2011-06 Sydney (2)

INDIAN LINK

PUBLISHER

Pawan Luthra

EDITOR

Rajni Anand Luthra

ASSISTANT EDITORS

Sheryl Dixit, Gaurav Pandey

MELBOURNE

Preeti Jabbal CONTRIBUTORS

Usha Ramanujam Arvind, Noel G deSouza, Priyanka Tater, Malli Iyer, Deepa Gopinath, Petra O’Neill, Roy Lange, Dilip Jadeja, Sydney Srinivas, Sandip Hor, Saroja Srinivasan, Ritam Mitra, Sudha Natarajan, Minnal Khona

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Vivek Trivedi

02 9262 1766

ADVERTISING ASSISTANT

Drishya Sharma

02 9279 2004

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT

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Are Gillard’s days numbered?

There will be some very worried figures at the Labor Party headquarters with the constant low polling being achieved by both the party and the personal approval rating of its leader Julia Gillard. A recent poll showed the twoparty preferred vote being 59 percent for the Coalition and 41 percent for Labor. This would be disastrous for the ALP as they would be annihilated at the election with these numbers. Putting this into context, should this polling result be repeated at a general election, Tony Abbott’s Coalition will be holding 112 seats, Labor 35 and Independents three. The worry factor is that the last three polls all seem to be hovering around the same mark and in fact, the Labor position is getting worse.

There is a school of thought that come the carbon tax, the Gillard government will have something to fight for. Convincing people that paying more tax is good for them in order to win their support, is a dangerous strategy. Of course, this tax will have its compensation package but then to convince the inner city believers that this compensation package justifies switching off “bad behaviour” will be another war which the Gillard government will have to fight. Nature does not like vacuum and since Julia Gillard announced the carbon tax with no details, Tony Abbot has worked hard to fill that gap with his own spin on the carbon tax. And he has been very successful at it with hardly any debate

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

from the government. This lack of debate may be more deep rooted in the fact that it is widely rumoured that both Prime Minister Gillard and Treasurer Swan were part of the former PM Rudd’s kitchen cabinet which opposed imposition of the carbon tax. Now that they’ve had to move in this area due to their alliance with the Greens, they can mouth the words, yet do not have their heart in this fight.

Other than the carbon tax, Julia Gillard’s Malaysia solution for the asylum seekers is still to have any clarity around it; the watered down version of the mining tax is angering different members of the business community; there is much uncertainty about the export of live cattle to Indonesia, and the excursion in changes to the pokies in Australian clubs has not gone down well. All these seem to be the hallmarks of a CEO who has grand plans yet poor execution. The Indian students who suffered under the draconian changes to the education policies under Gillard’s term as education minister, will attest to the lack of consultation which the policy makers had with them. The changes to their visa requirements and to the education policies transformed the lives of tens

of thousands of these students without trying to find a more practical solution which could have protected some of the students already in the system. Gillard’s handling of the student issue was appalling and was but a precursor of her ability to find practical solutions under pressure.

As evidenced by lack of clarity on the issues as above, she has not been able to find workable solutions. One suspects that those in the ALP headquarters are watching the situation closely. One suspects also that they have a timeline in mind, perhaps with the goal being to be in government after the 2014 elections, albeit with a different leader. This December would be an interesting time in Canberra. The details and public perceptions of the carbon tax would have been polled a few times by then: if the results do not improve, then pressure will be on Gillard to resign and allow another of her colleagues to take over (Bill Shorten is a likely candidate) and work towards improving the party position in the following 20 months before the elections.

Perhaps Mahindra Singh Dhoni, as the captain of the visiting Indian cricket team, will not be shaking hands with Julia Gillard before the start of the cricket match with the Prime Ministers’ eleven in January 2012.

What’s On

SENIORS

Pennant Hills

Mon 27 June Sri Om Care is opening a new Day Centre of Seniors at Pennant Hills from11 am-2:30pm. Limited to 25 members only. For details call Jay Raman 0410 759 906.

SPIRITUAL

Chinmaya Mission Programs

Sunday 26 June Support study group for young adults on Bhagavad Geeta at Chinmaya Sannidhi from 5 pm. For details visit www.chinfo.org/courses/bhagavadgita

Saturday 2 to Sunday 3 July Teenage camp ‘You Ask, He Answers’ at Chinmaya Sannidhi Ashram. For registration call Neeraj Aggarwal on 0420 989 108. Last date Sunday 26 June.

Saturday 9 to Sunday 10 July Guru

Poornima Family Camp ‘Happiness Here and Here After’ at Bundilla Scouts Camp, Reilleys Rd, Winston Hills. For details call Uma on 0403 045 613. Last date Sunday 26 June.

Monday 11 to Monday 18 July Free Public Talks Dakshinamurthi Stotram by Brni Sujata Chaitanya each night at Chinmaya Sannidhi, 38 Carrington Road, Castle Hill from 7.30pm to 8.30pm.

Friday 15 July Launch of Bhagavad Gita Course by Pujya Swami Tejomayananda. For registration visit www.chinfo.org/courses/bhagavadgita

Friday 15 July ‘Guru Poornima Pooja’ at Chinmaya Sannidhi, 38 Carrington Road, Castle Hill from 8.30pm to 9.00pm.

Friday 29 July (8pm) to Saturday 30 July (6pm) Local Youth Camp ‘Step Up and Meet the Infinite’ for the age group 18-30 years at Chinmaya Sannidhi, 38 Carrington Road, Castle Hill. For registration call Saumya Kandoi on 0400 999 907 or Chinmaya Sannidhi on 02 8850 7400.

Friday 12 August (8pm) to Saturday 13 August (6pm) Ladies Retreat

‘Madhurashtakam - Discovering Your Inner Beauty’ at Chinmaya Sannidhi, 38 Carrington Road, Castle Hill. For registration call Mahal on 0411 899 554. Last date Monday 1 August.

Ramakrishna Sarada Vedanta Society of NSW activities

Sundays , Special Lecture Series

Celebrating 175th Birth Anniversary of Sri Ramakrishna, 10.40 am to 12noon at Vedanta Hall, 15 Liverpool Road, Croydon.

Sunday 3 July Sri Ramakrishna on the Importance of Holy Company in ‘Spiritual Life Talks’ by Mrs. Beatrice Johnson and Rev. Pravrajika Ajayaprana Mataji.

Sunday 24 July Universalism & Particularism: Aspects of Sri Ramakrishna’s Religious Teachings and Experiences. Talks by Prof. Raja Jayaraman and Rev.Pravrajika Ajayaprana Mataji.

Sunday 7 August Ramakrishna, the Spiritual Oasis. Talks by Cr.Larry Whipper and Rev. Pravrajika Ajayaprana Mataji

Sunday 28 August Sri Ramakrishna’s Advice to Householders. Talks by Dr. D.P.Chaudhri and Rev. Pravrajika

Ajayaprana Mataji

For details on above events call 9745 4320 or email vedantasyd@idx.com.au

Oonjal Seva

Sunday 26 June Oonjal Seva at Sri Om Adi Sakthi Ashram, 62, Kurrajong Crescent, Blacktown. Family Puja and Lighting of Lamps can be sponsored by donating $ 50 and $ 25 respectively. Net proceeds from this puja are utilised for providing nutrition, education and clothing of orphan and destitute children in India. For details contact the ashram on 9676 4061

FUNDRAISERS

Bollywood and the Jewels of Bengal Sun 24 July Avijit Sarkar and musicians of Jazba band present a music concert in aid of the Australian

Hindi Indian Associations Senior Citizens Group from 4 to 7pm. For details call Avijit Sarkar 0425 275 883.

Yaadon Ki Baarat

Saturday 20 August Vijay Jogia and Daxa Chauhan present a charity music night in aid of RAIN seniors group from 5:30 pm. Also featuring Bhangra, DJ music by Mayank and Dandiya Raas. For details call Rita Devmurari 022897665 or email sdevmurari@hotmail.com

STAGE

Dance

Saturday 25 June Lingalayam presents Kutrala Kuravanji, a dance drama relating the tale of an aristocratic young girl falling in love with God and her consultations with a Kuravanji, a soothsayer at Riverside Theatres, Cnr Church and Market Streets, Parramatta from 7 pm. For details call 8839 3399 or email anandavalli@lingalayam.com

Kavisammelan

Sunday 10 July Hasya Kavisammelan at Epping Leisure & Learning Centre, 1Chambers Court (Off Pembroke St.), Epping from 2.15 pm to 6pm India Club will be hosting the event. Well known poets from Sydney & beyond are coming to soak you in “Prem & Hasya Rason Ki Bauchhar” For booking call Shubha Kumar on 98731207/0402257588.

A Little Room

24 June – 2 July Indian-origin playwright and theatre-director Michelle St.Anne presents her play A Little Room at Carriageworks (Bay 20), 245 Wilson St, Eveliegh (Cnr Codrington St). Performances (Tues-Sat) 8.00pm. Details www.ticketmaster.com.au or 1300 723 038.

Play writing workshop

8, 9 and 10 July Abhinay School of Performing Arts presents a play writing workshop by Alex Broun, Artistic Director of Short+Sweet, with the

support of Shopfront Contemporary Arts & Performance. Interested youngsters (15+ years) are invited to attend. Details Aishverya Nidhi 0488 200 222 or visit the website www. abhinay.com.au

MISC

National Leadership Development Weekend

Friday 1 to Sunday 3 July Sikh Youth Australia has organised a weekend designed to provide young Sikh adults with inspiration and practical skills with the help of high profile international facilitators, at Elanora Conference Centre

19A Wesley Street, Elanora Heights, NSW 2101. For details email events@sikhyouthaustralia.com

Winter camp

Saturday 9 July Sydney Sanskrit School is conducting a one day Winter Camp ‘Sanskrit for fun’ at Glenwood Public School, Belmont Rd, Glenfield. For details call Meenakshi Srinivasan on 0423457343 or visit www.sanskritschool.org

Sakhi Sangam

Sunday 24 July Sydney Sakhi Sangam will be held at the Croatioan Club. 921 Punchbowl Rd (Cnr Canterbury Rd), Punchbowl. For details call Nandini Thadani 02 9181 2204, Sushma Ahluwalia 02 9894 0070.

Essay competition

Essay competition on ‘Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi Today’ is open for the year 2011. For details email info@bhavanaustralia.org

2011 Young Writers Competition

The Transcultural Mental Health Centre is calling for creative writers aged between 12 to 24 years across NSW to enter TranSCRIBE. The theme is ‘Half Way Home’. Last date Mon 1 August. Entries are to be emailed or uploaded to the TranSCRIBE website. For details visit www.dhi.gov.au/tmhc/transcribe

Library gets books on India

The Indian Government donated a large number of books to Campbelltown Library recently. Presenting the books to the city’s Mayor Cr Paul Lake, Amit Dasgupta, Consul General of India in Sydney said that he was happy to add to the Library’s huge collection.

Receiving the books, the Mayor Cr Lake said that they are sure to be enjoyed by the local Indian families who are keen to share the history and culture of their country of origin with their children. He was sure they would also provide just as much enjoyment to anyone interested in opening their children’s eyes to other cultures and the wonderful stories and mythology India has to offer.

The donation was facilitated by The Wizard of Oz Funland, Leumeah. “The idea is to encourage people from various communities living locally to come forward and share their culture with the rest of us. Not only will this give us a greater understanding and appreciation of our immediate neighbours but a great opportunity to try out some absolutely fascinating food and culture as a family!” said Brian Laul, the Funland’s director.

Funland will again host Bollywood Masala, its annual festival celebrating Indian culture, films & food on 5-6 August. Anyone who wishes to take part in this year’s festival is welcome to contact the Funland.

Reward for selfless service

Ian Tudor de Mellow, Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to aged welfare.

BY NOEL G DE SOUZA

Ian Tudor de Mellow was born in Indore of Anglo-Indian parentage; hence the Portuguese name de Mellow (the added “w” was an innovation). His parents were both active in defence during the Second World War. His father Arthur was a high-ranking engineer who was posted to several places (Indore, Dehra Dun, Ajmer, Karachi and Bengal amongst others) to build structures such as the Doon School, prisoner of war camps and airfields. His mother was a Lt-Col in the Women’s Auxiliary Corps.

Prior to coming to Australia, Mr. de Mellow’s entire family history took place in India. His father initially worked with an Indian overseer. Mr. de Mellow recalls that the overseer was also a pundit and drew up an Indian horoscope, which he still possesses.

Mr. de Mellow spent his early school years in diverse places. He was a boarder at the Victoria School, Kurseong and spent his holidays in Kolkata but then when the Japanese began bombing the city, he was moved to the Bishop Cotton School in Simla where Anglican clergymen aimed to mould their pupils in Anglo-Saxon traditions. He still remembers “magical places” in Simla’s surrounds. In 1947 a company of Gurkhas guarded the school during the communal disturbances, in the wake of India’s partition.

Mr. de Mellow’s nostalgic memories of India include cycling around Delhi in 1945. At that time, his uncle Rear Admiral Douglas Cameron was also in Delhi. It would be just over a year later that Delhi would become tormented by communal riots.

Melville de Mellow, the renowned and decorated news broadcaster, was Mr. de Mellow’s uncle. He provided minders to protect his family members during the horrendous riots in Delhi. Mr. de Mellow was sent to his parents in Calcutta. He says that the “die was cast” for his mother, his sister and himself to migrate to Australia. They arrived here in 1948. His father joined them four years later. His parents’ military background enabled them to migrate to Australia under the British Ex-Servicemen’s scheme. Mr. de Mellow attended school at Ballarat College and subsequently in Knox Grammar, Sydney.

The most productive work in which Mr. de Mellow has been involved in recent times has been with SEVA, which is an Indian seniors group

At the age of seventeen Mr. de Mellow volunteered for National Service. This provided him with a varied and tough experience. His commanding officer was a veteran of the British Airborne Division and the Battle of Arnhem. There were other war experienced teachers such as a German who had been in a Hitler Jugend battalion. In the National Service, sports were given top priority; and Mr. de Mellow played rugby, soccer, tennis and squash.

Mr. de Mellow has been very active in retirement. He has been heading the Hornsby Senior’s Advocacy Group. It organised the Live Life Program. For this, the Hornsby Senior Advisory Committee and Hornsby Community Services were awarded the Premier’s Award during Morris Iemma’s tenure.

Mr. de Mellow organises U3A (University of the Third Age) courses for Senior Citizens. He runs courses on military matters for which he brings in his own military experiences and knowledge.

The most productive work in which Mr. de Mellow has been involved in recent times has been with SEVA, which is an Indian seniors group. SEVA’s initial focus was retirement for South Asians. It then moved to organising seminars on health for various Indian groups.

SEVA’s current focus, at the initiative of Mr. de Mellow, is research and development. He is of the belief that good data is needed before suggestions are made and projects launched. It was noted that a good demographic study of South Asians in Australia is lacking. Accordingly, SEVA put up a proposal to undertake this study, in collaboration with Macquarie University with his participation. A research assistant of Nepalese origin has now been appointed to conduct the study. Mr. de Mellow is well qualified for this task. He has a Master’s degree in Transport Economics from Macquarie University and a Doctorate of Management (Economics) from Sydney University.

He is also working on a proposal concerning the under-utilisation and under-employment of technically skilled and professional migrants from South Asia

Another proposal being formulated by Mr. de Mellow concerns the under-utilisation and under-employment of technically skilled and professional migrants from South Asia. Such a study would provide the framework for making concrete proposals and suggestions with regard to tapping the human resources from South Asians countries which already exist in Australia.

Indians and Australians can both be proud that in Mr. de Mellow we have a countryman whose vast and varied experience has now been recognised.

Anicon of Australia’s

Jayant Bhalchandra Bapat, Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the Hindu community in Australia and to education

BY PREETI JABBAL

Forty-five years ago a young academic from India arrived in Australia to join the Monash University for his PhD. Before he left India people advised him he may need to learn German, so little was known about this county. The bright young man hailing from Wai in the Indian state of Maharashtra was offered a job as a tutor in Utah in the US, and at Monash University Australia. He chose the latter simply because they were prepared to pay his return

Thus began the migrant story of Jayant Bhalachandra Bapat, a retired academic and an authorised Hindu priest

“Australia has come a long way from just being a roast

beef and Yorkshire pudding Anglo Saxon society,” said Mr. Bapat. He recollected his early days when he could not buy atta (Indian whole meal flour used to make chapattis) anywhere. In 1965 not many Indians migrated to Australia, a country still influenced by the ‘white intake’ policy. There were a small number of people from the Indian community in Melbourne and together they launched the first Indian organisation AISV (Australian Indian Society of Victoria).

“AISV served a very good function of linking Indians with Australians. In those days our community was united and there were hardly any regional divides. Today nearly half a century later things have changed. There are far more organisations and groups, however the community is fragmented. What’s missing in today’s society is the willingness to assimilate. On one hand we are a multicultural society, however at the same time we tend to live with ghetto mentality. I feel Indians here should make an extra effort to mix with the locals,” said Mr. Bapat.

Ian de Mellow with his wife Marie

BY USHA RAMANUJAM ARVIND

Brain and ageing expert gets his due

Perminder Singh Sachdev, Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to medical research in the field of neuropsychiatry

front. Dr Sachdev’s team developed a neural stem cell three years ago to trial treatments for neurodegenerative disorders. The group is currently experimenting with stem cells from embryonic tissue, adult dogs and adult humans to develop cell lines targeting Alzheimer’s and dementia sufferers. After extensive research on drug-induced movement disorders like akathisia, tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome, Dr Sachdev soon branched out to dementia, in particular its risk factors, biomarkers as well as neuro-imaging and neuropsychology.

Hindu community

Mr. Bapat developed an interest in Hinduism in the early 1980s. His friend’s wife was diagnosed with cancer and he needed someone to perform her last rites. As Mr. Bapat had the knowledge of Sanskrit, he agreed to perform the rituals for his friend. He then went on to learn the basics of priesthood from Mr. Datar who is currently based in Brisbane. Since then Mr. Bapat has performed more than 700 rituals for the Indian community in Melbourne. Mr. Bapat was one of the founding members of the Hindu Society in Victoria. “We used to meet in a small place in Prahran and perform poojas but there was no official priest to conduct religious ceremonies. A few of us have since volunteered to serve the community in that capacity, however given the burgeoning community there is a real need to have a person dedicated solely to conduct rituals for the community. There is so much demand that if I agreed I would be doing poojas all day, every day. It’s time for the community to get together and get a priest from India and pay him a salary,” he suggested.

Mr. Bapat retired in 1997 as senior lecturer in Organic Chemistry from the Monash University in Melbourne. Since then he has been busy with his research work and writing books. He is also an active and sought out representative on various committees including the Monash Asia Institute

and Australian Indian Business and Community Welfare Trust. His first book on Goddesses of India, Nepal and Tibet was published with the support of Marica Vicziany, former director of Monash Asia Institute. It was the first book on Hinduism produced by Monash University. He is currently working on another book that is based on the Koli Fishermen community of Mumbai. He has edited another book on Indian migration to Australia that has been recently submitted for publication and approval. Mr. Bapat also writes Marathi fiction for Indian publications and is hoping to compile a book of all his published work soon.

Speaking of his nomination on this year’s Queen’s honours list and its relevance, Mr. Bapat said that he has respect for the House of Windsor. The Queen’s honour is a fitting and very public tribute and he is delighted to be recognised for his efforts. In terms of loyalty to the Royals and their debatable influence, he said he has no strong feelings either way. “I do however have strong reservations against Australian policy makers. As a scientist I feel that Australian politicians have not capitalised on Australia’s abundant resources. Given the favourable environment we have in Australia we should be world leaders in solar energy, wind energy and technology. I feel that our politicians are not far sighted enough and their laid back attitude has caused many

“We initially examined the clinical features and showed that memory impairment is not the early feature of this disorder. Rather it is the small vessel disease, even in patients with stroke. Likewise, we also showed that high homocysteine may be a risk factor in brain atrophy and small

Dr Sachdev has been heading an international effort to define the criteria for the diagnosis of vascular dementia. In this context, his team has been conducting a number of longitudinal studies to examine the development of cognitive impairment, including memory and ageing study, older Australian twins study and Sydney centenarian study.

Additionally, NPI is also working with researchers at ANU on the PATH (Personality and Total Health) through Life

Besides publishing numerous research papers and scientific texts, Sachdev has also forayed into the fascinating grey area between fact and fiction. A talented and empathetic wordsmith, his maiden literary effort, The Yipping Tiger and other Tales, won the Rotary Knowledge Dissemination award. Dr Sachdev was a special invitee at 2010 Melbourne

“On one hand we are a multicultural society, however at the same time we tend to live with ghetto mentality. I feel Indians here should make an extra effort to mix with the locals”

missed opportunities,” he lamented.

Mr. Bapat will be presented with the official medal in the Government House by the Governor in the month of September. He thanked his colleagues, friends, Sanjay Bhide and his family for their ongoing support especially his wife who he has known since the time he studied with her in primary school.

“My three daughters are married to Anglo Saxons and I have two lovely granddaughters,” he said.

“I think these nominations are made for those who have mixed well and contributed to the Australian society. Something may have weighed in my favour in that sense. Besides my education and religious work I have also been involved with Toastmasters for 20 years and have taught public speaking at The Presbyterian Ladies College (PLC) and other schools. I feel by and large we Indians have been accepted by Australians despite the fact that we may have disturbed their equilibrium. They are a friendly lot and I am happy I chose Australia as my home” he said.

“The AM is indeed a great honour as it is a recognition of the fact that my work has been recognised to be of benefit to the Australian community”

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‘India has arrived to stay’

Economist Kaushik Basu explores the rise of India as an economic giant and the sustainability of its growth

BY GAURAV PANDEY

Delivering the inaugural University of New South Wales Distinguished Lecture on India, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India Professor Kaushik Basu said that the Indian economy is set for an extended period of robust Basu, who is also the C. Marks Professor of Economics at Cornell University in the US, indicated that the GDP growth rate for 2010-11 fiscal year will be between 8-9%. The official figures are expected soon.

A recent World Bank report predicted that by 2025, more than half of all global growth, up from one-third now, will come from emerging economies, including India and China, highlighting the increasingly powerful role Indian and Chinese markets will play in global economics. India’s case in particular has been a story of a steep change in the last two decades - an about turn from the days when it was merely “chugging along” economically.

The turnaround years

Tracing the story of India’s emergence as an economic superpower, Basu said the first real sign of economic growth that India showed was in 1975, the year the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared the emergency. Although the jury is still out on whether her decision had anything to do with the economic surge, Basu pointed out that “changes taking place in political, social and cultural scenarios and the collective beliefs of societies play a major role in the economics of a nation.” This is corroborated by the negative growth seen during another politically chaotic year 1979 – 80, the last time the India’s economy shrunk in a fiscal year.

He argued that the 1975 growth spurt was probably a result of the decision to nationalise banks in India with a directive that more branches should be opened across the country thus allowing domestic savings to be a part of the country’s economic system. “Savings and investment pattens could drive a higher growth rate, especially in case of a nascent economy.”

The next big phase in India’s growth came in 19911993, when the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh introduced a slew of economic reforms after the inflow of remittance money from expatriates living in the Middle East had dried up during the first Gulf War, causing serious problems for the Indian economy. These measures, which encouraged foreign direct investment and curbed public monopolies, had a “magical effect” on India’s growth rate and consequently in 1994, the Indian economy grew by 7%.

India’s success story, Basu highlighted, was helped a great deal by the “wise decisions” of the Nehruvian Era. The investment in higher education meant that the India churned

out highly skilled reservoir of talent, especially engineers. Many of more than a million engineering graduates produced every year in India gradually found their way into the Silicon Valley in the US. This not only led to a long and fruitful partnership in the field of information technology, but also through word of mouth helped further India’s case as an outsourcing destination for American firms.

Further, the issue of outsourcing was highlighted in the 2004 Bush-Kerry presidential election campaign in the US, this and the resulting media outcry peculiarly worked as “the greatest advertisement for India as a viable back office destination.” By then, the savings and investment rate had started to grow rapidly, which coupled with the inflow of work from the US contributed to the sharp rise in economic growth from 2005 to 2007. It was around this time, Basu added, that international media started taking notice of India as one of the leading drivers of global growth.

Global financial crisis

Since then, Indian economy has maintained a steady upward trend, even braving the subsequent global financial crisis relatively well.

“Although India’s software exports were affected during

the crisis, the socio-political decision to waive off farmers’ loans worth $ 15 billion ended up being a stimulus package –a fortuitous gain in hindsight,” he said.

This coupled with well-structured stimulus packages and providing more money in the hands of people through other government schemes helped India withstand the crisis in a much stronger way than many developed economies.

India-China-US equation

The economic and strategic partnership between India, China and the US has gone from strength to strength in recent years resulting in a “triangular connection” between the two rising Asian powers and the US.

Such an arrangement, Basu believes, is in the interest of everyone, as the idea of a tripolar world prevents the possibility of a “direct face-off” between the US and China. With India has emerged as a huge “comfort factor” for the US and to a certain extent for China, the relationship between these powers is now more cooperative than combative.

He cited the example of Malacca Straits, one of world’s largest shipping lanes carrying about 40% of the world’s trade, where Indian presence was increasing “with a nod and wink from the US” to limit China’s influence over the crucial trade route.

The road ahead

Though India is entering an era of unprecedented financial growth it needs to address urgent problems including the deepening inequality in the country, he said. “The public distribution of food and other essential commodities is riddled with leakages.” He added that there is also a need to speed up the decision-making processes.

He also touched upon the problem of rising inflation in India. “Most of the emerging countries are witnessing high inflation. The Reserve Bank of India has been constantly revising interest rates in a bid to maintain a healthy growth to inflation ratio, however the concept of ‘flat world’ means that a country needs to take into account the changes in other economies as well.”

India, owing to its unique dynamics has managed to throw generalisations out of the window and despite its problems is set to play a dominating role in world economics, however it needs to tread carefully as these very issues can snowball into monsters which can kill the growth goose.

Basu’s lecture was the first in a series of public lectures by eminent Indian scholars and intellectuals. The lecture series is an initiative of the Sydney node of the AustraliaIndia Institute, which was established at the University of Melbourne in October 2008, with the University of New South Wales and La Trobe University as founding partners. The Institute aims to provide leadership in policy, business briefings, research and postgraduate training for the benefit of India and Australia and the broader Asia Pacific region.

The 2004 Bush-Kerry presidential debate in the US over outsourcing and the resulting media outcry peculiarly worked as “the greatest advertisement for India as a viable back office destination”

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The promise of Pragati

A talented singer pursuing her dream to make a mark in the music industry is well on her way to achieving this milestone

BY PRIYANKA TATER

Pragati Saikia’s journey into the world of melody has been an unusual one. Armed with no formal training in singing but only her considerable talent, she took on the challenge of making an name for herself in this field where the competition is tough and sometimes, ruthless.

Pragati talks to Indian Link about how she reached her present status, as one of the most promising singers on the melody scene with an increasing repertoire and fan base both in India and Australia.

Early days

For Pragati, it all began since her early school days in Assam, with her avid love for music.

“I liked listening to songs on the radio so much that my siblings called me ‘radio-rani’. I would even hide the radio under my blanket and listen to songs till I fell asleep. I had always wanted to learn singing, but never got the opportunity,” she reveals.

Of course talent seems to run in the family as Pragati’s mother used to sing on stage in her school days, but once she married, singing took a back seat. However, she did pass on some of that talent to her daughter, teaching Pragati whatever little she knew.

In 2000, this young lady married Mrinal Saikia, and they began a life together in Ludhiana.

“Mrinal knew about my passion and love for music, so he used to buy me audio cassettes and I would listen to the songs the whole day. We had a few very close friends and on rare occasions I would sing casually at our get-togethers,” she says.

But for Pragati, her dream took off at her first ever performance in 2007 in Sydney when she sang to a crowd of 70-odd people and instantly struck the right chord. “We had moved to Sydney in 2005, and met a lot of families from Assam who live here. I sang in public for the first time at our traditional annual Bihu celebration in 2007, and since then, I was invited to perform at various stage functions and occasions in Sydney, Canberra and even Newcastle,” she reminisces.

A tough decision

As the offers to perform increased, Pragati began to consider getting a formal training in singing. She had joined the Sydney-based Natraj Academy run by Avijit Sarkar, but the yearning to train in India still remained strong, but impractical at that time.

Pragati had a young son and although the lure was tempting, she had too much at stake. “But one evening in October 2009, as I was discussing my future in singing with Mrinal and some of my friends, he suddenly asked me whether I would like to go to Mumbai for a year to learn from the best vocal teachers and hone my singing skills. I was taken aback and initially thought he was only joking, but he was serious,” she says with a smile.

Mrinal offered to look after their son Ady in Sydney, while Pragati concentrated on her singing. “Mrinal’s argument was: if you have the talent, you should explore it now, rather than repenting at a later stage in life. We started looking for information about good teachers and music schools in Mumbai, and headed there in December 2009,” she adds.

After settling her in Mumbai, Mrinal soon returned to Sydney, while Pragati pursued her dream with a vengeance. “None of this would have been possible without my husband’s support and encouragement,” she states gratefully.

Melody in Mumbai

It was a hard grind in Mumbai, but Pragati threw herself into the routine with enthusiasm, talent, dedication and a determination to succeed. She began one-on-one vocal lessons with Mr. Kamalesh, also joining the Ajivasan Music Academy run by the famous singer, Suresh Wadekar, to learn chords in keyboard. A couple of months later, Pragati joined Ragesree Music School and started learning under two very prominent music maestros.

“It is here that singers like Shaan still come to learn and fix their vocal problems. Other prominent students were Kunika (Kumar Sanu’s wife), the daughters of producer BR Chopra, among others. Most of my day used to go in riyaz as it is the most important thing for any singer,” she says.

Pragati got her first break when she met Mumbaibased music director Alaap Dudul Saikia. He was busy shaping up an item song tune with a hint of Assamese Bihu music for his new Hindi non-film album. “Mr Saikia asked me to sing the new tune as a dummy recording, so that the lyrics could be written. This came out very well and I was offered the chance to sing the actual song for his album. Later he asked me to sing another lovely, melodious song (Dil mein pal pal) for the same album called Dil Ki Baatein. It has just released in India and the music video of the item song Zero figure se is currently being telecast in a few prime Indian music channels,” reveals Pragati. Naturally, she was thrilled to make her mark on tinsel town, and in such a comparatively short time.

Back in Sydney

Pragati is now back into Sydney’s melody circuit, and she’s looking forward to more opportunities to showcase her talent. “I would like to continue singing for as long as I can,” she says. “I keep going back to Assam to perform at various public functions, and the future seems bright.”

But she’s happy to be in Sydney too, home to one of her most memorable performances on the open stage of Sydney Olympic Park, on India’s Independence Day in 2009. She sang before a huge crowd and got immense appreciation, which was very encouraging.

Pragati has a very simple message for all budding singers. “Where there is a will, there’s a way. Be determined and give it your best shot, so that you don’t have a reason to regret later in life. Also be focussed and work hard to achieve what you want, and you will get it!” she says confidently.

Listening to Pragati sing live on my show on Indian Link Radio, I felt the melody in her voice and realised that she has the promise to go a long, long way.

“Mrinal’s argument was: if you have the talent, you should explore it now, rather than repenting at a later stage of life”

Pragati Saikia

Trivett Honda Car Review: The Honda Accord Euro Luxury

The Honda Accord Euro Luxury is the latest in the popular Euro series Accord. Honda Australia is very proud of this car as it not only reflects the true meaning of Honda with it’s high revving V-TEC engine, but it is truly like a prestige European car. The first test is always the touch and feel test. From the solid Audi like thud when you shut the doors, to the quality soft touch plastics like other prestige cars, the car is synonymous with luxury.

Interior: The interior ergonomics are also a benchmark where Honda has hit the mark with easy to reach buttons and other controls. In the car we test drove, the Euro Luxury automatic, the front seats are fitted with full electric adjustments that make it a very comfortable car.

The sound system is a 6 disc unit with iPod connectivity which has become a must in this day and age. If you like your music, you will like the Euro luxury as the speakers certainly do a great job!

Steering wheel mounted buttons are there to control the sound system, cruise and trip computer amongst other things. Leather trim is standard in the Euro Luxury and Euro Luxury Navi from the seats to the steering wheel. The seats are not only supportive, but have a sporty feel to them as well.

Engine: The 5speed automatic gearbox can be set in a ”S” mode where the gearbox holds a gear longer for maximum power or “manual” mode to allow the driver control over what gear to be in. This is controlled by a pair of paddle shifters behind the steering wheel. While it may seem a

Exterior: On the outside the Honda Euro is a beautiful looking sedan. The styling is visually appealing and not overdone in any area. The front is aggressive yet classy and the rear which hides an ample boot is a touch conservative and stylish. Xenon headlights are fitted to the Luxury Euro, similar to what you would find in more expensive cars. Front and rear parking sensors are also found ensuring safe parking. Stylish 18inch alloy wheels are

value car making it one of the best mid-sized sedans to buy. Wheels magazine certainly thought so, naming it ‘Wheels Car of the Year’ in 2008 making it a great choice for anyone.

Trivett has some great deals on the Accord Euro, including the Accord Euro base model from $31,990 driveaway, during June. So make sure to contact them today at either their Blacktown or Parramatta dealerships.

Tales of strength and vigour

Natyanjali Australia’s latest production brought tales from Indian mythology presented in two distinct dance forms

BY DEEPA GOPINATH

Every now and then in the Indian classical arts scene in Sydney, a truly innovative project is conceived, planned and executed to the delight of supporters of the performing arts in this city. Saturday the 4th of June saw one such production, Naatya Sangamam, staged at the Seymour Centre in Sydney. Over almost three and a half hours, Natyanjali Australia presented to the audience a two part show encompassing all that is classical dance.

(The bharatanatyam pieces) consisted of various depictions of women who find the goddess within in order to overcome adversity

Shakti was the first part of the evening, aptly named as it portrayed the essence of a woman, her inner strength and the goddess within. Three exceptional local artists came together from Sydney and Melbourne to explore these feminine concepts using dance as a medium.

Aruna Iyengar, a Bharathanatyam dancer and Macquarie Bank Risk & Compliance Manager from Sydney, performed a Daru Varnam, Maathe Malayadhvaja in Ragam Khamas and Thalam Adi. There is no greater place for risk management than

as a Mother, and Aruna explored this aspect of a woman. As the American philosopher Sam Keen said with reference to maternity, “Like men since the beginning of time I wondered: What can I ever create that will equal the magnificence of this new life?”

The exquisitely talented Monica Singh from Victoria gave the next captivating performance. A piece on the fierce goddess Durga, it encapsulated that fine balance of beauty and strength that resides in every person. Even in the intensity of this character, Monica was “….extremely graceful and a privilege to watch” as Chitra, a Bharathanatyam student described. Durga was composed in Ragamalika and Thalam Triputa.

Shakti, the complex feminine figure that encompasses all forms of the goddess, was the subject of the next piece. Maya Mayan Sodariye was in Ragam Thodi and Thalam Adi. Aruna Subbiah performed this profound conceptual piece with wonderfully refined technical and emotive finesse.

The three dancers collaborated for the final piece of the first half of the show, which consisted of various depictions of women who find the goddess within in order to overcome adversity. One of these was a lovely tale of a young girl who is passionate about dance but is discouraged from participating due to the societal stigma of that era. Determined, she draws strength from the voice within and fulfills her ambitions. A complex rhythmic composition concluded this piece with the three dancers engaging in pure dance sequences in their separate dance styles which were woven

together in a surprisingly coordinated manner. The collaboration was even more impressive after the audience learnt that much of the choreography and ‘practice’ was through Skype and other modern technological wonders. Like a dollop of cream next to an apple pie, the musical team was the ideal accompaniment. With soaring vocals by Uma Ayyar, Sangeetha Ayyar and Sumathi Krishnan, crisp mridangam by Janakan Suthanthiraraj, melodious violin by Balaji Jagannadhan and Mohan Ayyer on keyboard, the audience was treated to blissful live music to complement the dancers’ performance.

The second part of the evening was truly a treat for the eyes and the soul. Ojas (‘Vigour’ in Sanskrit), a production by Kathak dancers Nirupama and Rajendra from Bangalore, held the audience enthralled for the rest of the show. Beginning with a pure dance piece of astoundingly intricate footwork and perfectly executed spins, they continued on to more emotive pieces that depicted stories from Indian mythology. As the charming Nirupama explained, the word Kathak comes from the Sanskrit word for storytelling, and this they certainly did. The audience was instantly drawn in by the pair, and we joined them in the scenes portrayed by each of the pieces whether it was in the garden where Lord Rama first sighted Sita, the monsoon rains in which the young maiden waits for her lover or in Meera’s mind of which Lord Krishna inhabits every corner. A married couple, the chemistry between Nirupama and Rajendra was palpable and added to the electricity of the performance. Of the

emotive pieces, Varsha was the standout for its uniqueness. In it, the magic of monsoon was brought to life to a music that was composed by the dancers themselves with revered flautist Pravin Godkhindi.

The final two pieces had a more contemporary flavor, while maintaining the technique of the traditional dance form. The haunting Ta-Dha celebrated those frequently used syllables in Kathak in an intricate, abstract composition. In Nigah, the Spanish guitar was incorporated and the close connection between Kathak and the Spanish dance form Flamenco became evident. Both

The endearing and very eloquent Nirupama offered beautiful descriptions of each piece and lovingly explained the essence of Kathak

pieces were uniquely enchanting and beautifully complemented by the vibrant costumes. Audience interest was further captured by the endearing and very eloquent Nirupama, who offered lovely descriptions of each piece and lovingly explained the essence of Kathak.

Nirupama and Rajendra, through Ojas, presented to Sydney audiences a wonderful taste of what Indian dance should be; technically pleasing, emotionally captivating and a joy to behold.

Sydney Music Festival

Carnatic music aficionados were treated to a delightful array of performances at the genre’s showpiece event recently

Sydney based Swara Laya Fine Arts Society Inc. celebrated its 5th Anniversary of making a impressive contribution to the world of Carnatic music. It can claim to be the biggest Carnatic music event in the southern hemisphere. It is definitely vying for a place in the honour board alongside the Music Academy, Chennai and the Cleveland Aaradhana. Held through the Queen’s Birthday weekend, over 2000 music enthusiasts patronised the event. The audiences attending a dozen concerts came many places, including New Zealand, Perth, Brisbane and Melbourne. The Chief Guest was none other than the Secretary, of the Music Academy, Chennai, Sri Pappu Venugopal Rao, a well reputed scholar and an active member of several cultural organisations in India, who spoke to the audience on Sunday morning and explained the significance of Pancharatna singing tradition of Thyagaraja Krithis in the Ghana Ragas such as Nattai, Gowla, Aarabhi, Varali and Sri. Before each Krithi was rendered, he explained why it was conceived by Saint Thyagaraja and why no music festival is complete without every musician participating in the group singing, as a way of invoking the blessings of the revered Saint.

Another highly revered personality who attended the festival was ‘Chitravina Ravikiran’ a well known multi-lingual (Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada) composer. Ravikiran has the distinction of composing

not unveiled for 200 years till the 1940s, whereupon all the senior most Carnatic musicians compared him to Saint Thyagaraja, Muthuswamy Dikshitar and Syama Sastry (The Trinity). He paid his tribute to Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi in an hour long presentation. Ravikiran’s magical control over the Chitravina was demonstrated by the Ragam, Taanam and Pallavi he played in Raga Keeravani.

The future

The emergence of youth performers owing to the renaissance of Carnatic in the last few years is a happy augury. The ensuing paragraphs give the reader a glimpse of some of the performers at the Sydney Music Festival.

A unique feature of the Festival was the adherence to a theme of each concert by the performing artistes. Smt. Gayatri Girish had “Shanmatha” as her theme and her concert focussed on the six ways of worship as established by Acharya Aadi Sankara. These are Ganapathya (Lord Ganesha), Koumaara (Lord Muruga), Saiva (Lord Shiva), Vaishnava (Lord Vishnu), Saaktha (Goddess Shakti) and Soura (The Sun God).

Gayatri has received several awards in India – her rendering of Papanasam Sivan’s Ksheera Sagara Shaayi ( Raga Poorvi Kalyani) was crisp and her ‘neravals’ were top-shelf material. Muthuswami Dikshitar’s Sri Krishna Bhaja Manasa in Thodi was melodious and she

well over a decade before he came into his own. A grandson of the famous Sikkil Kunjumani, who was one of the flautist duo Sikkil Sisters, Gurucharan has lived upto the great expectations of audiences who know his lineage well. His rendering of Ka Guha Shanmukha Neeye Gati in Raga Kosalam and Sivaguru nadanai in Raga Mukhari stood out for the sheer brilliance of the Raga Alaapana, Neravals and Manodharma Swaras. Sikkil Gurucharan will undoubtedly occupy the world stage for many more years and enthral music lovers.

The first concert on day two was by another ‘young Turk’ NV Shankara Narayanan who has acquired a following throughout South Asia in the last decade or so. He is the President of Music Circle in Singapore, and participates every year in the Music Academy Chennai and other sabhas.

Shankara Narayanan gave glimpses of his vast repertoire when he sang Papanasam Sivan’s composition Pirava Varam Thaarum in Raga Lathangi. Whilst the Kalpana swaras in Lathangi had portents of greatness, his Raga Alapanai in Thodi (Syama Sastri’s composition, Ninne Nammi) brought out the very essence and charm of this Ghana

achievements at the young age of 26 are noteworthy. Abhishek, acclaimed as a child prodigy, has immaculate credentials. He was guided by his illustrious grand father and mridangist, Sri Palghat Raghu in mridangam and he gained deep insight as a vocalist from Sri P S Narayanaswamy. His professional skill in mridangam and kanjira have contributed in no small measure to his brilliance as a vocalist. He makes full use of his sonorous voice to deliver every nuance perfectly. If his rendering of Thyagaraja’s Nee Daya Radha in Raga Vasantha Bhairavi was outstanding in every aspect, his rendering of Bhajare Manasa in Raga Abheri was so inspirational that the performances of his accompanists, Nagai Sriram on the violin and Satish Kumar on mridangam, too went up a few notches. Abhishek has the ability to take his audience to an ethereal world with his musical genius. The prime timers on Sunday were Smt. Ranjani and Gayatri who started out as violinists but have since created a niche for themselves as leading vocalists. They owe their gurus TS Krishnaswami for their prowess in violin and Sri P S Narayanaswamy who guides them as vocalists. Their style is truly classical and they adhere to Sruti perfection as well as follow the traditions of

Violinists Chitravina Ravikiran and BU Ganesh Prasad; P.Satish Kumar (mridangam); and KV Gopalakrishnan (kanjira)

Singer NV Shankara Narayanan; BU Ganesh Prasad (violin); and Trivandrum Balaji (mridangam)

makes splendid progress

composed by Sant Tukaram. Each of the above named performers have endeared themselves to Sydney’s very knowledgeable music lovers. They will perform to packed auditoriums in the future and will undoubtedly popularise Carnatic music.

Globally renowned artistes

Sanjay Subrahmanyan is a celebrity in Carnatic music circles all over the world. His concert occupied the prime time evening slot and he sang to a full house. Sanjay’s mannerisms and body gestures have become his trademark, but that could easily be the mark of his genius. In the last 25 years he has rarely given what could be termed as an average concert. He strives to push the boundaries whether it is his Raga Alapanais or his ‘swara korvais’ and provides a challenging environment to his accompaniments. On Saturday evening, his audience watched him going to uncharted depths in his rendering of the krithi Adiyenai Kaatharulvai in Kamboji Ragam.

A Ragam Thanam Pallavi in Raga Chala Nattai is rarely heard and Sanjay had a refreshingly different approach. He dwelt on aspects of the Raga that have never been heard before. Sanjay attracts audiences by

certainly not the least in importance. He has a tremendous fan following, and over the last 25 years he has acquired popularity not just in Carnatic classical but in light and devotional music as well. He showed complete command in his rendering of Deva Deva Kalayamithey in Raga Maya Malava Gowla and Seshachala Nayagam in Raga Varali. His Akshaya Linga Vibho in Raga Shankarabharanam was elaborate which had the audience in rapt attention. His Ragam, Thanam and Pallavi in Raga Kalyana Vasantham was a cut above the rest as he sang bits of Raga Hamsanandi, Bahudari and Ranjini in the Pallavi ragamaalika. He capped it with the very melodious Pibare Rama Rasam in Ahir Bhairav. Almost everyone in the audience wished that he could carry on much longer but, as with everything, the good things had to come to an end.

Ganesh and Kumaresh are a well known duo of violin players. They have, despite what their youthful charm may suggest, occupied the musical stage for about 30 years. They started out early and have been associated with luminaries such as tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, Vikku Vinayakram and several well known western musicians. By their own admission they want to create “an edge” for their violin play by composing tunes and

performers at the Festival gave a concert and chose their theme as “Shakti Mahima”. They chose very ear pleasing ragas such as “Ananda Bhairavi”, “Dwijavanti” and “Shivshakti” which immersed the audience with the ‘bhakthi bhaava’ that goes with praising Devi, Durga and Lalithambika. Their Ragam Thanam and Pallavi appropriately focussed on “Om Shakthi and Adi Parashakthi”. This was composed by their elder brother Chitravina Ravikiran who used a unique Pancha Raga and Pancha Tala format.

Smt. Soumya introduced her main theme based on “Nandanaar Charitram” as conceived by Sri Gopala Krishna Bharati. She informed her audience of how she had tried to portray the trials and tribulations of a low caste Shiva Bhaktha during a period when access to temples, and open expression of devotion to the Supreme God would lead to ostracism because of the Caste taboos of those times. Nandanaar persisted and ultimately was able to get the darshan of Lord Shiva at Chidambaram temple. Giving a musical notation and singing it must have taken considerable research and imagination and Smt. Soumya deserved commendation. She set the tempo with Sivaloga Nathanai Kandu in Raga Maya Malava Gowla, Tillai padam enru solla thodanginaar in Raga Shyama and followed

Homegrown musicians

encouragement and opportunities to local artistes to perform alongside the top echelon at every festival and it was no different this time.

Sunday morning started early for the artistes who shared the stage with the Sydney based musicians and talented youngsters to perform the Pancharatna Krithis which was interspersed with introductions by Sri Pappu Venugopal Rao. There were some in the audience who participated presumably to pay homage to Saint Thyagaraja.

The final day of the Festival began with students sharing the stage with Chitravina Ravikiran. This was followed by some of the senior artistes from Sydney singing the compositions of Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi. Credit must be given to Smt. Prema Ananthakrishnan, Smt. Uma Iyer, Smt. Chitra Krishnamurthy, Smt. Ketheeswary Paheerathan and Smt. Bhavani Govindan for teaching their students.

A word about the violinists – Nagai Sriram and BU Ganesh Prasad shared the honours and distinguished themselves as accompanists to the varying styles of the vocalists they played with. Percussion maestros Poongulam Subramanian, Trivandrum Balaji, K. Murugabhoopathi and Patri Satish Kumar added rhythmic dimension to each concert

Singers Carnatica Brothers; Murugabhoopathy (mridangam); and Nagai Sriram (violin)

Singer S. Sowmya; BU Ganesh Prasad (violin); Poongulam Subramanian (mridangam); and KV Gopalakrishnan (kanjira)

Sanjay Subhramanyan

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Prepare your

I belong,

BY PREETI JABBAL

A recent incident where a Sikh student in Melbourne was allegedly forced to shave his beard by a teacher caused considerable concern within the community. According to reports, the young Sikh boy who does not wish to be identified, is a student at Marymede Catholic College in south Morang near Epping in Melbourne’s north. He had recently started growing facial hair and his teacher asked him to shave it off in adherence to school rules. The boy refused and was forcibly taken to the bathroom by the teacher and another student, where his beard was shaved off against his will.

An incident of ignorance?

The Principal of the school has since issued an apology; however it is unclear at this stage whether any action has been taken against the teacher involved. Speaking to John Faine on ABC Radio recently, the Principal Paul A. Fumei said the teacher involved did not know that the school had earlier agreed not to make the boy shave. “Our process has brought us to the conclusion that facial hair will be permitted by Sikh boys at the school,” he said. “I apologise for any harm that (the boy) might have felt or any hurt that he might have felt. That’s not our intention, to cause harm to anybody” he added. The parents and the boy do not wish to pursue the matter further, however the incident has shocked the Sikh community and a debate has raged yet again on how secular Australia really is. The

kerfuffle about violence against Indian students has barely subsided when this incident sparked another controversy. “It was very disturbing to hear about the Sikh boy being shaved forcibly,” said Manpreet Singh from SBS Radio Punjabi. “There are many schools in Australia that are willing to accommodate everybody’s belief; however I feel that the good work done by hundreds of people comes to naught by the action of one misguided individual. It’s like taking two steps forward and one step back,” she added.

“There are many schools in Australia that are willing to accommodate everybody’s belief; however I feel that the good work done by hundreds of people comes to naught by the action of one misguided individual”

It’s your decision

Young Aman Dhingra from Glen Waverley said, “I think it’s really quite sad that we live in such a multicultural and accepting society, and yet incidents like this still occur. I made the decision myself and with my family about 18 months ago to cut my hair, and I am happy with it. However that was my decision and I don’t put pressure on anyone for or against keeping long hair, nor does it change the way I think or feel about anyone.” He added, “I think

Although Australia is making serious attempts at bridging the multicultural gap, isolated incidents undo a lot of the good work being done

Avtej Singh

See Beyond Race campaign participants and Cr Rex Griffin

I Belong campaign

do you?

it’s really important that people have the right to choose and the boy in this incident had this right taken away from him. It’s a sad fact but those who are different are more likely to be targeted.”

An individual identity

“I feel that Australians in general are quite accepting and willing to embrace cultural diversity. I have never once felt that I don’t belong,” said Avtej Singh from Rowville. Avtej or Avi as he is called affectionately is a 13-yearold youth whom many Melbournians would recognize. Avi is the face of a new exhibition in the Immigration Museum, and his image can be seen in press advertisements, banners that hang outside the Museum, posters and cards.

Promoting the changing face of Australia this exhibition titled, Identity yours, mine, ours is about Australian identity and challenging its stereotypes. Launched on May 9, it is expected to be a permanent exhibit at the Immigration Museum for many years to come. The exhibition focuses on how our cultural heritage, languages, beliefs and family connections influence our self-perceptions and our perceptions of other people – ones that can lead to discovery, confusion, prejudice and understanding. Personal stories, objects, images and interactive multimedia experiences invite visitors to find connections with others, as well as challenge the assumptions we make about each other every day.

Unlike the pensive Avi seen in the ad, the real Avi is a cheerful student and a keen sportsman. He is known for the colourful patkas (traditional Sikh headgear) that he dons to show allegiance to his favourite footy or cricket team. He recently led his cricket team of under 13’s to a grand final victory at Eildon Park and was also selected to play at district

level in cricket last year. Avi said he was very excited to be part of the exhibition, which features a short video of him playing cricket. The exhibit also displays a patka and other Sikh objects of faith.

Seeing beyond race

In another part of Melbourne the Whittlesea Council has recently launched a campaign the first of its kind in Australia to be delivered as part of a council-wide programme to reduce race-based discrimination. Whittlesea is one of Melbourne’s most diverse areas. The See Beyond Race campaign features five locals including a Sikh man Rashminder Singh, and invites the community to identify blatant forms of prejudice as well as subtle, indirect

Beyond Race campaign on May 17, Whittlesea Mayor Rex Griffin said negative stereotypes and prejudice were key factors contributing to race-based discrimination. “Many negative attitudes towards diversity are subtle, and people may not even be aware that they are holding them,” he said. “People may discriminate without the intent to do so,” he added. Rashminder Singh is a nurse by profession and has called Australia home for the past 11 years. He can be seen on all the promotional material of the campaign at various locations in Whittlesea. “This is a very good initiative taken by the Council and it reiterates that we should see beyond race and embrace differences,” said Rashminder. He migrated to Australia from Chandigarh in India just after the 9/11 disaster. “It was a scary time to be here as people mistook me to be Muslim and they did not want to know me. When I returned from work some people at the station would make offensive comments about me, and I have even had things like beer bottles thrown at me during that time. My early days in Australia were marred by these negative experiences,” disclosed Rashminder.

Long way to go

versions. According to the Council, the residents from culturally and religiously diverse backgrounds have shared their stories and photos to counter race-based discrimination in Whittlesea. Their stories will be seen in newspapers, on buses and bus shelters and at shopping centres until August. A similar campaign was also launched in Shepparton, Victoria this month.

Speaking at the official launch of the See

“Things have improved a lot since then; however on a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate Australia around 5 or 6 in terms of embracing cultural diversity. There is a lot more acceptability than a decade ago, but we are only halfway through our journey towards secularity,” said Rashminder. “Australia will rate on top only when my family and my daughters will not be considered as ‘Indians’, but first as Australians. At the moment despite being born and brought up here, even second generation migrants are still classed as ‘Indians’ by the mainstream community. This could stem from people’s ignorance of other cultures, but

can also be due to a lack of communication from us. We haven’t expressed our identity or shared our beliefs. It is up to us as individuals to educate the community and make them aware that even though we may look different, we still belong and are no less Australian than anyone else,” added Rashminder vehemently. Multiculturalism in Australia is a work in progress. The main principles underlying Australian multiculturalism are evident in the quotation from the following report created by the Migrant Services Commonwealth of Australia (MSCA), which states: “We are convinced that migrants have the right to maintain their cultural and racial identity and that it is clearly in the best interests of our nation that they should be encouraged and assisted to do so if they wish. Provided that ethnic identity is not stressed at the expense of society at large, but is interwoven into the fabric of our nationhood by the process of multicultural interaction, then the community as a whole will benefit substantially and its democratic nature will be reinforced. ...We reject the argument that cultural diversity necessarily creates divisiveness. Rather we believe that hostility and bitterness between groups are often the result of cultural repression.”

Efforts are in place to ensure that differences between individuals and groups are considered to be a potential source of strength and renewal, rather than of strife. However, every now and then incidents like the Sikh boy’s forced shaving create impediments in the path of embracing cultural acceptability.

“We are convinced that migrants have the right to maintain their cultural and racial identity and that it is clearly in the best interests of our nation that they should be encouraged and assisted to do so if they wish”

Immigration Museum

Aman Dhingra

Rashminder Singh with his poster

Mona takes the crown

BY SHERYL DIXIT

Standing on the stage, waiting for the final call to announce the winner of the Mrs India Australia pageant, Mona Singh was as nervous as her fellow contestants, but when the winner was announced, her emotions grappled between sheer joy, pride and the realisation that her dream had come true. Because Mona had won the Mrs India Australia 2011 contest, the first of its kind in Australia, organised by Nirvana Events.

On June 4, fourteen participants from across Australia strutted their stuff at the ‘My Name is Woman’ pageant, to crown the first Mrs India Australia. Before a panel of judges and an audience of 350, these enterprising young women were judged in a number of different categories like talent, presentation, dress, personality and their disposition towards charity. Mona Singh, a 39 year old mother of two teenage daughters, carried away the prize with aplomb, further enhanced by being awarded the ‘Mrs Contestant’s Choice”.

work, and in particular for women. All my life I have been a great believer in the empowerment of women, and I realised that a chance to win this competition would give me an opportunity to use my title in doing good work for women,” she avers.

About the contest

Once Mona received a confirmation from the organizers that she had made it to the finals, the hard work began in earnest. And it was no catwalk! Says Anup Bhandari of Nirvana Events, “The contestants were put through a gruelling training session for three months prior to the final event. On each Saturday, they were groomed in walking, dance, speech, conducting themselves, understanding their personalities and discovering their accomplishments. They were all bright, enthusiastic and eager to learn, which was a great help to us.” The contest was the brainchild of Anup’s wife Annie Gurung, whose considerable experience in the airline industry helped in putting together the essential criteria for the contest. Although Anup and Annie have conducted pageants in the past, this was their first foray into an unusual concept like Mrs India Australia, but they are enthusiastic about the response and hope to make it an annual event.

The dream comes true

Mona came to Sydney in 2000, following a comfortable life in India as a young bride and mother. She now works a bit more than full-time from Monday to Saturday, is a devoted mother, has an active social circle, and will devote considerable time to promoting her fundraising activities. There’s a lot on this talented lady’s plate, but she admits that she loves challenges. “Taking part in the contest was a challenge for myself. I wanted to prove that I could do this, having never been on stage ever in my life! I wanted to challenge my personality and my capabilities and I am proud that I could confront and conquer them,” she says. Naturally, Mona’s family, including her parents in India, was all very happy and proud at her success and she in turn, was thankful for their wholehearted support.

For Mona, it was her daughters who were the driving force behind her participation. They found the link, told her about it and convinced her to compete. Not that it took much convincing, because Mona was quite keen to take the plunge herself. “As a young girl I was always keen on modelling, but my family was too conservative to let me pursue the profession. I have always taken a lot of care of my appearance and attire, and it helped in boosting my confidence when people paid me compliments. So when the opportunity came up, I thought why not? Maybe the dream I dream of when I am awake may finally come true,” she laughs.

Apart from this, Mona had another very good reason for taking part in this competition. “I realised that this pageant would give me a great platform to do some meaningful charity

So why Mrs India Australia? “Being married means a whole lot of added responsibilities, and we wanted to highlight that in this pageant. We wanted to show the talent, beauty and abilities of women for whom marriage and children have only enhanced their personality,” explains Anup. “The contest was about bringing positive change to the way people perceive women after marriage and how they are capable of being much more than simply being good wives and mothers,” he adds.

Mona agrees. “All my fellow contestants had some specific talent that came to the fore in this competition,” she says. “Some were wives, some were mothers of young children, but all had individual skills that set them apart from the rest of us. It was inspiring to see all these women in their various avatars through the different categories.”

For the contest, Mona wore her own outfits and accessories, including lenghas, saris, and some beautiful blouses which she designed herself. “I have always had a high sense of personal pride in my appearance, and I take care to maintain myself. I feel proud when people compliment me on my looks and attire, it makes me feel good,” she laughs. Mona’s unique choli blouses are well-recognised in her social circles, and she has even had some made to order for friends.

No resting on laurels

For Mona, winning the Mrs India Australia title is a serious responsibility and she intends making the most of it. One of her immediate goals is to support Maiti Nepal, a foundation that rescues Nepalese girls and young women from sex slavery. “I have been a strong supporter of women’s causes and when I heard of Anuradha Koirala and her foundation Maiti Nepal, I realised that I could help in fundraising. We have a function planned in August, which we hope will bring together corporates for an evening of music, dance, food and fun, and the proceeds will go to Maiti Nepal,” says Mona enthusiastically. She will be an integral part of this event, as a

host and organiser. What’s more, she already has the support of Anup Bhandari, who categorically says, “We intend supporting Mona in her upcoming fundraising endeavours as part of her ‘good karma’ cause. This was an integral part of the selection criteria at the contest, and we were amazed and pleased at the contestants’ enthusiasm to do works of charity.” The event will also have a DJ, Bollywood dances, raffles, auctions and various prizes.

Contestant controversy

While the event progressed relatively smoothly through the Bollywood dance performances, including Mona’s sizzling dance to Mehboob mere from the movie Fizaa (in which she wore the complete harem outfit and was enthusiastically applauded by the audience), and the various judging categories, the goodwill of the contest received a not-sopleasant surprise at the end. “Three winners were stripped off their title, as their behaviour was contrary to the spirit of the event,” admits Anup unhappily. “We expect the prize winners to be role models in society, but these ladies displayed behaviour which was unacceptable to the organisers and their fellow contestants. We will be much more vigilant in the future, with a careful audition process put into place to avoid such situations,” he added. However, all the other contestants behaved in an exemplary manner and assured the organisers that the event was an inspiring and life-changing one for them.

Anup has plans to make the event an annual one, a decision that is heartily supported by Mona. “We have a lot of talent in the community, but it’s usually focussed on the single younger generation. This is a chance for other wives and mothers to come forward and show their abilities to the community, as well as do something meaningful,” she says. “If you have a dream, follow it with passion and hard work, and it could

The Mrs India-Australia 2011 tag is going to be much more than just a title for this talented woman who works full-time and is a dedicated wife and mother

“I wanted to challenge my personality and my capabilities and I am proud that I could confront and conquer them”

One of her immediate goals is to support Maiti Nepal, a foundation that rescues Nepalese girls and young women from sex slavery

Don’t forget! Make sure you are claiming all possible deductions this tax time

By AMP Financial Planner Nalini Sankar*

In the lead up to tax time we often spend time sifting through old receipts to see what expenses we can claim when we should be looking deeper into our accounts and using financial strategies to ensure we are making the most of all possible deductions. Here are some points to remember in the lead up to June 30:

EVERYONE

• Income Protection insurance policy premiums can be claimed as a personal tax deduction because people are insuring an incomeproducing asset - their ability to work!

• Any donations over $2 made to legitimate charitable organisations are 100 per cent deductable so don’t forget to claim these.

• A 20% tax offset is available for each dollar of a person’s net medical expenses that exceed $1,500. Broadly, net medical expenses are amounts that are above what the person can claim back through Medicare and/or their health insurance company.

Remember to declare all income and capital gains such as interest received on bank accounts, however small, and the selling of assets such as real estate, shares or managed fund investments.

• People generally do not need to pay tax on an inheritance, but if they have reinvested that money, or are gaining an income from

it, tax may apply on this income. Further, Capital Gains Tax (CGT) may apply where assets such as shares or property are sold – however specific CGT exemptions may be available in certain circumstances.

FAMILIES

• People who are eligible for Family Tax Benefit

(Part A) may be eligible for an Education Tax Refund to assist with costs of education. Up to 50% of eligible expenses such as home internet connection, personal computer purchases, pens, texts, exercise books etc can be claimed. The maximum refund is 50% of:

- $794, for each primary school age child, and

- $1,588 for each secondary school age child.

• Don’t forget to make sure all information with Centrelink is up to date. This will ensure you receive any benefit entitlements such as the

Nalini Sankar

AMP Financial Planner

Associate of Financial Planning Association of Australia Limited

Principal WealthSmart Financial Services

Child Care Rebate. The Child Care Rebate covers 50% of out of pocket expenses for approved childcare, up to a maximum of $7,941 per child for the 2010-11 financial year.

LANDLORDS

• Many of the services which have been paid for in relation to the general maintenance and upkeep of investment properties can be claimed as a tax deduction. This includes expenses such as lawn mowing, pool maintenance and other similar costs which you have outlaid in relation to your investment property.

• Certain types of financial advice and other professional services received in relation to an investment property may also be tax deductable.

• If people have insurance cover on investment properties they may be able to claim this premium as a tax deduction as well.

SELF EMPLOYED / SOLE TRADERS

• Self employed people or sole traders can claim 100% of personal superannuation contributions. However, care needs to be taken to ensure that these contributions do not result in that person’s contribution cap being breached as this would attract tax penalties.

SMALL BUSINESS

In order to be eligible for a tax deduction during the current financial year, make sure that all superannuation payments have been paid for your employees on or before 30 June.

• Just as for sole traders and individuals, if businesses have had a good year and have some spare funds available, rather than keep it in a bank account, businesses are able to pre-pay certain future expenditure and claim a deduction in this year’s tax return.

Phone 0404 022 057 email nalini.sankar@ampfp.com.au

Web: www.wealthsmart.amp.com.au

As tax matters can be quite complicated, it’s a good idea to speak to your financial planner to ensure you’re paying for the tax you need to but making the most of any deductions or claims you are eligible for.

When community entrepreneurs do their bit

Two India-born techies have made huge donations to Canadian universities to start India centres

Hyderabad-born Indian-Canadian techie Sreedhar Natarajan has announced a $1.5 million donation to the Canada-India Centre for Excellence in Science, Technology, Trade and Policy at Carleton University based in Ottawa.

He becomes the second Indian techie within two weeks to make a huge donation to a Canadian university. Vasudev Chanchalani’s $1 million donation to Canada’s University of Waterloo launched the Chanchlani India Policy Centre exclusively devoted to ‘the Canada-India corridor’. Carleton is the only university in the world to have a full-fledged India-centric Centre of Excellence in Science, Technology, Trade and Policy. Set up last year with Indian assistance, the Centre of Excellence aims to raise awareness about bilateral studies and public diplomacy, and develop initiatives to build a better understanding of both countries.

The Ottawa-based Natarajan made his announcement as this world-famous Canadian university hosted two India-centric Education and Innovation Summits in mid-June.

The donation will permanently endow the research and policy activities of the centre.

The 41-year-old India techie, who came to Ottawa in 2002 after the dotcom bust, said, “I do a lot of work in Asia and can see a great need for a Canada-India Centre which holistically looks at technology and policy issues. I made this donation because I want future generations of students to learn more about today’s global business realities.’’

To thank the multi-millionaire Indian techie, Carleton University has announced it will name the three-storey glass atrium of the Canada-India

Centre after him.

University president Roseann O’Reilly Runte said, “The generous support of alumni like Mr. Natarajan will assist Carleton in serving the national and shared visions of Canada and India in multiplying opportunities for joint research, exchanges, and work with the business community to promote economic development through joint projects, particularly in the areas of technology and the environment.’’

Natarajan came to the US as a student to get his masters degree in computer engineering from the University of Louisiana. He worked with companies like Texas Instruments before moving to Canada in 2002 to join Ottawa-based Atmos Semiconductor.

After losing a couple of jobs, he started his own Emerging Memory Technologies Inc. in 2004. He sold it in 2007 to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. - which is the global leader in made-to-order computer chips needed in computers, smart phones and other telecom equipment.

The Toronto-based IITian Vasudev Chanchlani has given a million dollars to help start an Indian policy centre at a Canadian university.

A multi-millionaire IIT Kanpur graduate, Chanchlani runs the Sigma Group of companies and VC Capital Management here.

The Chanchlani Centre “will undertake applied and topical policy research related to the Canada-India relationship and collaborate with governments, universities, and community organisations across the country in promoting stronger ties between India and Canada”.

It will also support “an ongoing program of policy-relevant research designed to provide Canadian authorities and groups with timely research and open discussions on matters relating to the country’s many collaborations with India”.

The most well-known Indo-Canadian philanthropist, Chanchlani is the founder of the Canada-India Foundation (CIF).

He also contributed one million dollar towards setting up the ‘CIF Chanchlani Global Indian Award’ of $50,000 each year.

Established in 2008, the award honours a distinguished Indian each year for his or her leadership, professional excellence and exemplary achievements.

Ratan Tata, Tulsi Tanti, and Sam Pitroda are the three past recipients of the award.

Chanchlani has also donated one million dollars towards the Chanchlani Research Centre at McMaster University for research into genetic and environmental causes of heart diseases and diabetes prevalent among South Asians.

He has also set up a $25,000 annual Chanchlani Global Health Award at the same university.

Just last month, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) announced the CNIB Chanchlani Global Vision Research Award of $25,000 to recognize best research in the field of ‘vision care and vision enablement worldwide’.

The 59-year-old Bhopal-born techie, who also holds an MBA degree from Toronto’s Rotman School of Management, came to Canada in 1979 to join Nortel.

Gurmukh Singh

Sreedhar Natarajan

Vasudev Chanchlani

Team Anna, government battle on new issues; differences

Differences between Team Anna and the government widened further as both sides stuck to their stand on key issues, including on bringing the prime minister within the ambit of a strong Lokpal bill, even as new areas of disagreement emerged.

However, both sides for the first time agreed that the atmosphere of their seventh meeting was “non-acrimonious” and “cordial”.

Emerging from the three-hour, penultimate meeting at North Block in New Delhi, Gandhian Anna Hazare described it as “good” and said the talks are “finally” back on track.

While Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal described the meeting as a “major step forward”, the civil society members were less happy, saying that “two new issues of disagreement have emerged” and the key issues are yet to be resolved.

Both sides also gave different versions of their meeting. While Sibal claimed “80-85 percent of the clauses” in the bill were agreed on, civil society members denied it saying there was agreement on only “60 percent”.

The two new areas of disagreement are on removal of the Lokpal and appointment of the Lokpal selection committee.

The two sides will be meeting again to exchange their versions on the “contentious issues” on the Lokpal bill, which would then be submitted to the cabinet for a final call.

Speaking to reporters, Sibal said there were “full-fledged discussions on a range of issues. The atmosphere was nonacrimonious, it was friendly…there was a broad consensus.”

“I think it’s a major step forward. Both sides feel that we should move towards a consensus, and where there are significant areas of divergence and disagreements to formulate a draft in which those areas will be spelt out,” he said.

Sibal also said the government will be meeting and discussing the key issues with political parties. The all-party meet - the dates will be announced later - will be held in July.

He said that the bill will be introduced in the monsoon session of parliament beginning mid-July.

Describing the recent meeting as “cordial”, civil society members said “differences persisted” between the two sides.

The two sides have been locked in a war of words in recent weeks over various issues, including on whether or not to bring the prime minister and the higher judiciary within the ambit of the Lokpal. The issue was not taken up in the meeting, which

started 11 a.m. and went on till 2 p.m.

Giving more details, Arvind Kejriwal, also a civil society member of the drafting committee, said they had “proposed a broad-based Lokpal committee consisting of non-political and independent people in the draft of the proposed bill while the government’s version has mainly political people in the appointment committee”.

“There were a lot of disagreements between both the sides, but all of them were discussed in an elaborate way,” Kejriwal said.

Besides Hazare, Prashant Bhushan and Kejriwal, other civil society activists on the panel that was set up in April to frame a comprehensive Lokpal bill to fight corruption in high places are Karnataka Lok Ayukta N. Santosh Hegde and Supreme Court advocate Shanti Bhushan.

Hedge could not attend the meeting due to a prior commitment but would be attending the second meeting.

The government is represented by cabinet ministers Pranab Mukherjee, P. Chidambaram, M. Veerappa Moily, Salman Khurshid and Sibal.

When asked about the Lokpal bill, Congress spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said: “Constitutionally, the legislature should have the right of drafting the bill.”

India seeks $2.5 bn World Bank aid for power projects

India’s power ministry has sought a financial aid of $2.5 billion or over Rs.113 billion from the World Bank for an ambitious project of transmission and distribution of electricity among the eight northeastern states, an official release said recently in Agartala.

The release, issued by the North Eastern Council (NEC), said: “The union power ministry has recently submitted the Rs.11,348.5 crore proposal to the World Bank.”

“The northeastern states, mainly Arunachal Pradesh, have the potentiality to generate 63,257 MW hydro electricity. The biggest hydro-electric plant, Lower Subansiri, in Arunachal Pradesh with a capacity of 2,000 MW is scheduled to be completed between 2013-2015.”

The two-day 60th NEC meeting held on June 16-17 in New Delhi discussed the power scenario, under-construction projects and future electricity generation plan in the northeastern region.

The meeting, chaired by NEC chairman and union Minister of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) B.K. Handique, was attended by all the eight chief ministers from the region.

“The first unit of gas-based Palatana power project in southern Tripura is scheduled to be completed in November 2011 and the second by March 2012.”

The state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is commissioning its first ever 726 MW capacity commercial power project at a cost of Rs.9,000 crore at Palatana, 60 km south of Tripura capital Agartala.

The release said that 433 km of road, at an estimated cost of Rs.1,353 crore, in six states of the northeastern region would be upgraded with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) loan.

The NEC, constituted in 1971, is a regional planning and execution agency for overall development of the northeastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura.

‘Tax reforms in India lag behind growth’

Taxation reforms in India have not kept pace with economic growth, leading to the problems of tax evasion and money

laundering and resulting in an estimated $1.4 trillion of black money, an expert said.

“In India, tax reforms have lagged behind growth. It is a big challenge for politicians and policymakers to keep the pace of reforms with growth,” Jeffrey Owens, director of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, told IANS during a visit to New Delhi.

He said high tax rates and loopholes in policies led to huge black money in India, which is mostly stashed abroad.

According to unofficial estimates, the quantum of Indian black money ranges from $450 billion to $1.4 trillion.

“Indian economy has transformed in the last two decades. Along with high growth, it has increasingly become importer and exporter of capital. But tax regulations have largely remained the same. You have to change with the changing environment,” the OECD official said.

Owens said the proposed tax reforms would help plug loopholes in the system and boost growth.

India plans comprehensive reforms in both direct and indirect tax regulations. The government aims to replace the archaic Income Tax Act, 1961, with a simplified norm called Direct Tax Code (DTC) from the beginning of the next financial year.

The DTC Bill, that aims at reducing tax rates but expanding the tax base by minimising exemptions, was introduced in parliament in August last year. However, the bill has not been passed yet.

Under the new tax regime, the government proposes to introduce measures that would help curb tax evasion and black money. It proposes to bring into the tax net all passive income earned by residents from substantial shareholding in companies situated in the low tax jurisdictions, often referred to as tax havens.

Assesses are also required to furnish details of their investment and interest in any entity outside India.

Finance Secretary Sunil Mitra said recently that the reformed tax regime would help bring back the ill-gotten money stashed abroad.

To reform the indirect tax regime, the government proposes to introduce a unified Goods and Services Tax (GST). It seeks to bring uniformity in indirect tax structure across the country by replacing the excise duties, services tax, value-added-tax, state surcharges and local levies with a unified tax rate.

Originally, the GST was planned to be introduced from April 1, 2010, but it has been delayed because of stiff opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states.

The new tax regime is unlikely to be implemented soon, given the rift between the federal government and oppositionruled states.

Owens said the proposed reforms would boost the government’s revenues and economic growth.

According to him, the focus of the reforms should be on broadening the tax base and reducing dependence on direct taxes. “The focus should be on consumption tax and property tax. Corporate taxes need to be reduced and the tax base broadened,” he said.

Owens said that to attract more foreign investment, India needs to bring stability and predictability in its tax regime.

Himachal to earn carbon credits with more forests

In India’s first public afforestation scheme, a World Bank-funded project in Himachal Pradesh will not only re-green the hills but also earn carbon credits for the state.

Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) Sudipto Roy said the project is aimed at protecting watersheds, improving livelihoods and generating carbon revenue for the communities through afforestation.

“The project helps sequester greenhouse gases by expanding forest cover on degraded lands and creating carbon sinks under the clean development mechanism,” Roy said recently.

Carbon credits provide a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by giving them a monetary value. A credit gives the owner the right to emit one tonne of carbon dioxide. Credits can be exchanged between businesses or bought and sold in the international market at current market prices.

The World Bank inked the emission reduction purchase agreement with the state last month to be implemented through the Rs.337-crore Mid-Himalayan Watershed Development project.

Under it, the World Bank will buy carbon credits of 350,000 temporary certified emission reductions (tCERs) for plantations raised over 4,003 hectares in the first phase till 2017.

The farmers in 177 gram panchayats of 10 districts will receive Rs.2,000-2,500 per hectare annually. If the growth of biomass is good, the state can avail itself of the benefit of another 100,000 tCERs in the second phase (2017-26) for which another agreement will be signed, an official said.

The World Bank committed to buying nearly 350,000 tCERs. “This became possible after Spain committed to purchasing tCERs from the World Bank,” he said.

The project aims to sequester 828,016 tonnes of carbon by the year 2026.

However, the process of physical verification of the plantations raised so far on 3,000 hectares has not started yet.

“An independent team of evaluators will soon tour the state to study the exact growth of the biomass,” said project director R.K. Kapoor.

Project officials said the exact rate of purchase of carbon credits would be determined on the growth of biomass. The normal range is $4.5-5 per tCER.

The state has also applied for registration of the project to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

With the granting of approval by the UNFCCC, the state hopes to get an additional annual revenue of Rs.8-10 crore through carbon credits.

World Bank Deputy Country Director Hubert Nove Josserand said on the day of signing of purchase agreement in Shimla, that the bank entered into an agreement for similar projects in 17 countries and the hill state had the largest area to be covered under the project.

Under it, 40 selected native species, including fruit and medicinal ones, have been planted.

As per the state forest report of 2005 published by the Forest Survey of India, Himachal Pradesh has 14,752 sq km forest area out of which 1,097 square km is very dense forest.

Condom kurta not received well by Indian government:

Designer

Delhi-based designer M.A Rahman, who made a condom kurta in 2010 to raise AIDS awareness, says he had approached the Indian government for support but there was no reply from the authorities and so he sent the shirt to the UN secretary general.

“I thought of doing something new on World Aids Day (December 1) (in 2010) and this is the reason why I made a kurta from

A

condoms. I wanted the Indian government to help me in this initiative and approached one of the well-known leaders through e-mail and faxes but there was no reply so I sent the garment to UN secretary general,” said Rahman.

Rahman created the kurta with emergency condoms in the collar and other condoms stitched to the rest of the fabric. According to him the act, which was a reminder for people to carry out safe sex, received accolades from all quarters of the world.

“I received a thanksgiving speech from the UN secretary general’s office, UN Aids India office and the director of NACCO who found the step extremely innovative and approached me to bring out such more concepts,” he said.

Rahman is now planning to organise a fashion show with the same theme on World Aids Day in Delhi this year.

“Seeing the response from the media and world, I am planning to bring out the same concept again on December 1, this year in Delhi. I am thinking of organising a fashion show where there will be a plethora of condom dresses and few simple garments,” he said.

Apart from keeping himself busy with social causes, he owns a fashion and lifestyle studio in Delhi named “Protein”, which, he says, makes garments for some top-notch politicians.

“The clothes which they (the politicians) generally ask for are kurta-pyjamas, waistcoats and jackets,” he said.

The prices at his store depend on the fabric used. For example, a dress made with Italian linen will cost Rs.10,000 to Rs. 12,000, while a garment made with simple cotton fabric will cost Rs.3,000 to Rs.4,000.

Machine brings new hope for cancer patients

It’s called the modern day medical marvel. HIPEC, a first of its kind machine in India, has proved a life-saver for two Stage IV cancer patients and holds the promise to be a boon for other such cancer patients when the traditional intravenous chemotherapy treatment fails.

The Hyperthermic Intra-Peritonial Chemotherapy (HIPEC) machine has been installed at Mumbai’s L.H. Hiranandani Hospital.

With Tata Cancer Hospital, one of the biggest cancer hospitals in the country, already overburdened with cancer surgeries, the HIPEC procedure can provide relief to several patients who otherwise would have to wait for many months for their turn.

Priced at Rs.6 million (over $130,000)

M.F.Husain

HIPEC is manufactured by a French company. The procedure uses a high concentration of chemotherapy.

The machine has already proved to be a life-saver for two patients who have been successfully operated upon using a combination of cytoreductive surgerywhich involves reducing number of cancer cells - and HIPEC.

“The right combination of these two aspects of the treatment are critical for the success of the strategy,” Sanket Mehta, the medico who conducted both the surgeries, said recently.

According to Mehta, there are only 35 centres around the world that undertake the HIPEC treatment, a majority of them being in Europe and the US.

Mehta, who has specially been trained in France for cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC, said it is also vital to have an excellent anaesthesia team and trained intensive care unit for a successful outcome.

“Hence, it cannot be done everywhere and needs a complete team effort,” he said, adding that the treatment starts from Rs.5 lakh.

Sadashiv Patidar, 65, a farmer from Madhya Pradesh, was the first patient to have successfully undergone the surgery. He was suffering from Pseudomyxoma Peritoneii - a stage IV complicated case of cancer of appendix.

During the surgery, all the visible tumours within the abdominal cavity were removed. Following this, chemotherapy through the HIPEC was administered at very high concentration -- at a high temperature and high flow rate, using a special machine to eradicate microscopic residual disease.

Mehta and his team removed about five kg of tumours and three litres of jelly like material, the very characteristic of pseudomyxoma.

“I started getting recurrent bouts of vomiting and had difficulty in walking when it all started six months back,” said Patidar, a sugarcane and cotton farmer from Budwani in Indore district.

Patidar, who spent close to Rs.1 million for the entire treatment, was thankful to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for the Rs.2 lakh allotted to him from the Chief Minister’s Fund and also the hospital authorities for giving a Rs.1 lakh concession on the surgery.

Mehta said the treatment has increased Patidar’s survival chances by up to 10 years.

“He is eating well and there is no weakness. He has recovered extremely well,” he said.

After Patidar, Mehta operated upon a 50-year-old woman, a complicated case of

in Mumbai on June 10, 2011. India’s most famous and

died in London on June 9, 2011 at the age of 95. The

could still be easily aroused - often for political ends

stage IV cancer of the appendix.

Meha says the treatment is applicable for various kinds of stage IV cancers like pseudomyxomas (cancer of appendix spread to entire abdomen), colorectal cancers (cancer of the large intestine), ovarian cancers and mesotheliomas (primary cancer of pertonium - serous membrane that forms the lining of the abdominal covering most of the intra-abdominal organs).

He says that with the help of the treatment, a significant number of patients with pseudomyxomas can survive for up to 10 years and there is also a good chance of cure.

Every year, Mumbai alone witnesses 4,000 new cases of pseudomyxomas and mesothiliomas, a majority of whom succumb to their illness due to the limitations of the conventional treatment.

“More than 2,000 new cases of stage IV colorectal and ovarian cancers would also be potentially eligible for this treatment,” Mehta said.

Terrorism focus of talks with Pakistan, Headley revelations to figure: India

Terrorism will be the “central point” of New Delhi’s agenda when the Indian and Pakistani foreign secretaries soon meet in Islamabad, said External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, adding that India will also take up the issue of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Coleman Headley’s revelations about the terror links of Pakistan’s spy agency Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

He admitted at the same time that incidents like the confrontation at sea between a Pakistani and an Indian naval warship could become an irritant in the talks.

“Of course, terrorism is the central point of our interaction with Pakistan,” Krishna told reporters before leaving for Myanmar on a three-day visit.

Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao will also be in Islamabad for talks with her Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir.

“This menace (of terrorism) has to be dealt with firmly and in a transparent manner for the common good of India and Pakistan and the region beyond,” Krishna said.

But he underlined that “in the kind of talks we are going to be involved with, patience is something to be called for”.

Krishna also asserted that India will raise the issue of Headley’s revelations during the foreign secretaries’ meeting.

“Whatever Headley has revealed under oath in a court of law in Chicago, would be relevant for the government of India

get Pakistan’s response to that. Well, that certainly will be taken up with Pakistan,” Krishna said.

Headley, who has pleaded guilty to his role in the Mumbai terror attack, claimed that the ISI and LeT separately gave him identical instructions to scout Mumbai locations to be attacked.

Besides, the two foreign secretaries are expected to talk on various subjects, including the Kashmir dispute.

“We have to be patient, realistic and positive. As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said on more than one occasion, peace and prosperity of South Asia is interlinked,” Krishna said.

The minister sounded unhappy over the recent brush between an Indian and a Pakistani warship in the Gulf of Aden.

Pakistan says that its PNS Babar was escorting to Oman an Egyptian carrier freed by Somali pirates June 14 when INS Godavari came dangerously close by. The incident led Pakistan to protest -- and India to deny the accusation.

“It is not desirable that such instances (take place)... On one hand, we are trying to improve our relationship, on other hand, such solitary instance takes place which become cause for irritant for the talks.

“If there is any misunderstanding between the two countries on this score, I think it is necessary to sort them out,” he said.

Krishna also expressed frustration at the pace of the trial in Pakistan against some masterminds of the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack .

“Our trial (of sole surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab) has concluded and an appeal is pending before the Supreme Court. And virtually, their trial has not even started. I think examination of witness has begun yet. It is a sad commentary on what is happening there,” he said.

Krishna added that India has been constantly raising this point with Pakistan.

“Whatever occasion we get, we always convey that it is necessary that the trial should be hastened. The process should become quicker and the people who are involved in the heinous crime against Mumbai and India should be brought to justice,” the foreign minister said.

Krishna added that India will also keep “pursuing” the extradition of Indian nationals taking refuge in Pakistan, including underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

On the reported talks with Taliban, Krishna reasserted that this should be within the “redlines” prescribed by the international community.

pedestrian walks past a painting made by the late Indian artist

on the tiled wall of an artgallery

controversial modern artist, M.F. Husain, who fled the country in 2006 after death threats from Hindu extremists,

Muslim painter’s death brought to an end a turbulent chapter in modern India that showed how religious sentiments

- and the limits of artistic self-expression. Maqbool Fida Husain, a former Bollywood poster artist whose career took off after Indian independence in 1947, had been in London where three of his paintings were sold by the auction house Bonhams as recently as early June.

Photo: AP

We all know and understand the importance of setting aside time each week for our health, wellbeing and for spending time together with family and friends. There are many ways that we can enjoy our “downtime” and right here in Sydney. So here’s one of the best choices of what the city has to offer not just for tourists, but its residents. Discover Centennial Parklands, little more than a stone’s throw away from the hustle and bustle of Sydney’s CBD.

History

The Rocks, the site of Sydney’s first settlement in 1788, was chosen for the stream of fresh water that emptied into Sydney Cove. By the 1830s, this stream had become polluted and an alternative source of fresh water was found in nearby swamps. Using convict labour, a bore was built and a tunnel was constructed through solid sandstone for 3.5 kilometres to Sydney’s Hyde Park, becoming the city’s main water supply route from 1837 to 1859.

In 1888, the then Premier of NSW, Sir Henry Parkes dedicated Centennial Parklands as a 189 hectare open space. Hundreds of unemployed men were enlisted to turn the swamps, scrub and rocks into a grand park in the Victorian tradition with formal gardens, ponds, statues and grand avenues. On January 1, 1901, the nation focussed on Centennial Parklands as the site of the inauguration of the Australian Federation.

A haven for active families

Centennial Parklands is home to diverse flora and fauna and many significant tree plantings, including Port Jackson figs, oaks and Norfolk Island pines that date to the early 20th century. Centennial Parklands is also home to many birds with 140 different species attracted by the varied environments found within the park, from wetlands to urban forest and open plains.

It is one of the most popular open spaces in Australia, providing many pleasant areas for picnics and barbeques alongside ponds and gardens, well equipped playgrounds for children to enjoy, playing fields for sport, ranger-led activities during the school holidays and a dedicated flat cycle circuit for rollerblading and recreational cycling. A special feature for children is the Learners Cycle way, a safe off-road circuit where children can learn to ride. On weekends children can even experience riding a pony. Whether you are an experienced rider or someone who has never sat on a horse before, the Equestrian Centre offers horse rides around the park. Riding a horse here is one of Sydney’s unique Centennial Parklands is also one of the most dog-friendly parks in Sydney with 43 per cent designated off-leash, with Federation Valley the most popular area. You will enjoy strolling through the gardens, with the column and rose gardens being its highlights. There are few places in Sydney that offer so much to enjoy. When I first moved here as a student I walked through Centennial Parklands to attend lectures. My twin daughters were pushed around in a stroller, had pony rides, learnt to ride a bicycle and participated in ranger-led activities. I still take my friends and family here. Nowadays I walk my dog and work as a volunteer. For me, it is one the most wonderful places I know in Sydney.

A walk

Centennial Parklands is also many birds with 140 different attracted by the varied environments found within the park, from to urban forest and open

Tucked away in an accessible spot close to the heart of Sydney city, Centennial Park is a local getaway for friends, family and the household pet

Photos: Petra O’Neill, Betty Chow, Daphne Gonzalvez, Julie Rogers

walk in the Park

also home to different species environments from wetlands open plains

BY PETRA O’NEILL

Centennial Park

GETTING THERE

Bus From Central Railway Station, catch the 378 Bronte bus from either Railway Square or Eddy Avenue. From Circular Quay catch the 333 or 380 Bondi buses or from Chatswood the Metrobus M40. Alight on Oxford Street at Queen Street.

Car There are several entry gates, though I’d recommend the Paddington Gates just opposite Queen and Oxford Streets. Avoid Saturday mornings when school sport is on, or when there is a major event on at the Sydney Football Stadium which causes traffic congestion. The last Sunday per season is a car-free day.

DINING

Bring a picnic hamper to gain the most from your visit. Or if you don’t have time, try Centennial Parklands Dining located within the park that offers brunch and lunch. Phone: 9380 9350 Email: enquiries@cpdining. com.au Website: www.trippaswhitegroup.com.au

Nearby in Cleveland Street, Surry Hills between Bourke and Crown Streets, several Indian restaurants offer moderately priced, excellent cuisine: I can’t go past Maya Vegetarian Indian Restaurant for moderately priced, excellent Indian cuisine.

Nearby Bourke Street Bakery in Bourke Street, Surry Hills always has a long queue, a testimony to the great bread, pastries, sandwiches and coffee sold here. There are also many cafes in Queen Street, Woollahra, with Bills perhaps the best.

INSIDER TIPS

Download or pick up a copy of the park map as you enter the park. The map indicates essentials such as barbeque areas, off leash dog walking areas etc. A pleasant walk is along Parkes and Dickens Drive to view Busby’s and Duck Ponds. Rest rooms are clean, though the best adjoin the Visitors Information Counter. Choose a sunny day for your visit. The park is open from sunrise to sunset, so set aside a few hours for your visit. Bicycles are available for hire. If you would like to feed the swans as many do, offer grated carrot rather than bread. The ranger-led activities offered during the school holidays are great fun and educational. Volunteering provides an opportunity to make friends and learn skills in bush regeneration and plant propagation.

SURROUNDS

One of Sydney’s prettiest streets is nearby. Queen Street, Woollahra is great for high-end fashion boutiques, antique shops and cafes.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Centennial Parklands Phone: 9339 6699

Email: info@centennialparklands.com.au or www.centennialparklands.com.au

For supervised 10-minute pony rides cost $12.50. Children love them. Centennial Parklands Equestrian Centre phone (02) 9332 2809.

Democracy in decline

As politicians openly flaunt their power, Indians are fast losing faith in their leaders’ abilities to protect democratic values

BY DILIP JADEJA

have not focussed on the apparent loss of democratic values in India during the past

loss of freedom and democratic values. Just google “rape case in Delhi”, “rape case in

Dey’s investigative journalism was proving to be too discomforting for some.

The price of peace

The treatment meted out to Baba Ramdev and Anna Hazare is another pointer at the state of affairs in the country.

Baba Ramdev was involved in a peaceful fast at Delhi’s Ramlila ground against proliferating corruption. At first the government tried to win him over but when that failed, the result was a ban. Why would a democratic government ban a democratic protest is a good question.

The police were seen tear-gassing and clubbing the protestors, which included women and children.

and even police officers. Most cases have

Culture of intolerance

While no one appears to be doing much to bring the criminals to book, elected leaders have shown little refrain in advocating violence. For example, Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh publicly praised those who took the law in their hands and bashed up a teacher brandishing footwear at Congress spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi at a press conference recently. “They did right, and what was needed,” said Singh and later went on to praise the action on national television.

In a separate incident, Mahidpur Ujjain District Congress MLA Dr Kalpana Parulekar threatened to “break hands and feet” of Congress MP Premchand Guddu for his critique of another MP and Minister!

All these incidents to show a significant loss of tolerance amongst the Congress’ high profile public office holders and elected leaders, which begs the question: so what examples of values in public life are they setting for the people of India?

Many people investigating the role of the so-called ‘oil mafia’ – a carbon fuel adulteration racket in Maharashtra with an estimated annual turnover in excess of Rs. 10,000 crore (A$ 2 billion) – have had to pay with their lives. This includes Additional District Collector Yashwant Sonawane who was burnt alive. Many suspect he paid the price for investigating a lead in connection with the dreaded oil mafia.

Mid Day reporter J Dey was shot dead in broad daylight in Mumbai recently, with fingers of suspicion again pointing towards the ‘oil mafia’. It is widely speculated that J

When Anna Hazare, a well-known social activist, followed up the protest against corruption by his one day token fast at Rajghat, he was accused of being a stooge of the opposition!

Anna Hazare has been asking for an anticorruption Ombudsman Bill that includes the Ministers and the Prime Minister in its purview. The government would rather that not be the case!

Shocking statistics

Corruption in India has reached monumental proportions. It is estimated that India’s money piled up in Swiss banks now exceeds the best part of a trillion dollars.

Experts believe that the India’s GDP is being underestimated by 30% due to these black transactions, and if properly captured in public accounting this sum of money could not only reduce the debt service ratio of the Indian government significantly, but it can also reduce interest payments –an unnecessary and unproductive drag –freeing up huge amounts of money for good investment for the public.

The strengthening of the economy and of the rupee that would follow, can curb India’s import bills, reduce interest rate burden and promote strong, sustainable growth. The government however, does not seem keen to think along these lines and continues to be overwhelmed by black economy and corruption issues.

Though the whole country seems to agree that Manmohan Singh is a clean PM, few believe that he is effective any more. His planning commission days’ goodwill is well overspent. Most Indians dislike the idea that he is a selected PM and not an elected one. He was never elected as an MP or a PM, as such. All these issues have undermined the real value of India’s democracy.

While no one appears to be doing much to bring criminals to book, elected leaders have shown little refrain in advocating violence

Corruption in India has reached monumental proportions and it is estimated that India’s money piled up in Swiss banks now exceeds the best part of a trillion dollars

Underrated Indian mothers

BY NOEL G DE SOUZA

News items derived from the latest Save The Children report speak for themselves: “More women respected in Pakistan than India”. 81% of women in Pakistan purportedly feel better treated than women in India (79%) whilst for Bangladesh it is 86%. Those studies are based on what a limited number of women surveyed felt about themselves. They are not comparative studies with any other country, but the information is twisted to say that Indian women comparatively are a dissatisfied lot.

A Press Trust of India banner, based on that report, reads: “For Mothers India Not A Happy Place”. I have yet to see a single critical Indian commentary refuting the illogical conclusions which have been drawn.

This report follows the trend of other United Nations bodies’ reports which rank India low with regard to the condition of women, that is, 75th amongst 79 so-called “less developed” countries. Fiji, Saudi Arabia, the Syrian Arab Republic, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Ghana, Guatemala, Oman, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Morocco, Cameroon and Congo rank immediately above India. This is blatant nonsense. Amongst these, Syria, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Congo continue to violently subjugate human rights. How happy can mothers be in such a situation?

The top 10 countries are Norway, Australia and Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands and France. As with other similar UN bodies’ reports, the small Scandinavian countries rank highest. Those well-ranked countries give good social security benefits to their citizens. Consequently, many women choose not to be mothers, thus enabling them to continue in employment.

The report justifies Norway’s number one rating because it has “the highest ratio of female-to-male earned income, the highest contraceptive prevalence rate, one of the lowest under-5 mortality rates and one of the most generous maternity leave policies in the developed world.”

By idealising the conditions of the Scandinavian countries, other nations with different societal systems and conditions are made to look as if they are living in undesirable conditions. India has had women in high political office, leading jobs in universities and a large numbers of female doctors long before any of the top ten rated nations in the report.

The USA, ranked thirty-first, does not fare well in the report. The report notes that “a woman in the US is more than 7 times as

likely as a woman in Italy or Ireland, to die from pregnancy-related causes and her risk of maternal death is 15-fold than that of a woman in Greece.” Amongst other reasons given are that “the under-5 mortality rate is 8 per 1,000 births … (which is) … twice as likely as a child in Finland, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Slovenia, Singapore or Sweden ….”

The lack of natural population growth induced Australia to offer a baby bonus which has led to a spike in population growth. In contrast, China has laws which limit population growth whilst India has been trying to do so by persuasion. These three countries have different population structures and different needs. One cannot be the model for the other.

Australia’s second place in the Save The Children ratings should be read in conjunction with the Australian Bureau of Statistics publication Families in Australia 2011, which reveals demographic trends with regard to family life in Australia. Marriage rates continue to fall and the median marriage age has risen to 29.6 for men and 27.7 for women. One in three marriages ends in divorce with over half of such divorces involving children under the age of 18. An increasing number of couples have both partners working. Women are increasingly participating in the workforce.

Despite Australia’s apparent prosperity, homelessness is on the rise. Indeed, the Salvation Army and Anglicare, the welfare wing of the Anglican Church, have expressed alarm about the growing number of homeless women, many of whom have children.

The Save The Children organisation campaigns to improve living conditions for children and mothers in several parts of the world. It has some very dedicated individuals who have given up top corporate positions to work in the non-profit sector. This includes Anne M. Mulcahy who left as the CEO of Xerox because she believed that “only public/private partnerships can pull off a turnaround plan at the scale needed to tackle global poverty.”

Another example is Retired Army Col. John Agoglia who served as the Director of the Counterinsurgency Training Centre (Afghanistan) in Kabul from 2008-2010. Pointing out that the USA spent about $667 billion on defense last year, but just $17 billion on humanitarian assistance, he notes: “How much more could we have accomplished if we had invested a lot more, and much earlier, in things like hospitals and schools and midwives and medicine for the women and children of Afghanistan and other developing countries?”

Save The Children should concentrate on its valuable practical work and not become another self-appointed ratings agency.

If the very premise on which a report is based is incorrect, it can lead to vastly inaccurate conclusions

By idealising the conditions of the Scandinavian countries, other nations with different societal systems and conditions are made to look as if they are living in undesirable conditions

A revolution nonetheless

Despite the quirky demands, the intense media treatment and the sheer irony of a billionaire sanyasi at helm, there may still be hope for India in Baba Ramdev’s crusade

BY ROY LANGE

The last few days saw the surging anticorruption movement in India suffer an affront with Baba Ramdev’s supporters being lathi charged in Delhi. This has prompted Ramdev to declare he will form a militia of 11,000 armed soldiers. Is Baba Ramdev a guiding light to the movement or will he potentially derail this rare chance for Indians to wipe the window to the gears of Government clean?

Baba Ramdev’s wide influence in India cannot be overstated. He has for many years been a televised Yogi with an audience of millions of people. I cannot tell you how surreal it was to be sitting in Arunachal Pradesh, the remotest state of India, to be lectured on the benefits of Ramdev’s signature explosive breathing. The late tribal Minister, who was enthusiastically telling me this, was convinced this would cure his hypertension. As indeed Ramdev’s drug company insists that his herbal remedies cure HIV and cancer.

He has tempered these Swadeshi instincts with a reported purchase of a Scottish Island for several million pounds. Which is a just spare change for a man worth 1,100 crore. But can we be too precious about the individuals who are leading the people to what we pray is a historical change? Who gives a monkey’s uncle if the diseased limb of corruption is severed by a scalpel or a garden spade?

Can we be too precious about the individuals who are leading the people to what we pray is a historical change?

This creative entrepreneurship has spawned an empire worth many millions.

This is a break from the Swami tradition of austerity. Gandhiji on being asked why on earth he travelled third class replied because there is no fourth class. If Ramdev was asked why he was travelling in an aircraft’s first class he would reply because I couldn’t charter the whole blessed aircraft, which is exactly what he does.

But India has changed. This hedonistic behaviour inspires awe not disdain. Ramdev’s eccentricities are swallowed whole by millions of followers, including his fivepoint plan: 100% voting; 100% Nationalistic thought; 100% boycott of foreign companies; 100% unification of the country; and 100% yoga oriented nation.

These tickle me but his points that address corruption make me sit up and pay attention. The death penalty for graft convictions amongst them. This would be a sound move if it didn’t involve the impracticality of liquidating the entire political class but it is academically deeply satisfying.

Yes, Ramdev is the polar opposite of Hazare. Hazare is the cleaner than clean Gandhian. Not the MLA Gandhian who habitually sports a gold Mount Blanc pen in his kardi kurta pocket but the real deal. Hazare would sooner starve to death than charter an aircraft. Yes, this has gained a deep respect but not a universal respect. No contemporary politician has understood this modern voter burnout to Gandhian austerity like Mayawati. Mayawati, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, understands down to her chopals that Gandhism isn’t moving off the shelves like it used to. She sells bling. She shamelessly flaunts her massive personal wealth like a West Coast rapper and commissions pharaoh like memorials to her living self. The dalits love it. She’s one of them and they want to be like her.

They no longer respect Gandhian ideals because the lifestyle they aspire to rid themselves of is in fact Gandhian and is practiced out of simply having no choice. They are now revolted by the hypocrisy of money grabbing gangsters shouting twisted versions of the Gandhian gospel. Ramdev is unashamedly capitalist, much like the electorate.

He still has a long journey to be an enduring national leader. For India’s villagers are uneducated and because of this they rely on a steel strong instinct for a person’s character. Will he stand up to this aggressive litmus test? Will the result be saffron or a cowardly yellow?

What is indisputable is that Ramdev is a marketable hybrid of emerging India’s worlds – living metaphor of India’s half complete metamorphosis from spiritual socialism to globalisation

The repatriation of the estimated trillion dollars in Swiss bank accounts. I have met industrialists who openly admit to having offshore accounts. It seems there is a finite amount of black money you can blow up in 5 stars and weddings attended by a populace that would qualify as a New Zealand city.

What is indisputable is that Ramdev is a marketable hybrid of emerging India’s worlds. The jet setting sadhu. A living metaphor of India’s half complete metamorphosis from spiritual socialism to globalisation.

He has my reluctant vote because I think he can learn to not talk of armed revolution when having fasted for three days. He has the vote too of 85 year old K.L. Gupta who made his way from Indore to Rajghat, alone and in 40 degree weather. Even with his catheter bag he slept outside on Delhi’s pavements so he could pray with Hazare and Ramdev for his beloved India.

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My mathematical pilgrimage

BY SYDNEY SRINIVAS

In the past few years, I have found myself increasingly engrossed in the life and works of Srinivasa Ramanujan (1887 – 1920), the great Indian mathematician and scholar. After a lot of research and reading, I was inclined to write about the man whose life, regrettably cut short at 32 of ill health, was the story of abject penury and that supreme gift that only he had – a truly brilliant mind.

houses a small school and the museum itself is on the first floor. The manager of the school opened the door to the museum, switched on the lights and the air conditioner, and said in that inimitable South Indian deference, “Feel free, sir.”

Once inside the room, I was transported to a world cut off from all the noise and chaos of the sprawling metropolis outside the four walls which displayed photographs after photographs of the legend. I had seen copies of some of these in the most authoritative book on him, The man who knew infinity by Robert Kannegal, but to see the preserved original, bigger sized pictures was even more intriguing. In the centre of the room are the books he has given for the posterity, collectively called the Notebooks of Ramanujan. A large portrait of Ramanujan in colour oversees the museum. I also found photo copies of his original manuscripts there.

from the museum: a copy of Kannegal’s masterpiece. I learnt that just a day before, Professor Berndt from the University of Illinois who has been following Ramanujan’s work for many years visited the museum and gave a series of talks. I wish I could leave Sydney for Chennai earlier! “Western people and the ones like you are taking so much interest in Ramanujan, but our own people show no interest whatsoever,” Meena says with a hint of regret in her voice.

I was inclined to write about the man whose life, regrettably cut short at 32 of ill health, was the story of abject penury and that supreme gift that only he had – a truly brilliant mind

University and later, from Cambridge.

I was almost compelled to experience first hand many places connected with the great man. My first destination was the Ramanujan Museum in Royapuram, Chennai. Unfortunately, my driver had a hard time taking me there as no one seemed to know of the place.

Finally, we managed to meander our way to 15/9 Soma Chetty Street, 4th lane. It’s ironical that the number that houses the memories of the most brilliant numerical mind is unheard of, particularly in the city he was so closely associated with. The street itself is unremarkable and – as we discovered after being held up for more than 15 minutes by a municipality garbage van –almost repulsively congested.

But once we were greeted by the board ‘Ramanujan Museum’, all the trouble seemed to fade away. Surprisingly, the building

I stood in front of every picture and looked at it from every angle! I was now in the company of Hardy, Neville, Littlewood, Narayana Ayyar, Seshu Ayyar and Ramachandra Rao, among others. These are the people connected with Ramanujan. The first three are from Cambridge; Hardy was the man who recognised Ramanujan’s merit which most of the Indian professors of those days could not!

There is also an imposing picture of Ramanujan’s mother Komalatammal. I shed a tear or two on seeing the many pictures of his wife Janaki who died in 1994. She was married to him at the age of 9 and lived a life of misery and hardship, which was only alleviated to some extent late in her life by the sympathy and recognition she got during Ramanujan’s centenary celebrations in 1987.

A picture of the slate Ramanujan used to perform his calculations on is in the museum.

The slate itself is preserved at the University of Illinois. The principal of a nearby school Meena Suresh has volunteered to look after the museum. She came down to the museum at my insistence and showed me around, often going into the history behind the pictures and the other memorabilia.

Trickled tales

I was surprised when Meena gave me a gift

Meena gave me two significant contacts: first was Narayanan, the adopted son of Ramanujan’s wife Janaki, and second, Viswnathan, the grandson of Ramanujan’s mentor Narayana Ayyar. I spent a profitable hour with Viswnathan who had many interesting stories to tell me, including how he first met Robert Kannegal: Viswnathan had arrived from London on a day Chennai was paralysed by a bandh, but he somehow managed to catch an autorickshaw. On his way he saw a westerner waiting for transport, Viswnathan asked him to hop in and only upon talking to the each other did they realise their Ramanujan connection, thus setting the foundation to a great friendship!

Viswanathan gave me a first hand account of Ramanujan’s life. His grand father had narrated to him many important events connected with the great man. One striking fact was how Ramanujan’s mother never allowed his wife Janaki to meet him, believing that it would distract him from mathematics. It was, as I learnt, Viswanathan’s grandmother who would often facilitate the meeting of the couple by calling for Janaki to help her with household chores, but asking her to use the time to meet her husband instead.

The other fact that came out was that Ayyar drafted many of the letters that Ramanujan wrote to Hardy. Viswnathan also revealed that following Ramanujan’s success in Cambridge many of the people closer to him had claimed credit for it.

This was only the first meeting and I look forward to many more such conversations with Viswanathan in future.

The next person I met was Sri Narayanan. We spoke about Janaki and Ramanujan. He revealed that she did tailoring jobs for relatives, although she did receive some financial assistance from the Madras

He took me inside the house and showed a bust of Ramanujan that was presented to Janaki during his centenary celebrations. There is also a colour picture of Janaki taken a few days before her death. We walked along the lane and stood at the house where Ramanujan stayed when unemployed and produced many of his famous ‘notebooks’. That place has been demolished. It’s a pity that the house where greatest breakthroughs in mathematics took place has not been preserved. The real Ramanujan, however, continues to live in the ‘notebooks.’

The formative years

My next destination was Kumbakonam, the place where Ramanujan spent his pre-college days. The first morning in Kumbakonam was one of the most memorable mornings in my life. Narayanan had told me that Ramanujan’s house is the fourth to the right of the Sarangapani Temple. I was driven straight to the temple, and then I saw the house and recognised it at once as I had seen many pictures of it.

When I entered the house, the caretaker took me inside a hallway which led to a small lounge. A bust of Ramanujan greeted us. To the left was a room with a cot in it. The room’s large window stood out. It was the room where Ramanujan spent much of his childhood, often sitting by the window and talking to children passing by. We continue to find the mention of this window in writings to this day. Very few realise that this is the place where a great mathematician took shape.

We went into the temple and were drawn in by broad halls and pillars. There were not many visitors that day and I was gripped by the realisation that this is the place where Ramanujan found peace and this is where he spent his days thinking of mathematical theorems! The place for sure was heaven on earth!

After this, we proceeded to the Town High School where Ramanujan did his schooling and stood first for the entire district. A big hall here has been named after him. Our next stop was the Government Arts College where Ramanujan studied for his FA and failed in English composition which led to his discontinuation of studies altogether.

The Goddess of Namakkal Divine intervention, it is said, played an important part in Ramanujan’s life. His family believed in Goddess Namagiri of Namakkal. Ramanujan is believed to have mentioned that the Goddess came in his dreams and wrote down some of the results for his theorems. In fact, the legend goes that Nagamigiri in a dream urged him to go to Cambridge.

So, the temple of goddess Namagiri at Namakkal became my next destination. The priests at the temple showed me a big picture of Namagiri. I then saw the main idol which is said to have inspired Ramanujan and thanked the Goddess who gave us the Partition Theorem, Continued Fractions, Mock Theta Function and what not!

Thus ended my mathematical pilgrimage of Chennai, Kumbakonam and Namakkal. But, I still have to see the places in Cambridge where Ramanujan lived and worked.

A disciple endeavours to understand the enigma called Srinivasa Ramanujan, a man who despite all odds went on to become one of the greatest mathematicians the world has known

The house in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu, where Srinivasa Ramanujan spent his childhood

The temple of Ramanujan’s family deity, the goddess Namagiri of Namakkal

BY SANDIP HOR

Travellers to hot and dusty east African wilderness often finish off their exhaustive, but mind-blowing safari experience by taking it easy for a few days in Zanzibar, the exotic Indian Ocean Island. I was no exception to this practiced routine.

Located almost 35 km off the shores of mainland Tanzania, Zanzibar boasts to be Africa’s most enticing destination, described by the 19th century Scottish explorer David Livingstone as the finest place he had ever

A zest for Zanzibar

known in the entire continent.

Like its neighbours Mauritius and Seychelles, Zanzibar depict images of an exotic paradise-land, soaked in a tropical languor and stippled with lush plantations, coconut palms, multicoloured coral reefs and miles and miles of white sands splashed by the warm turquoise waters of the Indian ocean.

However Zanzibar offers more to its modern day visitors; its legendary history emanates from centuries of interaction with different races and cultures and is a dividend for visitors like me, who are enthused by episodes of the past.

Recorded account says that the Assyrians, Sumerians, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Indians, Chinese, Persians, Portuguese, Omani Arabs, Dutch and English have all marked their footprints on Zanzibar’s soil at one time or another.

As early as the 8th century AD, came the Arabs from around present day Oman and Yemen, and the Persians from Iran.

The land was then like a gold mine to grow spices, obtain ivory by killing elephants found in abundance in the mainland forests, and collect humans as slaves from neighbouring countries. The Arabs got

straight into this and began a lucrative business of exporting spices, ivory and slaves to the Arab world. They spread their control from Zanzibar to over 1000 miles of the mainland coast, from Mozambique to Somalia. Later they were joined by traders from India, most of whom eventually made Zanzibar their home. The Arabs and Indians maintained their religion, culture and traditions, though being far away from home. Zanzibar became the Orient of Africa and gained name both, as ‘Spice Island’ and ‘Slave Capital’ of the world.

On the other hand, the Persians who were more into fishing and agriculture, did not hesitate to blend themselves with the local Africans through inter-marriages, giving rise to a new Afro-Asian race and a language called Swahili, which subsequently became and still remains the main spoken medium in Kenya and Tanzania.

European flavour swept the island when Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, on his way to India in 1499, stopped at Zanzibar and consequently established a colony which lasted for next the next 200 years, till it was taken over the Omani Sultans.

Becoming extremely prosperous and powerful, particularly with the slave business, the Sultans shifted their capital from the Persian Gulf to Zanzibar. A majority of land ownership came under them while trading, which was shared with Indians. Their regime continued, later under a British protectorate, till 1963, when Zanzibar became fully independent as a constitutional monarchy.

However the local Africans didn’t favour this and a bloody insurgency followed. In one fateful night the rebels killed over 10,000 Arabs and Indians, and formed new

republic which a year later joined mainland Tanganyika to form the United Republic of Tanzania.

Consisting of two main islands - Unguja and Pemba and myriad islets, Zanzibar today exists as a partner state of Tanzania, but with distinct individuality. They have their own flag, government and president and require filling embarkation forms, even if you are arriving from or are departing to mainland Tanzania, for which you already have a valid visa.

The Unguja Island is Zanzibar’s main population centre and entry point for most visitors, either by sea or air. It has enough of interest to merit a few days stay and is also good base for visiting the archipelago’s other attractions.

At the heart of Unguja, lies the old Stone Town, the nation’s cultural and historical epicenter of Zanzibar. Edged on an old-world waterfront and crammed with sites of great historical significance, this fabled quarter of winding alleyways, bustling bazaars, mosques and temples and impressive architecture reveals a mystical journey into a world of another time, more Arabic in character and identity than African. Leftovers from early settlers and foreign invaders are noticeable in every corner.

Looking at the quarter’s urban texture and architectural setting, it appears that little has changed in the setup since it was developed by Omani Sultans and wealthy Indian merchants, almost 300 years ago. Every building and townscape infrastructure I notice is decrepit and needs more than “tender loving care”. The surrounding ambiance is laidback and slow, as if no one

With a history of diverse heritage and compelling natural wonders, this country induces a sense of indolent enthusiasm that is hard to resist

Locals tout its sloppy mood, quaint lifestyle and frail architecture as an appealing feature of the destination which perhaps, sets the mood to relax and unwind

has anything to do. Locals tout its sloppy mood, quaint lifestyle and frail architecture as an appealing feature of the destination which perhaps, sets the mood to relax and unwind.

Time rewinds when you glimpse an array of rundown mansions, whose original owners appear to have vied with each other over the profligacy of their dwellings. This one-upmanship is particularly reflected in the brass studded, carved wooden doors that proclaim the past opulence and grandeur of the mansions they guard.

Several memoirs of historical significance draw tourist attention: the Sultan’s Palace, now a museum exhibiting memorabilia of the Omani rulers; House of Wonders, the National Museum portraying the island nation’s history and culture; an ancient Omani fort with an amphitheatre; an Anglican Cathedral built on the site of the former slave market; the four-story Old Dispensary building reminiscent of British-India colonial architecture, Mnara Mosque, decorated with a double chevron pattern; and Tippu Tip’s house, Tippu being East Africa’s most notorious slave trader are the ones that always come up in the itinerary of most visitors.

Beyond history, the tropical haven offers visitors a diverse range of enticing activities to fill your time. Tour nearby spice plantations; cruise to an unknown island in a traditional wooden boat called a dhow; view ruined forts and palaces just beyond, but within reach; get lost in exotic and colorful markets or hide in one of the isolated beaches where the sand is powdery white, and the sea is ethereal shades of turquoise.

Others truly take it very easy and do nothing. They stay at a hotel overlooking the sea, walk along seaside promenades with friendly locals; cheer on kids playing football at the beach, watch the sunset from the balcony of their hotel room, or simply have a drink at the bar followed by a long dinner at a vibrant café or a quiet restaurant .

Whatever one does, they all enjoy time in Zanzibar.

Travel notebook Zanzibar

GETTING THERE

The best way to reach Zanzibar is by flying South African Airways (www.flysaa.com) from Sydney or Perth to Dar Es Salaam in Tanzania, and then either taking a short flight or a two-hour journey by air conditioned catamarans to the island.

ACCOMMODATION

There are no shortages of hotels to suit budget, however Serena Hotel (www.serenahotels.com), which occupies the former cable and wireless office and the adjacent Chinese doctor’s residence present standards of five-star international level. All rooms are sea facing and the service is friendly and faultless. If required to spend a night in Dar Es Salaam for connections, stay at the New Africa Hotel (www. newafricahotel.com), an excellent property at a convenient city location, owned and run by the elite Indian hotel group Sarovar.

EATING

Fresh spices and abundant seafood makes Zanzibar a sanctuary for foodies. A great place to sample is at the open-air street food market, held in the waterfront Forodhani Gardens in Stone Town. Soaked in a magical twilight atmosphere, the precinct comes alive after sunset with food stalls serving an array of dishes from grilled seafood, goat meat curry and parathas, to sugarcane juice and roasted bananas topped with melted chocolate. Among several Indian restaurants, Radha is recommended for high quality vegetarian snacks and meals. Serena Hotel’s roof-top Terrace Restaurant is an exquisite venue for a romantic, candle-lit dinner, where the taste of lobster thermidor will stay with you for ever.

VISA

Check with the Honorary Tanzanian Consulate office in Melbourne and Perth for visa requirements (www. tanzaniaconsul.com)

CURRENCY

The local currency is Tanzanian Shilling (TZS), with 1AUD =1600 TZS. However, US dollars are widely accepted

IMMUNISATION

Yellow fever vaccination is mandatory for entry to Tanzania and Zanzibar

TOUR OPERATOR

Contact Wildlife Safari Consultants in Sydney (Tel: 0418443494)

MORE INFORMATION

Visit Zanzibar Tourism Board (www.zanzibartourism.net)

The land was then like a gold mine to grow spices, obtain ivory by killing elephants found in abundance in the mainland forests, and collect humans as slaves from neighbouring countries

1. Zanzibar Door

2. An Old Mosque

3. Stone Town House

4. Omani Fort 5. Catch of the Day 6. Zanzibari Chillies 7. Picturesque Zanzibar

8. Cathedral

IT tips for tax time

BY SUNIL RANADIVE

As the end of the Financial Year 2010/11 approaches, we are starting to think of ways to ensure our business is tax-effective, so now is the time to start planning and implementing. The recent Federal Budget in May 2011 held few new advantages for this financial year from an IT perspective, however many options remain. Here are our 5 IT Tax Tips you might consider with advice from your tax advisor:

1. Prepayment of IT Services

For Small Businesses turning over less than $2 million a year, prepayment of the following years IT services is a great way of tax effectively managing your future IT costs, and having a complex area of your business

Small Businesses using the simplified depreciation rules in many cases can claim an immediate deduction for a depreciating IT asset costing less than $1,000

effectively outsourced to an expert. A prepayment is not apportioned, but is allowed in full as a deduction in the year in which it is incurred, if all services in respect of the prepayment are provided within 13 months of incurring the expenditure. Your computer troubleshooter can provide prepayment of IT services using either a Managed Services Contract (MSC) or a Block Time Services Agreement (BTSA).

• A Managed Services Contract has a defined service level and a monthly management component. This allows your network to be proactively managed and serviced like an outsourced IT department.

• A Block Time Services Agreement is an agreement to provide a specific number of hours of services at an agreed rate. This is a responsive contract where you use your computer troubleshooter as your service provider on a pay for service basis over

the year. Generally this must be expended within the 12-month period.

For example, a Small Business decides to contract a computer troubleshooter for it’s 2011/2012 IT outsourcing contract for $500 a month. The $6,000 contract covering 12 months is signed and paid prior to end of June 2011. The business can claim the $6,000 deduction in its 2010/11 tax return.

2. Depreciation

The depreciation rate on IT equipment is quite high due to their low expected life compared to many other depreciable assets. For depreciating IT assets over $300, the effective life is 4 years and 3 years for laptop computers. Small Businesses using the simplified depreciation rules in many cases can claim an immediate deduction for a depreciating IT asset costing less than $1,000.

The Federal Budget in May 2010 announced that in the 2012/13 tax year, this instant write off for small business will be increased to $5,000 which will save on depreciation calculations and improve cash flow.

However in the meantime the existing rules apply, which means while equipment may last beyond its depreciated life, you may no longer have depreciation tax benefits. So, if you upgraded your IT equipment you could be experiencing the benefits of the latest technology tax effectively with a lower downtime risk and better running costs.

For example, a Small Business has a fully depreciated server which is five years old and expensive to maintain with a high risk of failure. It replaces the server with a new one purchased and installed for $3,000, and depreciates the equipment on an ongoing basis. Depreciating the $3,000 over the life of the asset moves some expenses from cash to non-cash and reduces business continuity risk.

3.

Education Tax Refund

The Federal Government’s education tax rebate for primary and secondary students has continued for this tax year with the amounts eligible indexed from last year.

Eligible taxpayers will be able to claim 50% for costs up to $794 for primary school students (i.e. a rebate of up to $397), and 50% for costs up to $1,588 for secondary school students (i.e. a rebate of up to $794).

To be eligible, the taxpayer must receive

Family Tax Benefit (‘FTB’) Part ‘A’ or the child must receive certain payments or allowances such as Youth Allowance, ABSTUDY or Disability Support Pension

Computer equipment and computer running costs (such as internet service provider fees, laptops, home computers, printers, toner, and stationery) used by students can be claimed. Home computer services are also eligible. Make sure you keep receipts and tax invoices for inclusion for the claim.

For example, a family receives Family Tax Benefit Part ‘A’ and has two children in school - one in primary, the other in secondary. They purchase a $2,000 home computer for use by the children and pay $60 a month for ADSL. Total spending of $2,720 on IT for the students is incurred before end of June 2011. In their 2010/11 tax return they claim $780 for the primary student & $1,558 for the

Eligible taxpayers will be able to claim 50% for costs up to $794 for primary school students (i.e. a rebate of up to $397), and 50% for costs up to $1,588 for secondary school students (i.e. a rebate of up to $794)

secondary student. This equates to a rebate of $390 plus $779, so the rebate of $1,169 will be included in their 2010/11 tax return.

4. Home computer services

If you have used a professional for servicing a computer that has been used for deriving income or managing tax affairs, a proportion of the amount may be claimed as a deduction for tax purposes. IT costs such as internet access, printer consumables (toner and paper), depreciation, and computer security subscriptions may be proportionally deductible in the same circumstance.

Like all personal tax deductions you would need to provide proof of the expense and verify the proportion of the cost that is deductible.

For example, a home user who uses their

home computer for managing their tax and financial affairs has previously verified with their tax consultant that 30% of the costs associated with the computer are tax deductible. The home user has used an IT professional during the year and spent $300 in repairing the computer, and has a tax invoice and receipt. The owner can include the $300 in their computer running expenses and gain a $90 deduction for the costs (30%) in their 2010/11 tax return.

5. Get tax advice and make a plan

Often we wait until the end of the financial year to think about tax. This year, why not be proactive and plan your tax outcomes in advance. Why not take advantage of tax incentives and ensure your IT is up to speed. Talk to your tax advisor and IT Consultant to find a tax effective IT plan for your circumstances.

For example, a Small Business turning over less than $2 million a year decides to develop an IT plan, and with its tax advisor they determine to bring forward a planned $10,000 total network upgrade and outsource their IT department for next year for $6,000. The business is able to reduce the 2010/11 tax liability by $6,000 by prepaying the managed services contract for 2011/12 and gaining depreciation benefits from the date of installation. Giving the business a financial boost for the 2010/11 year, but also having upgraded the IT infrastructure and outsourced IT management, they have reduced business continuity uncertainty and improved efficiency.

All advice contained in this communication is of a general nature and should not be relied on as a reliable source for tax advice. The IT Tax Tips contained in this document were regarded as correct at the time of writing, changes to legislation or proposed legislation may alter these tips. We recommend you contact the Australia Tax Office, your professional advisor or a registered Tax Agent for advice in respect of your personal or business situation.

IT is an important component of tax time, for both, small businesses and families with school-going children, so make sure you don’t miss out

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BY SAROJA SRINIVASAN

Our sense of who we are is conditioned, though in a cosmic sense quite wrongly, often to where we live, and the profession we work in. Whilst these outward facts do influence our thinking, we have somehow allowed them to so overwhelm us that we may have lost our true sense of who we are deep inside in the very core of our being. Most of us realize we are more than what we look like, what we wear or what jobs we do. Yet we also seem to be swayed by others’ opinion and sometimes our own irrational beliefs.

Either one of the ways of dealing with the discomfort of migration, by denying the discomfort or by dwelling on it, only postpones the time of adjustment and acceptance of the choice that has been made. It is a voluntary choice for most people, and as such one has to accept the consequences of the decision. Only then will one be able to live contently, and enjoy the happiness which we all seek.

However, when expatriates decide to

return home, the initial excitement is around the knowledge that they will no longer be a ‘foreigner’. ‘Home’ is where they don’t have to think about being different, where they no longer have to apologise for every act of their fellow countryman’s eccentricities and need never think about navigating strange and unknown ways of behaving. That is in theory. In reality, what the expat doesn’t expect is that ‘home’ now demands more getting used to than abroad. Time has not stood still at ‘home’. The shock and horror at having to do things differently in one’s own country! Surely living in a different country meant adjusting to strange and unknown ways, but to have to confront the same thing in one’s own country is unthinkable. Up to a point this is true. We know how to behave at home (if we haven’t forgotten) and usually we know what to expect (even though we may be a bit rusty on this point).

We all expect ‘home’ to be a place where everything will be familiar and we just slot in. But what we forget is that ‘home’ also means a certain way of behaving with certain people at the time, and routines that were present at the time. And now suddenly after a period of absence, things have changed at ‘home’, things that we didn’t expect to change.

While we have been away, relationships have been formed, some have been broken and yet others are waiting in the wings to be made. Children of relatives have become young men and women who are very self-assured with their own ideas. Older relatives who were selfreliant have now become more dependent. Living away from one’s culture allows a certain flexibility in behaving, which may not be allowed back in one’s own culture. Everything that made you different and an object of curiosity also brought you a lot of attention in an alien culture, but now suddenly you are one in a million similar people and you are not special any more! “You are one of the crowd,” V.S. Naipaul wrote of his first visit to India. And this merging with the rest may initially be a shock to many.

Some on the other hand, go out of their way to merge and be a ‘local’. Some may insist on doing without the conveniences they have become used to in an effort to be at ‘home’ in their own ‘home’. There are also those who actively resist ‘fitting back in’. The new anonymity is too harsh to digest.

And so we often see the expatriate return to the status of being an ex-patriot. The difficulty in engaging the interest of one’s family and friends about their ‘overseas experience’ is truly vexing for some. The novelty of ‘slide shows’ is not there anymore, as many have been overseas themselves. It seems no one is particularly welcoming, nor have the time to rejoice at this mammoth decision of the expatriot to return home.

Soon it becomes obvious that much readjustment is required to be able to live back in one’s own culture. Another fundamental cultural adjustment, quite different to the first one is now needed. Being so acclimatised to foreign culture for so long, one may expect the ‘known’ culture to be the same as what it was overseas. The fact is, re-entry in to one’s own culture can be as unsettling as the culture shock one experienced on the first overseas trip. The sting hurts.

Surely living in a different country meant adjusting to strange and unknown ways, but to have to confront the same thing in one’s own country is unthinkable

The return of the prodigal isn’t heralded with joy and celebration, which can be a disappointing and unexpected experience

The virtual world

BY RANI JHALA

Every friend of mine was on the ‘network’: praising its social capacity, marvelling at its technical capability. ‘Connections’ is a social network on the internet, that lets people instantly contact friends and family. Within moments it lets you upload and share photos, and keep a track of birthdays and milestones. For months, they had been pestering me to join as well, but I had managed to resist. I am a Senior Citizen and consider myself way too old for this teenage pastime. Bribes, dares, challenges – nothing worked on me, that is, until our little grandchild was born. In another city, away from our sight, in another country, away from our reach! Suddenly the chance of seeing her latest photos and the opportunity to participate in her daily life became too strong an incentive, and like the many that were already members, I too joined in.

A world of connections

I set up my onsite name and I filled in my details. All I had wanted was to link up with my daughter and see my little grandchild. And the anticipated pleasure did not fail to live up to the expectation. Oh, the joy of logging in every evening and seeing my little angel’s photos and antics!

By the end of the first week I had linked up with all my relations. I saw a nephew I had last seen as a child now smile at me as a man. I saw an aunt’s wrinkled smiling countenance, reminding me of the years that had flown by. And I had the pleasure of seeing the new generation that would one day, take on our roles.

By the end of the month, I had caught up with all my school friends as well. Some, grandparents like me, others with grown up kids. Ah! I thought what a beautiful medium of communication. Living millions of miles apart, it took just one click to bring the past into the present, and the distant into our living rooms.

My life began to follow a routine: work, home, dinner and then the internet. Soon I became its most vocal promoter; visibly distressed if I found out that someone was not yet a member.

Utopia! My wonder technological world, that I now so loved.

Privacy panic

Soon however, the voyeuristic lifestyle began to take over. I would begin by looking at my grandchild’s photo, and then see my daughter in her friend’s photos. From there I would go to a site following a comment that caught my eye and soon I would be looking at pictures and paintings of flora and fauna that belonged to someone in some part of the world that neither I nor my daughter knew. Within an hour, I would be in a stranger’s world and would suddenly ask myself, “Where am I, and worse still, what am I doing here?” The fascination of this voyeuristic world, however, would hold me captive. That was until one day I woke up to the fact that just as me, somewhere there was a person who was looking into my little world and participating in my conversations. In a panic I removed all my photos, well not permanently, for soon my daughter informed me that one could control the ‘privacy’ settings and restrict who sees our site. Three hours later, I had re-instated all my friends and photos. It was hard work but oh how good it felt to be back online. It actually felt – ‘normal’.

Dilemmas and disadvantages

Then came my second hurdle. Call it childish but a few months into my new social network, a woman joined in who was the bane of my schooling life. To use today’s neoterminology, she could be called our school ‘bully’. A week

after she sent me a link, I could not bring myself to connect with her. I am a grow woman, so why was an incident from my childhood still holding me emotionally captive? I debated over the dilemma for over a week, stressing over the repercussion of letting her join or not letting her into my world again. Finally, my daughter made the decision for me. This was a social network, meant to be for friends where one could enjoy the contact and communication. Be free to express our views and relay our cares. It was meant for people we loved. Having her as a friend was going to restrict my comments, would have me questioning the sarcasm behind every statement written, and basically ruining the fun I was having. With a clink of a button I removed her link, blocked her access and marvelled yet again at the clinically effective way in which modern technology can ‘delete’ the unwanted from our lives. If only we had the same control in our real world instead of having to work through the problems, with consideration given to all the ‘factors’.

But with all these wonderful features came two great disadvantages: the loss of privacy and the fear of information passing out into the hands of people we do not want empowered with it.

Bosses have sacked people based on evidence collected on this site, partners have uncovered secret affairs and followed through with divorces, and children have had their lives destroyed with ‘cyber bullying’.

Once your information is in that ‘cloud’, your control only exists until a hacker takes over. I don’t let this worry me too much for the family photographs that I put on would mean nothing to someone who did not know me. The fear is for the younger generation who put some very compromising photos online. In this virtual world, all that we put out can one day become ‘virtual evidence’. And my other fear is when friends share their inputs, the information or photograph goes over to another’s site. It then becomes common property with no exclusivity or copyrights.

With no physical being to converse with, we rely on the ‘virtual’ identity. And that is where my circle got caught out. A friend joined our circle and for months we conversed as in the good old days until a new member pointed out that the real ‘Anita’ has passed on a decade earlier. Identity theft, I think that is the criminal name given to this. To date we don’t know who this new ‘Anita’ was or where she has disappeared too. Maybe she has become a ‘Rita’ in another circle!

None the less, this new social vehicle is one I cannot move away from. Like a moth drawn to the flame, I gravitate to it every evening. Like an alcoholic, I sneak in my daily dose. Like a drug addict, I take my daily fix.

To my critics I say, this new vehicle feeds my intellect with inspiring conversations, it satisfies my thirst for communicating with loved ones and opens the door into my grandchild’s life. For this wonderful joy, how can I ever close my account?

That was until one day I woke up to the fact that just as me, somewhere there was a person who was looking into my little world and participating in my conversations

The loss of privacy and the fear of information passing out into the hands of people we do not want empowered with it

Social networking can be a blessing and a threat, as we move increasingly into a world of unseen and sometimes dubious communication

He’s still got it!

BY RITAM MITRA

The 2011 French Open was, quite simply, the best and most-followed in recent memory. The balls were hit harder and faster, there were flashes of brilliance and moments of unpredictability from the greatest players and new heroes were born while the old ones continued to conquer. It was a tournament to be remembered.

The women’s singles gave rise to a new Grand Slam champion in China’s Ni La, who won a great final over defending champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy. It was the most open women’s draw in years (as they have all been of late), with both the Williams sisters out with injury and a shaky world number 1 yet to notch up her maiden Grand Slam victory. Li Na’s story was particularly inspiring, having soldiered through the years for little Grand Slam success only to become the first Asian player to win a Grand Slams singles title. The two extremely experienced women brushed aside all challengers to prove that age is clearly not everything in sport.

Meanwhile, in the men’s draw, it seemed as though the tournament would head in only one direction – a Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal final. These two were obvious favourites – one is the greatest clay-courter of all time, having won the French Open 5 times prior to this year’s victory. Djokovic, meanwhile, was in a vein of form even Nadal cannot claim to have ever experienced, going into the tournament with a record 39-match winning streak in 2011 including 4 consecutive triumphs over Rafael Nadal in tournament finals.

Meanwhile, for the first time in a Grand Slam since the 2003 US Open, a certain Roger Federer was not given a top two seeding. Federer’s draw was a crash course to meet the incredibly impressive Djokovic in the semi-finals – the same man who knocked him out in semi-finals at the two previous Grand Slams. Indeed, for the first time in recent memory, critics barely considered Federer when predicting the outcome of the tournament. The clock on his legendary career was said to have ticked away.

Federer responded in kind, beginning the tournament playing some of his best-ever clay-court tennis from the very first match. The French Open this year trialled lighter, faster balls which were a definite advantage for the Swiss superstar’s serve and of course, for what is probably going to be remembered as the best shot in tennis history – the Federer forehand. If the tournament was to be awarded

The French Open this year trialled lighter, faster balls which were a definite advantage for the Federer’s serve and of course, for what is probably going to be remembered as the best shot in tennis history – the Federer forehand

based on form in the round matches, Federer and Djokovic would be the main contenders; Nadal would be written off.

The great Spaniard was a shadow of his usually brutal self on the French dirt, going to 5 sets for the first time at Roland Garros in the very first round - against big-serving American John Isner. However, even though the highlytalented Scotsman Andy Murray was nursing an ankle injury from the third round onwards and Nadal looked somewhat shaky, it was not all that surprising when the top four seeds met in the semi-finals.

The Nadal-Murray encounter was much closer than the three-set scoreline showed. For three hours the two battled it out, and it was only at this stage that Rafael Nadal started producing some of the shots that have defined his career, including the ripping cross-court backhand as well his unbelievably heavy forehand. After his 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 win over Murray, Nadal stood on the brink of immortality (as though he was not close enough to it already), just one match away from equalling Bjorn Borg’s record of 6 Roland Garros titles.

The late finish to the first semi-final meant that the highlyanticipated clash between Djokovic and Federer did not start until after 5 – indeed, both players went into the match knowing that if a 5th set was to be contested, it would almost definitely be have to played the next day. This only heightened the tension in the Parisian air.

From the outset, the two showed why they were the form players in this tournament, hitting the ball at a ferocious pace and with amazing control. The first set took

While this year’s French Open eventually granted us a familiar men’s champion, it showed us that a somewhat forgotten hero still has plenty of arrows left in his quiver

over 70 minutes, and it was still tough to say who was in the ascendancy. The pair exchanged two breaks each, and Federer saved two set points before storming through in the tiebreaker.

Federer came up with a rollicking 4-1 start to the second in just 20 minutes; Djokovic looking a nothing like the player who steamrolled his way through each and every tournament this year. Federer roared to his box when Djokovic netted a backhand to hand him the set at 6-3, only to take his foot off the pedal momentarily in the third set. Djokovic was far too good a player to miss out on opportunities against the Swiss maestro - having unforgivingly dumped him out of the 2010 US Open after saving match points – and won the third set 6-3.

However, with a 174-0 record in Grand Slams when leading 2 sets to love, it was always going to be a mountain for the Serb to climb. Serving to send the match into a 5th set and 2nd day at 5-4 in the 4th, Djokovic crumbled under the weight of both the pressure and a somewhat unfairly partisan crowd – a stunning ace down the middle sealed victory for Federer in the tiebreak, who responded by pointing his finger to the heavens in delight.

The next match was the 8th meeting between Federer and Nadal at a Grand Slam final. It was easily their closest match at Roland Garros, the devastating Spaniard granting Federer only 4 games, in their last encounter here back in 2008. Federer ran out to an early 4-1 lead to equal that mark in an instant, only for Nadal to start dictating the points in the way only he knows how, taking the opening two sets through some fantastic exchanges. Although Federer threatened with a brief revival in the 3rd set, the result was never in any real doubt – Federer succumbed to an absolute warrior of a clay-courter in Nadal. There was no shame in losing to a player of Nadal’s calibre and class in his own backyard. The Spaniard is undoubtedly the true master of the clay court (and it might be said, of the Grand Slam final against Roger Federer).

While this year’s French Open eventually granted us a familiar men’s champion, it showed us that a somewhat forgotten hero still has plenty of arrows left in his quiver. There have been louder and louder whispers regarding his failing forehand and his weakening backhand, but Roger Federer continues to be one of the most formidable opponents on a tennis court today. If only by the impeccable standards he set for himself – “I created a monster” as he puts it – the years have taken their toll on him and the magic has diminished a touch. But by the time Wimbledon concludes early next month, do not be surprised to see Roger Federer standing there with a gleaming trophy in his hands.

Roger Federer stumbled before the last hurdle at this year’s French Open, but not before reminding us again that nobody has ever played tennis the way he did, and sometimes still does

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Savoury and sweet

These two recipes come with a history of hilarity, as they are tried and tested with interesting results

BY SUDHA NATARJAN

I was ten or may be eleven, when Appa (dad) and Amma (mom) left for Coimbatore to conduct the yearly ceremonial rites at the death anniversary of my grandfather. Appa’s elder brother did the main prayers and my father had to assist him, while my aunty and Amma prepared the food under the careful instructions of my grandmother.

My sister and I used to accompany my parents every year, but in this particular year we didn’t go with them as I had an important exam the day after. We were to be left alone, with caring neighbours who would keep an eye on us. I knew this was the opportunity I was looking for … to cook!

Amma had taught me simple things… I was in the habit of getting up early as my most absorbent study hours were in the morning. I could prepare the coffee just the way we made it, brewed with the thick decoction prepared in a stainless steel filter, while waiting for the milk at 6am. She had also taught me to make Kerala Molagoottal (also called koottu in Tamil Nadu) with vegetables and ground coconut. As it was made with most vegetables, I wouldn’t have to make yet another vegetable accompaniment, so that was what I decided to cook.

Amma always fried papads – the ones from Kerala that would bulge like a poori, and would leave them in a big container so that we could not complain about not having anything to eat.

Everything was okay, except for one thing. I had to take care of my naughty little sister who liked to watch me and report back to my mother when she got back. If the dish was not to her taste, well, I would have quite a bit to answer for! The funniest things used to happen when I tried to do things which my mother would not approve of, in her kitchen.

How did the dish turn out? You won’t

believe what I had to go through! First of all, the dhal burnt out as I decided to take a study break, and did not notice that more water had to be added. When I suddenly remembered the dhal, I ran to the kitchen and in the process fell flat and had to pretend that the few bumps that erupted as a result of the fall did not exist! The burnt dhal had to be thrown out and a fresh one prepared. Luckily after that, everything went according to plan. We had a moderately decent Molagoottal (though it was nowhere near my mother’s standard) and with a lot of exclamations and criticism, my sister managed to eat more than her share, so it must have tasted all right! Being a party to the adventure, she decided not to report the details to mother and we were well fed and still in one piece when our parents returned. Thinking about our younger days brings to mind the playful little happenings between siblings, which make interesting memories. I remember one such thing. My parents went off on a day’s trip leaving us at home, and I decided to try my favourite Pal Gova (milk halva) preparation. It was basically simple, very tasty and needs a lot of patience as you have to watch the milk thicken and shrink into a paste after all the boiling. Mind you, even as you keep watching and stirring, the dish has a tendency to burn at the bottom of the vessel, and what’s left is a totally burnt vessel rather than the mouth-watering Pal Gova. This sweet is an integral part of traditional south Indian Brahmin weddings. Whenever the bridegroom’s family is invited to lunch or dinner, the bride’s family should invite them with Pal Gova

The weirdest thing was I, being the cautious one, decided to make the dish in big, thick iron spoon, usually used for tempering food. Having cleaned the spoon thoroughly I set about filling it with three tablespoons of thick milk, all the time thinking about how I was going to enjoy eating this delicacy. But it was too little and would have to share it with my sister, who refused to take her eyes off the spoon. The little stove was lit and I didn’t know how to turn the flame down for slow cooking. With careful manoeuvring the milk finally thickened to a semi-fluid state, and I added the sugar with my sister prompting me to add “more, more!” In a few minutes the Pal Gova was a delicious thick brown paste with particles sticking to the side. I had to keep slapping off my sister’s hand as she kept trying to touch the hot spoon, while fighting my urge to take a lick, but we had to be patient till the mix cooled down. Happy and excited, I finally put my hand forward to secure a bit of the delicacy, my own creation, but my sister who has always been faster than me, put her little hand into the spoon, swiped the lot with agility and it was in her mouth and stomach before I could blink my eye! Knowing what would happen next, she scampered off emitting sarcastic giggles.

I refused to give up. I took another teaspoon and started scratching the little sticky bits around the spoon and the bottom burnt bits and licked the spoon clean. I left it in the sink and went off to wreak vengeance on the little Tsunami

who had disappeared down the street. The spoon was totally forgotten.

Mother arrived late at night and promptly found the used spoon with its burned remnants and sticky bits on the side. Guess who got the worst of it? Well, the moral of the story is, never try anything with your little sister next to you!

However, we did manage quite well and were quite chubby, so it must have been mother’s cooking. At 80, she is the queen of the kitchen, while my sister and I simply taste…

Brahmin special elavan molagoottal

½ kg white gourd (Elavan/Poosanikkai/ Chinese grey melon)

½ kg pumpkin (Mathan/Parangikai)

1 tsp turmeric powder - 1 tsp

3 red chillies

1 tso cumin seeds (jeerakam)

2 tsp mustard seeds

1 cup grated fresh coconut

2 cups tuvar dal (tuvara paruppu)

2 tsp urad dal

2 tsp vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Wash tuvar dal and boil in cooker with sufficient quantity of water and turmeric powder. Grind the grated coconut with red chillies and jeerakam and set aside. Cut and wash white gourd and pumpkin and boil till cooked. Add turmeric powder and salt to the vegetable. Next, add the cooked tuvar dhal to the cooked vegetables. Follow with the ground coconut mix and continue to cook for a few minutes. Take a small frying pan or tadka kadhai. Add vegetable oil, and fry mustard seeds and urad dal. Add this tempering to the mix. Add curry leaves. Serve with hot rice to which a little ghee has been added. Top with molagoottal, crush in a pappadam and life will be worth living!

Pal Gova (Thirattu pal)

8 cups/2 litres milk

2 tsp yogurt

1 cup sugar or pale coloured jaggery

Pinch of cardamom powder (optional)

Tiny pinch of edible camphor or pachai karpooram powder (optional)

Pour the milk in a thick-bottomed, broadmouthed vessel and heat on high. Turn the stove to simmer when it starts to boil. The milk will start to thicken. Using a dosa turner, scrape the milk from the sides of the vessel as it keeps thickening. Once it reaches a slushy consistency, add the sugar or jaggery and keep thickening. If the milk is of good quality, as it reduces, ghee will also be formed from it. Keep stirring and when it reaches a thicker and slushy consistency, remove from the fire. Add yogurt for a grainy consistency, constantly stirring the mix. Add the optional cardamom and/or pachai karpooram. Serve when cooled.

Note: The right consistency of mix is approx. 2 cups of thirattu pal from 8 cups of milk.

Elavan Molagoottal: Veggies in dal

Sudha with her mum in Syndey

Anything that can seep into the pores, especially open ones, can and will clog them leading to blackheads

Fair of face and full of grace

Ever noticed those ugly black, zit like things on your cheeks or all over your nose? They are blackheads and can mar a perfectly good complexion. We tell you how to prevent them and get rid of them.

Prevention or cure

BY MINNAL KHONA

Essentially, blackheads are an accumulation of sebum and dead skin cells which clog open pores. They start out as ‘whiteheads,’ but they turn black when the accumulated dust and the oil clogging the pore mix with the dust in the atmosphere. Whether you have oily or dry skin, you could be prone to blackheads. Usually, one sees blackheads on nose, cheeks and along the lines of the lips. But some people even get them on the chin, chest and back. This is due to sweat and dirt which also clog the pores.

Why blackheads occur

Blackheads can occur due to various reasons. The most common is pores clogged with dead skin and oil. Blackheads can also be caused by hormonal imbalances. Sometimes, hormone imbalance leads to excess oil production in the layers of the skin. This oil mixes with sweat and dust and gradually builds up to clog the pore completely.

A daily skincare routine of washing the face using a mild facewash, and a weekly exfoliating routine can go a long way in preventing blackheads

Regular use of make-up, especially cream-based foundations can also have the same effect if the make-up is not taken off completely before going to bed. Anything that can seep into the pores, especially the open ones, can and will clog them leading to blackheads. Some people have skin that has a tendency to get clogged with whiteheads and blackheads, in a manner similar to acne prone skin.

A daily skincare routine of washing the face using a mild facewash and water, along with a weekly exfoliating routine can go a long way in preventing blackheads. But, despite one’s best efforts, they can still occur. Personally, I believe that a facial at the salon which includes steaming and removing of the blackheads with a blackhead remover (a slightly painful but effective procedure) works best. If you are like me and don’t have the patience to sit through a facial, ask for a clean-up instead, which gives you the benefit of clean skin without having to spend too long over it.

There are also a few cosmetic products which claim to remove blackheads with regular use. But this may not work for stubborn blackheads which have been embedded in the skin for a long time. There are also blackhead removal strips available in the market but these too, in my experience, have limited efficacy. I usually just use my fingernails to squeeze the blackhead out. Still, just removing them is not the complete solution as they are bound to return over a period of time. Prevention is the best way to stop them from reoccurring.

Here are some tips for effective protection against blackheads.

1. Avoid cream based cosmetics for make-up. If you must use a foundation or compact that is cream based, remove it well and scrub your face clean after that.

2. Avoid soaps and face wash products that are not oil-free or have ingredients that aggravate the skin (especially if you have oily

skin). You should avoid using a product if your skin experiences a burning or tingling sensation after using it.

3. If you have oily skin, check if the soap or faces wash is pH neutral. You don’t want something too drying either.

4. Use a face scrub that contains green apple. It helps in removing dead skin.

5. You can also buy Granny Smith apples and make your own scrub. Make a paste of the fruit, apply on the blackhead and wash off after a while.

6. You can also mash some grapes and apply the pulp on the blackheads as they help soften the skin and this in turn will help you remove the blackhead.

7. After you have showered, if you have blackheads on your nose, scrub hard with the towel and this will help remove the blackheads to some extent.

8. A paste of lime juice and cinnamon powder applied on the affected area can also help.

9. Keep some blackhead removal strips handy and use them in an emergency, though a regular salon treatment to get rid of them works best.

10. Any cosmetic product you use must be oil free regardless of the kind of skin you have. Moisturising products are different from ones that contain oils so read the details before you buy.

Always remember, that blackheads on your face can really mar your appearance. So ensure you remove them regularly and take care to prevent them from recurring frequently.

BUZZThe

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

Karisma all ready for comeback

Karisma Kapoor’s much-awaited return to films promises to be of epic proportions. She will play no less than five different characters, spanning 500 years, in director Vikram Bhatt’s Dangerous Ishq. The five roles span a whole gamut of India’s mythological and historical events. Karisma will start by playing Mirabai, Lord Krishna’s most famous devotee, and then move forward in time to stories that include the partition era, Indira Gandhi’s assassination and even present day politics.

Reluctant to reveal the details, all Vikram Bhatt will reveal for now is that he and Karisma are currently busy researching the women characters of ancient, medieval and modern India:

Says Vikram: “Karisma has always been a very hard-working and capable actress. But in terms of challenges posed to her performing abilities, I feel there have been not too many golden opportunities. Dangerous Ishq will takes her to a new level as an actor.”

Ambitious, yes, but let’s see if Karisma can work her charisma all over again….

Busybody Anil Kapoor

Anil Kapoor’s Hollywood career seems to be going in the right direction. After completing work for Mission Impossible 4, he is set to begin his next Hollywood film Cities with Clive Owen.

“The film will be shot in New York,

? GUESS WHO

London and Mumbai,” the 51-year-old Anil revealed. “The filming begins in October, but my part will be shot in November and December”.

Anil will be seen playing a cop in the film about greed and ambition that takes place on a global scale in three colliding story lines. The first story involves a New York-based hedge fund manager (Owen), who has everything he wants - money, sex and power - but he wants more.

The second story is about a Londonbased young couple who just want to buy their first home, something that seems impossibly out of their reach. And the third story will see a Mumbai cop’s (Anil) fight against corruption between property speculators and his colleagues.

Nice to see apna Anil moving on from One Two Ka Four type roles…

A decade of Lagaan

When sports-themed period film Lagaan released in 2001, it created a rage. A decade on, Bollywood actor Aamir Khan celebrated the film’s 10 years and his own 10 years into production with fanfare and jubilation.

The actor invited all those who were part of Lagaan and also the teams of all the films produced under his banner “Aamir Khan Productions”.

“I’m very happy to meet my entire team of Lagaan after so long. The film

has completed 10 years. It’s so nice to meet all these people and celebrate with them,” Aamir told reporters on the night. “I thank such great talents that have worked with our production house and made it what it is today”.

A special screening of a film based on the making of Lagaan was also organised for the guests that included Ashutosh Gowariker, Imran Khan, Javed Akhtar, Gracy Singh and others.

In 2002, Lagaan was nominated for the best foreign language film at the Oscars but it didn’t win.

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who was the narrator in Lagaan, also made an appearance.

“I’m happy and proud that my name is associated with such a great actor, director and producer like Aamir Khan and with a film like Lagaan that created waves even internationally,” Amitabh said.

The evening also witnessed the presence of Aamir’s wife Kiran Rao, who was an assistant director on the sets of Lagaan and his ex-wife Reena Dutta.

“It’s a very unique film and you can’t make such films every day,” Kiran said at the event. “History was written when this film was made”.

Aamir and Kiran reportedly began dating during the shoot of Lagaan but the actor denied it.

“I did not meet Kiran properly that

time because she was a part of a 300-plus crew, so I was not really good friends with her during that time. I made friends with her later in 2003,” the actor revealed.

It’s IIFA time again

IIFA without the Bachchans? It can happen!

Comparing the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards with the Oscars, actor Anil Kapoor says just like the Academy Awards have no brand ambassador, the IIFA needs no one to endorse it too. Nevertheless, he says he would miss having megastar Amitabh Bachchan, IIFA’s former ambassador, at the event in Toronto this year.

The three-day IIFA Weekend extravaganza, to be held June 23-25, is expected to draw a huge Bollywood turnout including Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan, Priyanka Chopra, Saif Ali Khan and others. However, the Bachchan family, that used to be a regular at the event for a decade, will be missing.

Superstar Shah Rukh Khan is not just attending the forthcoming International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend, but he will also enthrall the audience with a befitting finale performance at the awards ceremony June 25.

Shah Rukh has also been nominated in the best actor category for his performance as Rizwan Khan, a patient

(Find the answer under Caption Contest)

This Bollywood actor comes with impeccable credentials…. Including a Nobel Laureate father.

KARISMA KAPPOR

of Asperger’s syndrome, in Karan Johar’s My Name Is Khan. IIFA organisers are expecting a huge turnout of fans with Shah Rukh’s presence.

Other performers at the star-studded event include Priyanka Chopra, Bipasha Basu, Kangana Ranaut, Saif Ali Khan and the famous Deol family - veteran star Dharmendra and his sons Sunny and Bobby.

Salman Khan is also expected to be at the three-day IIFA Weekend as his debut co-production Chillar Party is set to kick off the IIFA Film Festival (it’s a lighthearted comedy about the lives of seven children hailing from different sections of society).

More than 22,000 people are expected to attend the event which will be beamed internationally to over 700 million people.

Twenty films will be screened in Toronto and its sister cities of Brampton, Mississauga and Markham as part of the IFFA Awards. These include Hera Pheri, Dabangg and Hai

Interestingly, the Indian-dominated city of Brampton on the outskirts of Toronto will name a street Raj Kapoor Crescent after the legendary Raj Kapoor during the IFFA Awards.

Of course what the press will be waiting for, is to see if a face-off ensues between the two Khans.

And no doubt, many will be waiting to see what the Big B tweets about the event!

Ranbir’s ‘good guy’ act

Hmm, notice how Ranbir Kapoor has been working quietly to get rid of his ‘naughty boy’ image?

Well, the latest is that he will auction a portrait of his, to support the cause of the girl child in rural India.

The portrait was made during Ranbir’s appearance on Simi Garewal’s new chat show India’s Most Desirable and the funds raised will go towards the Mijwan Welfare Society.

Mijwan Welfare Society is a nongovernment organisation (NGO) in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh, run by actress-activist Shabana Azmi and Namrata Goyal. The organisation works for the empowerment of girl child.

But what the gossips really waited for during the show, was what Ranbir would say about his exes Deepika and Sonam and Katrina…. RGV’s back to scare us…

He’s the butt of jokes for the ridiculous films he makes, even in Bollywood. Now he’s saying ‘BHHOOoo’ to scare his rivals.

Yes, that’s the name of filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma’s new film. And he is reportedly making the film to counter producer Nitin Manmohan’s plans to make Bhoot 2 with Vikram Bhatt.

“Let’s see who can stop me from making it,” RGV said recently . “The title Bhooo comes from that commonly uttered

sound by us when we want to scare the daylights out of our enemies. That’s what I want to do to my enemies who are now doing a sequel to my film on the sly”.

Oh dear….

The film will star Mahie Gill and Raj Kumar Yadav, (of Ragini MMS and Shaitan ). Released in 2003, Varma’s Bhoot, which starred Ajay Devgn, Urmila Matondkar and Rekha, was a hit. BHHOOoo will carry forward the story from Bhoot with the same

Are we scared, or are we

Someone stop this irritating man,

Watches, by Salman

All you Salman Khan fans out there, hope you are supporting his ‘Being Human’ cause. Now that you have his full range of t-shirts and , you can move on to his watches! The Bollywood heartthrob’s luxury watches named after his Being Human charitable foundation, are now available at

Conceptualized by the actor himself, these limited-edition watches have specific designs for men and women. The women’s range consists of contemporarily designed and sporty analogue models, with a stainless steel, fibre case and rubber straps in matt finish, while the men’s collection boasts of round and square dial analogue designs that are designed for the heavy metal aficionado.

The price for men’s collection starts from Rs.8,820, while the women’s watches start from Rs.4,320.

Salman Khan founded Being Human as a nonprofit organisation that works for the benefit of the under-privileged.

Bachchan baby?

There’s plenty of murmurings about the Big B…. not Amitabh, mind you, but the Big Baby. Yes, we’re talking about the bachcha : now that will be the Biggest B of them all! So the ghusphoos began after the recent weight gain by the , who at her very latest outing (at the races in France), looked decidedly matronly, not to mention a bit tired and lacking in usual lustre. And did you hear those IVF rumours?? And if you read between the lines of Abhi’s latest tweets… Jaane bhi do, yaaron. Let them be!

Finish

Neetu Kapoor’s sentence: Rishi Kapoor, “I present you with the award for….”

Send in your responses to info@indianlink.com.au and win a surprise prize

Last issue Caption

Abraham and Hema Malini?

John: Hey Hema Aunty, I mean Hemaji, what’s with the jeans and all?

Hema: Oh you know, I just thought, now that Bipasha is out of the scene….!

John (looking around): Someone save me….

Priya Khanna

Glen Waverley Melbourne

Priya wins a double pass to new Hindi film Delhi Belly

AISHWARYA RAI

SALMAN KHAN

LAGAAN: TEN YEARS ON

RANBIR KAPOOR

Cine Talk

A fun cruise, but way too long

Will Talwar survive Bhushan’s antics?

Bheja Fry 2 does not have the innocent charm of the first part: mainly because the surprise element of the first is gone and also because unlike in the original, which was a copy, the makers have had to put their thinking cap on. Thus while the original seemed immaculate in its conception, this one jars more than once during it over two hour duration.

The greatest inconsistency is in the camera work, which would go into extreme close up, and suddenly draw back to give a panorama, causing undesired irritation.

around. And though it is at least half an hour too long, it still works.

When Bheja Fry was released in 2007, mostly a shot by shot copy of the 1998 French hit Le Dîner De Cons (The Dinner Game), no one expected it to be such a big hit. Yet, in the character of Bharat Bhushan, they had created a character people could relate to, so what if the French had

After winning a TV contest, taxinspector Bharat Bhushan (Vinay Pathak) is invited to be part of a cruise ship. Also on a leisure trip is fraudster Ajit Talwar (Kay Kay Menon) who comes to know of a tax inspector in disguise on the boat out to catch him. He thinks it is Bhushan and tries to kill him only for both him and Bhushan to be stranded on an uninhabited island.

Instead of relying on slapstick, the film relies on situational humour. That is indeed a refreshing change for an Indian comedy. However, many humorous possibilities from these situations are simply frittered away, especially on a cruise boat full of pompous, rich people, thus showing poor imagination from the creators. The metaphor of the original, which was not to judge a man by the way he behaves and instead to look at his heart, has been made. There’s nothing to look forward to in this pitting of an irritating but true man

versus a suave conman.

Also, this part overshoots its welcome by at least half an hour, with some silly, cliched gags. Tighter editing, to match the length of the original, would have evened out a lot of rough edges.

Yet, as popular comedies go in India, it is better than what the audiences in this nation are conned for in the name of comedy with films full of silly, sexist jokes, overdone and badly executed gags and complete lack of situational comedy.

Unwittingly thus, Bheja Fry 2 becomes a metaphor for what is wrong with popular Indian comedy today, unlike the comedies of the 1960s and 1970s: lack of fresh ideas and creative talents with the sense and timing enough to execute it.

Another underworld film, but this one shakes you, sometimes to the core!

Film: BhindiBaazaarInc

Starring: Pavan Malhotra, Kay Kay Menon, Prashant Narayanan, Gautam Sharma and Deepti Naval

Directed by: Ankush Bhatt

You can take the gangster out of Mumbai, but you really can’t take Mumbai out of the gangster genre of cinema. How many films have we seen where young people from the seamier side of Mumbai’s notorious underbelly get into the world of crime and other furtive pleasures?

Let’s not make a list of the underworld films, recent and remote, which Bhindi Baazaar Inc echoes. Suffice to say this one too shakes you, sometimes to the core. It is gritty edgy tactile and earthy, filled with actors who look unwashed, unshaven, brazen and brash enough to pass off as real gangsters on Mumbai’s crowded roads. Gun’s the word. The only language that these people speak is the language of violence. As one of the semipivotal characters with bruises and fractures says:

“What difference does it make whether it’s the public, police or colleagues? I am used to the thrashing.” That sense of expected violence at the pit of the stomach runs through the film’s underbelly.

Bhindi Baazaar Inc serenades a genre which has been done to brutal death in Bollywood. Sex here is for barter and worse. Take it or leave it. In an episode echoing Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool with vigorous temerity, the ganglord’s recruit kills his own mentor and sleeps with the woman that the mentor was lusting after.

Recall the Pankaj Kapoor-Tabu-Irrfan Khan axis in Maqbool. Shakespeare meets Ram Gopal Varma. You’d immediately see where Ghalib Asab Bopali’s ‘scream’ play in Bhindi Baazaar is coming from. Replete with rugged references to the tradition of Mumbai cinema’s enduring allegiance to gangsterism, the film moves at an even trot.

Bolstered by hard-hitting images of violence, the narration warms up menacingly towards a heated climax. Bhatt seeks inspiration from the great raconteurs of gangsterism - Ram Gopal Varma, for starters.

It isn’t originality that gives this work its bearings and resonances. It’s the way the familiar congregations of

the scruffy and the savage people are packaged and projected that keeps us riveted.

At the helm of the pulsating proceedings are the two pickpocket friends. Prashant Narayanan (excellent) and newcomer Gautam Sharma (confident) remind us of Dev Patel and Ankur Vikal in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and Sharman Joshi and Farukh Kabir in Allah Ka Banday.

While resonantly echoing all these violent predecessors, Bhindi Baazaar Inc manages to stand on its own two feet.

Director Ankush Bhatt keeps the blood and fury rolling out in reams of ricocheting images denoting a life lived on the edge of self-destruction. The performances range from the grand (Pavan Malhotra) to the awkward (some of the female actors). The romantic and erotic sequences are clumsy, and some attempts to shock through dialogues and visuals are too blatant.

But the plot finally holds together. The blood-soaked streets, the mean circumstances and the meaner social outcasts all come together in a bracing bloodbath that could be accused of being jaded in theme but not lacking in vitality and vigour.

Suresh Menon and Amole Gupte

Directed by: Sagar Ballary

Satyen K. Bordoloi

Subhash K. Jha

Sudoku

Sodoku is a puzzle that you solve with reasoning and logic. Fill in the grid with digits 1 to 9 in a manner that each row, column and region contains these nine numbers with no repetition.

Math-amusement

Let’s see if you can find the three unknown numbers (triangle, 1

Matrimonials

SEEKING GROOMS

Match for 30-year-old Manglik Hindu Khatri girl, 5’5”, fair, slim, well educated with moderate values. Innocent divorcee, has a son (no legal issues). Brother settled in Sydney. Looking for a well settled and educated boy, 32-38 years old. Min 5’ 6”. Caste no bar. Interested contact with bio-data and photo. Email: matrisyd@gmail.com or call 0418 770 827.

Punjabi Arora parents seeking well-settled/ professional match for beautiful, slim, unmarried, 37/ 165, IT professional, with strong family values. Brought up in India, settled in Sydney. Australian citizen. Status family. Caste no bar. Early marriage. Email with photo: ausgirl101@gmail.com

Punjabi Hindu Khatri, good looking, smart, homely girl, never married, 33, 5‘11”, looks very young, seeking tall Indian boy settled in Australia. Two brothers well settled in Sydney, caste no bar. Contact with photo and details on 0425 910 007 or ricky.bhalla@gmail.com

Seeking a suitable match for young looking, very fair Hindu lady, 53, 5’2, living in Australia for 25 years, works in a government dept. Groom must be between 47-55, well qualified, non-smoker, occasional drinker and vegetarian. Contact sydaus@hotmail.com.au

Seeking match for 39/165, unmarried, fair, slim, beautiful Indian Punjabi girl, family oriented and responsible, traditional values, IT professional, brought up in India. Australian citizen. Early marriage. Can relocate. Serious enquiries only. Caste no bar. Email with photo: sydgirl09@gmail.com

Alliance invited for a very fair, very beautiful, MBA, 33 years, Hindu Punjabi

issueless divorcee girl, Australian citizen, born and brought up in India. She is very caring, homely, responsible, loving and a sincere girl. Seeking a non smoker, teetotaller, Australian PR/citizen. Caste no bar. Contact with photo and details on perfectindianmatch@gmail.com.

SEEKING BRIDES

Hindu Punjabi business parents invite alliance for a beautiful educated girl for their highly qualified son 30/6’3”, a very well placed financial consultant with a leading MNC in UK. Will be in Australia in July. Caste no bar. Send bhp to ukshaadi@hotmail.com

Match required for an Australian citizen, Sydney resident, north Indian, 26 years old, 5’7”, slim, handsome and very fair engineer boy from Kayastha family. Looking for a suitable well educated Indian girl with family values. Caste no bar. Please send details to akhilsns@gmail.com or contact 0412 487 801.

Alliance invited for clean shaven Sikh/1972/5’11”/ very decent, responsible, handsome/BE/MBA boy, working as head of marketing in a software company in India, issueless divorcee. Kindly contact Manisha Bakshi on 0401 542 550 / manishabak@gmail.com

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Aussie ocker Christian seeks Christian bride. I am in the fifties, 5’10”, 110 kg, own home, a full head of hair, pensioner. Tel: 0459 919 717. Email: nottattached@aol. com

Ask Auntyji

Can I swap my life for a TV drama?

I read your column regularly, Auntyji, and I have a problem for which mujhe pata hai aap mujhe sahi salaah dengi . (I know you will advise me well). I am 25 years old, married in 2009. It was an arranged match in India. Actually I had never given serous thought to my marriage, being heavily involved in my career and all. My parents introduced me to this person they liked, and I just said yes without thinking too hard about it. Eleven months later I was a married woman, and within a month of the wedding, I had landed in Sydney to start a new life. Maine humesha se ek Prince Charming ke bare me socha tha (I had always had romantic notions of a Prince Charming for me), but my husband is very different from my prince image; frankly, unko dekh ke mujhe khushi nahi hoti (I am not happy). I used to have a crush on a model/television star in India, just a silly crush, but I used to celebrate his birthday and stuff like that. (He still features in one of India’s most happening TV dramas). I find myself thinking more and more about him these days…. I know that I am married now and I should love my husband but I can’t seem to help it.

I know I sound crazy, but even though hum kabhi mile bhi nahi , agar woh hath de to main saare bandhan chod doon uske liye (I may never have met him, but if he were ever to ask me, I would give everything up to be with him). What should I do, Auntyji?

Auntyji says

Aap ki chitti padhke my first khayal is this: yeh kya tamasha hai? In your choti si zindagi , why do you want to become a Jhansi ki rani by showing no respect to the pavitra rishta between you and your husband? Why are you creating such a needless tamasha in your life? Here is your problem. Instead of living your life, you are living the life through TV serials. Let me tell you, those things are like ganja and charas . Once you are hooked onto it, it’s very hard to give up. So, in the first instance, if you really want my advice the way that all good bahus need the advise of their loving elders, here is what you must do.

In the first instance, accept that TV serials are just that. They are on TV – they are real people acting out situations. That handsome hunk you are infatuated with, plays a character. Ok, so he looks delicious – but he is an actor and should be respected for his art, and not for the fact that you want him in your life. Further, he is not in your life. He does not make you tea and he does not give a toss if you have a cold or even chicken pox.

So, you need to move on with your life. Watch the last episode of that serial, say goodbye to it and stop watching it. Immediately. Next, try to fit some other activity in your day for the time you would normally watch the show. Go watch a film, go to the library, visit non-TV watching friends, anything. Fill up this time with an alternative exercise. Then, once you have scheduled your time accordingly, it’ll be time to focus on your husband. Is he happy being married to you? What don’t you like about him? Does everything about him make you unhappy, or are you just comparing him to the heartthrob on TV? Please show some respect to your marriage and your husband. Take some time to think about how you feel, and why you feel this way. Honestly, you can make your own life even better than what you see on TV – all you have to do is be clear about what you want, and then go and get it. You want romance like you see on TV –then talk to your husband about it and tell him about what would make you happy. Then, try not to be a selfish cow who only takes but does not give. Make time for your husband, show him some affection and work out what makes him happy. At least give your marriage, and certainly your husband, a chance. He deserves a little respect from you, no? Yes, life is about romance and fairy tales. But we have to do something about it. The modern fairy tale involves the princess making an effort – even Cinderella had to put on some clothes and dance with her prince and charm and captivate him. And even Beauty fell in love with her Beast – she made an effort. So how much effort are you making? Do write back and let me know.

These ghar ghar ki kahanis always make my day. Besides, I am after all, a dukhi dilon

ka sahaara

On caring and sharing

Dear Auntyji

I am currently doing my MBA and I am studying Financial Management this semester. This is a challenging topic for me because I have not done this before – so I am putting in a lot of effort. I asked one of my friends who has already completed this subject to give me his past exam papers for practice, and he gave me lots of exams and quizzes from the last few years. I revised using these papers – and I got a very good mark for my last quiz. I have some colleagues in the course with whom I am doing a group report and the people in this group are good at financial management. Now my question to you is, Auntyji, do I need to share these past papers with my colleagues? They are nice people and they too would like good marks – but if we all get good marks, then overall, the scores will be marked down – to keep grades for this course on an even distribution. What should I do? The benevolent being in me wants to do the right thing, but I also know that I will quite possibly get penalised if everyone scores high grades and we are marked down to achieve an even ranking. What to do?

Auntyji says

Well my dear, the problem is not that hard. You are doing your MBA because you want to stand out from others and you want to give yourself an edge. This means that you are doing something that will reward you (you get better jobs, better pay) while those who compete with you for the same jobs, may be penalised (they don’t get hired, you do). So in this instance, you have an added advantage. Plus you have past papers that will give you better scores. And it is not in your interest if everyone in your group gets high scores in quizzes and exams because then everyone gets weighted accordingly, which could see you lose a few marks – which could translate into a credit instead of a distinction for you.

So, you need to put in a spectacular effort toward your group assignment – so that you all get a good score for this. But for the rest of the quizzes and exams, where only individual effort counts, you don’t have to share anything with anyone. Think of it this way. What if one of your class mates hired a private tutor to give her extra assistance? Would you expect the classmate to share the tutoring time with you? No, you would have to hire the tutor yourself. Your classmates had the same opportunity to go around and ask friends for past papers. They didn’t, and they have an advantage over you in that they have more experience in Financial Management. You on the other hand don’t, so you have gone out and sought extra help, and this came to you in the form of past papers – which are proving invaluable. The world is a competition – and sometimes we have to do things that give us advantages. Now if your subject wasn’t weighted and everyone could get the result without being scored up or down, I would encourage you to share the past papers because that’s the purpose of living in a society. Sharing and caring. Study hard, my studious little friend and good luck in your exams.

Tricky Nikki

Dear Auntyji

Now, I have a problem for you and I am desperately hoping you can provide me with solace, with sage advice that only a dear lady of your stature can provide. I am 31 years old, and for the last 5 years, I have been in love with Nikki. She and I went to school together and she is a lovely girl, and also very beautiful. But she only just wants to be friends with me. In fact, I have even told her that I want to marry her, but she said she loves someone else. She loves Deven, who is a good friend of mine also. Here starts my problem Aunty. I frequently travel overseas, and last few times, I offered to pick up some things for Nikki, and two times she refused. Then, she asked me to pick up some very attractive lingerie for her! Can you imagine, she wants La Perla night gowns and negligees! And when I buy them for her I can imagine her in them, then I imagine her putting them on for Deven, and then I slowly go mad thinking these things. And to top it all off, I refuse to take money from Nikki for these things. Am I a fool Auntyji, what should I do?

Auntyji says

Dude! You are not a fool, you are a pimp! What kind of a *%&^#$ buys lingerie for a girl who will wear them for someone else? And what kind of bhootni makes a deewana buy intimate stuff like that for her? Are you two twisted and warped or what? I say you stop this tamasha pronto – or this will become some sick twisted tale. You saw that crazy film Red Rose nah? Well, do you want to become like Rajesh Khanna – hating all women because one tormented him into becoming a psychopath? Stop buying this Nikki tikhi kudi those sexy cheezein and start looking for another Nikki of your own. Be a mard , not a chuha