI AMBANI-GANDHI reports

From the very first beat emanating from Johnny Kalsi’s dhol, it is hard to keep yourself still. The rhythm and pace of this thundering drum from Punjab makes for pulsating, rocking music that gets you on your feet. Add to this, his energy and enthusiasm on stage in a live performance - and you have a show of unstoppable masti

“We always feed off the energy of the audience and it’s not very hard to sense this even if you’re new to seeing The Dhol Foundation for the first time,” says Britain-based Kalsi. You are made to feel a part of the celebration and projected love!”

He, with his band The Dhol Foundation (TDF), will unleash its signature killer brand of electronic bhangrainfused funk to Adelaide for the closing ceremony of the OZ Asia Festival on October 2, 2010.

Kalsi has previously toured all over Australia with other bands, but TDF was last seen in Australia in 2006 when they performed at WOMADelaide and then in Melbourne for the Commonwealth Games. “This was a very special time and the reception we had from the huge audience at the Sydney Myer Bowl in Melbourne was quite overwhelming,” recollects Kalsi. “No doubt they will bring the same love with them once again.”

Kalsi who calls himself a dholaholic, is self-taught and has been performing professionally since 1989 when he joined the pioneering bhangra band, Alaap. “When I started learning to play the Dhol, it was very difficult not having a studio or sound proof garage to make 106bd of noise,” recollects Kalsi. “But it took off when I found my footing with the alltime bhangra legends, Alaap. This made things much easier and I was able to play very regularly and start to develop as an artist and performer.”

Since 1999, Kalsi has recorded two albums by the Dhol Foundation - both quirkily named - Big Drum Small World and Drumstruck. He has also performed with a range of collaborators such as bands like Fun-Da-Mental, TransGlobal Underground and Afro Celt Sound System featuring Sinead O’Connor. Taking the dhol completely mainstream, he has also worked for Hollywood films including the Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, Martin Scorsese’s Gangs of New York and Ang Lee’s The Incredible Hulk Scorsese used Drummers Reel from Kalsi’s debut album in the scene when Leonardo De Caprio throws the bible into the river from a bridge.

“This was a very exciting track and gave (the scene) tension and was appropriate for the movie.”

For The Incredible Hulk, Kalsi created a specific score for a section of the film. “This was the first ever internet recording I have been involved in. 11 high bandwidth Internet lines were connected from Air Studios in London to a film studio in San Francisco,” he says. “On a huge plasma screen the scene was running, while on a smaller screen we could see the reaction of Ang Lee while he watched us via Web cam. We then ran the sequence where David Banners’ girlfriend double crosses him and the army moves in to take him to a secure location. The music sequence started when the helicopters fly in formation over a desert. The voice of Shaheen Badar was added.”

Kalsi has also played for the 3-D IMAX film, Sea Monsters. “I never thought I would be involved in working on a 3D movie but it came about when I got a call from Richard Evens. When I asked what I should bring, they said ‘Everything’! I was in shock as I had no idea what they

wanted at that stage,” says Kalsi. “The session was over 2 days long and I performed all the percussion on the score that was produced by Richard & David Rhodes. Dhol Drumming in 6.0 surround sound wicked!”

So what is it about the dhol that makes it popular across such a wide audience?

“The dhol is of course very infectious even to the ones that hear it everyday,” he says Kalsi.

As for his abiding love for the dhol, it is the sheer power of decibels that gives Kalsi the kick.

“As the dhol is an outdoor instrument it is naturally very loud. Back in the day this drum was used by town criers to relay messages from one village to another. I have had the opportunity to perform alongside a variety of drums from all over the world. The dhol was by far the loudest. Djembe came close but has no loud low end and a West African talking drum was also close but only when it was miked up. Also the fact that it is worn over the head like a guitar, makes me completely mobile and I can still cover the whole stage while playing.”

Kalsi plays a variety of other instruments, including keyboards, piano, drum kit, frame drums, tabla, darabuka and dholak. However, his loyalty to the dhol is unwavering.

“My body and soul are in this drum. I will take it with me when it’s my time to go as the dhol is my life, and anyway, I can’t play the Harp!” he laughs.

Johnny Kalsi performs with The Dhol Foundation at the Festival Theatre on October 2, 2010, at 7.30pm. For tickets visit: www. adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au/ozasia-2010/events/the-dhol-foundation/

Chocolate

Kids in the kitchen

CHOCOLATE CRACKLES

400g milk chocolate, chopped 60g copha, chopped 250g packet Scotch Finger biscuits, roughly chopped 1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows 80g Crunchie bar, finely chopped

Line an oven tray with small paper cupcake cases. Boil a pan of water. Cover with a plate and place a heatproof bowl on the top. Put the copha and

chocolate in the bowl. Heat, stirring constantly with a metal spoon, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes.

Mix biscuits, marshmallows and Crunchie bar in a large bowl. Pour over chocolate mixture. Stir until well combined. Put tablespoonfuls of mixture into paper cases. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.

Chocolate history

Chocolate has been around for thousands of years.TheAztecIndiansofSouthAmerica dried and roasted the seeds of the cocoa plant, and then fermented it to make a drink.

They believed that it cured tiredness, gave them strength for battle, and even led to long life. All of these facts are now known to be true.

Origins

Chocolate comes from the Cacao tree (pronounced kakaow). When it is processed it makes Cocoa (pronounced koh-koh). The largest producer of Cacao is the West African country of Cote d’Ivorie, followed by Ghana, followed by Brazil, Ecuador, Togo, Mexico, Indonesia and PNG.

The scientific name of the cacao tree, Theobroma, means “food of the gods.” DL

The adventurer Christopher Columbus first brought the chocolate bean to Spain. It quickly became the favoured drink of the aristocracy. It was very expensive, and very bitter. In England, someone added milk to it to weaken it a bit, and someone else added sugar. By the 1890s, someone found a way to harden it to a solid form, and the chocolate industry as we know it today, was born.

In 1897, a man by the funny name of Cadbury, was wrapping chocolate in shiny paper, and selling it.

Today chocolate comes in various types, and everyday different flavors are added to it. Green tea chocolate is the latest, but have you heard of the chilli chocolate? How about garlic chocolate?!

Of course, there are some negative effects: chocolates sometimes cause obesity, and a few problems with dental health, but nothing major to worry about! The benefits of chocolate far outweigh these trivial issues. Do you know, most supercentenarians (i.e., people who live for more than 100 years), all had one thing in common: they ate chocolate everyday, to the very last days of their lives. Lifeextensionists recommend the consumption of dark chocolate, particularly, for long life.

If life is like a box of chocolates, then it’s tim for me to buy another box, I seemed to have already devoured all the good ones!

So, hurrah for chocolate!

Nine out of ten p eople like chocolate. The tenth person always lies.

Put “eat chocolate” at the top of your list of things to d o today. That way, at least you’ll get one thing done.

New flights to subcontinent

Malaysia Airlines will commence a fivetimes-a-week morning flight between Kuala Lumpur and New Delhi effective October 1. Departing the Malaysian capital at 8.40 AM the flights are well-timed for passengers arriving on overnight services from Australia. The five additional flights will supplement the existing daily evening flight between Kuala Lumpur and the Indian capital.

Australian passengers flying to Male and Colombo will also benefit with Malaysia Airlines now operating a daily nonstop flight between Kuala Lumpur and Male and a five-times-a-week nonstop service between Kuala Lumpur and Colombo.

These dedicated nonstop services to the Indian Subcontinent are in addition to the two extra flights a week between Kuala Lumpur and Yangon which began on September 2. The two Asian cities are now connected with seven flights a week.

Effective from October 1, Malaysia Airlines will operate a total of 66 flights a week between Kuala Lumpur and the Indian Subcontinent: Mumbai (daily), New Delhi (12/week), Bangalore (daily), Hyderabad (5/week), Chennai (daily), Colombo (5/week), Male (daily), Dacca (daily), Karachi (2/week) and Yangon (daily).

Malaysia Airlines is also adding

additional capacity between Kuala Lumpur and Australia. From October 31 Sydney will receive two additional flights a week bringing the total to 14 weekly services. Brisbane will gain three extra weekly flights making a total of five weekly services.

Meanwhile, Qatar Airways has expanded its Indian network with additional services to New Delhi, Cochin and Amritsar from its base in Doha. The carrier began operating the Doha/ Amritsar sector on a daily basis from September 1.

As well, there are now nine flights between Doha and Cochin a week with two more set to begin on November 5. In addition the Doha/Delhi route will be served 14 times a week from October 31.

The Qatar flag carrier currently operates to Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Trivandrum, Kozhikode, Ahmedabad, Goa, New Delhi, Amritsar and Cochin.

In Australia the carrier has a daily flight between Melbourne and Doha with onward connections to its Indian destinations.

Thomas E. King

It’s good value!

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When Value World Travel Management Team decided to start offering Travel services, they had one key objective: to be the best at ‘Making it Easy’ to book travel online.

With that goal in mind, they took the team that built the successful ValueGreenslips.com. au website and set them to work alongside travel specialists.

What you see when you visit ValueWorldTravel.com.au is just the first phase of a plan to make it as easy as possible for travellers to organise and book travel. Most people planning travel to visit friends and relatives want an easy, straightforward service that gets them safely from Australia to anywhere in the world for the best possible price.

You also want to know that if something does not go quite to plan, that you will have someone to call to help you get back on track with your travels.

When you are away on your trip, you want to be confident that everything is under control. When you are confident about this, you can focus on spending quality time with the friends and family that you are visiting.

Value World Travel’s motto of ‘Making it Easy’ is supported by two key offerings:

* An easy to use website that gives you great prices on a range of airlines

In an increasingly electronic age, it is refreshing to see a company that still sees excellent customer service as a central business value.

Value World Travel encourages you to contact other travel companies and see if they can help you with the following key elements of a travel plan:

* Offer you a great price with a reputable airline that you can actually get a ticket for

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Curb

If you have unruly hair that refuses to behave, you first need to find out the cause. Look for telling signs that indicate just what kind of TLC your hair needs, then go about doing damage control. Your hair will soon go back to looking its luscious best Dry, rough, frizzy

If this is a problem, you could be guilty of hair abuse. Are you using hair dryers too frequently? Colouring your hair or spending too much time in the pool? If this is the case, you need to change your habits. When your hair is subjected to chemicals, without adequate hydration it can go dry and frizzy. Use a moisturising shampoo, avoid using too many chemicals and dry your hair naturally to help it recover. A hot oil massage with a deep conditioning protein treatment will give your hair the nourishment it needs on the inside and the outside. Go for one every month, if possible.

Home remedy: Try mixing an egg with yoghurt and apply on the scalp. Leave on for half an hour, and wash off. You can also mix a mashed banana with a spoonful of honey and lemon juice till the mixture is smooth. Apply and leave on for an hour before washing it off.

Oily, greasy, limp

If you run your hands through your hair and your fingers feel sticky, it means you have greasy hair. The problem with greasy hair is that it tends to fall flat and have a permanently limp look. That could be due to an oily scalp or too much of the wrong conditioner. Wash it frequently and maybe change your shampoo to one suited for oily hair. Also, use a conditioner that is light in texture and avoid leave-on serums and styling products.

Home Remedy: Beat an egg and apply on the scalp. Leave on for 20 minutes then wash off with your regular shampoo. You can also mix honey and vinegar in equal proportions and apply to the hair. Wash off after 5 minutes.

PRIYA NAIR

Brittle, split ends, knotty

If your hair breaks midway every time you run a comb through it, something is definitely wrong. Also, if you have a lot of knots in your hair and it breaks while being combed, it is an indication that you are either using the wrong comb or not combing your hair frequently enough. Some people have split ends and they leave their hair loose, which only draws more attention to the problem. This stems from infrequent haircuts. Always keep your hair trimmed and well groomed. The moment the ends start getting straggly, go for a trim if you would like to retain the length. Then, make sure you use a wide-toothed comb to remove knots, and this also helps improve blood circulation in the scalp.

As for breakage, the best bet is to consult a doctor and change your diet so that your hair regains its health.

Home remedy: Mix two eggs with a spoonful of honey and lemon juice and apply. Wash off after 20 minutes. You can also soak a ladleful of fenugreek seeds overnight. Grind to a paste with a little water and apply. Wash off after it dries up.

Dandruff, itches, sore scalp

If your shoulders are often covered with dry flakes falling from your scalp, it obviously implies a dandruff problem. A dietary change is needed to increase nutrition. Sometimes, stress and inadequate sleep or using hair colour causes dandruff.

There are several good dandruff control shampoos available in the market. Opt for one that is gentle and doesn’t strip your hair of its moisture. Oil your scalp regularly, and if your scalp itches all the time and is a bit sore, consult a dermatologist who might suggest a hair lotion or medication that will help cure the problem. Home remedy: Use a hot oil pack, but only after consulting a doctor so that you do not aggravate the scalp further, especially if it is itchy.

BY RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA

with his recipe for Kheema Maharani, which combines lamb mince with chicken fillets. Besides the kabab and the curry, perhaps the samosa is the only other way mince is prepared on the subcontinent. In pretty much the samosa fashion, mince can be used to stuff a variety of vegetables such as tomato, capsicum, eggplant or fennel.

Western cuisine is replete with ideas for mince, such as making it into a pie by itself, or into a meatloaf. We provide suitably Indianised versions of these for you here!

Kheema-Stuffed Eggplants

3 small round eggplants

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1-2 tsp fresh grated ginger

250 gms minced beef or lamb

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 red capsicum chopped

1 green capsicum chopped

5 large tomatoes, chopped

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

1-2 tbsp oil

Fresh herbs to garnish.

Slice eggplants in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh. Chop up flesh and set aside. Sprinkle eggplant shells with salt and let stand for half an hour. Rinse and pat dry.

Heat oil and add onions and garlic; cook till soft. Add mince and brown all over. Stir in ginger and tomato paste and cook further.

Now add chopped tomatoes, capsicum and eggplant flesh. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, till all the liquid has evaporated. Spoon some of the mince mixture into eggplant shells. Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees C) for about 20 minutes.

Serve hot garnished with fresh herbs, and grated cheese if you wish.

For another variation of this recipe, you could use fennel instead of eggplant. Slice a fennel bulb down the middle and then

Shami Kabab

The kabab is decidedly one of the most popular preparations of mince. There must be dozens of recipes out there for mince kababs. Here is one we’ve picked that is sufficiently exotic! It is adapted from a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook.

1/3 cup chana dal

450 gms minced lamb

10 numbers whole cloves

1 tsp black peppercorns

1-inch piece cinnamon stick

6 numbers cardamoms

3 bay leaves

Salt to taste

1 ½ tsp grated fresh ginger

1 egg, lightly beaten

2 tbsp finely chopped onions

1 tbsp finely chopped minced leaves

Green chilli to taste, finely chopped

Oil for deep frying

Onion slices and mint leaves for garnish.

separate its leaves carefully so they retain their cup shape. Boil in salted water until a knife can easily penetrate. Drain, cool and stuff with mince mixture as above, and cook in a moderate oven.

Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

Cabbage leaves

500 gms minced lamb or beef

400 gms tinned tomatoes

1/3 cup rice

1 large onion, chopped finely

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

2 tbsp fresh basil leaves, chopped

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 tsp vegetable or beef stock powder

¼ cup toasted pine nuts

Soak dal in water for two hours. Drain and put in a pressure cooker along with minced lamb, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves and salt, and just enough water to cook the meat. Pressure cook till done; boil off any liquid.

Grind to a fine paste in the food processor. Now add the ginger and the egg, and process again. Transfer to a bowl and cover; refrigerate overnight.

Mix chopped onions, mint and green chillies together.

Form balls out of mince mixture. Make a hole in the centre and introduce the onion mixture. Cover up the hole and flatten the ball into a patty. Deep fry till golden brown. Serve hot garnished with onion slices and mint leaves, and with mint chutney for a dip

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

1 ½ cups water

2 tbsp oil.

Immerse cabbage leaves in a pot of boiling water until softened. Drain on kitchen towels and when cool, remove hard stalks from the centre.

Heat oil in a pan and add onions and garlic. When onion is soft, add mince and brown off. Then add tomatoes, ginger, rice, basil, tomato paste, stock powder and water. Add seasoning. Stir well and cook till rice is done and mixture is thick. Stir in nuts. Spoon mixture onto cabbage leaves. Fold in sides and roll up firmly. Steam rolls in the microwave on high for about ten minutes. To serve as appetizer, cut diagonally in the centre and serve with a dipping sauce of your

choice. To serve as part of a main meal, place cabbage rolls in a shallow dish and then pour a hot sauce over, as for koftas, or heat up

Another variation is the ‘galumki’, a Polish dish. For this, use two cups cooked rice mixed with 750 gms minced chicken, two chopped onions and one egg white. Mix all, season with salt and pepper (red chilli powder if you wish). Place mixture on cabbage leaves, wrap up and secure with toothpicks. Baked in a moderate oven for an hour. Keep basting

(cracked wheat/burghul)

2 x 200 gms fruit-flavoured yogurt (try

Rinse burghul under cold running water. Soak in ½ cup cold water for about 30

Combine all other ingredients together in a bowl. Drain and squeeze burghul dry. Blend

Firmly pack mixture into a lightly greased loaf tin. Invert loaf tin onto a shallow baking tray. Bake in a moderate oven for 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Lift off pan and return to the oven. Continue cooking for a further 15-20 minutes. Stand for a few minutes. Serve hot, sliced, with vegetables, and dill raita as sauce. (To make this, mix chopped fresh dill in yogurt and season with salt and pepper and a touch of sugar).

Curried Shepherd’s Pie

400 gms minced lamb or beef

2 tsp butter

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 cup tomato puree

1 tbsp tomato paste

½ tsp cumin powder

½ tsp coriander powder

1 tbsp curry powder

1 tbsp fruit chutney

½ cup white wine

½ tbsp plain flour

Salt and red chilli powder to taste

5 large potatoes

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp sour lite cream or yogurt.

Melt butter in a pan and add garlic and onions. When onion is soft, add flour, then tomato puree and wine. Reduce heat, add tomato puree and tomato paste and stir until thickened.

Introduce the mince. Mix well, and add curry powder, salt, red chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and chutney. Simmer until meat is cooked. Transfer into a deep ovenproof dish.

Boil potatoes in their skins. Cool, peel and mash. Add butter and sour cream or yogurt. Spoon over meat mixture; run a fork through to make striations. Bake in a moderate oven until potato burns.

(Substitute sweet potatoes for potatoes if you wish, or use a combination of the two).

Images of old Kolkata

BY PETRA O’NEILL

It was not a good day. What I needed right now was a smile and some reassurance that despite having been given a police escort and being hit by water bomb balloons filled with pink dye, I was still OK to say hello to. But Lady B would have none of it. For if there is one thing the English do to perfection, it is to convey with great effect, a look of disapproval. We were in the lift together, and I had just checked into the Oberoi Grand Hotel, one of the grandest, most historic, splendid hotels to be found in Asia. This was not how I had imagined my grand entrance would be, coloured hot pink. But in Kolkata, anything is possible and celebrations for Holi, in some sections of the city, are not confined to just one day.

The week before, while cruising upstream on the Brahmaputra River, Kunal Singh, the affable Manager of the Assam Bengal Navigation’s RV Sukapha, spent many hours with me on the sundeck discussing and noting down all that I should see in his hometown of Kolkata. He set me to task; there was a lot to see in the 5 days that I would be there for.

As the plane descended, I was amazed to see so much greenery and for a city of over 13 million people, an airport that is not large at all. Kolkata seemed almost provincial, not overwhelming as cities of this size can be. The taxi drove down a multitude of narrow streets and arrived at the historic Fairlawn Hotel, built in 1783. Everything was painted bright green. It was like stepping back in time, welcoming to the extent of feeling quite homely. From the afternoon tea brought on a tray with the pot covered with a knitted tea cosy and two slices of boiled fruit cake, to the dhobi who returned my laundry each day, neatly folded and pressed, to breakfast when I met the most interesting people, I could not think of a more comfortable place to stay. On the day I checked out, the quite formidable Mrs Violet Smith introduced herself and told me about her life. Since 1936, she has been involved in running the hotel. Quite an achievement.

the beautiful tiger lillies in the lobby that first got me hooked. I wandered around the hotel for quite sometime, observing the friendly and obliging staff dusting the skirting boards, delivering bundles of fresh fluffy towels, bringing cocktails poolside and neatly laying out cutlery in the restaurants. All the signs of an opulent luxury hotel were there. A stay here, in a room with a four poster bed, was how I imagined I should spend my last night in Kolkata.

Kolkata was founded in 1690 by an enterprising agent of the British East India Company named Job Charnock. While Indian cities such as Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru have undergone rapid change, Kolkata has been left behind. And therein lies its charm. It is a city of green shutters, of wrought iron balconies and brightly coloured saris left out to dry, retaining much of its splendid colonial architecture and there is a lot of it. Sadly, many of the mansions and public buildings are in varying stages of ruin. Many men still wear the traditional dhoti, typists do brisk business at sidewalk desks and rickshaws are pulled by hand. It is a relaxed, friendly city and the best way to explore it is on foot. When I needed directions, I asked a young man riding his bicycle. “Ah, go to the left, right and centre,” he replied. He was right, all roads led to where I was going. Streets are not well marked, so arm yourself with a good map (available at bookshops like Oxford Bookstore on Park Street) and don’t be afraid to ask for directions. Police wearing white uniforms are found at most intersections and are generally helpful.

The highlights include the magnificent Victoria Memorial Hall, opened in 1921. The museum inside is an archive of colonial ambition. Next door, St Paul’s Cathedral, built in 1839, is stunning. Come on a Sunday, to see cricket matches and children taking pony rides in the Maidan, Kolkata’s vast green park. Nearby, the Indian Museum, the oldest and largest in India, founded in 1814, houses a fine collection deserving of several hours.

Busy Park Street is lined with shops and restaurants. Flury’s, once a classic European patisserie, still exudes the ambience of a bygone era. Nearby, South Park Street Cemetery, dating from 1767, is very moving and well worth a visit for the tombstones that recount the tragic lives of the young women and infants who perished. “1817 our son and two twin brothers that joined him the December following.”

Grand public and commercial buildings include the Writer’s Building, General Post Office and Town Hall. The centre of business and government emerged

A week in one of India’s oldest cities offers Holi revelers, grand hotels, mouth-watering sweets – and some old relics from the British Raj

Kolkata is a relaxed, friendly city and the best way to explore it is on foot

as Dalhousie Square. It has since been renamed BBDBag for the young men, Binoy, Badal and Dinesh who stormed the British administrative office in 1930. A few streets further north, you will find barber shops, barristers’ chambers and bookshops.

On my final day, armed with the confidence of having found my bearings, I set off for the Flower Market near Howrah Bridge, and from there to the height of kitsch, the Marble Palace, stuffed with crystal chandeliers and open only to those with a pass from the tourism office that I could not find. Many of the people I saw in this area were into their second day of celebrating Holi and looked it. I ventured down a narrow lane to the family home of Rabindranath Tagore. It was closed. I was hit by water bomb balloons and it was here that I was encircled by a group of lively young men, all dyed hot pink. Then all the people I’d seen over the past few minutes began flashing by. I think this was an edgy part of town. Several police appeared, led me away, and put me on the right bus to College Street. Several University students kindly pointed out the way to the Indian Coffee House, established in 1942 and an institution. It was the meeting place of leaders of the independence movement and has always been home to intellectuals. Waiters still

Travel notebook Kolkata

GETTING THERE

Several airlines fly from Australia to Kolkata. Malaysia Airlines flies to Kuala Lumpur and from there, Air Asia flies direct to Kolkata. Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines and Jet Airways also offer flights there.

WHERE TO EAT

Indian Coffee House, 15 Bankim Chatterjee Street, oozes with atmosphere and serves very ordinary food. I ordered tomato soup that tasted not unlike tomato sauce mixed with yoghurt and perhaps this is what it was. Kewpies, 2 Elgin Lane, for traditional home cooked Bengali food.

Blue Sky Cafe, Sutter Street. Reasonable prices and friendly service.

Ivory Kolkata, Block D, 5th Floor, 22 Camac Street. (www.ivorykitchen.com) Very good, contemporary Indian food.

Amber, 11 Waterloo Street. Very good

wear traditional uniforms of starched hats, and white jackets, walls are hung with portraits, and there is the ever constant humming of whirring overhead fans and University students in deep conversation. Combine your visit to see the Ashutosh Museum of Indian Art nearby. Kolkata is renowned for good coffee and sweet shops.

The best sweet shop, with the freshest almonds and stuffed dates is Gokul Sweets and Snacks.

Much remains to be seen that is of a bygone era and I had only seen a small part of it. After I left Kolkata, I untied the ribbon to open the neatly packaged box from Gokul Sweets and Snacks. Inside were two exquisite sweets that the owner had given to me as a gift.

I did not get to see all the sights on the list that Kunal Singh had written down for me. I ran out of time. I missed the Botanic Gardens, I did not get to Kalighat temple, Dakshineswar Kali temple, Belur Math, Tollygunge Club or the Oh! Calcutta Restaurant.

On my final night there, I could have dined at the Oberoi Grand, but by then felt I had made a connection with Kolkata and chose to wander the streets instead.

Last week I received an email from the Fairlawn Hotel. Mrs Violet Smith will be celebrating her 90th birthday on January 19th next year. If I wished to join the festivities, I should reserve my room very soon. I dare not

Indian food with take away available. For sweets:

Kathleen Confectioners, various branches. Excellent desserts and savouries. Gokul Sweets and Snacks 1, A.J.C. Bose Road. Possibly the best sweet shop ever. The almonds in the almond sweets were the freshest I have ever tasted.

KC Das, Lenin Serani. I enjoyed the sweets, but found the wait staff problematic.

WHERE TO STAY

While there is no shortage of deluxe or first class accommodation, there are two absolute standouts. The Fairlawn Hotel 13/A, Sudder Street (www.fairlawnhotel. com). Rooms differ, so ask for one on the first level and pay a little more. Don’t stay here unless you enjoy a dose of eccentricity and book ahead. It is in the centre of the backpacker precinct. The opulent Oberoi

Grand Hotel 15 Jawaharlal Nehru Road; www.oberoihotels.com is stunning. Premier rooms with 4-poster beds or rooms overlooking the pool are best. Fantastic staff.

GETTING AROUND

Mini buses, antiquated buses and trams and a subway will get you to sights further out of the city centre. Alternatively, taxis are inexpensive but be sure to arrange a price beforehand. Walk as much as possible or go by rickshaw.

INFORMATION

India Tourism, Level 5, Glass House, 135 King Street, Sydney 2000. Email: info@ indiatourism.com.au website: www.incredibleindia.org

Matrimonials

SEEKING BRIDES

Gursikh male 25 years Physiotherapist, Australian citizen of Sydney, 6 feet, slim, healthy, happy life style of Khatri background but with an open mind seeks 20-24 years, good natured, healthy, honest match. Truthful replies only to greenkochia@gmail.com

Match for Punjabi Sarswat Brahmin male, March 1978 born, 5’6”, fair, handsome, fit build, Indian born, Australian educated, well settled here for 14 years. Blend of Indian and Western culture, working in reputed global company, good position. Family well settled in Chandigarh/ Canada, own properties. Prefer girl already in Australia, professionally qualified, caste no bar. Email ausmatrimony2010@hotmail.com

Australian citizen, Gujarati/Patel boy, age 29 years, divorced within 3 months of marriage, IT professional with permanent job, seeks Indian girl. Student/work visa holder welcome. Call Kesh/Sarla Patel (parents) on 02 9896-2248 / 0401 548 194 or e-mail patelkes@gmail.com

Australian citizen Aggarwal/ Punjabi Hindu boy, 5’8” tall 39 years old (looks 30), divorced, very good looking, pleasant personality, generous, eggetarian, very good in reputed job. Seeks good looking, caring, sincere and family oriented girl with GSOH and DTE. Issueless divorcee or widow also accepted. Contact with full bio-data and photo to : yankee1_2009@hotmail.com

Seeking a suitable bride for Australian citizen (South-Indian vegetarian with clean habits) working in IT industry in Sydney, mid-40s, caring, loving in nature. Looking for bride with similar qualities and habits. Contact for further discussion indoaussie@hotmail.co.uk, ksg667@yahoo.com

Seeking a bride for a divorced Iyer boy (no issues), Srivatsa Gothram, Revathy Nakshatram, aged 29. Boy is an Australian citizen and currently working as an executive for an Australian company in Manila. Parents are doctors and settled in Chennai. Sister is married and settled in Sydney. Please contact Jayasree on 0433 032 146 or email jgopal77@yahoo.com for any further details or enquiries.

Match for 30-year-old, 6’ Hindu boy, 23 years in Australia, IT professional, family oriented, friendly, caring and sincere personality. Contact with biodata and recent photograph to matrim_2010@yahoo.com.au

Australian citizen, university educated, government profession, mid 40s, seeking honest Indian / Fiji Indian lady for

marriage. Reply Tamavu@hotmail.com or call mobile 0404 263 400.

Seeking a good looking, caring, sincere and family oriented, responsible girl for Melbourne resident Arora boy. Permanent Resident, October 1971, 5’7”, handsome, fair colour, spiritual/open minded. Caste no bar. Please respond with photo, education and professional details to email: sndpsachdeva@yahoo.com, M: 04 3224 9651

Seeking alliance for 40-year-old handsome guy, RC, N/S, N/D, DTE, 5’10”, divorced, marriage annulled, no kids. Girl should be family-oriented, good looking, with good family values. Caste no bar. Kindly email with photo to: cheerfulguy14@yahoo.com.au

Seeking a Gujarati girl with good family values, for my son, 35, divorced since 3 years, no children, tax consultant, fair, 5’8”, non-smoker, light drinks, eggetarian, living in Sydney since 18 years. Contact 0402 416 353 or hp11869@hotmail.com.

SEEKING GROOMS

North Indian Punjabi family seeking professional, well settled match for 29/152 cm very fair, charming daughter working in IT, innocent divorcee. Family well settled in Australia. Please respond with details and photo to Sydney81@live.com.au

34 years, 5’7”. Post Graduate diploma in Advertising holding PR visa. Looking for well-educated boy of well settled and educated family with liberal and supportive values. She is sensitive and considerate to elders, warm and nurturing to all. She loves to socialize, going out for movies. Has a drive and wishes to be working professionally with healthy balance between family and work. Two elder sisters married and well settled - one in Sydney and one in London. Father is currently working, as General Manager in a leading Consulting Engineering Co in Saudi Arabia. Please email profile and photo to smk3005@hotmail.com

Seeking match for Sikh, 24 year old, 5’6”, very beautiful girl, born and raised in Sydney with Indian values. She has done Bachelors and Masters in Commerce from UNSW - and successfully working now in a top prestigious firm. Please send photo and details to matrimony6789@gmail.com

Seeking match for Punjabi Ramgarhia, beautiful, slim, young looking, 32-year-old girl, with Permanent Residency of Australia. The preference is for a teetotaller, good natured (age 28-34) well settled, sikh boy. Email the biodata: parampreet_dp@yahoo. com for further proceeding.

Professional match sought for South Indian brahmin girl, born and educated in Australia. 36 years, 5’4” B.E. Masters in Social Science, well employed, vegetarian, slim and fair. Family well settled in Australia. Please reply with details to Email: dashami2010@gmail.com

Seeking a suitable match for Hindu/ Punjabi girl, 28 years (Aust citizen), 5’8”, never married and working in Sydney. Seeking a simple, broadminded and family oriented person, preferably settled in Sydney, caste no bar. Send details and recent photo at madhumarch@hotmail.com; or mob 0421566715.

Alliance invited for a highly educated Jat Sikh girl, Australian citizen, Sydney based, permanent job in accounting, reputed family 28 years. Fair, slim with traditional values. Looking for an Australian citizen or PR, clean shaven, well educated and well settled boy from a decent Jat Sikh family. Please contact with bio data and photo via email address provided below. replyus2010@ gmail.com.

Alliance invited from professionals for Kannada Brahmin girl, 43 years, 5 ’4” B.E., MBA (Melbourne Uni), vegetarian, slim and fair. Married briefly and divorced with no children. Well employed and settled in Australia. Please reply with details to Email: raosn@bigpond.com

Seeking match for Hindu Khatri fair and slim girl, 24, 5’0”, currently in Canberra on visit. Well qualified, well mannered with modren outlook and traditional values. Brother well settled in Australia. Please respond with your biodata to email sanjog456@gmail.com

Wanted well-qualified, handsome, fair Punjabi Hindu boy, well-settled in Sydney, PR holder/Australian citizen for a Punjabi Hindu girl, extremely beautiful, slim, very fair, 32 years, 5-3”, MBA (Australia), Australian citizen and a professional belonging to a high status, very well qualified business class family. The girl is an innocent divorcee following a brief marriage. She is very loving, homely, caring, intelligent and bubbly with a perfect blend of traditional and modern values. She is born and brought up in India. We are a God fearing, very well respected, down to earth and sober family with a positive outlook towards life. Similar profiles preferred. Please send full profile with latest photos to email id: to.sweet@ hotmail.com or contact on 0451 589 389

Family seeking suitable match for an attractive, 23 year old, 5’ 2’’ tall, slim built, North Indian girl with strong values. She is highly intelligent and is a tax consultant at a high profile firm in

Sydney. The preference is for a suitably employed, well settled boy (age: 25-27), brought up in Australia, USA or England. Please send biodata and a recent photograph to OZ7654@gmail.com.

Seeking a suitable match for goldsmith girl, 32, (applied regional residency), 5’2”,working full time in community welfare. Seeking match with broadminded personality, preferably in Australia. Caste no bar. Contact kaur_m13@yahoo.com

0011-91-99887-49191, 0011-91-85250-1746

Seeking professionally qualified/wellsettled match for 39/165, never married, fair, slim, beautiful Punjabi girl, family oriented and responsible. Engineer working in Sydney, Australian citizen. Early marriage. Can relocate. Parents well-settled in India. Caste no bar. Email with photo: sydgirl09@ gmail.com

Seeking match for 28/158cm, fair, beautiful, intelligent, Australian citizen girl, from a respectable Hindu family with good professional job. Boy must be 29-32, professionally qualified, well settled, openminded, non-smoker with strong family values. Please email profile and photo to sydney_girl2010@hotmail.com

Punjabi Arora parents invite never married well-settled/professional match for fair, slim, attractive, 37/165, IT professional with strong family values. Never married. Settled in Sydney. Australian citizen. Status family. Caste no bar. Early marriage. Email with photo: ausgirl101@gmail.com

Match for Punjabi Saraswat Brahmin Vishisht Gotra, Manglik girl, MA B.Ed, DOB 29-3-1977, 5-20 pm, Deolali (Maharashatra). Applied residency in Australia, 5’-2”, prefer Australian boy. Call +91 9888 970 986 or email nsharma0786@ yahoo.com.

Parents of Sikh Khatri girl invite alliance for their beautiful, slim daughter, 30 /5’-1”, Australian citizen, never married. Currently working in Sydney as Analyst with one of the large banks. Family settled in Sydney. Seeking professional, well-educated match with good family background. Caste no bar. Contact: 02 8807 4258 or email:schadha06@yahoo.com

Seeking alliance for 26-year-old 5’3” good looking Punjabi Manglik Brahmin girl with strong family values. Boy must be professionally qualified with strong family values. Girl in Sydney till February, visiting her sister. Caste no bar. Please email your profile and photo to rajkundra@yahoo.com.

Tax Returns

OLD TOONGABBIE AUCTION

THIS ONE WILL SURELY IMPRESS

13 Bogalara Rd

This home has a real family feel to it, from the moment you step inside you will feel its warmth! Features include large north east facing balcony - great for the family get togethers, 4-5 bedrooms, 2 modern bathrooms, modern kitchen including dishwasher, fridge and microwave, large lounge with a/c, separate rumpus/family room with combustion fire and wet bar, alarm, internal laundry, separate office or teenage retreat, double remote LUG and large well maintained yard also great for entertaining all set on a large corner block of 885sqm. Be sure to inspect so you don’t miss out!

Open For Inspection: Saturday 12:30-1:00pm

Auction: Saturday 26 October 2010 on site at 1:00pm

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville 9688 4000

Contact Leanne Ollerenshaw 0414 790 887 or Alan Fowler 0413 057 699

WENTWORTHVILLE

SHORT WALK TO TRAINS

15 Stapleton Street

AUCTION

This 3 bedroom aluminium clad house is set on a large 872sqm block. Features polished floors boards, neat kitchen and bathroom, lounge & dine area with air conditioning, separate office area, lock up garage & carport. Don’t miss out on this beauty!

Open For Inspection: Saturday 1:30-2:00pm

Auction: Saturday 25 September 2010 on site at 2:00pm

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville 96884000

Contact Leanne

MERRYLANDS $309,950

BLUE RIBBON LOCATION

Spacious interior and a great location make’s this unit an excellent first home or investment, just moments to Merrylands CBD. This unit offers 2 bedrooms, both with built ins, modern kitchen and bathroom, open plan living and dining with 2 balconies, internal laundry, plenty of cupboard storage space and lock up garage. Walking distance to all amenities.

4000

CASTLE HILL $449,950 WOW – IT’S HUGE! This apartment is overly spacious, featuring 2 bedrooms, huge lounge and dine area, ultra modern kitchen with gas cook top, large balcony with views to the mountains, modern bathroom, alarm, security intercom and lock up garage.

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville 9688

PARRMATTA $299,950

GREYSTANES

BBQ area and more. Ideal for the first home buyer or investor.

Open For Inspection: Saturday 10:00-10:30am

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville Contact Alex Mich 0433 882 145

SOUTH WENTWORTHVILLE $529,950

QUALITY AND STYLE

Immaculate townhouse in small complex of 5, featuring spacious tiled living area, ultra modern kitchen with gas cooking, 3 extra large bedrooms with ensuite to main, ducted air con, double garage with remote door, fantastic fully timber decked courtyard. Beautifully presented throughout. A pleasure to inspect!

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville 9688 4000

Contact Leanne Ollerenshaw

CONSTITUTION HILL $329,950

WELL PRESENTED TWO BEDROOM VILLA 7/4 Mahoney rd

Well presented two bedroom villa with floating timber floors, spacious living areas, modern bathroom & kitchen with dishwasher, second toilet, built in wardrobe, air conditioning, paved low maintenance courtyard, garage, all in a well maintained complex ideal for the first home buyer. A must to inspect! Open for Inspection: Saturday 11:30-12pm

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville Michael Cuskelly 0433 872 145

SOUTH WENTWORTHVILLE $589,950

BRAND NEW DUPLEX

Stop Looking - This duplex has the lot, features include four large bedrooms, two bathrooms, three toilets, separate study, huge ultra modern kitchen with double ovens, gas cook top, ducted air conditioning, large backyards, remote lock up garage all close to schools, shops and transport.

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville 9688 4000 Contact Leanne Ollerenshaw

$579,950

1 BEDROOM APARTMENT!

This 1 bedroom unit located on the ground floor features a/c, gas cooking and dishwasher in modern kitchen, good size courtyard, modern bathroom and lock up garage and currently rented for $310per week Complex has an in ground pool and in a great location, don’t miss out!

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville 9688 4000 Contact Leanne Ollerenshaw

WESTMEAD

VENDOR WILL NEGOTIATE!

Attractive 3 bedroom plus office/study brick veneer home, perfect for a family wanting spacious open plan living. Beautifully presented, quality features through out including formal & informal living options, ultra modern kitchen with quality stainless appliances, modern bathroom and ensuite to main, ducted air conditioning, low maintenance yard with undercover BBQ entertaining area with Japanese pond feature & double LUG. You’ll find all the expected comforts plus more. A true life getaway with views of the mountain reserve from you sparkling in ground swimming pool area, great for those summer times. Close to school, shops and transport.

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville 9688 4000

Contact Jim Malamas

$379,950

AS NEW

Only 3 years old this top floor unit is located in a popular block within walking distance to shops & station features 2 large bedrooms, main with ensuite, open spacious living areas, latest bathroom & kitchen, large north facing balcony, video security and garage. Ideal for the first home buyer or investor.

Laing & Simmons Wentworthville 9688 4000

Contact Alan Fowler

Cine Talk

Old-fashioned

vendetta saga

Film: Dabangg

Starring: Salman Khan, introducing Sonakshi Sinha, Sonu Sood, Arbaaz Khan, Mahesh Manjrekar, Dimple Kapadia, Vinod Khanna

Directed by: Abhinav Kashyap

So here it is. A new genre of cinema. The Spaghetti Eastern.

The velocity is virulent. The violence is relentless. The narrative doesn’t pause for action. It is between bouts of the violence that characters take a breather to say things to one another that they don’t really mean. This is Dabangg. A world swarming with unidimensional characters who seem to know exactly which way the fists fly. We certainly don’t. The comic book hero Chulbul Pandey, played with lip smacking pleasure by Salman Khan, shows up in every dingy warehouse in this mofussil town to settle scores, man to man.

Dabangg is the kind of old-fashioned family drama combined with a vendetta saga that we thought had gone out of fashion in the 1980s. Chulbul Pandey could have been played by Amitabh Bachchan 30

years ago. Yes, that killing comic dimension that Salman brings into his characters has its roots in the Big B’s action-comedy films.

And Dimple Kapadia, wheezing, coughing, groaning and ranting her way through the mother’s role (what got into Dimple???) hams her way through this action drama where being opulently outrageous comes naturally to everyone.

But all said and damned, there is something to be said about Salman’s Chulbul Pandey’s ability to be cartoonish, caricatural and larger than life, and yet warm and very real in his tongue-in-cheek bravura. Some of the less over-punctuated moments in this film of ceaseless bone-crunching sound-effects occur each time Chulbul woos his bulbul Rajjo (debutant Sonakshi Sinha).

Each time she passes by, Salman becomes putty in her hands. The debutante has eyes that plead for peace. But who’s listening?

The raucous riotous soundtrack is slave only to the rhythm of blood gore and screams of innumerable goons crashing through wooden supports that have seen better days.

The action sequences are the backbone of this bone-breaking actioner. The stunts are done in an enticing mix of masti and mayhem. The crusted dustybrown unwashed ambience is created with care. But the plot is almost completely free of delicate moments.

Dabangg is Ram Gopal Varma’s Shool on steroids. In Shool Manoj Bajpai was the honest cop on a cleansing spree in a Bihari backwater town. In Dabangg Salman takes on the mofussil mafia with much more humour than Bajpai could muster.

In one way, you could say it is the need of the hour. We have to laugh away the corruption and violence all around us. Salman does a splendid job of it.

It’s hard to tell where debutant director Abhinav Kashyap’s abilities end and the action director Vijayan Master begin.

That seamless quality goes well with this unpunctuated tribute to the spirit of free-for-all oneupmanship.

An ear-catching music score by Sajid-Wajid does diminish the level of violence in the presentation. Sonakshi Sinha uses her eyes beautifully. And the song Tere mast mast do nayan describes her eloquent expressions well.

But this is a Salman Khan vehicle all the way. He gets to be funny, wicked and belligerent... sometimes all at once. Sonu Sood as the main antagonist brings an in-your-face menace to his villainy. He is in character. Salman, though, slips out of character quite often.

And quite happily.

Subhash K. Jha

Film: The Film Emotional Atyachar

Cast: Mohit Ahlawat, Kalki Koechlin, Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak, Anand Tiwari, Ravi Kishen, Abhimanyu Singh

Director: Akshay Shere

Bitter, violent, but dull

Every character in debutant director Akshay Shere’s funny, bitter and violent ode to the road movie, wants money. Sometimes they also crave for sex. For example, there’s this incidental character (the film has drug dealers, racketeers and criminals crawling out of every frame) who’s force-doped by Ravi Kishen, who is very at home playing the revved-up psycho.

The zonked-out sociopath asks Kishen, “Koi launadiya milegi, kya?”

You hope for his sake he never runs into Kalki Koechlin. There is one very smart and manipulative woman in this wicked and wacky road movie. Koechlin seems to enjoy herself playing the woman on the run… she ain’t no nun.

And boy, does she have fun! She is the casinoowner Abhimanyu Singh’s mistress, who happily gets kidnapped by the extortionist duo Ranvir-Vinay (yes, they are back together again!). Then when

she runs into Mohit Ahlawat and his backseat wealth, she snuggles up to him as though she was Marilyn Monroe on speed.

Speed is paramount to the mounting tension in Emotional Atyachar. Everyone is in a hurry to get to the end of the road. Short-cuts are most welcome. The characters range from the strange to the deranged. This is quintessential Quentin Tarantino territory soaked in the oozing blood of Vishal Bharadwaj’s storytelling.

Add a dash of cruel humour -- for instance a fat man dying on the backseat whose friend, played by Jimmy Viryani, cuts open an artery while trying to remove the bullet. And you have a film that gets its target audience charged up and ready to go.

A hurried impatient narrative edited with brutal austerity, Emotional Atyachar is not every one’s cup of tea. Really, one doesn’t see people rushing for this strange tale of blood, gore and vendetta

situated in the greyest moral zone of the modern wounded civilization.

While the screenwriting (Bhavini Bheda) and dialogues (Kartik Krishnan, Bheda) are quite often funny in a weird and quip-friendly kind of way, the performances are uniformly engaging. Ravi Kishen and Abhimanyu Singh are the pick of the lot. But the unknown theatre actor Anand Tiwari, who makes the mistake of offering the wounded Ahlawat a lift on the deserted Goa-Mumbai highway, and who plays the only morally conscious character, is outstanding.

The plot is self-consciously complicated. The wheeler-dealers who swish in and out of the plot charting a bloody course are not quite the people you want to meet at a party, let alone on a deserted highway. They don’t seem to know the knack of quitting while they are ahead.

Fortunately, the film does.

Disappointing fare by

Amol Palekar

Film: And Once Again

Starring: Rituparna Sengupta, Rajat Kapoor, Antara Mali

Director: Amol Palekar

Loss, such an essential element in life, is extremely difficult to depict on screen. Yet to see a veteran director like Amol Palekar fail at it is a tad disappointing. But it is not just Palekar’s fault. The main problem lies with a flat, one-dimensional script and lack of imagination that mars what could otherwise have been a good film.

Rishi (Rajat Kapoor) a retired civil servant, even 18 years after losing his wife Savitri (Antara Mali) and son in a bomb explosion overseas, is till coming to terms with his loss. He has recently married Manu (Rituparna Sengupta), who is a caring and understanding wife.

On a trip to a monastery in Sikkim, he sees Savitri, now a monk, and his life is in tatters once again. He tries to come to terms with this mystery and the deep ripples in his mind, as do Savitri and Manu. The answers are neither convenient nor

Subhash K. Jha

easy for anyone to grapple with, as guilt, anger and frustration threaten to rip apart three lives that had reached an equilibrium.

Palekar is not just a veteran actor, but a director of sensitivity and repute who has made some excellent films. Yet, nowhere in the film is his usual mastery of camera, tension or emotions, visible.

Besides the stilted script, the emotions of characters are also one dimensional, and writer Sandhya Gokhale fails in blending the beautiful landscape of Sikkim with the possibilities that were rife in the story. The dialogues are often pretentious, bordering on outright juvenile, especially in the beginning. The actors do their bit in what is possible in such a script.

A film like this one, made for a very niche audience, should not take the convenient route of tying every loose end in a ‘perfect’ ending. That’s the job of commercial cinema. A film about loss succeeds only when it leaves the audience with a sense of loss and longing.

Instead, And Once Again aims for catharsis with some melodramatic scenes and a convenient ending, rather than the truth, and in that lies the biggest flaw of this film.

Satyen K. Bordoloi

BUZZThe

ABHILASHA SENGUPTA brings us up-to-date on what’s hot and happening in Bollywood

Living it up at 60

It seems unbelievable but the timeless Shabana Azmi turned 60 recently. And the matter of age amuses her no end.

“I can’t understand why being 60 should be such an issue,” she noted on her birthday. “I am constantly asked, Kaisa lag raha hai? What is one supposed to feel? I am very proud to have arrived at this place. Do I feel 60? I don’t know. Because I don’t know how other 60-year-olds feel. I am just happy”.

Hubby Javed threw a grand do at Mumbai’s Trilogy – for a motley mix of friends, family and selected colleagues from the film industry.

Shabana stepped into her 61st year with her friends in Delhi. “I was doing a performance of my new play Seven in Delhi till late in the night on my birthday,” said the actress. “Then I flew into Mumbai for my party. So, it’s been almost a nonstop celebration for me. All the arrangements for the party were done by my gal pals Parna (best friend for decades) and Shahana (Goswami) and my sister-in-law Tanvi ”.

“Someone pointed out something interesting to me. I was shooting for Shyam Benegal’s Ankur during my birthday many years ago. Now, I was performing a play with a strong feminist message on this birthday. It’s an interesting summation of my journey as an actress and a woman,” she said.

Shabana is toying with the idea of writing an autobiography. “Many friends and well-wishers think I should. They see something in my life that could be useful to others. Let’s see,” said the actress.

Her mantra for such luminous longevity? “I guess it’s my refusal to conform. I don’t see why I have to wear the colours that are politically correct. Who says saffron is identified with one religion and green with another? I’ll wear both colours together. And let me see who can stop me.”

The red carpet was rolled out for Indian filmmaker Anurag Kashyap and his cast for the premiere of his movie That Girl In Yellow Boots at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). And the audience response was - “incredible”.

“I never expected that the film will evoke such a strong response and reaction,” Kashyap said.

After Dev.D, That Girl in Yellow Boots seals Kashyap’s reputation as one of the leaders of the independent film movement in India that is challenging conventional cinema by portraying social reality as it is.

As someone in the audience rightly said, “This is a film about the underbelly of the Indian reality as it is. Kashyap’s characters portray things as they are.”

Yellow Boots is the moving story of the

father who was a photographer.

Playing the role of Ruth, Kashyap’s partner Kalki Koechlin - born to French parents in India - has turned in yet another stellar performance after her role as Chandramukhi in Kashyap’s Dev.D

The winner of the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress in Dev.D and fluent in Hindi, Kalki - as Ruth - plunges into the maze of complex Indian milieu with the single-minded goal of finding her father.

She bribes bureaucrats to get her tourist visa extended, learns parlour massage to service men in the back alleys and supports a useless, drug-addicted boyfriend even as underworld sharks eye this fair-skinned girl. Sexually explicit dialogues flow freely in this film which has been rated ‘adult’ by the censors.

GUESS WHO

(Find the answer under Caption Contest)

One-time supermodel who has made a comeback in recent weeks

SHABANA AZMI

Kashyap said he was inspired to make the film after reading about the story of a German girl who came to India over three years ago in search of her lost father.

“Kalki fleshed the script by bringing in her experiences as a white girl born and raised in India,” he said.

Diwali clash: Vipul Shah not worried about Maal

This Diwali get ready for two fun films done in two different shades of laughter.

Vipul Shah’s Action Replayy will take on the third instalment of the Gol Maal

But Vipul is pretty much confident there is room for two fun films.

“Haven’t we always had two big releases every Diwali? Besides, the humour in Maal is very different from the humour in my film. There’s already an established convention of humour in Gol Maal. a very different take.”

The film has Akshay Kumar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan travelling back in time to the 1970s.

“But,” cautions Vipul, “there is more than just the retro effect in the film. I don’t want audiences to go for the film expecting just a nostalgic experience.”

Recently, Vipul made news by gifting Akshay a Rs.8 lakh 1938 vintage watch for the star’s birthday.

But ask him about it, and Vipul is embarrassed: “Gifts are not to be talked about.”

I’ve finally somethingdone for Salman: Arbaaz Khan

Arbaaz Khan is happy that by producing Dabangg he has done something for brother Salman Khan and not just vice versa. He feels the movie has been great for the whole family.

“Let’s be practical and honest - his (Salman’s) last big hit was Wanted, and the way things are going this one can be two or three times bigger. So it’s a great feeling to know that not only has he worked for me, helped in establishing myself, but the film has worked for him also. It’s great for the whole family”.

“The best compliment till now was when someone told me ‘initially it looked like Salman was doing a film for you and ultimately it turned out to be something you have done for Salman’. There couldn’t be any better compliment than this,” he added. Set in rustic and rugged Uttar Pradesh, Abhinav Kashyap’s directorial debut has set cash registers ringing by earning Rs.48.25 crore (gross) at the opening weekend. People loved Salman Khan as corrupt cop Chulbul ‘Robinhood’ Pande in the movie, which also features Arbaaz’s wife Malaika in an item number.

Arbaaz said: “I was confident that we had a good film in hand, which would do very well. The film’s success has not come as a shock, probably it’s a surprise that it has done so well.”

I would love to go back to theatre: SRK

Bollywood superstar Shah

Rukh Khan, who started his career as a theatre artist, reminisces about the days he acted in plays in Delhi and says he would love to go back to the stage and perform live.

“I started my career from

theatre and later went on to acting in television and then films. We used to perform plays at Kamani Auditorium, which was at that time considered to be one of the biggest theatres. If given a chance I would love to go back to the stage and perform in front of a live audience. I love to interact with people,” he told reporters at the launch of Nautanki Mahal at the brand new Kingdom of Dreams complex.

The actor has been named the global brand ambassador of Kingdom of Dreams, situated in Gurgaon adjacent to the national capital.

He added: “I would just like to say that whatever we do in theatre, it should not be considered secondary or taken lightly. We need to give at least six to seven months and produce a quality product. In the West, films actors completely dedicate themselves to theatre whenever they get a chance to perform. We need to have the same dedication here also.”

Kingdom of Dreams is a 5.66-acre entertainment and leisure hotspot that will showcase Bollywood musicals, and boasts an elaborate arts and food boulevard.

Salman Khan auctions gym session

Fans of Salman Khan can now flex their muscles in front of their idol as the Bollywood superstar is auctioning a private gym training session with himself to raise money for charity. The actor, whose latest film Dabangg is creating new box office records, has joined hands with eBay India to celebrate the ‘Joy of Giving Week’.

As part of the session, Salman will work out with the highest bidder and provide tips on fitness. “I will spend quality time with the person that bids generously. All the money is going to a good cause, and I will reciprocate by offering some valuable fitness techniques to the participanT,”the actor said. All proceeds will go to The Research Society which provide care and counseling to children with special needs. Bidding on the auction starts at Rs 1,001. Now that is what we call “gyming for a cause”.

Another

“Kareena

me… I need a good break!!!” Dipankar

SHAHRUKH KHAN

ARBAAZ KHAN WITH WIFE MALAIKA

KALKI KOECHLIN

KALKI WITH PARTNER ANURAG KASHYAP

Cradle snatcher?

Dear Auntyji

Please don’t laugh when I tell you this, but I am in love with an office colleague. She’s 25, and I am 50. She is older than her years and we have gone out to a few dinners and movies, and I want to spend all my time with her.

Shayna says she loves me, but I cannot be sure. She always texts me and calls me up but my brother says she is only interested in my money. I have a little bit of money, but Shayna does not seem to be a... for lack of a better word, gold digger. How do I determine her true feelings? My first wife died 10 years ago, my children are grown up and Shayna makes me feel good.

Auntyji says

All this love in the air - it must be spring. Well, I don’t know Shayna, but a 25-year-old in love with a 50-year-old is not that odd. Look at those blonde girls and Hugh Hefner. They had a proper romance - until it blew over.

Well, here’s the truth. Life is short, and you have lived a lot of your life already. Why make your remaining years lonesome. I say you should pursue this romance to its eventual conclusion. Who knows what Shayna’s motivations are - maybe she has an Electra complex or whatever - who are we to judge. Pursue the romance and see what happens. If it works out, wonderful. If it doesn’t, well, at least you gave it a shot. No point denying yourself a chance at happiness. You deserve it. Go for it, I say.

I feel an online romance coming on

Dear Auntyji

I am ashamed to tell you this Auntyji, but last week, I spent two nights in a row chatting with a stranger in Atlanta. I am drawn to this man, but I am married to a really nice man. I want to pursue an online romance, because it makes me be nicer to my husband. Tell me the truth Auntyji, am I doing something wrong?

Auntyji says

O you shaitaan! Have you no laaj, no sharam? Cheating is cheating and that is clearly what you are doing. Stop romancing this paraya mard from Atlanta and focus on your pati dev. Texting-shexting and chatting-vatting

On baby names

Dear Auntyji

will only lead you to sin. So it’s totally haram what you’re doing. Stop it at once. Get a grip on yourself and start being faithful to your husband.

My chance at love

Dear Auntyji

I am 20 years old and I have just come from Punjab India. I read your column regularly and think you are very helpful. Well my problem is, since I am from India there is a lot of pressure for me to get married. However I’d like to have the chance at a serious relationship first.

I attend uni, but no one seems to be interested in me. I don’t know if it is because of the way I do my hair, or the way I dress or the way I speak. I really want to find someone soon but don’t know how to get the attention. All my friends tell me about their love life and I wish to have one top. Auntyji mein kuch ghalath kar raihn hun? Please kuch madhat karo, Auntyji!

My dear little Anarkali blossom How wise you are to write to me and seek solace from my sage wisdom, my little gulabo. How clever you are to want to change your life. Well, I have just the right salaah tere liye, because recently, I helped my good friend Pushpa bahen find a suitable dulha for her plain looking but smart daughter with a wheatish complexion, Shenahi, and there is no reason why I should not be able to help you. The important cheez to note is that you are fairly self aware, and are keen to understand why you do not have someone yet. But, first things first. So you have just abhi abhi come from India, and you see all your friends running around with boyfriends, when you know back home in India these same friends would not have even looked at members of the opposite gender. Not because they did not want to, but because society would have totally condemned them. But I digress. Here is what you must do.

First, your izzat is everything, so don’t go throwing yourself away for the first man who lays eyes on you. No no no. Self respect is everything. Look around at your friends and see how they are being treated by their boyfriends. Then, compile a list of all the attributes you would want in your ideal man. Then, look at yourself and compile a list of why someone would want to be with you. If you are a lazy person and wear the same clothes every single day, then girly, you will have to address this issue. And I hope for your sake you wear anti perspirant. If you have shaggy eyebrows like recalcitrant caterpillars and a moustache to rival that of Dara Singh, then book yourself into a threading session. Are you an interesting person? Do you read? Or do you spend all your weekends watching Om Shanti Om over and over again, trying to work out the nuances of its comedic intertexts? So, first, work on becoming an interesting person. Observe the world and its inhabitants and form some interesting opinions. Listen to your friends talk about their love lives but don’t be envious, because your time will come. Then, once you have addressed these issues, start dropping hints to your dadi nani kaki ammi whoever that some random gora wants to marry you. That will get your nani’s knickers totally in a knot, and before you know it, they’ll be finding you pukka hindustanis as suitable grooms. It really is simple - no Punjabi, traditional dadima will want her future grandchildren to be part firangi, so they will search for a Kulwant or Debashish for you pronto. Now as for your boyfriend envy - your friends are all probably liars. The reason they talk about their love lives is because they are not really happy where they are, so don’t believe everything you hear. Besides, I think, they are boasting. Yes, I said it -we all know it’s true. So, do write back to me, my nadaan little neel kamal, and keep me updated with your life. Oh, and don’t forget to invite me to your wedding.

I am about to have a baby, and I read with interest your advice recently about baby names. I am a modern Pakistani girl living in Sydney, but married to a gora. We are having a little boy, and my Australian husband, who loves everything Pakistani, insists that we name the boy Iqbal. I have nothing against the name Iqbal - my uncle on my mother’s side was called Iqbal, and my best friend’s brother is called Iqbal, and my piano teacher’s husband is called Iqbal. But I don’t want to call my little boy Iqbal - I want a nice Aussie sounding name, like or Callum or Adam (yes, I’m a MasterChef fan).

Each time we have this conversation, my husband insists, no, he demands, that we call our son Iqbal. I don’t want little Iqbal being reduced to Iccky in the playground, so what shall I do, Auntyji, please offer me your sage wisdom.

Auntyji says

Mazel Tov on having your baby. Ah, the complex issues of inter-racial relationships. Well, here you are, with a gora husband who has a touch of brown fever and loves everything Pakistani so much that he is prepared to sacrifice his first born to the playground rite of passage of let’s-kick-littleIcky day today.

Here is the solution. Give your child either the first or middle name of Michael or David or whatever vanilla you can think of, and name him Iqbal as his other name. You call the poor sod Jonathan, while your gora husband can call him Iqbal. I am sure your kid won’t bring up your parenting skills when he ultimately gets to therapy in 20 years’ time.

A Celebration of Love

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