2010-12 Melbourne

(VFS

(Indian High Commissioner)

Nayar (Consul General, Melbourne)

INDIAN LINK

PUBLISHER Pawan

Luthra

EDITOR

Rajni Anand Luthra

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Sheryl Dixit

MELBOURNE

Preeti Jabbal

CONTRIBUTORS

Noel G De Souza, Roy Lange, Tim Blight, Monica Dalidowicz, George Thakur, Jyoti Shankar, Madhuchanda Das, L P Ayer, Tanmayi Chari, Nancy Sood, Rani Jhala, Tom King, Sai Narayan.

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Vivek Trivedi

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ADVERTISING ASSISTANT

Priti Sharma

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GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Kaye Martin

Indian Link is a fortnightly newspaper published in English. No material, including advertisements designed by Indian Link, maybe reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the editor. Opinions carried in Indian Link are those of the writers and not necessarily endorsed by Indian Link. All correspondence should be addressed to Indian Link Level 24/44 Market St, Sydney 2000 or GPO Box 108, Sydney 2001

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Breaking new ground

Usman Khawaja’s inclusion in ‘the battalion’ - to use Peter Roebuck’s term - to face England cannot be underestimated by sub-continent-origin lovers of cricket here in Australia. However, when the squad was later trimmed to 13, Khawaja was not in the short list. But when doubts of Australian vice captain Michael Clarke’s fitness emerged prior to the First Test, Khawaja was put on standby. Clarke ultimately proved fit, and Khwaja could not secure that baggy green.

Richard Chee Quee made quite a splash in the mid 1990s when he became only the second Asian after Hunter Poon in 1923 to play first class cricket. But the Australian national team under Mark Taylor and Steve Waugh was at its very peak and very few new players got an opportunity to break in. Chee Quee’s talents could not get him the holy grail of the Australian baggy green.

Khawaja’s emergence in Australian cricket comes at an appropriate time. Australia’s dominance of world cricket since 1995 stands broken. Languishing at fourth place in the ICC Test Cricket rankings, the selectors are looking for a new direction. There is talk about aging players and falling crowds. Test cricket battered by the onslaught of the 20/20 format is losing favour with the younger Australian population. Perhaps this is the

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

time to look more closely at some both on field and off field options.

Usman Khawaja immigrated with his family to Australia at the age of 3. Since then his cricketing skills have steadily blossomed. He was Player of the Year in the Australian Under 19 Championships in 2005, and also played for Australia in the 2006 Under 19 Cricket World Cup in Sri Lanka as an opening batsman . In 2008 Khawaja hit consecutive double centuries for the NSW Second XI - a feat never achieved before by a NSW player. Over the last 12 months, he has been on the fringes of the Aussie national team and finally, it seems that he is one step away from donning his own baggy green. He will surely serve as a beacon to thousands of children from sub continent backgrounds who aspire to represent Australia in cricket. On any given weekend, cricket nets in a number of Australian suburbs have an overwhelming proportion of budding India, Pakistani and Sri-Lankan cricketers practising their shots and bowling.

The lower ranks of grade and club cricket also have their shares of Ranasanghes, Singhs and Khans. While excellent at these levels, when it comes to the final check point for State cricket, not many are able to enter. Usman Khawaja has shown that this indeed can be done. With more players from the subcontinent playing in domestic and international cricket, it will allow for greater interest from the subcontinent viewing public. In that part of the world, cricket is akin to a religion and with millions of viewers watching the diverse range of talent in Australia, it can only mean better benefits from television rights and sponsorship dollars.

While we are seeing diverse talent emerge on the playing fields, perhaps it is also time to look at the range of voices which can be heard on the various broadcast channels in Australia. The game of cricket has seen a huge change in the past few years; perhaps it is time to expand the pool of media presenters for the game - younger presenters, perhaps, or a more multicultural panel.

Cricket tragics love their stories and folklore, and Khawaja’s inclusion in the national team will surely rank as one of them. Bring on the options of an Australian national cricket team with all its diversity!

TYME for talent

The Talented Young Musicians Ensemble (TYME) showcased four cameo performances at the Spring Concert held recently at the Kel Watson Theatre, Forest Hill organised by the Academy of Indian Music, Australia.

The first and second segments comprised of two of Narmatha Ravichandhira’s senior violin students from the Sruthilaya Kendra, (Divya Pillutla and Narayanan Ramakrishnan) performing solo pieces for 45 minutes each. Both these performances reflected a sound understanding of the raga alapana, swara kalpana and talam. Some of the pieces performed included Maha ganapathim in ragam Nattai, Samajavara Gamana in Hindolam ragam and a Thillana in Mand ragam. It was a pleasure to hear the warming melodious tunes accompanied by a high calibre percussion ensemble provided by senior mridangam students, many of whom had completed their formal debuts several years ago.

The third segment was a very unique and pleasing collaborative work by Sruthilaya Kendra, performed by students of the multifaceted Guru Smt Narmatha Ravichandhira and Guru Sri Ravi M Ravichandhira, with the Baratalaya Academy.

The students of Guru Smt Sivaganga Sahathevan harmonized their spirits, talents and dedication with their ensemble of veenai and violin strings, and their vocal chords feasted together in a garland of ragas set to five different rhythmic cycles. In this piece, a combined carnatic music choir of over 30

violin players, with rhythm by six students of Sri Ravi M. Ravichandhira, including his sons Sai Nivaeithan and Sai Sarangan; with Lukshman Ganesh, Hari Ravindran, Lojen Wijeyamanoharan - all on the mridangam, as well as Keshav Yoganathan (tabla) Sashilan Ravirajan (ghatam).

Ms. Maxine Morand, Minister for Children and Early Childhood Development and Minister for Women’s Affairs who was the Guest of Honour, addressed the audience and applauded Sri Ravi and Srimathy Narmatha Ravichandhira with high praise for their aspirations, far reaching vision, commitment and resounding success in delivering quality music and dance. They were commended for developing a powerful fine arts infrastructure that is currently enjoyed by a vast number of Australians, youth and the many newly migrated artists residing in Australia.

She added that she was mesmerised by the violin performance and congratulated the orchestra who sang in a mixture of two

of TYME for providing a fantastic avenue to gain experience in performing to a large and wider cross-section of the community, including mainstream audience and extending their knowledge and appreciation for carnatic music to all.

The orchestrated compositions were set to tune by Sri. Rajkumar Bharathi, great grandson of the revolutionary Tamizh poet Subramanya Bharathi. The first part, in Ragam Naashikaabooshani and Tala Adi, was a Vivadhi ragam that contains Vivadi swarams that go against the usually practiced grain of thought or approach and take over the place of another swaram. Although vivadi pitches are generally to be avoided during the playing of a given raga, they are occasionally added by skilled performers in order to introduce some colour to an interpretation.

The second part, was a Ragamalika in Panchanadai, which is to say that it is composed in parts of more than one raga or melody and set to five different rhythms. This composition has taken ragams which are very popular in Carnatic music for their soothing melody and

rhythmically challenging, and interspersed with melodic and rhythmic outlines of individual instruments to accentuate the colours of each raga and thala, heightened the experience for all present.

The fourth segment highlighted the artistic merit of Smt Narmatha Ravichandhira who composed both the music (in Rasikapriya) and dance choreography to a new composition by Smt Ranee Thangaraja, sung skilfully by Sri Ahilan. Dancing to the piece was Vithiya Yogeswaran, a senior student of Smt Ravichandhira who completed her formal debut some years ago. She also danced elegantly to kriti Periya Swami Thooran Konchi Konchi va kuhane rendered mellifluously by Jayshree in raga Kamas. It was very encouraging to see that a group of young students (Archana Sivanandakumar Thejaani Aran Karthica Nanthakumaran Mathura Nadanakumar,Thirushika Ganeshanathan Syndy Sivalingam,Varshini Thayalakumaran Vinoja Ganeshanathan) who were coached by her danced well to a folk tune.

Ravi Ravichandhira

Tuning in to Tannishtha

She’s referred to as the ‘princess of parallel cinema’ and the ‘most international of Indian actresses’. Tannishtha Chatterjee has been nominated for Best Actress alongside Dame Judi Dench and Anne Hathaway in the British Independent Film Awards, and her most recent acting collaborations include working with Martin Sheen and first-time actress turned filmmaker, Lucy Liu. Following in the footsteps of Shabana Azmi and Aparna Sen, Tannishtha Chaterjee is in the Gold Coast this week for the 4th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), and is one of the youngest members of the international jury. Link caught up with the actress for a quick chat.

Tannishtha lived in Australia as a child but doesn’t remember a lot of it. Yet she finds herself smitten by the Gold Coast’s sun and sand. The versatile actress feels that Australians are a bit ‘Indian-like’ with their generosity and hospitality. She is thrilled to represent India at APSA where the jury this year comprises of members from China, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and Australia. International cinema and film festivals largely tend to have an American and Eurocentric focus, and hence they are limited in terms of story telling and aesthetic appeal.

“APSA has crossed my expectations in providing a long awaited platform for the Asia Pacific region. Watching films of different languages and styles from 15 different countries has been a blissful experience for me,” admits Tannishtha.

Despite the jury being so diverse in their expertise and viewpoints, she has observed that human beings respond to emotions and stories similarly. “This is where, though different culturally and cinematographically, good cinema transcends culture and speaks the universal language of human emotions,” she explains.

through, where despite a strong presence of Hollywood, regional cinema is finding a much-needed revival,” claims the actress. She makes a very compelling case for India to maintain its own cinematic medium and style. “I believe film festivals such as APSA should be encouraged so that countries such as ours can keep their plethora of languages and cultures alive,” she avers.

“I am passionate about initiatives likes APSA that preserve diversity, and I believe that there lies the true beauty of cinema,” says Tannishtha. This year India has five nominations, each unique and compelling in their language, culture and performance.

Atul Kulkarni and Tejaswini Pundit have been nominated in the best performance categories for two separate Marathi films, and Hindi film Udaan has been nominated in the Best Children’s Feature Film category. A majority of the nominations

Tannishtha is open to all kinds of cinema; however it is the characters in the scripts and the filmmakers that are the driving force for her. “It is extremely important for me to choose working on projects where actors and filmmakers involved share my energy and passion for good cinema,” she says. The actress finds herself frequently working with first-time directors who take a brave step and go after their films with full steam and focus. “This is what gives cinema a new perspective and makes people all over the world sit up and listen,” explains Tannishtha. “Bollywood, despite being stereotyped as nothing but songs and dances, in essence is very original and has its roots in the larger-than-life Indian drama, theatre and folklore,” she says adding, “Despite the presence of American cinemas and their popularity with the Indian elite, a very interesting movement is taking shape in India where independent cinema is rising, putting regional cinema into the spotlight.” Tannishtha believes this is very vital for India’s film industry as a lot of great internationally renowned filmmakers from Satyajit Ray to Tapan Sinha and Mrinal Sen all have their background in regional cinema.

Tannishtha calls herself a cinema buff and is having a fantastic time in the Gold Coast watching some amazing movies, meeting inspiring members of APSA and enjoying delicacies from around the world. However, the actress is aware of the responsibility that comes with being in the jury and assessing cinema and its various forms. “Regardless of the jury members and their different areas of expertise, so far we have all had similar reactions and no conflict in viewpoints; this is good cinema, striking a chord across the board, which is termed as ‘cross-over’ cinema,” she says. APSA awarding such films and celebrating their achievements inspires Tannishtha to continue on her path of representing India’s talent internationally in acting and filmmaking.

Tannishtha is a trained Hindustani vocalist and has sung for movies such as Page 3 and Road, Movie. Her first film Swaraj

won her the National Film Award, and her resume boasts names of highly acclaimed Indian and International filmmakers. Tannishtha Chatterjee is supportive of young Indian talent, and is bent on creating and educating the whole world about a new kind of breakthrough Indian cinema. Indian Link wishes this young Bengali beauty all the best in exciting years to come. We will be following her career with interest and pride.

The Asia Pacific Screen Awards is the region’s answer to the Oscars of the west, and honours filmmaking projects across a region covering 70 countries, which makes up one third of the earth and half the world’s film output. APSA will take place on Australia’s Gold Coast on December 2, and is an initiative of the Queensland Government in collaboration with the MFA and UNESCO.

This talented actress with a passion for her work is now on the APSA’s international jury, yet another accolade in her already illustrious career

“Bollywood, despite being stereotyped as nothing but songs and dances, in essence is very original and has its roots in the largerthan-life Indian drama, theatre and folklore”

(Tannishtha)

Tannishtha Chatterjee with Abhay Deol at Gold Coast during the APSAs. Abhay, Tannishtha’s co-star in Road, Movie, is at Gold Coast filming the Bipasha Basu starrer Singularity, and joined in some of APSA’s activities.

(From left) Abhay Deol, APSA Jury President Lord David Puttnam, APSA Jury member Tannishtha Chatterjee, APSA Jury Member Ellery Ryan, Lady Patricia Puttnam, APSA Jury Member Salman Aristo.

A Future Maker

Finding a way to create sustainable energy that is environment friendly has been challenging, but achievable

BY JYOTI SHANKAR

Some time ago, I watched a fascinating movie called The Future Makers, directed by Maryella Hatfield, which tells the story of key Australians leading the way in the field of renewable energy technology. I was thrilled to realise that one of the scientists leading the way in making geo-thermal energy possible was Dr Prame Chopra, cofounder of Geodynamics Ltd. Dr Chopra is a secondgeneration migrant of Indian origin whose father came to Melbourne way back in 1948 as a student, when Indians were a rarity around Australia. He agreed to speak to Indian Link from his home in Canberra, sharing the journey of how he made his childhood interest in collecting minerals, gemstones, rocks and love of the environment combine, to discover a way of creating sustainable energy from the depths of the earth.

Geo-thermal energy, or heat energy from the earth, conjures up pictures of hot molten lava, volcanoes and hot springs, but this is merely the conventional geothermal energy. Before Australia, this source of energy has been exploited for many years by countries like Italy, New Zealand, the US and Japan. Dr Chopra’s research was in another form of geo-thermal energy, that which is hidden in the hot rocks of earth’s crust, also called ‘Enhanced Geo-thermal Systems’ energy. We do not have sources of conventional geo-thermal energy like those just mentioned which occur along geological plate boundaries, as the Australian continent sits rather on the centre of the Indo-Australian plate. The granite here generates heat from the radioactivity within, but if you were to drill a hole a few kilometres into its depth, you wouldn’t get a hot gush of steam and water. So how do we capture this heat efficiently? That was the question.

It was found that if cold water was pumped in at high pressure, it gets heated as it circulates through fractures in the rocks and can be brought back to the surface to generate electricity from the steam, the water being reused for pumping in again. It works in a closed loop, making it a very efficient and sustainable way of generating electricity (see picture, Geodynamics Limited).

Though many countries have researched this technology, Australia’s geological makeup makes it ideal for commercialising hot rock geo-thermal energy, and it will soon be the first country to do so

One cubic kilometre of hot granite at 250 degrees centigrade has stored energy equivalent to 40 million barrels of oil. Though many countries have researched this technology, Australia’s geological makeup makes it ideal for commercialising hot rock geo-thermal energy, and it will soon be the first country to do so. Dr Chopra was actively involved in the early mapping of high heat producing granites found within 3 to 5 kms of the earth’s surface, but has now handed it over to Geoscience Australia, the national geographical survey organisation, which has been working on producing better maps.

A University of Queensland (UQ) researcher, Dr Tongu Uysal, during his studies of the Cooper Basin has found evidence of a major asteroid impact that occurred more than 300 million years ago. He noticed unusual ‘planar deformation features’ in the quartz grains in the rock. He said that the impact of an asteroid may have triggered a huge explosion which caused the ground water to boil and induce chemical and mineralogy changes in the surrounding rocks which has made the Cooper Basin such a rich source of geothermal energy today.

Geodynamics has completed Stage 1 of its project which is delivering ‘proof of concept’. A 1 megawatt (mw) plant now supplies energy to the small town of Innamincka about 10 kms away from their plant in South Australia’s Cooper Basin. They are now into Stage 2 which is delivering a commercial scale plant of 25mw.

This will prove that the concept works for a price that is practical, estimated at $100/mw. To put things in perspective, Dr Chopra explains that coal is available at a far cheaper price of $25 to $30/mw, but that does not include the cost of emission of CO2. When they have to pay for carbon emissions, the real price of coal will emerge and that is when renewable energy becomes attractive. A big advantage for geothermal energy is that unlike wind and sun energy, it is available 24 hours a day.

Stage 3 which will be the large scale generation of power won’t happen until 2018, but investors as well as the government have placed their faith in this renewable technology. The company received a grant of $90 million, the single biggest given to one company, from the federal government kitty of $500 million, distributed under its Renewable Energy Development Program. Over the past 10 years shareholders have raised another $300 million. Origin Energy is now a joint-venture partner. It is interesting to note that that Tata Power is now one of the largest shareholders in Geodynamics; part of the agreement for coming on board was that Geodynamics would work with India in exploring this technology. Dr Chopra explains that geologically India and Australia are very similar, being part of the same Gondwanaland before the land broke up and masses drifted away.

The process from research to implementation has not been an easy one. The main lesson Dr Chopra says he learnt was that it is necessary to partner with the right people. “You need to find people to work with you on your ideas, those who value their reputation more than they value their ability to raise money,” he says. “Then to make an idea work, you not only need government support, but the project should make economic sense.”

Enhanced Geo-thermal Systems energy can hardly compete with cheap coal unless the cost of carbon emissions is factored in. “Investment will come into renewable technologies when there is a level playing field,” claims Dr Chopra. He feels that the government’s target of 20% renewable energy by 2020 seems almost impossible to achieve at this stage, but there is now clearly a lot of interest in renewables. “The best thing about geo-thermal energy,” says Dr Chopra,“is that it

uses the same technology as oil and the skills are easily transferable. So people are not going to be put out of work but instead, they can work on cleaner, environment-friendly technology.”

For any new technology, reckons Dr Chopra, there is always a long period of development. There is often a sudden frenzy of activity when it becomes commercial. In fact, the success of Geodynamics’ project near Innamincka has resulted in many other companies taking out exploration licenses for hot rocks in a number of states. “One can see this trend in solar energy too,” he says. “Following long lead times and high costs when the technology was new, solar energy costs are now coming down.”

Dr Chopra tries his best to be environmental friendly in every aspect of his life too. He rides a bicycle to work and has solar panels installed on his rooftop.

“Being interested in earth science and interested in the environment, geo-thermal was the only way to go for me. Coal, gas, oil, minerals all cause pollution in one way or the other. Then I had the needed high level IT skills, GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and databases skills and also the typical Indian ability with business,” he adds with a laugh.

Dr Prame co-founderChopra, of Geodynamics Ltd.

Photo: Geodynamics Ltd.

Large turnout for Eid celebrations

Prayers were held at mosques across Australia, the subcontinent and the world as Muslims celebrated Eid al Adha (Bakrid) on November 16. The day coincides with the climax of the Hajj, the yearly pilgrimage which Muslims are obliged to undertake at least once in their lifetime. As up to four million hajjis (pilgrims) descended on Makkah in Saudi Arabia, families in Australia, India and the wider subcontinent marked the occasion with families and friends

As it is a time to spend with loved ones, for many South Asian Muslims in Australia, Eid is the time when they miss their families the most. Attending Eid prayers at the mosque of the United Muslim Migrants Association of Victoria (UMMA) in the Melbourne suburb of Doncaster, students and other expatriates said they were looking forward to later in the day, when they could speak with their families on the subcontinent and exchange Eid greetings. Pakistani student Yousuf Atta explained that while he misses his family on such occasions, he was impressed by the celebrations organised by the Muslim community. “It’s nice to see everyone here together – there are so many Indians and Pakistanis, a couple of Bangladeshis,” he said. An estimated gathering of over 400 people attended the service, filling the prayer hall, the community hall and spilling out on the car park where organisers hastily laid down plastic sheeting in place of prayer mats.

The UMMA mosque prayers attracted Muslims from various backgrounds, including Arab, Iranian, Turkish, Southeast Asian and Anglo-Australian. However the largest ethnic representation at the mosque was of South Asians – up to half were from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, with a handful of Fijians, Sri Lankans and Maldivians. This ethnic mix

is in stark contrast to Eid celebrations as recently as just one decade ago, when the large proportion of mosque-goers in Australia were of Middle Eastern background, a testament to the growing population of desis in Australia. This influence is to be seen at certain mosques, where the khutbah (sermon) is now often delivered in Urdu as well as English or Arabic.

The prayers were followed by a community breakfast provided by volunteers at the centre. Delicious helpings of kheer (rice pudding) and other Eid specialties were served, as the faithful filed out of the crowded building. The Hyderabadi contingent particularly enjoyed the sheer korma, native to that South Indian city, although none could match ammi’s recipe! Surrounding streets were abuzz with Muslims heading to their next ports of call; in most cases, a celebratory brunch with extended family or friends. This scene was repeated in Muslim hubs across Australia, including Fawkner and Clayton in Melbourne, Auburn and Rockdale in Sydney and Thornlie in Perth. However the largest Australian Eid celebrations by far were seen in the Sydney suburb of Lakemba, where thousands of worshippers packed the Islamic centre and police closed a section of Wangee Road to accommodate the overflow.

Bakrid was a national public holiday in India on November 17 this year. Massive celebrations were held in the large Muslim centres of Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata and Delhi. Even larger celebrations were held in India’s Muslim neighbours, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Maldives, where Eid al Adha is one of the biggest dates on the national calendars. The holiday is also recognised in Sri Lanka, home to a significant Muslim community. Recent years have seen Eid fall in the latter part of the year, coinciding

with the festival season in India which also features Diwali, Christmas, Ramazan and Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru’s birthdays.

Traditionally called Eid al-Adha (Arabic for ‘festival of sacrifice’), it celebrates the Muslim prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his own son, Ishmael, for the sake of Allah (God). Allah intervened and offered a goat to be sacrificed instead of a human, but Ibrahim’s spiritual devotion was noted, and is hence marked on this day. Due to this, Eid al Adha is also known in Hindi/Urdu as Bakri Id or Bakrid, literally ‘goat festival’. Hindi and Urdu speakers would also recognise ‘Eyde Ghorban’, the Persian name for ‘festival of sacrifice’, which also exists in the languages of the subcontinent. Traditionally, on Eid, a goat or a sheep would be sacrificed and the meat divided between family and the needy, although these customs are declining in urbanised areas. Most Australian Muslims and increasing numbers of urban Muslims around the world opt for a charity donation in place of an actual sacrifice.

Eid takes place on the tenth day of the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar year, Dhu al Hijja The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, so like the moon’s cycle, it is approximately 11 days shorter than the Gregorian calendar. This means that the dates of Islamic festivals jump back approximately 11 days each year. The hajj will conclude in Saudi Arabia in the next few days, whereupon the throngs of pilgrims will return to their respective nations with stories to tell for a lifetime.

Tim Blight

UMMA Centre Doncaster, Melbourne plays host to Eid prayers and celebrations

Time for change

It was a State election that could swing either way. But by November 30, the verdict was clear. After a run of 11 years, the Labor party led by Premier John Brumby finally conceded defeat to the Liberal/National Coalition led by Ted Baillieu.

For the Indian community in Victoria, the change is a momentous one. Both parties made significant efforts in wooing subcontinent voters over the past year, and both made attempts in maintaining high levels of involvement with the community. Now, whether those promises simply turn out to be election-speak or translate into actual decisions is anyone’s guess. We have the next three years to find out.

Indian Link asked members of the Indian community if they were happy with the election verdict and how it would affect the community. Also, did they think the Coalition led by Ted Baillieu will make a significant change towards a better Melbourne? Here are some of their responses.

The end of a good innings

Let me say, that having a government in office for nearly eleven years, the time was ripe for change! It was very difficult for the Brumby (ALP) government to sustain itself in office for a fourth term after eleven years.

Nevertheless, John Brumby as Premier of Victoria, governed with integrity and responsibility - a distinguishing feature in comparison with NSW and Queensland Labor. Yes, we had problems with MYKI, an increase in public unease with the cost of utilities and public transport, and these issues created the impetus Labor’s defeat.

However, the Brumby government was significant in its support of multiculturalism as a policy, which has benefited our Indian community greatly with funds for a range of services and with a direct government commitment to establish an Indian Community Centre. A project that has gained bi-partisan support!

I have known Ted Baillieu for nearly two decades and in that time the Premier-elect has proven himself to be a ‘mover and shaker’! An individual of a few words, but those he speaks have meaning and force!

I know that Ted is committed to reviewing a range of public concerns. Planning issues which have impacted adversely on our suburbs and city, the controversies surrounding MYKI, public transport problems must all be made a thing of the past for Melbournians and our streets must feel and be safe! Only a few days after the election result Ted has hit the ground running as his government attempts to resolve these issues and others.

This attitude of not waiting for tomorrow says a lot about the Premierelect and I am sure he will succeed where the previous government failed.

Vasan Srinivasan

President, Federation of Indian Associations of Victoria (FIAV)

Just another Premier?

Abraham Lincoln classed ‘tact’ as the ability to describe others as they see themselves. John Brumby was a politician, so is Ted Baillieu. Personally I see democracy as in a rut. Its un-worded sentiment is simply: You scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours! Hence Brumby would not be any worse than Baillieu would be any better for any community, including the Indian; it is the individual perspective that would separate one from the other. The truth is, how is a Premier responsible if the brakes on trains fail, if the 21st century elective surgery with 20th century facilities is delayed, if foreign students are bashed in the name of fun, or if destroying public property is seen as ‘right’?

Originating from India where Ministers work their entire lives on a token wages of Rs 1 (20 cents) per month, and can still afford three meals a day and living quarters, I see a world of ‘self’ rather than ‘patriotism’ in an average Western politician. Author Mark Tully classed India a “kleptocracy”. The West is a kleptocracy of another type. Baillieu may stand out if he push-bikes to work, travels Y, spends an evening at a new immigrant’s home, buys his tickets to MCG games, understands a tricked pensioner’s heartache and makes penal code exemplary…..or he is just another Premier.

George

Thakur

A regular, respected and vocal contributor to Indian Link

True to Team Ted

I am very, very, very happy with the election verdict. Team Ted worked very hard for this for the last 5 years, and I am proud to be an integral part of this team since July 2006. It’s a different feeling when hard work brings desired results.

Ted has been a fantastic supporter of the local Indian community. He has attended over 70 community/industry functions in the past five years, and has a very good idea about issues faced by the local Indian community. Solutions can only be possible when you have a clear understanding of these issues. The solutions which he suggests would be welcomed by the community and of course, we are open to genuine community consultation.

Ted has stood with the Indian community during tough times, on issues like the attacks on students and taxi drivers. He raised the issue of violence at all levels, despite being aware that these students cannot vote. Ted can be trusted. The Coalition would get Victoria to advance again. We believe in hard work and consulting with the community and industry. We have better policies. We will cut wasteful expenditure. We have a better vision. We have a talented and focussed team. And we will get Victoria to advance once again.

Nitin Gupta

Special Director, South Asia Community Affairs Liberal Party (Victorian Division)

Good to have a change

The Labor government was stale, arrogant and full of hubris after 11 years in power. It is good to have a change.

Ted Baillieu seems to be more upfront than John Brumby. He has pledged better law and order - this was a problem that affected Indians badly over the last three years. But what one needs is a change in the attitude of the police themselves - and Baillieu is powerless to do anything in that direction. A new broom sweeps well. Baillieu will make some populist initiatives initially, like the move for a year-round concession card system for power bills. He is also likely to shut down some wasteful projects.

But it will be difficult for him to curb the unruly growth of Melbourne - this is the main change needed, as Melbourne has overshot its urban growth boundary by 50 percent, putting an unimaginable strain on infrastructure - given that all politicians depend on the same people to get re-elected.

Sam Varghese

Sub-editor with The Age Online, living in Melbourne since 1997.

3-day turn-around for

Officials promise an easing of services at the Consulates and at VFS

BY RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA

If you haven’t experienced it yourself, you probably know someone who has.

The hassles of dealing with the Indian consulates here to get visas to India issued reached a crisis point this year. Stories flew in thick and fast about long queues, outdated procedures, rude staff, queries not being answered, clients left high and dry with no clue about the status of the visa, being scuttled between the Consulate and VFS, forms difficult to fill in, clients sent away to bring back more forms or more information, varying charges, out-station travellers facing extra fees…..the list was endless. “Nightmare” is the term most commonly used to describe any dealings with the consulates.

And we haven’t even started talking about the OCI application procedure yet.

At a community-wide conference called by the Indian High Commissioner at Canberra in end-November, visa woes formed the major discussion point. The Indian government officials probably expected this to be the case, given that they had organized for an entire forum devoted to the issue. In attendance besides the High Commissioner Mrs Sujatha Singh, were Consul General of India (Sydney)

Amit Dasgupta, Consul General of India (Melbourne) Anita Nayar, and Loren D’Souza from VFS, the private company to which the administrative responsibilities of visa processing were outsourced just over two years ago, and who have recently had their contract renewed for an additional three years.

Participating, were community members not only from Sydney Melbourne and Canberra, but also from Tasmania, Western Australia and Northern Territory. Individual members stood up and spoke of their grievances, which at first elicited sympathy, but towards the end, caused much mirth, as complaint after complaint against the “ and “babudom” revealed the ridiculous nature of the operations in what some described as a basic requirement of an expat community.

The diplomatic corps sat by and listened patiently, as did the VFS officials (their “partners-in-crime”, if the indignant audience members were to be believed).

And then they took the floor to brave the torrent, led by High Commissioner Sujatha Singh herself, breaking the tension cleverlyand perhaps cheekily - by opting to take some of the blame herself as the “babu-in-chief” out here.

“It’s a badge I wear with pride,” she laughed, and then proceeded to make a textbook case of what makes a diplomat a diplomat, all credit to the “babudom”.

Explaining the backlog

“When we outsourced our visa processing to the private company VFS in Jan 2009,” Mrs Singh began calmly, “it seemed like we had solved our problems. Things seemed to be functioning satisfactorily – because we had no complaints. The processing time has gone down; yes, the cost has gone up, but that is the way of the world. In fact the letters of complaints on my desk were replaced by

The reason we’ve had such issues in the processing of visas apparently, among a few other things, can be traced back to the Mumbai attacks and David Headley. Yes, David Headley, the terrorist who has pleaded guilty to the charge of aiding and abetting the murder of innocent people in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. A PakistaniAmerican, Headley changed his name from Daood Sayed Gilani and was able to travel

The VFS boys

Sujatha Singh presents her case

visa processing

targets for attack, on behalf of Lashkare-Taiba. As his modus operandi came to be revealed, the Government of India decided to crackdown on applications for tourist visas, in order to be able to make thorough checks and make sure the option of multiple entry options on such type of visas are not exploited. In practice, this new processing took much longer than expected, and along with the seasonal rush of October and November, resulted in a large backlog of the issuance of visas at the consular offices.

As part of this review, there was also the

the procedures for getting a visitor’s visa to India for NRIs. While prior to November 2009, people holding non-Indian passports but of Indian origin, could apply for a tourist visa with just an application, now they had to prove that their original Indian passport had either been cancelled, surrendered or lost. This confirmation had to be done via a Statuary Declaration or a letter from the Department of Immigration and Citizenship of Australia and other supporting documents. This was to ensure that there were no dual passports being used as India does not allow for

Earlier options of having tourist visas which could allow multiple entry options were changed. Now all tourist visas had a single entry option and those visiting India on multiple entries within a stated time had to apply for a re-entry permit which was granted in very rare cases.

After July 2010 when these new rules were introduced, many people applying for visas were not aware of these extra requirements. This led to lengthy delays and frustration at the counters of VFS.

Having explained this, the High Commissioner revealed that the backlog occurred with greater intensity at the

Sydney and Melbourne Consulates, rather than at Canberra and the other state offices. This was because of the rush at the larger Consular offices, and she went on to reveal that extra staff had been put on, particularly in Sydney.

“They have been working through weekends, immediately after Diwali,” she stated.

The Consul General of India (Sydney) Amit Dasgupta backed her up by providing dates up to which visa applications in various categories were now cleared –most, up to two days prior.

Continued on page 10

Indian High Commissioner Sujatha Singh

Listening to the community perspective

Consul General (Melb) Anita Nayar

VFS head Loren D’Souza

Consul General (Sydney) Amit Dasgupta

“I can safely say that you can expect a twoday turnaround from now on,” he stated, to applause. “In fact, as of today, November 20, I can confirm that all applications till November 17 for police clearance have been cleared; for new passports till November 16; for OCI, till November 11, and visas till November18,” he said.

Similarly, the CG (Melbourne) Anita Nayar also reported a significant reduction in backlog.

The role of VFS

Facing a barrage of criticism against his company’s procedures, the baby-faced Loren D’Souza from VFS did his best to explain the situation from his end.

“We are only an administrative section in the entire visa-issuance process. The rules are not set by us,” he noted, prompting the High Commissioner to jump up and second him.

“We have extensive guidelines set up for all applications and we do have a number of people who turn up with incomplete application forms. Over the past few months due to Government of India’s administrative changes, our normal time on the counter with clients got blown out,” D’Souza said. It seems that instead of 7 minutes per client, now in excess of 25 minutes was being spent, which caused further frustration to both clients and staff of VFS. “VFS operates in 26 countries globally and we process over 9,000,000 visa applications yearly. Our job is to ensure we deliver the best to our clients,” he said, adding, “In Australia, we process over 140,000 applications yearly and have over 50 staff, of which 23 are full time. Our full time staff has been with us from the beginning, and we have very experienced staff.”

Poor customer service

Yet both VFS and the diplomatic corps accepted blame for poor customer service at their counters. Perhaps some training is required and we shall look into it, they offered.

and dismissive staff can be at VFS as well as the Consulate, and comparisons made with the services provided at similar Australian offices.

much longer I would have to wait,” one lady recounted to the shock of the audience, to which Dasgupta directly replied that while it was too late to apologise for that, he would see to it that no one would have to wait in angst to see their jobs completed at the counters.

“Such behaviour is inexcusable,” Sujatha Singh said, adding, “I’m surprised it has happened, but it will be remedied.”

Significantly, it was also revealed that the staff themselves face rude and irate clients who bring in incomplete forms, are unaware that rules have changed or that charges have gone up, or who expect staff to fill in the forms for them.

You’ve got to treat us better too, if you expect to be treated better, the officers seemed to be saying.

“The same clients are more polite when they seek service at an Australian centre - and probably have their papers all in order,” Mrs Singh noted, adding “Our Australian customers are themselves polite and follow procedures well.”

At the end of it all, a few issues became obvious to impartial observers in the audience that afternoon:

• the staff can be rude at timesprobably because they are overworked and desperately need a few extra hands, especially at peak periods;

• the clients can be rude too - probably because the actual procedures are somewhat cumbersome (such as putting in multiple copies of forms, all of which have to be attested by JPs)

• clients are not always aware of the procedures they need to follow, and the Consulates themselves need to disseminate information better, especially in a scenario where the rules are changed frequently (it is not enough to say ‘the new rules are on our website’).

• VFS and the Consulates need to put their systems and procedures in place, spelling them out clearly (for themselves

comprehend was the cost for OCI for those who had given up their Indian passport. If the date of Australian citizenship is prior to 31 May 2010, the cancellation charges are $25, but for those who had their Indian passport cancelled after this date, the cost is $273 for the surrender certificate. This exorbitant cost by the Indian government was a major source of discord.

Another cost which was highlighted was the 99c per minute call charges by VFS.

Sujatha Singh explained that this was a cost which needed to be put into context, keeping in mind that the US Embassy charges $14 to hear a recorded message, and the UK High Commission charges $10 per question. There also was an issue for states like Western Australia where there is no local office of the Indian Government and for emergency visas, people had to fly interstate to get an approval.

Mrs. Singh again confirmed that steps are being taken to minimize any inconvenience to those residing in Western Australia.

On the whole it was a productive forum, with a robust interchange of ideas. While community members vented their

this strategy, the diplomats in Australia have not only increased their distribution channels, but also ensured that future partners include leaders when the community at large wants to discuss any frustrations in this area. Perhaps a future town hall meeting, opening the door for the wider community to explain and discuss these issues, can be considered.

Canberra calling

For High Commissioner Sujatha Singh, this was the third successive annual conference of this nature. The event brought together members of the Indian community and Indian associations from around Australia. Bigger than ever before, it attracted so many this year that an external conference venue, inside the National Museum of Australia, was booked. A number of speakers took the opportunity to speak on issues of concern, but it was the forum on Consular issues relating to visa woes that was the most interactive and debated.

Last year’s conference brought about the idea of the Indian Community Welfare Fund, a programme which has been put

Sujatha Singh: “We understand your frustration; try and understand ours”

Sujatha Singh’s open forums with the community are becoming popular

Photos: MTE Photography

Ascertaining the bigger picture

A powerful production that reveals the sometimes shocking plight of Indian students in the quest to make their future in Australia

BY TIM BLIGHT

Racist or not racist? That is the question posed by Yet to Ascertain the Nature of the Crime, a production by Melbourne Workers Theatre. Directed by Gorkem Acaroglu, the theatre performance is part documentary and part theatre, and scrutinizes the complex experience of Indians, particularly Indian students, in Australia.

In the wake of the 2008 – 2010 controversy surrounding allegedly racially-motivated attacks on Indians living in Australia, the performance does not shy away from asking big questions. Based entirely on transcripts from interviews with Australians and Indians, it seems noone seems to fully comprehend all aspects of the debate. No-one, that is, except the cast and crew themselves, who skillfully combine humour, tragedy, emotion and honesty to present this unflinching look at Indians in Australia. While it is not always easy to watch – this reporter squirmed a couple of times while listening to the often disturbing stories – it is certainly engaging.

Actors Andreas Litras, Georgina Naidu and Greg Ulfan skillfully quote numerous interviews, which are repeated verbatim. Frequently the actors don headsets, listening to the actual interview while simultaneously speaking the script – no easy task, and a true testament to their talents. Occasionally the audience is exposed to recordings from the interviews and even video footage, which makes it all the more real. The name is based on a cartoon which appeared in a Delhi newspaper soon after the tragic death of Nitin Garg in January of this year. The controversial sketch depicts a member of the Victorian police dressed in a Ku Klux Klan outfit uttering the statement. Much was made of the cartoon at the time, however it reflects the mood of a period when social tensions between India and Australia reached the diplomatic level.

Perhaps the most explosive of all is anonymous voices discussing the education scheme in Australia. For one of the first times in a public forum, it is explicitly revealed that shifting visa laws in the early 2000s transferred the responsibility of immigration to the realm of tertiary education institutions. The opinion, which one assumes is of someone involved in the education industry, explains how the revised Australian visa system allowed schools to become ‘visa factories’ with little regard for the welfare of the largely Indian student body. Students were

experiencing the exhilarating highs and depressing lows of life abroad, education agents had a seemingly endless supply of revenue and the immigration department was making a mint from the visa fees.

All this comes crashing down when the experiences of Pami, Sravan and Karan are related. These particular characters (who aren’t characters at all, but actual victims of crime), humbly talk of the degradation and violence they were subject to in Australia, and go on to discuss their reasons for staying. The strength of these students was as inspiring as their forgiveness was unsettling – particularly Pami was able to distinguish between the actions of a few and Australian society as a whole. “No worries!” he sighs. One ponders whether they would be capable of such fortitude and rationality after such a horrific ordeal. Actor Andreas Litras personally interviewed some of the students. He said that they were at first hesitant to convey their stories for fear of further inflaming racial tensions, because they weren’t convinced that the attacks were racially motivated. Fellow actor Georgina Naidu, who recites much of Pami’s interview, said that until very recently she struggled with the emotion of the script. “To hear his voice and to speak the words, I could feel myself welling up inside,” she said.

Between comical references to Norway (“the whitest country in the world!”) and hysterical, if shameful, reminders of the White Australia era, two teenage white supremacists vocalize their concerns for Australia’s future. While many may consider their voices extreme, they raise important questions over the often isolating life of a teenager in suburban Australia. Whether ‘these Indians are taking our jobs’ is another debate entirely, but the link is clearly drawn between young Anglo-Australians short of opportunities and resentment towards “fresh-off-the-boat Indians” who seem to be employed in hospitality and the taxi service.

Hapless desi students, new to Australia, often employed by less than scrupulous business owners are also subject to discrimination from within their community. From the Punjabi who labels Bengalis ‘arrogant’ and the Bengali who calls Punjabis ‘gaudy’, it is clear that racism exists in India as well. Indian hatred is reserved for Pakistanis although, as one actor quotes, he can’t really explain why. Even some Indians who have been in Australia for several decades seem to look down on the ‘new arrivals’, a common occurrence in multi-generational immigrant communities. Students work and pay tax, however they are not always taken seriously by society or the police.

Neither here nor there, students are alone and confused. As a taxi driver puts it, “I don’t know whom to trust. Back in India, a businessman in a suit is respectable, but here, even they can be drunk and rude.”

Speaking after the premiere performance on November 24, students Sam, Abdul and Odras of the Northland Youth Centre said they were impressed by the professional delivery of the material. “It was handled in a very good manner,” reported Sam, originally from Sri Lanka, who has been living in Australia for less than a year. Co-writer Roanna Gonsalves said that despite being of Indian background herself, even she was surprised to hear some of the interviews. “It’s so interesting to hear the ideas and opinions from all sides,” she said. The show does not offer solutions to the issues, but rather allows audience members to conclude their own after sharply bringing into focus important issues facing contemporary Australia and those who migrate here.

Yet to Ascertain the Nature of the Crime showed at Artshouse, North Melbourne Town Hall from November 24 - 28. There are plans to take the show to Sydney, and it has been selected to appear at Mumbai’s Kala Ghoda Festival next February.

Left to Right: Actors Greg Ulfan, Georgina Naidu and Andreas Litras

Hindi in Australia? No problem, say students

Up to 150 students, teachers, family and friends converged on Singh’s Indian Restaurant in East Brunswick, Melbourne on November 20 for the 17th annual Hindi Niketan function. The lavish dinner was to felicitate students who graduated in Hindi in last year’s Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). The event was attended by Mr Rakesh Kawra, Vice Consul of the Indian Consulate in Melbourne.

Amarpreet Kaur was named as the topranking Hindi student at the function. A beaming Ms Kaur spoke of her motivation to study Hindi saying, “I really wanted to continue Hindi as a subject – I loved studying Hindi back in India, so I wanted to continue that.” Originally from Delhi, Amarpreet’s family migrated to Australia two years ago. In second place was Ketan Mishra who also migrated from India recently, and was proud of his effort. “It was tough in the beginning, but I settled in well and enjoyed it,” said a humble Mr Mishra. Third-ranked Juhi Piparaiya also attended the function, chatting and laughing with friends and family.

Hindi Niketan is an organisation supporting students who study Hindi as a subject in their final year at school in Victoria. Based in Melbourne, the body promotes awareness and study programmes for India’s national language which has been attracting increasing numbers of students in recent years. Hindi Niketan’s programme coordinator, Dr Sharad Gupta, kicked off

the evening by welcoming the graduates and their families, before Mrs Anushree Jain sang Saraswati Vandana

Mrs Jain, a teacher at the Blackburn campus of the Victorian School of Lanugages (VSL) for ten years, is passionate about teaching the language.

“I love teaching the language and the culture – especially dance,” she revealed. Also fond of dance and cultural studies was Alka Keshari, a teacher at the Sunshine campus of VSL. “Learning the language is only half of it – to experience and understand the language you also have to understand the culture,” she said. “We have several cultural lessons as well, which tie in with the study of the language.” Mrs Keshari described the school kabbadi tournament held that morning. “We had so much fun –everyone had a blast,” she said with a laugh.

Speaking with Manjeet Thethi, VSL’s Hindi coordinator and a Hindi teacher of twenty years, she revealed that VSL were planning to open more Hindi courses in 2011 for students at Bayside, North Altona, Beacon Hills and Shepparton. This adds to the five VSL centres which already offer Hindi as a VCE course, located in Blackburn, Dandenong, Glen Waverley, Sunshine and Mill Park. This year sees 32 students studying Hindi at VCE level, with ten teachers across the board.

Mrs Thethi and Hindi Niketan President Samsher Singh presented the 2009 Hindi VCE students with their awards before the top three-ranked students were announced to rapturous applause. Also featured on the night was a dance performance by the talented Ms Juhi Pandya, poetry recitals

by Mr Rajender Chopra and Mr Harihar Jha, and songs and entertainment by Mr Prabhakar Agraja and Sandeep. A sumptuous dinner was served and the students opened up about their experiences as Hindi students in Australia.

Tim Blight

Inaugural Balgokulam a success

The inaugural Melbourne Balgokulam was held at Glen Waverley Primary School in Melbourne’s southeast on November 28, with children and adults of all ages attending. Children were treated to an afternoon of fun, games and laughter as they learnt about the Hindu spiritual and cultural values of equality, vitality and humanity.

Balgokulam is an informal meeting of children, their parents, teachers and community to gain spiritual knowledge, develop cultural awareness and promote Hindu culture in society. Children shrieked with joy as they played traditional Indian games such as Brahma Vishnu Mahesh and Ganesh Choo , as well as some other schoolyard favourites like ‘Duck Duck Goose’ and Tunnel Ball. Mrs Neeru Thakur, one of the organizers, said the event was important as it reinforces India’s culture in children growing up in Australia. “There’s no problem - they can have the best of both worlds,” she said.

The event was organized by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh Melbourne, a cultural mission aimed at preserving the spiritual and moral tradition of Bharatvarsh . As part of the teachings of Hinduism, Balgokulam teaches children to serve mankind with a sense of humanity as moral global citizens. Gokulam is the place where a young Shri Krishna blossomed into a divine incarnation. The organisers

of Balgokulam believe that like Shri Krishna, every child has a spark of divinity inside which must be nurtured.

Visiting from Delhi, Mr Jagdish Kakkar said that central to the idea of Bharatvarsh was the concept that all humans are equal, regardless of religion, race or gender. “If a Christian, for

example, is serving his fellow humans, then he is following what we believe,” said Mr Kakkar, whose grandchildren Shievansh, 5, and Shievangi, 6 were present at the event. “We want to imbibe this in the children from a very early age, so they can grow as balanced and moral citizens.”

After over an hour of activities, a short lesson was held, explaining to the children and their parents the significance of the particular games. The children sang as their enthusiastic teacher Priyanka led the chorus. Fittingly, the theme of the first Balgokulam in Melbourne was Ganesha, the Lord of Prosperity. Ganesha is often invoked before beginning a major project, and is perhaps the best known of all Hindu deities with his elephant head and human body. Halfway through the afternoon a snack was served for the children, and after the function tea, snacks were served to all. While Balgokulam is an educational event, it is also an excellent opportunity for Indian Australians in Melbourne to meet and socialise with other adults and children, and make new friends.

The afternoon was also attended by (priest) Pratap Trivedi who was visiting from India and who gave his blessings to the function. Melbourne Balgokulam will be held regularly on the last Sunday of every month, beginning from January 30. Parents are welcome to stay and even join in if they wish; certainly, many young and older children were present at the first event. All are welcome to attend – enquiries can be sent to balgokulam@hotmail.com

Tim Blight

Award winners Ketan Mishra, Amarpreet Kaur, Juhi Piparaiya.

Nostalgia by the Swan

BY SAI NARAYAN

For me, Diwali has always been a festival at which I had the most fun as a child. Family visiting in the evening, receiving various firecrackers, throwing lit sparklers with their handles curved into a hook up into the trees, rockets with the complex mechanism of being lit from a bottle and making sure the direction was right…. Safety and fear took a backseat and the world was a riot of light and fun.

But all that was a world away as we hunted for a few measly sparklers in Perth’s shops. After driving around we finally succeeded in our quest and got a few, to give our children a glimpse of what the festival is all about.

However, all was not lost as Perth celebrated the Swan Festival of Lights to provide us with entertainment during the Diwali weekend from the November 4-7. During those four nights, the Perth skyline was lit up with lights from fireworks of every hue, as a multicultural extravaganza unfolded on the shores of the beautiful Swan River. The festival has been an annual event since 2008 and is organized by the Annalakshmi Restaurant and the Temple of Fine Arts, both non-profit organizations. The Annalakshmi Restaurant is well known to Perth’s connoisseurs of Indian vegetarian cuisine as it is perfectly located right next to the iconic Bell Tower and overlooks the Swan River. Its unique approach of ‘eat as you like and pay what you feel’ is a refreshingly new approach to dining.

The festival nights displayed some amazing cultural performances as Perth’s denizens were treated to a sumptuous culture-fest ranging from fusion music to ballet, Indian classical dance forms and Spanish flamenco dancers. November nights are still cool and crisp and people enjoyed the lovely weather under starry skies on the shores of the Swan river, listening to the wafting music. Perth is a charming city

and simply being there on these nights watching the cultural performances would make anyone inclined to feel lucky and blessed.

The festival was great entertainment for everyone ranging from visitors from the eastern states, the Indian community here and other sandgropers! For people like Peter, a Queenslander who is here on work, the chance to enjoy some great Indian food was too much of a temptation to overcome. In addition to enjoying the performances, he was absorbed in watching spectators dancing to the music and enjoying themselves. The crowds were definitely interesting to watch, including Indians dressed in traditional colourful clothing added to the charm of the festive atmosphere.

The aroma of puris and crackling dosais with sambar drew people to the food stalls like bees to honey, and judging by the throngs, one could tell that they were enjoying themselves. With their choice of mouth-watering fares, people sat down on the greens savouring these delicacies while watching the dark glistening waters of the Swan. The food fare was the usual Indian ones with some Malay cuisine thrown in, numerous sweets of all kinds and the ever popular Punjabi drink – the lassi!

One of the performing groups which drew fulsome praise from many was the band, Akasha. This 7-piece instrumental group played an eclectic mix of music styles including Malay, Indian, Chinese and Western. A friend was so impressed, that he bought a CD released by the band.

The classical dance presentations by the Temple of Fine Arts were awesome as Perth-ians saw glimpses into the beauty of Kathak and Odissi dance forms. It was not only about Indian dance, though. There were some absorbing performances by the Spanish Ancestrais Capoeira troupe, a Malay dance drama performance, some contemporary dance numbers, Chinese dance by the Chung Wah Association and Aboriginal dance to name a few, all of which made this a truly multicultural festival. Bollywood

dancing is nowadays becoming part of western consciousness, and was fittingly featured in the performances. A drama rendition of the epic Ramayana – a timeless story that never seems to become stale, at least for me, kept the audience spellbound. Besides the cultural programs staged, there were a number of smaller stalls to keep everyone interested. The Arts stall and its paintings, especially a couple of Hanuman and Krishna, were beautiful. Kids lining up for face painting and those with an interest in holistic healing had plenty to keep them engaged. There was computer astrology, palm reading and tarot reading for those interested to know what the future holds in store for them.

Another interesting sideline to the festival was that the last day was inaugurated by Australian writer and Indophile Peggy Holroyde, who has written many books about India, one of them being Colonial Cousins: A Surprising History of Connections between India and Australia. A report I read in a magazine somewhere highlighting the links between Aboriginal and Dravidian cultures came to mind.

Daily fireworks brought each evening to a fitting finale. Though not the same as Diwali in India, watching fireworks light up the night sky in a hundred different hues brings out a sense of child-like wonder in all of us, whatever one’s biological age!

The festival offers a wonderful opportunity to various dance and art groups within Western Australia to perform and showcase their unique talents. After all, what are performers without an audience and often it’s the appreciation and applause of the crowd which is their crowning glory. But for the common many in Perth from all walks of life and culture, it is an opportunity to enjoy, learn and celebrate the diversity which we are lucky to experience, and should cherish in Western Australia. Hopefully the festival next year will continue to enthral Perth and will be on a bigger scale, with even more innovative themes and performances which will bring, in some form, the spirit of Diwali to the good people of Perth.

A popular festival with the theme of Diwali is exactly what’s needed to evoke the spirit of the season

NRISA meet offers excitement, music and literature

Northern Region Indian Seniors Association (NRISA) grabbed the honour of being the first organization to hold its meeting in the hall at the Indian Consulate’s new premises at 344 St. Kilda Road in the city. NRISA combined the evening with a literary Sahitya Sandhya, a monthly programme that alternates with its musical counterpart Sangeet Sandhya, leading toan evening of Indian music amalgamated with Hindi literature. In the spirit of Diwali, seventy odd members attired in typically Indian dress and humility enthusiastically wished each other blessings of the New Year.

As we arrived - typically to Indian standards if it may be mentioned, the temperamental karaoke system was put to test and, to the chagrin of the organisers, stuttered. While the experts worked on it, the tea and coffee-making equipment emanated steam which the Fire Brigade mistook as flames and rushed in, sirens blaring. Within minutes the Australian Federal Police landed on the premises; being a foreign country consulate required the situation to be dealt with diplomatically, which Dr. Santosh Kumar, NRISA President, handled with tact. Since the Chief Guest Consul General Anita Nayar took her time in arriving, a smiling MC Dr. Nalin Sharda, NRISA Vice President, combined jokes with pertinence to appease the gray matter within frowning foreheads. Vice Consul Rakesh Kawra finally announced that Ms. Nayar was not attending, and Nalin asked his wife, Dr. Hema Sharda, an academician visiting from Perth, to light the symbolic festival lamp. Dr. Kumar briefly welcomed members and declared that the evening festivities had commenced.

Nalin invited Chandraben to sing bhajans to highlight the festival. Just as Mrs. Sunila Patel was building up the festive atmosphere further by singing, “Mele hain chiragon ke, rangeen Diwali hai”, the system failed. Nalin requested members to tell jokes and encouraged us not to give up. The system revived, Prabhakar Rajah sang “Mitwa” in his rich, deep voice, and lo and behold, the system died again. Nalin shot a Delhi Transport Undertaking (DTU - Don’t Trust Us) joke to fill the gap. The system revived again, and Rajah sang “Aane wala kal, jaane wala hai,” followed by Mrs. Shilpa Ram’s delicate rendition of “Kaisi hai yeh paheli”, and “Jadoo hai, nasha hai.” Nalin asked us, mostly seniors, to clap vigorously as the movement creates friction and aids blood circulation.

Sushil Sharma, Prince from Bangladesh, Mrs Neela Unadkat and Mrs Sunila Patel all kept us attentive with their delightful renditions, while we joined in too. The evening took a turn from music to literature as Santosh Kumar formally introduced

is organised, there are no diseased stray dogs or cows, and no noise. But, he laments/recites nearly in tears, no amount of comfort or pleasure here is as enchanting as life was in overcrowded, corrupt India.

Karela and bhindi are readily available, Dr. Jha recited, so are all kind of Indian sweets. Diwali here is of higher standard: electric lights instead of a poor man’s oil and wick lamps, “but it does not compare with the festival at home!” How true to life, we accepted, and how apt the caption! Shri Subhash Sharma also spoke of Mother India and the musical gratification soon

Award for Krishna well-deserved

The Victorian Multicultural Commission recently felicitated Smt. Krishna Arora with the Diverse Women Driving Melbourne award at The Queen Victoria Women’s Centre in the city. Krishna’s name will now be engraved on the Shilling Wall for her contributions toward making the world a better place to live in. Madhu Bhatia, Multicultural Commissioner for the Indian community, presented Krishna to a gathering of stalwarts from the community, VMC and COTA (Council of The Ageing) officials, FIAV President Srinivasan and others, and highlighted the contributions Krishna has made to Melbourne. VMC Chairman George Lekakis stated that, inspired by her zeal, VMC has wanted to recognise Krishna’s contributions for many years. Within a flurry of flashlights and applause, he presented Krishna with a certificate to the effect. “Astounding!” was the emotion-filled single word Krishna exclaimed when asked how she felt about winning the prestigious award.

Perceptibly amazed, but with typical Indian humility, the veteran remained contained and thanked VMC for considering her worthy of the award. True to the dress code close to her heart, Krishna was attired in a printed blue sari

and slippers, Melbourne weather being unusually clement on the day. She gave thanks to her family for their support and for tolerating her coming-ins and going-outs at odd hours for a good cause.

Usha Sharma, ex-VMC Commissioner and the former Indian origin winner of the Shilling Award, was present at the occasion.

Krishna Arora is a true Dilliwala, who

The new hall meant for community functions suffered teething problems like the front sliding door which stuck and had to be manually operated through the evening. And who can forget the FD and AFP construing steam as flames, ha, ha! Santosh Kumar announced that the CG has arranged a month-long exhibition on Mahatma Gandhi to commence in Melbourne, tentatively from April 11, 2011. A great evening of fun, good music and poetry, including excitement. Dr. Santosh Kumar may be contacted on 0411 136 612, and Dr. Jha on 9555 4924.

joined the Delhi Catering College as a Cookery Instructor in the mid-1960s, and for the next twenty years continued as the Chief Instructor. Knowledgeable and enthusiastic, Krishna gained popularity with students and colleagues alike and finally gained the cherished Principal-ship of the College. In 1986, she moved to Madras and helped open a catering college, where she remained

for six years. In 1992, she joined her family in Melbourne. As cooking was her obsession, Krishna soon began demonstrating Indian cooking in public functions and at selected venues. In 1995, she co-founded the Indian Seniors Citizens Association and was elected Vice President. She also has the honour of being the longest reigning ISCA President. Presently, she is Deputy Director of Women’s Affairs with the Federation of Indian Associations, Victoria. Of mature age, Krishna pledges to continue with her work while she is able. An award well-deserved, indeed! The Shilling Award gives every Victorian the opportunity to celebrate a woman in her/his life. The Queen Victoria Women’s Centre, the Shilling Wall and garden provide a public space for relaxation and reflection on the achievements of women. The intention of the Shilling Wall is to create a tribute to women which will stand for all times, commemorating and celebrating the unique and varied lives and achievements of women, so stipulates the brochure. Anyone can nominate a woman whose contributions and achievements have touched her/his heart.

George Thakur

(From left) Poet Dr. Harihar Jha, Mr. Rakesh Karwa, poet Shri Sharma and MC Dr. Nalin Sharda

George Lekakis with Krishna Arora

George Thakur

SDDS students strut their stuff

Be it the percussive beats or the smooth scale transitions, there is something universal about dance and music which connects people, regardless of their cultural differences. Dance has a language which is very much its own. It can either bring a smile to your face or open the flood gates of the past. So imagine the effect when these emotions are combined with spectacular visuals of the superbly choreographed movements from the Shiamak Davar Dance School (SDDS). Stunning and lively, the show offered the best in AustralianBollywood dance for the young and old.

On a beautiful November afternoon, the equally beautiful Box Hill Town Hall boomed with desi beats and excited dancers. Age groups and levels varied, as did influences in themes for the dance sequences. Although the size of the venue for the annual performance was notably smaller, the crowd was enthusiastic and high spirited. The superbly organised and presented afternoon was hosted by Manisha Chanbel Menon as she played the part of MC and was co-hosted by Vihaang, a choreographer from the talented dance school.

The even began started under the bright red Shiamak sign, and young performers from the beginner’s classes got the crowd cheering. Well choreographed and very well performed, the beginner groups set the tone for what was to follow. The songs ranged from recent top 40 Hindi and English mixes to those of yesteryears. Just as the songs varied in time and mood, so did the performers. From tiny tots who followed prompts from their teachers on stage to

elderly performers who beamed through their numbers. The dancers moved swiftly through each performance, racing on to the stage for their moment. The pieces were short and vigorous, testing the abilities of those who had double performances, to keep up their energy levels.

It was a wonderfully exciting afternoon with plenty to take in and enjoy. The minimalist set designs were subtle enough to hold the eye, without overpowering the presence of the dancers on stage. They supported the dancers attired in dazzling and glittering costumes of various colours. These came in a great variety of sizes and designs: from skimpy gold hot pants and halter tops to the more traditional and modest lehengas

The dance performances evolved chronologically from beginners to advanced students from various branches of the school around Melbourne. The intermediate classes performed longer pieces which displayed their levels of aptitude and enthusiasm perfectly; this led the way for the advanced classes to perform their more detailed and professional numbers. As a part of the annual show, there was also a medley performance from the SDSB – special dancer’s batch. These dancers showcased their skills and passion for dance to the tunes of Anjaana Anjaani. There was also a special performance from the Emerson School in Dandenong. These school kids were neither Indian nor dancers. They were in fact, a very special group of children who only recently began to learn how to dance Bollywood-style. The Emerson School caters for children with learning difficulties

and as a way to increase exposure to other methods of learning and self development, the SDDS instructors have been working with their students. The results were outstanding and truly showed the unity that music and dance can provide.

As the show was close to three hours long, there were far too many amazing performance to mention in this short report. However, the honourable mentions were the showkids’ performance of the Moulin Rouge medley, which was stellar. The energy and happiness with which they performed was inspiring. The Saarfarosh performance with its silhouettes and visual trickery was artistic in its presentation and sharply delivered. Finally, the classical piece which followed was elegant and precise in its movements and entirely charming.

Seeing as the show began with a bang, it

was only fitting that it would end with one. The Dabaang finale piece from the SPB, with performers including the choreographers, set the stage on fire. It was high energy, high voltage and extremely enjoyable. Closing in style, the SDDS students left tongues wagging, feet tapping and the audience wanting more.

The choreography and performances proved that the proof really is in the pudding. The effort and numerous rehearsals showed clearly throughout the afternoon. Not only were the performances a joy to watch, but they were also professional and well presented.

It seems that the Shiamak Davar brand name certainly does weigh its worth in gold. And if you’re interested in going along to a Shiamak show, why not buy tickets to the Stars of Bollywood show on March 26, 2011.

Photo: Ravinder Singh Jabbal

Kudrat Singh

IRC a step towards stronger

The official inauguration of the India Research Centre at Macquarie University is a significant step towards a better understanding of the country, writes MONICA

November 16 marked an important date for the advancement and development of IndoAustralian relations within academic circles here in Sydney, with larger implications for the growing Indian diaspora in Australia. A corner of the Macquarie University campus in North Ryde was transformed into a host venue for the inauguration of the newest addition to university research culture: the India Research Centre (IRC). While designed to be both a catalyst and a showcase for all styles of research on India, IRC also intends to direct part of its focus to the performing arts, as well as community outreach and development. Although scholastic in nature, the intention of the centre is to have farreaching impact, well beyond the walls of the academy.

Dr. Kalpana Ram, Director of the Centre, described its activities during the launch as a “triveni, in which three streams come together in one, as in the braiding of a plait, or as in the famous triveni sangam of three rivers, a site of great power”. Correspondingly, the three areas of focus within the centre are: cultural, political and social science research on India and Indian immigrant diasporas; engagement with Indian performance culture both in written and practice based forms; and collaboration with the Indian community on issues of community concern, as well as through the arts. Precisely how the centre will achieve these goals remains to be seen, but if the events surrounding the launch week were any indicator, there is a lot to look forward to in the future.

DALIDOWICZ

of November 17 at Macquarie University and was marked by evocative opening speeches by Consul General of India Amit Dasgupta, Executive Dean at Macquarie John Simons and Director of the Centre, Dr. Kalpana Ram.

Dr. John Simons expressed both his gratitude and support for the centre, sharing his own personal connections with India. Simons’ grandfather served alongside members of the Indian army, and as a child, Simons grew up with stories of the loyalty and bravery of the Indian people. Sympathetic to the need for the IRC, Simons endorsed the Centre and offered Macquarie’s ongoing support. “There is still much to be done to deepen research on India in Australia. At the Centre, we aim to build on the work we’re already undertaking and create a research community of work on India, which will strengthen the broader research community of South Asia scholars. We’ll develop further research links with India and other countries, which will lead to closer ties and ultimately a greater understanding,” Simons said.

Consul General Amit Dasgupta spoke with similar passion about the idea for the Centre, its subsequent development, and the possibilities ahead. Dasgupta described with great sensitivity, the incredible opportunity that had come out of the recent tragic events, the attacks on Indian students. He

relations at an all-time low, at present we are in a position to work to improve and truly develop such relations. The IRC is one of those possibilities. Dasgupta’s initiatives with Macquarie University began earlier this year with the Consul General’s donation of 100 books to the University.

The launch of the centre also celebrated the endowment of the new Tagore Chair in Art and Culture by the Government of India, presented by Dasgupta. Sponsored largely by the Indian government but also through the contributions of Macquarie University, this Chair will bring a visiting professor to Macquarie each year to continue and extend the work of the Centre through their own research on India-specific topics. The chair, in honour of Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, seems quite appropriately suited for the IRC with its plans to advance an agenda including emphasis in the arts. A sculpted bust of Tagore will be donated to the Centre in honour of the chair. Other noted possibilities include the development of courses in modern Indian languages to be offered at Macquarie.

The evening also featured musical performances by IRC members, Dr. Adrian McNeil on sarod (Macquarie professor), Sandy Evans on carnatic-saxophone (Australian jazz musician of the year and IRC graduate student), as well as Bobby Singh (2010 ARIA winner). The IRC plans to continue hosting performance events throughout the year.

November 16 – 17, Macquarie hosted an academic conference displaying the diverse research interests of centre members and graduate students. Members presented papers on their recent work relating to India, covering topics ranging from the negotiations of Hindustani musicians in Kolkata, to experiences of Indian migrants in Australia on temporary work visas, to rhetoric in Tamil media.

In addition, the IRC hosted two guest speakers, Dr. Partha Mukherji from the Institute of Social Sciences, Delhi who discussing the multi-ethnic nation-state of India, and keynote speaker, Dr. Ranjani Mazumdar from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi who discussed representation of terrorism in Mumbai’s recent cinema.

In congruence with the three-stranded approach of the centre, the IRC also hosted a community forum, a dialogue on issues facing Indian students in Australia with participants both from within the academy and outside, including community workers, NSW government representatives and students. The conference also included a number of performance-related events, including a panel specifically highlighting the IRC’s research on music and poetry, a literary reading accompanied by the sarod, a special exhibition of photographs of the freedom movement in India, and an exhibition of the University’s collection of Indian instruments.

The week of activities concluded with

1. IRC Director, Dr. Kalpana Ram, speaks at the official launch of the centre

2. Consul general, Amit Dasgupta, officially inaugurates the centre

3. A literary reading by IRC members Dr.Ian Bedford with sarod accompaniment by Dr. Adrian McNeil

4. IRC members, Dr.Maya Ranganathan, Dr.Kalpana Ram and Dr. Dalbir Singh listen to a morning panel on music and poetry

5. Dr. Andrew Alter delivers his talk on the ritual Pandavlila in the Himalayas

6. Dr. Partha Mukherji reflects after his presentation on the multi-ethnic nation-state of India

UTS in Sydney. Over both days a number of scholars presented on current issues in Indian cinema, from notions of Bollywood and its position on the global stage, to pedagogies surrounding the teaching of Indian films.

The people behind IRC

So who are the individuals behind the Centre and what kind of work can we expect to see emerging from the IRC? The India Research Centre was conceptualized and designed to build on research on India that is already occurring within the Faculty of Arts at Macquarie University. As the conference demonstrated, the Centre will bring together researchers working in a variety of disciplines in the Faculty of Arts, such as Media, Cultural Studies, Sociology, and Music. The IRC will be officially housed within the Department of Anthropology at Macquarie University, under the directorship of Dr. Kalpana Ram, and is a joint initiative between Macquarie University and the Indian government.

Dr. Ram is herself an anthropologist at Macquarie and has been one of the driving forces behind the opening of the Centre. Ram notes, “During my period as inaugural Director of the Centre I will be developing a number of commitments that emerge out of my research and history: research on themes to do with social justice, connections both through research and practical involvement with the Indian diaspora in Australia, and an emphasis on performance and performance cultures.” Her own research ranges from

investigates connections between ritual action and music in North India. He is recognized as a leading scholar of musical practice in the Himalayas, having undertaken extensive research in the state of Uttarakhand. Dr. Adrian McNeil, also an ethnomusicologist, has conducted extensive research on the cultural history of the sarod and is recognised as a leading authority on its history. He is also an established performer of the sarod, having undergone intensive training in the guru-shisya parampara, and performs regularly in both India and Australia.

Dr. Ian Bedford, also from Anthropology, has a long history of research in both India and Paksistan. His research includes such topics as Indian and Pakistani muslims, Urdu literature, south Indian classical music. He is also a translator of Urdu verse and a novelist, writing fiction works set in India and within its diaspora.

From Cultural Studies, Dr. Goldie Osuri’s work addresses nationalism and transnationalism in relation to race, ethnicity, multiculturalism, terrorism, and religion in the Indian context. Dr. Maya Ranganathan, from the department of International Communication, focuses on Indian media and the identities it constructs and conveys in the age of globalisation. She is also exploring

foreign policy since 2001, and AustraliaIndia relations from student issues in Australia to the Commonwealth Games in India.

And to round out the Centre’s membership, from sociology, Dr Selvaraj Velayutham has researched on Indian migration, diaspora and transnationalism, and Tamil culture. A recent project of Dr. Velayutham examined the temporary skilled migration of South Indians to Australia.

The eclectic range of scholarship and research interests highlights the diversity of the centre and its potential for a wide-ranging scale of future activities. With this diverse and accomplished group of scholars at the reins of the new IRC, we can expect exciting things to come.

In addition, the IRC is host to a growing body of graduate students, working alongside many of the centre members. The IRC currently has eight affiliated graduate students from disciplines such as music, sociology and anthropology. The higher degree research students similarly represent a broad spectrum of research, including such topics as reproductive technologies and commercial surrogacy in India, patterns of Indian labour migration and Hindu religious practice in Sydney. Amongst this group are also two practice-based researchers, one a carnatic-jazz musician and another, a kathak

extended to December 2010. The scholarship is a great asset to the local community as it encourages much-needed research in Sydney’s Indian communities; the IRC encourages all potential applicants to apply. * * *

The week’s activities and the creation of the new India Research Centre mark an important turning point in India’s role in the academic setting. The IRC at Macquarie has demonstrated their ongoing commitment to the improvement of IndoAustralian relations, the fostering of further collaborations and the creation of a research community of work on India. The hope is that such academic pursuits will contribute to a deeper understanding of India and the Indian diaspora in Australia.

The overall feeling at the IRC launch was certainly just that, one of hope and endless possibilities. Dasgupta’s inaugural speech ended with a moral tale of Guru Nanak’s, within which he described the scattering of all the ‘good people’ of one village far and wide, so that they could go out into the world with their knowledge and goodness, to disperse and to share what they know. One gets the sense that those gathered would do just that.

Crusader Earth for the

BY JYOTI SHANKAR

Peace with justice. That is what the Sydney Peace Foundation’s “Peace Prize” aims to promote. And this year’s winner of the Sydney Peace Prize could not have been better picked.

Indian environmentalist Dr. Vandana Shiva was awarded the Sydney Peace Prize for the year 2010 in Sydney this month.

The 57-year-old activist was picked for the prestigious prize in recognition of her efforts towards women’s emancipation as well as her scientific contribution to ecological conservation.

Shiva was chosen from among 23 personalities shortlisted for Australia’s only international prize for peace.

Introducing her during the Peace Prize Lecture at the Sydney Opera House on 3 November, Prof. Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation, said that during the deliberations of the jury this year, global warming emerged as the main issue, especially that of courage and vision to respond to this issue. Based on three criteria – commitment to global peace with justice, evidence of commitment to universal human rights, and the use of philosophy, language and practice of non-violence, Vandana Shiva was unanimously voted the winner.

Her citation reads, “For courageous leadership of movements for social justice – the empowerment of women in developing countries, advocacy of the human rights of small farming communities and for her scientific analysis of environmental sustainability.”

Accepting the award, Vandana expressed joy at joining an amazing group of past recipients, people like Prof Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank; John Pilger, Australian journalist; Irene Khan of Amnesty International; Arundhati Roy, author and human rights campaigner and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, among others.

Vandana’s interest in the rights of the earth and farmers began as a volunteer in the Chipko movement in the 1970s, when women activists adopted the approach of forming human circles around trees to prevent their felling. The movement combined

A feisty environmentalist wins kudos for rethinking and redefining the paradigm of economy and ecology

(Vandana says that) the issue of ecological justice, according to her, be it water crisis, climate chaos or disappearance of species, is a remnant of the war humans have waged for years against the earth.

two of her pet passions - the protection of biodiversity, and support for women in agriculture - and Vandana the “ecofeminist” was born. As an eco-feminist, Vandana suggests that a more sustainable and productive approach to agriculture can be achieved through reinstating a system of farming in India that engages women. She advocates against the prevalent “patriarchal logic of exclusion”, claiming that a woman-focussed system will bring about better sustainability. The larger issue of ecological justice, according to Shiva, be it water crisis, climate chaos or disappearance of species, is a remnant of the war humans have waged for years against the earth. No place is safe in what she reckons is the biggest war taking place on this planet. “This war has its roots in an economy which fails to respect ecological and ethical limits, limits to greed, injustice and economic concentration, and it is the global corporate economy which is responsible for this. They are trying to transform the world into a supermarket, where everything is for sale,” she averred. War and militarisation are used as means to control the resources by the powerful. Vandana offered an example of the recent victory of tribals in the case of Orissa’s bauxite rich Niyamgiri hills where clearances granted to Vedanta, a UK-based company, were revoked. The government sent its military forces ostensibly to contain Naxalites and Maoists, but were, in fact, trying to empty out tribals from mineral rich areas. “Mining and smelting of one tonne of aluminium requires several thousand tonnes of water and electricity. It also destroys the bio-diversity of the hills and water sources,” she noted.

Issues like this are close to Vandana’s heart. She was also involved in the first court case fought and won on an ecological issue – limestone mining in the Doon valley. They proved to the courts and government that the revenues collected by the government to mine limestone was insignificant, compared to the contribution of water from the tributaries of rivers that originate in the limestone hills, to agriculture and the lives of people. She rightly said, “If commerce starts to undermine life support, commerce must stop, as life has to carry on.”

the victims of the biological weapon Agent Orange in the Vietnam War, and fertiliser bombs used in Afghanistan, are all examples of this. War chemicals were reoriented to make pesticides and fertilisers, and were produced from the same factory that also produced explosives. The packed audience at the Concert Hall in Sydney Opera House tittered when Vandana started reeling off the names of Monsanto’s herbicides - RoundUp, Machete, Lasso, Pentagon, Sceptre, Squadron, Assert, Avenge. “What is this if not the language of war,” she asked. “Instead of controlling pests and weeds, they are creating super-weeds and super-pests. The high costs of seeds and chemicals pushed farmers into a debt trap and across India, 200,000 farmers have been driven to suicide!”

Refuting the argument that organic farming cannot feed the world, Vandana Shiva said that sustainable systems need diversity – cereals need to grow with pulses and oilseeds. Her organisation, Navdanya, is engaged in creating a non-violent farming system where one works with nature and not against it. The farmers who are doing this have more food per acre, and more incomes. Her message is to stop the patenting of seeds and recovery of the commons. There is no separation between rights of the earth and rights of people, she asserted, and ended her lecture with an ancient peace prayer from India.

The evening began with a Tamil song and dance, and ended with Aboriginal soprano Deborah Cheetham singing a tribute to peace and to Vandana. Lord Mayor Clover Moore of the City of Sydney which is the major supporter of the Sydney Peace Prize, spoke after Vandana’s lecture and affirmed the city’s obligation to redress the imbalance in nature, to make peace with the earth, and work with nature instead of exploiting it.

Listening to the lecture one was reminded of Gandhi’s words, “There is enough on this earth to satisfy our need, but not our greed”. It was an inspiring evening with a feisty woman who has been walking her talk. Vandana Shiva founded the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, and Navdanya International, which aims to protect bio-

which, in partnership with the Schumacher

The Violence of the Green

Indigenous peoples of various cultures have rightly venerated nature as a mother or goddess and

From physics to philosophy

As an environmentalist and harbinger of human rights, Vandana Shiva has embarked on a long and arduous journey to save the Earth

It was indeed a privilege for me to be able to interview Dr. Vandana Shiva, recipient of this year’s Sydney Peace Prize. We met at the Observatory Hotel in Sydney on a busy day for her, given that she had half a dozen interviews lined up. Vandana impressed us with her affable nature, both on and off camera. Here are some excerpts from the interview.

Sydney Srinivas: You are a Quantum Physicist and have written a thesis entitled “Hidden variables and locality in quantum theory”. So what made you take up “natural philosophy” as you call it?

Vandana Shiva:

me, and I did not stop because I was bored with it. However, there were many issues that I thought were more compelling and needed attention. of Nature was an urgent issue and had a big impact on me. I felt it was selfish to continue with my intellectual preoccupation in a field like Quantum Mechanics, which would make very little difference to people on the planet. I felt that I was given my life to help others, so I undertook this new venture.

SS: I admire your ability to pursue what you felt was important and win glory for your cause. Many cannot do that.

VS: You have to take risks. At the beginning I had no idea of how it would be. It is easy to not take a stance when you are assured of a pay check at the end of the month.

SS: Are you against the ill effects of globalization?

VS: I am against ill conceived globalization which will have ill effects. The reason why present globalization is wrong, is that it has been designed and defined by multinational companies to help them make a profit. and market grabbing. For them, it does not matter how they make a profit, it does not matter how many people lose their livelihood…we can see this happening in India. Small farmers are losing their farms and the big companies are ready to swallow everything. There’s no reason why a tailor down the road cannot sew your clothes or why our little Arathi down the street cannot sell vegetables. Why should everything be done by Walmart? Why does all trade have to be routed through the five or six big companies? The fact is that ninety percent of the profits go to these companies, whereas the ones actually responsible for supplying them get only ten percent. Fewer and fewer people are able to earn a decent livelihood because of this system.

This is not true of any particular society; this is true of all societies - Indian, Greek and French. We hear everywhere that the closure of shops and small industries are affecting ordinary people. What we need is not corporate globalization, but social globalization. There should be more social interaction and cross cultural exchange, and better understanding of each other. We should be able to trade less of what we produce locally, but exchange ideas.

SS: Tell us about the institutions Navdanya and BeejaVidyapeetha

VS: In 1987, I started Navdanya. It emerged from the problems in Bhopal. There was a tendency on the part of big companies to control life on earth in the name of

distribute seeds in areas hit by the tsunami. I called the project Navdanya because a farmer on the border between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu had grown nine crops in the area, and he offered me an interesting discourse on the relationship between the nine planets or navagrahas and nine crops or dhanyas, and how the balance in the cosmos has to be maintained by our actions.

Beeja Vidyapeetha began as a school. I teach at a college in England started by Satheesh Kumar, who went on a peace yatra long ago. He was keen that I start a similar school in India. Seeds gave me the inspiration and hence the name. We offer short courses and also have visiting lecturers I like to call it the University for Earth Citizenship, as that in essence, is what it is for us.

SS: You are trying to bring back into focus some nearly forgotten grains such as ragi and amaranth. Is it because of their nutritional and health value?

VS: The reasons are twofold, to bring back diversity in crops and because they are nutritious. Ragi, for example, has a huge quantity of calcium, and amaranth is full of protein. They also use very little water, and in these days of water scarcity, we should grow more of ragi

SS: The welfare of women has always been of interest

call ‘Grandmother’s University’, as they are the ones who remind us of foods we have forgotten. We keep the knowledge that they gave us alive through this course.

SS: Mahatma Gandhi has been a source of inspiration for you. How were you drawn into his ways?

VS: I was drawn into the Gandhian way since my childhood, and my whole family was influenced by him too. I wanted to do something like his spinning wheel, which is why I call the seed, the spinning wheel of today. It is a symbol of swaraj and swadesh. When the company Monsanto started dictating terms and imposing their monopoly on seeds, we began a satyagraha because seeds are not their property. They are ours.

SS: What kind of world would make you feel content?

SV: I would like to see a world where bio-diversity flourishes, where there is hope and complete security. I would like to see a world where no child starves or dies of diahorrea. Nature gave us pure water, we humans are polluting it. Let that stop.

Here’s wishing you all the best, Vandana, and may your journey towards a better world, be a successful one. Interview courtesy of the Chandana program on TVS

I believe in the concept of Vasudaiva Kutumbakam: to see life as a family, not as a property; what the big companies do is a violation of freedom.

A Kinsey-style report on the Indian community in Oz

BY JYOTI SHANKAR

In 1948, Alfred Kinsey created a furore with his ground-breaking research into the sexuality of human males. Now Vijay Ramanathan, an Indian researcher at Sydney University, has embarked on researching the sexual health of Indian male migrants, a subject of farreaching implications for the migrant group and the way it assimilates into its adopted culture.

“Sexuality is the core component of being human. It is not just the act of sex, but also about how you think and how you relate to others,” says Vijay.

According to him, sexual behaviour is determined by a number of factors ranging from the place where you have spent most of your life, culture, religion, family values, health, your interaction with others in the community, amongst a host of other factors.

Vijay’s research aims to study if these factors indeed impact Indian migrants and how, as well as the areas of life they impact on, and the implications this has for the health and happiness of Indian origin men. It is also a topic that is not frankly or seriously discussed among the Indian community, though his preliminary studies show that it does have a great impact on migrants from the Indian sub-continent as they undergo the process of acculturation into this new society.

When people of different cultures are thrown together, there is a process of change and transference that occurs between both, followed by a process of adjustment and acceptance. Sociologists define acculturation as the process of adopting the cultural traits or social patterns of another group. It may manifest as Assimilation which is a strong identification with the host culture and society, and a weak identification with their ancestry; Integration, which is when an individual combines a strong dedication to their origin, but also a commitment and conformity to the host society; Marginalisation, which manifests in a weak dedication to or strong detachment from, both the host culture and the culture of origin; and, Separation, wherein the migrant shows an exclusive commitment to the culture of origin even after years of migration, with weak involvement in the host culture. (Source –inter-cultural models, John Berry).

Now we have all observed our friends and acquaintances, and possibly ourselves too, exhibiting such varying degrees of acculturation. Vijay says that not all people acculturate in the same manner or to the same extent, and the impact of this on sexual health is what interests him.

Because of taboos associated with issues around sexual health, people often seek help and information from dubious sources.

Vijay says that because of this, people are conned into bogus remedies and made to part with large sums of money with a promise of instant solutions. But there is no instant solution for sexual problems – sexual infections could be contained with medicines, but one needs to explore the deeper issues of the problem. The problem of erectile dysfunction is not just a physiological problem of lack of blood supply to the area, but is often the precursor of cardiovascular

problems. It could be because of issues relating to weight and obesity.

Vijay, a registered medical practitioner in India moved to Sydney in 2005 to do his Masters in Medicine, specialising in sexually transmitted infections (STI) and HIV medicine. He got interested in sexual behaviours when he realised that to control STI and HIV, which was a product of sexual behaviour, he would first need to understand these behaviours. Sydney University is a world leader in the field sexual health education, he says. He decided to stay on to do a PhD in Sexual Health of Indian Migrant Men Living in Australia. This thesis aims to study the impacts of migration on attitudes toward human sexuality, sexual behaviours and sexual health of Indian men living in Australia.

“Many doctors can treat a sexual infection, but I am more interested in examining the issue holistically and understanding how I can

help people to improve their general health,” Vijay explains.

Vijay wears a few hats as he works towards his doctoral thesis – he works for Central Sydney GP Network Ltd which provides education and support to general practitioners. He also is an Accredited Sexuality Therapist, practising at Bondi Junction and is an honorary lecturer at the Sydney University. He also runs an online service via www. sexualhealthindia.com, where people can access unbiased and non-judgemental information on matters of sexual health. “Always look for credibility when you access information over the internet,” says Vijay. “Earlier there was the problem of lack of information, but these days it is the other way around – a lot of it, but much of it may be wrong. There are no instant cures, people do need to realise this and not fall into a trap.”

When asked why his study is restricted to men, Vijay explained that the first stage of his research was speaking to a focus group in which 25 men participated, and being a male investigator, he was not comfortable talking about sexuality to women. A female colleague of his is now replicating the same study with South Asian women. A majority of the men in the focus group were Indians who are the major South-Asian group in Sydney, but the findings could possibly be generalised to migrants from South Asia. “Themes we got from the focus group suggested that acculturation is influencing a change in attitudes. To collect more quantitative data we are doing the online survey wherein we can get objective validated tools to prove this,” says Vijay.

He is looking to collect surveys from a sample of four to six hundred Indians (readers can participate anonymously at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/ WEB22BE4RHXXRL) from about 200,000 males living in Australia. It covers a range of topics about sexual behaviour, attitudes, perceptions and help-seeking behaviours.

Following this research, Vijay hopes to use its learning to implement a plan to improve the health of migrants. “I want my PhD tied to community welfare and I want to see how this research can be transferred to the Indian community of 20 million Indian across the globe,” he asserts. He wants patients to get educated and thus empowered.

Vijay has post-doctoral work also lined up – researching how religion and media influence attitudes and behaviour. He also believes that there is a wealth of information in Hindu literature, but it is not expressed in a way that a lay person can understand. Everyone has heard about the book Kama Sutra but how many of us can claim to have read it, I wondered. Vijay believes that Kama Sutra is a fantastic guide to sensual satisfaction in a mindful way. “Sexuality is about thinking (which is about love), expressing (which is about eroticism) and doing (the actual sex act). Medical doctors and the scientific world do not speak enough about the pleasure aspect, about how to increase bonding,” he says.

Simplifying the Kama Sutra - that’s another project in the offing for Vijay, it seems!

“Many doctors can treat a sexual infection, but I am more interested in examining the issue holistically and understanding how I can help people to improve their general health” (Vijay)

A research study on sexual health in migrant Indian men could contribute to their future health and happiness, says an Indian researcher

Vijay Ramanathan

WikiLeaks: LeT planned to kill Modi, set up bases in south India

Pakistan-based terror outfit Lashkar-eTaiba (LeT), blamed for Mumbai terror attack, had planned to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and use Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu as a strike base in southern India, a leaked US diplomatic cable reveals.

A June 19, 2009 secret State Department cable signed (Secretary of State Hillary) Clinton released by whistleblower site WikiLeaks also suggests a dangerously expanding LeT network in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

The cable is marked “NOFORN”, shorthand for not to be shared with foreign governments.

“India - LT member Shafiq Khafa possibly preparing for operations: Tearline reports, & Hussein, an India-based Lashkar-e-Tayyiba (LT) member, continued operational planning on three tasks in early June,” the secret intelligence cable relating to terrorist activities around the world read.

“The tasks were associated with a possible operation against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendar Modi, the establishment of a training camp, and unspecified work involving a car. Hussein would coordinate his activities with an India-based colleague identified as Sameer,” it said.

“Separate tearline indicates, &Pakistanbased Shafiq Khafa prepared in mid-June with India-based associate S J for possible operations in India. Khafa was looking for information on possible training sites in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Kerala,” it said.

“19. (S//NF) DS/TIA/ITA notes earlier credible tearline suggests Khafa’s network is striving to stand up two teams in southern India that rely on the support of LT members based in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Nepal,” another paragraph of the cable read.

“Although specific details of planned LT attacks remain unknown, late-May intelligence indicates Khafa’s cells were engaged in surveillance activities of potential targets, likely in southern India.

“Early-May reporting further suggests Kerala or Tamil Nadu may be used as a base of operations following the establishment of a facilitation team in Sri Lanka, with the estimated time of completion for setting up the facilitation route and camps to be two to three months,” the cable said.

India complained about China’s aggressive approach to US: WikiLeaks

China’s “newly pugnacious” foreign policy is “losing friends worldwide” and India has voiced concerns to Washington about Beijing’s “aggressive approach”, says a US diplomatic cable released by the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.

The leaked diplomatic cables, which were published in Guardian, revealed that the Indian government had complained to US about China’s aggressiveness.

The cable, sent by US ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, had said that Indian ambassador to Beijing S. Jaishankar had sought closer co-operation with the US because of “China’s more aggressive approach”.

It’s not just India which objected to Chinese assertiveness.

“Numerous third-country diplomats have complained to us that dealing with China has become more difficult in the past year,” said another cable sent by Huntsman.

In another cable, Huntsman has described a Japanese official’s complaint

about “the increased aggressiveness of Chinese ‘coast guard’ and naval units which had provoked ‘many dangerous encounters’ with Japanese civilian and self-defence force ships”.

The Chinese assertiveness has been a subject of conversation between India and the US at various levels in the last few months.

It was discussed between the two sides during US President Barack Obama’s visit to India last month, said sources. The disclosure comes days before Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao comes to India on an official visit.

Kamala Harris is California attorney general

Four weeks after election day, Democrat Kamala Harris, daughter of an African American father and Indian Tamil mother, finally sealed a narrow but historic win making her the first woman attorney general of California.

“I stand before you today humbled to be chosen to be the next attorney general of this state,” Harris said, her voice breaking with emotion as she spoke to supporters at the Millennium Biltmore in downtown Los Angeles.

“I pledge and make a pledge to work hard every day to make sure the law of this state is on the side of the people of this state,” she was quoted as saying by the Los Angeles Times.

Harris, 46, currently the San Francisco district attorney, defeated Republican Steve Cooley, Los Angeles County’s district attorney, who had prematurely claimed victory on election night, only to concede the race after weeks of ballot counting gave Harris a slim lead.

Born and raised in the East Bay, Harris is the daughter of an African American father and Shyamala Gopalan, a Tamilian breast cancer specialist who came to the US from Chennai, to pursue her graduate studies at the University of California Berkeley.

In December 2003, she became the first woman to be elected District Attorney in San Francisco’s history.

A recipient of numerous awards, she was recognized as a ‘Woman of Power’ by the National Urban League and received the Thurgood Marshall Award from the National Black Prosecutors Association.

She has also been featured on the Oprah show and in “America’s 20 Most Powerful Women.”

Last year, she was named by the New York Times most likely to become the first lady President.

Harris’ win cemented a Democratic sweep of every statewide post in California, a remarkable feat in a year when Democrats suffered deep losses in the rest of the nation.

Harris, who has pledged to follow the law in capital-punishment cases despite her personal views, cast herself as “smart on crime” and called for new approaches aimed at reducing recidivism and prison overcrowding.

Asked to reflect on the meaning of her historic win - as the first woman, African American and Indian American elected to the post - Harris smiled brightly and said, “We’ll see!”

She will succeed Attorney General Jerry Brown, former Oakland Mayor and California Governor, who made another run for Governor this year and won again.

For Amitabh fans: Indian designer Nida Mahmood’s ‘Don’ jacket in tribute to the Big B Photo: IANS

2G Spectrum Scam

Barely had the dust from the Commonwealth Games expose settled that the nation was shocked by the 2G spectrum scam that resulted in the resignation of Communications and IT Minister A Raja and could potentially be a political setback for the Congressled United Progressive Alliance (UPA).

The issue dates to 2008 when nine telecom companies were issued scarce airwaves and licenses for second generation (2G) mobile phone services at Rs 1,658 crore (less than $350 million) for a pan-India operation. As many as 122 circle-wise licenses were issued.

The Opposition said that by giving the airwaves cheap, that too in the controversial manner of first-cum-firstserved basis, the exchequer had lost billions of dollars. The cut-off date for applications was also arbitrarily advanced.

Later, based on the auction of airwaves for third generation (3G) services, which got nearly $15 billion to the exchequer, and that for broadband access, which fetched over $8.5 billion, the notional loss was estimated at $38 billion to the exchequer.

But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself defended Raja’s decision and said that all that his Communications Minister had done was to implement a policy already in place and none of the norms were flouted.

The opposition further stepped up

its attack with two examples on 2G auction:

* A new player, Swan Telecom, bought licenses for 13 circles with the necessary spectrum for $340 million but managed to sell a 45-per cent stake in the company to UAE’s Etisalat for $900 million. This swelled its valuation to $2 billion without a single subscriber.

* Another new player, Unitech, paid $365 million as license fee but sold a 60-per cent stake to Norway’s Talenor for $1.36 billion, taking its valuation to nearly $2 billion, again without a single subscriber.

Similarly, another licensor, Datacom, later became Videocon Mobile and Stel now has a large stake by Baharian Telecom. The other companies are Tata Tele, Idea Cellular, Loop Telecom, Shyam Telelink and Spice.

Recently the Supreme Court asked the solicitor general why the Prime Minister had not responded to the representation by the Opposition to sanction proceedings against Raja.

The final blow came after the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said the entire process of spectrum allocation was undertaken in an arbitrary manner and that the advice of the industry watchdog was ignored and misused.

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its report on the 2G spectrum scam indicted Telecom Minister A Raja in the scandal and said the allocation was doctored to

benefit a few operators. According to the CAG report, Raja ignored advice from everyone including the Finance Ministry regarding allocations. The report said that Raja’s decision cost the government over Rs 90,000 crore-1,40,000 crore.

On November 14, yielding to relentless Opposition pressure, Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja resigned from the Union Cabinet in the wake of the 2G spectrum allocation scam.

“In order to avoid embarrassment to the government and maintain peace and harmony in Parliament, my leader [DMK chief and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi] has advised me to resign,” Mr. Raja said.

HRD minister Kapil Sibal was given the additional charge of the telecom ministry by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a development that takes the portfolio away from DMK at least for the time being.

The Supreme Court even asked the Centre to file an affidavit on Manmohan Singh’s “alleged inaction” on a plea seeking sanction to prosecute ex-telecom minister A Raja in the 2G spectrum scam case, calling the matter “extremely serious”.

Manmohan Singh turned to Attorney General GE Vahanvati to represent him at the apex court over why he failed to probe the 2G telecom scandal. The Prime Minister faced questions in the Supreme Court over his handling of

an alleged multi-billion dollar telecom scam as Parliament remained paralyzed over demands by the Opposition for a full probe.

Refraining from any direct personal remarks on the 2G spectrum scam, the Prime Minister said no one found guilty of wrong-doing will be spared, and urged all political parties to let parliament function and carry forward the due process.

“We are ready to discuss all issues in Parliament. We are not afraid of discussion,” the PM said at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi in what were his first public comments on the 2G spectrum scam.

“I can state that various aspects of this are being looked into by the respective investigating agencies in their domain of interest,” he said. “But there should not be any doubt in anybody’s mind if any wrong thing has been done by anybody, he or she will be brought to book. For all this to happen, in a democracy, I think, we have to allow parliament to function,” he said. “It is my humble request to all parties to let parliament work.”

The 2G spectrum saga has crippled Parliament since then as the Opposition refused to give up its demand for a parliamentary probe into the scandal that has even enveloped the Prime Minister’s Office. The Opposition was not satisfied with the resignation of DMK leader A. Raja as Communications Minister

A magnificent Indian ‘sarpech’ is set to go under the hammer at a Christie’s jewels sale in Geneva, Switzerland. Created with 17 principal diamonds weighing 152,64 carats, the ‘sarpech’ (head ornament) is estimated to fetch nearly US$ 1.5 million Photo: AP

2010’s

It’s the end of the first decade of the new millennium and I’m sure we’re asking the same question: How did the year go so fast? Do we even remember what happened in 2010?

BY SHERYL DIXIT

Well, here’s a glimpse of ten different topics, each that tells the story of events which made this year a unique one by capturing not just news headlines, but our attention and emotions as well.

PETTY POLITICS

• The one event that rocked Australia’s traditional ennui towards politics was Kevin Rudd’s by his trusty deputy Julia Gillard. At least the event created a furore, unlike the (yawn) Federal elections which began as a damp squib and finally went out altogether as weeks passed with both parties lobbying to win favour with the Independents to come into power. Julia Gillard is now Prime Minister and Labor is in the hot seat… for how long is anyone’s guess!

• Another global coup of a completely different kind was US President Barack Obama’s whirlwind Apart from charming the country and finalising mutually beneficial deals, the icing on the cake was Obama’s declaration of support to India for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. This is clear recognition of India’s increasing prominence on the global arena. India this year got its non-permanent seat into the UNSC, after a gap of 19 years.

• After a court battle of 60 years, the Allahabad High court judged that the Ayodhya land dispute would be resolved through a three-way division. Hindus and Muslims are joint title holders of the disputed land, it said, and one-third each will go to the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and the party for Ram Lalla. The verdict has been generally hailed as a sensible, Solomon-like decision by was rejected in his bid for Vice-Presidency of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in end June, being outvoted by six countries, and supported by only three. Sharad Pawar took on the role as President amidst the global cricketing media’s extremely vocal opinions about the rejection.

2 SENSATIONAL SPORTS

• Ah, the Socceroos! The FIFA World Cup saw Spain as the victor, but our boys exited in style with an awe-inspiring victory over Serbia. After their crushing defeat by Germany, it was a fitting finale as our boys came home with their heads held high and their pride intact.

• And of course, there was the IPL with its fanfare, glory, talent, cricketing greats and cheerleaders. The Chennai Super Kings carried away the 2010 crown, beating the Mumbai Indians by 22 runs.

• But although soccer and cricket had their moments of fame, all accolades go to the Delhi Commonwealth Games from October 3-10 which provided a competitive and balanced environment for athletes from all over the world. India is still smirking over this triumph, in the face of heavy global criticism prior to the Games.

3 IN THE LIMELIGHT

• Au Sang Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace prize winner and Burmese politician opposed to the military junta was finally released from house arrest after 15 years, on November 13.

• Australia got is very first saint in Mary MacKillop

• Indian writer Chetan Bhagat, author of novels One Night @ the Call Centre and Five Point Someone was listed in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. However, his squabbles with the Three Idiots team (and his last minute noshow at the Melbourne Travel Writers’ festival in end-October) disappointed fans and patrons alike. So much for fame!

• Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, unveiled a new invention, a tablet PC called the iPad, and sold 3 million of the devices in 80 days.

• The World Health Organization declared the H1N1 influenza pandemic over, claiming that worldwide flu activity has returned to typical seasonal patterns.

• Researchers at CERN trapped 38 antihydrogen atoms for a sixth of a second, marking the first time in history that humans have trapped antimatter.

4 FINANCE 5

• The Aussie dollar briefly reached parity with the US greenback and continued to remain strong thereafter.

• Greece and Ireland plunged into financial crisis, only to be rescued by an EU-IMF and Eurozone bailouts respectively.

• Jyoti Basu, longest serving Chief Minister of West Bengal and legendary Communist politician passed away on January 17, amidst public mourning on an unprecedented scale.

• In Australia, we bid farewell to opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland

TOP TEN

6 TRAGIC TIMES

• The year began unhappily for Haiti, as a massive earthquake of 7.0-magnitude left 230,000 dead, 300,000 injured and affected 3 million people in this beleaguered nation.

• In October, a tsunami following an earthquake killed over a hundred people in Western Indonesia. A 6.9-magnitude earthquake occurs in Qinghai, China, killing at least 2,000 and injuring more than 10,000. An 8.8-magnitude earthquake, occured in Chile, triggering a tsunami over the Pacific and killing 497.

• Volcanic ash from one of several eruptions beneath Eyjafjallajökull, an ice cap in Iceland severely disrupted air traffic across northern and western Europe.

• Heavy monsoon rains in July cause widespread flooding in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan

Over 1,600 are killed, and more than one million people are displaced by the floods.

• 33 miners in Chile were rescued after two months, nine days and eight hours since their ordeal began, in one of the most dramatic survival stories in mining history.

• And closer to home in New Zealand, the tragic deaths of 29 miners trapped in a coal mine in Pike River on South Island plunged the nation into grief.

• A stampede during Bon Om Thook (Khmer Water Festival) celebrations in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, killed 465.

• In air disasters, on May 22, Air India Express Flight 812 overshot the runway at Mangalore Airport in India, killing 158 and leaving 8 survivors. And Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 crashed at the runway at Tripoli Airport in Libya on May 12, killing 103 of the 104 people on board. The President of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, was among 96 killed when their airplane crashed in western Russia.

• And India saw two major train accidents which took the lives of hundreds

7 SENSATIONAL SCANDALS

• In a yet-unfolding saga, the alleged spectrum allocation scam which is said to have cost the Indian government $38 billion, is uprooting fresh evidence of corruption and bribery at the highest level.

• Meanwhile, investigations are reluctantly proceeding to find the cause behind shoddy construction at the Commonwealth Games venues, which were responsible for highly damaging global publicity. Let’s hope the big cats, not only the small fry, get their just desserts.

• Wikileaks, an online publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified material, leaks to the public over 90,000 internal reports about the United States-led involvement in the War in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010.

• The IPL controversy involving Shashi Tharoor and Lalit Modi far outshone the sporting competition as conflicting allegations of match-fixing, illegal betting, money-laundering and corruption downplayed the glory of the event. Now with both the chief protagonists out of the running through timely resignations, the long, slow but thorough job of tidying up has begun.

8 MAN’S MISTAKES

• North Korea’s deadly artillery attacks on South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island left two dead, twelve wounded and several civilians injured.

• Stalemates, shellings and bombings continue in Iraq, Afghanistan and hotspots in the Middle East.

• The Deepwater Horizon oil platform exploding in the Gulf of Mexico in April resulted in the largest oil spill in history, killing eleven workers, severely contaminating the waters and the US coastline, and damaging marine life.

• Toyota announces recalls for approximately 5.2 million vehicles for technical problems.

• They may be the world’s biggest commercial aircraft, but the recent problems arising from the Airbus 380s have caused consternation in the airline industry.

9 MARITAL MOMENTS

Sania Mirza, India’s tennis sensation and Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik finally married in Bollywood eshtyle in mid-April, despite controversy about the groom’s earlier marriage and the bride’s dumping of her arranged match. However, the ones who celebrated the most were the media, who went on a rampage of speculation and sensation. The couple have now diplomatically moved residence to Dubai, and are keeping well away from the spotlight.

Prince William and Kate Middleton decided to tie the knot…finally. After an eight year relationship, you’d think they would have made that decision sooner! At last the British public will have another go at a fairytale wedding, but this one shows more promise of lasting. Perhaps because Will seems to take after his illustrious grandma!

• And India’s very own cricketing star Mahendra Singh Dhoni tied the knot with Sakshi Singh Rawat in early July. The lowprofile wedding was followed by a pretty high-profile reception.

10 BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

•The Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest manmade structure opened on January 4 in Dubai, towering at a staggering 2,717 feet.

• Mukesh Ambani’s first electricity bill in his much publicised mansion Antilia is in excess of a mere Rs 70 lakhs for the month of September. And that’s after he was given a discount of nearly Rs. 50,000 for prompt payment. Experts say that the bill is roughly equivalent to the monthly power bill of 7000 average homes. Now that’s rich!

• Lady Gaga arrived at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in a dress made of raw meat, complete with hat, boots and handbag. Gaga said that it was the most comfortable dress she wore all night. Now we know just why she’s called ‘Gaga’!

• A Chilean miner stuck under the earth had not just his wife praying for him but also his mistress, and it was later found out, a third girlfriend! He certainly is a busy man!

Challenge and charm in Coorg

Sarita Mandanna’s debut novel outlines the life of a feisty lady in the backdrop of the picturesque Coorg hills

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

Sarita Mandanna’s Tiger Hills created quite a stir prior to it even being published. It was reported that the book was sold to Penguin India for one of the highest sums paid to an Indian writer for a first novel. Not that Indian origin writers lack the spotlight, as can be seen from the careers of Salman Rushdie to Rohinton Mistry, or from Arundhati Roy to Amitav Ghosh - all writers of Indian origin who have continually enjoyed being in the limelight over the past few decades. Of the new writers, Chetan Bhagat and Jhumpa Lahiri have enjoyed moderate success, while the Sydney-educated Aravind Adiga went on to win the prestigious 2008 Man Booker Prize, the world’s most prestigious literary awards, for his novel The White Tiger.

Sarita Mandanna’s first novel weaves a great story, and is an easy and enjoyable read for the lazy summer weeks ahead.

Spanning 50 years, the book is set in Coorg at the turn of the nineteenth century. For Coorgites, it paints a beautiful picture of rolling hills with mists rising in the far distance, lush fields with beautiful flora and fauna. The Scotland of India, Coorg provides a picturesque landscape to the trials and challenges in the life of

Devi and the men in her life - her doting father, her forbidden love with Machua, her passionless marriage with Devanna and her two children, Nanju and Appu. As each of these relationships unravels, one gets closer to Devi and is exposed to her bitterness with life, her will to succeed and her desire to build a future with the ghost of her lover Machu, while living with her husband and son on their coffee plantations. From a shunned husband, scorned lover, betrayed mentor and favoured sibling, all the characters work into the unravelling of the storyline.

Sarita Mandanna’s first

The book begins with Devi’s spoilt childhood as the only girl child born in her family in the last six decades. In her childhood, she and Devanna are friends who become very close to each other. As they grow older Devanna’s friendship with Devi matures into love, whilst Devi herself sees Machu and decides she can’t marry anyone else. The love triangle is now in place. Meanwhile, Devanna suffers extreme bullying in boarding school which breaks him to the extent that even Devi becomes a victim of circumstances.

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The book wonderfully captures the political scene of the times. The arrival of the British, the local Indians being conscripted in the army as sepoys and sent to fight wars for the British, the sprawling coffee plantations in southern India, the rise of Nazism in Europe, India and the world touch around the fringes of this book, whose heart is set in Coorg and the life of Devi.

From a reader’s point of view, it is an easy read. The prose is basic and does not get bogged down in detail. The characters are well defined and their presence and interconnectivity with the central character of Devi and her men is well maintained. One quite enjoys the picture painted of village and family life during Devi’s younger years. As she grows into a shrewd businesswoman who indulges in a bit of scotch whiskey at night, she is far removed from the little girl skipping along the river in her village. But then, this is what life is all about.

As the 452 pages of this book come to end, one is left wishing for more. But one suspects that there is not much left to offer in this saga. Just as The Thorn Birds with its forbidden love brings forth suffering in the life of Meg, the sweet sorrow of Tiger Hills can take one only so far. It is a book which is highly recommended for its pure escapism, enjoyable without being too challenging.

Tiger Hills by Sarita Mandanna is available online from Hachette Australia for $32.99.

novel weaves a great story, and is an easy and enjoyable read for the lazy summer weeks ahead.

The virtues of Christmas

At this time of the year, let’s make an effort to share our festive pleasures with those less fortunate than us

BY NOEL G DE SOUZA

As the Christmas season approaches, many people the world over focus on peace and goodwill, even though these virtues have become rare in today’s world. Nevertheless, there are those who are striving to promote peace and goodwill, both on the world stage as well as at the local level. Peace and goodwill are best promoted through the three virtues associated with Christmas which are faith, hope and charity.

Faith is an internal human trait which needs to be nurtured and cultivated. In the modern world, faith in one’s own self is being inculcated by educators and psychologists, albeit at a secular level. For example, sportspeople are trained both physically and psychologically to compete by having faith in themselves. Faith in a Benevolent Presence, who looks after the affairs of humankind, has been traditionally promoted by religious groups, particularly to those who are in desperate need.

The Apostle Paul in Letters to the Corinthians, while calling for the belief in the virtues of faith, hope and charity, extolled the supremacy of charity: “And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.” These three virtues, the basic pillars of human ethics, are found in all the world’s religions and are the basis of humanitarian values.

Significantly, in Buddhism, the act of charity (dana in Pali and Sanskrit) is also considered as the first of the great perfections (paramitas) which a Buddhist seeker on the path (marga) of enlightenment has to achieve.

In materialistic societies in which many of us now live, Christmas, to our chagrin, has become a time of suffering.

A notorious nexus

people attend and make it a success. This is definitely an expression of Australian egalitarianism and of non-discrimination.

But things were not always like this everywhere. Mahatma Gandhi was once refused entry into a church in South Africa when he wanted to attend a Christmas celebration. He had merely desired to listen to his friend CF Andrews (author of Mahatma Gandhi’s Ideas), whom he had previously known in England, preach during the service. This refusal was despite strong entreaties. Such was the extent of discrimination then during the era of apartheid.

Many years later (in 1986), we saw an African, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, installed as the Head of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa; he had been earlier bestowed with the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1984. Tutu describes South Africa as a “rainbow nation”, a term also appropriately applicable to Australia.

Charity is not all based on merely giving either money or gifts. Kind language and proper consideration also fall into the category of charity. Particular mention must be made here about groups who welcome refugees, the most disadvantaged of groups in Australia, and make them feel at home.

The Salvation Army, in a recently released shocking report (October 2010), states that two million Australians live in poverty. It is sobering to realise, particularly in the context of Christmas, that 70% of poor children live in jobless families. This is a severe indictment of a materialistic society.

Whilst an average Australian child had $228 spent on her or him, according to the Salvation Army, hundreds of thousands of children went without any gift at all…

This great festival actually accentuates amongst the poor the feelings of poverty, loneliness and deprivation. Various charity organizations try their best to alleviate this sense of deprivation through their works. We can do our bit as well. Making all individuals feel wanted and cared for is a particular focus of volunteers in the community who also include some prominent business people. Some of them attend and serve traditional Christmas lunches to the needy.

The Wayside Chapel in the Kings Cross area of Sydney, recruits hundreds of volunteers for a big street Christmas party for the needy. This annual event is assuredly one of Sydney’s biggest yearly festivities, and is open to everyone. Thousands of

Last year, in December 2009, the Kmart Christmas Giving Index revealed a great social divide in Australia. Whilst an average Australian child had $228 spent on her or him, according to the Salvation Army, hundreds of thousands of children went without any gift at all and that organisation, therefore, endeavours to encourage sparing a gift for children in need.

Christmas, which existed originally as a solar festival, belongs to all mankind. The time chosen to celebrate it is close to the shortest day of the year in the northern hemisphere. From then onwards, daytime in the Northern Hemisphere begins to lengthen. This significant seasonal change (the rebirth of light and warmth) belongs to all mankind. In the Southern Hemisphere, we celebrate the festival during the height of summer when the glory of the Sun is at its ascendant.

Whatever might be our religious beliefs, we can all reflect on ways by which the spirit of Christmas can be translated into peace and goodwill for ourselves and for those amongst us who are less fortunate.

Could three distinct divisions of society work together towards a common ground of equality, or is this another instance of meaningless political parley?

sharing a common railway platform. This relationship is alive and kicking furiously. Jesus, get a room!

BY ROY LANGE

Very recently, at the Indira Gandhi 10th Annual Conference, Sonia Gandhi pleaded for “the state, business and labour onto a common platform in pursuit of a shared vision — the vision of a more equal, more caring society”. Is this sincere plea possible?

What divisions of society are they working with? Who are these State, business and labour people? Rahul Gandhi’s very effective catch phrase of “two Indias” attempts to paraphrase the new Indian paradigm of the Esteem drivers and the Atlas bicycle riders. But to claim that India is only divided in two, is calling a halffilled glass of water a 12-year-old bottle of scotch.

In fact, a single division would be an earth-shattering achievement. Anyone reading this will know that Indian politics is fractured into a wildly complicated matrix of splinters that belong to caste, class and regional loyalties. Which is a head spinner! In fact, in this dumbing down age, I’m fast warming to this new idea of only three divisions.

It has to be said though that Mrs. Gandhi’s usage of the term “platform” is unfortunate, because these new castes would not be seen dead sharing a common platform, never mind a waiting room. It conjures up images, for me at least, of hordes of labourers waiting, with increasing impatience, for the Indian Economic Miracle Rajdhani Express, clutching tickets given to them by the Congress.

This unperturbed display of intimate relations between the State class and the Business class has not escaped our leader’s attention. Mrs. Gandhi ominously said, “Graft and greed are on the rise.”

The wildly lucrative 2G spectrum and Commonwealth Games construction graft were glaring examples of how well the Business and State classes work together.

Kalmadi, reportedly, helped bribe an unprecedented 72 States to secure the Games, displaying a legendary, Godgiven talent for cementing the BusinessState relationship. Yes, finally a common indivisible vision! Yes, even the labour class was involved in the construction! A glorious victory march towards a more equal, more caring society.

Well, it’s undeniable Kalmadi and Raja, the former Telecommunications minister, are now equally filthy rich and equally caring about their country. In fact they’re probably so concerned about India that they will likely team up, buy a small Pacific country with their small change, and settle there.

The corrupt have never left the corridors of power and don’t increase in number;

it is the sheer scale of easy pickings that has grown in every dimension

But Mrs. Gandhi’s belief that the cancer is growing is wrong. The corrupt have never left the corridors of power and don’t increase in number; it is the sheer scale of easy pickings that has grown in every dimension, to a size that is sublime‘commissions’ that have been made possible by the new economic powerhouse in amounts that can only be marvelled at.

But they are increasingly resigned to the realisation that those tickets, to what is rightfully their passage, are worthless 60-year-old I.O.U. notes. In return for no water, no education, no health and no electricity, whilst the agents of the State made ends meet by slumming it out in Lutyen bungalows and London private hospitals.

The new business caste’s stoic social commitment? Will they answer Madam’s call for a much greater sense of social responsibility? If you asked them to share a platform with the labour classes they would kill themselves by laughing their guts out. Why in hell would they do that when you can bloody fly? You don’t get frequent flyer points for mixing with those types.

However, if there is an airline strike, which is known to happen, I can very clearly see, with no degree at all of opacity, the State and the Business classes cozily

Ironically, Mrs. Gandhi’s proposed antidote to this divisive poison is to have “greater probity, more transparency” - a cleaned window to the gears of government and business practice. This may be counterproductive. The less the public know about the workings of this Government, the better the chance of re-election.

The hard-to-find positive side of the Orwellian nature of the Indian press coverage is that corruption scandals are far more likely to be reported than in the old days of Doordashan rule. Importantly the audience reach of these televised corruption exposes increases exponentially every year, even deep into the remote heartland of backward States like Chattisgarh, that are experiencing intense ‘insurgency’.

For Mrs. Gandhi’s plea for a more caring, equal society has been, in no small way, prompted by this view of increased corruption. She knows that a unified country, with one vision, can never happen with the Business - State nexus unapologetically piddling in the village tank.

Peace and goodwill are best promoted through the three virtues associated with Christmas which are faith, hope and charity

Rajiv and Rann

Some questionable decisions and Italian connections have got SA Premier Mike Rann in the hot seat, not unlike Rajiv Gandhi in his heyday

BY LP AYER

South Australian Premier Mike Rann seems to have quite a few things in common with India’s late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

For starters, their handsome and youthful looks, and pretty Italian spouses. However the latter is now providing a lot of grist for the mill in Mr Rann’s case, as it did with Rajiv in the late ‘80s. The once very popular Premier is coming under constant criticism by the print media and sections of the public. While it is not unusual for politicians’ popularity to wax and wane, there is a cyclical resemblance between Rajiv and Mike, despite their taking different paths to power.

Born in the political cradle as the scion of a ruling dynasty, Rajiv could have surfed to the top job; yet he was a reluctant recruit and had to be goaded and groomed following the accidental death of younger brother Sanjay, the chosen one. Eventually he was swept to the Delhi durbar by a surging sympathy wave after his mother’s tragic demise.

On the other hand, Mike carved his way into the inner circle of Don Dunstan, the Premier of the ‘70s whose social reforms were of a kind that brought bouquets and brickbats in equal measure, helping Mike, as his minder, to master the art of media management. Sitting two terms as the Opposition leader, he eventually became premier after a quirky event of loyalty switch by a dissident Liberal, a la Gillard’s hold on the top job.

On taking charge of the nation’s wheel, former pilot Rajiv’s stock soared sky-high initially, but started to dive following allegations regarding a billion dollar Bofors gun deal that eventually blasted him off his pedestal.

Rumours were rife about some Italian sources being beneficiaries of the Bofors bonanza, though none of the allegations ever got proved. Sadly he was cut down in his comeback campaign with no chance to prove himself one way or the other.

When the Opposition demanded he disclose the dollar benefit of this Italian extravaganza, Mr. Rann accused them of conducting a smear campaign against his wife, Sasha Carruozzo, an Adelaide Italian of Puglia origin

Now closer to home, Mr Rann bolstered his first term wafer thin majority into a bulging buttress in his second term. His rating remained rock solid until the eve of his third try, but started plummeting because of some personal issues. He could only manage to scrape in at the March election and, having been humbled, he promised to reconnect with the electorate. However disclosures of some of his Italian connections are doing the disconnecting again, driving his stock down.

The cause for Mr. Rann’s popularity crash was his support for a trade fair in Puglia, a little-known corner of Italy in the south-east, and the appointment of one Nicola Sasanelli, a Puglia-raised professor, as a special envoy to Europe until 2014, costing a tidy sum to SA taxpayers. When the Opposition demanded he disclose the dollar benefit of this Italian extravaganza, Mr. Rann accused them of conducting a smear campaign against his wife, Sasha Carruozzo, an Adelaide Italian of Puglia origin. Pretty Sasha, 47, whom Mr Rann married

awaiting the local authority’s approval for an upgrade. Last year she was named one of Puglia’s overseas citizens of the year and received free air travel.

Although in today’s political ethics such favours seem insignificant, their disclosure, coming at a time when his Government is abolishing trade envoys to the State’s top export nations such as China and India and cutting funds to 40 chambers of commerce promoting trade with other parts of the globe, has caused all the furore. India ranks among the top five export markets for SA with a value of $600 million, having doubled in the past few years. China, US and Japan lead the pack. On the export ladder Italy takes 41st rank, falling behind even the tiny island of Mauritius. In fact, earnings from Italy have fallen from $29 m to a mere $17 m in the past three years when the State has spent a million dollars on the annual trade fair ‘Fierra del Levante’ in Puglia’s capital Bari, and has committed to participate until 2014 with no SA business turning up at the show. On top of this it has also committed $250,000 a year engaging Professor Sasanelli as a special envoy to Europe to focus on research and education. The local Chinese commercial circles have not failed to notice that Mr Rann had visited China, the State’s top trading partner with over a billion dollars, only thrice compared with more visits to the UK, Europe and India, that he had made eight times.

Persisting with Puglia in the midst of proposed cuts to the State’s Department of Trade and abolition of established benefits like long service leave has angered sections of the public and party men who now talk of looking for the next generation of leaders.

Has Mr Rann run his last race?

Breezing around Bandung

From volcanoes to shopping, from education to pleasant weather, this gem of a city in Indonesia has a charm of its own and something for everyone

BY THOMAS E KING

Bandung’s biggest drawcard is ugly, smells bad and often can’t even be seen at all! But that doesn’t stop tourists from making an excursion out of Indonesia’s third largest city for a glimpse and a whiff of Tangkuban Prahu. There are around 130 active volcanos in the vast Indonesian archipelago – currently the newsmaker is Mt Merapi outside Yogyakarta - and another 200 or so that are extinct. Tangkuban Prahu comes under a third geologic category: dormant activity.

This smouldering giant just 15 km out of Bandung is also unusual because its crater is the only one accessible by road on the population-packed island of Java. A modern roadway is the hard surface link to a still bubbling crater that emits stinking sulphur fumes. Hundreds of thousands of tourists come every year to see and smell this geologic acrobat.

Upon arrival, visitors are greeted by entrepreneurs eager to sell charcoal broiled corn, hand carved bone elephants, plastic bags filled with pineapple pieces, hastily woven wicker baskets and a multitude of other wares, both large and small. After walking along a makeshift path leading to the crater I stopped before one rustic shed where a blue jeans clad artisan was deftly carving animals and household items from a strange patterned wood.

The finished product was attractive, but I had come to Tangkuban Prahu to sniff, not shop. Walking on, I soon reached the edge of a 500 metre in diameter crater. Standing behind a flimsy fence I gazed out to a small lake and a virtually silent moon-like landscape. Now and again I heard a ‘whish’ as a plume of stinky air shot skyward.

The first eruption of Tangkuban Prahu was in 1829. In the 180+ years since then, a 2000 metre high mountain has been created and several craters have been formed. The 200 metre deep Kawah Ratu Crater is the easiest one to see ... and smell.

Try to get to the volcano early in the morning as mist weaves its way through the trees by noon. I did arrive early but there were still times when a blanket of spray swirled around me, noticeably obscuring visibility.

Not far from the volcano, the Ciater Hot Springs have been a health magnet since the days of the Dutch. The steaming hot sulphurous pools attract visitors seeking remedies for an assortment of ailments. While the odorous crater and hot springs

are among Bandung’s prime natural attractions, the capital of West Java has a number of other special appeals of its own.

One is the city’s proximity to Jakarta. Set in cool, volcanoencircled hills that sprawl across a 700 metre high plateau in the beautiful Parahyangan Mountains 190 km southeast of Jakarta, three million-strong Bandung can be easily reached from the Indonesian capital. The scenic journey is especially popular with residents of crowded Jakarta, so book in advance and avoid weekends and holidays when the city is packed with day tripping and overnighting bargain hunters scouring the many factory outlets along Jalan Cihampelas. This haven for shopaholics is locally known as Jean’s Street!

Bandung is the power house for around 60 per cent of Indonesia’s textile industry. This spans the spectrum from traditional Indonesia batik to denim.

Reaching Bandung is like inhaling a breath of fresh air, particularly for those coming from the congested capital. The Garden City’s fine climate is experienced throughout the year. This was a key reason why the city was selected so long ago as a commercial, aviation and educational hub. The prestigious Institute of Technology and some 30 other universities have made the city a true centre of learning, with students from across the globe studying in this cool, green haven.

Established in the late 19th century as a garrison town by the then ruling Dutch colonial powers, Bandung is a relatively modern and unhurried city of particular significance to visitors interested in architecture and culture. In the 1920s and 1930s, architects blueprinted many of the city’s prominent buildings in a so-called ‘international style’. The collection of Tropical Art Deco masterpieces that remains is unique in Asia, if not the world.

Unfortunately, a few have been lost to relentless developers who erected glass and steel office blocks and shopping plazas. However, the city’s active conservation society has helped ensure that Bandung remains a low rise zone with tree lined avenues and parks. I set off down the most important of these leafy thoroughfares, Jalan Asia-Afrika, and surprisingly, discovered a link to India.

Dating to 1879 but given several incarnations over the years, Gedung Merdeka (Freedom Building) was the site of the first Asia-Africa Conference. It was at this gathering in 1955 that world leaders formulated the principles for the Non-Aligned Movement. Statesmen of the time China’s Chou En Lai, Indonesia’s President Sukarno, Egypt’s President Nasser and Pandit Nehru came with others to initiate a counterweight front to the American and Russian power blocs. Today, the building houses a museum

1. The ever steaming Tangkuban Prahu is the most accessible volcano on Java.

2. Numerous factory outlets in suburban Bandung attract customers with garish displays.

3. A talented artisan handcrafts wooden oddities just beyond the bubbling volcano.

4. Stop at Bogor en route to Bandung and explore the world famous botanical gardens.

5. Children regularly demonstrate their musical talents using bamboo angklungs.

where I saw several photos of India’s first prime minister with other great figures of world history.

There’s more than a history lesson awaiting your arrival in Bandung. You will also learn about its distinct culture while travelling around this charming city once called the Paris of Java. The area of West Java where Bandung is located is called Sunda and many aspects of typical Sundanese culture can be seen in the provincial capital. For instance, there are a number of Sundanese restaurants spread across the city which serve specialities like chicken steamed in bamboo leaves and fish with ginger.

Another treat not to be missed is an afternoon of music and dance at Saung Angklung Udjo, a cultural village in suburban Bandung. Here I watched batik-clad performers – some as young as five years old - play the angklung, a Sundanese traditional musical instrument made of bamboo, that had been handcrafted by other artisans elsewhere in the popular village.

Travel notebook BANDUNG

GETTING THERE

Garuda Indonesia operates a total of six direct services to Jakarta from both Sydney and Melbourne with return economy class airfares starting from $829 per person including taxes. Contact your preferred travel agent or call Garuda Indonesia on 1300 365 330 or visit www.garuda-indonesia.com

TRAVEL

Bandung is linked to Jakarta by air, road and rail. My choice is the air conditioned rail service with the Argo Parahyangan Express connecting the two centres eight times a day. The journey – a 3 ½ hour trip from central Jakarta’s Gambir Station to the rail terminus in the heart of Bandung – is a scenic treat with panoramas of rice terraces, mountains, jungle and tea plantations.

PACKAGES

Garuda Indonesia’s “Bali on ANY budget” features a wide range of package holidays to Indonesian destinations including Bandung. Contact your travel agent or call 1300 365 331. Visit www.BalionANYbudget.com.au

There are around 130 active volcanos in the vast Indonesian archipelago –currently the newsmaker is Mt Merapi outside Yogyakarta - and another 200 or so that are extinct.

Before that performance I watched ornately decorated puppets in a performance that interpreted ancient legends. Wayang golek is the traditional Sundanese puppetry. This puppet show was followed by the crashing of gongs and the clashing of cymbals during a gamelan concert. Then it was on to the angklung

The afternoon of musical enlightenment – bamboo style - was heightened when audience members were each handed instruments, each tuned to a different key and then given a tuneful tutorial from a master player. In an interactive session, along with dozens of others, I eventually mastered the basics of the region’s unique music and we played as one. Perhaps another lesson is needed, however, before I’m ready to give a solo concert!

ACCOMMODATION

Conveniently located in the central city, the Grand Hotel Peanger is one of Bandung’s more historic hotels. Opened in the 1920s, the 187 room property is a landmark in the Braga area of town which is noted for its historic buildings. See www.preanger.aerowisata.com

EXCURSION

Sited between Jakarta and Bandung, Bogor is a city offering an outstanding botanical odyssey. Established by the Dutch in 1817, the 110 ha. Bogor Gardens house over 11,000 species of plants. The park, considered to be one of the biggest tropical gardens in the world, contains many rare and unusual plants including the Bunga Raksasa which grows to 3 ½ metres.

INFORMATION

For downloadable brochures visit www.visit-indonesia.com.au or contact AVIAREPS Oceania, which represents Visit Indonesia (the Indonesia Ministry of Culture and Tourism) on (02) 9959 4277. An independent website for West Java is www.visitwestjava.com

DECEMBER (1) 2010

Photos: Thomas E. King

Perfectly imperfect

BY MADHUCHANDA DAS

OMG…it’s wrap up time already! The end of another year and the brink of another decade’s hurtling towards us at a crazy pace once again. Not fair! It happened even before we could get our act together to act on the previous New Year’s resolutions. Well…I had resolutely resolved to shed my extra baggage, to finally forsake my middle-aged status and give those anorexic gals a run for their money. But here I am…at the same crossroads again with the very same stubborn, sagging baggage for company. Yikes!

And so we thanked heavens for path-breaking technology that airbrushed our images, and also boosted our forever fragile spirits.

Wasn’t it just yesterday that we ushered in the new decade, 2000? Such unprecedented flurry was created over our journey into an unknown territory and an unpredictable decade. We had expected colossal changes to sweep us, changes that would unleash watershed transformations and alter our lives forever. And happen it did! From the busting of the dot com bubble to the social networking marvel, from 9/11 to 26/11, from the global financial crisis to climate change, from the introduction of a single currency for Europe to the introduction of high definition TV, cameras, smart phones and the Wii, from an outsourcing haven called India to an odyssey into space by India’s first woman astronaut, from Black Saturday to a now black-now white Commonwealth Games. Whew! What a rollercoaster ride it’s been. But presumably, isn’t this exactly what life in the present era’s meant to be…. weird ‘n’ whacky, on the edge ‘n’ fluky, impassive ‘n’ techie, hasty ‘n’ (you will hate me for this!) so very greedy. Retrospectively speaking, we outgrew the greed for fancy cars and sprawling mansions to a persistent penchant for self narcissism aka, seeking prominence and perfection. Our swelling heads and self-absorbed lives were being progressively unfolded and dramatized publicly, courtesy our increasing existence in the digital universe. We were compelled, as billion others also were, to upload flashy, flamboyant images of

our blemish-free lives onto our online portfolios. Anything below that was sacrilegious. And so we thanked heavens for path-breaking technology that airbrushed our images, and also boosted our forever fragile spirits. After all, our social standing was largely dependent on not what we possessed, but on what we portrayed.

We were marked and measured by other people’s yardsticks rather than our personal prudence. As the reality show progressed to discern whether we had the X factor or not, we ranted and raved to present our best feet and selves. Our best selves could resort to anything from botox to silicone, from age-defying to agedenying, since it was only the outcome that mattered.

The decade progressed and yet another, laugh line, aching joint and grey hair tiptoed into our lives. “You can aspire for precision… but sorry, we’re imperfect!” they all yelled in unwavering unison. And as we persisted to squash them under umpteen layers of make up and makeovers, they rebelled with double determination. Our physical prowess triumphed, but only for a bit. And one fine morning, we found ourselves standing face-to-face with ourselves in front of the mirror.

Hmmm… we’re nearing the end of a defining decade…a turning point that upturned our lives. It was remarkable in the sense that it bestowed us with some gimcrack gizmos and made us believe we could be God….we could attain perfection and beat time and tide. But, alas, our wrinkleridden reflection today speaks otherwise, and belies it all.

Yes…we’re at the crossroads again…..with choices galore. The quick-witted me - I managed to recognize the voice of my calling, to break free from this cycle of vexation.

Wabi Sabi - that’s what it is for me, for now and forever. Something from the annals of ancient wisdom to sustain me if the blitz of the next decade strikes real hard or when my time limousine eventually pulls into the driveway. And if you just happened to wonder what Wabi Sabi stands for, it’s an ancient Japanese concept that recognizes the flaws and impermanence of life. It doesn’t mean settling for anything less than you deserve or that one shouldn’t work to improve one’s situation. It’s about balance and contentment, rather than chasing the unattainable.

And so, at the crossroads, I’m into resolution mode again. But this time, it’s unique. I will endeavour to discover life afresh with all its

imperfections and flaws. I will endeavour to spot the crack on the pottery, the blot on the painting as also the freshest wrinkle on my face and the stinging arthritic pain in my knees. I will embrace them all tightly with unflinching warmth and love as they define me. I will navigate through the undulating trek of life with my imperfect self, my imperfect family in an imperfect world. I will refuse to pursue illusions, but will rather celebrate grounded life with all its myriad hues - be it in the form of my girl’s rapturous karaoke singing or the hubby’s thunderous snoring. And as I sign out for this year, here are a couple of lines that I found on the way and would like to share with you:

I will refuse to pursue illusions, but will rather celebrate grounded life with all its myriad hues - be it in the form of my girl’s rapturous karaoke singing or the hubby’s thunderous snoring.

“I wish for you an imperfect life, and all the wonder that living can bring… the wealth that comes from knowing loss, the tears that find their way to laughter, the joy that grows after the rain, and the love, felt deepest, by those who have been carved by pain.

I hope that you can value this imperfection, hold on to it, so it gives you such comfort that you will dare embrace the beauty of all the imperfect lives that surround you.

And then you will be perfectly free to step to the beat of your own imperfect heart, and you will have truly lived.”

Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year!

It’s a life that demands posturing and perfection, but the first step of accepting oneself is the first step towards self-redemption

Indophile?

There’s a fine line between defining a feeling of ‘belonging’ to a country and enjoying its culture and heritage without being a citizen

BY TIM BLIGHT

As a traveller, nothing quite compares to India. She radiates, fascinates, bewilders, exhilarates and horrifies. That is how I felt before I went to India for the first time. And yet, I can’t exactly pinpoint why I felt that way – perhaps it was due to the romanticised, orientalist-inspired images and stories in the media. Then again, I had always been fairly cynical of the ‘manufactured’ tourist image of different countries. I have had close friends of Indian heritage for as long as I can remember, although I’m not sure whether my friendships shaped my interest, or the other way around. I was probably always destined to fall in love with an Indian, but the term ‘Indophile’ doesn’t sit with me too well. ‘Indophile’ implies a love of India and its people, although for me it’s not so much a love as a state of being. I once read that India, rather than resisting outsiders, takes visitors and weaves them into its tapestry of history and culture, and for me, this makes much more sense. India isn’t a love of mine; it’s where I feel comfortable spiritually, culturally, socially and politically. Not ‘Indophile’, but ‘Indian’.

Of course, to call myself Indian is simply untrue. Having grown up in Australia, I can’t claim to have experienced life as an Indian. My Hindi isn’t that great, and I have only visited the subcontinent a handful of times. But then I think of the millions of Australians of Indian heritage, some of whom have never visited the motherland, but who (‘ABCD’ jokes notwithstanding) know India. I think of the rich puzzle of language that presents itself in the Tamil-speaking south, the Assamese-speaking east and the Kashmirispeaking north. And I think of the diaspora of NRIs who still feel as close to India as they did the day they left it – and in many cases, even closer now. Perhaps to be an Indian citizen, you must pass certain tests, but to feel and to be ‘Indian’ is to join the network of people around the world who identify with Bharat

I’m sure there will be some cynics who read this and write it off as superficial – “He’s just tasted his first butter chicken and now he loves the place!” The trials of many Indians who have emigrated to Australia must not be forgotten. The struggles and sometimes despair of so many Indians who have never left India are unimaginable to me. This, I accept, I may never truly understand. What I do understand however is acceptance, joy and love. A few people find these intangibles in other countries, many in their home countries, and some people, never. I feel lucky to have found these in India.

And by India, I don’t just mean the Republic of India. For better or for worse, the name ‘India’ has come to represent the entirety of the subcontinent not just for myself, but for many. This is not the stuff

of colonial hangovers, this is a recognition of the shared cultural heritage of at least seven present day nations in South Asia. My first visit to ‘India’ was not in India at all; it was when I stepped off my flight in Karachi, Pakistan on a trip to visit some old friends. Arriving in Karachi was a shock; no matter how much I tried to gird myself, nothing could prepare me for the riot of senses which confronted me. Noise, people everywhere, heat, animals, food, security forces, more people, cars, wealth, poverty, and even more people. In my first few days in Karachi, I learnt to dance to the subcontinent’s rapturous cacophony. Clichéd, I admit, but true, and there is simply no other way to put it!

I can hear a couple of Indians and Pakistanis reading this bristling with resentment, so please allow me to explain. While I loved my time in Pakistan, I still felt as if I was searching for India. It was years later, when I visited India for the first time that I realized that Karachi in fact, had been my primer for the subcontinent. History is testament to the differences between India and Pakistan, however having visited both nations, I strongly feel that their similarities far outweigh their differences. Today’s Republic of India is an excellent example of various cultures and agendas working in relative harmony – problems still exist, but India soldiers on when other countries would have dissolved into conflict. Strength can thus be found in unity – we just need the politicians (on both sides) to see this.

One aspect of ‘Indophile’ to which I can attest is my undying interest in the politics, diplomacy and society on the subcontinent. I have studied South Asian history, I’ve worked teaching English to desis, and I feel humbled to have had the opportunity to visit India. I feel incredibly fortunate to have met the most amazing people to call my friends and family. As a writer, but moreover out of interest, I keep up to date with the latest events and social trends for South Asians in Australia. As a journalist, I not only speak to India and Indians, but I listen, as I have a lot to express, but so much more to learn.

So I keep studying Hindi, enjoying Indian television, music and movies, I continue learning new dishes to cook, and I carry on promoting awareness of Indian and South Asian culture in Australia as I feel strongly about these things. I plan to return to the subcontinent in 2011 visiting India and the Maldives, a journey I started planning on the plane back from Delhi last time around! Every day, India is in my life, and it has given me so much peace, passion, inspiration, knowledge and happiness. India and her sisters have a huge heart. My main hope is that I can maintain the subcontinent’s effortless hospitality which has made me feel so welcome. Indophile? Maybe. Indian? Depends. Part of India’s story? Proudly. The story continues…

I once read that India, rather than resisting outsiders, takes visitors and weaves them into its tapestry of history and culture, and for me, this makes much more sense

History is testament to the differences between India and Pakistan, however having visited both nations, I strongly feel that their similarities far outweigh their differences.

Poem

Harry Potter, the series

Harry Potter 1, Was loads of fun. Had a nice long run, And was very well done!

Harry Potter 2, Got a great review.

Too long was the queue But all made it through!

Harry Potter 3, It was great, said she (my sister, who likes tea). It was fabulous, said me!

Harry Potter 4, I truly did adore It was great for sure, And I really wanted more!

Harry Potter 5, Pleasure did derive Characters came alive, And the series was in thrive!

Harry Potter 6, Got plenty of ticks. Clever magic tricks, Made it best of the flicks!

Harry Potter 7, I’m in heaven!

I’m seeing it with Bevan, My sister’s going with Helen! Manan

Devna & Manan Luthra

Harry Potter Trivia

Philosopher’s Stone

1. What colour is unicorn blood?

2. What magical device are first years not allowed to use at Hogwarts?

3. What are the two black balls in Quidditch called?

Chamber of Secrets

4. Where are underage Wizards not allowed to use magic?

5. Whose nose swelled to the size of a melon during Prof. Snape’s potions class?

6. A person who can speak to snakes is called what?

Prisoner of Azkaban

7. What magazine carries reviews and tests of different broomsticks?

8.Which exam is held at midnight?

9. Which one of Harry’s friends had to write an essay called “Explain why Muggles need electricity”?

The Goblet of Fire

10. What is the name of a rival wizarding school beginning with B?

11. Which teacher can see through Harry’s Invisibility Cloak?

12. Who repairs Harry’s injured leg with tears?

Laugh Out Loud

Harry Potter Jokes

1. Knock Knock. Who’s there? You Know You Know Who? Yep! Avada Kedrava

2. What kind of cereal do they have at Hogwarts? Hufflepuffs.

3. How many Voldemorts does it take to light up a wand? Now you see that’s why he’s called the DARK lord.

4. What does Snape see in the Mirror of Erised? Shampoo

5. Did you hear about the witch who won the lottery? Yeah, she went completely Knuts!

6. What does a death eater eat for breakfast? Cruci-O’s!

Kids in the Kitchen

A Harry Potter Recipe: Butterbeer

(For your next Harry Potterthemed party)

2 ½ cups of milk

½ cup of butterscotch chips

Heat milk in a small saucepan over medium heat.

Add the butterscotch chips.

If you have a hand-mixer, use it to make the mixture frothy. Bring it to almost boiling, but not quite.

Pour into mugs and serve!

Digital Mischief

Sarina Patel joins the gang! (Image created by Radhika Bhatia, 15)

‘Tis the season

Making a gingerbread house is quite easy… or so they tell us on TV food shows

Gingerbread House

BY DEVNA LUTHRA

Ever since I was little, gingerbread houses have held a fascination for me. I saw them in movies and in books and was transfixed every time. Tall, icing covered gingerbread houses covered in all kinds of sweets… Once, on a holiday in Fiji, I saw a massive gingerbread house in the lobby of the resort we stayed in. It was as big as a small cubby house! I wanted to tear little bits off and eat it, but my Dad said “Cockroaches must be walking all over it at night!” Of course I think he was lying (as usual) but the idea of the gingerbread house stuck in my mind.

When I saw TV chef Rachel Allen on her show Rachel Allen Bake, showing how to create these towers of magic, I was surprised to see it look so easy. I decided to give it a try. (Her basic recipe is shown here). It turned out fantastic but just a bit disappointing, as you will see!

Making the dough and baking the walls and roof was easy. The gingerbread was delicious and smelled beautiful around the house, and I had to force my family not to devour it!

When it was cool, we got to the fun part: decorating. I followed the instructions and added my own twist and it all worked out beautifully.

The walls were up and it was time to attach the roof. I raised the two inclines gently and got mum to hold them in place while I piped the icing mixture (the ‘cement’). It stayed in place and I smoothened it all out. The chimney went on and it was complete.

My house looked good enough to eat, lol!

Then we did the ‘landscaping’. We used desiccated coconut for snow, cocoa powder for the path leading to the door, green sprinkles for some grass and blue for the pool. I also used edible icing flowers which looked great!

Then the house was ‘open for inspection’ and everybody ooohed and ahhhed! Mum put it in the formal dining room. Then she made a serious mistake. She didn’t photograph it! I was too tired to do it myself – my back and shoulders were sore after all the chocolate-tiles gluing…

The next morning, disaster! The roof had caved in. We tried to resurrect it but the weight of the M and Ms and all the glue was too much for the gingerbread slabs. Ultimately, the roof collapsed into pieces. It was like the three piggys’ fairytale.

Anyway, two days later, on Christmas, we ate the remains of the house.

It was dee-licious!

INGREDIENTS

300g butter

125g caster sugar

125g soft dark brown sugar

225g golden syrup or treacle

725g plain flour

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

3 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

In a large saucepan, melt the butter together with the sugars and golden syrup or treacle. Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground ginger and cinnamon into a large bowl. Add the melted butter and sugar and mix together.

Knead the mixture for a few seconds until it comes together, adding a teaspoon or so of water if necessary, but without allowing it to get too wet. Flatten the dough slightly into a round about 2cm thick, wrap with cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

To make the gingerbread house, first make templates with paper to the following dimensions.

• Front and back panels 12.7 x 17.7cm.

• Two side panels 12.7 x 15.2cm.

• Two roof panels 10.7 x 17.7cm.

Place a sheet of baking paper on the work surface, dust with flour and roll out about one-quarter of the dough to 5mm thick. Place one of the paper templates on the dough and cut round with a sharp knife, then slide the dough, still on its baking paper, onto a baking tray. Repeat with remaining dough, re-rolling the trimmings, until you have a front and back wall, two side walls and two roof panels. Re-roll any leftover dough to make into Christmas trees or boys and girls. Carefully trim excess paper from around each piece on the baking trays.

Bake all the sections in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until slightly firmed and just a little darker at the edges. Remove from the oven and allow to sit for a few minutes on the baking trays to firm up. One by one, lift the pieces, still on the paper, and trim around the template to give clean, sharp edges. To make an open door for the house, cut one out of the front wall and cut out windows, if you wish. Place on a wire rack for a few

For the ‘glue’ and icing for the house:

2 egg whites

500g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

For decorating the house:

Hundreds and thousands

Chocolate buttons (milk and sugared chocolate)

M and Ms

Chocolate sprinkles (in different colours)

Flake bar for the chimney

Or any other sweets you wish

minutes, then turn over and peel off the trimmed paper. Leave all the pieces to cool completely.

Meanwhile, prepare a board for the house to sit on.

To make the icing ‘glue’ for the house, place the egg whites in a large bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then stir to make a thick, smooth icing. Spoon into a piping bag with a small, star-shaped nozzle.

To assemble the house, pipe generous lengths of icing along the vertical wall edges, one by one, to join the walls together. Using a bowl or some other object or objects to support the walls from the inside, hold the walls gently in place with your hands until the icing is dry. Leave the roofless house to dry for at least 30 minutes until the icing is firmly set.

Once dry, remove the supports and pipe a thick line of icing along one long side of a roof piece and along the top edge of all the walls. Stick the two roof sections together at an angle and set the two pieces on top of the house. You can arrange the roof so that there is a slight overhang on either side of the house. Hold the roof gently in place for a few minutes until it dries, then leave it to dry for a further 30 minutes.

While the roof is drying, attach the door to the doorway - so that it looks slightly ajar - by running a line of icing glue down one side and along the base. Stick a small piece of a Flake bar onto the roof as a chimney.

Using the icing, pipe around the windows, and stick sweets around the door and on the front of the house.

Using the icing, stick milk chocolate and sugared buttons onto the roof for tiles. Glue the gingerbread trees or boys and girls around the house, then scatter the board with sugar strands.

Modified from: www.rachelallen.co.uk

Thumbs of Truth

A clever deduction through anatomical analysis helps discover the truth in this short story

BY GEORGE THAKUR

“Now, I will ask both of you to explain separately, so I may reach a conclusion,” advised the Judge. “Ms. Reybolds, you go first.”

“Your Honour, when this man moved into the apartment next to mine, I welcomed him to the block, introduced myself and offered to help him settle down,” related a composed Ms. Reybolds. “But once when I was inside his apartment, this monster held me against my will and asked me to sleep with him. I vehemently declined, and anticipating danger, I made my escape as fast as possible!”

“That’s a lie, Your Honour!” cried Mr. Silverton, agitatedly. “I did not want her help, but she insisted so that she could enter my apartment. Instead of helping me as she states, she held me and asked me for youknow-what. I declined, and told her I already had a girlfriend I was marrying in a month. Somehow I managed to get rid of her, but whenever I met her by chance she would ask me to reconsider her proposal which, she promised, would be highly enjoyable.”

“That is a fabrication of facts, Your Honour! This freak entertained wicked

intentions on me since we first met!” exclaimed Ms. Reybolds angrily. “He actually forced himself inside my apartment and sexually assaulted me!” She pulled out a blouse from her bag and displayed it. A distinct imprint of two hands over where her breasts should have been was revealed, with the thumbs on the outside and upwards, and the fingers splayed outwards from the middle. “This imprint, Your Honour, corroborates my story,” she said meaningfully.

“Your Honour, I entered her apartment to save her life after she rushed into the corridor outside her apartment shouting that there was a snake in her bedroom,” Mr. Silverton explained. “I would never enter this depraved woman’s apartment for any reason other than to save a life!”

“Those imprints on her blouse, Mr. Silverton, speak volumes of a strong man’s ill-intent to abuse a beautiful, tender woman,” the Judge said, looking concerned. “How do you explain those prints?”

“Those are not my prints, Your Honour!” protested Mr. Silverton. “When I was inside her apartment, she handed me a stick with which I could tackle the snake. In her bedroom I noticed that the lower half of the stick had red paint on it, which was now on my hands. At that time she told me that she had made up the snake story as a pretext to get me inside her apartment for only one

purpose.”

“This man is telling stories to get out of the jam he is in, Your Honour! Who knows how many other women has he abused,” barked Ms. Reybolds. “There was no snake, and I never offered him a stick with paint on it; most probably he was painting something in his apartment before he barged into mine!”

“Ms. Reybolds,” said the Judge softly. “Please tell me exactly what happened from the time Mr. Silverton entered your apartment.”

“He knocked on my door, Your Honour. When I opened it, he forced himself inside, locked the door behind him, fixed his wicked eyes into my scared ones, and said something like: ‘We are going to have sex today!’ I was terrified,” she replied.

“No-o-o-o-o! That is not true!” cried Mr. Silverton.

“Silence!” admonished the judge. “Mr. Silverton, you must wait for your turn to speak.”

Turning to Ms. Reybolds, the judge said, “Let me clearly understand what happened. This man forced himself into your apartment, locked the door, approached you while speaking and directly touched you from the front. Would that assessment be accurate, Ms. Reybolds?”

“That assessment would be entirely accurate, Your Honour!” said Ms. Reybolds,

breathing an audible sigh of relief. “That’s when I noticed his hands were full of paint which became imprinted on my blouse. It’s irrevocable evidence.”

“Ms. Reybolds, if you view the imprint on the blouse, you will realise that the thumb imprints are on the outside and pointing upwards, while the fingers are in the middle,” said the Judge quietly and determinedly. “If Mr. Silverton had touched your breasts from the front as you claim, the imprint of his hands would show the two thumb prints facing each other between your breasts and his fingerprints would be on the outside. The evidence is irrevocable and categorically proves that the imprint was made by a woman scorned, who chose to incriminate an innocent man!”

Somehow I managed to get rid of her, but whenever I met her by chance she would ask me to reconsider her proposal which, she promised, would be highly enjoyable (Mr. Silverton)

The shire of humanity

BY RANI JHALA

Exhausted after a difficult day, Elizabeth Sealy seated herself in front of the TV. She enjoyed her work, but there was no challenge left in it. She fought her cases and won most; then she came home tired to her cup of tea and her favourite shows.

Just as always, the news anchor informed the masses of the day’s happenings. Yesterday’s news, revamped as today’s headlines. But this evening, the scene that unfolded caught her attention. A meeting at a local town had been filmed. Agitated voices expressed arguments. But Elizabeth was a lawyer, an extremely successful one. And what she heard over the din was a desire to hold on to the past by some, and a fear of changes that the future would bring, by others.

The meeting had been called by the local council, in the hope of bringing about an amicable solution. On the one side stood the local residents, on the other side were the neolocals from a diverse faith. One did not want a new shire; the other was desperate to have a place of worship. One feared their culture would get eradicated, the other hoping to hold on to a part of theirs. One lot did not want any changes in their country, the other lot hoped to keep up with the changes that were already in progress. The first feared their religion would be overtaken, the second feared theirs would be lost. But underlying all these varied emotions was the need to stay true to faiths, and a struggle to understand the true meaning of multiculturalism.

As expected, the meeting did not produce a solution. The council became wary of giving approval and the meeting ended with ‘no conclusions’.

And then Elizabeth saw him. The tall man wearing immaculate clothing, making his way slowly, to the front of the crowd, shaking hands with those he passed. Both sides were known to him, both sides received acknowledgements. As he said goodbye to the local leader, the camera picked up on the leader’s comment, “Ash, this is not personal. But a precedent will be set, and we fear that the changes that will come will be undesirable. There will be the unavoidable increase in traffic, the demand for more amenities and conveniences. Our domestic neighbourhood will become a thoroughfare for visitors. We don’t want to see our beautiful community tear each other apart when problems occur, and they will. There will always be a clash of cultures.”

Calmly the man replied, “I understand that fear, but pushing the problem onto another suburb or community cannot be the answer either. If you let us be in residence, then you must give us the privilege to worship without having to travel to the ends of the earth.”

At that moment Elizabeth knew that this was the calling she had been waiting for! Secure in her personal belief, unthreatened by moral dominance and secular in her religious views, she rang the TV station. By the next afternoon she had made contact with Ash and they met over coffee.

She convinced him, that discussions do not change history. Only the law has the power to do that. She offered to be their representative. She assured him of her support.

During the next six months they met daily. She learnt of his beliefs, he read up on hers. She fought his verbal battles, he wrote the emotional pleas. But the path they had taken was a difficult one, emotional and soul-searing; it called for fortitude and demanded perseverance. If anything blossomed in those difficult days, it was love between two people, so different by birth, so similar in view.

Finally the day in court arrived. It had been Elizabeth’s idea to tell Ash’s story. She had said,

“It is not enough to just feel, you must make others feel. You must tell them what you have told me and what your heart tells you every day.” And so Ash’s life became the first exhibit.

“This is Ash’s adopted country and he remains loyal to it. Proud of the land that gave him birth and glad for the opportunity to be linked to both. He gave up the language of his birth so that he could learn the language of this land. He changed his name, from Ashwant to Ash, so he could blend in.

When you go to another country, it is your duty to accept their rules, to embrace their principles and forge bonds with their citizens. At the same time, when a country accepts you, it is their duty to welcome you, to bridge friendships and to tolerate differences.

What we are asking for, is not to change what exists now. What exists here, is what attracted most migrants in the first place. Materialistic and emotional values can be adapted or compromised for a greater cause, but the spiritual need of man, asks to be met. Yes, he goes to churches, mosques and temples. Yes, he says prayers of different faiths. But on three occasions, only your own religion can perform the rites - at birth, marriage and death. You need a place for that to happen. You need a ‘shire’ for salvation.

True he can drive two hours to an outer suburb, away from ‘native’ places of worship. But how practical would that be with infants and the elderly. How fair would that be, between residents?

The laws of this land will not be broken. The place of worship is for peaceful congregations. All they ask is the right to have a place to worship.

Ash came from a land which was historically invaded. Each brought their faith, and the forced conversions. But neither was the culture nor the religion lost. Even today those that believed, continue to believe.

Yes, society changes, but time does that, nor particular ‘people’. Fear of that change is stillchanging things!”

Elizabeth won for them, their battle. She gave Ash, the ‘Shire of Humanity’. A year later the Shire was standing and at the inauguration, Elizabeth was asked to do the honours. During his opening speech, Ash spoke of the person who was most responsible - Elizabeth Sealy, and dedicated these words to her, “We shall always be indebted to a woman who fought for a cause that was not hers, for a religion she did not belong to, and a people, who were alien.”

This is a work of fiction; however, it is dedicated to a Sydney woman who helped a group of new Australians secure a place of worship for their faith

Fighting for a cause that is not of one’s understanding or belief simply because it is represents the rights of an individual, is a tough challenge

Materialistic and emotional values can be adapted or compromised for a greater cause, but the spiritual need of man, asks to be met.

Biwi or billi?

Dear Auntyji

Some weeks back I wrote to you and told you about this wonderful man I met, who is perfect in every way, but has a strange relationship with his cat. He seems to obsessively love his tirchi ankhon wali, and at first, I thought I would live with him and see what happened. If you recall, I said I disliked cats. Well, now I have developed an allergy to the billi rani and I scratch and itch like I’m a lifelong user of dope. What to do now Auntyji, what to do now? Neel loves the cat and wants a doctor’s opinion that I have an allergy. He says he cannot understand how I can just suddenly develop this condition. I need your help.

Confused Cat-hater

Auntyji says

Oh, you poor little chuhi, I totally sympathize with you. Now you might say that Neel is wonderfully perfect, but listen to me you little nadaan, the man prefers his billi over you. If he loved you, he would realise that you have an allergy and would re-home the cat. But there is none of that happening. In fact, he has demanded a doctor’s certificate, as though you were a recalcitrant schoolgirl who

Ask Auntyji

was psychosomatically manifesting these symptoms to get rid of the puss. So, move out. It’s quite simple. The namard prefers his billi rani over you, and I’d like to see what happens when the cat dies in a few years. So, cut your losses and move on. Your health is too important, and that billi is just too much trouble. And do you know what dadimas used to say in the olden days? That if you eat a cat’s fur, you will get asthma. So don’t wait to add wheezing and sneezing to the itching and scratching. Bid the man hasta la vista baby and find yourself another man. A real man, for a change!

Work woes

Dear Auntyji

I started a new job and I was so

Matrimonials

SEEKING BRIDES

A ustralia settled Gursikh, 25 years, 6 feet, slim and healthy, working as a physiotherapist from a well established Khatri family of Mohali India, seeks good natured, qualified, professional match. Tel: 0412 268 568, pacifichighway@optusnet.com.au

Punjabi Brahmin, 30 years, 6 feet, fair, handsome, double degree holder, Reigistered Nurse, Australian citizen of Sydney. Seeking a suitable match of honest girl with good family values. Cast no bar. Please reply with photo and details amit4012@hotmail.com or call 0431 647 402.

Seeking an alliance for Valmiki boy, 36, 5’8”, very well educated, LLB, MIB(AUS) government employee, Australian citizen. Parents are seeking a well educated, homely girl with traditional values. Caste no bar. Respond with photo and complete bio on valmikiboy@hotmail.com or call 0431 159 221.

Match for Melbourne-resident never-married Arora boy, self employed, earning good money, dob 30-08-1977, 5′-5″, smart features, fair colour, open minded. Caste no bar. Girl’s merit main consideration. Respond with photo, education and professional details to email: sachdevasunil30@gmail.com or call 0401 408 211. Boy is in Chandigarh, India for next 10 days.

Rueful rejection

Dear Auntyji

I really like this girl and want to ask her out. But she is soooo beautiful I am scared she might say no. What should I do? Affection affliction

excited by it. But now it’s not what I thought it would be. What to do?

I have a mortgage. The company is very small, my boss is mean and my co-workers and rude and lazy. Plus the work is boring. But it pays well. Exasperated employee

Auntyji says

Life is too short; go find yourself another job, Exasperated Employee. Unemployment is fairly low in this country. If you’re good, you should be able to find one easily. Of course, if you’re lazy, have a crap work ethic, abuse company resources, are rude to co-workers, dump your dirty dishes in the communal kitchen and don’t wash up, then you deserve what you’ve got and you need to stay there. Karma is teaching you a lesson.

Auntyji says

Your email makes me wonder if you’re a hideous little dwarf with garlic and tandoori breath who is totally repellant to women. Well, if you’re going to be a little chuha all your life, you will never get what you want. Be a man, go on and ask her out. She will probably be so surprised, she might just say yes. Of course, if you are a kaala bouna as described, I suggest you go out and find yourself a little kaali bouni No point in setting yourself up for a fall, I say. Let me know how you go.

Indian man, university educated, Government occupation, mid 40s, seeks honest Indian /Fiji Indian lady for marriage. Please call 0404 263 400 or email tamavu@hotmail.com

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

Alliance invited for a good looking Tamil Christian girl (CSI Protestant), 28 years, 5’7” Engineering professional working for a European company at Chennai (currently in Holland). Seeks Christian professional of good family background. Contact details 0458 788 869; fredrick.samuel@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 with 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

have a question for Auntyji?

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 to.sweet@ hotmail.com.

Well established Indian Hindu family from Fiji living permanently in Melbourne seek a professionally qualified boy with good career background for their daughter 28+. Five feet tall, medium complexion, slim, attractive, Australian born, University graduate. Please send in absolute confidence your biodata, telephone number, recent photograph and email address to The Advertiser, PO Box 339, Naree Warren South, 3805.

Looking for a suitable match for Hindu girl, 29 years (Aust citizen), 5’8”, working in Sydney. Seeking a sensible, educated and broadminded person, preferably settled in Sydney, age between 30-34, caste no bar. Send details and recent photo at matrimony513@hotmail.com

Seeking match for Agarwal girl, 24 years old, 5’4″, very beautiful girl, born and raised in India, family well settled in Sydney. Graduate in commerce and completed PG Diploma in Banking and Finance from IFBI. Seeking professional match with good family background. Early marriage. Prefer Agarwal, Hindu boy. Contact: 0401 44 8186 / 91- 9849728729 or email: giri32@yahoo.com.au.

Do

Alliances invited for Sikh Jassal girl, 27, 5’, Registered Dentist in NZ practicing in Auckland, Permanent Resident. Clean shaven preferred. Caste no bar. Eligible to practice as dentist in Australia also. Contact: litledocship3@gmail.com Ph: 0064-92766 519, 0064-21106-2734

Seeking match for Sidhu Jat Sikh beautiful girl, 23 years old, height 5’ 6”, doing B.Sc Post Basic Nursing final. Raised with Indian values, in a very well settled family in India. Both her grandfathers are retired Colonels from the Indian Army. Father is a serving commander in the Indian Navy; mother was the principal of a Teachers Training College in Karnal. Seeking a decent match with a loving family background. Reply with bio-data. Early marriage. Email: matchsidhu@gmail.com

Jat Sikh parents seeking professionally qualified well settled match for their Australian citizen daughter, 32, 5’4”, slim, beautiful, intelligent and family oriented. Highly qualified with two Masters degrees in IT and Information Systems. Working as an Administration Manager in a leading MNC in Sydney. Upper caste no bar. Please send full bio-data & recent pictures to matrimony8491@ yahoo.com.au

Tarot ‘n’ You Tarot ‘n’ You

Tarot predictions for February 2010

Tarot predictions for December 2010

ARIES March 21 - April 19

This month will be a very positive one with work and business partnerships. Work will get a lot better and personal life will be passionate and funfilled with the possibility of a new romance or deeper feelings within your existing relationship. There will be a lot of flirtation, so be careful of an office colleague trying to get too friendly. Travel and communications will be strong. Now is the time to put plans into practice for the coming year. Beware of stomach ailments.

TAURUS April 20 - May 20

You will be able to make major changes in your life this month. You will be very enthusiastic and must remember to keep yourself balanced with feet firmly on the ground. Mid-month will be right for solving any longstanding issues and problems faced. Those in a relationship should devote more time to their partner and a short holiday together will lead to a passionate and sensuous time ahead. Those who are single will have a chance to get to know someone better.

GEMINI May 21 - June 20

This month is a time to complete all projects and make sure that recent success is maintained. There are a lot of positive changes with more travelling and gain in finances, and some professional and business rivalry. There may be news of the birth of a child and also of a marriage. Devote time to loved ones and give space to those who need it. Keep an eye on your weight this month, as you may have gained a few pounds.

CANCER June 21 - July 22

There seems to be a lack of concentration around work because of issues arising around you and your family. Don’t be arrogant or lazy, as you should not lose any contacts or contracts. There will be important decisions to make in the first couple of weeks in December. Look up old friends and build relationships with people you work with. There will be a lot of socializing either for work or pleasure. For the workaholics, take time out to relax and have fun.

LEO July 23 - August 22

This month, you will have a lot on your mind. You will have some difficulties in relationships and if separated, will finally be reunited, with the relationship taking on a deeper understanding. Work will steadily progress and you will need to make some decisions around a new job or business. Financial gain may happen around a planned move or purchase of property. You may also start a short course to pursue artistic talents, or learn a new style of dance or language.

VIRGO August 23 - September 22

WThis is a month of gathering strength and making dreams come true. You have ideas around work and business, but have put things on hold. Look at your future very seriously, and as the year ends you will have plans which will affect your personal and work life. If not working, you may do something to keep busy. You need security and stability, which are paramount this month. There is a chance of an engagement. Single Virgos will have a fun time.

LIBRA September 23 - October 22

By NANCY SOOD

This month will be very varied and challenging. You may have been feeling a little down lately. Financial strains and problems either around you or with someone dear will trouble you. There seems to be some minor disagreement between you and a loved one. There may be some delays with documents or important matters, or with travel and trips. You will have some amazing ideas this month, which you should pursue and make changes in the coming months.

SCORPIO October 23 - November 21

This past year has seen an increase in your popularity. This month will be busy with work and life. You may have had a slight health setback as recovery is indicated here. Caution is needed whilst driving, as your attention may not be that sharp this month. You may have to choose between an old love and a new relationship. There may be some unexpected expenditures relating to family or children. Take care of your possessions, as carelessness is indicated.

SAGITTARIUS November 22 - December 21

You may have purchased a new property this year, so there is a lot of expenditure. You may feel lethargic and lazy, exhausted from recent events. Your love life will be important, and you will put a lot of energy into harmony and peace. Work may take a back seat as you better things on the home front. Your enthusiasm for work will return once you feel settled and happy with your relationships. Make sure you have your eyesight checked this month.

CAPRICORN December 22 - January 19

This month is about making decisions about your life path, and filled with ideas and decisions around home and family. Work will be busy and challenging. You will feel more settled within yourself, but emotionally you have been on a rollercoaster ride for most of the year, not knowing where you are going. Decisions have to be made about affairs of the heart and you are awaiting news which will help you decide what to do. Travel is indicated. Look after your knees.

AQUARIUS January 20 - February 18

You feel quite exhausted and drained this month. Work and family have been a balancing act for you. You will make peace with a member of your extended family on disagreements relating to property matters or money. You may have suffered sleepless nights lately, as you are worrying about things and are not able to relax. Travel will be connected to work and you will feel very pleased with the results. Work will get busier. Be careful whilst walking.

PISCES February 19 - March 20

This month sees the resolution of any problems faced with colleagues. There may be legal matters around you that will come to an end in your favour with financial gain. There may be news of an engagement in your family. An elderly member of your family may be going through some minor health issues and needs to be checked up. The past will hover around, and you need to let go of something that has disturbed or upset you.

BUZZThe

Pam shops for vegan shoes in Mumbai

Apart from saris, suits and Indian spices, former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, a strict vegan, also took away a bagful of nonleather shoes made by Indian designer Rina Shah, back home to the US.

During her short visit to India for reality show Bigg Boss 4 , Anderson took time out to arrange a variety of vegan shoes to be brought to her in Lonavala. Anderson loved Shah’s leather-free shoes so much that she took a suitcase full of them back with her, says a source.

Shah’s label, Rinaldi Designs, is popular for shoes, belts and bags made of non-leather material. Earlier this year, Shah also presented a pair of vegan shoes to Hollywood star and animal activist Natalie Portman in celebration of the actor’s 29th birthday.

Like Shah, Anderson is a long-time supporter of People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and animal rights. She even wrote a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to ban leather trade in India. Well, at least we can hope to see Pam in decent footwear, never mind the clothes!

promotion. One is only talking about the commercial side of cinema, not the creative

Sheila ki Jawaani for her upcoming film

Festival of India (IFFI), Palekar said regional cinema has contributed “nicely and strongly” towards the palette of Indian cinema.

“When Hindi films are made, one looks at a wider market, the masses. These heap pressures on the minds of the filmmakers. Will it appeal to everyone?” said Palekar, who has revived regional Marathi cinema in the recent past.

“And then there are the budgets. I am not saying they are bad, but then no one wants to take risks with such huge budgets. There is only talk of Rs 40 or Rs 50 crore film with a budget of Rs 20 crore for

The actor of classic comic yesteryear Chhoti si Baat said that relatively sober-budgeted regional cinema could afford to take risks and experiment because it was not buoyed down by tons of money.

“Indian cinema is not only Bollywood. Regional cinema has contributed nicely and strongly into making Indian cinema what it is,” said Palekar who has directed critically acclaimed movies like Anahat, Thoda Sa Rumani Ho Jayen, Daayraa and Samantar

Palekar also described his latest film Dhoosar which deals with Alzheimer’s disease surrounding the relationship of a mother and daughter. The film, according to him has been shot almost entirely in Goa.

Kat’s cool with raunchy

Katrina Kaif’s sizzling item number

Tees Maar Khan is one of the raunchiest she has ever shot, according to the sexy actress. “The exposure in the song is more about attitude and I was specific about it,” she says. “It is about dancing without inhibitions.”

Now Kat went all out to perform the number, viewing song numbers and item dances from a series of earlier films featuring the likes of Madhuri Dixit. But Kat is quick to point out that she had no intention of imitating or emulating the actress, all she wanted was to see and experience the joy and abandon La Dixit portrays through her dance. And of course, it was impressive.

Tees Maar Khan is an action comedy starring Akshay Kapoor and Kat in the lead, with Akshaye Khanna in a cameo. Salman K and Anil K have made special appearances too. So it should be worth seeing, if only for Kat shaking her booty!

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

She shaved off all her hair for a film role

PAMELA ANDERSON

Mayawati inspires Neha Dhupia

Actress Neha Dhupia says she took inspiration from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati to get her regional dialect right for her role of a female gangster in upcoming comedy Phas Gaye Re Obama . “As I play a gangster from UP in the film, I had to get that language right and so I observed Mayawati to learn how she speaks. She is the only woman whose dialect, whether she is serious or funny, is extremely monotonous. So I have tried to incorporate this in my character. However, my character is not inspired by her,” Neha said recently in an interview. Which obviously, is the diplomatic thing to say, as Mayawati wouldn’t be thrilled to know that she was being observed for her gangsterlike qualities.

The actress is promoting her new film along with co-stars Rajat Kapoor, Sanjay Karan Johar. Abhishek feels that Big B’s film shouldn’t be remade frame by frame, as it would put huge pressure on the new actor.

“I think with Pa, you should not remake his film directly scene by scene because he is too iconic an actor. I feel that about most iconic actors. I feel it becomes a huge burden for the new actor to do. You should have a different perspective on it, like when Shah Rukh Khan did Don , it was a completely different perspective of the original one,” Abhishek said.

Abhishek rubbished all speculations that he was approached with the role before Hrithik. “I was never

asked,” he clarified. Considering Hrithik’s acting talent, do you think he’ll give the Big B a run for his money with Agneepath ? I guess not…

A fromjhalak Madhuri’s life

From dancing queen to dancing mum, Madhuri’s love affair with Bollywood is still far from ended. Her last outing Aaja Nachle may have failed and she may be based in the US, but that’s not stopping Bollywood’s dancing scripts. However, she has no plans on staying for too long.

“I send my kids to school, prepare breakfast, shop for vegetables, drop and pick them from school and all those things. I can do one film or one show and return, but I can’t take up too much at the moment,” she

Even her sons appreciate her songs. “My too. When I was coming to India for , they were very excited and said - ‘Will we see you on TV?’. And I was like, ‘Yes, you will!’” she confides. Age has not touched La Dixit. She is fit as a fiddle and her grace, personality, smile and aura are as youthful as ever. With her kind of looks, no wonder most present day actresses don’t cringe before saying, “ Main

What’s Deepika Padukone saying here?

MADHURI DIXIT

NEHA DHUPIA

AMOL PALEKAR

KATRINA KAIF

What’s Farah Khan whispering to husband Shirish Kunder?

Cine Talk

The ultimate teenage rom-com

Film: Break Ke Baad

Cast: Imran Khan, Deepika Padukone, Sharmila Tagore, Lillete Dubey, Shahana Goswami, Navin Nischol, Yudhistir Urs

Writer-Director: Danish Aslam

Bollywood has a sub-genre of romanticcomedies meant for urban, chic teenagers, first pioneered with its full frontal glory by our very own coffee drinking Karan Johar. These films, and the people that inhabit it, are nothing like you have ever known, or are ever likely to know. But the reality inside it is so glossy and Cinderella-like that everyone aspires for this free floating, un-rooted, but super fun unreality.

Break Ke Baad is a fun example of that.

Aaliya (Deepika Padukone) and Abhay (Imran Khan) are childhood sweethearts whose sweet course of sugarcane love encounters the roadblock of youthful ambition. Aaliya, a fiercely independent, risktaking person decides to go to Australia to pursue her acting ambition, thus breaking the relationship. Both make mistakes, but eventually discover themselves only to realize that it’s not that easy to say ‘talaq’ to a love that has now matured.

Break Ke Baad is the ultimate, teenage, escape, love fantasy of 2010, much like Jaane Tu… in 2008 and Love Aaj Kal in 2009. These films create a magical world in which almost everything happens coincidentally, but ultimately all loose ends are tied up perfectly, so that all that you see makes sense. But we know that such a mythical unreality can exist only in Bollywood.

Yet, the film is good in its own sub-genre. The strongest part of the film is a wellbaked script; the tight, crisp, contemporary

(thankfully!) and often rooted dialogues of Renuka Kunzru are funny at times, and profound in a cliched way at others.

Yet the film will never make it to the annals of Bollywood greats. It does not have either the cuteness of Aamir Khan’s launch vehicle Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, or the undertone of class struggle depicted with extreme melodrama in Maine Pyaar Kiya; the overtone of struggle against tradition of Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge or the excessive sugar-pulp

and totally nonexistent reality of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (KKHH) - a film which this one pays hearty tributes to.

The conflict is mostly in the minds of the protagonist, and not real. Ironically its fault would perhaps be that it is not unreal enough like KKHH

Though the characterizations, at least in the beginning and in a few side characters, have the smell (or stench if you consider the escapist drama) of reality, it flies off

Another look at life on the street

Film: AllahKeBanday

Starring: Naseeruddin Shah, Sharman Joshi, Faruk Kabir, Anjana Sukhani, Atul Kulkarni

Directed by: Faruk Kabir

A feeling of foreboding and damnation builds up in the narration from the very first frame in this film. Here’s a gloriously gutsy film exploring the underbelly of Mumbai through the lives of two slum kids who grow up in identical circumstances, but with somewhat disparate values.

First-time director Faruk Kabir displays remarkable skill in creating a pastiche of mammoth crime and little punishment. The pace leaves meagre space for grace. And yet Allah Ke Banday creates a world filled with acute aggression, repression and damnation with a reasonable amount of paciness to the edgy narrative.

The world that Faruk Kabir’s characters inhabit is reminiscent of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire , Irrfan

Kamal’s underrated Thanks, Maa , Mahesh Manjrekar’s City Of Gold and Chandan Arora’s Striker. Deriving its lingering study of juvenile delinquency from these sources Allah Ke Banday moves forward and acquires a life of its own.

The gripping narrative takes us through the world of petty crime and underage lawlessness non-judgementally. Faruk Kabir’s deeply-felt concern for children who dodder dangerously on the edge of society is never overdone. The director creates a world of uncertainties with unwavering confidence.

The nervous anxiety of the characters is rather aptly replicated in the film’s rough and unvarnished look.

Kabir’s cameraman Vishal Sinha goes through the rugged merciless slums searching for only Allah-knows-what. The actors wear their unwashed demeanour casually, so much so that at times we forget the existence of the camera. At the same time, there are uneven sections in the narrative that mar what could otherwise have been a standout exposition on the genesis of social outcasts.

Sharman Joshi and Faruk Kabir play the two driving forces of the plot with a deep understanding of their characters and the milieu. Both seem to have got right their characters’ physicality, and then proceed to explore their

to KKHH land. At least the old films were caricatures, exaggerations of people you would have encountered somewhere. No such luck with Break Ke Baad

But it is fodder for teen fantasy, seeped in the dual confusion of maturing while finding true love. It’s over two-hour ride is fun, full time-pass and paisa vasool.

amount of compelling confidence.

The others in the cast merge into the relentless milieu. As usual, the extraordinarily brilliant Naseeruddin Shah is under-used. Whenever he shows up on screen, an extra dimension is effortlessly added to the proceedings.

Notches above the run-of-the-mill entertainer, there is genuine concern for juvenile delinquency here. Life on the streets never looked more dangerous and less glamorous. This time, crime is not glorified. Thank god for small mercies.

Subhash K. Jha

Satyen K. Bordoloi

Film: Guzaarish

Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Aishwarya Rai, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Monikangana Dutta, Suhel Seth

Directed by: Sanjay Leela Bhansali

Breathe a sigh of relief. During a year when cacophonic crassness masquerading as comic entertainment has been sanctioned by critics and the masses, Guzaarish comes along to remind us that excellence is alive in our cinema.

Ironically this wonderful work of art, nuanced and magical in its portrayal of an unstoppable spirit’s quest to juice life to its fullest, is about dying. If the journey towards death in art can be so mystically explored, then let’s embrace mortality as a stepping stone to immortality and a film about dying as a sign of cinema not dying on us. Not yet.

Only those who suffer the numbing pain of isolation would know what it feels like. Dilip Kumar in Devdas, Guru Dutt in Pyasa, Meena Kumari in Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam and Nutan in Bandini communicated to the audience the indescribable pain of solitude.

Ethan, as played by Hrithik Roshan in Guzaarish, is so bemused by adversity that he can actually look at his own suffering with

Big, beautiful, dazzling

Not Bhansali’s cinema. Played at the highest possible scale, his drama unfolds in wave after wave of rapturous splendour. His characters occupy a space that defies definition and seduces audiences into celebrating a state of sublimity and splendour. Ethan’s inert physicality is alchemized into an ambience of animated joy. His spirit dances and sings at the sheer pleasure of every moment that is given to him to live. He radiates joy. We feel his profound happiness at the gift of life.

No film in living memory has brought out the sheer blessing of being alive with such spirit and glory. While Shah Rukh Khan’s Devdas in Bhansali’s opulent opera was a character broken in spirit, Hrithik’s Ethan in Guzaarish is irreparably damaged in body. But his spirit soars, his eyes light up like thousands of stars every time Sophie walks in.

That Sophie is played by Aishwarya Rai is a stroke of genius that goes a long way in giving Guzaarish its flavour of exceptional elegance. No other director brings out the quiet grace

gentle smiles and hints of a smothered passion that could erupt any time, if only destiny didn’t choose to be so mean to the spirited.

The scenes between Ethan and Sophie, the backbone of Ethan’s spine-challenged life, radiate an inner beauty and wisdom and underline the director’s enormous understanding of the self-negation that a love relationship requires.

Guzaarish is Bhansali’s most tender and evocative film to date. It layers the pain of a dying body with the passion of an unstoppable spirit as manifested in Hrithik’s skilled and effortless performance as a quadriplegic who pledges to make every moment of his limited “sau gram zindagi” pleasurable for himself and those around him.

Barring Amitabh Bachchan in Black there has never been a better performance in a Bhansali film than Hrithik’s in Guzaarish. He grabs Ethan’s role and makes the dying character come alive in delightful waves of provocative histrionics. And if we’re talking chemistry

of celebrating life. Monikangna Dutt is a looker. the proceedings. Suhel Seth, Shernaaz Patel and Rajit Kapur also make a lingering impact in a film that you carry home with you in an inviolable place in your heart.

A word about Bhansali’s music score. The songs communicate the rich tapestried emotions of lives that are determined to smile through an extraordinary tragedy. Every piece of music and song in Guzaarish echoes the film’s incandescent soul.

The film’s technical excellence, particularly Sudeep Chatterjee’s cinematography, is not dazzling and flamboyant in the way it was in Devdas. In Guzaarish, the appeal is far more delicate and subtle. The deep but sober colours on screen reach out to you to enrich your life in ways that cinema was always meant to, until it was waylaid by the hooligans and imposters posing as filmmakers.

Guzaarish is the real thing. A big, beautiful, dazzling emotional movie experience. You won’t see a better film this year.

Subhash K. Jha

KNOW THYSELF AS SOUL

Sant Mat is a practical spiritual path based on meditation, ethical living, service to others & love for all creation. Its goal is to enable the soul to return & merge into its source; the purpose of human life described by mystics of all traditions. Discipline & dedication are essential, as is the help of a competent living master. Entry is via a preparation program. There is no charge at any stage.

What’s with the bag?

BY LP AYER

That does it! Sunil Gautam’s lowdown on women’s footwear and Rajni’s rejoinder (Indian Link November 1 issue) has ignited a fuse dormant in me for long. I can’t wait anymore to write on a subject that has been weighing on my mind and taxing my brain for quite some time now. Yes, it is the handbags – the mega sized ones women carry.

We men never dare to question the need for our opposite numbers to carry a handbag. Unlike us males who don’t mind looking uncouth even at best of times, women are conscious of their countenance twenty-five hours of the day. Some of them wake up in the middle of the night to touch up their make-up before going back to sleep. So there can be no question that they need to carry a few items - a coloured wax stick to make languid lips look luscious, black pencil to adjust arches above the brows and a couple of other things to spruce up skin tone, enhance eyelashes, etc. Some sanitary pieces are standard items for obvious reasons. All these can easily be ensconced in a paperback size pouch. Or in a golden Glomesh of yester year. So why on earth do most women now carry such huge handbags that will swallow everything except the kitchen sink. I do suspect they carry not a sink but a washbasin, so that they can avoid the inconvenience of a long wait in public conveniences.

Look at Liz whose ancestors once carried on their shoulders half of the planet. But our dear Queen has a bag only half the size of her corgi, daintily dangling from her elbow. Does the lady from Bucks buck the current trend? If a woman of such great pomp can manage with a tiny tote, why do our women carry queen-size bags? What do they carry in them? I feel like screaming, even at the risk of being

branded a perv. I am not, I assure you, I’m just plain curious. My ignorance is due to the fact that MOH (my other half) still carries only an airline ticket folder-size bag in leather or leather-like material. She is a proud possessor of a pearly Glomesh pouch as well.

According to unofficial research, those toffs trundling large treasure (and trash) troves want the size of their bags to match their ego. Besides, the bags must bear brand names as pouches of pedigree, with bells and whistles to boot. Designer names are dime a dozen in this domain of handbags - from Armani to Zak and every alphabet in between. You can be assured of a good giggle when you google to read the description of the brand names. One of them, Mui Mui sounds like it is made of moggy’s fur. If you want to see them all in one location, any large street market in China is your best bet. After all, it is where most of them are made like most other designer stuff. And one more thing. No woman is satisfied with just one bag for all occasions. It is a case of one size doesn’t fit all. There should be one in every shade to go with the gear they wear and also match the mood of the moment. Still, bags come only second to shoes in a well-stocked wardrobe. So let’s not bag those ladies who have more than one. According to a recent research paper, psychologists can tell the character of a person from the contents of her bag. Rumour has it that offices employing a large number of women are considering placing a measuring basket, as seen

near airline check-ins, to limit handbag size as the extra space they occupy costs more in rental. They also want to use that as an excuse to pay women less than their male coworkers. No doubt women of the world will weld together to ward off anyone bagging them, and eventually carry the day.

Sunil, following your footsteps on your fancy footwear feature, I would like to see if the bag issue attracts a rejoinder.

It’s in the bag!

They may not fit into the average male’s concept of a petite purse, but big, beautiful handbags are making more than a fashion statement today

BY SHERYL DIXIT

Okay, so the trend of the day for us women is to carry around something that looks like a small sack that Santa would lug in these thrifty days. And just like Santa, this tan receptacle (also available in green, purple and enticing shades of gold) is full of goodies. Like your designer sunglasses, which you refuse to stick into the pocket your slacks, for fear that it will mar the lines of the garment and make you look more daggy. And those wet wipes which you need after spilling dal on your T-shirt at a restaurant. Also your phone and car keys which you’ve forgotten on the table at the same restaurant, as you make a dash for the door before we decide on a second dessert.

Are the kids hungry? Snacks are available 24/7, along with drinks, bottles and assorted toys for keeping them busy when you’re trying to have a prolonged adult conversation with your boss whom you’ve bumped into at that very restaurant (isn’t it popular?). How often have you heard those words that save your psyche from an onslaught of juvenile tantrums which always happen in public: it’s in my bag! And as the moment passes, you breathe a sigh of relief.

So why, you may ask, would the young, trendy, upbeat and

childless carry around those ungainly extravaganzas that are almost as large as themselves? Simply because you can conceal a whole wardrobe in them, which facilitates for a quick Cat Woman like change from professional to party animal on a Friday evening. And they can reach for anything, from that crucial bronze lip gloss to the handy contraceptive, simply by dipping into its mysterious depths. Handbags, like shoes, are an enigma for women and this current trend of voluptuous styling is available in Gucci, Prada, YSL, Bvlgari, Jimmy Choo…and they can’t be wrong, can they? Try fitting your universe in a little clutch bag and I’ll bet you’ll have a challenge on your hands.

And of course, there’s the Queen. Now Liz, as you familiarly call her, is a ‘little bag’ person, simply because she doesn’t ever need to hand Phil a tissue to rub that spot off his nose. Her corgis have their own entourage, so she doesn’t need to fit in a collapsible poop-scoop or doggiedoo plastic bags. But have you seen Margaret Thatcher in historic action with her bag, bopping a deserving journalist on the noggin? Or for that matter, Paris Hilton’s armwear? Everything’s in there, from six iPhones, three wallets full of credit cards, a three kg cosmetic clutch and her dog. That’s right, ‘big’ is the new ‘in’!

We women salute the gurus of style who decreed that handbags should be large and should actually serve a more domestic purpose than that of just looking good. They can be a weapon, a pillow, a bin and are a deterrent to pickpockets who will be unlikely to find your wallet among the rest of the debris.

So curb your secret envy that men are cursed with meagre accessories and leave us to our big, bulky, brawny, bold and beautiful bags!

This fad of women toting around large and ungainly handbags is a mystery that’s waiting to be solved