2011-09 Sydney (1)

INDIAN LINK

PUBLISHER

Pawan Luthra

EDITOR

Rajni Anand Luthra

ASSISTANT EDITORS

Sheryl Dixit, Gaurav Pandey

MELBOURNE

Preeti Jabbal

CONTRIBUTORS

Darshak Mehta, Astha Singh, Sreedhevi Iyer, Shailendra Bedarkar, Uzma Beg, Neelam Vasudevan, Sydney Srinivas, Malli Iyer, Noopur Singhal, Tim Blight, Chitra Sudarshan, Roy Lange, Noel G deSouza, Thomas E King, Ashita Vadher, Shafeen Mustaq, Farzana Shakir, Geeta Khurana, Rani Jhala, Nancy Jade Althea, Deepa Gopinath

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Vivek Trivedi 02 9262 1766

ADVERTISING ASSISTANT

Nitika Sondhi 02 9279 2004

GRAPHIC DESIGN AND LAYOUT

Melissa Walsh

Indian Link is a fortnightly newspaper published in English. No material, including advertisements designed by Indian Link, maybe reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent of the editor. Opinions carried in Indian Link are those of the writers and not necessarily endorsed by Indian Link. All correspondence should be addressed to

Indian Link

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Compassion is the key

There seems to be a race to the bottom between Labor and Coalition when it comes to their views on refugees and asylum seekers. Both these parties seem to have forsaken their basic values of human decency as they pander to the fear-mongering created by shock jocks and by being slaves to the short term polls. Helping another in need is basic human value, and refugees who travel across dangerous oceans are not coming to Australia to invade it; rather, they are escaping from countries where tyranny and oppression is a part of their daily lives. It will be a test of true leadership if these parties stand by what they believe in, rather than what is being forced upon them through petty politics.

Australia is a lucky country. With a vast land mass, the climate a blessing and resources in abundance, it is a country which can easily be shared with the less fortunate. Even smaller countries like Turkey have over 18,000 refugees and asylum seekers, according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. In the United Kingdom there reside 238,150 refugees and 14,800 asylum seekers, making it over 252,000 migrants who have

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

escaped the atrocities in their homeland. In Australia, one tends to take basic freedom for granted and most find it difficult to understand and comprehend the life stories of these refugees, which number less than 25,000 here.

Perhaps one needs to consider the truly desperate reasons that will lead these refugees to flee from their country of birth. As migrants to Australia, most Indian Australians still talk about going “back home” for holidays, and they mean India. For most, it is difficult to forget their country of birth and its easy to imagine how emotionally devastating it would be if one could never return to one’s homeland. Most refugees do not have an easy option to just get onto a plane and go back home for a holiday.

Most Indian Australians with young families enjoy the security of a roof over their heads and a warm, caring

environment. Now simply imagine the desperation that would lead you to put yourself and your family in the hands of corrupt people smugglers, braving storms and rough seas in a leaky boat in the middle of the ocean. And all for the smallest glimmer of hope of a life in Australia! One needs to understand and show some compassion to the situation and these people.

“Boat people” is not a dirty phrase. These are people, human beings whose need for relocation is urgent and dire.

Refugees need to be treated with respect and allowed some dignity. They do not need to be banished to Malaysia, Nauru or any other place. Their paperwork can be processed while they are in Australia, mandatory detention should not be enforced, and certainly not in the case of children.

The political parties – Labor or Coalition – should be mature enough to cease playing on people’s fears of new refugees. After all, all migrants to Australia are, in a way, refugees in their new home.

UIA blamed for Sunny Deol no show

The controversy over the no show of Bollywood actor Sunny Deol at United Indian Associations’ India Australia Friendship fair on August 14 in Sydney, seems to have taken a fresh turn with one of the organisers, in a letter to Indian Link, questioning the veracity of the reasons UIA president Amarinder Bajwa cited for the actor’s failure to participate in the event.

Indian Link received a letter from Ajay Kumar and Vishal Goswami, who were the agents involved in Mr. Deol’s arrangements with UIA. In response to UIA president Amarinder Bajwa’s comments on the issue which were published in the August edition of Indian Link, Mr. Kumar, in his letter, says, “I as one of the persons involved in the attempt to bring Mr. Deol to Australia for India Australia fair strongly deny his (Mr. Bajwa’s) comments as they are completely false and misguiding the media and general public.”

Mr. Kumar also forwarded an email from one Vishal Goswami, who was involved in organising the trip from Mumbai. The correspondence gives an impression that one of the main reasons why the deal between Mr. Deol’s representatives and

What’s On

SPIRITUAL

Annual Nativity Feast Saturday 10 September, 6.30 pm onwards, The Mangalorean Catholic Association of Sydney (MCAS) are celebrating their Annual Nativity Feast on 10th September at Our Lady of Dolours Church Hall (Chatswood) 6.30 pm onwards. There will be traditional cooked food, fun family atmosphere, talent contests and games. For tickets please contact Cyril on 0434829369 or Peter D’Mello on 0406101740.

For more information please visit http:// www.mcas.org.au/

Shri Shirdi Sai Mandir

Wednesday 28 September – 5 October, Raas Garba and Dandia every night after Shej Aarti and other religious celebrations everyday till 6 October at 420 Liverpool Road, Strathfield South. For more information call 0432502493 or visit www.shirdisai.org.au

Deepavali Milan

Saturday 8 October, 6 pm, Festival of Lights which will include Laxmi poojan, songs and dances, excerpts from Ramayana at Hornsby War Memorial Hall, 2 High Street, Hornsby. For tickets and more information contact Kamini Sahni on 0401059923, Shibani Sahni on 0416601688 or email kamini650@yahoo.com

MISCELLANEOUS

Hindi Divas 2011 celebrations Sunday 11 September, 10.30am to 3.30 pm at Thornleigh West PS, Giblet Avenue, Thornleigh. Contact Tara Chand

UIA fell through was the failure of the two parties to come to a mutual understanding on flight tickets for Mr. Deol and his group – a situation Mr. Kumar squarely blames the UIA for.

Mr. Kumar says in his letter, “It was an agreement initially to give two business class tickets and three economies (sic) to Mr. Deol and his support staff but was then conveyed to Mr. Bajwa that Mr. Deol can travel only first class due to his spinal problem.”

Mr. Deol’s office, the letter adds, had agreed to settle for just one first class ticket instead of the two business class tickets initially agreed upon. Subsequent events indicate that the UIA failed to provide first class tickets for Mr. Deol despite, perhaps, giving Mr. Deol’s side an indication that they would.

The letter adds that after “various excuses” from Mr. Bajwa on the matter, “fully confirmed ticket itinerates were sent to Mr. Bajwa along with there (sic) PNR numbers on 03rd of August with a deadline of 08th of August to pay for them and get them issued.”

Mr. Kumar claims to have been in

Sharma on 0409 981 355, Mala Mehta on 0412283677 or Rekha Rajvanshi on 0403 116 301. The Australian Hindi Committee, the IABBV Hindi School students, teachers and parents and ILASA (Indian literary and art society of Australia) take great pride in celebrating Hindi Divas 2011. We request all Hindi speakers, supporters, teachers and schools/students to join in the celebrations and present a united face to promote India’s national language Hindi. For more details contact Mala Mehta on 0412283677 or 94840707 or email: info@ iabbv-hindischool.com; hindi_school@ hotmail.com or visit the website: iabbvhindischool.com

Hindi Samaaj cruise party Sunday 18 September, 2 pm onwards, Hindi Samaaj is organising a cruise party with Bollywood song and dance, entertainment, live music, food and drink. The pickup point will be Huntley’s Point Road, Gladesville Wharf, Gladesville. For more information, please contact Gunjan Tripathi on 0413 886 527 or Sunil Srivastava on 0422 003 109

Spring camp

Friday 23 September to Sunday 25 September, 6 pm on Friday to 4 pm on Sunday, Sydney Sanskrit School is organising a weekend day and night spring camp. For more information please contact Meenakshi Srinivasan on 0423457343 or Meera Jagadeesh on 0402960564 or email at: info. sydneysanskritschool@gmail.com

Multi-faith forum on environmental ethics Sunday 9 October, 2 – 5pm (1:45

constant touch with Mr. Bajwa during this time. “On 8th August evening I was informed by him that he has taken the extension of payment for tickets until 9th August and he will certainly get the tickets issued by 9th afternoon. Then I receive a phone call from him on 10th afternoon that for some reason the tickets can’t be issued and they have cancelled and he started offering business class tickets of different airlines again,” the letter says.

Mr. Kumar goes on to add, “Mr. Bajwa’s claims of 11th hour money demand from Sunny Deol or his office or anyone are completely baseless and I openly challenge him to prove that.”

It may be noted that Mr. Bajwa had, in his email to Indian Link which was subsequently published, had blamed the “dealers/brokers/agents” working with UIA for the fiasco, indicating that “there was an unreasonable demand of additional $15,000.00 at the eleventh hour of our preparations.”

Mr Kumar further states that “Mr. Deol was so keen to attend the function that he offered to catch a Singapore Airlines flight on 13th August morning from Mumbai

for 2pm start) at Room: PS-EB.G.02, University of Western Sydney, Parramatta Campus. Hindu Council of Australia together with ARRCC (Australian Religious Response to Climate Change), FEN (Faith-Ecology-Network) and the UWS Multi-faith Chaplaincy have organised a joint multi-faith forum to address the moral and ethical issues involved in tackling the very important problem of climate change, environmental degradation and the prevailing atmosphere of greed, fear and hatred afflicting the humanity. A distinguished panel of speakers representing each of the main religious faiths will address the Forum. Free admission, refreshments will be provided. Please register online @ www.arrcc.org.au/ ecoforum or call 9873 4214; Mobile: 0406 033 704. RSVP latest by 30 Sept. 2011 Research on HRM policies

Parth Patel, currently studying for his Doctorate at the University of Newcastle, is looking for information from Indianowned multinational companies to assist in a research project on Human Resources Management policies. The project titled, Transfer of HRM Policies and Practices between Headquarters and Subsidiaries of Indian MNCs in Australia will examine the motives for and the mechanisms by which headquarters of MNCs monitor and control their Australian subsidiaries in the transfer of their human resource (HR) policies and practices. This research is particularly important because of the increasingly important role of MNCs in emerging economies (like India) and the relationship between headquarters and subsidiaries of such organisations. Parth is primarily targeting companies in

which was going to land him in Sydney on 14th morning around 10 am and he was prepared to go straight to stadium from Airport,” adding “you might be shocked as Mr. Bajwa stated at that time that since he has organized a dinner on 13th evening for which he is charging people and if Mr. Deol can’t attend that function he is of no use for him.”

Indian Link contacted Mr. Bajwa for his response on the matter, however our email queries remained unanswered till the time of going to print.

Gaurav Pandey

the IT sector, and would request about an hour’s interview with senior/functional managers/departmental heads. The interview will broadly focus on asking various questions in different areas of MNC operations. Findings from the study will be used to produce an academic thesis and writing papers in scientific journals, book chapters and peer-reviewed academic conferences/seminars. All data collected will strictly be kept confidential complying with university’s ethics regulations. Parth requests assistance from relevant parties to participate in this research project and he would be grateful if you would be willing to participate.

Please contact Parth on 0405591190 or (02) 49216340; or drop him an email at Parth.Patel@uon.edu.au

Crestwood Badminton Association

Crestwood Badminton Association has a 22 year long badminton playing history in Sydney’s Hills District and players of different ethnic backgrounds come to play here.

The Association is looking for new members who would like play badminton regularly. The new members will be able to play on Wednesdays from 7.00pm till 10.00 pm and Saturdays from 7.00 am till 10.00am.

For more details contact Basker Ratnam on 0459 183 644.

Correction

In the August-1 2011 edition of Indian Link, an inadvertent error was made in Vidya Muthanna’s article on Sakhi Sangam. Neena Sinha’s name was omitted as one of the original founders. The error is regretted. Ed.

Agents of change

In a show of solidarity towards the fight against corruption, Indian-Australians rallied in peaceful protests and signature drives across the country to support Anna Hazare

What is the Jan Lokpal Bill?

Based on reports from Gaurav Pandey, Astha Singh and Rajni Anand Luthra

Literally translated, Lokpal means ‘protector of the people’. The first ‘Lokpal Bill’, as the name suggests, was a proposed legislation aimed at creating a ‘Lokpal’ body introduced in the Parliament back in the late 1960s. The Bill never made it to ‘Law’ stature.

Now, years later, the Lokpal Bill has phoenixed, thanks to Anna Hazare and his team of supporters. With the aim of creating an ‘anti-corruption’ statute, the Government of India proposed a Lokpal Bill in 2010 to create an ombudsman, an ‘advisory body’ which would attend to complaints forwarded by the Speaker of the Lok Sabha or the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

By design, the powers of this Lokpal were to be limited to forwarding reports on these complaints to yet another ‘competent authority’. This proposal seemed inadequate to the average Indian tortured by red tapism and corruption.

As a result, anti-corruption activists such as Anna Hazare came together under the ‘India Against Corruption’ (IAC) banner to formulate and propose the Jan Lokpal Bill, or the Citizens’

Ombudsman Bill, which proposed an independent watchdog to tackle the mammoth task of deterring corruption, redressing citizens’ grievances and protecting whistle blowers.

Many days of hunger strike, demonstrations throughout the country, efforts and meetings of surprised politicos, tweets and slogans later, a special and all exclusive session of Parliament was convened and a resolution achieved, which ‘in principle’ agreed to a citizens’ charter bill, as well as to create state level ombudsmen, an announcement that Mr. Hazare termed as “a battle half-won.”

If the bill becomes a law, it will result in an independent body, the Jan Lokpal, with powers to investigate, monitor and prosecute the Prime Minister, the judiciary, members of Parliament and government employees.

The Jan Lokpal will merge with the anti-corruption wing of the CBI, have powers to register FIRs and prosecute the guilty to suitable punishment which would range from 10 years to life imprisonment.

The parliament of India recently agreed to create an independent anti-corruption agency, known as the Lokpal, giving in to Anna Hazare, a 74-year-old anti-graft campaigner who almost starved himself to death in a 12-day hunger strike which was the focal point of a tense standoff between Team Anna, comprising Hazare and his supporters, and the lawmakers in India.

Anna Hazare’s hunger strike found unparalleled public support from Indians across the world. In India, his campaign became a platform for hundreds and thousands of people to express their frustration at the endemic problem of corruption, as well as their disillusionment with politicians in the country.

The movement also found resonance among Indian Australians who came out in support of Hazare, adding their own voices to those of their countrymen back home.

UIA protest: Harris Park, Sydney

In Sydney, peaceful protests were held in support of Anna’s demands.

On August 27, the United Indian Associations (UIA) organised a gathering at Harris Park in Western Sydney which attracted about 200 people from the community.

The gathering reiterated the need to fight against the menace of corruption in India, and sought the support of the youth in this fight. UIA President Amarinder Bajwa exhorted people to take a stand against corruption and follow the principles of Anna Hazare.

What started as signature and education campaigns gradually gained momentum as Anna’s message reached more and more people from the community. The gathered crowd roared out slogans like, “India is Anna, Anna is India!” and “Inqlaab zindabad”.

“Corruption has two sides, givers and takers. But we should also ensure that we cleanse ourselves and make sure we are

not a part of this menace,” said Subbarao Verigonda, Managing Director of IPP Technologies.

“We need to come together and act as one community. We need to get out of the mentality to accuse others all the time. Especially in a small country like Australia, it becomes all the more important for us to behave as one community,” said Anuj Kulshetra, Editor of Hindi Gaurav, an Indian community newspaper.

Gargi Tripathi, founder of www. australianindians.com.au, who had been on a continuous fast in support of Anna Hazare, also addressed the gathering and expressed her gratitude for the support and solidarity shown by Indian Australians. The group ‘AustralianIndians’ was formed to gather support for the fight against corruption in India.

“We started a signature and education campaign on the issue during India Australia Friendship fair recently,” said one of the participants in the gathering. “Later we decided to join members of the community in supporting this message.”

The following day, the UIA congratulated the Indian Australian community after the Parliament of India gave in to the demands of Anna and his team. The UIA termed it as the “first victory of people power” in India.

Protest march: Darling Harbour to Hyde Park, Sydney

In another protest, about 50 activists and supporters from various professions came together on August 27 for a peaceful march from Darling Harbour to Hyde Park. The march was led by Vidul Tyagi, Mayank Kedia and Saif Wasti, who had conducted a similar rally at Sydney’s Opera House on August 21. It was supported by Isha Foundation Sydney volunteers Sathasivan Karupanan and Kavi Kamachi as well, expressing their solidarity with Anna Hazare and the movement.

Chronology of an epochal fast

Chronology of a fast that forced the Indian parliament to acknowledge its people’s power and established civil society’s priority in a democracy:

Jan 30 Marches in over 60 cities to demand anticorruption Lokpal bill. Social reformer Anna Hazare, former top cop Kiran Bedi, activist Swami Agnivesh and lawyer Prashant Bhushan participate in Delhi rally.

Feb 26 Hazare announces fast unto death from April 5 if Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not decide on civil society’s inclusion in drafting the bill.

April 5 Hazare starts fast at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

April 8 Hazare announces decision to end fast as government agrees to form 10-member panel of civil society members and union ministers to draft a stringent anti-corruption law.

April 9 Hazare ends fast.

April 16 Joint committee’s first meet cordial. Both sides exchange drafts.

May 2 Second meet with “no difference of opinion”.

May 7 Agreement on independent Lokpal with powers to initiate investigation and prosecution.

May 23 Agreement on empowering Lokpal to order list of movable and immovable assets of accused in corruption cases when sufficient evidence found to book them.

May 30 Differences appear as government disagrees on including prime minister, Supreme and High Court judges and MPs’ conduct in parliament within Lokpal’s ambit.

June 6 Civil society members boycott meet a day

A petition was also signed by about 35 Indians at Darling Harbour on the day and by others a day prior, at the Consulate General’s office in the presence of Amit Dasgupta, Consul General for India in Sydney, demanding the enactment of a comprehensive Jan Lokpal Bill to eradicate corruption in India.

During the march that started at 4.15pm, all the NRIs took a pledge of supporting the movement until a favourable decision is made and enacted upon by the government and law of India.

“Though I’m not in India right now, I’m concerned about the growing corruption in the country and its effect on the common man,” said Arpita Singh, an IT student.

“We live in a corrupt country – the time has come to throw all corrupt politicians out and reclaim our nation,” said Vidul Tyagi from Macquarie University.

Animesh Singh said, “I simply wish that India will become a country without corruption and people will be able to access and make use of the law successfully.”

Said Mr Surya, “The biggest hurdle for the development if India is corruption, and it should be completely eradicated.”

All the activists were holding placards, posters and handwritten charts with slogans such as: “Anna, we are with you”, “India against Corruption”, “Sydney supports Anna Hazare”, among others.

The support for Anna Hazare’s movement was tremendous, with several people coming forward with statements to the effect. Parminder Singh, Kanwal Dhillon, Dean Maloney, Deepak Gupta, Ambaris Mohanty and 40 other people signed the petition, and many more attended the glorious and peaceful march to support India against corruption.

Two rallies for Anna: Federation Square, Melbourne

For thirty-something Melbournians Arvind Bagla and Avinash Raina, the manner in

after police crackdown against yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s fast in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan.

June 15 No consensus on inclusion of Prime Minister, Supreme and High Court judges.

June 20 Some ice melts amid war of words; government calls it “major step forward”.

June 21 Last meeting of joint committee ends on sour note. Both sides exchange drafts; Hazare warns of another fast.

Aug 15 Hazare denied permission to fast at Delhi’s Jayaprakash Narayan Memorial Park after Team Anna agrees to accept only 16 of police’s 22 conditions.

Aug 16 Hazare begins fast, detained early morning and sent to seven-day judicial custody to Tihar jail. Government decides to set him free late night. He refuses.

Aug 17 Hazare refuses to leave Tihar Jail till a solution is reached on fast venue. Supporters gather outside prison, Hazare continues fast from jail. Permitted to fast at Ramlila Maidan.

Aug 19 Hazare leaves Tihar Jail, continues fast at Ramlila Maidan.

Aug 23 Government invites Team Anna for talks.

Aug 24 Second round of talks, all-party meeting held. No breakthrough in impasse.

Aug 25 After meetings with political parties and Team Anna, government agrees to debate all versions of Lokpal bill in parliament.

Aug 27 Both houses of parliament debate Lokpal bill, adjourn after adopting ‘sense of the house’ and agreeing to Hazare’s three demands that will be sent to standing committee on Lokpal bill.

Aug 28 Anna breaks fast on 13th day.

which their campaign took off came as a complete surprise. Arvind struck upon the idea on Friday August 19, sending a message out to close friends that he wanted to organise a rally on the Sunday August 21.

There’s not much time, his mates said. But the passion was so overwhelming that everything, even the approval from the Federation Square authorities, fell into place in no time.

With the message getting out on Facebook and via email, some 70-odd supporters turned up to lend their support to the anti-corruption movement in India.

“I’m not a politician or a social activist by any means,” the soft-spoken Arvind, a business analyst with NAB, told Indian Link later. “But I was touched that people from all walks of life participated, and we were able to send our message across to the Indian government. The people who came in support were everyday people, not associations”.

A second rally organised for 27 August, was just as well-attended.

“I’m glad that one person could unite all of India so successfully,” Arvind said of Anna Hazare, the man at the centre of it all. “Whatever people may say about him, he’s just demanding a system that punishes wrong-doers. The initial response by the government was harsh, but you know, some pressure can get things done! His intentions were good – his fight was about our country, at the end of the day.”

“We may live far away from our home country, but we care just as much,” Arvind continued. “Everything that happens in India affects us all directly or indirectly. The Commonwealth Games saga, for example, had us all so concerned…. And that’s why we organised these rallies”.

One of the attendees was a 74-year-old man who was visiting his son. Despite being a heart patient, he turned up at the rally to offer his support, with his entire family in tow.

“He told me, ‘I’m so proud to be here with you’,” revealed Arvind. Their particular campaign, Arvind stressed, was not against any particular political party or individual.

“We made a promise that day, that we will do whatever we can for a ‘cleaner’ India. We will say no to bribes whenever we go back home, and we will promote this message amongst our friends and family,” he added.

Motivated by Arvind’s passion, his father in Rajasthan’s Ganganagar city organised his own rally in support, along with extended family members and friends.

Avinash Raina, co-organiser of the Melbourne rallies, said he felt “very satisfied” that Anna’s campaign has produced results.

“I feel great to have been a part of it, in whatever small way. We gave our 100% to it. Rather than sit in our lounge rooms and talk about the corruption in India, we actually got out of our comfort zones and did something about it,” he said proudly. Avinash said he felt motivated to join simply because of the enthusiasm he saw in India for the cause. Quoting from Art Of Living founder Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (who has also been an ardent Anna supporter), Avinash said, “The Big C – corruption – can be combated with five other Cs: connectedness, courage, cosmology, compassion and commitment.”

It was quite a coincidence, Avinash stated, that a day after Anna broke his fast, his AOL group had scheduled a session of 108 sun salutations; his own, he dedicated to Anna Hazare.

Meanwhile his best mate Arvind Bagla claims he is a different person now, thanks to his brief interlude with Anna’s overall campaign.

“I feel I should stand up for what I believe in. Lately I have been voicing my opinion on a number of issues such as the refugee crisis in Australia, taking to blogs of all kinds,” he said.

Signing up in support

Melbourne’s Anand Prabhu has been doing his bit for Anna Hazare’s campaign for a few months now.

“It’s time that we Indians here come together and share the responsibility to join the fight against corruption,” Anand told Indian Link

When Hazare fasted for the first time in April, Anand joined in this unique form of protest by fasting for a day as well. A group of six others from the Jai Bharath Friends Association (JBFA) joined him.

“It was my way of bringing some motivation into the community here to do our bit for India,” Anand said. “When Anna fasted for the second time in June, eighteen other people joined me in my day-long fast. For the third fast in August, I was determined to have a larger number of people involved. So I decided to organise a signature campaign instead of fasting again.”

During the Association’s Independence Day celebrations on 21 Aug, some 186 people signed Anand’s petition for the Indian government to consider a strong Lokpal.

An automobile engineer by profession, Anand has been involved with community and temple activities ever since he arrived in Melbourne twelve years ago. This time round though, he was impressed by the wave of support across the diaspora for Anna Hazare in his bid to help rid India of corruption. “Matters have gone so out-of-hand in India that someone had to take a lead… Anna did, and I felt drawn in – I simply had to support him,” he said enthusiastically.

Demonstrations for support for Anna Hazare from within the Indian community in Australia were held at the Sydney Opera House (main pic opposite page), and (from top this page), Darling Harbour and Harris Park in Sydney and at Federation Square Melbourne.

New nationalism

BY SREEDHEVI IYER

It’s been a saga worthy of the Ramayana itself. A single man’s epic spiritual pilgrimage for the sake of truth, for the sake of justice.

One could have used these words to describe Mahatma Gandhi in the 1940s. The words are now in vogue again, for a gentle, soft-spoken, non-descriptive man called Anna Hazare.

How does one account for his sudden popularity in the past few months? He isn’t the first citizen to fast for an end to government corruption – Baba Ramdev, a well-known spiritual guru, attempted the same, but without any repercussions. Irom Sharmila, a lady in Manipur, has been on an 11-year fast for the repeal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, which has yet to occur. So what makes the Anna Hazare movement any different?

The media spotlight comes with its own inherent powers. Once a story is angled right, desired results are instantaneous. The Gandhi parallels are almost too delicious to ignore. But they work only because the disillusionment of the average Indian with its government is so rife and rampant, so much now a part of the Indian DNA (and which gave Amitabh Bachchan a roaring career in the ‘70s) that it is

no longer a leap of logic to believe the Indian citizen lives under an undemocratic, oppressive regime.

BrisVaani is a local radio station in Brisbane. It runs 24 hours a day, and services the Indian community through request programs, newscasts, traffic reports, and Bollywood songs. For the past month, every programme that has had a live deejay has mentioned Anna Hazare, in progressively reverent tones. His movement is reiterated in Hindi, Tamil, English, Sinhalese…. The name, like the man, has caught the Brisbane Indian’s imagination. The question remains though – these Indians now work, live, and pay taxes in Australia. Why would a hunger strike happening thousands of miles away, garner news in a local community station?

Varad Raval of BrisVaani feels the strongest involvement comes from the first-generation of Indians, those who had arrived in Queensland in the ‘60s and ‘70s – and possibly even the newer arrivals of the past few years. “These are the ones who have experienced the corruption in India,” he says. “The first thing you think of when you say ‘India’ is population. The second, is corruption.”

Anna Hazare’s projection of his personality as a Gandhian involved in a non-violent movement is another factor in his diasporic appeal. A community that is nostalgic of its roots, will latch on to such iconic symbols of

patriotism quite easily. “There was a time when the Gandhian way was out of date,” says Varad. “But now, with things like the Munnabhai movies capturing public imagination, the idea has been updated. (Anna Hazare) is a softspoken, gentle man speaking of the second war of independence!” Strong words from a quiet man, an appealing contrast indeed.

The question still remains, though – has this man’s victory been a simplistic one? Has a complex issue been reduced to patriotic oneliners in order to access the broadest possible audience – after all, you can’t have people power without the people themselves? Anna Hazare isn’t without his naysayers. Salil Tripathi writes in im4change that the Hazare adulation is misguided – the man who reformed his own village included whipping as punishment for imbibing alcohol. Gandhi fasted as a method of self-purification, including when people in his ashram behaved deplorably. It is hard to imagine the Mahatma routinely fasting in order to impose his own will against a democratically elected government. And now, Anna Hazare says the victory is half-won – and there further demands for referendums will be made –hinting at future fasts, future passive-aggressive impositions.

The complexities of such things are most possibly lost on the diasporic Indian, viewing the homeland as the repository of a cultural utopia. “There is a lot of sentiment attached to

this movement,” agrees Varad. “The nostalgia is there – the Indians here want a corruptionfree India.” A sentiment that is easier said than done.

In the end, the Anna Hazare movement is symbolic for things that are bigger than the man, and possibly bigger than the movement itself. For decades, the Indian vote bank had been its lower classes, both the rural farmer and the urban labourer choosing party members that aren’t much cleverer than themselves.

The Indian middle-class, characteristic in its political apathy and crass consumerism, neither contributed nor were consulted. But with the rest of the non-western world becoming politicised and seeking reform, perhaps an infectious spark has been lit in Delhi. It is the middle-class Indian who is not only weary of the corruption, but suddenly savvy enough to want a clean, viable alternative that doesn’t involve migrating to places like Australia.

The new Indian wants to dig his heels in and demand a change on home soil. Whether this is a new war of independence or not, this is definitely a new kind of nationalism, forming itself as we watch.

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions

BY DARSHAK MEHTA

As far as I am concerned, Anna Hazare is, at best, a well-intentioned ex-army truck driver who has tapped into a rich vein of the Indian public’s discontent and disillusionment with politicians, and represents their frustration and alarm at the corruption in Indian society. Full marks to him. But, I am exasperated when people call him a Gandhian. For a start, I don’t want to be preached to by a man who has been accused of beating up his fellow villagers in Ralegan Siddhi with his old army belt for over-imbibing alcohol. Also, he dictates what cable TV can and cannot be watched, and until what hours, in his village? Add enforced vasectomy to the list of requirements necessary for residence in his native village – another of his conditions.

Excuse me, but who appointed you as their moral guardian?

I also don’t want to be preached by a man who believes in sharia-like punishment of cutting off hands or in capital punishment for graft. Are we talking of Anna Hazare –alleged Gandhian – or the Taliban’s Mullah Omar, here?

I have no doubt that he is being manipulated by a couple of others in his “team”, and the generally appalling Indian television channels have, at best, cynically exploited the hunger fast and at worst, deliberately blocked opposing viewpoints from being aired.

Forgetting my above prejudices, let us examine his movement’s objectives.

Basically, they want to foist an unelected, extra-constitutional authority (a Jan Lok Pal)

on the people of India. Now that may be extremely relevant and the need of the hour given the gargantuan corruption scandals, but really, is it in the best interests of our democracy to push this through in the form and time-frame demanded, and without sufficient debate or safeguards built in, by the elected representatives of the people of India?

Democracies are messy, crazy and none more so than India, but the thought of a “Super Seshan” as the Jan Lok Pal haunts me. Some readers might remember that megalomaniac Indian bureaucrat, T N Seshan, who on becoming India’s Chief Election Commissioner usurped such powers and authority that the elected Government of the day quaked in their collective boots at his many edicts and idiosyncrasies. Do we want another Seshan as the Lok Pal?

How can India have an “independent” (selected and unelected) authority in a post answerable to virtually no-one? Not even parliamentary oversight? A new super Prime Minister who can call anyone to account? We need to be careful to ensure that the cure (the erosion of democratic institutions) is not much worse than the disease (of corruption).

Sure, I am as much against corruption as anyone else – that is a motherhood statement –but to enforce a demand down the throat of the world’s greatest democracy by means of shameless moral blackmail i.e. a hunger fast, is posturing and tyranny of the worst kind. The genuineness

of Hazare’s grievances do not lend sanctity to the method of agitation. Is arm-twisting, howsoever peaceful, of institutions which have been created through years of running a democracy not muzzling of views? Sure, things need to quickly improve but courses are not corrected by whipping up a frenzy among people by promising that the Jan Lokpal Bill is the only path to nirvana from corruption.

Despite the hysteria which is sweeping every rung of the Indian urban society on this corruption issue, the only hope and consolation is that the Indian intelligentsia has not completely lost their marbles.

Writer Arundhati Roy said, “The search committee, the committee which is going to shortlist the names of the people who will be chosen for the Jan Lokpal will shortlist from eminent individuals of such class of people whom they deem fit. So you create this panel from this pool, and then you have a bureaucracy which has policing powers, the power to tap your phones, the power to prosecute, the power to transfer, the power to judge, the power to do things which are really, and from the Prime Minister down to the bottom, it’s really like a parallel power, which has lost the accountability, whatever little accountability a representative government might have, but I’m not one of those who is critiquing it from the point of view of say, someone like Aruna Roy, who has a less draconian version of the bill, I’m talking about it from a different point of view altogether of

firstly, the fact that we need to define what do we mean by corruption, and then what does it mean to those who are disempowered and disenfranchised to get two oligarchies instead of one raiding over them.”

Think about it and read it repeatedly – until you feel as uncomfortable as I do!

Indians elect their own governments. If that government is corrupt, they have the right to elect a new government. They also have the right to stand for elections if none of the parties are deemed worthy of their votes. Anna Hazare proposes that a body more powerful than the current government be established. This body will not be elected by the people (and they will have no say in the matter of who comprises of this body) but appointed by judges, IAS officers, Padma Bhushan winners and so on.

Why not focus on implementing the array of anti-corruption laws that already exist?

It’s convenient to protest in the street, shout slogans and take a ‘holier than thou’ stance against the government and government officials. We forget that we have been equally guilty and corrupt for sustaining that system. The self-righteousness is what I resent.

Most protesters on the streets of India may know little about the proposed Lokpal Bill and its long-term implications. They are desperate to see a change in the system, but desperate times do not call for stupidity and they most certainly do not call for letting someone else do your thinking for you. Indians are into idol and hero worship, but it has gone a bit too far this time and a merely well intentioned (though, flawed!) man has been painted as the new Gandhi.

We need an objective and rational solution. Not an emotional and impulsive one. The cure should not be worse than the disease.

Could the Jan Lok Pal bill which seems to be gaining momentum on the steam of moral extortion, be a statement on corruption of a different form?

As the Hazare movement increases in strength, tempo and complexity back home, Australia Indians want a single, simple goal – an end to corruption

It is the middleclass Indian who is not only weary of the corruption, but suddenly savvy enough to want a clean, viable alternative that doesn’t involve migrating to places like Australia

Lively discussions, workshops mark HYA Conference

The second Australia Hindu Youth Conference was held on August 7, with over 200 young people participating in the event organised by Hindu Youth Australia (HYA). The event was hailed as the most successful one since the organisation’s inception, as the youth attending collaborated and participated in a series of different events to mark the occasion. Since 2009, the dedicated team of volunteers from HYA have exhibited superb leadership and dedication required to preserve, promote and propagate Hindu dharma within Australia. Thanks to the guidance of wise elders who provide autonomy for these youth to grow and excel, the combination of youthful energy and wisdom has ensured the essence of the Hindu dharma continues to shine brightly.

The conference was inaugurated by beautiful Vedic chanting, as well in honouring the local Aboriginal tribe. The Hon. Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in her congratulatory message, mentioned the strength of multiculturalism and the positive contribution of Hindu Australians. This was reinforced through addresses from the Hon. MP Julie Owens and Hon. MP Laurie Ferguson.

The theme of the conference was “Create, Connect, and Commit.” Arjun and Krishna’s entertaining conference keynote reflected the proud heritage of the Hindu dharma, and the notion of pushing the boundaries of knowledge. The duo made a plea for all attendees to leverage the global resources of Hindu dharma, connect with their heritage, and commit to community improvement based on the spirit of Vasudeiva Kutambakam (the world is one family). The presentation sparked a lively debate which reaffirmed the injunction of Dharmo Rakshak Rakshitah (preserve values,

Nikhil Rughani delivered a brilliant session on leadership and creating relevance, engagement and value in public speaking. Their frameworks and principles were well structured and resonated well with the audience.

Anousha Nidigallu presented a thoughtprovoking session on mathematical techniques drawn from Vedic sutras. She explained the amazing concept of reducing numbers to their simplest form when computing highly complex calculations. The participants were simply astounded to be able to calculate the cube root of a 9 digit number in less than 5 seconds.

On a more creatively domestic note, Bhavana and Thanvi brought inexhaustible supplies of energy, and humour into their cooking demonstration, providing the audience with insightful knowledge and extremely tasty dishes.

Yogacharya Devidasan presented the history of Surya Namaskar in the yoga session, and discussed its roots within Aditya Hridayam (Aditya Prasna - Krishna Yajur Veda) and Narayana Surya Namaskar Puja. He also explained the physical, mental and spiritual benefits of performing this sadhana and recommended its practice daily.

Post lunch, Anil and Priyanka Asthana facilitated a controversial, yet fascinating discussion on “positive thinking”. They challenged the crowd with jarring examples of insensitivity and disrespect to the community, and asked important questions. Should you care? Where is the line between acceptance and cowardice? How can we counter the propaganda through non-violent means, as Lord Krishna advises? To what are you willing to commit? Drawing inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita, they concluded that Hindu

Ganesh and Krishna stressed the importance of volunteer organisations and community groups, after which followed the official launch of the Hindu students forum, namely, Hindu Students Australia (HSA). HSA was launched by three executive members of the University Hindu societies; Adithya Prasad (USYD OM Society), Mimansa Rana (UNSW Vishwaas Society) and Bineal Roy (UTS Om Shanti Society). The team discussed the wonderful service being offered by the organisation and explained their endeavour to connect with all educational institutions on a national level. These members were perfect examples of commitment, and are great entrepreneurs for HAS.

Kailash and Thanvi explained the direction of HYA over the next year and its upcoming activities and festivities, including the World Hindu Youth Congress in Bali 2013. The excitement reached a crescendo especially on hearing the

the news you wish to see”. In his post conference summary, Arjun consolidated the key messages and highlights from the day. Full marks should be given to Bhavana and Jaya, as they compered the event with high professionalism and enthusiasm. The second Australian Hindu Youth Conference was truly a spectacular event for the community, and was enjoyed immensely by attendees and organisers alike. The HYA team were inspirational and promise to serve as terrific role models for future generations. The job of preserving humanity’s oldest culture and language in Australia is in good hands. The Hindu Youth of Australia are the new ambassadors to this perennial philosophy and they will continue to raise the bar and set new heights!

Visit www.vhp.org.au or http://www. hinduyouth.com.au/ for more information and details.

Krishna Ramarathinam

Marathi Sakhis gather again

The 8th annual Sakhi Ga Sakhi was held on August 21, and was well attended by over 250 Maharashtrian and non-Maharashtrian women and girls from all over Sydney. Organised by Manjusha Ranadive, Manasai Gore, Shweta Pradhan and Kavita Khavare, the attendees lit up the venue with their finest traditional attire.

Sakhi Ga Sakhi was started by the Marathi Association Sydney Inc (MASI) in 2004, as a special day for Maharashtrian ladies and girls of all ages, to get away from their daily routine and meet together to enjoy a day full of fun and frolic.

Medha Kelshikar and her group of 21 ladies, now officially titled ‘Canberra Sakhi’, committed themselves to a 6 am start on a cold Sunday morning and did a 6-hour round trip to attend the Sakhi Ga Sakhi in Sydney, thus marking the beginning of interstate participation.

The theme for this year was Shravan, considered as the auspicious month in the Hindu calendar, which is also full of festivities like Nag Panchami, Raksha Bandhan or Narali Poornima, Janmashtami to name a few. The month is synonymous with nature’s beauty as seen in the midst of the monsoon season in India.

Sakhis were welcomed by offering the traditional Maharashtrian haldi-kumkum and were served a very Marathi breakfast. While the venue offered a platform to home-based entrepreneur Sakhis to promote their wares at no cost, the line of stalls kept attendees engaged in their passion, shopping! A very interesting variety of goods ranging from handbags, jewellery, food, beauty services, mehndi, decorative flowers, cosmetics and many more adorned the venue.

Soon the Sakhis settled down as the cultural program unfolded, beginning with the Ganesh stuti. Other performances followed like short skits and dances.

Sarika Gavande stole the show with her Gavalan while Neha Mankar’s Devicha Gondhal gave the audience a glimpse of Marathi tradition. Yogini Lele entertained the guests with a modern Gokul skit while Rashmi Padhye with her Quakers Hill group portrayed Mangalagaur

In an extension of the entertainment, Shraddha Madiwale narrated experiences as a driving school instructor, while Sunita Baste introduced the attendees to her yoga and meditation classes.

The highlight of the show was the crowning of Young Sakhi, Sakhi and Senior Sakhi. Eight-yearold Roma Kore took the ‘Little Sakhi’ title; Radhika Gawade the ‘Mrs Sakhi’ title, and Sumitra Tulpule the ‘Senior Sakhi’ title.

Lunch was a delicious vegetarian banquet of hot entrees and range of vegetarian delicacies, followed by mango kulfi. It was then time for the ladies and girls to let loose on the dance floor, to the sounds of Marathi and Bollywood re-mixes. The event ended on a high note at 5pm, with a collective commitment to meet again next year.

Right: (From left) Shweta, Manjusha, Manasi and Kavita

Below: (From left) Kimaya, Maitreyee, Monica and Mukta

A candle of hope for cancer

On Saturday 27th August Swati and Tanmay Jain for the second year organised the ‘Light for Life’ trivia event. Over 300 people of the local Indian community attended a hugely successful and enjoyable evening. People were thoroughly engaged and entertained throughout the evening. Trivia questions came thick and fast, challenging everyone’s grey cells. The questions catered for all, young and not so young. Each round of trivia was interspersed with entertaining song, dance and music performances. If the trivia were of a high caliber, the performers were even more so, having previously performed on radio, in Bollywood and TV shows.

The night was tremendously successful, raising about $8,500 for Lifehouse at RPA. The Chris O’Brian Cancer Centre, which will be a world-class cancer treatment and research facility currently being built on the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital campus.

The event was organized by Swati and Tanmay Jain who lost their father, Navin Jain to cancer, one and a half years ago. They have experienced first hand, the pain of losing a loved one and witnessed the excellent work being done by staff at RPA. Although, Swati is a Chartered Accountant by profession, her passion, energy and

dedication to the cause are a great reason for pride for her family and the entire community. Indeed these young, amazing people are proving to be great role models.

All who attended thoroughly enjoyed the cultural program and trivia night. Throughout the evening there was a strong community feeling and goodwill with a sense that we were all contributing to the hope of creating a cancer free world. It was clear that Swati has tremendous support of generous friends, family and sponsors.

Swati, Tanmay, their family and friends intend to continue this good work. All members of our supportive community should attend next year to support this worthwhile cause. This night is definitely a social event not to be missed! If you would like to know more about Lifehouse at RPA, please visit: www.lifehouserpa.org.au

Sangeeta Nayyar

Clockwise from top left: Ritika Satsangi; trivia tasks; Swati and Dheera Jain

Radio tune kar lo aye zara!!!

Indian Link Radio’s Creative Director NEELAM VASUDEVAN with updates on what’s been happening at Australia’s favourite Hindi station

BY NEELAM VASUDEVAN

While sunshine kissed the Melbourne and Sydney skies and said Sooraj ki baahon mein aa jao, we shone on the radio frequency too!!!

Anna Hazare, Independence Day, Raksha Bandhan, Janmashtami, Shammi Kapoor,

India’s visiting AFL team, interviews with the stars of new film Aarakshan, and the very latest in music (Bodyguard, Mere Brother ki Dulhan and Chillar Party) – the radio has been abuzz this month!

SHRADDHA ARJUN on SubahSubah

Shraddha greets you on your weekday mornings with her chirpy and never-ending helooooos.

Setting the mood for devotional music and spirituality, listeners have been treated to halke halke discussions on the same. Recently Shraddha sparked off a debate on what happiness and contentment really mean. Standing out with their thoughts were our very own Jyotiji, Asha Trivedi and Ruchika Mangla. Mid mornings with lifestyle topics like recipes, books, travel,

SAGAR MEHROTRA on Subah Subah

7-9am (Thurs-Fri)

Another morning jaadugar who rises at the crack of dawn to shake you from your morning slumber, is Sagar, who has been riding high on the popularity charts. Want to try calling him on our studio line? You will be reminded of this familiar message – Aap ki call katar mein hain!!! But do you know Sagar absolutely loves it, so don’t stop calling. Getting a bit nostalgic on Rakshabandhan day, listeners felicitated their bhaiyas and behnas. Listener Priya was unable to contain her emotions…

Tune in to Indian Link Radio 24/7 worldwide on the web

www.indianlink.com.au or subscribe in Sydney and Melbourne for $9.95 per month.

and technology and of course Star Yaar Kalaakar (quiz show) –there was music and lots of masti galore.

Evenings with Shraddha this month saw an Antaakshari buildup with listeners belting out their songs …Aparna, Sanjay, Gargi, Zoya, thanks for making Sunday ki shaam more rangeen with your dildaar voices!

In a new move, watch out for Shraddha on Sunday evenings…

Sagar says, “I love to pose endless questions and revive the good old days and memories. One morning we asked, do you remember your first day on the job? Caller Krishna Kumar Yadav ji talked all of us back to the ‘60s…”. Janamasthmi was welcomed in style on the morning show with special thanks to Pandit Shri Jatin Kumar Bhatt of Shri Mandir, Auburn. His talk about the significance of rebirth of Krishna in our homes every year was most meaningful!! Thank you for your blessings, Panditji. Bhakti sangeet mixed with dhamaal songs, Sagar sure knows how to rock the mornings!

RASHMI CHAUDHARY on Meter Down 5-9pm (Tue & Thur)

Come 5pm on Mondays and Fridays and the studio gets Chatte Batte with our very own mast host and dost Rashmi. Lifestyle, travel and tech, health and beauty and the ad-mad world, all interest our chulbuli Rashmi!

Rashmi had a heart-to-heart this fortnight with Deepika Padukone just before the release of the much-talked about Aarakshan. And what was it like working with Prakash Jha? “He can be a very hard taskmaster, but he brought out the best in me in this film”. Manoj Bajpai spoke to Rashmi of meticulous preparation for

MANOJ MENON on Meter Down

5-9pm (Wed)

Lagaata woh tie-shie, hai very hi-fi, aur karta hai aapka bheja fry! Manoj makes sure your Wednesday evenings just get better as he takes to the mic.

With a great style of presentation, and a smooth-as-honey voice, (My dil certainly goes mmmmm!) Manoj moves across music of all genres effortlessly. In his show Kashish he churns out sher o shayari, ghazals and superhit naghme as you settle in after your day’s work.

And with Aarakshan fever on the radio, Manoj not only ‘reserved’ a Prakash Jha special but also an Amitabh Bachchan special!

all his roles, going deep into his character. The well-spoken Manoj impressed Rashmi and the listeners alike with his passion for his work. With no arrogance or flamboyance in his tone, he said dil se, “Mann aur imaandari se kaam karta hoon - acting is all I know”.

Hasti khelti Rashmi also brought in a fun feel to auspicious Janmashtami. Jo hai albela madnaino waala, rangeela, chail chabeela, natkhat, jamunatat, murli bajaye - I lost count of the number of listeners who called in and shared their views on what the word ‘Krishna’ means. It was such a delight that radio par bhi gopiyon ke sang raas rachaaya, shyam salone ne! Fantastic listening.

Get set for Rashmi to bring you mid mornings on Wednesdays as well: let’s see what she has in store for us on The Lifestyle Show

PRIYANKA TATER on Meter Down

5-9pm (Tue & Thur)

Haan haan Meter Down toh kar hi lijiye kyunki here is the spunky and multi-talented Priyanka with her own inimitable style, setting your radio on fire in the evenings! You can be sure of masti as well as serious discussions with Priyanka. Priyanka spoke this month, among others, with Ingrid Just of Choice magazine about comparison websites to look at while booking your flights; Vishal Gupta of Concept Tree Consulting who helped organise a ‘property fair’ bringing in

some of the best known property developers in India to woo the diaspora here; com, who is trying to promote AFL in India; and Chakraborty recently.

Tuesdays have come alive with a special segment of Priyanka’s India Now, a discussion on the changes that India has been going through. Priyanka’s popular Lights Camera and Action show focused on patriotic films to mark Independence Day. Also, with a special show on Shammi Kapoor, Priyanka captured the very first real film star of Bollywood.

PRIYANKA RAO

Sat 9am – 12 pm

Saturday mornings bring on air the surili Priyanka as she takes you through the very latest tracks, with plenty of gupshup thrown in - with a dekkho on the events gone by in Australia and India Hafta Bhar; the Top 10 of just about everything you

can think of, entertainment news and box office round-up of new releases. Priyanka is definitely a bright spot on our Saturday mornings!

ANUP KUMAR 12- 4pm (Sat)

Kuch luv jaisa is in the air when the golden voice of the radio starts off at midday on Saturdays. We’re talking about our love guru Anup who brings a wealth of music on his shows. One of our oldest anchors, Anup knows exactly what you want, and delivers!

August month brought much to talk about, with Raakhi, Janmashtmi, Ramadan, India’s Independence Day. Listeners shared with Anup their favourite songs based on all of these. Callers vied for giveaway tickets for films Singham and Aarakshan

A special show recently on the unforgettable Mohd Rafi

was a fantastic success for Anup. “If there are 101 ways of saying ‘I love you’ in a song, Mohammed Rafi knew them all”. And you can bet Anup knows them too. Thanks to Deepti (Wentworthville), Harmindar (Campsie), Gargiji and Mrs S Kler (Sydney) for their valuable comments – especially Jyoti from Croydon (her radio is on 24/7!) who recommended Rafi songs in Telugu, which Anup managed to play for her!

Another voice of yesteryear Mukesh, whose death anniversary went by on 27 Aug, was also celebrated this month. (Anup’s all time favourite, btw, is Mukesh’s unforgettable Kabhi kabhi mere dil mein khayal aata hai…)

RACHITA SAINI

9am -12pm (Sun)

Great music, bindaas attitude and non-stop banter - it’s all you need from the Karma Queen Rachita who certainly makes your Sunday mornings shine bright even if there is no sunshine! Having had a special on the Deepika Padukone and Saif Ali Khan pairing on her show, listeners did concede that there would be plenty of chemistry in Aarakshan. A discussion on

Anna Hazare the face of India’s fight against corruption was another success. The feeling of patriotism and the support our listeners showed on air was overwhelming. I thank all our listeners who take the trouble to call in and show so much love and affection towards my team. It is you who make the radio happen!

NON STOP MUSIC

A bit about my part in Indian Link Radio – lining up your music! Bhakti sangeet ho ya retro mix, ghazal ho ya mast mix, the latest ho ya Café Mix, hits of ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s and now…it’s all playing for you on the radio. Chaubeeson ghante saaton din – Mast!

That’s my line and I do know that I am matching your moods and favourites every hour on the hour, and you love it all!

“I just had to let you know I really enjoy your selection of ghazals. You do a remarkable job of whatever you do. Thanks Neelam,” Jaya from Sydney wrote recently.

The littlest fan of my work is Ishaan Patel from Melbourne who is just two years old. Now I have to tell you what I have seen in person. Getting back home the first thing he does is point to the radio and says “Music, Mummy”, demanding that it be turned on. I did believe this when he did the same at my

UZMA BEG on Morning Masala with Uzma 10am-1pm (Mon-Tue-Thurs)

It was a warm welcome back to the supremely lovable - but totally crazy - morning anchor Uzma Beg, who was missed much by the Indian Link Radio family. Back after her month-long holiday in Europe (hobnobbing with the stars?), the chatterbox-extraordinaire got straight into the act. “Absence makes the heart grow fonder - I missed all my callers!”

With a unique ability to make all the callers feel they are the only ones she is talking to, Uzma had them opening their hearts again, such as with a recent discussion on being duped by scams. “My heart went out to poor Luxmi who got swindled by a babaji in Sydney… and to Saloni who was saved in the nick of time by her hubby from a scam that would’ve rendered her thousands of dollars in the negative!”

place too!!! His favourite song right now? Jalebi Bai. Great going Ishaan I love to see your face light up on listening to Indian Link!

Treat yourself to relaxing music all afternoon with the very latest 3@3pm. (Last fortnight we played I Love you from Bodyguard, Rabba Main Toh Mar gaya from Mausam, and your No1 song based on listeners’ requests is Acha Lagta Hai from Aarakshan). Followed by Mast Mix everyday Mon - Sat 4pm to 5pm you can be assured of uplifting music to beat the evening blues away. 10pm onwards Saari Saari Raat promises to take you on a journey that is filled with melody of different genres all the way up to 5am next day.

So how can you be a part of it all? Just subscribe to the radio. With a radio set in your home or business or a car decoder to keep you entertained in the peak hours…the choice is yours.

Toh Indian Link Radio bajne do zara…faltu attitude de de tu zara!

But her own favourite morning on radio recently was during the discussion on parental authority. “Being a parent myself I’ve researched this topic to death and thought my listeners would benefit from it just as I have. Callers had so much to add that I’ve promised to repeat it early next yearwhen all the festivities are over and it’s time to exercise some parental control!”

And of course what would Uzma’s show be without some mindless fun that has us all so wrapped up we forget our morning chores? It was a fun-filled romp as she got us to translate muhawaras in English. How would you say “Kab nau mann tail hoga, kab Radha nachaygee” in English? Manzar did it for us: “When will there be 9 mann oil so Radha will dance?” Lol... see? You can have fun too... just pick up that phone and call Uzma on Monday, Tuesday & Thursday between 10am & 1pm and you can have yourselves a real party. Ye masti hai truly sasti!

AIBC gets the long handle

BY DARSHAK MEHTA

Indian High Commissioner Smt. Sujatha

Singh took direct aim at the Australia India Business Council in her address on the 25th Anniversary of the AIBC in Sydney on August 29.

In an extraordinary attack, Her Excellency expressed her frustration that the AIBC had not fulfilled its potential in “exponentially expanding the economic relationship” between India and Australia. She publicly asked for it “to transform itself to become a truly effective body” and play a more important and representative role. She alluded to the fact that it seemed obsessed with process rather than focusing “on issues of substance”.

She conceded that on its own the NSW chapter was functioning well so, it was apparent that her swipe was at the organisation’s operations at the national level which are yet to be at par “with the most professional Business Councils in Australia and India”.

Indian diplomats rarely speak out in unobfuscatory language and the audience certainly grasped (if not, gasped at!) the disappointment of the High Commissioner

and the timing, venue and importance of her message delivered right between the eyes, at the organisation’s Annual Dinner in the presence of an array of senior politicians and business folk.

The audience heard her in stunned silence and if the AIBC take the message to heart in the spirit in which it was delivered, it will be the first step in righting itself.

The Dinner was well patronised and the venue was wonderful as was the food. However, the AIBC committee needs to do some hard-thinking regarding organisational matters, prior to such events. They had lined up not one or two and certainly not three or four but NINE speakers in the course of the evening – and that does not include the MC, Dean Jones, the former Australian cricketer, in itself an unusual choice.

The Speakers were: John Robertson (Leader of the NSW Opposition); Andrew Stoner (Deputy Premier of NSW); John Alexander MP (conveying Federal Opposition Leader, Tony Abbott’s message: question – would the opposition leader have ever missed an Australia-Israel Business Council 25th Anniversary Dinner?); Dipen Rughani AIBC NSW President, H.E. Smt. Sujatha Singh, Trade Minister Dr Craig Emerson, and the great Bob Hawke who was the real draw-card of the evening. And it ended with Arun Jagatramka of Gujarat NRE delivering a Vote of Thanks

and Sheba Nandkeolyar – for thanking the Committee

To mind that was at least FIVE speakers too many.

Would it not have been more appropriate and stimulating to hear a senior Australian or Indian business leader give the key-note address?

And, the old Indian obsession with politicians continues. When will the Indian community realise that these people are happy to go to the opening of an envelope and mouth banalities till the cows come home? What is more important is hard and continuing engagement on issues and policies, not soft appearances.

The Live Auction bombed spectacularly and embarrassingly. The quantity of the Silent Auction merchandise was overwhelming though the quality was not!

The Vote of Thanks was delivered to a half empty room, which was not the fault of Jagatramka, but a tremendous insult to him. Worst still, the people being thanked (on the top table) had all scooted home, by then!

Former Prime Minister Bob Hawke in a nostalgic address, bordering on the emotional, reminisced about his close affinity and relationship with the late Indian Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi and the circumstances leading to the establishment of the AIBC in the late ‘80s. Hawke can

still captivate them as few can and inviting him was the smartest thing that the AIBC did. It would have been good to schedule his address much earlier in the evening and certainly before the tamasha

Not sure of dance and song at serious business events, either.

Do our countries have so little in common that we clutch at straws and bring up cricket all night long, as almost every speaker did?

An unexpected but timely chastisement was in store for this organisation, by none other than India’s top representative here in Australia

Sujatha Singh, India’s High Commissioner to Australia

Amitabh in Sydney

“…the Sydney Opera House out of my window, an iconic symbol of this city... and the rest a cleaner version of Manhattan…”

With these words, Amitabh Bachchan described on Twitter his first night in Sydney.

Yes the Big B was in town briefly in late August. There was a rush of phone calls at the Indian Link office as the news went around. Where is he staying? Where can we get a glimpse?

The latest is, he’s back in Mumbai now, but Hindi cinema’s best-loved personality will be back shortly for an extended stay. Amitabh will be working here until Christmas, and that too on a Baz Luhrmann film – the remake of the iconic film The Great Gatsby

He will join Hollywood stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan in the $120 million production. A host of Australian stars are also part of the feature, including Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jack Thompson, model Gemma Ward, Triple J’s Brendan Maclean and teenager Callan McAuliffe.

And what role will Amitabh be playing? Well, rumours were that he would play ‘dad to Leonardo’, but according to a recent SMH report, “the Bollywood veteran…

plays Gatsby’s shadowy business partner Wolfsheim”.

Amitabh had stated to an interview with Indian Link a few years ago, that while there certainly were a few offers for him from film-makers outside of India, they were all too minor for him to seriously consider, and that he would do so if something substantial were to come along. Looks like one finally has come his way now.

There was some confusion in the mainstream press about the Bollywood star lined up by Luhrmann. An earlier report in the Daily Telegraph (dated 23 Aug) obviously got the wrong Bachchan: Some fresh casting news has also emerged with Bollywood leading man Abhishek Bachchan set to join the cast. A bonafide movie star in India, Bachchan is also famed as the husband of fellow Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai whom he married in 2007. He has appeared in more than 50 films but The Great Gatsby will be his biggest Hollywood film role to date.

However the SMH report got the right Bachchan, even quoting Luhrmann as saying Amitabh’s films, especially Sholay, had made a lasting impression on him.

He didn’t say anything however about Amitabh’s last embarrassing connection with Australia – when he refused a 2009 honour by the Queensland University of Technology in protest against the spate of

attacks on Indian students here. The Indian community in this country had at the time lamented that Amitabh had missed a golden opportunity to do his bit for the students here.

The Great Gatsby will be the first 3D live action movie to be shot in NSW. The filming begins this month at Fox Studios and continues for 17 weeks. The film is slated for a Nov 2012 release.

Of course we can expect Amitabh to take a leave of absence some time around November, to welcome the arrival of a rather special baby. But for the coming weeks, desi folk in Sydney can keep their necks craned to catch a glimpse of their all-time favourite film star in their very own city. Amitabh-spotters, get to work… and send in those pics to Indian Link!

Rajni Anand Luthra

Laced with brilliance

Two Indian artists, Golnar Roshan and Yogesh Purohit, display their passion for lace in the young and edgy Love Lace exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum

Purohit’s work while being a more accepted form of lace is still an amalgamation of tradition in the 21st century. While Golnar’s inspiration is more in line with the global trend, Yogesh’s work is a modern interpretation of a very local craft. He is very inspired by India and its culture and history and it comes through in his joyous explanation, “Could I be any luckier to be born here where history still lives? A place where artisans still indulge in their age-old crafts, where every colour has a texture and every texture has a smell. The souls of these crafts beckon me to adapt and explore. Hence the contemporary expression in appliqué, which is my small attempt of adapting the traditional narrative appliqué work still practised in rural communities of Gujarat in western India.’

Yogesh’s cream dress spotlighted at the end of a long corridor is virginal and playful at the same time. When asked about the contribution, Lindie elaborates, “Yogesh has created a beautiful garment whose transparency, from the appliqued bodice to the gathered net skirt, is at once classic and contemporary. It uses traditional techniques in a light and youthful style.”

Though lace is usually associated with textiles, curator Lindie Ward broadened the definition of lace to include any ‘openwork structure whose pattern of spaces is as important as the solid areas’. Digital multi media works have pushed the boundaries of lace even further into virtual worlds.

The experience of visiting this exhibition is multilayered and delicate, much like the subject matter itself. Lace offers the mystery of concealment and the subtle interplay of space, light and shadows. Lighting has been used artfully to master the interplay between

outsourcing and sustainability aspect with Artist JoepVerhoeven’s ‘Lace Fence’ being fabricated in Bangalore by local lacers. “Our design studio is based in the Netherlands, the production unit is based in Bangalore, India. We value a socially responsible and sustainable way of producing. With our team of lacers these aspects are as important to us as being able to create new products,” he says.

It is rare to see an exhibition that so completely encompasses the length and breadth of a subject spanning many bridges between culture and time and yet keeps the experience personal

In addition to the Lace Award, Love Lace Exhibition and publication with the same name, The Powerhouse Museum also has the Lace Study Centre that provides access to its collection lace that has been in the making for over a century. This permanent resource has lace work ranging from 1500s to date from all over the world and makes for a fascinating few hours for anyone interested in design.

Love Lace is on until April 2012.

BY NOOPUR SINGHAL

The phrase ‘Make Lace Not War’ in bold black, red and white tells you the moment you walk in that this exhibition is about to break all your conventional notions about lace. Showcasing the spectacular entries of the winners and finalists in the Powerhouse Museum International Lace Award, Love Lace is an exhibition that encompasses all that is lace.

Artist Yogesh Purohit explains with an ‘Indian’ example how 130 lace entries from 134 artists from 20 countries are so different yet so beautifully harmonious in their display. “India has a chaos of diverse cultures and people, their unique traditions and ideas, their arts, crafts, textiles and costumes, their music, dances and folklores, each putting up their best. Yet creativity transcends all barriers and speaks a common language of emotions and inspirations.”

The Lace Award is meant to inspire new design applications of lace and to attract a diversity of ideas from many global cultures and the artists really push the envelope with dimensions, colour and scale to create provocative and inventive work. Techniques range from bobbin and needle to industrial

welding and soluble solutions while materials run the gamut from cloth and paper to metal and even horse hair! From flatware to fashion, bold large-scale installations and sculptures to intricate textiles and jewellery, lace is everywhere. Golnar Roshan is one of the student finalists from University of Technology, Sydney, originally from India and now based in Rotterdam. Her work Garden of Leaflessness is a beautiful tapestry made from leaves and thread that matches the timelessness of lace with the transient qualities of nature. “This work pays homage to the constantly changing poetic lace which surrounds us and exists within trees, leaves and branches. I am particularly interested in lace’s transient qualities; the way the fabric changes in different lights and the way it forms beautiful shadows that are constantly moving and transforming,” says Golnar.

Nestled between a lace bird mobile and a graphical lace installation, Golnar’s work hangs silently in the spotlight. “Her work is very eloquent and poetic. The green eucalyptus leaves will progressively alter in colour over time in the exhibition as they dry out. We have used a light that gradually changes from dark to light. The subtly glinting metallic threads used in this piece respond beautifully to our lighting solution,” says curator Lindie Ward.

While Golnar chose to display an installation that is more new age, Yogesh

The experience of visiting this exhibition is multilayered and delicate, much like the subject matter itself. Lace offers the mystery of concealment and the subtle interplay of space, light and shadows want them to go

negative space and artwork, while the layout is full of curves and mysterious turns and corners, alluring the visitor to explore them all and get more involved. Like Lindie says, “The lighting in the exhibition is very important as all the works play with positive and negative spaces and shadows.”

It is rare to see an exhibition that so completely encompasses the length and breadth of a subject spanning many bridges between culture and time and yet keeps the experience personal. Love Lace is old and new, modern and traditional, past and present, intimate yet large scale all at the same time. It even has an

The Garden of Leaflessness by Golnar Roshan

Yogesh Purohit, designs below

The Lost Princess, dress by Yogesh Purohit

It swept many off their feet last year and stamped mainstream approval on a culture that, with readjusted expectations, is comfortably present in the vibrant city of Parramatta. This year Parramasala returns with a promise of going more than a notch better; Parramasala is no ordinary fest, for it not only acknowledges but celebrates –with rare abandon – the tireless South Asian community in Australia.

This year’s program, launched recently by the Lord Mayor of Parramatta John Chedid and NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell, promises to be another eight-day joyride in some of the oh-so-typical South Asian flavours: streets lined with vendors, live music, dance and enduring bonhomie.

From 30 October to 6 November the Riverside Theatres will host an incredible assortment of artists from across the world who’ll be bringing more than just their colourful selves to the party.

“Following the festival’s success in its inaugural year, we once again look forward to hosting this wonderful event and showcasing many facets of South Asian culture and with an expanded eightday program, we can expect even more visitors,” Cr Chedid said.

“Parramasala also allows us to recognise the important contribution South Asian cultures make to our City and for our residents and visitors to celebrate as one.”

Expectations are high from this year’s event, which according to the festival’s Artistic Director, Philip Rolfe, is set to continue to “surprise and delight audiences” with its grandeur and glee.

Undoubtedly the event’s promise of uniqueness lends a touch of sophistication to it. This will be, to quote Mr Rolfe, “a one-off, never to be repeated event” with some of the world’s most renowned artists presenting a number of Australian exclusives.

The Church Street Mall will reverberate with music and dance; the street market could well rival in flavour and rush Delhi’s Paranthevali Gali or, for that matter, Lahore’s, not-so-imaginatively-named Food Street.

Movie buffs will have a special opportunity to experience the rich and prolific South Asian cinema – the anythingbut-wooden superset of this world’s Bollywoods, Kollywoods, Tollywoods,

Lollywoods and their ilk.

Parramatta Artists Studios and other public spaces in the area will have a free-for-all exhibit of modern art. For those interested in action, The Other Journey – an experimental theatre presentation which includes, among other things, a boat tour and large-scale outdoor video art. This could prove to be well worth a journey to Parramatta River, the site of the event.

Last year, Sydneysiders were treated to an experience that showed South Asia at its diverse best: the thundering earthiness of Indian folk singer Kailash Kher’s voice; techno musicians who came from some of the most progressive and modern territories in the world; mesmerising classical dance performances tailored for the modern eye; and, not the least, the rural folk of the Indian subcontinent who’ve kept afloat their generations-old traditions and craft. The festival offered a welcome reminder to many who had lost touch, consciously or otherwise, with their roots living in a far-off country.

This year’s event, with two central entertainment areas, will give an opportunity for many to renew their bond with a region synonymous with warmth, largesse and hospitality.

There is every chance that the experience will live up to the expectations of the wide-ranging audience expected to turn up to taste a slice of South Asian life and culture.

Parramasala, a joint initiative between Events New South Wales and Parramatta City Council, is an effort to highlight the cultural diversity of the city of Parramatta. The week-long festival is one of world’s most extraordinary international arts events. It may be dominated by India and its culture, but it is a festival for everyone. This year’s event will have both free and ‘accessibly priced’ ticketed events. More information on the programme is available at www.parramasala.com

Gaurav Pandey

How else does one celebrate the culture of a land of countless songs, festivals and people, if not by a carnival as vibrant as the land itself!

A multicultural Eid

By UZMA BEG

Eid-ul-Fitar is the biggest occasion to celebrate for all Muslims. It’s a celebration truly well deserved after a full month of fasting (abstaining from food and drinks from just before dawn to dusk) in Ramadan.

I fasted as well, doing my regular countdown to Eid, excited about sharing this day with all my fellow Muslims….a day where we finally put our differences aside and just celebrate, all of us on the same day, united for once. But it wasn’t to be. On the last day of Ramadan I found out that half of the community in Australia was already celebrating Eid while I fasted – as the religious leaders for some Muslim communities decided late on Monday evening to declare Eid on Tuesday!

I ended up celebrating Eid the next day, but it broke my heart. It would’ve been wonderful for Muslims to be one on our special day! My sense of sadness was shared on Indian Link Radio during my show by Mr. Mohammed Ali, an active member of the Muslim community in Canberra.

But the disappointment didn’t last long. I went into big time celebration mode on Wednesday!

The highlight of my day was the Eid party thrown by my Christian friend Sandra Prakash, who didn’t want me to be alone on Eid. Sandra and her brother Tony set the stage for a beautiful party at Sandra’s house.

We brought a dish each and because we were such a diverse group coming together, the culinary outcome was nothing short of sensational!

I took with me Kharray Masaalay ki Murghi, a speciality from Lahore. Sandra who is originally from Karachi had prepared the most amazing Band Kabab – it had this wonderful smoky-charcoal flavour which brought the sub-continent right into her dining room. That girl could easily earn a living from just that dish! Our friends Nitu and Praneet who are originally from Delhi brought a spinach, mushroom, cheese pulao that left us wanting more! My dear friend Nisreen also originally from Karachi, contributed a sensational palak paneer which would give any Indian palak paneer a run for it’s money! Ahmad Afzal and his Chinese wife Rozie decided to revert to good oldfashioned healthy Aussie values with a huge fresh salad instead of contributing to our rising cholesterol.

I ate non-stop throughout the party –and was still going, while the others eyed dessert!

Our gorgeous Turkish friends Rana and Ahmat and their sons added that sense of diversity.

My own Turkish friend Ege Suna looked stunning – I kept referring to her as Turkish Delight all night!

Priti from Maharashtra walked in very late and very worked up. Apparently the only thing that got her away from her home on such a busy day was the spirit of Eid! A devout Hindu, she interrupted her own frenzied preparations for Ganesh Chaturthi, which is such an important occasion in Maharashtra. She had been making prasad

all day for the auspicious occasion of the arrival of the deity of Lord Ganesha at her home. Apparently she had been trying for many years to bring Him home, but it wasn’t happening!

“Uzma, you don’t know how hard it is!” an overwhelmed, flustered and excited Priti told me. “It’s not easy...He doesn’t come whenever you want... only when the time is right and the time is finally right, and I can’t believe it’s actually happening!”

She had a big pooja planned at her house on Ganesh Chaturthi which was the day after Eid. I felt honoured that she had left her kids in the care of a friend and put all her chores on hold just to celebrate Eid with us!

We were all a very diverse group with different backgrounds, cultures and religions yet it seemed to work beautifully... we were a

really merry bunch that enjoyed everything we had in common with each other and that seemed to take precedence over all our differences that night! Had I been back home for Eid it would’ve been very different indeed. The atmosphere right from Chand Raat to the third day of Eid would be very different! I miss the excitement of Chand Raat, the henna tradition, the adrenalin rush of whether the tailor’s finally come through with completing your outfit or not, the eating out on Chand Raat, the late nights, the rude 6 am awakening on Eid, the hustle bustle of domestic help running helterskelter to get things done, the mountain of Eid clothes being ironed, the odd scream “Hai bijli chali gayee!”, the panic, the men all dressed up in traditional shalwar kameez rushing off to get to the mosque in time for Eid prayers, the women praying at home then taking ages to get ready, the shouts, the screams “Jaldi karo, the guys will be here any minute!” I loved the Eid breakfast we had together - sawayyan and halva puri - yumm! My favourite thing would be collecting Eidy… not so much now because I have to give it... but back when we were single we couldn’t contain ourselves from staring the elders down into reaching for their wallets! I miss those long family Eid lunches where the spread was fit for a king, the gorgeous outfits and stunning jewellery that would

I saw the love between Hindus and Muslims, Christians and Buddhists, and I saw us for what we really arehuman beings!

look so OTT in daytime! I miss “Tarru”, the second day of Eid, which brought with it the excitement of visiting everyone and wearing the second new outfit, and I miss the understated “Marru”, the third day of Eid, when it’s all officially over! I distinctly remember the huge sense of loss that would overcome me on Marru while I made the most of it by flaunting my third outfit to all and sundry, knowing in my heart that it’ll be business as usual the next day!

Oh, Eid back home…! It makes me nostalgic and homesick to think about it – yes, I definitely miss it. But what I experienced here was priceless! I saw four different religions, countries and cultures come together to make Eid as special as it could ever be! I saw the love between Hindus and Muslims, Christians and Buddhists, and I saw us for what we really are - human beings! Simple, loving, caring, accepting, human beings. We all have the same goals, wants, needs, desires so why then do some choose to focus on superficial differences rather than our universal humanity?

We brought a dish each and because we were such a diverse group coming together, the culinary outcome was nothing short of sensational!

Multiculturalism is the new face of the world and we are thriving in it!

It’s just a matter of time until everyone recognizes what I felt so deeply! Eid Mubarak…and Ganpati Bappa Morya…!

Festivals take on a more significant meaning when different nationalities come together in common celebration

Sandra Prakash (extreme right) hosts an Eid celebration for a diverse group of friends

Ganesha’s glory

In celebrating this auspicious festival, we learn the underlying message of creation and an ultimate return to the elements, says SHAILENDRA

BEDARKAR

Ganesha Chaturthi is one of the most eagerly awaited festivals in India. In Sydney, we look forward to the occasion like no other, and discussions on the theme start several months in advance. The design and planning of our celebration is treated like no ordinary project.

A touch of nostalgia

My wife Rashmi and I grew up in families wherein the Ganesha Chaturthi festival is a very important celebration. As a young boy of 6, I witnessed my uncles and teenage cousins going to great lengths in preparing the pooja altar. On the day of the pooja we looked with awe at the red eyes of my eldest cousin. The beautifully crafted altar would be a reminder of a sleepless night as he prepared the decorations overnight.

Growing up in Mumbai, I witnessed the local youth coming together to collect money from households for their preparations. These groups were very much like the rugby teams found in Australia. They tried to outdo each other in being creative, and noisy too. Each of these ‘teams’ would erect elaborate ‘dioramas’ depicting various episodes from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Puranas and other legendary stories. I remember one particular scene depicting a 10-foot tall baby Krishna statue on all fours raising an arm to eat a laddoo (sweet dumpling). We were particularly excited and impressed with the arm that moved forward in an eating motion. The team that incorporated some or other movement in their theme was considered particularly creative.

Ganesha in Australia

According to our traditions, when the eldest in our family gets married, it is his responsibility to invite Ganesha into the family. When we arrived in Australia, my wife and I started celebrating Ganesha Chaturthi in 2001, the year after our wedding. At the time we invited Indians and Australians alike, and some of our friends had young children as little as 8 months and 2 years. We lived in Newport. Some of these families would travel over 30 kms just to show their kids how the Ganesha pooja was conducted.

of drawings later, finally the design was agreed on.

We picked up the nava graham theme this year, partly because of the number 9 involved in it. This Ganesha was our ninth year of celebrating the festival. Last year we depicted ashtha vinayaka for the number 8, and the preceding seventh year, we created the ‘7 chakras’ in our body.

We told ourselves that we would celebrate one festival well and thoroughly, and recreate a truly Indian feeling, one that would make our children feel proud of us.

Rashmi and I were truly touched by the effort these families made and it struck us that we sometimes go through a whole year without even knowing which festivals have come and gone. We told ourselves that we would celebrate one festival well and thoroughly, and recreate a truly Indian feeling, one that would make our children feel proud of us. They would see the effort we put into the celebration and would get to understand their Indian culture better. We found inspiration in the awe with which the children look at the decorations.

Threshing out the theme

This year, our planning as usual started over four months in advance. In this period, we brainstormed over the theme. Once the theme was set, the design was made. Lots

This year, our theme depicted the nine celestial bodies that we can see from the earth. The nava graha are commonly worshipped in India and especially in the south. The grahas are Surya (Sun), Som (Moon), Mangal (Mars), Budh (Mercury), Guru (Jupiter), Shukra (Venus), Shani (Saturn), Rahu and Ketu. Rahu represents the head of the mythical snake and Ketu, the tail. Ganesha is set in the centre, depicted as the source of life, the provider of light, warmth and nourishment to the other planets and all living beings.

Working as a team

So we began the work. We found that MDF or particle board is a versatile material to work with. We drew, shaped and cut the board. This process lasted over four weekends. Then we began the painting. We decided to make the spinning wheel if time permitted. Kanek, our 16-month-old boy and Nishtha, our 5-year-old girl were keen helpers. Nishtha can use the screwdriver well; while Kanek helped us paint the pole, although he painted his face, hair and also the floor in the process. Rashmi’s sister Neeta was a keen helper too, and our other friends Aastha, Prajakta, her daughter Roma, and a few others helped too.

The celebrations

This year, Ganesha Chaturthi was on September 1, and the auspicious Ganesha pooja or Ganesha staphana is held on this day. Our friend Sumedh and his wife Gauri helped us with the pooja. Depending on individual traditions, every family houses Ganesha for one, three, five or ten days. Ganesha is offered his favourites – modak, a dumpling made from palm sugar, coconut and durva, three bladed tufts of grass and hibiscus flowers. Devotional songs were sung and vedic verses were chanted, while Ganesha’s 108 names were sung in unison. The whole atmosphere was charged with feelings of devotion, celebration and a certain spiritual ecstasy.

Profound symbolism

The grand farewell is on the ananta chathurdashi, the fourteenth day from the new moon. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The thought is that anything that is created, has to get dissolved into the elements. The celebration sends this eternal message, as Ganesha Chaturthi signifies the birth of Ganesha, and the offering of his idol to the ocean symbolises his return to the elements. The decorations cannot be kept with the person who creates them, so we try to give them away to friends. The deep symbolism, the hidden message is so profound! The only permanent aspect of matter is change. What is created will eventually be offered to the elements. Getting overly concerned about material possessions leads to sorrow. Joy and bliss lie in embracing change and working in unison with our environment.

Spiritual and social

Apart from its religious connotations, the festival is really a socio-cultural event. For us it is a way of depicting and celebrating religion by combining the spiritual with the social. We celebrate religion as it should be, nonsectarian and giving, with no hidden agenda. Followers of every sect celebrate

the festival with devotion and joy.

It was Lokmanya Balgangadhar Tilak who escalated this festival, which was celebrated privately in Maharashtrian homes, to a social event. It was a method to encourage unity and solidarity amongst the youth so they could unite for good causes and raise spirituality within the community. He also had the vision that India’s political freedom could be achieved through a united youth who would stand up for what is true and fair.

Our Ganesha Chaturthi celebration was enthusiastically supported by family and friends who volunteered their time to make the event a success. The flame that ignites every year seems to be perpetual. Ganapati Bappa Morya, pudhchya varshi laukar yaa! (Hail Lord Ganesha, hope to see you soon again!) These chants from during Ganesha’s departure are but a reminder that next year’s celebrations will be even better.

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Devotion through song

There he sits, clad all in white and sings, “Be a fire to the dry grass of bodily desires, think of Sri Hari, day and night” and “When you are in the company of truthful people, where is the need for holy water?” This music goes into your consciousness and makes you think. It makes you question yourself. It is best summed up in the words of Oliver Goldsmith: “Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway. And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray.”

Such was the feeling at the Redgum Centre, Sydney on August 23, when Sri Vidiyabhushana performed at a concert, en route on his visit to Sydney and Melbourne. Those who know the Kannada language were twice blessed, and felt the full impact.

A very popular vocalist in the Carnatic music tradition, Sri Vidyabhushana chose mostly Devaranamas in Kannada for his rendition. Of course, there were one or two exceptions. What stood out was the message that these chosen items conveyed, and not just the music itself. In this sense, it is best to call it “devotional music”. Almost every item had an ugabhoga (rhythm free verse) at its beginning. Sri

Vidyabhushana was able to bring out the essence of it with his masterly voice and gestures. Kadu karuni neenendarithu, Manadi parama adaradi, Sathyavantara sanga viralu, Jagava suttiruvudu ninna maye and others almost pierced into the listener. The desperate cry in Dheena nanu reverberated

through the auditorium, not to mention the bhakthi sway that the audience enjoyed when he finished off an item with the chant of “Vittala, Vittala”. His was clearly an expressive and preaching style of rendering. However, these comments should not lessen the value of Sri Vidyabhushana’s

music which was very appreciable, although a bit rough at times. His majestic voice, clear cut diction and pronunciation were very evident. He brought out short alapanas, neruvals and swara prastharas for two or three items. The one in Hindola (Madhukara vrithi) was noteworthy, as one saw a clever mix of alapana and ugabhoga

Sri Vidyabhushana was accompanied by an ingenious team, beginning with Kanthi Krian Mudigunda, who was aptly able on the violin. The very popular Bala Shanakar was on mridanga, while Shiva Kumar Sethupathi performed on the khanjira, and both gave a very entertaining taniavartanam Thanks to the organisers who made it a ticketless concert, the audience of over 350 enjoyed the opportunity to absorb themselves in the music, and could say to themselves, “Idu bhagya, idu bhagya!” (This is fortune, this is fortune!).

Sydney Srinivas

Tribute to carnatic composers

School on August 13.

Two of Sydney’s renowned carnatic music rasikas, Dr. Giridhar Tirumalai and Sri Hari Raman have been instrumental in putting together annual memorial concerts to celebrate the great composers of yesteryears. It is to their great credit that they have continued their efforts, giving their time and energy for over 10 years, in reviving these compositions which are rendered on stage by an assortment of Sydney’s home-grown musicians and students.

T he 2011 GIV (Great Indian Vaggeyakaras) Series held a concert to commemorate two of these greats – Sri Sadashiva Brahmendra and H.E. Maharaja of Mysore, Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar Bahadur at the Homebush Boys High

Sri Sadasiva Brahmendra was an Advaita philosopher and saint, and a great devotee of Lord Shiva. It is well known that he called himself a shishya of his guru, the 57th pontiff of Kanchi Kamakoti Mutt, Sri Parama Sivendra Saraswathi. Not many facts are known about his life, although documented records show that he presented a copy of his spiritual autobiography, Atma Vidya Vilasa to the then ruler of Tanjore, H.E. Sharabhoji in the early 17th century. Saint Brahmendra’s compositions are mostly in Sanskrit, and his scholarly workes include Navamanimala, Svapnoditam, Svanubhutiprakasika, Sri Dakshinamurthi Dhyanam, Manoniyamanam, Navavarna Ratnamala, Atmavidya Vilasa, Sivamanasika Puja, Saparya paryastava, Jagadguru Ratnamastavah, glosses on Brahma sutras and Yoga sutras, Brahmatathvaprakasika and Siddhantha Kalpavali. Some of his well-known compositions include Manasa Sancharare, Bhajare Gopalam, Pibare Ramarasam, Smara varam varam, Gayati Vanamali, Bhajare Yadhunatham, Khelati mama hrdaye and Tunga tarange gange among many others. He used the mudras, Hamsa or Parama Hamsa

Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar Bahadur (July 18, 1919 – September 23, 1974) was the 25th and the last Maharaja of the princely state of Mysore from 1940 to 1950. He was a noted philosopher, musicologist, political thinker and philanthropist. In the year 1947 after India attained independence, he acceded his Kingdom to the dominion of India, but continued as the Maharaja

until India became a Republic in 1950. He became the Raja Pramukh - a constitutional position - as the head of Mysore State within the Republic of India from 19501956. After the re-organization of Indian States on a linguistic basis, the Maharaja was appointed as the Governor of the integrated Mysore State (present Karnataka state) in 1956, which post he held until 1964.

After becoming Maharaja, Sri Bahadur was initiated into Indian classical music (carnatic music) due to the cultural vibrancy which prevailed in the Mysore Court until then. He learnt to play the veena under Vid. Venkatagiriappa and mastered the nuances of carnatic music under the tutelage of veteran composer and Asthan Vidwan, Sri Vasudevacharya. He was also initiated in to the secrets of Shri Vidya as an upasaka (under the assumed name Chitprabhananda) by his guru, Shilpi Siddalingaswamy. This inspired him to compose as many as 94 carnatic music krutis under the assumed name of Shri Vidya. Sri Bahadur composed in the rare carnatic ragas of Bhogavasantha and Durvangi. All the compositions are in different ragas, and some of them for the first time ever. In the process, he also built three temples in Mysore city: Bhuvaneshvari Temple and Gayatri Temple, located inside the Mysore Palace Fort, and Sri Kamakaameshwari Temple, situated on Ramanuja Road, Mysore. All three Temples were sculpted by the Maharaja’s guru who was also a famous sculptor, Shilpi Siddalingaswamy.

Sri Bahadur was honoured as a

fellow of the Trinity College of Music, London and was conferred a D. Lit. Degree by the University of Queensland, Australia due to his interest and accomplishments in western music.

The programme for the evening was an interesting journey as over 20 different ragas and compositions of the two great composers were sung by the up and coming, as well as regular performers on the Sydney stage. Ragas such as Nadanamakriya, Hamsavinodini, Kokilapriya, Bhogavasantha and Gambheera Nattai are usually the preserve of professional artistes, but attempts by the amateur artistes was commendable.

The audience response was spontaneous and the organizers deserve to be applauded for their work in bringing this together.

Malli Iyer

Sri Sadashiva Brahmendra

H.E.Mysore Maharaja, Sri Jayachamaraja Wodeyar

Ganapati Bappa Morya: Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations at Sachin Wakhare’s Ashfield home

Maya Narpatsingh (seated second row, first from right) celebrates her 75th birthday with

and family

Photo: Prendon Rungan

Property investment event offers lucrative options

BY GAURAV PANDEY

Indian Events, in association with Concept Tree, a leading property consulting company, conducted the largest Indian property event ever in Australia at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park, on

The objective of the event was to provide a platform for builders from India to showcase their properties and provide potential buyers in Australia with knowledge of the property market in India.

The event, drawing over 400 attendees, was a great success with Indians here showing a keen interest in investing in the highly lucrative property market in India, Vishal Gupta, Director of Concept Tree Consulting said.

Organised close on the heels of a similar, albeit smaller, event in Melbourne, the property show contained presentations of existing and fresh commercial and residential real estate projects from across India, with the presence of major real estate developers and builders such as Jaypee Greens, Ireo, Rustomjee, Unitech, Nirmal Lifesyle, Hiranadani and many more.

Jaypee Greens’ Sport City project which will witness the first ever Formula 1 race in India on October 30 this year, garnered a particularly impressive response.

“The property show was the most informative I have attended in Australia. It is great to see such opportunities to buy properties in India and to help us stay connected to our land of origin,” said Shubham Sharma, one of the participants. Visitors not only got an opportunity to seek advice on property but also related aspects such as finance, documentation and legal requirements. The property show and subsequent related events, has helped in creating an understanding about property cycles and growth structure in the Indian property market.

“The Indian property market has been identified as one of the best performing property markets in the world,” said Mr. Gupta while pointing out that an advantage for Indians based in a country such as Australia is that they can invest in good properties back home for a fraction of the cost they would pay for a similar property here.

In the evening, there was a special dinner organised for investors to meet the visiting builders from India and better understand the property market in India.

NRI buyers typically look to buy property

in India for investment or as their second home, and fairs such as this one provide an opportunity for buyers to understand the property purchase process in India. “It is very important for an investor sitting so far away to invest in a property by a credible builder,” Mr. Gupta cautioned.

With a rising Australian dollar and sharply increasing interest rates ensuring a handsome return on investment in property in India, more and more buyers are willing to venture into the country’s property segment.

Concept Tree is a leading service provider in the area of Indian property investment. The company not only helps clients find the best investment properties in India, it also helps them secure loans from leading financial institutions and the associated

There are more events planned in the future, with a similar event in Sydney in the first half of 2012. “Concept Tree studies market data, and seeks technical and legal approvals before inviting developers and builders to participate in such events,” Mr Gupta stressed.

Potential investors in property in India, as well as those who have already invested but seek guidance, are encouraged to visit www. indiapropertyevent.com.au, the website for the event.

“We

Pakistan commerce minister to visit India India and Pakistan are set to scale up bilateral trade and business when Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim visits India later this month. It’s being speculated that Islamabad could grant New Delhi the long-overdue Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status.

Fahim’s visit to India is likely to take place from Sep 26-30, said reliable sources. He will hold talks with his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma on the removal of trade barriers and pruning down of a negative list of products that the two countries don’t want to trade in.

Pakistan, sources said, has indicated its willingness to double the number of goods it imports from India, but it’s not clear whether it will go all the way with the MFN status.

Building upon successful talks between their foreign ministers in July, India and Pakistan are now poised to expand their bilateral trade and liberalise the visa regime, especially for businessmen.

Issues relating to liberalisation of the trade regime were discussed last month during the talks between joint secretaries (commerce) of the two countries last month.

Pakistan, in principle, has agreed to move from “positive list” to “negative list” trade regime with India as required under the conventions of the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA).

“Pakistan has also recognised that grant of MFN status to India would help in expanding the bilateral trade relations,” Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Jyotiraditya M. Scindia told the Rajya Sabha last month in reply to a question.

Pakistan maintains a “positive list” of 1,945 items which are allowed to be imported from India. Under SAFTA, Pakistan operates a sensitive list (negative list) of 1,169 items.

New Delhi has asked Islamabad to prepare the negative list of items that it does not want to import from India.

The MFN status for India could be a key step in expanding trade ties between the two countries whose relations have been marred by a host of issues, including terrorism and Kashmir.

The MFN status would benefit a range of Indian products, including textiles, cotton, vegetables, coffee, tea and spices and can take bilateral trade up to $10 billion and help cut down on informal trade that is going on between the two countries.

Pakistan, on its part, is expecting India to remove non-tariff barriers that restrict imports from that country.

India-Pakistan trade was estimated to be $1.85 billion in 2009-10. Indian exports accounted for $1.78 billion.

In April-December 2010, bilateral trade is estimated to have gone up to over $3 billion with India’s exports at $1.7 billion.

A study by Delhi-based Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations estimates that, given reciprocal concessions, bilateral trade between India and Pakistan could go up to $14.3 billion, with India exporting about $11 billion-worth and importing goods worth $3 billion from Pakistan.

Mining baron Janardhana Reddy arrested, jailed

Former Karnataka minister and mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy and his relative B. Srinivasa Reddy were sent to a jail in Hyderabad after a special court remanded them to 14 days judicial custody in an illegal mining case in Andhra Pradesh.

On September 5, a day of fast paced developments, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Janardhana

Reddy, a director of Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) and Srinivasa Reddy, the managing director of OMC, at Bellary in Karnataka and shifted them to Hyderabad amid tight security.

The duo was produced before a CBI court, which remanded them to judicial custody till September 19. They were later shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail.

The court adjourned to Sep 7 the hearing on the CBI’s petition seeking custody of the accused for 15 days.

Janardhana Reddy’s counsel Raghavachary, during the arguments, alleged that there was a political conspiracy behind the arrest. The counsel also termed the arrest “illegal” as Janardhana Reddy’s name is not included in CBI’s FIR as an accused.

It was also submitted that Janardhana Reddy has nothing to do with the day-to-day functioning of OMC. The judge, however, asked the counsel to file a counter to the CBI’s petition September 7.

The CBI counsel sought the judicial custody of the accused saying they could tamper with the evidence.

Earlier, while being shifted from the CBI office to the court complex, Janardhana Reddy told reporters that he is innocent. “The truth always prevails,” he said.

Janardhana Reddy, a lawmaker in Karnataka, and Srinivasa Reddy were arrested in a case registered against them in 2009 for illegal mining in Andhra Pradesh’s Anantapur district, bordering Karnataka.

“A CBI team from Hyderabad arrested Janaradhana Reddy after raiding his residence and took him to Hyderabad in their vehicle for interrogation in connection with the case registered against his mining company,” a senior police officer of Bellary said.

Hailing from Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district, the Reddy brothers made their fortunes in Karnataka’s iron ore rich district of Bellary.

The Reddys, who were small businessmen, became billionaires after entering into mining 10 years ago.

Interestingly, the arrests come at a time when the CBI is probing the alleged illegal assets of MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, son of late Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Janardhana Reddy was close to the former chief minister and his

son.

Both Andhra’s ruling Congress and opposition Telugu Desam Party hailed Janardhana Reddy’s arrest and demanded probe against Jaganmohan Reddy for his links with mining baron.

However, Jaganmohan Reddy denied any links with former Karnataka minister.

‘Doha round can’t be allowed to collapse’

The Doha round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) must not be allowed to collapse as it will result in protectionism and hurt global economy and trade, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said recently.

“Many skeptics feel that the WTO is at crossroads and that the lack of progress in the Doha round raises questions on the relevance and efficacy of this institution. We do not share this pessimism,” Sharma said at the inaugural of WTO Regional Trade Policy Course 2011, at the Centre for WTO Studies in New Delhi.

The minister said there was disappointment among members due to the delays but the negotiations should not be allowed to collapse.

The so-called Doha round of WTO negotiation, launched in Qatar capital in November 2001, has been deadlocked since 2008.

Sharma said India had taken initiatives to break the deadlock and remained committed for early conclusion of the talks.

Emphasising the need to stay focussed on the developmental dimension of the round, the minister said the terms of the discourse can’t be changed.

He pointed out that developing countries were being called upon to pay an unconscionably high price to conclude the round.

“This certainly was not our expectation and our commitment when we agreed to participate in the round,” he said.

Sharma, who is also the minister of textiles, said a timely conclusion of the Doha round would have strengthened the WTO as a bulwark against protectionism and given a boost to the global economy.

“While a crisis may lead to inward looking and promote protectionism, it will be counterproductive and will delay the

recovery and deepen recession. WTO has a crucial role to play in this regard,” he said.

Tainted High Court judge accepts Lok Sabha’s stand Soumitra Sen, who resigned as a judge of the Calcutta High Court, has accepted the stand of the Lok Sabha that he will not be impeached by it and wants to put an end to the “debate,” his lawyer said.

With President Pratibha Patil accepting his resignation, the Lok Sabha Monday dropped impeachment proceedings against Sen.”

“We are accepting the verdict of the MPs of the lower house,” Sen’s lawyer Subhash Bhattacharya said. “We’d like to put an end to the debate,” he added.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid moved the motion to drop impeachment proceedings against Sen in the Lok Sabha. Speaker Meira Kumar put it to vote before the house, which adopted the motion.

Sen was held guilty by the Rajya Sabha last month on charges of misappropriating Rs.33.23 lakh in a 1983 case when he was appointed a receiver by the high court. The upper house had on Aug 18 adopted an impeachment motion for removal of Sen with 189 members voting in favour and 16 against.

Justice Sen is the first judge against whom any of the two houses of parliament has passed an impeachment motion. The first such attempt to impeach a judge was against Justice V. Ramaswami of the Supreme Court in 1993, but the motion to remove him fell through in the Lok Sabha as the ruling Congress abstained.

A three-member committee constituted by Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari found the charges of financial irregularities against Sen to be correct.

Sen, then an advocate, was held guilty of misappropriating Rs.33.23 lakh in a 1983 case when he was appointed a receiver by the high court.

Jurists differ on controversial Gujarat Lokayukta appointment

The legal fraternity in India is divided on the manner in which the Gujarat governor’s discretionary powers have been interpreted in the appointment of retired judge R.A.

Muslims offer prayers in front of the historic Taj Mahal on Eid al-Fitr in Agra, India. Eid al-Fitr is a holiday marking the end of the holy month of Ramadan, which is observed by millions of Muslims around the world.

Photo: AP Photo/Pawan Sharma

Mehta as the state’s Lokayukta.

Last week the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) disrupted parliamentary proceedings on two days, seeking the recall of Governor Kamla Beniwal over the appointment of Mehta as the state’s anti-corruption ombudsman.

The August 25 appointment by Beniwal has been resisted by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. He has accused Mehta of being “biased and prejudiced” against the government and questioned his capacity to act independently as the Lokayukta.

The chief minister has also contended that the governor has eroded the credibility of the institution of Lokayukta.

Supreme Court counsel and former Madhya Pradesh advocate general Anoop Chaudhary felt that the governor could act independently under the Gujarat Lokayukta Act in the exercise of discretionary powers.

Senior counsel M.N. Krishnamani contended that Section 3 of the Gujarat Lokayukta Act, which provides for the appointment of Lokayukta by the governor, is unconstitutional as it is ultra vires of Article 163 of the Indian constitution.

While agreeing that Section 3 of the Act does not expressly say that the governor will appoint the Lokayukta on the recommendation of the state cabinet, Krishnamani said that the expression “governor” in the section should be inferred to mean the chief minister or the cabinet.

He said that construing the section to mean that the governor could act independent of the state government would run counter to clause (1) of Article 163 of the Indian constitution.

The clause reads: “There shall be a council of ministers with the chief minister at the head to aid and advise the governor in the exercise of his functions, except in so far as he is by or under this constitution required to exercise his functions or any of them in his discretion.”

Krishnamani said that no statute could survive if it was contrary to the mandate of the constitution.

Chaudhary disagreed. He said that the apex court had held in several matters that there could be situations in which the governor could act independently without the aid and advice of the council of ministers.

He said that in the case of the Gujarat Lokayukta, the statute itself was explicit that the governor would make the appointment in consultation with the high court chief justice and the leader of the opposition.

According to Chaudhary, the fact that Modi wrote a letter to Chief Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya, objecting to the latter recommending Mehta for the Lokayukta clearly showed that he was in the know and even tried to amend the Gujarat Lokayukta Act to take away the powers of the governor.

The senior counsel wondered how BJP leaders could reconcile their action of first moving the high court and then stalling parliamentary proceedings on the issue. He said that if legality of the governor’s action was in question, it had to be settled legally.

Noted jurist and Jan Lokpal bill drafting committee member Prashant Bhushan said that the entire course of events went to show that Modi was not inclined to submit his actions for scrutiny by an independent authority.

Bhushan said that for seven and a half years, Modi did not allow the appointment of a Lokayukta, and now that it was being done, he was trying to frustrate the efforts by making it a political issue.“It shows the BJP and Narendra Modi in a poor light that they were unwilling to submit themselves to scrutiny by an independent authority,” Bhushan said.

Teesta water agreement hits choppy waters

There will be no agreement on the sharing of the Teesta river waters without the consultation of the West Bengal government, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said.

“Nothing is done and nothing will be done without the consultation with the state government,” Mathai told reporters. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has refused to accompany the prime minister on his visit to Dhaka to protest the final draft of the Teesta river water sharing agreement with Bangladesh.

The Teesta, which begins its journey in Sikkim, flows through north Bengal before entering Bangladesh.

Banerjee’s unhappiness stemmed from

the amount of water sharing of the Teesta mentioned in the final draft of the agreement that was slated to be signed during the September 6-7 visit of the prime minister.

“There was difference between the initial draft of the agreement and the final version. The state government had agreed on sharing of up to 25,000 cusecs. But the final version talks of sharing 33,000-50,000 cusecs,” a source close to Banerjee had said in Kolkata.

“She feels this will hurt West Bengal’s interests,” the source said.

The other river on the India-Bangladesh discussion table is the Feni.

The Feni, which flows 135 km south of Tripura capital Agartala, has been in dispute since 1934. In a total catchment area of 1,147 square km of the river, 535 square km falls in India and the rest in Bangladesh.

On the Feni river, Mathai said that things were as per plan.

Manmohan Singh will now be accompanied by the chief ministers of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram on the trip that comes four decades after the India-Pakistan war had led to the birth of Bangladesh.

Rajasthan ex-royal threatens stir if assailants not arrested

Former MP and erstwhile royal Vishwendra Singh Monday threatened a stir across Rajasthan if action was not taken against those responsible for firing on his supporters protesting against a controversial book on Bharatpur’s former rulers.

“We will launch state-wide protest from September 9 and stage demonstration at the offices of district collectors and superintendents of police if those involved in firing are not arrested,” he said, addressing an all community meet in Kumher Baigor village in Bharatpur district, some 170 kilometres from Jaipur.

Seven of his supporters were injured in a shootout at a hotel in Bharatpur recently while he and his wife Divya Singh escaped unhurt.

The meet was attended by Member of Parliament Kirori Lal Meena and some prominent leaders of other communities.

Vishwendra Singh and his supporters also demanded a permanent ban on the

book titled “Bharatpur Rajvansh - Achhooti Smritiyan,” authored by his uncle Raghuraj

The controversy over the book had led to a violent protest by his supporters at Hotel Laxmi Vilas owned by Raghuraj Singh. Witnesses told the police that while the supporters were damaging the reception area of the hotel and set ablaze some furniture, unidentified persons fired at them.

The district administrative authorities have banned the circulation of the book till Sep

The Rajasthan government recently issued notice to Raghuraj Singh seeking his reply over the ban proposed on his book.

District Collector Krishna Kunal Sunday issued a notice to Raghuraj Singh and the publisher seeking an explanation as to why a ban should not be imposed on his book, which allegedly contains objectionable

“A local politician Rajveer Singh had submitted a complaint in writing seeking ban on the book,” a senior administrative

Among the many controversial parts, the book claims that Bharatpur estate borrowed a huge sum of money to buy uniforms for the army during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Kishan Singh and did not return this. This was strongly protested by Vishwendra Singh, who claimed that the money was meant for flood relief work and was returned.

Vishwendra Singh also raised objection over some personal letters being published in the book, claiming that it amounted to breach of privacy.

From cops to clerks, Taj city comes clean on graft

After moving the police to take a collective oath, the Anna effect has now begun to influence other government segments in the city of Taj Mahal.

Last week, the Agra police pledged to refuse bribes in the discharge of their duties. Can they really change colours? People were initially cynical.

But the results are showing: Raja ki Mandi, a chaotic traffic point, looked all streamlined Friday.

Said shopkeeper Vishal: “When they pledged against bribe, encroachments on the busy road are fewer, and suddenly law enforcement is easier.” He added: “They have placed dividers and traffic is moving comfortably.”

In other parts of the city too, the Anna wave is discernible as cops on duty are refusing to be ‘entertained’ by truckers and encroachers,” advocate Rajvir Singh said. “Suddenly the number of traffic challans has shot up.”

Touts near the monuments - called Lapkas in local parlance - have been warned. “They will be physically shunted out and booked if a tourist complains of harassment,” Deputy Inspectotr General of Police Aseem Arun said. “They will first be told to mend their ways, later face the music.”

The Regional Transport Office, haven of corrupt clerks and middlemen, presents a changed look after senior officials chased touts and fixers away and the clerks or babus collectively swore they would come clean.

Transport officer V.K. Sonkia vowed the campaign would continue till the goals were achieved. “All information is now available on our website: The number of licences issued and the state of applications,” he said.

A miracle-change was seen at the Sales Tax (trade tax now) divisional office at Jaipur House as well. The babus congregated in the hall there and took a joint oath against bribery. It was administered by Additional Commissioner Janardan Dubey.

Devotees mass around a large statue of the elephant-headed Hindu God Ganesh on the way to immersing it in the Arabian Sea on the final day of Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India. Every year millions of devout Hindus immerse Ganesh idols in oceans and rivers in the ten-day-long festival that celebrates the birth of Ganesh.

65th birth anniversary by Google with an animated doodle on its home page.

The 100-second collage, said to be among the longest posted by Google, has been kicked off with a blog by Brian May, who was a song-writer for Queen with numbers like We Will Rock You that made Mercury one of the most popular artists ever.

“From time to time, we invite guests to post about items of interest and are thrilled to have Brian May join us to talk about friend and bandmate Freddie Mercury,” said Google, introducing the blog on Mercury, equally versatile on piano, keyboard and guitar.

“Freddie was fully focused, never allowing anything or anyone to get in the way of his vision for the future. He was truly a free spirit. There are not many of these in the world,” said May, remembering his friend, who would have been 65 on September 5.

“Some people imagine Freddie as a fiery, difficult diva who required everyone around him to compromise. No! In our world, as four artists attempting to paint on the same canvas, Freddie was always the one who could find the compromise - the way to pull it through.”

Born to Bomi and Jer Bulsara in the British protectorate of Zanzibar, now in Tanzania, Bulsara soon moved to Panchgani near Mumbai and spent his childhood there. He started taking piano lessons since seven and five years later formed a rock band of his own.

His family then moved to Feltham in Middlesex, England, and after his graduation and some odd jobs, he joined a band called Ibex in 1969. A year later, along with May and drummer Roger Taylor, he formed Queen -

He was openly gay, but hid his HIV status - believed to have been diagnosed sometime in 1987 - from the public for at least two years. He died on November 24, 1991 at his home in Kensington, when he was barely 45, a few months after bidding adieu to Queen

Among the other notable tributes, luxury car-maker Lotus has produced a one-off Evora S coupe in his honour, in pearl white with red and gold accents that was the entertainer’s signature costume in the mid 1980s.

The car is to be auctioned off for an HIVAIDS charity formed by his Queen-mates. Underground river named after Indian-origin scientist Brazilian scientists have discovered the existence of an underground river some 6,000 km long running beneath the Amazon River. The river has been named after an Indian-origin scientist.

Valiya Mannathal Hamza, a professor at the National Observatory, Rio de Janeiro, has just been bestowed the rare honour of having the river named after him. Hamza has been studying the region for more than four decades.

The discovery was made possible thanks to research work performed at 241 wells that the Petrobras oil company drilled in the Amazon region in the 1970s while prospecting for crude, according to the study published by the Sao Paulo daily O Estado which was carried out by the National Geophysical Observatory.

The subterranean river runs at a depth of about 4,000 meters along a course similar to that of the Amazon, and it has a flow rate calculated at about 3,000 cubic meters per second.

Over 1,500 delegates to attend Indian diaspora conclave in 2012

Over 1,500 delegates from across the globe are likely to participate in India’s annual diaspora conclave to be held in Jaipur Jan 7-9, 2012, Vayalar Ravi, minister of overseas Indian affairs and civil aviation, said recently. Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar will be the chief guest at the 10th edition of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD).

The theme of PBD 2012 will be “Global Indian-Inclusive Growth”.

“We are expecting more number of participants in the PBD 2012. Over 1,500 delegates are likely to participate,” Ravi said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to inaugurate the event Jan 8, 2012 and President Pratibha Devisingh Patil will deliver the valedictory address and confer Pravasi Bhartiya Samman awards Jan 9.

Ravi said the event would provide an excellent opportunity to connect with 27-million strong Indian diaspora spread over 150 countries across the world.

The Indian diaspora is the second largest expatriate community in the world after the Chinese. “The expatriate community plays an important role in the growth and development of the country. Our aim is to encourage them to play an even greater role,” the minister said.

The PBD 2012 will be organised by the ministry of overseas Indian affairs in partnership with government of Rajasthan. The Confederation of Indian Industry is the institutional partner of the event.

The three-day event will be held at

Ravi pointed out that an increasingly large number of people from the northern part of the country were going abroad, especially to the Gulf countries, to find gainful employment.

Four Indians among MIT’s top 35 innovators

Two Indians and two persons of Indian origin figure among Top 35 Innovators under 35 in the latest list of Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Technology Review, the world’s oldest Technology Magazine established in 1899.

Ajit Narayanan, Invention Labs, Chennai and Aishwarya Ratan, Yale University, who were part of TR35 India Winners announced in March 2011, have made it to the annual list of people who exemplify the spirit of innovation in business and technology.

The honourees are blazing new paths in a wide range of fields, including medicine, energy, communications, IT, consumer technology, entertainment, and robotics, Cambridge, Massachusetts, based institution announced recently.

Chennai-based Ajit Narayanan, 30, was selected for his work on affordable speech synthesizers He is currently working with the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, to improve the quality of the speech synthesis. He also plans to use mobile app stores to distribute a version of his software with about 90 percent of the full Avaz system’s functionality.

Aishwarya Ratan, 30, was working with Microsoft Research in Bangalore when she won the prestigious honour for her work on converting paper records to digital in real time. Ratan has since moved to Yale University, but the NGO that she was

Bollywood actress Rani Mukherjee greets the parade crowd at this year’s India Day Parade in New York.

Photo: AP Photo/Jin Lee

partnering with continues to test the slate in villages.

Two winners of Indian origin include Bhaskar Krishnamachari, 33, University of Southern California who has been selected for his work on smarter wireless networks and Piya Sorcar, 33, for Teachaids software that can be localised to teach taboo topics.

The TR35 will present their work and be honoured at an awards ceremony during the 2011 EmTech MIT conference, taking place Oct 18-19 at MIT’s Media Lab, USA.

NRI woes on surrendering Indian passports

Many non-resident Indians (NRIs) say they are facing problems because of the formalities they now have to face while surrendering their Indian passports to acquire US citizenship.

“It is mind boggling how much paperwork they have added for someone born in India to revisit India,” lamented NRI Padma Golla from Houston, US. She was among scores of NRIs reacting to the IANS report about India lowering the fee for surrender of Indian passports in early July.

Rules regarding surrender of Indian passports on attaining US citizenship, introduced by India’s Ministry of External Affairs in May 2010, were relaxed from June 1, 2011, after strong pressure by NRIs.

Indian consulates used to charge $175 as fee for the surrender of old Indian passports and additional penalties for various “violations”. The fee has now been reduced to just $20.

“I am being put in a difficult situation where I can’t get a visa while my kid has one and I can’t travel with my kid who just needed an American passport with an application for a visa,” Golla added.

Many Indian consulates still have no idea about the announcement.

The consulates in countries other than the US are not sure if this new ruling applied to NRIs with British and other passports. The websites of many consulates show the higher, outdated fees.

Kawal Gupta from Toronto had a similar problem. He wrote: “I heard on radio that the fees for surrender of Indian passport after obtaining the citizenship of other country has been reduced to $20 but when I called VFS (visa processing office), they said they have not heard of any such change and that I should submit my forms with the fees of $175.”

Till mid-July, the visa processing office insisted on charging a higher fee from Kawal who has four passports to cancel, which means paying about $700.

Sanjay Zala of Houston, Texas (US), who became a Canadian citizen in 2006, said Trasvisa Outsourcing, which handles visa requests from the United States, insists he pay a penalty of $250 because he did not surrender his Indian passport within a year. He made representations to the Indian ministry of external affairs, ministry of overseas Indian affairs, senior officers and the Indian consulate in the US, but to no avail.

In his letter to the ministry, he wrote, “By paying penalty and Overseas Citizenship of India fees together, is the government of India really interested to increase the interest of NRIs and their investment in India?”

“And by imposing this penalty, is the government really doing a favour to NRIs to visit India and obtain Overseas Citizenship of India?” he asked.

“I have many thousands of names of the people who became foreign nationals before 2005 and kept their valid Indian passports for over three years. On renouncing their Indian citizenship, they did not pay any penalty,” Zala added.

“Why have the consular officers abroad not drawn any attention about this to the ministry of external affairs? Why is there

a gross discrimination against those who became foreign nationals after 2005 with valid Indian passports?” he asked.

Zala has not received any replies.

Tilak Sen and Raamprasad in Britain found it difficult to convince the Indian consulates that British passport holders should also pay the lower penalty.

Clarence Gomes from Mississauga, Canada, wrote that the previous rule was that anyone who obtained citizenship before May 2010 had to pay only $20 to obtain a surrender certificate but those who obtained citizenship after May 2010 had to pay $175.

Gomes wrote, “There are many like me who obtained Canadian citizenship in March 2011, does it mean that I have to still pay $175 for the surrender of my Indian passport? If so, there is no change in the policy as I understand it. We will appreciate if the correct policy is confirmed as it is still not clear to many Indians who have recently been granted citizenship of another country.”

Gomes sent letters to the local TV stations, newspapers and the Indian consulate in Toronto and the ministries of external affairs and overseas Indian affairs, but with no response.

Australia and India cooperate on mental health

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare India and the University of Melbourne signed an MOU on 30 August in Delhi to collaborate on strengthening India’s national community mental health system.

This collaboration will seek to address the mental health burden and treatment gap in India on mental health.

Simon Evans, the Pro Vice Chancellor International of the University of Melbourne told an audience in Delhi today that “this project is an innovative and exciting opportunity to create positive change for diverse community mental health care in India, and to provide global leadership in implementing quality and culturally appropriate services to close the mental health treatment gap.”

The University of Melbourne is a leading centre for the development of mental health services both nationally and internationally.

The collaboration will develop community mental health models in India that can be scaled up to increase access to effective care for people with mental illness.

Four key pilot sites across India have been identified as pathfinders for a national program. Best practice models will be developed in these pilot sites to reflect the needs of people in diverse rural and urban conditions.

Acting Australian High Commissioner to India, Dr Lachlan Strahan, welcomed the initiative saying “both India and Australia are looking at ways to get individuals to recognise mental illness, get access to the right services, and get help in dealing with the stigma of mental health which can lock people out of work, education and community engagement. This collaboration will identify innovative and practical approaches for dealing with these challenges in the Indian context.”

Over the next two years, each of the four field sites will be supported by a tertiary care mental health institute and a local administrative committee representing the broad community stakeholders in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

A bilateral Advisory Committee chaired by the Directorate General of Health Services, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare will oversee the overall project.

Technical expertise will be provided by The University of Melbourne’s AsiaAustralia Mental Health. The project is a partnership with the Australia India Institute.

Indian-origin entrepreneur builds wine chateau in Argentina

Life’s a voyage for this promising entrepreneur. Meet Aziz Abdul who has come a long way from his humble background in Asia to build a sprawling wine chateau in this beautiful Andean nation that is home to star footballers like Digeo Maradona and Lionel Messi.

Born to a Tamil father and a halfVietnamese mother, Aziz can speak fluent Spanish and Vietnamese. “I am a foreigner in any country”, he beams with a smile when asked to which country he belonged.

Aziz has named his chateau Hana, a combination of the initials of his two daughters, wife and the letter A of his name, said R. Viswanathan, Indian ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay who spent two days last month visiting his vineyard and listening to his stories over many glasses of Hana wine.

He produces high-end wine which sells for 90 pesos ($22) in wine shops in Argentina. His wine is also served in upscale hotels, restaurants and wine shops in Buenos Aires, Bariloche, Mendoza, Mar del Plata, Cordoba and Rosario.

He was born in South Vietnam where he lived for the first 15 years. His father, a Tamil from Pondicherry, returned to India on losing their possessions when Saigon fell in 1975.

Aziz went to a French school in Pondicherry and later moved to Paris where he studied mathematics and thereafter computer science at the University of Orsay.

He worked for 20 years in the IT department of the French multinational group Lagardere. But he did not want to end up life staring at the computer screens.

He longed to have a quiet life in the countryside and was saving money to pursue his dream to own a vineyard and make his own wine.

While studying in Paris, he was a frequent visitor to the cellar of the home of one of his friends. He then studied viticulture and enology. The taste for wine led him to explore vineyards in France and beyond. As soon as he had the minimum savings he started looking to buy a vineyard.

The French and European ones being expensive, he tried India, hoping he would be able to re-root himself to his fatherland. But it did not work out.

Thereafter, Aziz came to Argentina, the fifth largest wine producer in the world. He bought a 15-hectare vineyard on the outskirts of San Rafael city in Mendoza province in 2008 where he grows malbec, cabernet sauvignon and bonarda varietals. He is into his fourth crop this year.

He put up a new boutique winery, with a capacity of 85,000 litres. He manages the farm with the help of a local husband-wife pair and an enologist.

He enjoys taking care of the plants and the processing with an eye for every detail. Aziz’s favourite quotation: “God had created water, men the wines (by Victor Hugo).”

Aziz has integrated well in the small town of San Rafael. While he makes upscale wine he himself leads a simple life. He is connected to his family in Paris by skype, said Viswanathan.He is planning to start exports soon. How about exporting to India? He beams with yet another smile.

His wife shares her time between her husband in Argentina and daughters who live in their apartment, a few blocks from Eiffel tower in Paris.

Like Aziz, many foreigners are investing in vineyards in Mendoza for the pleasure and pride of having their own vineyard and boutique winery. Aziz had bought the vineyard from an American investor. There is no restriction on foreign investment. Aziz’s own investment in the vineyard and winery is

about $500,000.

The climate in Mendoza is perfect for the grapes with warm days, cold nights and sunshine throughout the year, said Viswanathan.

Wine exports from Argentina reached $864 million in 2010. Argentine wines are getting more recognition in the international markets in recent years. They have overtaken the Chilean wines in the US market. Malbec has become famous around the world as the signature wine of Argentina.

A true-blood Malayalee from Pakistan pushes for friendship

In his traditional cotton mundu and khadi kurta, 80-year-old Biyyathil Mohyuddin Kutty looks every inch a sprightly Malayalee from Kerala. The political activist who chose to make Pakistan his home 60 years ago believes that one “cannot know the Pakistanis unless you live there”.

Kutty does not let his Kerala sensibility overshadow his Pakistani soul and nationality and likes to call himself a “dyed in the wool Pakistani national”. Kutty, the general secretary of the Pakistan Peace Coalition and former political secretary to the governor of Balochistan, believes that ties between India and Pakistan are poised for a change.

“The recent serial blasts in Mumbai on the eve of the foreign ministers’ meeting was a definite attempt to undermine the meeting. But the government of India spokesperson came out clearly that unsubstantiated allegations should not be made against Pakistan - and the talks continued. It was a turning point in the India-Pakistan relationship,” Kutty told IANS.

Kutty was in Delhi to launch his book Sixty Years in Self-Exile: No Regret - A Political Autobiography (published by the Pakistan Study Centre, University of Karachi and Pakistan Labour Trust). The launch was facilitated by the Policy and Planning Group, a social forum promoting cross-border friendship.

A committed socialist, Kutty arrived in Lahore to work as an assistant at the India Coffee House and then switched to a series of a multinational companies. But a jail term for alleged trade unionism changed his life. In 1966, Kutty joined the Trade and Industry Journal as managing editor and later chief editor of Finance and Industry, which later came to be known as the Pakistan Economist.

He rose to become a policymaker in the Balochistan government and later in the Pakistan Peace Committee, where he is currently campaigning against terror and fundamentalist violence and rallying for convivial ties with India. A man of stringent principles, Kutty has been involved in drafting labour statutes and policies for the Pakistan government.

“What is important is that today’s Pakistanis are as such not an enemy of Indians. They have all sorts of ideas which they have built up over the years - a particular mindset - which can change with more people meeting each other and communicating with each other”.

“Bureaucratic and political meetings don’t go down well with the common people of Pakistan because what the bureaucrats decide today they un-decide the next day. People of Pakistan want the exchanges to be lasting,” Kutty said.

A few months after the 26/11 Mumbai strikes, Kutty led a Pakistan Peace Coalition delegation to India. “We addressed students in universities because that was where we wanted to send the message that Pakistan is not at war with India,” he said.

He says the “growth of fundamentalist terror can be linked to Zia-ul Haq’s Islamisation of Pakistan”.

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Interest Rates,Going up or down?

By Navjeet Singh Matta, ASIC Licensed Mortgage Broker also Director- Gain Home Loans (Full member MFAA) Dear friends,

Only four months to go before 2011 ends and there has been no interest rate movement all this year; up or down. Just a few months back, most of the economists were predicting two interest rate rises by Christmas and currently the prediction is that the rates will actually go down in the first quarter of 2012. But don’t get excited yet, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) may have other thoughts! You see the rate movement depends on lot of factors; one of them is inflation and the other is employment levels. The inflation rate have been a fraction above what RBA target is and it’s governor Mr. Stevens has made several statements warning people they should not get influenced too much as the rates may not go down in near future. Last few weeks have seen deteriorating economic conditions in US and the Europe. The share markets have been highly volatile both here in Australia and the rest of the world giving us a scare of another Global Financial Crisis and therefore most economists are predicting a rate-cut. We in Australia have got a two-speed economy; on one hand we have the mining boom and on the other hand the retail and the service industries are not doing that well. These industries recently made a plea to the RBA governor to recognise their problems and reduce the cash rate. Lot of my clients also wonder why they have to pay such high rates when their salaries have not gone up by that much. As you know we have our base in NSW and the mining boom is mostly happening in Western Australia and Queensland where the salaries have touched the roof and those people are mostly happy with the interest rates as the incomes they have are enough not only to give them a comfortable life-style but also negotiate their mortgage repayments. How seriously this request is taken by RBA, that only time will tell!

Should you fix your mortgage now ?

This is the most asked question these days. After several years, the fixed rates have become too lucrative compared to variable rates. At the time of writing of this article, the best 3 year fixed rate in the market is 6.39% compared to the cheapest variable rate of 6.80% and therefore we all need to seriously think whether to fix our mortgages or not. While taking this decision, lot of factors come in to play. When one fixes their loan, they enter in to a contract with the bank for that period; the repayments don’t change for that part so you know exactly how much you are paying without having to worry about rates going up however on the other side there are a few restrictions which are there. For example, you are not allowed to make extra repayments more than a specific amount, if you do make extra repayments, you cannot redraw and most importantly, if you want to move your loan to another institution (or sell your property), there could be huge break-costs, so one should be very clear about the future in this scenario however if you do decide to fix your mortgage, don’t fix the whole lot, go for fifty-fifty or any other proportion you think is appropriate, if you are un-sure give me a call and I can help you decide. My contact number is 02 9676 3417 or 0412 452 429, or just visit our web-site at www.gainhomeloans.com.au and leave your details at “contact us” page.

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An Aussie guy in Chennai

The impressions formed by life in India’s vibrant South are making a definite and positive impact on this author’s psyche

BY TIM BLIGHT

To those who know me, it’s probably not very surprising that I moved to India. From those who don’t know me, I have elicited various responses, from shock and surprise to admiration, excitement and even jealousy. Last December I penned an article for Indian Link in which I described myself as not an Indophile (someone who loves India) but as part of India’s story – a country which I not only love, but in which I feel at home. So when the opportunity arose to live in India for about a year, I had my bags packed quicker than you could say pani puri! The opportunity was to move to Chennai, in a part of India with which I wasn’t familiar, and within a month I had packed up my life and was on a plane bharat-bound.

I’m still trying to pick up a few words of the Tamil language (beyond Vanakkam, or ‘hello’) to even make small talk. Many locals, however, prefer to speak in English if they can, which makes it difficult to practice any words I have learnt. Anyone who has learnt a foreign language (including many Indians for whom English isn’t their first language) would testify that the best – or maybe only – way to learn effectively is to put it in to practice. Learning without practice leaves one with a whole heap of vocabulary sitting idle in the brain and a confused, helpless expression on one’s face – a situation I have been in several times!

I’d never had to manually turn on a gas cylinder to cook either, and I’m still getting used to where to source things – Big Bazaar doesn’t stock electricity adapters like Woolworths does, although curiously, they do sell televisions and clothes!

Of course, Chennai is only really ‘bharat’ in name – any Hindi which I had learnt proved next to useless in this Tamil speaking city, and I’ve heard many Chennaikers talking about northern India as if it were a foreign nation. “Oh I went to Delhi once” reminisces a taxi driver, the same way an elderly Australian might wax romantically about Paris. This, of course, is understandable given the cultural divide between the north and the south. Tamil Nadu feels like a different country to the north, and it’s one that I took a while to adapt to.

Another thing I have had to get used to is the lack of hassle when compared with the north – perhaps this is due to Chennai being a less touristy city than, for example, Agra or New Delhi. Occasionally a rickshaw-wallah will call out to me, asking if I want a ride, but it’s nothing like walking down Delhi’s Rajpath where several three-wheelers stalked me for hundreds of metres, shouting out destinations and ‘special price for you sir’! I’m sure plenty of Indians will cringe when they read this, but please don’t – every country comes with its annoyances and India’s are relatively benign! A few days before I left Australia I was interviewed on Indian Link Radio about my plans for India. I managed to stumble through the early morning interview (I loathe waking up as much as I love

India), relating my impressions of India to my colleague Shraddha. I mentioned how, although India is secular, faith is interwoven with the fabric of everyday life in this country. Again, arriving in Chennai, I have been struck by how open religious expression is; Hindu men go to white collar jobs with tikka smeared on their foreheads; Muslim women walk through the street wearing niqab without turning heads; modern Christian-owned office blocks are adorned with huge crucifixes because… well why not? In early August I received an SMS on my Indian mobile phone wishing me a happy Ramzan, and I’m sure I’ll be getting more messages as Diwali approaches. The Indian approach to religion is a topic which deserves a column all to itself (in another column), but it’s also too important not to mention in my first column from the subcontinent. There are of course other quirks of life in India which I am still coming to terms with. I had never had to turn on a water heater to take a shower in Australia, but then in Chennai’s heat, I’ve never had to turn on my water heater here either! I’d never had to manually turn on a gas cylinder to cook either, and I’m still getting used to where to source things – Big Bazaar doesn’t stock electricity adapters like Woolworths does, although curiously they do sell televisions and clothes! Shopping is another treat. Call it good customer service or hard sell (I’m still not sure which), I find it incredibly disconcerting to be stared at by an silently overattentive salesman while I look at a

pressure cooker! Good intentions, I’m sure, but awkward all the same! Also, I’m learning about all various new products which simply don’t exist in Australia; for example, a ‘bed cover’. Thicker than a sheet but not quite a quilt, a bed cover keeps your bed dust-free and looking tidy through the day. Laxman

Learning without practice leaves one with a whole heap of vocabulary sitting idle in the brain and a confused, helpless expression on one’s face – a situation

I have been in several times!

Rekha, a mysterious chalk line that you draw across your porch which somehow keeps the bugs at bay. Ice cream is bought in brick form, packed in a cardboard box – I remember my mum telling me about this existing in Australia when she was little. Drumsticks, a stringy vegetable which is said to miraculously provide one day’s nutrients in a single serve. And of course the gag reflex-inducing Hajmola, a mouth ‘freshener’ which seems to be India’s equivalent of Vegemite in that only the locals can stomach it!

So far, I have been in India for one month and I already love it. Of course there have been challenges, but on the whole my experience has been a positive one. The strange thing about India is that while many people find it frustrating and infuriating, I have very rarely felt this. Perhaps it is because of my temperamentmy friends have commented before that I am the most patient person they know. The type of life I’m living in India definitely has something to do with it – I’m not enduring the everyday struggle to exist that many Indians do. But I’m still experiencing India as much as I can possibly try to. And that’s enough for this Aussie guy in Chennai!

1) The sun sets on Independence Day at the Gandhi Statue, Marina Beach, Chennai 2) Street scene in Chennai

3) Independence Day at Marina Beach, Chennai

4) On Marina Beach, Chennai, on Independence Day 2011 5) Sri Ramakrishna Math Temple

A peek into Pakistan

An experienced writer and a younger one deliver masterpieces in their own styles, depicting the intrigue within and without Pakistan

BY CHITRA SUDARSHAN

We continue with the theme of books about Pakistan, but now we move to fiction. Pakistan has, not surprisingly, become a fertile setting of late for thrillers and novels with an Islamic extremist angle. Mohsin Hamid did it brilliantly in his book The Reluctant Fundamentalist, published and reviewed in Indian Link some time ago. Two very recent publications are, first, a literary fiction genre by Sunjeev Sahota called Ours Are the Streets, (Picador, 2011), and second, a thriller by David Ignatius titled Blood Money, (Quercus, 2011).

David Ignatius is a prize winning columnist for the Washington Post, who has been covering the CIA and the Middle East for more than 20 years. He has already written some best-selling spellbinding thrillers such as Body of Lies (2007) based on the work of a Jordanian Intelligence Chief, which was made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio; and more recently, The Increment (2009) which is also being made into a movie by Jerry Bruckheimer. So when this author writes a thriller on

the CIA and Pakistan, it is worth taking notice of, for he knows what he is writing about. It is thoroughly researched, yet written in a simple and easy style that never loses its momentum: the stuff of best sellers. The novel is, on the one hand, about a rogue element in the CIA which has tried to break away from the bureaucratic reach of the parent organisation; on the other, it is about a brilliant Pathan mathematician Dr Omar, who is out to avenge the death of his family in a drone attack. Ignatius describes to the reader in detail the Pashtunwali – or the code of honour which guides Pathan conduct, peppering the pages with a host of Pashto proverbs for each occasion. Ignatius’ strength is his storytelling, and the way he brings the two strands of the story in an exciting climax.

There are a host of colourful characters such as Sophie Marx, the intelligence operative who is charged with the task of solving the conundrum of the selected killing of CIA operatives or agents in different parts of the globe; Thomas Perkins, the share trader in London who becomes a hapless victim of the machinations of the chief of the run-away Intelligence arm, Gertz; and Cyril Hoffman, the CIA afficionado who brings things to a head. However, the real protagonist of the novel, in the final analysis, is the ISI Chief Lieutenant General Mohammed Malik whose role is pivotal to the plot; Ignatius paints a thoroughly convincing portrait of this character, and in doing so, says a great deal about the ISI as well. It is a thoroughly enjoyable, nail-biting spy novel that also tells us a great deal about the CIA as well as the ISI. Highly recommended.

Another surprising debut novel, Ours Are the streets, (Picador 2011) is by the young British-born author Sunjeev Sahota, who has weighed into the subject with a novel about a British-born Pakistani, Imtiaz, who turns terrorist after a visit to Pakistan. Imtiaz has grown up in Britain, the son of an immigrant Pakistani taxi-driver and his veiled wife. He grows up doing the usual things - loiter, dream, plan and abandon a career, go to pubs, date, etc. He loves his parents yet is embarrassed by their accented English and their keeping their sofa wrapped in plastic - as well as more serious things: such as their ‘spinelessness’ in the face of provocations.

Ignatius describes to the reader in detail the Pashtunwali – or the code of honour which guides Pathan conduct, peppering the pages with a host of Pashto proverbs for each occasion

Although Imtiaz meets and marries an English girl, Rebekah, when his father dies, he and his mother accompany the body to the family village in Pakistan where he falls in with some Islamists and volunteers to undertake a suicide mission. He returns to England with his cousin, Charag, who is to help him in his mission. But his old life is falling apart and his turn to religion does not help his domestic life.

Ours Are The Streets is narrated by Imtiaz in the firstperson. It is structured as a kind of diary that Imtiaz writes, primarily for Rebekah and their baby, in a bid to explain

his decision to carry out the planned suicide bombing. The language and tone of this narrative is one of the strengths of the novel, and is replete with a lot of Derbyshire slang –where Sahota was born and in which he grew up. Sahota is at his best when writing about urban England. He manages just the right register with both cultural and personal matters; his section on Pakistan is less convincing, but only in comparison with his superb portrayal of immigrant life in England. He presents Imtiaz as a multi dimensional personality: both a distinctive individual as well as a youth who reflects certain currents of anger and frustration in Muslim youth in the west.

Ours Are The Streets is a gripping novel and entirely convincing. Sahota emerges as a new voice in post-colonial British literature, and is a name to watch.

The language and tone of this narrative is one of the strengths of the novel, and is replete with a lot of Derbyshire slang – where Sahota was born and in which he grew up.

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East is the new West

BY ROY LANGE

The Australian Government’s main defence in the sacking of 1000 BlueScope workers was that this was a painful symptom of an ongoing economic transition. But this transition is been treated as a magically vague happening and not explained for very strong political reasons. Australians don’t want to hear that India and China are fast becoming their economic superiors.

For the Government to fully explain the implications of this ‘transition’ would be political suicide. To enlighten the electorate that Australia has been reduced to a quarry for booming Jamshedpur steel furnaces would make Gillard’s chances of re-election impossibly even more remote.

The Australian public is simply not ready to take on the reality that the United States is no longer our obvious choice for snuggling up to in a new Asia Pacific.

With our Uncle Sam looking increasingly senile, how long can Australia unquestioningly endorse American policy and as Professor White of ANU says, “turn around, point up to the US and say ‘I’m with him.’”

As a lefty I take an eccentric view. I believe that globalisation is more beneficial to countries that have been excluded form the world’s economic engine. It has been strongly tempered with the West taking advantage of the sickening reality of child labour exploitation and the virtual non existence of labour law implementation.

For the West could not have seen the writing on the wall. They could not have foreseen how well India and other Asian giants have risen to the challenge. They have embraced globalisation with a rabid enthusiasm.

This has left countries like Australia, who dreamt that their products were infinitely superior and would find new massive markets, looking non plussed. They never dreamt that they would become the market.

We have become latte servers and pizza deliverers. We serve one another in a closed loop with the assistance of coffee machines and pizza ovens, all made almost exclusively in China or India

Australia is an obedient ally of the States. I don’t belittle that in the unhinged lefty sense. If it wasn’t for the US, Australia would have predated its Asian destiny by many decades. We forget how many 19-year-old GIs died in malaria infested Papua jungles ensuring a resource starved Japan didn’t set up shop in Newcastle.

Australia will be forever grateful and of course culturally identify more with her North American cousins. But the US’s faltering economy and her ditzy expeditions in the Middle East have exposed a shrunken dog with a deafening bark.

The US economy has proved shockingly fragile. The myriad of reasons given to why it can’t shake it’s unrelenting string of crisis are unconvincing. Few are brave enough to talk of the elephant in the room. The US doesn’t produce it consumes.

This model has been enthusiastically taken up by Australia. 25 years ago, 20% of Australian GDP was from the manufacturing sector today that is halved. Only one in 20 Australians is involved or connected to the manufacturing sector.

Australia’s economic position can now be equated with pre independence India, when Gandhiji would lead huge rallies burning Manchester woven clothes made from Indian raw cotton. Gandhiji saw that the paralysis of the Indian economy stemmed from India exporting her raw materials to be almost exclusively processed in England then insultingly imported back into India to be purchased by her then British ruled masses. Not unlike Australia exporting raw materials like coal that is then used to make steel in India that is then imported into Australia at a massive added value.

Australia’s economy rests treacherously heavily on this model. Almost 90% of the diamonds from Australia’s Kimberley mine find their way to Indian traders who polish the stones in centres like Baroda, again adding a massive value to a resource that was sold in Australia at a fraction of its final Mumbai showroom price or indeed its Sydney showroom price.

Australia has all but resigned to the reality she cannot compete in manufacturing. She is still a force in innovation but I feel this century will be characterised by India and China shedding their well deserved nicknames of copycats and show the world they also have a strong creative spirit with future ground breaking research and development.

To enlighten the electorate that Australia has been reduced to a quarry for booming Jamshedpur steel furnaces would make Gillard’s chances of re-election impossibly even more remote

Our economy is overwhelmingly service based. We have become latte servers and pizza deliverers. We serve one another in a closed loop with the assistance of coffee machines and pizza ovens all made almost exclusively in China or India.

This is of course globalization, where you are rewarded for your competitiveness not your country club.

This new Indian innovative spirit may break Australia’s back. For if an Asian laboratory with increasingly huge budgets, searching to solve over reliance on Australian resources, finds a steel substitute Australia will be banished to an economic wilderness. The demand for coal and her own steel manufacturing would plummet. In an age of windmills and Macbooks the whole process of steel manufacturing seems medieval crude and is begging to be replaced by a new competitive material.

With these future prospects Australia will have to decide whether to keep snuggling up to Uncle Sam and be a detached quarry or partner with India and become once more competitive.

While Australia has been a long-standing ally of the US, it’s time for this country to wake up to the changing realities of this world

Jittery markets: Who is to blame?

Ratings provided by a reputed agency are coming under global scrutiny, after it downgraded the USA in what is being perceived as a biased move

BY NOEL G DE SOUZA

On several occasions, this writer has criticised the ratings provided by, amongst others, the World Economic Forum and some UN agencies for their unjustifiably low evaluation of India. These agencies have habitually given the Scandinavian and North European countries, Australia, New Zealand and the USA high rankings.

Now that Standard & Poor’s (S&P), a premier financial ratings agency, has done the unthinkable, that is, downgraded the USA by one notch, all hell has broken loose. Markets have got jittery and the financial turmoil pervading Europe has worsened. Incidentally, Indian-American Deven Sharma, a native of Jharkhand, was till very recently the President of S&P. He suddenly resigned last month.

S&P, attempting to justify its American downgrading, stated that it had reduced the rating of the USA from AAA to AA+ because “the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilise the government’s mediumterm debt dynamics.”

It goes on to criticise the recent wrangle within the American Congress saying that “the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges …”

The S&P downgrade of USA’s rating has been criticised as being blatantly political, and not economic. Prior to making the downgrade, American Treasury officials had pointed out to S&P, that the agency had overestimated the US deficit by an astonishing two trillion US dollars. The error was subsequently rectified, though S&P persisted in the downgrade by changing its reasoning.

Gene Sperling, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisers, has attacked the flawed reasoning behind the downgrade. Warren Buffet, America’s most successful investor, has laughed off the S&P downgrade saying that he would give the USA a quadruple-A rating if such existed.

This is not the first time that S&P has been in contention. In 2009, the European Commission charged S&P with abusing its position as the sole provider of international securities codes for US securities by making European companies to pay licensing fees for their use. It declared such practice to be illegal. The U.S. Justice Department is now investigating S&P over its actions on mortgages which lead to the 2008-2009 economic crisis.

If the S&P downgrade of USA to an AA+ is justified now, then why was it not

issued some five years ago when similar conditions existed? At that time it gave AAA’s to not only the USA but to such financial lending institutions like Freddy May. If it had warned investors then, the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 might have been prevented or reduced. Instead, depending on such favourable ratings, foreign investors flocked to buy investments from the likes of Lehmann Brothers and others. These include several Australian municipalities and other institutions such as churches.

In a Keynote Speech (Asia’s Growing Investors: Agents of Change) by the now outgoing S&P President Deven Sharma in May this year, he said that “developed economies of the US, Europe and Japan are facing difficult years ahead to revitalise growth, while rising economies are driving the world’s economic growth and they themselves are facing their own shifts, be it China, India or Brazil. Other emerging economies like Indonesia, Peru and Turkey are experiencing faster growth and face fundamental changes as well.”

However, S&P’s ratings do not at all reflect the thrust of Sharma’s speech concerning India. India is rated BBB- which is identical to that of Croatia, Iceland, Morocco, Portugal and Romania, even though Iceland and Portugal are front-line examples of Europe’s economic malaise.

S&P’s evaluation has ignored several facets about India such as that the country has become a formidable industrial nation, is an important regional military power and that it is creditworthy and able to repay its debts without any outside help. Besides, India ranks within the USA’s top 15 creditors holding $41 billion of US debt. That Poland, which is an aid-seeking nation, can get a ranking of A+ without the positive qualities that India possesses strongly suggests that S&P may have one rule for Europe and another for Asia.

Italy has taken strong steps to avoid becoming Europe’s next domino to fall into crisis by substantially increasing taxes on its rich, as has been the norm till now. Warren Buffet has called on the USA to raise taxes on the rich such as on himself. He points out that he pays a lesser rate of tax than does his cleaner. That is the current problem in the USA. The American Congress includes members who want to keep on reducing taxes for the very rich whilst increasing taxes for low income earners.

The days of unquestioning acceptance of credit worthiness by ratings agencies are hopefully over and the agencies themselves are rightly under scrutiny.

S&P’s evaluation has ignored several facets about India such as that the country has become a formidable industrial nation, is an important regional military power and that it is credit-worthy and able to repay its debts without any outside help

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A trio of Taiwanese treats

the size of Tasmania. Taiwan is a highly mountainous isle with nearly a third of the country covered with massifs over 1000 m high. The jagged Central Mountain Range – one of five mountain chains – makes up the backbone of the 144 km wide island nation.

had travelled a little way back in time. Old brick houses with tile roofs predominate in this village located between two bamboo forest-lined rivers.

BY THOMAS E KING

It’s not too often that anyone comes face to face with a 20.5 metre high bunny. I did and what’s more it was pink and made of paper! I wasn’t dreaming but I didn’t feel the scene before me was real. Nonetheless I couldn’t help but stare in wonderment at a giant lantern shaped like a rose coloured rabbit. I blinked a few times just in case my eyes were playing tricks in Taiwan. They weren’t but I did indeed get an eyeful as I participated in a fanciful extravaganza which has been described as “one of the world’s best festival events”.

For 12 days every year the Taiwan Lantern Festival is staged by the energetic residents and administrators of a specially chosen county or city to mark the end of

As in previous festivals, the giant main lantern and a hutch of far smaller side lanterns had been fashioned in the shape of the zodiac animal of the year, which throughout 2011, has been the rabbit. But as I saw during the gala laser light grand opening celebration in mid February there was much more on display than a field filled with illuminated carrot-crunching paper rabbits.

Thousands actually tens of thousands of lanterns were on show in Maoli City’s main sports park. Some were fashioned from bamboo and tissue paper using different folk art techniques. Others had a high tech animated touch coupled with an elaborate wire frame covered by coloured silk. Imaginative designs and skilful construction techniques not overtly evident during daylight hours became obvious as the sky darkened and the lights were switched on.

Suddenly I was walking amid lanterns that represented all the mythical creatures of the

Thrusting its bulk 3952 m into the blue sky, Jade Mountain is the standout peak in the range. Covered in a mantle of evergreens, the highlands around the mountain are ideal for a range of summer activities from camping to climbing and, of course, trekking. With the advent of winter, shorts are replaced by skies, however. January is the height of the snow season as lodges and professional instructors welcome enthusiasts keen on the slippery slopes of East Asia’s tallest mountain.

I’m not a hard-body adventurer and have never had a desire to slice through snow. However, I did sniff the rarefied summer air of Jade Mountain many years ago. During my last visit I was far more interested in getting a little off the beaten track by trekking through areas where dense forest thrives and not so many tourists congregate.

I kicked off a progression of rural rambles during a weeklong jaunt through the surprising isle with a walk in the Tri-Mountain National Scenic Area. The country has

A lunch of local specialities was served in an old house built in One Dragon style typical to south China. Several of the veteran trees in the restaurant’s expansive garden, I learned, were over 100 years old. Peering past pink camellias I could see mist discerning upon the Lion’s Head so detoured into the township where coal mining used to be the financial mother lode.

The most noted historic site in Tainan, the Chikan Tower (red roofed tower) was built on a hillock in 1653. One of the two pagoda-like buildings constructed atop the ruins over two centuries later still serves as a place of worship dedicated to the God of the Sea

environs are the lifeblood of the hamlet. In

gather has been transformed into an eclectic

From the exotic ‘Lantern Festival,’ breathtaking landscape and pristine countryside, to fascinating historical monuments, Taiwan offers visitors an experience to remember

First settled by immigrants from China of the two pagoda-like buildings construct ed atop the ruins over two centuries later

As in previous festivals, the giant main lantern and a hutch of far smaller side lanterns had been fashioned in the shape of the zodiac animal of the year, which throughout 2011, has been the rabbit

success in exams. In the evenings locals return to sit and talk about recent events. And throughout the day visitors from around the world come to admire the pleasant landscaped gardens, carp filled ponds and manicured trees of this true Taiwanese treat.

Travel notebook

TAIWAN

FLIGHTS

frequent in historic Tainan, a pleasant city known for its rich folk heritage.

2. The Tri-Mountain National Scenic Area has many picturesque walks through tranquil forests.

3. Standing on the ancient ruins of a Dutch fortress, the Chihkan Tower is the landmark of Tainan.

4. Giant lanterns in the shape of the zodiac animal of the year feature at the annual Lantern Festival.

5. Enjoy a bowl of noodles at Tainan’s 116 year old Tou Hsiao Yeuh, one of the oldest noodle shops in Taiwan.

Between November 6 and March 3, China Airlines, Taiwan’s national carrier, has five A330-300 flights a week between Sydney and Taipei. The award-winning airline also operates three services a week linking Brisbane with Taipei. Taiwan can be a stopover en route to India as China Airlines has three flights a week linking Taipei with New Delhi. The convenient flights are well timed for Australian passengers. Bookings can be made through your travel agent or on-line at www.china-airlines.com. There are no booking fees or credit card surcharges for online bookings.

ACCESS

Northerly Taipei and Kaohsiung, 345 km to the south, are connected by the Taiwan High Speed Rail (THSR) System. Stops are made at major centres including historic Tainan and Taichung, a convenient centre for Lugang, the host venue of the 2012 Lantern Festival. Reaching a top speed of 300 km/hr – the same speed as the Eurostar service that connects London and Paris - there are 12 sleek orange and white carriages for each 989 seat passenger train. See www.thsrc.com.tw/en. Until Miaoli is joined to the high-speed rail network in 2015 take an air conditioned express train on the Western Line from Taipei. See www.railway.gov.tw

EVENTS

The quaint town of Lugang on the island’s west coast has won the right to host the 2012 Taiwan Lantern Festival. Selected for its rich history, folk customs and architectural assets, Lugang, an important trading port in the 18th and 19th centuries, will be transformed into a lantern city from February 6 – 19, 2012. Next year will be the year of the dragon so expect to see a striking centrepiece lantern in the shape of the mythical creature.

STOPOVER

As China Airlines flights from Australia arrive in Taipei why not spend a few days exploring the Taiwanese capital before setting off in other directions? During my Taipei stopover I soared to the top of Taipei 101, the capital’s 508 metre high landmark and traipsed through the National Palace Museum which houses the world’s largest and richest collection of Chinese art. A shopping adventure waited at the Shihlin Night Market, an outdoor bazaar where everything is available from furniture, jewellery and clothing to photographic gear and electronic goods like laptops and MP3 players.

INFORMATION

Lonely Planet’s Taiwan, a comprehensive guide to the dynamic island nation, is widely available in leading bookshops. For more information on travel to Taiwan as well as the opportunity to view informative on-line promotional videos see the official website www.taiwan.net.tw

Photo: Thomas E. King

Telemarketing tricksters

BY SHERYL DIXIT

They seek me here, they seek me there… those damn telemarketers seek me everywhere…

It’s 6:30pm on a Tuesday, I’m batting with getting dinner ready for two hungry kids and at that crucial moment, the phone rings. I turn the gas to low and rush across the room, spectacularly skidding on a toy car strategically placed in my path.

“Hello, am I speaking to Mr or Mrs Dixit?”

The fact that the person on the other line hasn’t recognized me as being female from my initial response is intensely irritating.

“Who’s this, please?” I ask testily.

“Mrs Dixit, I have got some very good news for you! We are offering you a fully paid holiday anywhere in Australia, valid for two years, in a five star resort….”

“Sorry, not interested, thanks, goodbye!”

I say before hanging up and rushing to rescue the rapidly charring meal.

Despite working from home, I have no answering machine.

This is because if I did connect one, the message would say: “Hi, if you’re calling about installing solar power, cheap international calls, pay-in-advance holidays, financial solutions to halve my mortgage in three days, invitations to seminars, short independent surveys or with news that the Australian Tax Office is giving me extra cash for being a good citizen, please hang up now, as I’m not interested. Anyone else, please leave your name and number, and I’ll call you back.” I can guarantee that even my friends would hang up before getting through half of that message.

themselves strange sounding Western names like “Shawaan” (Shaun), Jeenie (Jenny), Daneel (Daniel)

Telemarketers are currently the bane of my life. On one particularly successful day (for them), I received eleven calls from people with distinct Indian accents calling themselves strange sounding Western names like “Shawaan” (Shaun), Jeenie (Jenny), Daneel (Daniel). I know because it was one of those rare days when I didn’t have much work and had the time to keep repeating “Who?” until they spelled out their names for me. They tried to sell me devices that would halve my electricity bills, holiday packages worth thousands for which I only had to pay $159 upfront in the next ten minutes; they invited me to a free dinner prior to a consultation on reducing my mortgage, investing my non-existent ‘surplus’ cash, and while I perversely

“What?” I asked, immediately suspicious. With my experience of the ATO, they’re more interested in taking the stuff off you, than giving any back.

“You have a good credit history and have paid all your bills on time,” she elaborated, while I silently mouthed a “Really?”

“I will give you a number to call, dear,” she said condescendingly. “Just give them your bank account details and they will arrange to transfer the money to you.” And arrange to clean out my account, I thought. I diligently took down the number and promptly called the ATO.

“It’s a scam,” said a patient lady at the other end of the phone, finally shattering my dubious dreams of a windfall. She directed me to the ATO site which listed the details of the scam, exhorting people not to get involved in the deal which consists of paying out $200 to get the $4000. Common sense would generally prevail, making one think again about exactly why the ATO would call instead of sending out the customary letter. And why on earth would they offer money for good behavior? As an inducement for being agood citizen? Sorry, but life just doesn’t

I haven’t actually earned. But more often than not, if someone’s offering you freebie cash or a consultation, wake up, this is the real world! They’ll ask you to pay money to get money, or they’ll send out someone to effectively ‘case out the joint’ before your home gets spectacularly burgled. I like to think that my varied and eccentric responses to their calls help in ‘training’ purposes.

So for instance if, at the end of a completely disastrous day, the caller asks me how I feel, they’re in for a precise and detailed account of my woes

I visited the Fair Trading website after taking a call from Jahn (John), while writing this article. He’s from the Money Saving Expert Department, he explained in abominable English. “This is a part of the Fair Trading Dept,” he said with fine irony. He wanted my name and mailing address, no doubt to send me a cheque for the $4568 the department owed me. My curiosity got the better of me and after visiting the site, I found out that there were numerous scams currently doing the gullibility circuit. Computer virus scams; tax returns scams; bank refund scams; electrical goods scams; car sales scams, even itinerant roof painting scams… they’re just out to get your hardearned cash!

There’s just one way to combat these

you’re bored, take down a few relevant details and then contact the department they purport to represent, for example the Australian Taxation Office (13 28 61 or email ReportEmailFraud@ato.gov.au), the Department of Fair Trading (13 32 20), etc. Never, ever give them any personal information over the phone, don’t even confirm your name and address, even if they have these. Certainly don’t give them any personal details like your bank account number, passwords to computer, etc. And if you don’t believe me, go to www.scamwatch.gov.au, where the audacity and ingenuity of scammers is on display. Another site you could visit is www.staysmartonline.gov.au

The world seems increasingly dishonest these days, more’s the pity. And there will always be people who believe that they could get easy cash for a small investment. If only life were that easy! I have considered changing my number, but its not worth the time and hassle. For me, I realize that the key is to simply be vigilant and aware that such things exist. And hope that the scammers reading this take me off their calling lists. Some hope!!

Complete call centres overseas seem to be involved in the most elaborate of schemes to part people from their hard-earned cash

Decisions create destiny

It is a fundamental fact of life that we create our own destiny, but whether we recognise it as such is a different challenge writes ASHITA

The more likely decision, however, is to procrastinate. Is it too much to think about right now? Maybe you would commit if you had the time? These are reasons or, rather, excuses why you won’t follow through. So, by not deciding to do something about losing the extra five kilos, you have actually decided to hang on to them!

A challenging decision

Why do we decide not to do things, even when we know that we ought to do them? It simply comes down to the principle of pleasure and pain. We avoid the pain of having to commit to a strategy of losing the extra five kilos. It’s more pleasurable to remain in our comfort zone. That’s why we do nothing and pretend it’s ok to carry that extra five kilos. It’s not doing any real harm, is it?

What if carrying the extra weight is having a serious impact on your health? Would you then decide to take action? Absolutely! The level of pain changes, and we can’t avoid it. If losing five kilos is a want and not a need, can you use pain to get motivated? Yes, you can use both pleasure and pain to get the outcome you desire. To experience pain, ask yourself, “What is the true cost of carrying the extra 5 kilos?” Is it costing you your selfconfidence? Describe how that’s affecting you.

Pleasure and pain

To create pleasure, think about what you will gain by losing 5 kilos. Will your selfconfidence increase? What other areas of your life will now benefit from this? What would this mean to you? Would you have more energy? So, what would having more energy mean to you?

This pleasure pain principle can be applied to all areas of your life. It has the power to propel you in the right direction and it enables you to maintain momentum. Every decision you make is based on pleasure and pain. How you apply pleasure and pain today will result in the decisions that determine your tomorrow.

It’s your destiny, you decide!

Last month we celebrated the 64th year of independence of our mother nation, India. In terms of her age as a sovereign state, India is in her infancy and still has a great deal to achieve if she is to grow into the developed superpower she is striving to become.

on the massive scale needed to achieve her final outcome?

The strategies employed by key decision makers in India will determine this. It is those people at her helm propelling her forward, who are ultimately responsible for what India becomes and how she is defined in the future. That will be India’s destiny.

How about your future?

So, whom or what is responsible for your future? Is it the government? Is it your boss? Maybe it’s your spouse? Or is it your unique circumstances? The single entity that is responsible for your life and for what you create within it is YOU! You are the decision maker in your life. Even when you do nothing about an issue, that is still a decision you have made and there will still be an outcome.

According to Dr Manmohan Singh, India can deal with domestic challenges and achieve global recognition through unity and co-operation. If this approach is applied universally and consistently, the likelihood of India graduating into a developed nation by 2020 isn’t necessarily a ‘pie in the sky’ notion.

India’s success in achieving her future potential is determined by the decisions that are made for her. How will she maintain unity at home and co-operation overseas

Let’s use a simple exercise to illustrate this. Imagine that you know you could do with losing five kilos. Even if you are perfectly happy with your weight, (lucky you!), just play along. You will need paper, a pen and some imagination.

1) Decide what you could do to shed the extra weight;

2) Specify when you are going to do those things

3) Choose how you will do them. Can you see a strategy emerging from the decisions you have made so far?

4) Now, think about the how you specified in step 3. Imagine yourself actually doing those things. At this point, you may follow through and decide to take action. Great decision!

“We end today a period of ill fortune and India discovers herself again. The achievement we celebrate today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?” said Jawaharlal Nehru on the eve of India’s Declaration of Independence, August 15, 1947.

Just as India has endured the pain of her past and has embraced the challenges of her future, we too can learn from her courage and wisdom to accept that all decisions, whether they are made consciously or subconsciously, will create destiny. Just as India has grasped her opportunities since her self-discovery and has prospered, so can we.

VADHER

Ashita Vadher is a practising Life Strategist

It is those people at her helm propelling her forward, that are ultimately responsible for what India becomes and how she is defined in the future

Just as India has endured the pain of her past and has embraced the challenges of her future, we too can learn from her courage and wisdom to accept that all decisions, whether they are made consciously or subconsciously, will create destiny

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The ‘Daddy’ thing

Father’s Day has come around once again, and its time to pay tribute to those great dads who played such an important part in our lives

BY SHERYL DIXIT

“When I was your ag e, I had to study under the lamp-post outside my house, because we didn’t have electricity in our home!” said my dad frequently when I was a child, his closing statement to a raft of preceding complaints, ranging from leaving the lights on, to not studying, to coming home with low grades… Although my older siblings tended to take this oft-repeated statement for granted, I have to admit that I was impressed. That is, until I heard it from my father-in-law too, a few years later. It was the norm, it would seem, to study under lamp-posts, to indicate diligence, studiousness and determination. Can’t argue with that logic though, because both these remarkable men had a good dose of these admirable qualities in their constitutions.

I have always been grateful for a happy childhood, a state of being that has largely dominated my life. A few years after my dad’s demise, I met my father-in-law, who seemed more like my mother in personality, but he had the same values and morals that I had grown up with. Strangely, my dad was pretty much like my mother-in-law, patient, kind, understanding and humble. It took a lot to make my dad lose his temper, even with three relatively annoying kids and their myriad dramas. I always got away with the worst offenses, being the youngest and most spoiled, a trait I see in my younger son today.

Both these men, although from fairly different backgrounds, had many things in common. They had great belief in their faiths, a strong sense of righteousness, an even stronger sense of duty and a commitment to the family which gained them the respect of not just family and distant relatives, but also friends and acquaintances. They made friends for life, people who still remember them with fondness and pleasure, just like we do. Both had a yen for adventure of different kinds; my dad loved the theatre and indulged in his hobby for acting and directing Konkani plays, while my dad-in-law went on a jamboree in the Czech Republic, where he was posted for two years.

Marriage and having children sobered both, as it does with most of us. My dad, as the oldest in the family with a sister and two brothers, was like a father figure to his younger siblings. My dad-in-law had a close and comfortable relationship

with his immediate family, something I saw and admired at our wedding, where practically the whole family turned up to wish us well and participate in the festivities. I have always marvelled at the levels of respect that they were able to evoke, simply by being themselves – honest, steady, dependable, hardworking and…well, good.

Yes, they had their quirks and eccentricities, but who doesn’t? Its what gave them character and made them charming, if occasionally annoying. My dad loved recounting parables, no doubt from his close association with the Bible. He also had a thing about idioms, which may sound trite, but actually contain a good deal of common sense. One of his favourites was, “You can take a donkey to the water, but you can’t make it drink!”, which he usually quoted after someone who had come to him for advice seemed unimpressed with his simple, obvious solution to their problem. I often think of that phrase these days, not that I would even consider myself worthy of giving advice, but because I have noticed that people don’t see the obvious only because they don’t want to. I’m guessing my dad would be proud of that observation on human nature!

My dad-in-law had a huge sense of independence, and nothing would annoy him more than to be treated with kid gloves by his wife and sons. On holiday in Sydney after a brief illness in India, he would wander off on his own causing the family some anxiety, but he always found his way back and had some interesting anecdote to recount about his adventures. He took care though, to mention them a few days later, when the heat had died down. I am sure his friends back home would have been treated to the unexpurgitated versions, unlike us.

Of all the many things I learned from my dad and dad-in-law, the simplicity of their logic has made a profound impression on me. As a rebellious teenager and an I-know-it-all 20-something, it was an annoying realization that they could be right more often than not. Simple adages like, “As you sow, so shall you reap!” and “You will have to face the consequences of your actions”, while meaning the same thing but said by different people, were lessons learned the hard way. However, the greatest comfort of all was in knowing that you could go back feeling foolish, and be accepted because no matter what, you were still the prodigal returning home. Mothers have that innate sense of caring, but because our dads had it too, I think we were very, very lucky. Its hard to imagine what we would have

done if we had nowhere to sleep off the excesses of a night on the tiles, or nowhere to heal after falling off a motorbike after a foolhardy adventure.

And we are now parents, with their legacy to pass on to our kids. “Daddy, you’re cool!” wrote my older son in an email to his dad on work in India a few weeks ago. And yes, I have to admit, Daddy’s cool. He can be a crocodile-dinosaur at the drop of a hat, kick around a soccer ball, play Beyblades and win without causing a tantrum, he can work out maths mentals while I’m trying to find more fingers and toes, he can laugh heartily as they practice fart noises, he can yell for quiet just once and miraculously, you won’t hear a word for the next five minutes. He can explain the difference between Queen and Pink, and they get it. How? I don’t know, I guess it’s just a ‘daddy’ thing!

But apart from all this, my husband, like

many daddies I know, have many things in common with their fathers. Like endless affection for their children, pride in their kids achievements, a strong sense of integrity and goodness, and a quirky sense of humour. These traits have been passed on from generation to generation, and there’s no doubt that we are the wiser for it. Sometimes in moments of stress I tell my boys, “I hope that when you’ll have kids, they’ll be just like you’ll!” But the truth is, I hope that if and when my boys do have kids, they become just like their dad!

They made friends for life, people who still remember them with fondness and pleasure, just like we do

I have always marvelled at the levels of respect that they were able to evoke, simply by being themselves – honest, steady, dependable, hardworking and… well, good.

The boys and the bike

Abbu. Abba. Papa. Dad. Daddy. Dada.

BY SHAFEEN MUSTAQ

There was a time when the highest point on my horizon was the broad shoulders of my father. There was a time when I used to run outside to the sound of a car horn because it meant he had come home from work.

My dad is my ‘hero’. His special power is the ability to be anything I need him to be, and to always be there for me. He is my accountant when it’s time to do tax returns. He is my saviour when I am running late for my train. He puts my welfare and wellbeing ahead of his own. And that to me is a real hero!

Fathers are special. A lot of recognition and affection goes to mothers and rightly so, but often it overshadows the sturdy, reliable, reassuring presence that equates to a father’s love. Fathers provide. Fathers care – even if is in their gruff, stern, off-handed way. Fathers are strong, hardworking and most importantly, dependable.

Dependable is a word that is synonymous with the sub-continental father. No matter if he is tall or short, fair or dark, fat or thin – the Indian father is the bastion of the family. He cares for his wife and children; he looks after their educational and physical welfare and provides for them sufficient

your mother is being unreasonable. He is the foundation of your knowledge, as well as the aim of your expectations.

What is important to remember though, is that it is not enough to just buy a card and a watch, or a shirt, tie and give a your dad a hug once a year. The best actions are those that are consistent – no matter how small. No matter how old you are or how busy, take time out every day for your parents. Even if it’s a short chat about nothing important at all. No matter how busy you are, remember that your father is the person who made time for you at every step of your life. Five minutes of your day is nothing in comparison, but it will bring a smile to the face that saw you as you first came into the world. It will straighten the shoulders which were once the broadness of your horizons and it will strengthen the ties of love that exist between father and child, as God intended.

means to explore opportunities. He is the person you turn to when you run out of money. He is the person you turn to when

Every man aspires to be like his father and every woman searches for her father’s qualities in her mate. A father is a teacher, a scholar, a coach, a teammate, an ally and a friend. Sigmond Freud once said, “I cannot

think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father’s protection.” From the moment we are born and begin to be aware of our surroundings, we are aware of the protective presence of our fathers, a presence that ebbs and flows with the tide of our growth, but always remains a constant.

Father’s Day is a day to celebrate not who your father is, but whom you see him to be: the first superhero you ever knew.

Call him what you like, he’s still the dependable, involved, supportive parent, and will always be

A lot of recognition and affection goes to mothers and rightly so, but often it overshadows the sturdy, reliable, reassuring presence that equates to a father’s love

Shafeen with her dad

The material world

As the sultry spring and summer seasons draw closer teasing us with the promise of deliciously warm days, it is tempting to come out of our winter hibernation and go shopping for the new season’s look. Stores are already ablaze with outfits in vibrant colours in a variety of fabrics. But choosing the right material could sometimes be hard, as some fabrics could be very suffocating in warmer temperatures. So to prep you up for summer here’s a look at some fabrics that have cooling and insulating properties to draw moisture away from the body, leaving you feeling fresh, clean and dry through the day.

Cool cotton

We are all aware of the many virtues of this material which is undoubtedly the best summer fabric around. Cotton is a natural fiber which is soft to touch, but is extremely durable, versatile and strong. It allows air to pass through, permitting the pores of the skin to breathe and become cooler in hot weather. Cotton is the most popular clothing material in the world. Amongst its many qualities is its ability to drape well, making it easier to sew. Even though it wrinkles easily, cotton is favoured for summer wear by top designers, as it absorbs perspiration quickly while retaining a fresh, crisp look. Another good reason to choose cotton for summer is its excellent quality of colour retention, which makes it possible to buy this material in vibrant, fast colour prints. On the down side, too much exposure to the sun can result in fading and weakening of the fabric. Cotton also has a tendency to shrink (so look for pre-shrunk when buying cotton clothes) and hot water washes can damage the material as well.

Light in linen

Linen is a vegetable fiber valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather. It is a good conductor of heat and is highly absorbent, which makes it a coveted material for summer. Linen removes perspiration from the skin and does not cling to the body. It has the ability to absorb and lose water quickly. It can retain upto 20% of moisture without feeling

damp. With normal body movements it tends to act as an exhaust to dry out and become cool, so that the body is always being touched by a cool surface. Linen is also very durable, with twice the strength of cotton and it is one of the few clothing materials that is actually stronger wet than dry. However due to lack of elasticity, linen creases easily. Linen is not a stretchy material and hence it is resistant to damage from abrasion. Another plus is its smooth, lint free, dirt and stain resistant, high lustre finish, which gets softer and more comfortable to wear the more it is washed.

Robust rayon

Rayon is the oldest man-made fiber, and is probably the most unique one in commercial use today. It is extracted from naturally occurring cellulose but cannot be classified as a natural fabric as cellulose requires a lot of processing to convert it into rayon. It was originally developed as an alternative to silk, but quickly became popular as a versatile clothing material which drapes well, is easy to dye and is more absorbent than cotton and linen. Studies show that in comparison to other fabrics rayon is a better conductor of heat, making it the material of choice for summer. Rayon is comfortable to wear, is soft against the skin, does not built up static electricity and has medium dry strength and scuff resistance. It is not resilient and so wrinkles easily. When wet, it loses a lot of its strength and will thus stretch and shrink more than cotton. High quality rayon provides a good alternative to silk when creating nicely flowing evening gowns in vivid colours. But inferior quality rayon often ages poorly, yellowing with time and pilling excessively in areas of heavy wear.

Durable denim

Some people can only feel comfortable in jeans and luckily, denim is a suitable fabric for summer. Made from tightly woven cotton, it retains a lot of its original properties. It is breathable and

Another good reason to choose cotton for summer is its excellent quality of colour retention, which makes it possible to buy this material in vibrant, fast colour prints.

Lightweight wool

Just the mention of wool conjures up images of chilly winter breezes, but little do many people know that, with correct manufacturing techniques, this material can be made to perform as a cooling fabric for summer. Summer suits are often made from

As the warm months approach, here’s a guide to finding the right kind of material to wear that will keep you cool, comfy and trendy, writes FARZANA SHAKIR

Just the mention of wool conjures up images of chilly winter breezes, but little do many people know that, with correct manufacturing techniques, this material can be made to perform as a cooling fabric for summer

Herbal

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The colour wheel

BY GEETA KHURANA

Most people are aware of the concept of 2 & 5, i.e. one should have 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of veggies every day, but by eating these in a variety of different colours, one can enjoy the best all-around health benefits. Each differently coloured fruit and vegetable contains unique health components that are essential to our health. By eating different coloured fruit and veggies, you get a diverse amount of vitamins and minerals.

The ‘colour wheel’ diet was developed by Dr. David Heber, director of the UCLA Centre for Human Nutrition. It incorporates the seven colours of health: red/purple, red, orange, orange/yellow, yellow/green, green, and white/green. The category system makes it easier for people to consume the proper amounts and types of nutrients needed in diets.

According to this diet, each coloured fruit or vegetable provides a unique benefit to the diet, and there is also evidence of interactions between colours that provide benefits. As a result, the colour wheel diet advises the intake of as much and as many different colours as possible. Consuming a variety of fruit and vegetables will ensure a diverse intake of more than 25,000 different phyto-nutrients.

But mainly, fruit and vegetables can be divided into 5 main colours: red, blue and purple, green, yellow and orange, and white.

Try to include different coloured fruits and veggies in your diet to have more variety and to attain maximum nutrition.

Consuming a variety of fruit and vegetables will ensure a diverse intake of more than 25,000 different phyto-nutrients.

FRUITS AND VEGETABLES BENEFITS NUTRIENT

Red apples, tomatoes, cherries, cranberries, beets, red peppers, radishes, watermelon, raspberries, red onion

Red foods help fight cancers especially prostate cancer, help lower blood pressure, and lower cholesterol and keep your heart healthy. Also help reduce tumour growth and support joint tissues.

Lycopene, ellagic acid, quercetin, and hesperidin

Blackberries, blueberries, plums, figs, grapes, raisins, purple cabbage, eggplant, prunes, purple potatoes.

Avocados, kiwi, asparagus, green apples, peas, green grapes, artichokes, lettuce, asparagus, celery broccoli, spinach, green beans, green cabbage, cucumbers, limes, okra, leek.

Carrots, oranges, apricots, cantaloupes, lemons, mangoes, nectarines, peaches, yellow peppers, papayas, sweet potatoes, pineapple, pumpkin, corn, lemon, tangerines, gooseberries.

Bananas, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, onions, potatoes, turnips, parsnips, artichoke, shallots, white peaches, white nectarines.

These support healthy digestion, improve calcium and other mineral absorption, reduce strokes and cancers. They are also high in vitamin C and fibre. These also help to fight inflammation and boost the immune system.

Lutein, zeaxanthin, resveratrol, vitamin C, fiber, flavonoids, ellagic acid, and quercetin.

These are high in iron, fibre, calcium and magnesium, vitamins C, E, K and many of the B vitamins. Green foods help eye sight and support retinal health, digestion. These foods fight free radicals and boost your immune system.

These are high in vitamin C and beta-carotenes. They help keep your heart healthy, good for eye sight and help reduce age related macular degeneration. These help in collagen formation and healthy joints. These also work with calcium and magnesium to build healthy bones.

These help boost immune system, reduce cancers mainly colon, breast and prostate cancers and balance hormone levels and hormone related cancers.

Chlorophyll, fiber, lutein, zeaxanthin, calcium, folate, vitamin C, calcium, and betacarotene.

Beta-carotene, zeaxanthin, flavonoids, lycopene, potassium, and vitamin C.

Beta-glucans, EGCG, SDG, and lignans

A simple combination of differently coloured fruit and veggies could make all the difference to your health regime

Foodie fathers

Having your dad in the kitchen can mean meals with a touch of spice to them, a unique change from mum’s banal offerings

BY SHERYL DIXIT

We know, in these super-modern days, that men are as good in the kitchen as women. Men make great cooks as endorsed by Master Chef, enthusiastically supported by their kids, and grudgingly acknowledged by their partners who are, after all, more concerned about the fat, sugar and salt content that goes into a meal.

My dad and father-in-law were good, if

eccentric cooks. Their occasional forays into the kitchen always meant that we would have something interesting and definitely delicious served up as a meal. We would even be advised on how to eat it, for example, one couldn’t have a certain kind of aachar with that particular dish or you wouldn’t be doing justice to the original taste.

In my childhood and youth, we were rampant non-vegetarians, only indulging in ‘dal’ (pronounced ‘doll’ curry) around the end of the month, when the bank balance was lean. My dad was an absolute foodie, and if he were alive today, the myriad of

Tari’s mirchi bhajis

cooking shows on TV would have delighted his soul and upped his cholesterol. Later in life, he had to curb his appetite on contracting diabetes though, but he soon discovered a new kind of joy in steamed veggies, karela juice, fresh paneer dishes and bit sized morsels of chicken and fish. It was tough, but he persevered with the philosophy that, in his prime, he had indulged in the best cuisine had to offer. My father-in-law too, enjoyed his food, particularly if it was pungent and deepfried. Strictly vegetarian, he would often sneak into the kitchen when my mum-inlaw was busy elsewhere in the house, and

These were my father-in-law’s speciality, still admired by the whole family. This recipe shouldn’t be attempted by the faint-hearted; however, with a mild adjustment of the ingredients depending on your taste, it could be the best snack.

add his own ingredients to whatever dish happened to be cooking, just to spruce it up a bit. This usually meant adding chilly powder and salt to the dish, and whatever other spice he favoured. His sons loved his experiments, but they didn’t please his wife, who would have to wipe off mounds of powders spilt all over her kitchen platform, and eat a larger portion of curd-rice to take away the spicy sting of the main meal.

These recipes are in memory of Thomas, my father and Taranath, my father-in-law –now gone, dearly remembered, still missed. Happy Father’s Day!

Tommy’s fried mutton chops

These were a great favourite in our household, and on the rare occasions that it was prepared, the recipe used was exclusively my dad’s. The kitchen was in a tizzy when this dish was being made, as my dad politely hounded the cook until she prepared the dish exactly to his instructions.

6 finely sliced mutton chops with the bone on

For the marinade:

2 onions

1 cup coriander leaves

2 green chillies

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

½ tbsp cumin powder

4 tbsp vinegar

Salt to taste

For the coating:

1 cup breadcrumbs

½ cup semolina (rava)

1 egg

Oil for frying

6 large green chillies, short stem included

For the filling:

1 tbsp tamarind paste

1 heaped tbsp besan

½ tsp red chilly powder

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp roasted cumin (jeera)

1 tbsp very finely chopped onion

(optional)

Salt to taste

For the coating:

1 cup besan

1/3 cup roasted rice flour

½ tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp chilly powder

Pinch of soda bicarbonate

Salt to taste

1/3 cup water

Oil for frying

In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients for the filling, into a slightly thickish consistency. Keep aside. Next, wash and dry the green chillies on a paper kitchen towel. Use the sharp tip of a knife to carefully make an incision on one side of each chilly, stopping about an inch from the end. Very gently begin deseeding the chillies, taking care to avoid increasing the incision. They may break slightly at the top near the stem, but that’s okay. Using a teaspoon, gently fill the inside of each chilly with the filling and keep aside.

In a separate bowl, gently sieve the besan powder to get rid of any lumps. Add the rice flour, turmeric and chilly powders, soda bicarb and salt. Add the water to the mix and stir until all the powders are well dissolved with the flours and the mix takes on a thickish consistency. Keep aside for 10 minutes. Next, heat oil in a deep-bottomed kadhai, in preparation for frying. Take each stuffed chilly by the stem, immerse in coating mix until fully covered and gently drop into hot oil. Fry on both sides for about half a minute or until golden brown. Remove, place on a paper towel to drain excess oil. Serve hot with mint chutney.

Grind together all the ingredients for the marinade into a fine paste. Keep aside in a large shallow bowl. Place each mutton chop on a chopping board, and gently flatten with a meat tenderiser. Next, place each chop into the marinade mix, coating thoroughly. Cover with foil or clingwrap and refrigerate overnight. Prior to cooking, mix breadcrumbs and semolina in a shallow plate and keep aside. Heat oil in a shallow frying pan. In a small bowl, beat the egg with a little salt and keep aside. Take each marinated chop, dip into egg, and place into the breadcrumb/semolina mix. Coat thoroughly and place into the shallow frying pan. Fry on both sides on medium flame for about two minutes or until the meat inside is fully cooked. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Repeat procedure until all the chops are cooked. Serve hot, garnished with fresh coriander and finely cut onion rings.

Tip: For a healthier option, once coated, pop the mutton chops into the oven and bake for 40 minutes on 180 degrees (fan forced) or until fully cooked.

Vegetarian for life

ingredients on the packages to ensure that there are no animal products in it. Celebrities are actively promoting their vegetarian lifestyle. Some restaurants clearly label their dishes with the words ‘unsuitable for vegetarians’.

And if we vegetarians can thank any one group for this change it is the ‘lifestyle conscious’ people, who realised the value of vegetable in our diets and promoted its importance in our lives.

Now I live in pure heaven, enjoying the fresh produce of a country that has the best of it. And when people hear that I am a vegetarian, a common reaction is, “You know, I only eat meat for the protein, otherwise I could easily be a vegetarian.” What a change from, “You know it is un-Australian not to eat meat” or “If God wanted us to eat greens, he would have made us sheep and cows”.

My children are not vegetarian and I respect their choice. Vegetarianism is not a neo-religion or a socially-invasive cult. It is a lifestyle choice that people choose either because it suits them, or is a necessary health requirement. It is for these people and for the ones who are vegetarians because of their faiths, that we began the ‘Label it if you table it’ movement. It has only one purpose, to request manufacturers and restaurateurs to ensure that products containing animal products are clearly labelled. And it is here that we need your help.

BY RANI JHALA

Dear Vegetarians for Life,

Thank you for the opportunity to address your meeting. I am the founder and promoter of ‘Label it if you table it!’

Many years ago, after a hunting trip, I decided the righteous path for me would be to walk down the path of vegetarianism. I was fifteen and still at school. It was not that I hated the taste of meat; it was that every time a dish was placed in front of me, I saw the terrified eyes of the animal whose life we had taken or I saw its mother mourning the loss of her infant, butchered to satisfy our human palate.

My decision came at a time when I was still at boarding school, where the school menu was strictly adhered.

Vegetarianism was not encouraged, with the only exceptions being on religious functions. On those days I ate freely and comfortably. The rest of the time, I passed on the meat to my fellow students and took their helping of vegetables.

Finally a fellow student gave me the idea of proclaiming non-religious functions as calls for a vegetarian diet. I had relatives dying once a month, and each death called for a fortnight’s abstinence from meat. I had ancestral prayer days where none existed and I had religious celebrations that were so specific to my clan that my teachers had never heard of them!

These white lies, while resting heavily on my soul, got me through a whole year. And

by the end of that year I had passed out from the school and had returned to live with my parents. At least there, no one deterred me from the path I had taken, even though no one understood my desire.

Once home I became a full time vegetarian, from a part-time one. The exceptions to my vegetarian diet were eggs and dairy. No withdrawal systems, no cravings and strangely, no loss of weight. All was perfect, for in a land where a huge population was vegetarian, my new diet was easily adaptable. There was no need to let hosts know of my preference, for every home would always serve at least a couple of vegetarian dishes. Restaurants had a huge range on their menu. My vegetarian lifestyle was an accepted part of the Indian psyche.

In my twenties, I moved to Australia, a land renowned for its prime beef, succulent lamb and fresh seafood. A land where, in the year of my arrival, vegetables consisted of only the greens in salad, potato, peas and pumpkin. A land where I was told that being a vegetarian was akin to not having a life.

This second transition was as tough as ever. I remember being served a salad with a generous serving of prawns over the top at an exclusive restaurant. When I informed the waiter that I was a vegetarian, I watched in horror as he picked the prawns out of the salad, and left the fresh greens glistening from the prawn’s juices with the well-meant comment, “There you go ma’am, its vegetarian now!” Luckily the person sitting next to me was more than happy to add my salad to the prawns she had just inherited from me.

The next few years were like a comedy of errors as I walked through the maze of ‘deceptive vegetarian’ dishes. It is a coin I phrased in my first article called the ‘Perils of Vegetarianism’.

What did I mean by it? It is dishes that are sold under the banner of the name ‘vegetarian’ but hidden beneath its sanctimonious label, lurks the non-vegetarian elements. A vegetarian curry sold that is made with fish paste but not labelled as such, hashbrowns given out with the assurance that they have been fried in vegetable oil, yet the buyers are not informed that it is coated in tallow. Cakes and biscuits greased with lard. Serving spoons transferred between vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes without being washed.

My stomach too, became sensitive to nonvegetarian items. Cheese made with rennet caused severe cramps, soup made with chicken stock made me nauseous and desserts made with gelatine made me sick.

The first of the self-imposed restrictions came into force. While I still went to restaurants, I restricted my selection to baked vegetables, salads and desserts.

As time flew by, multiculturalism spread and locals began producing Asian and European vegetables. The selections and choices grew both at the supermarkets and the restaurants. Just ten years after I my arrival here, an all-vegetarian restaurant opened, and I was one of its first patrons. Ah, the sheer bliss of holding a menu in my hand and knowing that I could eat anything from it, and that every dish would be made from totally non-animal products. The vegetarian restaurants grew in number and my eat-outs were equally frequent.

Twenty years after my journey began, the platform has changed so much. An Australian colleague of mine will neither eat meat, nor even cook it. Another reads the list of

We regularly put up a surveys and petitions on our website. Help us make this a global movement by participating in it, and let the invasion begin.

Thank you.

It’s a movement that’s fast gaining momentum as more people opt to avoid meat and meat products in their daily diet

And if we vegetarians can thank any one group for this change it is the ‘lifestyle conscious’ people, who realised the value of vegetable in our diets and promoted its importance in our lives

A vegetarian curry sold that is made with fish paste but not labelled as such, hash-browns given out with the assurance that they have been fried in vegetable oil, yet the buyers are

Matrimonials

Seeking Grooms

Sikh divorcee, 56yo, slim, caring, Australian citizen residing in Sydney area, non smoker, in professional government job, well established, seeks Indian man above 50, non smoker, social drinker, settled in Australia, for view to permanent relationship and marriage. Please reply with details and photos to sikhgal123@hotmail.com

Seeking suitable match for Hindu girl, 34 years, Chartered Accountant (non-veg), living in Australia over 25 years, with eastern and western family values. Please email with all details on ganesh2011v@gmail.com

Seeking a suitable match, currently pharmacist in UK (but would prefer to settle down in Australia). Born May 1979 UK (citizen), Australia (permanent resident). 5ft 7”, slim, vegetarian. Hindu Punjabi Khatri. Father retired, mother working part-time in govt job, one brother (all in UK) and one sister (married and settled in Australia). Contact redvanilla101@hotmail.com

Looking for an intelligent, handsome, Sikh boy for my younger daughter 25-year-old, 5’6”, slim, fair, beautiful girl, working in Insurance industry with Finance background, on high income. We have been settled in Sydney for past 35 years. My elder daughter is happily married here in Sydney. Please respond with your details and photo to 24advertiser@gmail.com

Seeking professional qualified match for affectionate homely Punjabi girl. She

has done law (advocate) from Delhi, India. Parents settled in India. Aunty in Sydney. 25/165 of Indian origin. Boys upto 30 years required (family settled in Sydney preferred). Interested send bio data along with recent photograph via email – rakeshmehta_bkc@ hotmail.com

Seeking suitable Punjabi Brahmin match for 1972 born (looks younger), divorced, issueless registered nurse India. Groom preferably between the age of 3540, Hindu vegetarian, non smoker, non drinker. Only serious persons contact on nitishsharma_18@yahoo.com

Parents of Sikh Khatri girl invite alliance for their beautiful, slim daughter, 31 /5’-1”, Australian citizen, never married. Working as Senior Risk Analyst with esteemed finance giant. Family settled in Sydney. Seeking professional, well-educated match with good family background. Caste no bar. Contact: 02 0411 513 703 or email: roopan09@yahoo.com

Seeking Brides

Alliance invited for a 29-year-old wellsettled Hindu boy. Fair, handsome, 5’8”, CPA, working in Brisbane, Australian citizen. Looking for well-educated, working, Hindu Punjabi girl with family values, in Australia. Contact 0422 039 269, or email manjuloona@yahoo.co.in

Well settled Hindu family inviting alliance for tall, handsome Australian citizen, 37/5-10’, innocent divorcee.

Excellent salary package, own house in Sydney. Seeking qualified, beautiful girl from well cultured Hindu families well settled in Australia or India. Please send details with recent pictures to propose@live.com.au

Seeking a suitable girl for good looking clean shaven Ramgarhia boy, 27, 5-7, well-educated, Dip in Mechanical from Thapar Institute, B.Tech Mechanical from Manchester Metropolitan Uni U.K. Currently working as Design and Maintenance Engineer in India. Sister Australian citizen settled in Sydney. Please contact 0412 254 015 or email aussydney@ ymail.com

Suitable match for 1975 born, clean shaven Sikh Khatri boy, 5’ 9”, M.P.M, M.C.M (from India). Recently finished Masters in I.T from Australia. Boy is temporary resident and currently preparing to file for P.R ASAP. Has full-time job in service industry with decent income. Staying with elder brother, and parents (who are on 1 year visitor visa) in Sydney. Girl should be tall, well educated, with pleasing personality and must be from Sikh background. Early marriage, and serious proposals please. Phone 02 9476 4570, or email: jas_ghai01@ hotmail.com

Tarot ‘n’ You Tarot ‘n’ You

Tarot predictions for February 2010

Tarot predictions for September 2011

ARIES March 21 – April 19

This month you will be planning to start an exercise routine and looking at ways to keep fit. You will feel a little more in control of a work situation and feel you are making steady progress with difficult colleagues. In your love life, you are still unsure about a certain individual and how to handle them. Those who are single are happy that way for now. Try wearing red on Tuesday, it will bring you luck.

TAURUS April 20 – May 20

You will feel more adventurous and want to do more outdoor activities. The cards also indicate a new opportunity around you with work and finances. There are also indications here that you will try to save money. In love and romance, there seems to be an interest from the past that has your attention. Single Taurians will be ready for fun, but not thinking of long term commitments. Wear blue/green on Fridays for luck.

GEMINI May 21 – June 20

This month, you are advised to watch what you say around people as there may be a tendency to have arguments around you. There is an indication that you will be headhunted for a new job which may take you to another city. Love and romance is a little stressful, but you will find ways to bring peace back into your relationship. Try wearing orange or yellow on Wednesday for luck.

CANCER June 21 – July 22

You need to be careful of what you are spending as finances are a little strained. There may be a change in your responsibilities at work and more money is also indicated, which you need right now. Love and romance are exciting right now as you are feeling energetically connected towards a colleague. Try wearing white on Monday and Thursday for luck.

LEO July 23 – August 22

You will be trying to defend your position at work and around friends and family. You yearn to do what you want, and may be planning to change your job and relationship. Try not to be too hasty and think about things carefully. Hasty words may cause you regret later. You may also be thinking of booking a holiday to get away on your own to think about things. Try wearing the colour gold on Sunday for luck.

VIRGO August 23 – September 22

You are feeling very restless and agitated. You have a list of things to do, but are not getting much done. You are also thinking about a new venture, but are contemplating the risks involved. The cards show a favourable outcome if you take things slowly, and not rush into anything you cannot handle. Love and romance are on your mind, and you are ready for a commitment now. Try wearing yellow or blue on Wednesday for luck.

NANCY JADE ALTHEA

LIBRA September 23 – October 22

You are in a very good mood, generally. Work will be your priority and if in a management role, use better tactics with your team to get them working for you. Teamwork and joint efforts will pay high rewards and your boss will notice you. You love life is not particularly interesting right now, as you are feeling a little restless and bored. Try taking time out to meditate. Try wearing pink, blue or green on Friday for luck.

SCORPIO October 23 – November 21

You are a ball of energy this month, with a lot of goals up your sleeve. You are planning to buy a property or new car and are working hard to achieve your dreams. At work you are restless, and may be looking for other opportunities. It’s possible that you will be travelling for work too. Love and romance is hot and steamy, with a new interest around. Try wearing black or red on Tuesday for luck.

SAGITTARIUS November 22 – December 21

This month sees you travelling a lot more, and the cards indicate that you have plans to settle in another state or city. You have been putting out feelers for a new job, and opportunities exist if you want them. Learn to stabilize your emotions as you are hopping around and feel no stability right now. Love and romance need attention as you are restless there too. Try wearing blue, beige or violet on Thursday for luck.

CAPRICORN December 22 – January 19

The cards indicate that this month is all about changes and transformation. You must focus on your plans and finances for the future, and not on trying to change others. There is a need for communication and understanding between you and your loved ones. You are dwelling on things and not resolving issues around you. The cards indicate travel this month. Wear black or earth tones on Saturdays for luck.

AQUARIUS January 20 – February 18

You will be feeling creative and may decide to write; a great way to channel any feelings of stress and tension. Lately you have been working very hard and not taking time out for yourself. Pay attention to your knees this month. Love and romance is around and you may decide to propose to someone or if married, there are feelings of re-establishing your feelings of love for your partner. Try wearing black or blue on Saturday for luck.

PISCES February 19 – March 20

Pay particular attention to your health, because you have been overdoing things like working late and not spending enough time on yourself. You have been shouldering a lot of burdens and not speaking to anyone about your feelings. Take a short trip, re-connect with nature, and just relax. Love and romance is not on your mind this month if single; if not, you will find a happy balance. Try wearing silver or purple on Thursday for luck.

Memorable victory for Crestwood Badminton Association

In a recent NSW Badminton club level contest against Homebush Korean Badminton Club, the Crestwood Badminton Association players won 28 off the 33 games played on Saturday 20th August, 2011 to emerge dominant winners in the contest.

The Crestwood Badminton was represented by MadanAlagaraja, Hitesh Bansal, Satish Dhond, Adil Khan, Koshi John, Sandip Khanal, Nivi Rattan, Spoorthi Rattan, Rikki Wei, Neni Tiwary, Amitabh Mukherjee, Bob Yost, Michael Sooben and Palanivelan Sivaperuman.

Crestwood Badminton Association has excellent players who have been playing at state and international level. Our front line players include, Spoorthy Rattan, Sandip Khanal, Adil Khan, Madan Alagarajah, Bob Yost, Sateesh Dhond and Michael Sooben.

Spoorthy Rattan was NSW’s number one badminton player between 2005-2009. She was in the Junior Australian Squad 2009-2010, and also represented Australian the World Junior Team in 2002. Spoorthy is a BSC Business IT UNSW graduate.

Sandip Khanal, a former national player for Nepal and winner of a Regional tournament in Nepal in 2009, currently plays at UTS Kurungai Campus and Crestwood Badminton at Baulkham Hills. Sandip is a BBS (TU)

MPA graduate from University of Ballarat, Victoria.

Bob Yost is the club’s senior player. Bob is 70 and one of the frontline badminton players. the Director of an insurance brokerage company and a regular at Crestwood Badminton Association playing at Model Farms High School, Baulkham Hills.

Sateesh Dhond is former champion badminton player of the University of Mumbai, India. Sateesh is the Group Assurance Manager at Westpac Bank and a regular player of Crestwood Badminton.

Adil Khan, Madan Alagaraja and Michael Sooben have won a number NSW local badminton tournaments and are regular players of Crestwood Badminton. Khan is Strategic Business Manager NAB. Madan Alagarajah is Australian qualified Accountant and a regular player with great sense of humour and sportsmanship. Michael Sooben is a Program Manager at Centrelink. Michael is one of our loyal members and swift player with great sportsmanship. Michael has been playing with Crestwood Badminton for over 12 years.

Nivi Rattan (sister of Spoorthi Rattan) a very talented young player already competing against top players in NSW. Nivi and Spoorthi are coached by their father Praveen Rattan. Nivi is a year 10

Only one call can change your life

He is the Director of Value Group which operates multiple businesses in Australia including Value World Travel and Value Greenslips. The Crestwood Players proudly wore the T-Shirts supplied by the Association’s loyal patron and sponsor Neni Tiwary.

The Crestwood Badminton was founded in 1991 under the leadership of Basker Ratnam, primarily a badminton player from the Indian Sub-Continent who continues to play and promote the sport.

Crestwood members play at Model

equipment, as well as regular tournaments conducted by the Crestwood Badminton Association.

Basker Ratnam is a big believer in notfor-profit sports promotion and maintains that the Crestwood Badminton Association remain a not-for-profit organisation, dedicated to bringing members of the community together to play badminton.

Players who are keen to play Badminton can contact Basker Ratnam on 0459 183 644.

Basker Ratnam

BUZZThe

Bodyguard busts box office

ABHILASHA

in Bollywood

Bips needs no beaus!

Now that beauteous Bong bombshell Bipasha’s single, it seems like Bollywood’s buzzers are trying hard to set her up with any going hunk. As the gorgeous actress discovered when she mentioned that she trailer, featuring Ranbir Kapoor. Instantly reports were out that Bips was trying to woo Ranbir, which she

The actress claims that she’s not hunting for love, after splitting up with long-time love John Abraham, another stunning piece of eye candy. Now use your imagination, buzzers, Salman Khan’s hitting highs with . Don’t you think Bips and Sallu would make a lovely pair?

Naseer trusts his instincts

It’s quality over quantity for Naseeruddin Shah, the versatile actor who has spent 35 years breathing life into innumerable, welletched out characters on the big screen. He has been lauded innumerable time and deservedly so, for his acting ability and considerable contribution to Bollywood. The National Award winner admits he is getting better roles now than ever, but he picks a film only if he has “faith” in it and his “instinct” pushes him to go for it!

“It is extremely gratifying, flattering almost, that so many young people find place for me in their films. I’m probably being offered better parts now than I was being offered five years ago or for that matter in my 35-year-old career,” said the Naseer’s performances have been Ijaazat, Sparsh, Aakrosh, Karma have testified. But in recent times, he has been proving his versatility over and over again, without bothering about the screen time he gets.

Whether it was in the role of a cricket , a common man ready

A Wednesday, a or a painter in Zindagi , he carried out every role with aplomb. The length of the role isn’t as important for him any more, as Naseer says his priorities as an actor have changed over

Naseeruddin plays a tainted cop, whose trials and tribulations have been narrated in the film.

“To get a script like Michael, where I was the eponymous character, it was a bonus to be present in practically in every frame. But my real reason for doing the film was because I feel it’s a sensible film and it is a film that will be remembered,” he claimed.

There’s another criterion behind Naseeruddin’s choice of films.

“I choose my films on instinct. My reason to do every film is different. I should just feel like doing it. I believe in my instincts. When I decide to do a film, I don’t think whether that film will work or not or whether it will fetch awards or not. All I think is how can we make this film a good film.”

If you’re a fan as I am, watch Naseer do brilliant job as usual, in That Girl in Yellow Boots

Preity for cultural harmony

Now it’s been a while since pretty Preity Zinta’s been in the news, apart from a mention here and there about the nowancient IPL masala . But now that the actress will be honoured at the 68th Venice Film Festival for bringing cultural harmony through her work, she has good reason to feel pretty perked up. Preity will be awarded the “World Diamond Group Platinum Award for Peoples/Friendship” at the Kineo “Diamanti al Cinema” event at the festival for her contribution towards reconciliation and cultural harmony among people of different cultures.

Preity will be felicitated with a white olive tree, with its tree trunk sculpted off a block of Carrara hand-carved marble, and its branches and leaves fashioned out of 3,333 grams of platinum and 3,003 diamonds - 2,503 marquise cut and 500

GUESS WHO

Salman Khan-starrer Bodyguard is on a record-breaking spree. After a stupendous opening in the domestic market with Rs 22 crore in collections on its opening day, the film is creating waves on the international scene too.

Bodyguard has surpassed the record of Shah Rukh Khan-starrer My Name Is Khan by earning 194,000 pounds on the first day of screening in Britain. The film is also on its way to becoming the highest grosser in the Middle East, having begun with a promising $1.6 million in the first two days of its release. But that’s not all, as it earned $3.8 million in the US, and is expected to increase. Let’s not forget that Kareena Kapoor also stars in this blockbuster, which could have something to do with its success. However, Salman himself finds it hard to believe the amazing success of this movie, a sentiment which actress Pooja Bedi shares. “Salman (Khan) must be destiny’s child! Worst dialogues, worst script, zero story but the film’s a roaring success! I’d love to have him as my bodyguard,” she tweeted on Twitter. Wishful thinking Pooja, he’ll have other things on his mind now, like Bodyguard II. Que sera sera!

“When I began my career in films, I had a lot of hopes, most of which have been fulfilled. The hopes were to play varied roles and to be different in every movie. My priorities over the last 35 years have shifted

“I’m still not averse to play great roles, but that is no longer the most important thing for me. Over the last 10 years I think I have come to a realisation of what an actor’s role in a film should be. That’s why I have been participating in any movie that I feel needs support and in which I have faith. The size and the importance of the part has receded to secondary importance for me,” said the actor, who received a Padma Bhushan award in 2003 for his contribution

Currently he is looking forward to his return as a lead in a film with Anurag Kashyap’s production venture Michael, directed by a newcomer, Ribhu Das Gupta.

His claim to fame comes from the small screen

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

SALMAN KHAN

new 82 facets round cut - adding to a total of 366 carats. A wonderful token indeed, and well deserved one at that. Preity seems to have taken to business ventures lately, probably a legacy left over from her nowdefunct relationship with tycoon Ness Wadia. But have faith, she’ll soon be back with a bang!

Final farewell to Shammi Kapoor

The late Shammi Kapoor, who romanced Bollywood beauties in the snow-capped mountains of Kashmir in films like Kali and Junglee and immortalised the shikara on the Dal Lake in the song Tareef karun kya uski has finally become a part of that idyllic surrounding forever as his ashes were immersed in the lake.

The ashes of the prolific actor, who died on August 14, were immersed by his son Aditya and daughter Kanchan. Actors Shabana Azmi, Vinod Khanna, Asha Parekh, Sharmila Tagore, Poonam Dhillon, Amitabh Bachchan and Tina Ambani joined them in a final farewell to the legendary actor.

A household name among the old and middle-aged locals of Kashmir, Shammi Kapoor’s family and friends could not have thought of a better farewell to the Bollywood veteran.

“He loved the Dal Lake and his soul will definitely be solaced as his ashes were immersed in the lake of his dreams,” said shikara owner Zahoor Ahmad, 56, on the lake.

The valley has, for the first time since the early 1990s and its era of armed violence, seen a plethora of Bollywood stars in its environs, as Shammi’s closest friends and colleagues bid him goodbye.

“We hope to keep Shammiji’s relationship with Kashmir alive. We hope his friends and family would persuade Bollywood to return to the valley with the same love and attachment as the Junglee did all his life,” local travel operator Abdul Hamid said.

And wouldn’t that be wonderful? Bollywood has the budget to film in exotic locations like the Swiss Alps and the Rocky Mountains, but the reality is that the Kashmir valley can match up to any global destination in beauty, serenity and breathtaking panorama. So wake up Bollywood, and smell the fresh, clean air.

Jagmohan Mundhra is no more Hollywood-based Indian filmmaker Jagmohan Mundhra, who made films like Bawandar and Provoked , died of cardiac arrest on September 4 in Mumbai at just 62. His last rites were performed by family and friends, and were attended by Bollywood actresses Deepa Sahi, Deepti Naval and Udita Goswami. Mundhra is survived by his wife and a daughter, who lives in Los Angeles.

Born in 1948 in a conservative Marwadi family, Mundhra studied engineering at IIT Mumbai and then moved to US to do his M.Sc. But his ultimate calling was moviemaking, and in 1982 he ventured into filmmaking with Sanjeev Kumar and Shabana Azmi starrer Suraag , followed by the women-centric film Kamla with Shabana and Deepti Naval in lead roles.

Later he made films like Night Eyes, The Jigsaw Murders, Eyewitness to Murder, Halloween Night

In 2000, Mundhra moved to issuebased movies and the first in the series was Nandita Das starrer and critically , which was based on real story of rape victim Bhanwari Devi

In 2007, he teamed up with Aishwarya Rai to bring on screen the trials and tribulations of London-based Punjabi woman Kiranjit Ahluwalia, a victim of Provoked

In 2007, Mundhra took up yet another sensitive subject for his movie , which talked about the West’s perception of Muslims following 9/11. The movie’s take-off point is the order London police passed to shoot suspected terrorists after the July 7, 2005, London However, Mundhra recently moved to a lighter subject with Govinda Naughty @ 40 also very keen to make a film on Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

Tributes poured in from Bollywood’s actors and actresses, through microblogging site Twitter. Said veteran actress and activist Shabana Azmi: “Sad news. Film-maker Jagmohan Mundhra passed away this morning. Heartfelt condolences to his family. He was one the most subjective director. His Shoot On Sight is a film which is identical to A Wednesday .”

Pooja Bedi tweeted, “Deeply saddened to hear Jagmohan Mundhra passed away! A wonderful man, my first director and the one responsible for me being in show business.”

Vikram Bhatt said, “A prayer for the departed and strength to his family.”

Kabir Bedi tweeted: “Jagmohan Mundhra, friend from my Hollywood years, passes away and I’m deeply sad. Last met at Shammi Kapoor’s funeral. RIP.”

RIP, Jagmohan Mundhra, your legacy in Bollywood will be remembered and revered.

Ranbir and Rishi rock for Pepsi

They’re a popular father-son duo, but Rishi Kapoor and son Ranbir have never shared screen space together. But now for the first time, the actors have shot a commercial for Pepsi, playing father-son roles just like in real life. Sources say that both were professional and comfortable in their roles during the shoots. It seems commercial’s concept involves the hit TV show, Kaun Banega Crorepati, whose music featured in the teaser campaign. Well, considering that this Kapoor clique is now endorsing a big brand, it won’t be a surprise if they’re already adding crores to their kitty!

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What’s the chitchat here between Imran Khan and Deepika Padukone?

Imran: You’ll have to give up high heels if you want to continue acting with me… Deepika: I’ll have some designed for you if you want to continue acting with me.

Pritam wins a double pass to new Hindi film Mere Brother Ki Dulhan

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Cine Talk

An honest effort by Parvin

Film: Sahi Dhande Ghalat

Bande

Cast:Parvin Dabas, Vansh Bhardwaj,AshishNair, KudeepRuhil

Director:Parveen Dabas

Ekdum sahi hai, boss! As Anna Hazare shifts from Tihar to Ramlila Maidan, our cinema has made a far more gradual movement from the ‘artyunintelligible’ grammar of Mani Kaul to the ‘arty-accessible’ language of Parvin Dabas’ film.

This is the land of Shyam Benegal’s social inequalities where politicians pitch their self-interest higher than the good of the country.

Not every do-gooder is a Hazare. Sometime you just have to make do with a benign goon like Rajbir (Parvin Dabas) who breaks legs (shot on mobile phone) and extorts money for his surrogate-father (Sharat Saxena, in his usual excellent form).

When Rajbir and his three sociallyquestionable friends set their hearts on saving their village farmers’ land from urban land-sharks you know this is the land of Sholay brought into the political consciousness of the cinema

of Mrinal Sen and Benegal.

Sahi Dhande… is an immensely ambitious film. Debutant director Parvin Dabas sets out to create a cinema that prods the audiences’ conscience awake without lengthy speeches on corruption and reformation. Dabas keeps the pace uniform and even.

But portions of the narration suffer from a sense of slackened tension. Where a more taut editing pattern would have added considerably to the film’s viewable quotient, Dabas opts to just let the plot flow in the way he deems it right. The absence of overt intervention in making the narration slicker, is both a virtue and a vice in the overall design. While you applaud the film’s objective attitude to the theme you also miss the absence of a deft storytelling.

The quibble is shortlived. You cannot stop yourself from admiring the screenplay (Dabas, Sanyukta Shaikh Chawla) for not succumbing to the temptation of creating an enforced charm in the proceedings. Yes, the plot does take off at a rather incongruous tangent in search of a formal climax where we see Dabas and his compatriots put up a fight with the film’s arch villain in slowmotion splendour, a la Dabangg

Also some of the writing smacks

the Dabas character comes out of jail his friends arrange a girl in a bikini in a bathtub as an antidote to his yearlong celibacy. Jail bin machli, kya??

And Dabas’ girlfriend’s character, a pretentious arty piece with a nose ring to go with her sham attitude, should have been barred from entering the script.

These concessions to audiencewooing apart, Sahi Dhande Galat Bande moves at its own arrogant but endearing pace. Some characters such as the village Taai (Neena Kulkarni) and the corrupt chief minister (Kiron Juneja)’s

are interesting to the point of being liberating for the screenplay.

The lucid camerawork (Anshul Chobey) and the performances add to the film’s energy level. Parvin Dabas, an actor who has consistently been true to his characters, here gets a huge helping hand from his costars.

Sahi Dhande Galat Bande is a kind of unique effort. It teases the conscience awake. It’s a warm and honest film that looks with unblinking directness at issues which are more relevant now than ever.

Subhash K Jha

Bodyguard delivers the goods

Film:Bodyguard

Cast:Salman Khan, Kareena Kapoor,RajBabbar

Director:Siddque

For three years now, every Eid, a Salman Khan movie has become one of the rewards of the festival. Last year we had Dabangg, which despite its simplicity had layers into it; this year we are treated to Bodyguard which isn’t a patch on Dabangg. Despite this, it has enough to hold the attention of festive audiences.

Bodyguard Lovely Singh (Salman Khan) is a nice, honest man of steel who is faithful to Sartaj (Raj Babbar). Sartaj, asks Lovely to guard his daughter Divya (Kareena Kapoor) day and night.

Lovely does his job diligently, but is unawares that Divya serenades him under a pseudonym Chhaya over the phone, and has fallen in love with him. Things get out of control when Sartaj’s enemies try to kill Divya while Sartaj thinks Lovely is trying to kidnap his daughter.

Bodyguard, conceptually, is based on the type of stories that have made

Imtiaz Ali popular - sweet, gentle love stories, where the underlying theme being sacrifice for the sake of love. Yet whereas Imtiaz Ali reveals in a certain quaint subtlety despite the melodramatic nature of his films, Bodyguard director Siddique does not have the skills to pull that off.

The result is a film that has its few funny, slapstick moments but the problem area is the surprise twist in the end. It is an end that does not gel with the pace of the rest of the film and seems cooked up. That is especially true because director Siddique gives no foreshadowing or inclination before of a possibility of a character doing what she does in the end.

However, that would be a problem with urban audiences. As far as rural viewers go, the ending, fantastic as it may be, might actually work for the film. After all isn’t there enough elements of fantasy in the rest of the film like when Salman, going in the opposite direction in a train, simply jumps on to a running train in another direction. If one can digest that, one can do the same for the ending.

A little more effort on the editing table would have eased a lot of things.

Salman fans, however, have much to

cheer. They not only get to see their favourite star beating enemies to pulp, but also get to see his well toned torso, that in the end is revealed after jets of water blow away his shirt, much like the subway wind blew away Marilyn Monroe’s skirt.

Rajat Rawail provides comic relief to the film not just with his antics but also the funny messages on his t-shirts like ‘6 Pack Coming

Soon’ pasted over his fat belly. alman is his well-chiseled self, and Kareena is as good as the script demands of her, which isn’t much. The music is catchy, especially the Himmesh Reshamiya composed song

the chutzpah of a Dabangg, but it pulls itself through to entertain viewers during the festive season.

Satyen K. Bordoloi

Film: That Girl In Yellow Boots

Cast: Kalki Kochelin, Prashant

Prakash, Naseeruddin Shah

Director:AnuragKashyap

The 1960s were a wonderful time for Indian cinema. The government set up the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) to impart cinema education and FFC (Film Finance Corporation) to fund creative cinema. The result – at the beginning of 1969, India saw what is today called ‘The New Indian Cinema’ that resulted in some of the greatest films ever made in the nation. Recently, with the advent of digital filmmaking, little droplets of creative cinema have been foreshadowing another cloud-burst of creativity. However, it needs patronage. Perhaps NFDC (National Film Development Corporation), transformed from FFC, would provide that shot in the arm to extremely talented, but unfinanced filmmakers in India. And The Girl In Yellow Boots (TGIYB), co-funded by NFDC, could be that game changer. A British national of Indian origin, Ruth (Kalki), is in India looking for her dad who had left her when she was young. To fund her trip, she works in a shady massage parlour charging Rs.1000 to give ‘happy endings’ to her customers. She is caught up in her

druggie boyfriend’s mess, but a greater mess awaits her in the discovery of her father.

TGIYB is good news for Indian cinema for many reasons. Firstly, it is

perhaps India’s first commercially released film to be not just entirely shot in digital (LSD was the first) but also shot on cameras that are usually used to shoot stills. Seeing what digital can do on big screen, like LSD, is an experience and lesson in filmmaking.

Secondly, it will perhaps become the second innings of NFDC. The brilliant films produced by its precursor FFC in the 1970s and 1980s will vouch for the veracity of how much creative cinema needs and deserves governmental patronage. In a few months’ time NFDC will also release Dibakar Banerjee’s Shanghai Shot in 13 days, TGIYB is spot on in almost all departments. It is carried forward by a stellar performance from its cast, especially Kalki Kochelin, who’s also the cowriter.

TGIYB is a statement on modern life and society. The character of Ruth, despite her seeming loss of innocence

A condensed soap opera

Film:MummyPunjabi

Cast: Kirron Kher, Jackie Shroff,DivyaDuttaand KanwaljeetSingh

Director: Pammi Somal

Today there are more soaps on television than the real soaps in people’s homes. Hence, when going to watch films, audiences expect more than a melodramatic, disappointing and condensed soap opera, which is exactly what Mummy Punjabi is.

A Punjabi woman living in Chandigarh - Mummy (Kirron Kher) to most and Baby to a few - tries to raise her two sons and a daughter on her traditional, yet quirky values. She lets her girl loose, but puts a leash on her sons. Her children, obedient as they are, comply. Most of the times things don’t go according to plan, leading to much heartburn for Mummy.

Mummy Punjabi has its heart in the right place - it shows a clash of value systems and how a traditional woman copes with them. The problem is that its execution is not in sync with its intention. What you have thus is a long-winded, simple and caricaturised soap opera that you see on TV which has been condensed to two hours. The result is that in the relentless action in the film, there’s not a second’s breathing space. This would have been all right, had

it not been for a terrible script that tries to do too much. That suits director and writer Pammi Somal, who has written many soaps for serials. It, however, does not work for big screen audiences.

The only saving grace in the film is Kirron Kher, who despite very little scope in terms of the story and direction, does her best to keep the film together. It is however sad, that one of the best actress on Indian screen, a woman whose full range of talents have been exploited in masterpieces like Khamosh Pani, is given such caricatured roles in badly directed films. Bollywood can, and should, do better for her.

Kanwaljeet Singh, as a chilled out father, and Divya Dutta as a gossipy maid do a good job too. But the rest

of the cast seem straight out of a TV serial with big-screen aspirations in their eyes.

Even bit roles done by the likes of Jackie Shroff, Satish Kushik, Gurdas Mann and Rohit Roy cannot save the film that plays to the gallery in a very predictable script and execution.

and purity, is the purest character in the film. Yet, like a beautiful flower in full bloom, she is trampled upon by a ruthless society that ceaselessly uses her. Her yellow boots becomes a metaphor for the beauty and cheer that is stolen from her.

Violence, though rarely physical, is inflicted upon her till she becomes insensitive to the innocence of another like her. Her trampling seems complete, till in the end she redeems himself, by refusing to act as per her impulse.

This is a typical Anurag Kashyap film as it returns us to the themes that form the backdrop in many of his films - sex, drugs and violence. The quirky characterization and the pun of language is all there. Who else can pun a name ‘Chittiappa Gowda’ and pull it off, or juxtapose the banal telephonic conversation of a chatty woman and serious confrontation on phone between mother and daughter at the same time?

Yet, the film is also atypical of Anurag for unlike his other film he exercises great restraint. And it is in this control, of not ending the film in violence, lies its greatest power.

The time is ripe for another cinematic revolution in the country, where filmmakers are not shackled by nepotistic and uncreative production houses and corporate houses married only to profits. Hopefully, TGIYB will prove to be the first, in the many to follow.

This is a case of a film that perhaps should not have been made. And if it had to be made, it should have been made as a TV soap. In that case, it would have turned out to be a blockbuster.

Satyen K. Bordoloi

Two hopefuls, one dog and the deep blue sea…

It looked so easy on TV……you put the line attached to the rod thingy in the water, wait a few minutes for the big tug, and when you feel it, you reel in your dinner!

what they do, apart from looking pretty) and negotiating the complicated knots that we were taught, with our semi-frozen fingers. With everything (sort-of) in place, we cut up the pilchards, which are smaller fish used for bait, and loaded a succulent looking piece onto the hook. Proud of our initial efforts, we cast the line into the water and waited. About an hour and several attempts later, we felt a tug! Excitedly, hubby started reeling in the catch and I braced myself, ready to help him with the huge fish. It soon became clear that instead of catching, we were the ones who were caught - on some reeds in the water.

After untangling our line from the reeds, hubby tried another tactic. He put the head end of the pilchard onto the hook, explaining patiently and convincingly to me that the fish out there may look into the eyes of our bait fish, fall madly in love, get hooked, and then we could reel it in. This sounded perfectly logical to my frozen brain, so we gave it another half an hour with this technique.

No luck. Hubby’s next tactic was to use the tail end of the pilchard. Apparently, any fish seeing another fish’s tail swishing at him would become furious and would want to take a big bite out of that cheeky fish. While this explanation somehow did not seem steeped in logic, I accepted it, bearing in mind that as a man, his pride rested on catching a fish. Aside from the inherent hunter/gatherer instinct, my ever-optimistic hubby had insisted that I pack the ingredients for two different types of marinade for the many fish that he was planning on catching. After all, there would be nothing worse than having lots of fish and no spices, right…..?

BY DEEPA GOPINATH

A few weeks ago, hubby and I decided that it was time for a mini-break. Our last holiday over Christmas was but a distant, fading memory and we decided it was time to escape from the inner-city madness and go coastal for a couple of days. The four-legged member of our family, Cookie the stumpy little Jack Russell Terrier, expressed his desire to join us. Actually, Cookie probably doesn’t know what a holiday is per se, but we decided it was about time he was introduced to that incredible thing - the beach. So after securing some dog-friendly accommodation, arguing over and finally deciding on which car to take, and packing the boot full of both human and canine delicacies, we headed off to Greenwell Point at the south coast of NSW.

One of our objectives on this trip was to try a spot of fishing. It looked so easy on TV……you put the line attached to the rod thingy in the water, wait a few minutes for the big tug, and when you feel it, you reel in your dinner! Fool-proof! We arrived in Greenwell Point in the evening

Aside from the inherent hunter/ gatherer instinct, my ever-optimistic hubby had insisted that I pack the ingredients for two different types of marinade for the many fish that he was planning on catching.

and stayed at Angler’s Rest, partly chosen for its highly inspirational and appropriate name. As you can imagine, being brought up in south Indian Brahmin families, neither of us were raised to be knowledgeable and adept in the art of fishing. Personally, my domestic education consisted of how to make authentic rasam and Rangoli Drawing 101, among other similarly indoors-y things. With this in mind, the next morning all three of us excitedly trooped off to the local service station, apparently the place to go for all things fishing in Greenwell Point. Despite being told that it was not possible to hire a rod, with grand dreams of 2kg salmon and sea bass, we stuck with the plan and invested in a bright red (because anything that is red goes faster) fishing rod instead. Assuming some basic knowledge, the nice service station owner proceeded to talk to us about tides, species of fish, deep sea vs. river fishing, etc. Our bewildered faces soon gave away the plot, and he switched over to an Idiot’s Guide explanation of how to get started.

So $60 later, armed with basic equipment and even more basic knowledge, we headed down to the water’s edge and claimed a small jetty to try our hand at this ‘sport’. The best part of the first half hour was spent loading the line onto the rod (not as easy as the professionals make it look), working out where the sinkers and the swivel go (still not quite sure

Two hours on, a little more frozen, still fishless and having donated a few hooks to the reeds, we decided to call it quits. To add to our humiliation, we realised that there were chunks of meat missing from the piece of pilchard that we had been using as bait. Evidently, the fish were out there, but what we saw as a fishing expedition, they saw as feeding time! And so it was that the three of us trudged into the local fish shop with heads hanging low and tails (both literal and metaphoical) between legs to buy some fish fillets for dinner. And what was Cookie doing all this time? Being the ever obedient man’s best friend, he sat patiently on the jetty with us, shivering silently and probably wondering why these humans were sitting in the cold for hours holding that ridiculous looking stick, when all three of us could be happily curled up on the couch in front of the heater. Actually, he was the only one who was rewarded during this whole experience, although it’s a sad day when most of the bait ends up as the dog’s dinner!

It’s a piece of cake, but only as long the fish decide to take the bait, as these holidaymakers discover