2012-01 Sydney (2)

InDIAn LInK

PuBLISHER

Pawan Luthra

EDITOR

Rajni Anand Luthra

ASSISTAnT EDITORS

Sheryl Dixit

MELBOuRnE

Preeti Jabbal

COnTRIBuTORS

Usha Ramanujam Arvind, Darshak Mehta, Uttam Mukherjee, Nitika Sondhi, Petra O’Neill, Noel G deSouza, Dilip Jadeja, Ritam Mitra, Shafeen Mustaq, Sandip Hor, Saroja Srinivasan, Minnal Khona, Shraddha Arjun

ADVERTISInG MAnAGER

Vivek Trivedi 02 9262 1766

ADVERTISInG ASSISTAnT

Nitika Sondhi 02 9279 2004

DESIGn

Danielle Cairis

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

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On day three of the Sydney Test between India and Australia, the Indian team had all but capitulated and was going through the motions of fighting an important cricket battle. However, near Bay 13 (or where the Hill used to be), a battle royale forged on between two groups of supporters. The newly organised Swami Army had their group of supporters and the traditional dhol player on one side of the aisle, and dividing them from the original Swamy Army were a group of amused (and yes, reasonably well imbibed) Australian supporters. Two armies for the demoralized Indian cricket team: one Swami with an ‘i’ and the other, still a Swamy Army with a ‘y’.

Why are there so many ‘I’s in anything Indian in Australia? “I want to start an organisation”, “I want to be a leader”, “I want to represent my community” and yes, even, “I want to start a newspaper for the Indians in Australia”.

While these questions will have many answers, ranging from ‘I can do a better job’ or ‘I can create a better environment for my fellow Indians’ or ‘I am simply better than my competition’, the question that needs to be asked is, why not? Indians as such have never been in an autocratic or a singular regime in India at least since 1947, and love

By PAWAN LUTHRA

their democratic traditions of having an opinion on anything and may I say, everything. It is their strong belief in themselves which often makes them arrive in their new home in Australia with little more than a few hundred dollars, and then go on to establish a rock solid base. They do have a strong opinion of themselves, often find it difficult to be accepted in the mainstream and so, they work closely with their local Indian communities.

The two leading Indian umbrella organisations, the United India Association (UIA) and the Council of Indian Australians (CIA) are both vying to gain public attention and acceptance. Yes, there is an ‘I’ in both, and the acrimony between them is an open secret. Yet, both of them are committed to serving the needs of local Indian Australians, be it through social activities such as seniors’ forums or health forums, or through celebrations of Indian milestones such as Republic or Independence Day. The two associations often mirror each other and so are able to offer the local community more.

While local Indian Australians will enjoy these offerings and those more involved with the community will have more gossip to share around, it is vitally important that organisations purporting to represent Indian Australians, be it the UIA or the CIA or even the AIBC, are open and transparent about their workings. Their management team should enunciate their vision clearly, understand that they are governed by Australian consumer laws and be open to any examination by the community, members or non-members. Their leaders need to allow new blood to take over in a transparent way; they need to table internally at least, as to any benefits or conflicts of interest they face as leaders or Presidents of their association. This will ensure respect for the voluntary positions they hold. They need to understand that they are custodians of the office which they hold for the Indian Australian community, and any misconduct not only reflects badly on them, but their associations/councils, and then to the entire Indian Australian community.

Meanwhile, may the armies of both the Swamies (the one with the ‘i’ and the one with the ‘y’) expand; the Indian cricket team needs all the help it can get.

What’s On

REPUBLIC DAY-AUSTRALIA DAY

Republic Day

Thur 26 Jan All Indian nationals are invited to celebrate India’s Republic Day at the residence of the Consul General of India (Sydney) at No. 2 Pleasant Avenue, East Lindfield, from 9.00 am. There will be a flag hoisting ceremony, singing of the National Anthem and reading of the speech of the President of India.

CIA celebration

Sun 29 Jan The Council of Indian Australians celebrate India’s Republic Day and Australia Day at Bowman Hall, Blacktown, 6.30pm – 11.00pm.

Tickets Keyur Desai 0433 991 974.

LECTURE

Lecture series by Unani Medicine scholar

Former Dean Faculty of Unani Medicine, Aligarh Muslim University (India), Padma shri Prof. Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, is visiting Australia for a series of lectures this month. He will speak at the Centre for Complementary Medicine Research (CompleMED), University of Western Sydney, during a symposium on the scope and understanding of Unani Medicine at Campbelltown Campus, UWS. On 28 Jan, he will attend the Annual Sir Syed Day Function of AMU Alumni Association of Australia. On 29 Jan, he will address at the meeting of Urdu Academy of Australia, Sydney. Details email Syed Ziaur Rahman, Z.Rahman@uws.edu.au

Gandhi Oration at UNSW

Mon 30 Jan To commemorate Martyrs’ Day, the University of New South Wales will hold its inaugural Gandhi Oration, to be delivered by Aboriginal activist Prof. Patrick Dodson. Arrive at 6:00pm for a 6:30pm start, at Leighton Hall, John Niland Scientia Building, UNSW. RSVP: pvcinternational@unsw.edu.au by Wednesday 25 January 2012 (This is a free event and everyone is welcome; however, RSVPs are essential). The Gandhi Oration will be preceded by a remembrance ceremony at the Gandhi bust in the USBW Library Lawn at 5.30pm, to commemorate the

anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination on 30 January 1948.

STAGE

Sri Purandaradasa aradhane

Sun 12 Feb Singing competition for children.    Venue: Ermington Community Hall, 8 River Road Ermington.

time: 10 am to 1.00 pm

age groups: 5-8 years, 9-12 years and 13-16 years

Entry fee: $10 per participant

Last date for entry: 31st January 2012

Sun 19 Feb Sri Purandaradasa aradhane

Venue: Ermington Community hall, 8 River Road Ermington.

time: 9.00 am to 2.00 pm

Details Chandrika Subramanyam 02 8677-7178

SCREEN

Western Union Short Film Competition

Film-makers and digital content creators are invited to submit a short film based on the theme ‘Connections’. Winning films will be screened at the Bollywood & Beyond Film Festival 2012 in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Auckland. Winners from Australia and New Zealand earn a trip to Bombay, the home to Bollywood. The Indian winner earns a trip to Melbourne to present his film at the festival. Winning films are broadcast on SBS in Australia, Triangle/ Stratos in New Zealand and UTV Bindass in India. Last date for submission 28 Feb 2012. Details at www. indianfilmfestival.com.au

MISC

Relocation notice: Consulate General of India, Sydney

The Consulate General of India in Sydney has temporarily relocated to Level 10, 190 George Street, Sydney, NSW 2000 until further notice. Inconvenience caused is sincerely regretted. Public dealing hours for consular services will remain unchanged as 9:30 am to 12:30 pm.

India Club’s information session on domestic violence

Sun 12 Feb India Club’s Indian Community Forum, together with Police Superintendent and Commander of The Hills Local Area Command Mr. Philip Flogel, is hosting an information session on Emotional Abuse and Domestic Violence, 2.00pm at Epping Leisure & Learning Centre, 1 Chambers Court, Epping (below Epping Library). Details Shubha Kumar 02 9873-1207; 0402 257 588.

HOLI MELA 2012

23-25 Mar 2012 Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia announces the 10th anniversary of its annual Holi Mahotsav at Sydney’s Darling Harbour. The three-day long festivities will include events for school groups, musical performances, art exhibitions, cultural diversity workshops, yoga and meditation sessions, and the playing of Holi with coloured powder. Details 1300 242 826.

EXHIBITION

Love Lace

Until April 2012 Powerhouse Museum presents groundbreaking lace works in a variety of materials. Indian artists Yogesh Purohit and Golnar Roshan are featured.

FUNDRAISER

A cricket match for charity

Sun 5 Feb To raise awareness about organ and tissue donation, the NSW Indian Welfare Association presents Indian Oz 11 vs Australian Transplant Cricket Team, ay Sydney Uni Cricket Ground, 11.00am – 4.00pm. Prof. Richard Allen from Sydney University and the Organ and Tissue Donating Authority are throwing their weight behind this event, at which Mrs. Robyn Hookes (wife of David Hookes, a well known top level Australian cricket player who donated his organs following his premature death) will be Chief Guest.  A special attendance also by Swami Army. Details Uma Srinivasan 0466 590 784.

Redevelopment disrupts Little India trading

work in the area and in surrounding streets; however this is causing road blockages, limited access to the shops and limited parking spaces. All of this has impacted on business and subsequently the health and well-being of traders in that area, according to Manoj Kumar.

“Some traders have closed their shops while others are forced to consider leaving the area due to a drastic drop in business,” he said.

Melbourne’s iconic multicultural hub ‘Little India’, in Foster Street, Dandenong is facing threats to its existence, according to community activist Manoj Kumar. The Little India precinct started in 1980 with establishment of the first Indian grocery and video shop, followed by the opening of Punjab Sweet Shop and Roshan’s Fashions. Today this business hub is an eclectic mix of about 37 shops that provide Indian food and fashion, Bollywood movies along

with Arabic grocery stores, an Australian tattoo shop, African hairdressing shop and Cambodian coffee shop. The area’s proximity to Dandenong station and easy accessibility has attracted patrons from all over Victoria in the past. Famously known as ‘Little India’, this vibrant street is of significant value to the South Asian community.

Due to redevelopment of the area by Vic Urban, Little India is now facing threats to its existence. Vic Urban has started construction

Manpreet wins Media Award for Excellence

The year 2011 ended on a very positive note for SBS Punjabi’s host Manpreet Kaur Singh. On December 14 she received the prestigious Media Award for Excellence from Nicholas Kotsiras, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship. Manpreet Kaur was recognised for her work ranging from investigative reporting on violence against Indian students in Australia in recent years, to inspirational stories of friendship between Indians and Australians. Manpreet migrated to Australia in 1991, and has worked for 18 years as the host on the SBS Punjabi programme, currently holding the position of Executive Producer at SBS. Over the years Manpreet has excelled in positive reporting while covering a variety of topics ranging from public interest, social justice and cultural cohesion. In 2009 when Australia came under media scrutiny with incidents of violence against international students, Manpreet initiated an investigation into the number of suspicious deaths of international students, demanding Freedom of Information from the Department of Immigration & Citizenship. (The Department replied after 6 months of legal letters, emails, etc, that there were 183 deaths between 2003-2009). She conducted

numerous interviews with victims of violence/police authorities/listeners and also asked the question on why female students from India were not represented in the statistics of violence against Indian students.

Among many stories, Manpreet received commendation for her heart-rending interview with Harpreet Kaur, mother of Gurshan, the 3-year-old toddler who was killed by their roommate. She rose to fame with her landmark story of pioneer Sikh-Aussie Pooran Singh’s ashes being taken back to his native Punjab, more than 63 years after his death and cremation in Australia in 1947. The Pooran Singh story has now been included as an educational resource for high school students and teachers by the Education Services of Australia.

Manpreet was nominated as a finalist for the UN Media Peace Awards for three consecutive years - 2008, 2009 and 2010, the only non-English entry at the awards each time.

Manpreet is also a columnist with sikhchic.com and writes for several reputed Indian publications. She lives in Melbourne with her husband and three children, who are very proud of her achievements.

Since the construction work began, traders have had several meetings with Vic Urban and Planning Minister Mathew Guy; Shadow Planning Minister Brian Tee and Jude Perera MP, and have also raised this issue in Parliament. A letter was handed to Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu, and he was also made aware of the problems. In addition to this, a petition signed by over 800 supporters was submitted in Parliament on December 6, followed by a protest held outside the Parliament House recently.

Planning Minister Matthew Guy said, when responding to questions about Little India in Parliament, “We are doing what we can to resolve those on-the-ground issues and to ensure that in the first instance people know Dandenong’s Little India precinct is trading, is operating well, is a place to visit and is a terrific addition to central Dandenong.”

According to Manoj Kumar, who

represents the Labor Party, traders are demanding immediate rent relief, as street closures for over two years have caused significant losses to the trading. The RCD project is a 15-20 year project so they need the assurance that traders will be able to operate without further disruption to the business in future. Traders are also demanding a fair go as allegedly only some traders were paid compensation for their businesses, while the remaining ones were left in limbo. They also want assurance that the new development will not affect the iconic site negatively and that they will be relocated properly once the shops are demolished. The community is very concerned as it does not want to lose this unique multicultural icon and would prefer it to remain as Foster Street in Dandenong, with value addition. A recent report suggests that Vic Urban has sent a letter to all traders offering six months rent relief. “While this initiative is welcome, it certainly is not enough to save and protect this unique icon,” said Manoj Kumar

In a bid to drum up customers, Little India will be promoted in Indian newspapers and have a website created for the precinct in an attempt to placate worried traders. Dominic Arcaro, the planning authority’s development officer, said that Little India was one of the area’s most popular attractions.

SBS’s Manpreet Singh with Nicholas Kotsiras, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship.

Little India traders fight for survival

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Never a dull

moment

As Her Excellency Ms. Sujatha Singh, High Commissioner of India to Australia, leaves for her next posting to Germany, Indian Link exclusively discussed various issues pertaining to her term. Ms. Singh spoke candidly to DARSHAK MEHTA on her tenure and its challenges.

Darshak Mehta: Please tell us what was the highlight of your posting?

Sujatha Singh: All of it. Truly. This has been one of my most eventful assignments. It’s been a privilege to work hard at forging a strategic partnership that has so much unrealised potential and to start seeing the results. There was never a dull moment, which speaks for itself in telling you how dynamic the relationship is, how much is happening in all sectors – be it trade, investment, energy, mineral resources, education, academic exchanges, culture, tourism, people to people contacts, community affairs, migration…

DM: What are your feelings on the success of the uranium sales to India?

SS: I’m glad my tenure here was long enough to see the policy change happening. We now need to negotiate a bilateral civil nuclear co-operation Agreement, which when successfully concluded, will have an impact way beyond uranium exports and nuclear energy.

DM: How has the relationship between India and Australia developed during your tenure? What have been its successes and failures?

SS: The development of any relationship is a process that takes time, commitment and patience from all stakeholders.

The ability to weather differences of view, ups and downs, is one of the indications of the strength and maturity of the relationship.

Successes? The enormous growth in trade and investment –both of which have grown several fold over the past four years, a reflection of the fast changing profile of the Indian economy, slowly but surely coming into its own. Australia is now our 8th largest trading partner, with nearly 80% of the trade being mineral resources needed for our industrial development; the significant growth in Indian investment, especially in mineral resources and connected infrastructure; the decision to forge a strategic partnership; the partnership in energy, including clean energy and mining; significantly growing people to people contacts; new policy dialogues; growing resources being put into understanding where the other comes from; the growing number of high level exchanges, both at the federal as well as the state level, including at the highest level at multilateral Summits such as the G-20 and the EAS; the opening of the Consulate General in Perth, the second new Consulate we’ve opened here in five years after Melbourne; a significant strengthening of our diplomatic presence here in the High Commission, all of which gives you an indication of GOI’s commitment to this relationship.

Failures? I don’t see anything

as a failure. What one may perhaps perceive as a failure today can turn into a success tomorrow, with enough will to address the issues. It’s been a team effort, with inputs from several sources, including our Consulates and the vibrant Indian community in Australia. It’s truly been a privilege working with all the people, departments, organisations and institutions involved to jointly make all this happen.

DM: What are your views on the outsourcing of visas and consular services?

SS: The outsourcing of visa, passport and consular services has been important in making the process more people friendly and efficient. Four years back when I arrived, I used to literally get hundreds of e-mails every month complaining about delays of three months or more; these are now down to just a few and we attend to these promptly. Turnaround times have reduced sharply. We were able to accede to the longstanding request to allow credit card payments and offer many other conveniences as well. True, there is a service fee involved, but

we’ve streamlined the process and made it much more efficient. It is important to realise that our service charges are still lower than those charged by several other countries. This also goes for our visa fees, and one should remember, much of the fee structure is based on reciprocity too.

I think people who are critical of our consular services should pause to compare these with what they receive from other foreign embassies. It saddens me when the same Indian, who is unfailingly polite to foreigners can behave quite differently with

Above: Sujatha Singh won the backing of Australia’s Indian community Right: A bit of bhangra in the name of India-Australia friendship

a fellow Indian, or for that matter, be quite rude and hectoring when dealing with the Indian High Commission or the Consulates.

DM: The student issue dominated a large part of your tenure. In hindsight was there another way to handle the situation?

SS: This was one of the more difficult and complex issues that I dealt with where the complete picture emerged only slowly, over a period of months, of all the factors, circumstances, institutions and policies in play. And all this against a backdrop of relentless media focus.

It was a learning experience in every sense of the word, for everyone concerned. I am hopeful that the lessons to be learned have been learnt.

It was also an issue that I felt strongly about as a parent, as both my children have studied overseas. I felt strongly for those students who were affected and for their families. I am glad that it’s behind us now, and that measures have been put into place to deal with the various factors that contributed to the incidents that took place.

DM: In the next 10 years, other than a better relationship between the two countries, what else would you like to see happen between India and Australia? SS: Everything I’d like to see happening is already in the process of happening. It takes time.

DM: What are your views on the plethora of Indian organisations?

SS: Given the rapidly growing Indian community and the diversity that exists in our country, this is inevitable and not necessarily a negative thing. There is comfort to be had by newly arrived migrants from the company of

Jahanpana, we will miss you!

BY DArshAk mEhTA

The Indian High Commissioner Smt Sujatha Singh is about to pull up stumps in Australia and head to the land of Franz Beckenbauer (Germany). I don’t think her knowledge of soccer rivals her understanding of cricket but if I was a betting man, I would not put it past her to have frank and informed discussions (“babu” speak for arguments) with “Der Kaiser” himself, by the end of her term there.

When Ms. Singh came to Australia in August 2007, her knowledge of cricket was superficial. Tolerating and amusing her cricket mad spouse, Sanjay – currently, her boss. Yes, one of India’s power couples in the diplomatic service – both from the Indian Foreign Service. Now, at the end of her term (which is imminent), she is confident enough to discuss the nuances of cricket with the likes of the legendary Greg Chappell and Steve Waugh.

This embodies Sujatha Singh superbly. A shy, calm and smart woman who applies herself, and by sheer dint of application is always on top of her brief.

Ms. Singh has understood Australia better than a lot of her predecessors. She has travelled far and wide, met people in lofty places and many others at ground level. She has a common touch. She can be a tough cookie and she can be a softie.

But, she has been a wonderful ambassador of Mother India.

I reckon (and Steve Waugh agrees!) that she probably has been paid a royalty by Aamir Khan – so many copies of his Lagaan has she distributed to the high and mighty in this land.

Ad nauseam, Ms. Singh has spoken about the three “C”s that once linked India and Australia: Cricket, Curry and the Commonwealth, but she has extolled the need to go beyond these and engage across the board in all areas.

She has also been a good firefighter when the reprehensible student attacks were raging. She met everyone concerned, invested a lot of time in understanding and analysing the issue, listened to students and visited students who had been attacked. She urged the Governments concerned to concentrate on ensuring they did not continue and to apprehend and prosecute the culprits. Her point to the Premiers and the Prime Minister seemed simple: how does it matter to the student who was targeted, whether he was injured as a victim of crime

or a victim of racism? Please make it stop and make it go away – full stop. Their safety was paramount.

The message got through, eventually.

Ms. Singh has had success with the intractable uranium supply issue - after 4 years of dogged, daunting behindthe-scenes work. In the end, it may well have been the Yanks who influenced the Australian Government more than she did, but, by Jove, she did her damnedest in the face of heavy odds.

The bilateral relationship between Australia and India has really taken off. If the numerous ministerial visits on both sides are a yard-stick, we are on the cusp of deepening and meaningful engagement for which Ms. Singh deserves credit.

One of her failures has been also due to the same virtue which has resulted in her success in other issues - her sense of inclusion. She has tolerated the myriad of Indian associations and listened to them. As most readers would know a lot of these associations have more “leaders” than followers and almost none of them are capable of conducting a fair-dinkum election under the supervision of the Australian Electoral Commission.

Why she continued to give them credibility, attend their functions or took any notice of them beats me?

On a personal note, I confess that as far as she is concerned, I am not the most objective person going around. My wife and I count her as a friend and therefore the adage “there are none so blind as those that will not see” applies richly to us.

She has been absolutely rock-like in support of the educational charity, The LBW Trust, which this writer chairs.

Of course, there are a couple of things that jar – are you perfect? For one, it can be her ability to resort to “babu” lingo or bureaucratese. I try and take the Mickey, when she is doing so - without realising that she is!

Another is her sheer faith in one of the world’s more erratic and indifferent performers – the Indian cricket team.

But, to me, Ms. Singh’s greatest and most galling failure is that despite her assurances (at the start of her term), we are no closer to eating the delectable Alphonso mangoes of India, here in Australia. Of course, she deflects the blame on others, but I think it is simply unpardonable!

(Warning: The author considers himself a fawning friend of the High Commissioner and therefore exceedingly ill-suited to being objective!)

mentoring and guiding the younger generation, some of whom may not be from well off backgrounds. Many of them are also, or if they are not, should be active in helping people in distress - senior citizens, victims of domestic violence, students.

No matter how many organisations there are, what is important is that they all come together and speak with one voice on issues of importance, or on days that all Indians celebrate, such as Independence or Republic Day.

Our overseas Indian communities in countries all over the world, are sources of great strength. It is with great pride that GOI celebrates their successes and achievements. They are defined by an ethos of hard work, strong family values and an innate ability to integrate well into any country that they chose to make home, and contribute to its social and economic fabric.

Many of them retain strong links with India and are instrumental in bringing new ideas, investments and technologies back home. All of us who come from India or have a link, through our parents or through our forefathers, regardless of when they migrated, have a bond with the mother country, and with a civilisation that is one of the richest and most diverse in the world. We need to build on this common heritage and be as inclusive as we can in doing so.

It is also important that any organisation, regardless of who runs it, is transparent and open in all its dealings. In a day and age when Freedom of Information and the Right to Information are playing such a large role in our lives, I think the time has come for the all relevant details to be on the web, and for there to be a regular and orderly change of leadership so as to infuse fresh blood and vitality and bring in the younger generation, as well as newer migrants. Also, that organisations do not fight with each other or individuals polarise and divide the community for reasons of ego or personal gain. A community, by definition, consists of numerous individuals, all with points of view. One needs to respect this and be civilised in our dealings with one another.

Hopefully, coming years will see the community being increasingly represented at the political level and in Parliament. Coming from the largest democracy in the world, I think this is only a matter of time.

DM: Will India ever win a Test series in Australia, in your lifetime?

SS: Australia is a formidable force at home but I have great faith in our team and our ability in this great game. I have no doubt that we will learn the right lessons.

DM: What is your one lasting memory from this tenure?

SS: I have many good memories, but if I had to choose one, it would be the warmth and the friendship that I have received from the people of this beautiful country.

BY gReg chApell mbe

My wife Judy and I first met the High Commissioner of India in Australia at the home of our good friend Darshak Mehta in Mosman in 2008, not long after we had returned from India. We both found her a very warm, engaging and interesting person.

Subsequently I met her many times at social functions and a number of times at the Sydney Test match where she began to learn understand and enjoy the game of cricket. I found her questions on the nuances of the game quite insightful.

Late last year I launched my autobiography entitled Fierce Focus which covered all aspects of my cricket life including the three amazing years that Judy and I spent living in India while I worked, first with the Indian team and then with the Rajasthan Cricket Association.

Out of courtesy and friendship I invited Sujatha to the launch of my book. Perhaps cheekily I asked if she would say a few words at the launch. I was honoured that she agreed to attend and flattered that she agreed to say a few words as the representative of the Indian people in Australia.

Sujatha was most generous in her words of support and I was touched that she spoke so warmly about the effort that Judy and I made to make a difference in our time in India. It meant a lot to us both and only served to reinforce the many happy memories we have of our time in India.

We both congratulate her and wish her well in her new posting and look forward to the day when our paths cross again.

BY JohN fAUlkNeR

I appreciate this opportunity to place on record my personal thanks and appreciation for the work of HE Sujatha Singh, who will soon be leaving Australia after four and a half years of distinguished service as India’s High Commissioner.

Simply put, Sujatha has been an extraordinarily effective advocate for India. Her accomplishments include the Strategic Partnership agreed by Prime Ministers in 2009, the 2009 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation, the defence policy talks in 2010 and 2011, the commencement of FTA negotiations in 2011 and bringing Australia and India together to reinvigorate the Indian Ocean

Rim Association for Regional Cooperation.

Sujatha has also worked tirelessly for the Indian community -   for example, by ensuring the safety of Indian students and visitors to Australia, and by encouraging SBS to add Hindi News to its daily diet of foreign news programs.

I personally appreciate Sujatha’s support for a wide range of charity events – including our fundraising efforts for Oxfam, where Sujatha has been a consistently generous supporter.

Just a couple of weeks ago Sujatha and I watched a session of the Second Test - Australia vs India - in the M.A. Noble Stand at the SCG. Of course, the views I expressed to Sujatha about cricket remain strictly confidential and highly classified!

I sincerely wish Sujatha well on her next posting to Berlin, and I thank her for her important and lasting contribution as High Commissioner here in Australia, and for her friendship.

steve AUgh Ao

Her Excellency Mrs Sujatha Singh has had a good innings as India’s High Commissioner to Australia. She has travelled extensively in her 4 year plus term, and, I venture to guess, knows Australia better than most diplomats. I know that she has consulted extensively with the Indian community which holds her in high regard and she has been a wonderful advocate for India in her stint, here.

I have had the pleasure of meeting her and getting to know her and it has not merely been in a cricket environment. In her own quiet and charming way, she has strongly represented and advanced India’s interests, my Indian friends tell me. She has handled various crises in her term extremely adeptly.

Soft power has been one of her themes. India after all has a rich culture and cuisine and she has ensured that virtually every Australian who asked (and some even who did not!) got a copy of Aamir Khan’s Lagaan

Of course, I have seen her a bit at the cricket as well - where she is known to be highly emotional, like most Indians, I know!

It is the role of a Diplomat to be a roving Ambassador and I guess it is an indicator of how highly she is thought of by her bosses back home that she has been posted next to Germany – one of India’s strongest trade partners.

I know that all of us who got to know her will miss her and I wish her all the best.

I am sure that one day, in the near future, she can be an excellent Foreign Secretary of India!

selliNg iNdiA’s soft poweR

effective AdvocAte foR iNdiA

Meeting Indian students with India’s External Affairs Minister SM Krishna

All ears for members of the community

At the launch of SBS TV’s Hindi services

At a Melbourne gurudwara

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A better way

ANtaR, a not-for-profit organisation, seeks to restore Australia’s indigenous community to a life

Not so long ago, I mean about 500 to 200 million years ago, Gondwanaland was a supercontinent. It encompassed a huge land mass including Australia and India. In this context, the First Australians and people from the Indian subcontinent share a common past!

History of colonisation

Willem Janszoon is thought to be the first European to have sighted and landed on the Australian mainland. He was a Dutch navigator who landed in 1606 on the western shore of Cape York. Although the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines of what they called “New Holland”, occupation and settlement was done by the English. Most of us know of James Cook’s discovery and the First Fleet that followed, with convicts, officers and marines and their families under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. A settlement was established at Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788, Australia’s national day. Many more fleets arrived and the population grew steadily in subsequent decades; the continent was explored (Burke and Willis, Hamilton Hume, Charles Sturt to name a few) and an additional five self-governing colonies were established. On January 1, 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia.

Colonisation was a bitter and bloody struggle. The arrival of the colonisers resulted in occupation of traditional lands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, without their consent. Australia’s indigenous population was severely affected by the occupation, destruction of lands and food resources, and by introduced European diseases. Unlike other British colonies (such as New Zealand), the British never signed a treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Supporting the disadvantaged

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people remain at a

significant disadvantage even today. Recently I met Rajiv Viswanathan, an active member of Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) and co-author of a paper issued by the organisation titled, A Better Way: Building healthy, safe and sustainable communities in the Northern Territory through a community development approach.

ANTaR is a grassroots but national non-government, notfor-profit, community-based, advocacy organisation dedicated specifically to the rights – and overcoming the disadvantage –of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through lobbying, public campaigns and advocacy. It focuses on changing the attitude and behaviour of non-indigenous Australians, so that the rights and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are respected and affirmed across all sections of society. ANTaR has been working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and leaders on rights and reconciliation issues since 1997.

Sobering statistics

Rajiv quotes some sobering statistics for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: the life expectancy for indigenous males is 59 years compared with 77 years in the non-indigenous population and, for indigenous females, 65 years compared with 82 years. Infant mortality rates are higher, rates of school attendance and completion are lower (45% of indigenous Australians complete year 12, versus 86% for nonIndigenous Australians), and the employment rate is 48% (compared to 72% for other Australians). And Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are significantly over-represented in prisons. These are significant disadvantages and the underlying reasons are complex and deep rooted. However Rajiv points out that a significant factor was the series of government policies dating back to colonisation and which, through the decades, has contributed to severely destabilising communities and social structures.

Change, at long last

Some changes have taken place in the last 30 to 40 years that began in the 1960s. In 1967, the Australian people voted at a

referendum to give powers to the Federal government to make laws for Aboriginal people, in addition to people of other races. Other key milestones were the recognition of Native Title Rights in the early 1990s, increased public participation in the Reconciliation process, and the national apology by Kevin Rudd to the Stolen Generations.

In spite of this, much remains to be done to enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to overcome a long history of poverty and marginalisation. In 2008, the Federal, State and Territory governments initiated the Closing the Gap program, committing to achieving improvements in indigenous life expectancy, infant mortality, early childhood development, education and employment over the next decade. But government action cannot work on its own – indigenous and non-indigenous communities must themselves be part of the solution. And some Government actions remain as concerns.

Federal government initiatives

The Federal Government brought in the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER) in June 2007 as a response to a perceived crisis in child safety in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory (NT). To many, the intervention involved a range of punitive, top-down, externally imposed measures without appropriate consultation with Aboriginal communities. In November, the Government released its proposals for the future of NTER, after a consultation process that began earlier in the year with its paper, Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory

In A Better Way Rajiv and his colleagues advocate for a community-driven, “bottom up” approach to drive greater benefits for indigenous people as has been demonstrated internationally, particularly the US. In a community development approach, Aboriginal people would own, participate in and shape their own development. Governments would work with, rather than for, Aboriginal people by supporting community-centred initiatives, recognising that “initiatives are most successful where communities feel a sense of ownership and pride”.

Changing the Constitution

ANTaR is also campaigning actively for recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia’s Constitution. Although the Constitution is the nation’s defining document, indigenous Australians were excluded from its drafting - and were often discriminated against within the document. Although progress has been made in eliminating some of its entrenched discriminatory provisions, the Constitution remains silent on the history, rights and contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The Federal Government has committed to hold a referendum on constitutional recognition at or before the next Federal election. At a minimum, this could involve

a formal statement of recognition in the Constitution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ prior ownership of, and connection to, the land, and the continuing contribution of their histories, cultures and languages.

A referendum would also give us the chance to make other changes which would benefit all Australians. For example, the Constitution currently gives the Federal Government power to make laws for people of any race, including laws which discriminate against a particular racial group. At a referendum, we could vote to introduce a new anti-discrimination provision, protecting all Australians (including sub-continental communities) from discriminatory laws.

Add your voice

So what can we do to get involved?

Informing ourselves of the situation would be at the top of the list. There are a large number of resources available (see links below). Secondly, on a day-today basis, Reconciliation Action Plans (RAP) can be done at your workplace to introduce symbolic and practical measures in support of reconciliation. Next, you could volunteer your time with one of the many community organisations working in the field.

Lastly, vote wisely when a Referendum is brought out on constitutional recognition. Some of the reforms could be beneficial for our own communities, in addition to demonstrating that Australia is a mature nation, ready to accept all aspects of its past, and to commit itself to a more just and inclusive future.

Governments should work with, rather than for, Aboriginal people by supporting communitycentred initiatives, recognising that “initiatives are most successful where communities feel a sense of ownership and pride”.

of equality and development

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Rajiv Viswanathan suggests a community development approach to Aboriginal advancement, in which Aboriginal people would own, participate in and shape their own development.

Traditional marriage ceremony upholds Indian heritage

BY UsHa raManUJaM arVind

rituals and mantras have always been the bedrock of Hindu culture for centuries, steadfastly carried forward through generations by the oral tradition. No Hindu wedding is complete without elaborate Vedic rites that go hand in hand with euphoric celebrations.

Of late though, the rapidly turning wheels of modernism have prompted time-poor Gen Y brides and grooms to tailor and abbreviate old-fashioned customs to suit the needs of the day.

Not so Gauri Belapurkar and Chaitanya Cheruvu, who took their vows during a three-hour long ceremony at the Dockside Function Centre in Darling Harbour recently. The wedding, a sumptuous combination of Maharashtrian and Telugu rituals, was solemnised by well-known priests Pandit Ramanujacharya (Ramiji) and Sri Vasudevacharya, assisted by Pandit Andhare, Pandit Trivikram and Pandit Shambhu Petersen.

Witnessed by close friends and family, the newly-weds not only conformed to traditional customs laid down in the ancient texts, but also courageously chose to chant the powerful mantras themselves.

Sanskrit verses are veritable tongue twisters even to the initiated; that two relative novices raised abroad and with no knowledge of either Sanskrit or Devnagiri scripts opted to take on the challenge is truly remarkable.

So, what prompted them to take it on? Simply, a friendly challenge by the head priest!

“During our initial consultations with Pandit Rami, the priest in his typical jovial style casually mentioned that in olden times, the bride and the groom would chant these mantras. ‘So would you be able to do it to make it a true traditional Hindu wedding?’ he quipped. The groom offered to take it on and the bride consented readily without realising the magnitude of the effort,” recalled Vijay Belapurkar, proud father of the bride.

“Maybe it was their own intense motivation to do it that way,” he added.

“It all happened in the spur of the moment and we both agreed to this bold venture instantaneously,” explained Gauri.

In addition, the young pair also chose to chant extempore, without any reading aids. “Both of us decided not to read from the book, as it wouldn’t reflect our true sincerity,” Gauri added.

With the help of Pandit Rami, Gauri and Chaitanya set about the task of mastering the shlokas in right earnest. Initial lessons were under the tutelage of his disciple Pt Shambu Petersen. A friend copied the shlokas onto a CD and the couple spent the next three months memorising the texts. Every free moment from their hectic professional schedule was assigned to the task ahead.

Incidentally, Chaitanya is a cardiologist at St Vincent’s Hospital while Gauri is a financial consultant with leading investment bank, UBS. With the blessings of their parents, the pair was introduced through mutual family friends early last year. Their relationship blossomed, culminating with a grand engagement ceremony during Dussehra.

“Both of us are very spiritual ourselves and perhaps this is what brought us together and enhanced our relationship,” said Gauri. “Professionally our lives are completely different, but religion and spirituality are the common meeting ground. It has made us mentally strong to deal with whatever life throws at us. And I

think, we have been able to face ebb and flow of life with greater equanimity.”

Born in India, Gauri and Chaitanya moved to Australia as preschoolers. The groom comes from a conservative Telugu family where strict adherence to rituals is observed, and he regularly attends spiritual discourses on Gita and Vedanta. The bride has also attended Gita discourses conducted by Sri Vasudevacharya more recently.

“I think their traditional upbringing, coupled with the intense desire to master the no doubt helped them succeed,” noted Vijay Belapurkar.

“As the parents of the bride, we are delighted with the wise selection Gauri has made. Having reared her for over 25 years, any parent would give away their daughter with a heavy heart, but we are glad that she would belong to a very noble family deeply embedded in rich Hindu culture,” he added.

Conforming to both Mahrashtrian and Telugu rituals, Pandit Satish Andhare conducted the ceremony in the lead up to Kanya Daan starting with Marathi rituals like Nav Graha Pooja, Dev Devak, Gouri Haar Pooja, Mangalshtak and Varmaala Pandit Rami later took over to conduct the required Telugu rituals, which included

applying jeera jaggery paste during Muhrtham, Maangalya Dhaaranam, Talambralu (rice pouring) and Maha Ashirwad

“On completion, when the bride and the groom chanted ‘Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti’, the entire hall burst into a loud applause and ovation,” recounted aunt Sadhna Belapurkar, who had flown in from India to attend this unique celebration. “In the

sound of that ovation was present the blessings of the friends and well wishers as well as sheer admiration. Rami could not hide his elation in his large frame.” She could not have summed it up better. Inspired by Gauri and Chaitanya’s example, I am sure many more young couples, on the verge of matrimony, would find the task more fulfilling and less daunting.

Gauri Belapurkar and Chaitanya Cheruvu chant their own Vedic hymns at their wedding ceremony

Make some noise for a desi boy....

and an NRI girl!

KK and Hard Kaur pull off a smash hit concert at Sydney

her paternal family’s home, moving to England, and being ostracized by the white girls as well as Indian girls in school), Hard Kaur now sings of the “Paisa phenk, tamasha dekh” class of society, but there’s something about her that tells you she’s made of sterner stuff.

I live my life just how I please Satisfy one person I know, that’s me Work hard for the things I achieve in life

the filled-with-pathos Tadap tadap ke is dil, which captured more than effectively the suffering of lovers Aishwarya Rai and Salman Khan in the hit Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam. Very soon though, he was imbuing his songs with that unique style of his, mixing western beats with eastern sensibilities. Along with the likes of Shaan and Kunal Ganjawala, KK had created that new sound that has now come to dominate Hindi film music. The ‘new kids on the block’ are like a breath of fresh air - so different from the genre which held the fray for decades before. They have made Mukesh, Kishore and Rafi, the greats of a well and truly bygone era.

energy that connected brilliantly with the largely youthful audience, getting them off their seats and dancing in the aisles and leaving them gasping for more. This certainly was the new and vibrant India that everybody seems to be talking about!

Of course, because both have their particular brand of music, they did not sing together, making it a two-in-one concert really. Yet they showed off beautifully the two different genres, both of which are equally popular in the contemporary scene. Go to any party these days, and you cannot miss Desi Boyz or Chaar baj gaye… even if you wanted to!

Hard Kaur is known not only as India’s first female rapper but even more significantly as someone who has revolutionized the hip hop scene in the country. At the Sydney concert, she flaunted her stuff with all the attitude that has made her the success she is today. Clad in a silver beaded jumpsuit that caught the shine of the stage lights beautifully, she presented her dance numbers as the audience took to the aisles.

Being a hard core Punjabi kudi at heart, every day is a party where Hard Kaur is concerned, and no celebration is complete without a dance. Her casual fun-filled lyrics, marked with much Punjabi chutzpah, appealed to the Gen Ys in the audience who have probably said more than once themselves, Mere daddy hain naraaz lekin paari abhi baaki hai!

And when was the last time you referred to a glass as a “glassy”? Only last Saturday night, remember, when you sang:

Ek glassy, do glassy, teen glassy char, You’re drunk as hell, ‘n u don’t feel well,

but u still go bak 2 da bar

Having seen her fair share of challenges in life (such as a father who was murdered in the anti-Sikh riots in 1984, being kicked out of

And never rap fake when I’m on the mike

And yet, one wishes we could have heard her speak just a bit more that night? Ok, not just to hear that English-accent-mixedwith-Punjabi-Hindi Khichidi of hers, which can be quite endearing, but also to learn a bit more of what she’s all about, what her art is all about, and how she went from being Taran Kaur Dhillon to Hard Kaur. Perhaps next time.

Still, with all her contagious enthusiasm, Hard Kaur was certainly entertaining, even for those in the audience like me who came more for KK than for her!

KK, short for Krishnakumar Kunnath, is part of the new breed of singers that has changed the entertainment industry in India. He splashed on to the mainstream music scene in the late 1990s after doing the hard yards singing hundreds of jingles. He made his mark with his very first number,

But KK himself will tell you he is influenced most by Kishore Kumar (notice those initials). And it was clear to see this at his most recent concert, as he channelled Kishore Kumar on stage, bounding up and down just like his mentor, and indulging in all his antics. Yet the memory that the crowds took away that night, will undoubtedly be KK’s music. The successful east-west mix came out beautifully in some of his best-known hits O humdum suniyo re, Yaaron dosti, Kyon aajkal neend kum khyaab zyaada hain, Sajde kiye hain lakhon, Everything’s gonna be golmaal, among others. Other classic KK hits such as Ajab si ajab si and Zindagi do pal ki were supremely hummable. And yet other numbers, out and out love songs, left the audience bathed in bliss: the soulful Bas ek pal, the anguished Dil kyon yeh mera, the mesmerising Jaane yeh kya hua, the melodious O meri jaan. The crowd was on cloud nine when he left the stage briefly and mingled with his fans.

But it was one special number for which the audience requested repeated encores: Tadap tadap ke is dil. Rendered with no accompaniment save a solitary keyboard player, KK translated the pain of love with such pathos that the audience was left with no choice but to ask for more. It was as if they were lut gaye, lut gaye hum KK ki mohabbat mein! The singer responded that he was flattered, but since this was his first Sydney concert, he wanted to present as many of his hits as possible.

And it was a cleverly picked number indeed that ended KK’s stint on stage – the great beat and sheer energy of Make some noise for desi boyz left the hall pulsating, as the audience made plenty of noise for the desi boy of the moment.

Kudos to Manav Saini and Lashkara Wedding Planners for the efforts in bringing this show together. Manav, already well known as one of the Swami Army ‘colonels’, did an excellent job with his team in kick-starting the concert scene for 2012 with the masti of KK and Hard Kaur!

Photos: Alam Photography

BirthdayboysSidandNikDixitenjoytheir

People Parties Places

EugeneandBindiyaPereirapose aftertheGruhapraveshampuja (housewarmingceremony)in their new home.

mirza, in Sydney for the APiA tournament ahead of the Australian open, is hosted by the Alikhan family.

Seen here with Sania are Asima Baig Alikhan (centre) and Ajaz Alikhan (extreme left) with their kids and Sania’s dad imran mirza

Do you have a photo for this page? Email it to info@indianlink.com.au

Baby Amelia Grace Alexander gets a blessing at her Christening. Proud parents Alexander and Candice and the family look on.

from the heart

US-based academic launches

For Sujatha Fernandes, coming back home to Australia has truly been a return to her roots. Apart from the pleasure of introducing her 10-month old baby daughter to the family and enjoying the holiday season with them, she has revisited her hip-hop past and received an enthusiastic response to her recently launched book, Close to the Edge: In Search of the Global Hip Hop Generation. It’s been a busy, but happy time for this talented author, academician and musician.

Sujatha’s academic and career profile is impressive, despite her modest disclaimer about her achievements. She is currently an Associated Professor of Sociology at Queens College in the City University of New York, and has written three books and dozens of articles about black popular culture, global hip-hop and social movements. Sujatha was born in Australia to Indian origin parents. She studied here in school and Uni, and on acquiring her Honours, moved to Chicago to do her PhD in 1998.

But her affair with the culture of hip-hop began right here in Sydney. “I grew up at a time when rap, breakdancing and hip-hop were increasingly popular trends, in parallel to the conventional pop and rock music cultures,” she reveals. “I was attracted to hip-hop because of its ability to showcase social issues and express people’s realities at the grassroot level”.

Sujatha was involved in Hip Hopera, a huge multimedia celebration of local hip hop culture at Casula Powerhouse in the mid-‘90s, which fittingly, served as the venue for the launch of her book.

“The magic about hip-hop is that it can unite for a specific cause as well as deliver a powerful message,” says Sujatha, who was a part of an anti-racist group in the late ‘90s, at a time when politicians like Pauline Hanson who supported the ‘white Australia’ policy were in the limelight. “Our group comprised of people of Aboriginal and Pacific Islander origins, including myself and others who got together for a common cause that affected all of us. It was great to interact with different cultures through a medium of music that could promote a common message of equal rights and antiracism,” she adds. Sujatha wrote her own raps and the group called Deadly performed at rallies, marches and the iconic

My students relate to discussions on subcultures, social realities and theories when reviewed through the perspective of this kind of musical expression and its icons.

event, ‘Rock against Racism’.

Since then, Sujatha has culminated her interest in hip-hip over thirteen years and across four cities in Close to the Edge

From the heart of hip-hop in Sydney’s West to underground voices seeking to expose injustice in Cuba and Venezuela, and finally to New York, the birthplace of hiphop, it’s been a long, but eventful journey for the author.

“My book is about personal experiences and a bit of a travelogue, but it’s about the power of hip-hop and its place in the cultures of these four very different cities,” says Sujatha. “But the underlying message is the hope that hip-hop can form a global political statement through its medium, and that it can become a commentary for causes with a common voice, to defeat ignorance and smallmindedness.”

Sujatha acknowledges that her family has also been a vital part of her journey of discovery into hip-hop, introducing younger sister Deepa to various rap artists in Cuba and Venezuela, enhancing her knowledge of the genre in different cultures. And in Sydney, embracing hip-hop’s social aspect of expression gave her a better understanding of her father’s desire to find a common, stable identity after having lived in India, the UK and finally Australia.

“In my youth, hip-hop helped me to connect with who I really was, as I grappled with my personal identity,” explains Sujatha.

In what might be considered as an unusual deviation from the conventional methods of teaching, Sujatha brings her knowledge of hip-hop into her Social Studies classes, much to the enlightenment of her students.

“I try to infuse modern-day symbolism with sociological concepts which may often seem dry and uninteresting. My students relate to discussions on sub-cultures, social realities and theories when reviewed through the perspective of this kind of musical expression and its icons. I prefer dialogue and understanding, rather than simply textbook teaching,” says Sujatha.

Balancing the fine line between work, motherhood and a promising future is very likely to test Sujatha, but she’s proving more than capable to take up the challenge. Now that she’s found that she’s whole.

her new book on hip-hop – an artistic sub-culture which helped her find her true self

prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, descended on a specially constructed helipad near the village in Itarhi block of Buxar district, about 125 km from state capital Patna, amid tight security.

Persad Bissessar’s ancestors migrated from Bihar to the Caribbean islands in the 19th century. She was in India to attend the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or diaspora meet in Jaipur, but did not lose the opportunity to return to

The moment she arrived at Bhelupur, there was a roar of applause and cheering from the waiting crowds for the ‘pradhanmantri beti’ or ‘daughter

“She was welcomed by villagers in traditional style, with women singing folk songs and conducting rituals to mark the visit of a daughter to her village,” district Official Bharat Bhusan said.

“An emotional Kamla Persad Bissessar, her eyes welling up and voice choked, told the jubilant crowd that she was lucky to visit the land of her roots and the village of her ancestors,” said Nishant Verma, another district official.

Persad Bessessar, accompanied by a 25-member delegation, paid homage to her ancestors.

Indian education needs more flexibility: Indian American mathematician

Shortage of top quality mathematicians in India today could be due to lack of flexibility in the education system, feels prize-winning Indian American mathematician Srinivasa Varadhan.

“We do produce in India a large number of excellent engineers and doctors. But science today tends to be multi-disciplinary and perhaps our education process for the most part is not flexible enough to adapt to changing needs,” said Varadhan, who is based in New York.

The 71-year-old, who shares his first name with the late maths prodigy Srinivasa Ramanujan, has done pioneering work in probability theory, helping in understanding rare events.

“During the last few years, the (Indian) government has been committing more resources to education and research, particularly in basic sciences. But it is a slow process and will take time,” he said.

The son of a science teacher from Tamil Nadu, Varadhan completed his Ph.D from the Indian Institute of Statistics in Kolkata in 1963 before moving to the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences in New York University. He is now a professor there.

In 2007, Varadhan won the Abel Prize, which is considered the Nobel Prize for mathematics. Also a Padma Bhushan recipient, he was conferred the US’ 2011 National Medal of Science by President Barack Obama.

“It is satisfying when one is recognised with an award. My

immediate thought was one of astonishment and a feeling of how fortunate I have been. I was able to find environments both in India and in the US that helped me develop and grow as a professional mathematician,” he said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Ramanujan’s birthday announced 2012 to be the National Mathematical Year and urged the mathematical community to address the shortage of top quality mathematicians in India.

Referring to this, Varadhan suggested that India needs to develop a large number of colleges providing quality education for students earning their first college degree.

“This is the pipeline that feeds talent into higher studies in nonprofessional subjects. There are many more institutions of high quality today, but they are mostly open to postgraduate students”.

He says mathematics is like solving puzzles.

“This is one of the things I learnt from school and my early education. One can do mathematics for fun,” he said.

His findings are widely used in fields like insurance and finance.

He said the probability theory cannot predict rare and unexpected events but can help us understand them and minimise the risks.

“We live in an uncertain world. Unexpected and rare events happen all the time. While we cannot predict them, we need to understand them,” Varadhan said.

“Probability is a quantitative measure of how likely an event

is. Small probability signifies how rare it is. If a rare event has serious negative consequences, we definitely want to keep its probability low. How low should it be before we can tolerate the risk depends on the circumstances. It therefore becomes necessary to estimate the probability of rare events with some precision,” Varadhan said.

“Of course, this does not come from thin air, but rather from a mathematical model that describes the phenomenon,” he added. Probability, as a field, was already in the mainstream of mathematics from 1930s when an axiomatic treatment was provided, he noted.

“But the mathematical theory is only about methods of calculating probabilities from the model. The validity of the model and an understanding of how accurately it describes the underlying phenomenon is not strictly speaking part of the mathematical theory. It is more statistical in nature and depends on an understanding of the rationale for the model and one’s past experience with it,” Varadhan said.

Emotions flow as Trinidad’s ‘daughter PM’ visits Bihar village

The entire village of Bhelupur as well as hundreds from neighbouring areas gathered for a glimpse of the “daughter PM” when Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar set foot in the land of her ancestors for the first time this month.

A helicopter carrying Kamla Persad Bissessar, the first woman

with facts. And we will do it as a consistent campaign now,” said Cellie Gonsalves, a Canada-based NRI of Goan origin.

Cellie was in Goa recently along with a delegation of the ‘Save Goa Campaign UK’ to meet top officials and place their grievances about illegal mining, which has been backed by several ruling politicians.

World tourism boards, Indian embassies across the globe, business houses, iron ore traders and global steel industries are likely to be the target of this campaign which aims to embarrass state and federal governments to act against the mining rampages in Goa, where Chief Minister Digambar Kamat himself has been accused by the opposition of sitting over a Rs.25,000 crore mining scam.

Cellie’s angst represents the collective disgust of thousands of ethnic Goans settled across the globe who have signed up for the anti-mining campaign.

According to an official record sent by the Trinidad and Tobago government to Bihar, Persad Bissessar’s great-grandfather Ram Lakhan Mishra had left Bhelupur in 1889.

According to officials, villagers gifted her a chunk of its soil and a silver crown. She also planted five trees -- neem, pakad, pipal, ashok and barh -- near Sipariya Kali Mandir where her ancestral home was once located.

She was offered traditional Bihari dishes -- litti chokha, chura and tilwa

A large number of people from Bihar had migrated to the Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad, Suriname, South Africa and other places in the 19th century to serve as indentured labourers on sugarcane and rubber plantations.

Goan NRIs campaign against illegal mining

The Goan diaspora worldwide is spearheading a campaign to shame the state and central authorities into reining in illegal and indiscriminate mining in Goa, timing it just ahead of assembly polls.

Groups of ethnic Goans spread across Europe, Australia, Africa and the Americas have bunched under a global network ‘Save Goa Campaign UK’ orchestrated by a Britain-based NRI, Carmen Miranda.

“Goa is being mined out of existence and the politicians and the bureaucrats are doing nothing about it. And yet they want to project Goa as a nice beautiful place to the world for tourism. We are in a position to embarrass this government globally

Initially the campaign, through photo exhibitions, power point presentations and lectures, started spreading the word to the Goan diaspora, about the unfathomable quantum of misery which has been unleashed on their native land by uncontrolled open cast iron ore mining, which results in extraction of over 50 million tonnes of ironlaced ore annually.

Donald Gonsalves, a Britainbased retired professional, said the diaspora members were planning to switch to a higher gear. He said they were in the process of collecting data about the buyers of Goan ore in China and other parts of the world and would petition them against it.

“Eighty-six percent of the iron ore from Goa goes to China and a huge percent of that ore is illegal. As part of this global campaign, we will tell these ore buyers that the ore from Goa is illegally extracted and that by buying the ore, they were being party to a crime,” Gonsalves said.

Miranda, a former head of global development agency PANOS who kickstarted the campaign, said they had already petitioned the chief minister of Goa, the entire cabinet, the chief secretary and the Goa governor to act against illegal mining.

“Circumstances beyond our control have led us to deliver this petition at a time when parties are campaigning for the March 3 assembly elections. We believe the message from the Goan diaspora is in fact timely and relevant to both the government currently in power and its successor,” Miranda said.

Describing the campaign, Miranda said: “We (global Goan associations) have joined forces and are determined to do whatever is in our power to try and prevent a catastrophic environment disaster in Goa, as a result of excessive, unregulated and uncontrolled strip mining in our homeland.”

iANs

Japanese born avant-garde artist, musician and widow of Beatles singer John Lennon, Yoko Ono paints graffiti on the wall of the Vadehra Art Gallery in New Delhi on Jan 13. Ono was in India for a week to set up an installation piece “in homage to Indian women and their strength” at the gallery. The show also included an archive of her music, movies and work with Lennon, as well as a performance by the artist herself.

Photo: ians

La’affaire Rushdie casts long shadow at Jaipur Literature Fest

There was no getting away from the shadow of Salman Rushdie at the sprawling Diggi Place where the grand literary show drew big crowds.

In fact, conspiracy theories were proliferating about what kept the author of The Satanic Verses out of this thoughtfest. Adding fuel to the fire was the quiet instruction by the organisers to four authors, who defiantly read out excerpts from the banned book, to go home on security grounds.

“The voices of protest are very small,” said Bangladeshi novelist Tahmina Anam while standing up for the freedom of expression. “It’s disappointing and a shame,” said Iranian writer Kamin Mohammadi.

“Nobody is talking openly, but more people are buying into the conspiracy theory that the security threat was a ploy to avoid needless trouble. Salman is right. It’s a pity that India is pandering to this lunatic fringe,” said an author, who did not wish to be named.

The controversial author has said in a tweet that the Rajasthan police invented a plot of “hitmen on way to Jaipur” to kill him to keep him away.

I wanted to give a voice to Salman

Rushdie: Hari Kunzru

Hari Kunzru, one of the four authors who read out excerpts of Salman Rushdie’s

The Satanic Verses at the Jaipur Literature Festival and had to leave the city, says he wanted to give a voice to a writer who had been silenced by a death threat.

“We knew it would be considered provocative to quote from it, but did not believe it was illegal,” Kunzru writes in The Guardian

A complaint has been lodged with the police in Jaipur against the four authors who read out excerpts from The Satanic Verses in an unscheduled session of the festival. The four authors were Kunzru, Amitava Kumar, Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi.

When he heard the news that Rushdie would not be attending the festival, he and

Amitava Kumar were “extremely angry”.

“We felt that it was important to show support for Salman, who is often misrepresented and caricatured as a sort of folk-devil by people who know little or nothing about his work. This situation has arisen in India at a time when free speech is under attack. Recent moves to institute ‘prescreening’ of internet content, and kneejerk bans of books such as Joseph Lelyveld’s masterly biography of Gandhi, show that these are not good times for those who wish to say unpopular things in the world’s largest democracy,” Kunzru wrote.

“We decided that we would use our afternoon session, in which Amitava was due to interview me about my novel Gods Without Men to highlight the situation. We decided (without consulting the festival organisers, or anyone else) that I would make a statement, and then we would quote from The Satanic Verses

“We knew this little-read and muchburned book was banned in India, but it was our understanding that this meant it was a crime to publish, sell or possess a copy. We knew it would be considered provocative to quote from it, but did not believe it was illegal.”

The authors downloaded two passages, 179 and 208 words in length respectively, from a pirate text on the internet.

Kunzru went on to write that their intention “was not to offend anyone’s religious sensibilities, but to give a voice to a writer who had been silenced by a death threat”.

“Reading from another one of his books would have been meaningless. The Satanic Verses was the cause of the trouble, so The Satanic Verses it would have to be. We did not choose passages that have been construed as blasphemous by Muslim opponents of the book - this would have been pointless, as these passages have overshadowed the rest of the content of the novel, which concerns the relationship between faith and doubt, and contains much that has nothing to do with religion whatsoever.

“We wanted to demystify the book. It is, after all, just a book. Not a bomb. Not a

knife or a gun. Just a book.”

Kunzru wrote that he had already finished when Sanjoy Roy came to the side of the stage and told us that we shouldn’t continue.

“...the festival organisers were upset. This was something about which they had no foreknowledge, and over which they had no control. The bad atmosphere was compounded by the news that, completely independently, two other writers - Jeet Thayil and Ruchir Joshi - had also read from The Satanic Verses.”

The author said that “the Jaipur police commissioner arrived, interviewed us briefly, and went away, apparently reassured that no law had in fact been broken”.

He added that it was left to his friend Sara Chamberlain to find someone to provide legal advice to him.

“This advice was blunt: I should leave India immediately, as otherwise I risked arrest and might well find myself unable to return home to New York until any resulting cases had been resolved.”

Fatwas outrageous, laugh for sanity: Iranian writer A thousand jokes go around in Iran every day mocking President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the pretensions of the powerful, says Iranian writer Kamin Mohammadi, outraged that Salman Rushdie was forced to cancel his visit to the Jaipur Literature Festival.

In a freewheeling interview, Mohammadi said she is overwhelmed by the crowds at the grand literary show in the Pink City on her first visit to India, but is unable to make sense of all this holy brouhaha about forcing Rushdie to stay away from this carnival of the word.

“It’s a shame that human rights take second place to freedom of speech and expression. It’s disappointing,” Mohammadi said when asked about the so-called security threat to Rushdie, the author of the controversial The Satantic Verses, in the country of his birth.

“It’s absolutely outrageous, this business of fatwas. Islam is a peaceful religion,” said the author-journalist when asked about

the fatwa imposed by Iranian rightwing leader Ayatollah Khomeini over two decades ago that made Rushdie a target of fundamentalists all over the world.

“I don’t know how ordinary Iranians feel insulted by Rushdie’s book,” she said.

An Iranian exile living in London, the tall 30-something Mohammadi, sporting jeans and a trendy jacket, laughs a lot as she speaks, and feels satire and laughter are a sensitive individual’s weapons in illiberal societies and regimes.

“A thousand jokes go around in Iran. They poke fun at the regime and at President Ahmadinejad. They pronounce Ahmadinejad in Iranian in such a manner that the word means silly, stupid,” she said. “Laughter is a way of coping with illiberal regimes.”

Mohammadi was nine years old when her family fled Iran during the 1979 Revolution. “Oh, how they laughed hiding from the bombs,” she said, a trace of sadness creeping into her voice, while talking about her book The Cypress Tree, a moving and passionate memoir about three generations of her sprawling clan. The book evokes her journey home at the age of 27 to rediscover her Iranian self and to discover for the first time the story of her family.

Is the Iranian society on the cusp of change? Is a variant of the Arab Spring around the corner? Mohammadi has sanguine and tempered views on the quiet but incremental process of transition under way in Iran.

“There is not enough appetite for revolution in Iran. They have seen the violence and the bloodshed. I believe the change in Iran is going to come in a gradual incremental fashion, and not from the pressure from the West.”

Revolution may have become a dirty word due to the way it has been abused in the past, but the author is confident that Iran is navigating its way to liberalism and modernity as the yearning for change cuts across all classes.

“The change will come. There is no appetite for the present system. Human rights, freedom - that’s the idea of Iran they have. This yearning for change cuts across all classes.”

Television chat show host Oprah Winfrey with Indian journalist Barkha Dutt at the Jaipur Literature Festival in Jaipur on January 22, 2012. Winfrey received a rock star’s welcome when she spoke to thousands of fans at the Festival.

Photo: AP

“A lot of Iranians have come out in the open about it. The diaspora has a strong connection with society.”

The author has a word of caution for the West, specially the US, which is often speculated to nurture a plan to attack Iran.

“If you think by attacking my country, you will get to change the regime, you are deluded. That’s a great misunderstanding,” she said. “That will not happen; on the contrary, the Iranian people will band behind the current regime. Attacking Iran will be a total disaster.”

“Don’t forget, we are the oldest piece of land occupied by the same race.”

India low on global homicide, violence scale: Steven Pinker

Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, known for his radical theories about the evolution of language and violence in society, has a good word for India: the country is on the right side of the global homicide and crime scale despite the wars it has fought against Pakistan and numerous civil conflicts.

“The last statistics that I had said India had a homicide rate of 5.5. It is in the second lowest range...India has had several wars with Pakistan but they didn’t compare to the Iran or Vietnam war. India has seen a lot of civil wars but on a per capita basis not a large percentage of the Indian population has been killed in these wars,” Pinker said in an interview on the sidelines of the Jaipur Literature Festival.

All the wars put together since 1948 have killed around 50,000 people, Pinker said.

Pinker said the most violent spot around the globe was probably the sub-Saharan Africa - Congo and Sudan’s Darfur region.

The Canadian-American experimental psychologist, who teaches at Harvard University, is the author of eight books. Two of his works, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial Of Human Nature and The Better Angels of Nature: Why Violence has Declined have been acclaimed worldwide for their pathbreaking ideas about cognitive science of the mind and theories about the scaling down of violence.

The scientist said many had “predicted after the second world war that it was the beginning” of many wars but that did not happen.

“Korea and Vietnam are not happening any more,” Pinker said. He said it was too soon to tell whether institutions like democracy, peacekeeping forces were effective in controlling violence.

Pinker said there were greater levels of intellectual awareness in society and new ideas “as opposed to early ideas of tribal purity”.

“The ultimate idea is the value of human life,” he said.

He said the idea of valuing human life, prevention of violence against minority and women were finding advocates but “there were still pockets where it was not the case”.

“Suppression of free speech, external ideas and violations of human rights tend to be in Islamic countries where there are honour killings. In Iran, Khomeini wanted to restrict the number of students studying humanities because they question values.”

North Korea is another country that has shut itself off from the flow, Pinker said.

Pinker said his book The Better Angels of Nature was based on points he had made in 2007 in a couple of paragraphs - “even if human nature has violence, there has been a decline in European homicide and slowing

down of corporal punishment”.

“I had made these points years ago in 2007. My agent said what are you so optimistic about? There was more evidence of declining violence than I knew about (I began to get feedback), decline in war in Europe and worldwide in 1990 and I started to see a pattern,” Pinker said.

The scientist has begun to work on his next project - A Style Manual For 21st Century that explores the modern linguistics of cognitive science.

“The book will be about what makes language change based on how the human brain processes language,” Pinker said.

Twinkling, bejewelled Indian wedding cards - got one yet?

They could be Swarovski studded, they could match the bride’s trousseau, they could come in multiple folds and, yes, they might just cost Rs.100,000 (about $2,000) each. Welcome to the world of the big fat Indian wedding card!

The country’s wedding market is said to be worth about Rs.1,500 billion (about $30 billion) - and growing at about 10-15 percent every year; so little surprise that marriage invites are getting to be a glitzy and exclusive affair.

NRIs, especially, are a major constituent of this market. The wedding in 2004 of Britainbased Indian steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal’s daughter was said to have been a 30-million pound sterling affair.

“It’s been studied that NRIs based in the US, Britain, Canada, the Middle East, Australia and New Zealand want their marriages to be complete Indian affairs and this desire propels them to visit India for the selection of cards, jewelleries and venues,” Gourav Rakshit, the business head of shaadi.com, said recently.

The latest fad is exotic invitation cards.

Kapco Press Pvt Ltd CEO Neeraj Kapoor, who has been in the business for 26 years, stated that “people from around the globe are splurging on wedding cards like never before”.

“This has added to the growth of designers, manufacturers and paper importers. Since cost and variety have gone up, there is no end to innovation,” he said.

“People no longer want simple designs. More designers are entering. Prices have skyrocketed.

Everyone, including the NRI, asks for the fanciest and most exclusive design even if it’s not worth the amount spent. Some even say Indian designs are simply outstanding and can’t be found anywhere else,” he said.

Triveni Bakshi, a Canada-based NRI, is completely in awe of Indian designs.

“Yes! It’s true that Indian wedding cards have no match. I personally like a lot of

bling, something which has to do with fabrics or metal. Indian designs have so much variety - scroll with silk fabric and traditional Indian fonts or silver plated wedding card with embossed content,” Bakshi said while attending the Celebrating Vivaha exhibition in New Delhi.

There are other designs too - from an oversized envelope with Lord Ganesha’s picture drawn over with details about the wedding to an exquisitely worded invitation. The invites sent out are designed to wow guests.

“Innovation is the key and keeping this in mind ethnic designs have made a comeback. Also, personalised and handmade cards are a big trend nowadays as many people feel these add an emotional touch to the entire occasion,” said wedding card designer Raj Kapoor.

Known for his brand Kaypee, Kapoor said, “There are people who ask for multifolded cards which can be made to order, while others ask for scrolled out cards with matter printed on it.”

Prices have also gone up.

“The price of wedding invitation cards depends on the materials used. A simple wedding card starts at Rs.30 per piece and it goes into lakhs for the Swarovski embellished multi-folded cards with box attached to it,” said Shalini Punj, who runs wedding card company Vivaahsutra.

When it comes to the most sought after designs, striped, bejewelled motifs, bold colours, and vintage patterns matching the design of the bride’s wedding trousseau are on the priority list.

“Vertical, horizontal and multicoloured stripes are termed as one of the most sought after trends this season. Also, embellishing the invitation with small rhinestones, pearltoned beads or Swarovski crystals makes a low-key invitation style fashionable. The list is endless,” said card-designer Piyali Rana.

“What is also gaining popularity are motif patterns. Brides ask to create a pattern on wedding cards inspired by her lehengas or saris. For instance, a ring of rosettes, a square of lace applique, or bead work.”

Fancy boxes made of cardboard, hard plastic or even pure silver are also sent out as invitation cards.

“There are some cards which are given in fancy boxes made up of cardboard or hard plastic. They are decorated in such an elegant manner that after marriage it can be used as a jewellery or make-up box. So cards today are not restricted to only paper with details about wedding, but they have taken a different mould altogether,” she added.

Africans want to emulate Indian model of development: Pitroda

Impressed by the efforts of social entrepreneurs to make the public delivery service more effective, five African countries want to emulate the Indian models of development, said Sam Pitroda in New Delhi recently.

“At least five African countries are looking at Indian models of development to solve the problems at the bottom of the pyramid” as Western models were not scalable, said Pitroda, adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on public information infrastructure and innovations.

Addressing 100 young social innovators at Action For India Forum 2012, Pitroda said India was in a unique position to solve the problems of the poor as it had the largest number of poor and a huge amount of talent to address challenges.

“There is a lot of talent solving the problems of the rich. Innovations are needed to solve the problem of the poor,” he told the entrepreneurs and asked them to focus on technology that can make social enterprises scale their operations to get them more pervasive in coverage and impact.

Pitroda said the union and state governments were taking steps to support social entrepreneurs to set up new business models.

“To support social entrepreneurs set up new business models to bring about change, efforts are underway to increase the corpus of National Innovation Fund as soon as it collects Rs.500 crore.”

The fund is expected to be operational by June-to-July, 2012 and would include Rs.100 crore that was announced by Finance Minister Pranab Mukerjee.

Glamorous new avatar for wedding cards

sYdNEY royAl botAnic gArdens

Australia’s first farm has gone on to become a world of botanical splendour

BY PETRA O’NEILL

The Royal Botanic Gardens is an oasis right in the heart of Sydney, at Farm Cove. Originally known as Woccanmagully by the Cadigal aboriginals who lived there, Farm Cove got its name after the arrival from England of the First Fleet, 11 ships that in 1788 transported 1373 sailors, soldiers and convicts to establish a penal colony. Australia’s first farm of wheat, corn, barley and rye was established alongside land declared the Governor’s Domain, a private reserve for the country’s first governor, Governor Arthur Phillip.

When Governor Lachlan Macquarie arrived in 1810, he saw the potential for a great city rather than a penal colony. He was the driving force behind civic improvements including founding the Botanic Gardens in 1816, and constructing Macquarie Street and Mrs Macquarie’s Road that led to a chair or step cut into sandstone where Elizabeth Macquarie came to enjoy the harbour.

With the appointment of the first Colonial Botanist in 1817 to collect and study plants, the Botanic Gardens became Australia’s first scientific institution.

Under Charles Moore, Director from 1848-‘96, much of the gardens were developed in the form we know today. Moreton Bay figs and palms were planted, while azaleas, rhododendrons and land was reclaimed behind the Farm Cove seawall. In 1862, Sydney’s first zoo opened here until 1883, and in

1879 the Garden Palace, a grandiose example of Victorian architectural exuberance, with towers and turrets around a giant dome dominated the skyline and covered two hectares. The International Exhibition held in the Garden Palace attracted over one million visitors. The building was destroyed by fire in 1882 and the land was added to the Botanic Gardens.

A herbarium opened in 1901 with later additions to the gardens including the Rose Garden, Fernery and Oriental Garden. The original native vegetation of red gums, acacias, paper barks, swamp oaks and Port Jackson figs now cohabit with thousands of exotic plant species collected on voyages of discovery around the world. While earlier features like the zoo have long disappeared, the Lion’s Gate, Lecture Hall and many statues have remained. The most visited areas of the gardens today are the Tropical Centre and the Wollemi pine: several of the species Wollemia nobilis, once thought to be extinct, were discovered in 1994 in sandstone gorges near Sydney, and one was replanted in the Gardens.

The first Governor’s residence was a portable canvas house brought by Captain Arthur Phillip from England on the First Fleet. A twostorey residence soon replaced this and served as home to the first nine Governors. In 1816, Governor Macquarie commissioned architect Francis Greenway to build the Government Stables, now the Conservatorium of Music. His successor Governor Bourke considered no colonial architect was worthy of building Government House and instead commissioned Edward Blore, architect to King William IV. The building was

The original native vegetation of red gums, acacias, paper barks, swamp oaks and Port Jackson figs now cohabit with thousands of exotic plant species collected on voyages of discovery around the world.

Wollemi cutting

dining room, drawing room and ballroom, contain an outstanding collection of 19th and early 20th century furnishings.

In 1996 Government House was opened to the public. Since then hundreds of thousands of people have visited the grounds and toured the house.

The Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney is more than just a beautiful place for us to enjoy. It is a treasure trove of our plants and their history, and an example of the importance of sustaining our city for future generations.

Further information

1857: First game of first class cricket in NSW was played in the Domain. First game in Australia was played the previous year in Melbourne.

1910-‘67: Several tortoises lived in the gardens.

1945: Appointment of the first Australian Director.

Number of plants in the Royal

In 1862, Sydney’s first zoo opened here until 1883, and in 1879 the Garden Palace, a grandiose example of Victorian architectural exuberance, with towers and turrets around a giant dome dominated the skyline and covered two hectares.

Botanic Garden: 45,124.

Number of preserved plant specimens in the Herbarium: Over one million.

Oldest planted trees in the Royal Botanic Garden: Hoop Pine, Giant Watergum, both planted c. 1820‘28 in the Palm Grove.

Oldest plant specimens: Collected at Botany Bay in 1770 by Joseph Banks.

Size of gardens: 30 hectares.

Size of Domain: 34 hectares.

Number of visitors: 3 million (Royal Botanic Gardens) and 4 million (Domain) per year.

Hours of opening: The Royal Botanic Gardens are open daily from 7am to sunset.

Phone: 9231 8111

website: www. rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

The gardens of Government House are open from 10am to 4pm daily and the house is open Friday to Sunday from 10.30am – 3pm (access by free guided tour only. Closed during vice regal events)

Phone: 9931 5222 website: hht.net.au

Getting there

The Royal Botanic Gardens can be accessed from gates along Macquarie Street, the Opera House promenade

or Mrs Macquarie’s Road. Take a train to Martin Place or Circular Quay, numerous buses pass close by or catch a ferry to Circular Quay. There is no parking within the gardens. Limited metered parking is available on Mrs Macquarie’s Road and nearby streets.

Dining

Bring a picnic hamper to gain the most from your visit. There are kiosks, a cafe, the Royal Botanic Gardens Restaurant and Pavilion Restaurant. Nearby Chifley Plaza provides several reasonably priced restaurants and cafes undercover.

Insider tips

Download or pick up a map as you enter. On weekdays from 11.30-2.00, visit the Growing Friends Nursery for plants grown by volunteers, many of whom are horticulturalists and always willing to offer advice. If you would prefer not to walk around the gardens, hop onboard the trackless train.

In the vicinity

The Museum of Sydney (entry fee), State Library and Art Gallery of NSW always have exhibitions of interest and several dining options.

constructed in a Gothic Revival style between 1837 and 1845 from sandstone, and dominates the gardens nearest to the Opera House. Its interiors, largely redecorated in the late 19th century are of exceptional importance. The State rooms,

Photos: royal botanic gardens & domain trust (Jaime Plaza, simone cottrell)

sundial in Herb garden

tropical centre

Wollemi seed collecting

cathedral city rose

Climate change concerns

India has been earmarked as a prime defaulter in contributing to carbon emissions, while the real culprits lurk in the background

BY Noel g De soUZA

During the recent climate change conference in Durban, the EU demanded that all countries agree to a binding treaty. India’s response was hostile, pointing out that countries were being asked to commit in advance without knowing what the treaty provisions were going to be. That would be tantamount to Europe imposing a new colonial agenda on India, China and the USA!

The Indian environment minister, Jayanthi Natarajan, noted that developing countries were being held hostage saying, “Am I to write a blank cheque and sign away the livelihoods and sustainability of 1.2 billion Indians, without even knowing what the EU roadmap contains?”

Developed countries caused climate change problems initially with their industries and now with their lifestyles. India is being singled out for blame even though it has low per capita carbon emissions, whilst China is a moderate carbon emitter. The USA is both a high carbon emitter and a high per capita emitter, but it is also the biggest promoter of alternative energy technologies.

Currently, around 1,100 people aged over 65 years are estimated to die each year in Australia due to high temperatures.

There are also other health impacts, as the report points out, such as changes in the occurrence of infectious diseases in some locations; the examples given are tickborne encephalitis in Sweden and the Czech Republic, cholera in Bangladesh and malaria in the east African highlands.

The Australian Climate Commission has provided updated facts in The Critical Decade: Climate Science, Risks And Responses (2011). The introduction to the book states that “Climate science … is being attacked in the media by many with no credentials in the field.” It notes that the Intergovernmental Panel (led by Dr Rajendra Pachauri) was questioned on the basis of hacked emails in the UK.

For AustrAliA , it sAys thAt “rApidly growing coAstAl AreAs, such As northern And southeAst QueenslAnd, will be At risk, As well As lowlying wetlAnds such As kAkAdu nAtionAl pArk.”

Global warming is resulting in the melting of polar ice caps, the receding of Himalayan glaciers and the rise of sea levels. The NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis graph, which plots temperature increases from the 1880s, shows an acceleration of temperature rises from the 1940s to the present. Many countries, including Australia, have suffered unprecedented flooding and heat waves.

The document Preparing For Sea-Level Rise by several Australian scientists led by Dr John Church of the CSIRO, notes that for “every 1 m of sea-level rise there will be 50–100 m of horizontal erosion”. It says that millions of people may be forced to flee low-lying regions, including most of Bangladesh, the Mekong and other deltas “…potentially causing more deaths, disease and injury …”. For Australia, it says that “rapidly growing coastal areas, such as northern and southeast Queensland, will be at risk, as well as low-lying wetlands such as Kakadu National Park.”

There are also impacts of global warming on health. A report commissioned by the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Australian Medical Association, points out that heat waves are expected to increase in frequency and intensity.

The report states that early deaths caused by air pollution are expected to rise. Figures for the year 2000 estimate that there were some 900 to 2000 deaths which the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics estimates to have substantial costs to the economy ($1.1 - 2.6 billion).

Yet another important and entirely man-made issue rightly belongs to “climate change”. This is the ozone hole which covers a large area including and surrounding Antarctica, caused by CFCs breaking down ozone in the presence of high frequency ultra-violet light. CFCs were invented in 1928 as nontoxic and non-inflammable refrigerants. It was realised in the 1970s that CFCs can break down ozone. The USA banned the use of CFCs in aerosol sprays and other nations have followed. The Montreal treaty of 1987 has most nations agreeing to phasing out the use of CFC.

The ozone layer protects life on earth by preventing harmful ultra-violet rays, which can affect the DNA of living creatures, from reaching the earth. Australia and several other southern hemisphere nations have the ozone hole directly above them leaving them unprotected from ultra-violet rays. Australia’s high incidence of skin cancers is attributed to these rays. To add to the problem, Australians love sunbathing on the beach. Besides, many work outdoors and are subjected to solar exposure. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare highlights the increase of skin cancers by 4.3 % for men and 1.8 % for women during the last decade.

It was the developed countries which caused climate change problems in the first place and climate change concerns must not allowed to be used to enact legislation which hampers the development of emerging economies.

The state of elections

It’s a free-for-all as the state elections approach, and may the most corrupt win

BY DILIP JADEJA

ith over 300 million people, the world’s biggest democracy - Uttar Pradesh (UP) in India - goes to election in February 2012. Perhaps for the last time, because two influential political parties want this (once downsized and split into two) state to be split further four ways. Traditionally, a UP win was a tick for Prime Ministership and this made it a playground for the big bulls - and cows, to be politically overseas accounts was, and still is, the number one issue. But the poor themselves need money every day, and here is a political opportunity.

Large hauls of cash and liquor are being captured and the police say they were most likely destined for the elections. A lot of the money is spent in the hope of making it up, once the voters have voted the spenders in. This creates a cycle – abuse one’s constitutional position to make unaccounted money; stash it up in overseas accounts in secretive tax havens; spend a portion of it to buy votes at the next election; get re-elected and go remake even more money! In case the election is lost, there is the option of spending the remaining cash forever after!

because self-serving politicians benefit the most by keeping them poor. These politicians have well learnt colonial Britain’s world famous “divide and rule” policy. Apart from hoards of hard cash, every fiery subject like religion, reservation quotas for schools admissions to government jobs and quotas for everything (but not everyone) are all weapons of choice to win the elections. Some had the audacity to suggest quotas even for private jobs!

The poor may get carried away, but quotas are never enough and they still have to pay, because a billion people can flood any quota. In the end, the quota system becomes another lucrative palm-greasing opportunity for the touts. As the state of UP has a large enough Muslim population to matter, both incumbent Mayawati’s BSP and challenger Rahul’s Congress have announced Muslim quotas as political pointscoring. In a letter to the PM, Commissioner Qureshi of the Election Commission (EC) condemned the Congress’ Law Minister Salman Khurshid for over-stepping conduct rules during electioneering.

As the stAte of UP hAs A lArge enoUgh MUsliM PoPUlAtion to MAtter, both incUMbent MAyAwAti’s bsP And chAllenger rAhUl’s congress hAve AnnoUnced

MUsliM qUotAs

As PoliticAl Point-scoring

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All sense of proportion is lost in this blind game, and several leaders are suspected of sitting with overseas account holdings of billions with some at the forefront, by all indications, have holdings larger than Warren Buffet and Rupert Murdoch’s Forbes listed assets, with a couple exceeding those of Bill Gates!

So who will end this cycle and how?

There are not too many options, but the US is making a water-tight regulation on disclosure by banks holding illicit money of any clients whatsoever, and insisting on adding such disclosure clauses in every US Treaty of every country. It’s a good start.

For the black money generation, it is grossly important that voters remain poor and for this reason, amongst others, India’s poor are forever damned. No amount of hard work will ever end their poverty

The players are flamboyant and one would be blind, deaf and dumb to take any of them on face value. The incumbent boasts to be untouchable, though everyone has to ‘touch her feet’ before they can get anywhere in her state. A rare living person in the world, Mayawati dared make her own statue, unfurled it herself with fanfare, even garlanded it! Her election symbol is an elephant. Every week from November to January, Rahul did not miss saying to voters in UP, “The elephant has been eating away your money!”

Well, the elephant is not the only one foraging, and people know that. Mayawati has fired a whole line of Ministers “over corruption” to save her image. Of course, influenced by protests from Rahul’s Congress Party, the EC ordered that Mayawati’s statue and her election symbol elephant statues be covered up during elections. It took five days for her statue to remain behind wood planks. In retaliation, Mayawati’s supporters claimed that statues of Rahul’s father, grandmother and great-grandfather remain uncovered in all election states. Mayawati also complained that election symbols of other parties including the Congress and Akali Dal remain uncovered. Congress spokesperson Ajam Khan compared Mayawati’s statue with Saddam’s, and wished that it fell like one!

What needs to

BY RitAM MitRA

With the abysmal state of the Indian cricket team, change must begin at the grassroots level

writing about Indian cricket has always carried with it a subconscious undertone of melodrama. How tough it is then, to write a level piece on the current state of affairs in the Indian cricket team. Indian cricket is in disarray, and is now at a stage where it is perhaps beyond the scope of any analyst to pinpoint exactly what has gone wrong. The situation barely needs retelling – India have dropped the first 3 tests of the series they were expected to win, and go into the final test at Adelaide as rank outsiders. There have been calls for a widespread restructuring of the game in India, and it is in this vein that we will take a look at where the climb back to the top has to begin.

Outdated pitches

The problem, for me, begins at the grass-roots level – literally. The argument has been around for some time now, but the side’s good performances masked the urgency of the matter.

Subcontinental pitches have perennially been flat, turning dustbowls, and these were fine – ideal even, when India was accepting of its inability to compete overseas. The same pitches are in use now as they were then - a throwback to the era when the pacemen (a term used extremely lightly) would bowl an over or two with the new ball to scuff it up and give the ball some grip for the spinners to work with. Now, India have genuine fast bowlers – just as they did 4 years ago. Munaf Patel, once India’s fastest, is now at best a medium-fast trundler. RP Singh and Irfan Pathan are but two more casualties of the poor conditions in India. The time has come for Indian pitches to change.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan (and even their current “home” venue, Dubai) all boast similar conditions at home. Travel abroad, however, and it’s a whole different story. Australia is fast and bouncy, while South Africa perhaps takes that a touch further sometimes. England and New Zealand are both friendly to seam and swing – and as India recently

Be DoNe

that there are three champions who are nearing their finish lines.

VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar. Perhaps the greatest middle-order in history.

For years India has been waiting anxiously in the hope that their transition out of the team would be smooth. Ganguly did the team a favour by retiring early, but the time has finally come to plan for the future – for it seems as if the selectors have not yet worried themselves with this particular thought.

experienced in the West Indies, Caribbean pitches are no friends of batsmen either.

Many argue that changing the nature of Indian pitches means negating India’s home advantage. But this is far from the case – there simply needs to be some more variety in the Indian tracks. In Australia, the Gabba in Brisbane is famous for its green tinge, while many see Perth as the fastest, bounciest track in world cricket. Meanwhile, Sydney favours spinners and Adelaide favours the batsmen.

In India there is no such variety –at least not to this degree. Batsmen such as Ravindra Jadeja have scored triple centuries at will; Yusuf Pathan recently hit a double century for West Zone in the 4th innings of a match to set up a record run chase of 536. While not taking away anything from their achievements, to me this is a farcical situation. It would be absurd to imagine similar results around the rest of the world in first-class cricket.

India needs to quicken up their pitches and leave some more grass on them – if not to encourage fast bowlers and get them pitching the ball up, then to regularly test the batsmen so they aren’t rudely caught out with technical flaws on tour.

A phasing out of the old guard

How do you tell a champion his time is up? That is the question Indian selectors are facing right now – although the problem is compounded for them by the fact

Meanwhile, Laxman has never been a man in a “purple patch” – he seems to always find himself on the cusp of being dropped before inevitably producing a match-saving performance.

It is obvious that if all three were to retire at once, the effect would be disastrous. Luckily, however, Tendulkar still looks utterly formidable at the crease. It is around him that the selectors should base the younger members. Initially, I found the call for the heads of Dravid and Laxman extremely harsh – after all, Dravid was the highest run-scorer in Test cricket last year, and one of the only bright spots of an otherwise dismal tour of England. Meanwhile, Laxman has never been a man in a “purple patch” – he seems to always find himself on the cusp of being dropped before inevitably producing a match-saving performance.

These greats have given Indian cricket an unbelievable amount. However, giving the matter more thought, it became evident that there is a much bigger picture. At the end of the day, they are serving the country – the country is not serving them. The message to the younger players must be clear: if you are playing for India, you must perform. There can be no two ways about it. Dravid may have just produced the season of his career, and in days gone by there would have been sense in persisting with him. He has just turned 39, though, and there is now little to gain. Laxman, meanwhile, is 38, and quite simply has nothing more to offer the team – his overseas record in the last two years is abysmal, although his prodigious talent will let him score in home conditions.

if india is to begin a rise back to the top and remain there, no longer can there be a board obsessed with making profit and asserting authority.

The top 7 in the next couple of years should read: Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Chetashwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni. The selectors should also consider moving Virender Sehwag down the order - the highest opening partnership in the first 3 Tests this series has been 24 – and against a rampant Australian attack, an early confidence boost is the last donation you want to make. A talented Ajinkya Rahane is waiting in the wings – Sehwag cannot hope to forever stay in the team based on

Suresh Raina or Manoj Tiwary should slide in down the order.

As Raina recently said, simply imagine an Indian team with those names. Without a Tendulkar, Dravid or Laxman, India might seem fragile at best. But it will be the best fielding unit in the world – and this on its own is like playing with an extra batsman. Exciting times lay ahead, but the preparation must begin now.

Changes at the top

All of the above, however, begin with changes in administration. If India is to begin a rise back to the top and remain there, no longer can there be a board obsessed with making profit and asserting authority. No longer should the IPL be the focal point of the calendar – the board should regard overseas Tests with the utmost priority. No longer should the board be reluctant in releasing players to play in overseas leagues – a county stint has benefitted each and every one of the greats in this batting line-up, and it would be foolish to declare their success was in no way connected to their time in the English first-class scene.

And no longer should the board be happy with the team becoming number one. It is much easier to reach the top than it is to stay there – as England will soon find out, it’s always tougher with a crosshair on your back.

The time has come for an Argusstyle review in Indian cricket. The only question is, who will start the ball rolling?

Manoj Tiwary

A Jinkya

Mid pitch retirement discussions between Dravid and Laxman?

to

BY ShAFeeN MUSTAo

hell No!

Sheniz Erkan. One innocent young girl. One devastated family. The Taylors Lakes Secondary College student from Melbourne, took her own life early this year after repeated bullying in the schoolyard and online via Facebook. Her death has sparked a wave of anger and sadness at the increased online presence of bullies and the distressing impact on young children.

Bullying is a part of life, whether the bully is your sibling, or the lasting bitter feeling towards a schoolmate or a good friend, who thinks they are being helpful. Most of us are told to ‘man up’, ‘grow a pair’, ‘stop being a sissy’ and ‘stand up for yourself’. But when does bullying become too hard to handle?

Bullying has always been a concern amongst adolescents. Half of Victorian school children aged 12 to 14 have experienced bullying, according to the Department of Education’s most recent State of Victoria’s Children report. With developments made in technology, this form of aggression has progressively transferred to an online medium.  In a study conducted in 2007, an astonishing 32 percent of adolescents in Canada said they had experienced at least one account of online aggression (Media Awareness Network, 2010). When almost one-third of a western country’s adolescent population is affected, it becomes imperative to find out just what it is and why it’s happening.

Bullying refers to repeated acts of causing intentional harm to a victim as a result of a power imbalance. It occurs within a familial or social context when one sibling or classmate has the intellectual or physical upper hand over the other. This upper hand is then expressed through intimidating or humiliating behaviour at home, at school and various other places where others are present to witness the victim’s degradation, and further add to the impact on the victim. In The Big Bang Theory, Jonah and Leonard both show signs of depression

either out of helplessness or due to distance and maturity. But there are many victims of bullying out there who suffer in silence – especially now that bullying has gone online.

Cyber bullying is a form of aggression which entails the intention to harm someone who cannot defend themselves, through an electronic medium. It can be exhibited through various means, such as threatening someone through instant messaging or chat rooms, or embarrassing them through social media including Facebook and MySpace.

Cyber bullying is distinguishable from the traditional sense because it takes place in an online environment. Bullies express themselves in a way they would normally refrain from doing, as they are able to use a medium that allows them to act aggressively without immediate repercussions.

Studies have shown that technology provides bullies the potential to be more viral than traditional bullying, since threatening or embarrassing messages can be exposed to a large audience virtually instantaneously, through means such as mass emails and posts.

Cyber bully victims are almost twice as likely to attempt suicide as those not bullied at all; victims of traditional bullying, on the other hand, are 1.7 times more likely. Although not significantly greater than the traditional form, these rates demonstrate the impact that cyber bullying can have on an adolescent. When victims are harassed by bullies they experience feelings of decreased self-worth, depression, loneliness

Cyberbullies express themselves in a way they would normally refrain from doing, as they are able to use a medium that allows them to act aggressively without immediate repercussions.

and hopelessness, all of which contribute to greater risk of suicidal thoughts and attempts.

The use of pseudonyms, enabling a sense of anonymity amongst users, provides people with the opportunity to separate their real-life identity and their “online” identity. Accordingly, some individuals feel a sense of liberation and behave in a way that would otherwise be considered socially inappropriate. They are more likely to act aggressively by being more spiteful, vicious and threatening. These actions can contribute to what is known as the ‘disinhibition’ effect, which suggests that as a result of anonymity deriving from computer-related modes of communication, people are less likely to be concerned about society’s reactions. They ultimately feel empowered to express themselves openly without worrying about consequences.

The effects of disinhibition are said to be caused by deindividuation, which occurs when one’s accountability cues have been diminished. Anonymity reduces one’s self-awareness and makes one more likely to act based on situational cues. Research shows that uninhibited communication such as use of profanity and insults are significantly more prevalent in computer-mediated communication than in personal interactions involving face-to-face interactions. As a result of the reduced influence of social norms, antinormative and deregulated behaviour such as aggression are more common.

Cyber bullying is often more dangerous than traditional bullying as it can also be perpetrated by strangers. The online medium

provides an anonymity which empowers bullies into targeting innocent victims. This is especially the case when people go online looking for love. (Contrary to common perceptions, it is not only children and teenagers that are the target of cyber bullying). Increasingly someone knows someone who met their perfect match online, and more and more vulnerable lonely hearts are exposed online. These lonely people are emotionally vulnerable and a prime target for scams. There have been many stories of women who have been cheated out of their finances by men who flirted their way into their lives and then pleaded for financial assistance. While kids may tease other kids online and teenagers may write unsavoury comments which ‘ruin social lives’, many adults are at risk of being hurt as well. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald reported that more than 1600 Australians reported losing $17 million in the online search for romance in 2011, up from $15 million in 2010.

The influence of anonymity and deindivdiuation in online settings significantly encourages adults and adolescents alike to participate in inappropriate social behavior such as bullying, flirting and fraud. These can be reduced, if not prevented by developing trusting face-to-face relationships between adolescents and adults, including teachers and parents. Bullies (adults or kids) indulge in bullying to increase their self-worth while simultaneously decreasing that of others. Provision of extracurricular activities which promote selfdevelopment and esteem can contribute towards decreasing occurrences of cyber bullying in all age groups.

Cyber bullying is a sad reality of an increasingly connected society: greater awareness by parents, teachers and social workers is imperative to introducing measures to prevent bullying related depression, suicide and other misfortunes. Fostering relationships between adults and children means children are less likely to lose their sense of identity in online settings.

As Sheniz’s brother said, ‘“Parents need to keep more track of Facebook and the internet... There are problems that they might not know about that are being kept online... These days there is so much technology and cyber stuff going on it’s like a whole other world... Kids can just hide behind their keyboards, write whatever they want without worrying about the repercussions.”

Providing activities for students to participate in allows better management of stress and prevents students from lashing out at each other. Someone you know may be a victim of bullying or cyber bullying. Be aware of what it is and equip yourself and those you love with the required skills and information to protect yourself.

Cyber-bullying is a very real social problem in an increasingly cyber-connected society

The influence of anonymity and deindividuation in online settings significantly encourages adults and adolescents alike to participate in inappropriate social behavior such as bullying, flirting and fraud

charismatic culture Singapore’s

By SANDIP HOR

Singapore is judged as one of the planet’s most tourist-infected destinations. Like any other Asian metropolis, this diamondshaped island on the equator is exotic, colourful, welcoming and aptly boasts to highly-reward every visitor that walks through the doors of its ultramodern Changi International Airport.

Singapore’s modern-day menu includes plush accommodation, an eclectic variety of cuisine, endless shopping opportunities and hordes of things to do and see to fill in your day with pleasure and excitement.

Because of its geographic location and being the hub of Singapore Airlines, one of the world’s top airlines, a large number of visitors land here to stop over for a day or two, when cruising from the east to the west, or vice-versa. They generally gravitate around Orchard Road, Little India or Chinatown precincts for retail therapy and degustation delights, or jump into one of those bright yellow hop-on buses for a quick glance of the cityscape.

A cultural awakening

My past visits have been no different, but during my recent halt there while returning from India, I decide to go beyond shopping and eating. Inspired by my intrinsic cultural consciousness, I choose to leaf through some of the city’s museums and galleries. My tour of discovery begins with a surprise. I discover from the omniscient hotel concierge at the Parkroyal Hotel in Little India, that the city boasts of almost a dozen museum and galleries of high repute. Taking his advice, I make for the National Museum of Singapore, located at Stamford Road in Dhoby Ghat, my first stop.

“It’s the best place to catch up on Singapore’s history,” says my Chinese taxi driver while driving through the city’s disciplined traffic, which these days, is a rarity any big metropolis.

Established in 1849, the museum is the nation’s oldest. Its 10,000 square metre exhibition space present several galleries, but the crowd-puller is the “History Gallery” that showcases the story of this land from almost the 14th century to the present. The use of state-of-the-art modes of presentation, including narrations inspired by contemporary film and theatre, strikes me as impressive.

A powerhouse of history

The museum stores eleven treasures, each of which are exceptional, unique and of

chronological significance to the nation’s socio-cultural history. A friendly museum attendant tells me that the most important among them is the 14th century Singapore Stone, which contains earliest inscriptions of the region, thought to be a variant of an old Sumatran script.

However, what imposingly draws my focus is the architecture of the whitepainted Neo-Palladian and Renaissance styled edifice, which features two rectangular blocks, the front one topped with a grand dome decorated with fishscale zinc tiles. There are two rotundas, one reflecting the dome at the front and a new glass-clad one added to the rear of the building in 2003, during its $130m facelift. The glass rotunda is cylindrical shaped and made up of two drums. The outer one sheathes the inner one that is made of wire mesh, and offers 360 degrees of projected images. “It’s an engineering feat that testifies to an extraordinary blend of classism and modernism,” says a fellow visitor, an architect from Sweden.

Coursing through centuries

After completing a quick tour of this cultural icon, I visit a few other museums located nearby. In fact, Singapore city in size is so tiny that you can whisk from one venue to the other in minutes, using an efficient public transport network that includes one of the world’s best underground railway systems.

The 1912-built Perankan Museum possesses one of the finest and most comprehensive collections of Perankans (a Malay term meaning ‘locally born’), who are generally people from south east Asia now settled in Singapore, which includes Chitty Indians as well. Galleries on three floors illustrate their cultural richness and distinctive visual arts, displaying most interestingly their traditions, musical affinities and culinary habits that eventually turned Singapore as one of the world’s greatest cosmopolitan nests. This museum regularly hosts multicultural literary programmes and I find an opera on the Ramayana in the day’s schedule, but reluctantly give it a miss due to a lack of time.

There are many more museums and galleries to fill the time of culture vultures, but to visit all of them would take at least a week in Singapore. The three others I visit are the Philatelic Museum, where the world unfolds through postage stamps; the Singapore Art Museum that feature an amazing collection of contemporary and modern Singaporean and Southeast paintings and sculptures; and the Asian Civilisation Museum which is Singapore’s largest and most spectacular enlightening

At the heart of this city’s modern trappings lies a rich, varied and multicultural heritage which is a delight to discover

icon, comprising of ten thematic galleries where over 1,300 artefacts present 5,000 years of Asian cultures from south Asia, southeast Asia, west Asia and China. All housed in a135-year-old colonial building, this museum has been coined by experts as the best place in Asia to comprehensively understand the continents’ rich cultural heritage.

Indian influence

The South Asian Galleries feature exquisite collections from a broad spectrum of

periods, including some fine 7th century Chola period bronze-made statues, such as that of Lord Shiva and Mother Durga. The early Buddhist art of India is also represented by works hailing from the Mathura and Gandhara schools. The ‘Medieval India’ section examines the crossinfluence of Hindu and Islamic cultures between the 13th and 19th centuries, while artefacts on Sikhism allow visitors to know more about the faith founded by Guru Nanak in the 15th century.

Rich in ethnological material, the

South East Asian collections are broad in scope and includes Khmer and Javanese sculptures, Buddhist art from Burma and Thailand, aristocratic temple art of Vietnam and highly ornamental Peranakan gold, textiles, tribal ornament and theatrical masks. The elaborate Chinese collection is represented by fine porcelain figures, calligraphy and other examples of decorative art.

The ‘West Asia’ section offers an insight into a region highly significant in

A frIendly museum

AttendAnt tells me th the most ImportAnt

Among them

Is the 14th century sIngApore stone, whIch contAIns eArlIest InscrIptIons of the regIon, thought to be A vArIAnt of An old sumAtrAn scrIpt.

terms of religion, being the birthplace of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. However I observe that the focus is mainly on Islam, as the museum is primarily focussed on ancestral cultures of Singaporeans, which includes a sizeable Muslim population. At the end of an artistically refreshing day, I settle down with a Singapore Sling at the legendary Raffles Hotel, to recap my sightings and pleasingly conclude that Singapore’s cultural engagement is equally appealing,

All housed In A 135-yeAr-old colonIAl buIldIng, (the AsIAn cIvIlIsAtIon museum) hAs been coIned by experts

As the best plAce In AsIA to comprehensIvely understAnd the contInents’ rIch culturAl herItAge.

1) City’s inspiring multicutural spirit

2) Buddhist art

3) Multi religion Singapore

4) Asian Civilisation Museum

5) Outside Perankan Museum

6) National Museum

7) Philaletic Museum

8) Lion City Singapore

Travel noTebook SInGaPOre

GeTTinG There

Singapore Airlines (www.singaporeair.com) have several weekly flights from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane Adelaide and Perth to Singapore with Airbus 380 operating from Sydney and Melbourne. Singapore surely justifies a visit by itself; however it can always be explored as a stopover while en-route to several other destinations in Asia, Middle East, Europe, America and Africa. accommodaTion

Conveniently located in the Little India quarter with easy access to several of city’s attractions, the Parkroyal Hotel (www.parkroyalhotels.com) on Kitchener Road offers luxury accommodation within affordable prices and is always like a home away from home.

eaTinG

At least one meal at the Kashmir Indian Restaurant (www.kashmir.com.sg)

more informaTion

Singapore Tourism (www.yoursingapore.com)

Wedding glamour

for the HSC

Design and Technology student

Talia Kaur talks about her top-ranking creation materialistic society

BY raJnI ananD uTHra

When Talia Kaur attended a wedding not so long ago, she was fascinated with the white perfection in which the bride turned up. But as the wedding ceremony concluded and the party moved on to the reception, the observant Talia noticed that the bride seemed a bit weighed down by the large dress. Perhaps the dress could have been designed to be a two-in-one, Talia thought – a beautiful flowing gown for the wedding ceremony, which somehow converts into a cocktail dress for the party afterwards…

Within the next few months, Talia had created exactly such a ‘multi-function’ dress, all from scratch, as the major design project for her Design and Technology course in the 2011 HSC.

It won her the top mark in the state.

“I loved every minute of my year-long work with the dress,” Talia, a Marrickville High student, told Indian Link. “The portfolio that was supposed to go with it, was hard work but just as fun – all 70 pages of it!”

The seventeen-year-old described the three components that make up the dress.

“The cocktail dress is a simple boob-tube style which ends just above the knee. It’s in white of course, made with satin-backed shantung and a princess satin lining. The wedding skirt goes on top of it. It is a huge skirt which can be attached easily, and is made from different types of net. There’s a lining and then two layers of hard net, one layer of soft net tulle, and then two more layers of tulle with glitter. To cover the join, I created a pure satin sash in black, which is tied up in a bow at the back. The black waist band I thought added a modern feel to it all. For the head, I decided to do away with the traditional veil and designed a headpiece instead”.

The headpiece sits on the temple, and features a large white flower which Talia had specially flown in from a Paris milliner. It is attached to black feathers and black netting scrunched up at the back, all of it

sitting on an oval base. It turned out to be the most enjoyable part of the whole exercise for Talia.

“Firstly it was easy to make – and being so small, there was room for error, whereas with the wedding dress I had to be really careful”.

The hardest bit was the cocktail dress.

“It had to be properly fitted and that was difficult to accomplish. The boning was hard to work with and so was the invisible zip”.

But it all came together beautifully at the end.

“When my teacher saw it finally he loved it – he said it was a Band 6! I didn’t believe him, of course, I

thought it was worth a Band 5 at best”.

Talia first began to sew at the young age of ten, when her mum Harjit taught her to hem her own dresses.

“Mum used to work as a dressmaker, making dresses and handbags, so she got me started early!”

These days, Talia says, she prefers to create dresses.

And what did Mum think of the winning dress?

“She really liked it. She wasn’t too sure about the black aspect of it, being a wedding dress and all, but I explained to her that we were required to be creative and innovative. She’s ok with it now!”

Talia’s mark in the D&T exam, 98, contributed substantially to her overall ATAR of 92. She is now set to do a journalism degree at UTS.

“I’m passionate about writing –who knows, I might even take up fashion journalism!” Talia said with enthusiasm.

“I decIded to do away wIth the tradItIonal veIl and desIgned a headpIece nstead”.

LIa Kaur

“My teacher loved It when he saw It – he saId It was a Band 6! I dIdn’t BelIeve hIM, of course, I thought It was worth a Band 5 at Best”.

Clockwise Sister Sarah models the dress, Talia with her HSC project The headpiece is a huge hit, Sarah and mum Harjit

Resilience Encouraging

It is an admirable quality to nourish in the young, particularly within our excessively materialistic society

depression and even contemplation of ending their lives.

BY SAROJA SRINIVASAN

In common usage we could say that the word ‘resilience’ actually means ‘staying power’. Other commonly used and closely related terms are ‘psychological resilience’, ‘emotional resilience’, ‘hardiness’, ‘resourcefulness’ and ‘mental toughness’. In psychology, resilience refers to the idea of an individual’s tendency to cope with stress and adversity. This coping may result in the individual ‘bouncing back’ to a previous state of normal functioning by using the experience of facing adversity to produce a ‘steeling effect’ and function better than expected. It is very much like an inoculation that

gives one the capacity to cope well with future exposure to disease. It is a process by which one learns to use resources that will help sustain their wellbeing. It is the capacity to use challenges one faces as lessons for growth, to face future hardships and make them tolerable. We often hear stories of people facing horrendous experiences in their lives and yet surviving to rise above it all to great heights. Resilience enriches our lives and gives us the courage to face adversities with a smile. It is an ability that we need to acquire and encourage, and train those who are vulnerable. So what is this capacity that is so prevalent in some and not in others? While surprisingly many show high levels of resilience despite repeated adversities, many others also lack this to the extent that even a small setback in their lives leads them to severe levels of

Street kids… appear to have no resentment against their circumstance, be it the lack of adult support from their own families or concerned others.

The most resilient group that comes to mind immediately is the children of the streets, the sort who were depicted in the popular movie Slumdog Millionaire Lacking adult protection they learn at a very young age to fend for themselves and meet all adversities headlong. One of the most sustaining qualities they possess is their acceptance of the present and living it in the moment in the true sense of the word, quite contrary to those who spend their life oscillating between feeling guilty about the past and worrying about the future. For the latter, the present is dwindled away further whilst the person enters the vortex of helplessness. The street kids, on the other hand, appear to have no resentment against their circumstance, be it the lack of adult support from their own families or concerned others. They just get on with living. Their own families have deserted them and the authorities lack the will to implement successful strategies due to cost constraints. Yet the smile on their faces belies this rude neglect by society. It brings their inner resilience to the fore and they eke out a living against all odds.

Another source from whom much can be learned about resilience is the survivors of torture and trauma. From the survivors of the Holocaust to present day political prisoners, these people have endured unimaginable acts of violence, both physical and emotional. Yet they have come through at the end even stronger as individuals. It seems their inner strength, their resilience, the belief in their own self-worth and faith in a higher power has given them the capacity to rise above these horrific experiences.

Many studies in resilience cite the importance of close relationship with family, one’s own culture, and one’s experiences of social justice and spirituality as significant contributing factors in building resilience.

The American Psychological Association suggests “10 Ways to Build Resilience”, which are: (1) maintaining good relationships with close family members, friends and others; (2) to avoid seeing crises or stressful events as unbearable problems; (3) to accept circumstances that cannot be changed; (4) to develop realistic goals and move towards them; (5) to take decisive actions in adverse situations; (6) to look for opportunities of self-discovery after a struggle with loss; (7) developing self-confidence; (8) to keep a long-term perspective and consider the stressful event in a broader context; (9) to maintain a hopeful outlook, expecting good things and visualizing what is wished; (10) to take care of one’s mind and body, exercising regularly, paying attention to one’s own needs and feelings, and engaging in relaxing activities that one enjoys. Learning from the past and maintaining flexibility and balance in life are also mentioned. Some circumstances in life are outside one’s control and coping is reflected in one’s ability to seek out ways of understanding the problems, and to see them in a manageable, reality-focussed way. In general, resilient people are believed to possess positive emotions which in turn, influence their responses to adversity. For the generation who has experienced immediate gratification in almost all things, the idea of facing even a small adversity becomes catastrophic. Developing resilience is vital to lead a balanced life. Sometimes stubbornness is confused with resilience. When some one stays with a hopeless situation despite evidence to the contrary, it is stubbornness and not resilience. Resilience is certainly a valuable quality, but one has also to implement it in the right circumstance.

Perhaps it has to be fostered and encouraged from an early age, especially in the climate we live in, of material wealth and instant gratification.

Contact Details:

Amrit P Jagota (MARN 0532014)

Mobile Contact Number 0414 338 423

Manvinder K Josan (MARN 0962796)

Mobile Contact Number 0410 719 375

Suite

matrimonials

SEEKING GROOMS

Well settled/professional alliance invited from Australia/ India for 40/165, unmarried, charming Punjabi Khatri girl, family oriented and responsible, IT professional, working in Sydney. Australian citizen. Early marriage. Can relocate. Serious proposals only. Email profile with recent photo: sydgirl09@gmail.com

Seeking qualified professional unmarried boy, aged 31 to 36, settled in Australia, with good family background for charming Hindu girl, 31 years 5’3”, born New Delhi, brought up in Gujarat with Indian values. Professional Accounting Masters from Sydney, Financial Consultant with CBA, Australian Citizenship. Please contact veerniranjan@yahoo.co.in or 0011 91 97259 57256 or 0425 336 516. Caste no bar.

Professionally qualified, vegetarian Indian match for well qualified, 38 years, pleasant looking, issueless divorcee, north Indian Brahmin. Well placed in garment industry. Residing 11 years in Sydney. Contact sk277310@yahoo.com

Match required for a simple, committed, god fearing Indian Christian Tamil girl, 27 years, 5 ft, fair completed, PhD at Sydney and working here presently. Boy should be committed, god-fearing and well educated. Email geethadevakaram@ hotmail.com

Christian Protestant girl from North India, 34 years, never-married, PR of Australia, teacher, highly qualified, seeks alliance from well settled, qualified Christian boy, contact with bio-data on: rattandeep.gulab@gmail.com

Suitable well-settled/professional match for Punjabi Arora girl, beautiful, never married, 38/165, qualified IT professional. GSOH with

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Professional Hindu female, never married, age 41 years, University graduate Australian citizen. Would like to meet professional gentleman, age 41 to 46 years, single or divorced (no children). If interested please email chumchum280@yahoo. com.au

Seeking suitable match (from Australia, never married) 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

A tertiary qualified, pretty Fijian Indian girl, age 25, with a career in Marketing, belonging to a well respected family, Australian citizen, seeks a Fijian Indian, Australian resident boy, aged 25-28 years old, over 5’6” tall, with tertiary education and a career, willing to settle in Sydney after marriage. Serious proposals only. sresponse@optusnet.com. au or call 0405 551 810.

SEEKING BRIDES

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Seeking alliance for a Hindu Punjabi Indian boy, highly educated, average build, 31/5’5”, citizen, working as a real estate agent in Sydney. Parents well settled in India. Please respond with full details and photo to man_syd25@rediffmail.com

DAL Doing the

SHERYL DIXIT

Not long ago, an Aussie friend asked me for a good ‘dal’ recipe. Being a fan of Indian food and dal in particular, she hadn’t quite grasped the concept of making a good, wholesome, flavoured dal. She didn’t even know that different varieties existed, as she simply picked any packet labelled ‘lentils’ from the supermarket. Now in most Indian households, dal is pretty much a staple on the weekly menu, so there may not be much we can learn about cooking a good dal. However, if you have non-Indian friends who need a few hints, these recipes will help tickle their tastebuds. Also, the recipes below may seem a tad ‘Aussified’ to you, so enhance the taste by upping the quantity of spices to suit your palate. And instead of the presoaking and boiling in a thick bottomed saucepan, simply pop the dal into a pressure cooker to save time.

Mung dal

This is a simple recipe and much of the flavoUr comes from the dal itself.

2 cups whole green mung dal

1 medium sized onion, finely chopped

1 medium clove garlic, finely chopped

½ tsp grated ginger

1-2 green chillies (optional)

1/3 tsp turmeric powder

4-5 whole peppercorns

2 tsp vegetable oil

Salt to taste

1 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 pinch cumin seeds

1-2 dried red chillies

2 tsp oil

1 tbsp chopped coriander

Soak the mung dal overnight in water, ensuring that the level is at least a couple of inches over the dal. The mung beans will absorb the water and puff up to at least twice their original size.

Drain the mung beans, add fresh water and salt, add green chillies and boil in a closed saucepan on medium heat, stirring from time to time to check if the beans are fully cooked. Once done, pick out the green chillies and keep aside.

In a separate saucepan or heavy

bottomed wok, add oil. When hot, turn down the flame and add the mustard seeds, cumin and red chillies. When the mix starts to splutter, add the garlic, ginger, peppercorns and onion, and fry for a minute or two, until the onions turn soft. Next, add the turmeric powder and stir for a minute. Next, add the boiled dal mix and thoroughly stir through the tempering or tadka. Simmer for 2-3 minutes, then turn off and garnish with fresh chopped coriander. Add lemon and stir through. Serve hot with rice or naan.

Dal Makhani

My personal favourite, probably because it’s a nice, rich one with cream and a bit of butter.

2 cups black dal (the orange lentil with the flat brown husk still on)

½ cup red kidney beans

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 medium clove garlic, chopped

½ tsp grated ginger

3 bay leaves

7-8 whole peppercorns

7-8 cloves

2 medium cinnamon sticks

2 whole cardamom

1 red chilly, broken into two pieces

1 level tsp turmeric powder

½ tsp each, cumin, coriander, curry powders

Salt to taste

½ cup regular or sour cream (low fat could be used)

2 tbsp vegetable oil OR 1 heaped tbsp clarified butter or even margarine

Soak the dal and kidney beans together for a few hours, until the beans absorb water and puff up. Drain the water and place in a thick bottomed saucepan, adding water to cover the dals by about an inch. Place on a low flame. Next, add the chopped onion, tomato, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon sticks, red chilli, turmeric and other powders, and salt. Slow cook for at least two hours, 45 minutes in a pressure cooker on low flame. Stir occasionally to check if the dal is cooked through. Once the dal is done, add the oil (preferably clarified butter/ margarine) to a small frying pan and heat gently. Once hot, add a pinch of turmeric powder to the oil and leave for about 20 seconds. Next, add this mix to the dal to temper it. Take the dal off the fire, and gently pour in the cream, taking care to stir carefully so that the cream doesn’t

break. Serve immediately. This dal cooks beautifully in a slow cooker, as the spices completely mingle with the dal and its aroma is absolutely heavenly. Follow the same process once the dal is cooked through. A dal makhani masala powder is also available from Indian shops, which can be used as a substitute to the other powders. For a richer taste, drop a small knob of butter into the hot dal just before serving.

Daily dal

This is a generic recipe for cooking any kind of lentil, the toor, red, yellow mung or thicker grained split peas or chana dal varieties. You can even add two or more to make a more interesting mix.

2 cups of any dal, soaked for at least a couple of hours.

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

1 large garlic pod, chopped

1 medium green chilli (optional)

½ tsp turmeric powder

Boil the dal in a large saucepan together with the turmeric powder, tomato, onion, chilli and garlic, adding salt to taste. To make a thicker dal, add less water, to make a thinner, soup-like version, add more water. The approximate measure should be 1cup dal = 2 cups water. It is usually easier to cook dal in a pressure cooker, it’s faster and can be cooked without presoaking the dal.

For the tempering:

½ tsp mustard seeds

½ tsp whole cumin

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 red chilli whole

2 tbsp vegetable oil

OR

1 tbsp ghee or clarified butter

Heat the oil/ghee in a small frying pan or tadka kadhai, add the mustard seeds and let them crackle. Next, add the cumin, red chilly and turmeric powder. Fry for approximately 30 seconds, then pour it into the cooked dal mixture. Take care as the mix will sizzle a bit. Stir through thoroughly.

Garnish:

Freshly chopped green coriander

A tablespoon of fresh, grated coconut

If you’d like a treat, drop in a knob of butter, organic, if it will make you feel less guilty

Tips

• For a healthier version of dal, add finely chopped or even a cup of fresh spinach to the dal when boiling. Alternatively, fry the spinach after the tempering, and then add the lot to the dal

• Pick out the green chillies after boiling them in the dal. they add a subtle flavour, but could give someone a nasty surprise if bitten into.

• When using lentils, the thicker variety like split peas should be soaked for longer, as they take more time to cook

• Add curry leaves if you have them, to the tempering, but they’re not absolutely critical Substitute turmeric powder for a generic mild curry powder if you like •the trick is in the tempering. if you prefer a plain dal, a simple tempering will do; if you prefer something a bit more elaborate, when tempering, fry up ingredients like the onion, tomato, garlic, etc., and add them to the plain dal • if you’re the adventurous type, add a blend of subtle spices to the dal, eg. turmeric, cumin and coriander powder in equal 1/3 tsp quantities. Don’t add heavy spices, or the flavour could get mixed, and it won’t be fit for the dog or the ex….well, maybe the ex! enjoy!

She didn’t even know that different varieties existed, as she simply picked any packet labelled ‘lentils’ from the supermarket.

H20 hhh

It’s the simplest and best solution to keeping your body healthy, your skin glowing, and helping you feel great

BY MInaL KHOnna

Summer is here and we don’t realise how our environment and lifestyle can rob the skin of vital moisture. No amount of moisturizers can replenish the skin as much as drinking healthy amounts of water. So while the summer heat dehydrates your skin, minimise the damage by being aware of water thieves and find the right solutions to protect your skin from premature ageing.

Kick the butt

A lot of women in Australia smoke. And while it is proven that women’s bodies age faster if they drink or smoke too much, smoking can also cause wrinkles. Think about it. A smoker usually crinkles her eyes and purses her lips while taking a drag from the cigarette. Smoking can make the skin thinner, which in turn makes it drier. The toxins in cigarettes accelerate the ageing process anyway, as smoking can reduce vitamin C in the body and constrict blood vessels, which in turn prevents vital nutrients from reaching the skin. The best solution would be to quit smoking altogether. But if you can’t give up the habit, try reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke and use an intensive moisturizer.

Drink sensibly

Not all liquids are good for you, as most of us know. Alcohol causes dehydration and dries out the skin. When you have had one too many the night before, you wake up feeling thirsty. Whether it is wine, hard liquor or beer, alcohol makes the capillaries stick, which makes them rupture. Alcohol can also age the skin by reducing oxygen levels in the body. If you consume the recommended units and not binge, you can avoid the side effects. And if you do drink, make sure you drink enough water to undo the damage.

Being outdoors

We all love our sunshine and while most people do use a strong sunscreen, being in the sun leads to evaporation. Often, despite of using sunscreen and moisturizer, when I have been out in the sun for long, I can feel my skin starting to shrivel up and tighten. And no amount of splashing water on the face helps. Then there are the UV rays which cause all sorts of damage to the skin. While it is impossible to stay indoors or out of the sun at all times, protection helps in reducing the damage. Stay in the shade as much as you can. If you must be in the sun, use a sunscreen, and a moisturizer with antioxidants to combat the free radicals. If you are a redhead or have very fine skin, use a moisturizer that has an oil base or some vegetable oils in it. Shea butter and jojoba oil among others, are effective in protecting the skin. Also, keep drinking water through the day so your insides stay moisturized too.

Heating and air conditioning

Since Sydney can have extreme cold and hot days, one tends to use heaters and air conditioning, but both these gadgets can reduce

the oxygen in the air. If you must use the air conditioning on a high cool setting, keep drinking water though being in such a cold setting may not make you feel thirsty. Regarding heating, keep it to a moderate temperature and use a humidifier. You can also keep a bowl of water on top of a radiator that can increase the moisture content in the air. Humidity keeps the skin from drying too much.

Irregular diets

Going on a diet to lose weight means most people cut out on the fat they eat. But the human body needs a certain amount of fatty acids to keep the skin moist and the joints greased. Binge eating or dieting can age the skin over a period of time. If your body craves a certain kind of food, it means the body is crying out for that particular substance. If you suddenly crave carbohydrates, it means you are not getting

as much of it as your body needs. The best way to lose weight is to eat everything in moderation and exercise. Gradually cutting down on the total quantity of food is what will help, not reducing fat or carbs alone. If you include wonder foods like salmon, nuts, seeds etc., you can keep your skin supple and less prone to ageing.

Frequent flying

If you travel frequently because of your job or are just lucky enough to be able to travel when you want, keep in mind that circulation within the enclosed environs of an airplane can make the air and hence the skin, excessively dry. The best way to prevent this dryness is drinking water before, during and after a flight. Alcohol on a long flight can be very tempting, but if you drink, ensure you drink enough water too. Washing your face frequently on a long flight also helps. You can even use one of those moisturizing spritzers or spray mists.

The toxins in cigarettes accelerate the ageing process anyway, as smoking can reduce vitamin C in the body and constrict blood vessels, which in turn prevents vital nutrients from reaching the skin.

If you travel frequently because of your job or are just lucky enough to be able to travel when you want, keep in mind that circulation within the enclosed environs of an airplane can make the air and hence the skin, excessively dry.

Cine Talk

Morality is a negotiable commodity

Four fine actors, one wild unpredictable night of adventure. As a premise for a two-hour adventure-caper this sounds exactly like the recipe Sudhir Mishra ordered from his scriptwriters when he made Iss Raat Ki Subah Nahin 15 years ago.

Times have changed. So has morality. Nowadays guns are no longer what the villains hold in our films. They are often the tools to trigger off a torrent of titters in times of violence. In this day and age of dithering morality Chaalis Chauraasi (4084) has some finger-licking fun with the formula of farce.

4084 is a feast of the feisty. Indeed Hriday Shetty who earlier directed a tender but undercooked tale of midlife

romance Pyar Mein Twist, is here on far surer grounds as he takes his quartet of quirky characters through a maze of mindboggling adventures. All highly nefarious, of course.

So who said crime doesn’t pay? The thing about the morality in this film’s rapidlymutating screenplay is that it’s a negotiable commodity. There are episodes in this extremely rugged slice-of-strife cinema where the four protagonists’ conduct scrapes the bottom of the morality barrel. This isn’t a film for the weak-hearted. This is not a film about heroes. And the four principal actors play the unheroic heroes with compelling gusto.

Indeed the camaraderie among the quartet of over-aged

fun-seekers is so convincing you wonder if the director Hriday Shetty came up with this brawny concoction of crime and comedy after getting Naseeruddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, Kay Kay Menon and Ravi Kissan on board. The rest just follows.

There’s no blood and gore, no abusive invocation of mothers and sisters and their private spaces. And yet the rollercoaster ride is never free of excitement.

In spite of some repetitive scenes Bunty Negi’s editing is crisp and sassy. The camerawork by Najeeb Khan makes Mumbai by night look famished and naked. Shetty has chosen actual locations of Mumbai’s underbelly as resting-places for his restless plot. Into these redolent locations of cramped ethics,

the narration pours a sort of sly and slippery street wisdom that gives the ‘heroes’ room to improvise without losing the centre of this precariousperched tale of crime and nil punishment.

The shootouts, especially in a lodge where the four protagonists masquerading as cops come to a messy nemesis, are shot with a feeling of inebriated recklessness. Anything can happen. Nothing is as it seems. And yet director Shetty, manoeuvring through incidents that border on the absurd and yet preserve a core of credibility, takes the narrative screaming kicking though blessedly not abusing, through a night of adventures that have to be seen to be believed.

4084 is a crisply edited one-wild-night-on-thewrong-end-of-town caper that manages an improbable merger of the sinister and the satirical. The four principal performers are dead-on, full of beans percolating with a pungency that makes them credible all through their incredible journey.

And you’ve to see the four super-actors dance to Hawa hawaa to know how much fun they’ve extracted from the film. In this item song it’s Atul Kulkarni who surprises with his spinning feet. And his three colleagues don’t seem to mind. Oneupmanship is not the point in this game that big boys play in the dark. Solidarity is.

Subhash K. Jha

Film: Chaalis Chauraasi

DirecteD by: Hriday Shetty

Starring: Naseerduddin Shah, Atul Kulkarni, Kay Kay Menon, Ravi Kissan

Film: Good Night, Good Morning Starring: Seema Rahmani, Manu Narayan, Raja Sen Director Director: Sudhish Kamath

Every time a film critic dares to make a film and puts money where his words have always been, it’s laudatory. For it is the equivalent of your cricket-expert, corporate buddy -- ever-ready with pointers for Sachin -- actually facing a Brett Lee-bouncer.

Because critic or not, like cricket, we all have views about cinema. But very few ever dare to test them. The few who have, like a Francois Truffaut or a Jean-Luc Godard or even Peter Bogdanovich, have changed cinema.

And though Good Night, Good Morning is no 400 Blows or Breathless or even The Last Picture Show, it manages to hold your

urban attention to ponder over relationships, even if for a brief moment.

Two complete strangers, who have bumped into each other at a bar, engage in a night-long banter. From nothing, the conversation veers towards relationships and in one night, the two go through the whole life cycle of a relationship from the first hesitant date to romance, break-up, patch-up, so on and so forth.

There are two sides to the film -- the good and the bad. Let’s begin with the good. If you suspend your disbelief as is required of you in the darkness of a theatre, it is believable. The two lead actors do manage to portray a good range of emotions required of them. The writing and direction is decent and doesn’t indulge in unsavoury gimmicks.

Sadly, it tries to do a Woody Allen and Richard Linklater but fails miserably. It has neither the tragi-comic timing of Allen’s cinema nor the depth of Linklater’s Before Sunrise, from which it takes inspiration.

And though the conversation is witty,

An India Australia cricket comedy

Though the Indian cricket team fared miserably in Australia this season, Indian cities Varanasi, Kolkata and Mumbai are serving as a pitch for an Australian comedy movie Save Your Legs!

The movie is being described as a ‘wild ride from the suburbs of Australia to India’. It narrates the story of Edward ‘Teddy’ Brown, who is in a desperate bid to wind back the clock and cling to his childhood dreams. He begs his boss Sanjeet, a retired cricketer, to allow his D-Grade cricket club, the ‘Abbotsford Anglers’ on a tour of India. They lose all the matches, but win many friends along the way.

Renowned Indian actor Darshan Jariwalla (Gandhi, My Father) will play the role of Sanjeet. He will be joined by big-name Australian actors Stephen Curry (The Cup, The King), Brendan Cowell (Beneath Hill 60, Love My Way) and Damon Gameau (Balibo, Spirited) who star

respectively as Ted Brown and his two best friends, Rick and Stav.

Melbourne girl Pallavi Sharda will star as Sanjeet’s gorgeous and savvy daughter Anjali who sweeps Ted off his feet once the ‘Anglers’ arrive in India for their tour.

First-time feature film director Boyd Hicklin will helm Save Your Legs! alongside producers Nick Batzias (Not Quite Hollywood) and Robyn Kershaw (Bran Nue Dae, Looking for Alibrandi). The script was written by Brendan Cowell, whose authorial talent has brought us The Slap and Love My Way

Pallavi has starred in a string of Hindi films ever since she moved to Mumbai in 2008, including My Name is Khan, Dus Tola, Walkaway and Love, Breakups, Zindagi as well as featuring as a recurring cast member of Anubav Pal’s theatre comedy, 1888 Dial India Pallavi was also crowned Miss India Australia in 2010 and won the ‘Fresh Look’ title at the Miss India

managing a few chuckles, it is too literal to offer anything. This would have been fine if it hadn’t taken itself too seriously. Sadly, it does!Next, you wonder as to why on Billy Wilder’s and K. Balachander’s name (to whom the filmmaker pays respect) is it set in New York when it could easily have been set in say Mumbai, with the boy driving down to Pune.

The only reason that comes to mind, looking at the zillion odd references to everything American - is that the writer knows more about American culture than he does of his own. Or perhaps it is shame.

It thus becomes another desi-dream on the big screen, a low-budget equivalent of a Bollywood film set in Hollywoodland to seem ‘global’. Thus in its cinematic politics of becoming a ‘feel-good’ indie, it is no different from a Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, which it spoofs brilliantly.

The film misses out on the biggest strengths of indie cinema - local flavour. Not just for indies, but any cinema with serious aspirations, local is always global. The film thus seems like the work of an ABCD - American Born Confused Desi, only in this case the ‘American’ is replaced by ‘Indian’.

The film becomes an example of a ‘globalised’ world. Today, most Indians born in our urban towns, raised on a staple diet of American entertainment, are probably as American as Americans themselves.

Having said that, one cannot take away the command Sudhish has over both writing and direction. Sadly, presence of form or style can never make up for the lack of content. One only hopes that this brave critic, in his next film, takes up something more real.

Satyen K. Bordoloi

Worldwide competition held in Durban.

“Cricket is very much part of the relationship which binds Australia and India together in so many ways,” acting Australian high commissioner Lachlan Strahan, said in New Delhi recently. “It’s wonderful to see the best of Australia’s film industry taking the sporting and cultural relationship in a new direction, telling a very human story about a game which grips the national imagination in the two countries. All of this is done with humour and sensitivity”.

Indian actor Sid Makkar will also be seen in the film; which also includes a guest appearance by Indian Premier League (IPL) Extra Innings anchor Shibani Dandekar. The film also features a cameo by cricket legend Sir Richard Hadlee, who will take to the pitch on the big screen for the first time.

The production in India is being supervised by Line Producer

Melbourne actor Pallavi Sharda will star in Save Your Legs!

Pravesh Sahni and his team at India Take One Productions (ITOP), who managed shoots of international projects like Mission Impossible 4, Eat Pray Love and Slumdog Millionaire

The world premiere of Save Your Legs! is scheduled for the Melbourne International Film

Festival in August 2012 before its commercial release in Australia and India later this year.

The phrase Save Your Legs! is commonly used in Australia when a batsman hits a boundary. It is the cry heard from teammates as there is no need for the batsman to run, hence the term “save your legs”.

the Buzz

Wedding bells Genelia-Riteishfor

healthy eating habits as well as revealing personal details like how she cooks her own food. Her book is the story of her life - a recall of her victory over the demons in her head that got to her body. Well, Yana’s successful relationship with food is certainly apparent from her figure, so maybe she’s onto a good thing. Now let’s wait for her next non-fiction literary offering to hit the stands – a book on relationships! That should be an interesting one too!

K&KK whispers

Star siblings Karisma and Kareena Kapoor are back in the news for a raft of reasons. Recently the sisters have been urging their fans to join in the fight against film-piracy, asking them to watch movies in theatres.

“Actors work so hard, directors work so hard, producers and technicians work so hard in making a movie, so we would like to tell the audience out there to please go to the cinema and watch our movies,” said Karisma at an event recently.

today,” she said.

Karisma blushed after Kareena’s compliment, admitting that it’s about eating healthy and being fit, and not about starving yourself. Looks like the Kapoor sisters are on a good wicket, here’s hoping they keep it up.

Veterans acknowledged by Filmfare

In a well-deserved acknowledgment of their contribution to Hindi cinema, veteran actress Aruna Irani and music composer Pyarelal of composer duo LaxmikantPyarelal, will be conferred the lifetime achievement award at the 57th Idea Filmfare Awards 2012.

The news was revealed by none other than iconic megastar Amitabh Bachchan via his blog bigb.bigadda.com. “Filmfare wishes to acknowledge two personalities that have contributed greatly to our industry and they talk to me about them because I shall not be able to be at the function,” Amitabh wrote on his blog recently.

Aday draws nearer, Genelia D’Souza and Riteish Deshmukh are well-occupied with the preparations involved in getting the event organised.

“I’m in a very happy space right now. Preparations are going on in full swing,” Genelia said recently, without actually revealing any details.

The couple have been dating for over eight years, but they only came out in the open about their relationship in November 2011. Riteish is the son of Maharashtra’s former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

“Earlier, we never spoke about our relationship. We maintained a distance and dignity, and now since we are getting married, it would be stupid if I don’t talk

about it,” said Genelia, who made her Bollywood debut opposite her husband-tobe in Tujhe Meri Kasam in 2003.

On the big screen, they were last seen together in Masti in 2004, but they have now teamed up again for the romantic comedy Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya, releasing at the end of February. Good timing indeed, particularly from the marketing and publicity angle.

Bollywood’s buzzing that the couple will have a grand sangeet before the wedding, followed by a party for them hosted by close friends Sajid Nadiadwala and Fardeen Khan just before D-Day. Good luck to the happy couple, may their jodi remain salamat!

Yana’s gyan

“If you want to look right, you have to learn to love your body,” says model-turnedBollywood item girl Yana Gupta, who is also a budding non-fiction writer.

“Love yourself unconditionally. If you look in the mirror and don’t like what you see, you don’t start it... It all starts with the love, energy and the relaxation that comes into your life with loving yourself,” explains Yana who has put down these elevating thoughts in a fitness guide book called How to Love Your Body and Have the Body You Love.

Mumbai-based Yana, who spoke about the book at the Jaipur Literature Festival this fortnight, offered the audience tips on

Kareena, who has two big releases lined up this year, Agent Vinod with beau Saif Ali Khan and Madhur Bhandarkar’s Heroine, agreed.

“It (piracy) is a racket and it should stop. You should watch films in theatres only,” she said.

Fans will be thrilled to see Karisma back on the big screen with Dangerous Ishq, after a hiatus of six years following marriage and kids. The actress made her mark with films like Dil To Pagal Hai, Raja Hindustani, Biwi No.1, Fiza and Zubeidaa.

Food is another thing on Lolo and Bebo’s minds. Kareena recently revealed that she gorges on aloo and gobhi paranthas almost every day! So if we thought fruit, healthy vegetables and juices are all that the actress consumed to keep herself fit, Kareena claims it’s all a myth! Strangely, the once size zero actress now looks healthy and says eating right is the key to a good figure.

“I have never starved. Even when I used to work out for size zero for Tashan, I used to eat paranthas. I have a lovely diet to follow and there is lots to eat,” said Kareena. “It is about looking good, feeling good and being fit, and once you do that all boys will automatically like you,” she added, good advice for her bunch of young fans.

And she admits that elder sister Karisma deserves her past size zero tag, because of her still-slender figure, despite having two kids. “This is the right time to announce that the crown of size zero goes to Karisma Kapoor. She is the size zero of the industry

“It is a lifetime achievement award for the music duo and the masters in their craft Laxmikant Pyarelal – Laxmiji, we have sadly lost.

The other is for my very first leading lady Aruna Irani, a fine and most accomplished artist in any field of performance, one that began her career in the most humble beginnings and worked her way up to glory and fame. So proud of them all and the fact that they be honoured thus,” he added. A true tribute to these stalwarts of Bollywood!

Abhay and Neha for a social cause

It’s heartening to see Bollywood’s younger breed doing their bit for a good cause. The

GUESS WHO

This star son was named after Michael Jackson.

Genelia D’Souza (inset, with Riteish)

most recent to make the grade are actors Abhay Deol and Neha Dhupia, who have pledged their support to P&G’s signature campaign Shiksha, which aims at spreading education in India.

Abhay and Neha have urged consumers to join the movement by buying P&G products such as Tide, Pantene and Olay, and enabling the company to channelise part of its sales proceeds towards education for underprivileged children. Irrespective of sales, P&G will commit a minimum of Rs.1 crore towards the donation funds to Shiksha every year. Good on you two, keep up the excellent work!

It’s a girl!

Actress Lara Dutta and tennis ace Mahesh Bhupathi have welcomed a baby daughter, born on January 20. Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, or so we’re told, Mahesh announced the news on Twitter, a la Abhishek Bachchan. “IT’S A GIRL!!! @ DuttaLara. I love u....,” Mahesh tweeted from Melbourne, where he’s playing the Australian Open.

The mother and child are healthy and fine, said a source close to the actress.

Before going into labour, Lara made her last public appearance at socialite Parmeshwar Godrej’s residence, at a party in honour of international talk show queen Oprah Winfrey.

Excited at meeting both Oprah and her favourite co-star Shah Rukh Khan, Lara tweeted: “@ Oprah and @iamsrk, two people I absolutely adore! Thank you for making my day! Now can go into labour happily!”

Looks like Lara enjoyed a happy labour, good on her!

At nearly 70, the 1970s are back

Amitabh Bachchan seems slightly bemused these days. At 69, the megastar makes quite a style icon with his designer jackets, suits, sherwanis, kurtas and even the casual look! But he’s sensing that the future of fashion will be right out of the 1970s, and will make a big comeback.

YanaGupta

KarisMa-Kareena

or not. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen for a long, long time!

Kids keep Kajol happy

Actress Kajol, last seen in Toonpur Ka Superhero is in a very happy place right now. The actress says she is extremely happy with the way her life has shaped up and the doting mother of two can’t stop gushing about her kids.

“I am having a blast, I am having a great time, a fabulous time with my life right now. I have two wonderful kids, I am enjoying myself thoroughly. I am glowing because I am spending so much time with my kids,” said the 37-year-old actress recently.

Kajol admits she is not considering any new projects for the time being, but hopes to be part of a good project in the near future.

“I hope so (to do a film)... but only when the right time comes, when the right offer comes, not before that,” said Kajol, who won the Filmfare award for best actress in 2010 for My Name Is Khan. Kajol also recently lent her voice for Karan Johar’s Koochie Koochie Hota Hai, an animated version of her 1998 film Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. She will also be seen in a guest appearance in Johar and Shah Rukh Khan’s co-production Student Of The Year. Good luck to her!

Yearning for the King

Shah Rukh Khan will be heading for Berlin soon, for a screening of his latest film Don 2: The King Is Back at the Berlinale. However, a motley lot of hundreds of international fans from all over Europe will be converging in Berlin to get a glimpse of their hero. 51-year-old Maria Stella Hinterndorfer from Vienna is one of King Khan’s most ardent fans, as is Selma (18) from Morocco, who has been allowed to travel to Berlin only because Stella has promised to chaperone her.

“They say fashion repeats itself after some years, so if you have saved some of the clothes of the 1970s, it is very likely that in a couple of years, spending for new latest designs would not be necessary,” Amitabh posted on his blog bigb.bigadda.com.

A style icon of his times, the tall and handsome actor used to wear the infamous bell bottoms of the day, but says he let go of some of his belongings of the era, sometime back. “I threw away an entire bunch of my old sunglasses and the kids could have killed me for it! They are all back in fashion again,” he added. The Big B has always had a yen for sunglasses and spectacles, and he even misses the shades he wore in the 1978 movie Don.

“I met some friends of this generation at a social evening and they asked me where I had got those tinted glares I wore in I told them they were my personal ones. They yipped and yupped about it, until I told them I had thrown them away,” wrote the actor, who still has a penchant for eyewear. Well, if the Big B goes back to bellbottoms in his 70s, there’s no doubt that the entire industry and country will too – fashion statement

“Seven years ago when I decided to fulfil my dream of meeting Shah Rukh in person, I was a non-English speaking, very shy and private person. It was other fans who helped me and gave me the confidence and generous tips on how to be photographed with him, to get autographs and hugs from Shah Rukh,” recalls Stella. Gabi Pirkfellner and Eva Richter, both from Vienna will spend around 400 euros each on the trip, but they think its worth it. The King Khan’s magic has worked wonders for his European fans probably since December 2004 after a private German entertainment channel first beamed Kabhi Khushi Kabhie dubbed in the German language.

However, this breed of fans are pretty outspoken when it comes to the superstar’s latest work, and aren’t beyond criticizing some of it.

Stella Stella is nostalgic about films Baazigar and Karan Arjun, but she wasn’t too thrilled with RA.One.

“The more money that Shah Rukh spends on a film and the harder he tries to be funny, the more mediocre he

Dabang2 you are playing his mother. What next?

Sonakshi: I play his nanny in Dabang 3… Manivel Sahayam

comes across on screen these days. I miss the sincerity and fire in his performances,” sighs Stella.

However, there are still hundreds of other Europeans who look forward to collectively cheering Shah Rukh at the Berlinale this year as well.

What can we say, it’s the SRK way!

Pinki wins a pack of two new Hindi film CDs

Mahesh-Lara

KajoL

Band Baaja

Indian movies portraying weddings and matrimony are more than entertaining, often with a moral lesson behind all the singing and dancing

BY SHRADDHA ARJUN

indian weddings are definitely a big deal. It doesn’t matter which part of India you are from, it’s an ostentatious affair. Months of planning, coordinating and running around….choosing the beautician, photographer, florist, mehndi artist, caterers, drivers, reception, guests, musicians, entertainment - the list is an endless and an exasperating one! Days spent shopping for sarees, jewellery and visits to the tailor are anything but magical or divine.

In the end however, all the hassle is definitely worth the effort!

Whether a love marriage or an arranged one, Indian weddings are all about pomp and show, and days of celebrations. This is an event that brings families and friends together on an occasion

that creates memories to last for a lifetime. Several Bollywood films have been made about Indian weddings; some have changed the look, scale, grandeur and even attire of present day weddings.

One might say that most Indian films are about weddings; they are mostly stories about how two people fall in love, tie the knot and live happily ever after! By that logic if I were to enumerate films made about weddings and critique them all, I’d probably end up writing a book, instead of an article. There have been a few iconic films that have treated the subject of weddings and marriages differently, while maintaining the essence of Indian weddings.

One such film is Socha Na Tha, the film that launched Abhay Deol and Ayesha Takkia into Bollywood. It was also Imtiaz Ali’s first full-length feature film as a director. This film did nothing for Abhay, Ayesha or Imtiaz and failed miserably at the box office.

The plot was quite intriguing as Abhay’s parents decide to get him

Baraat

to which NRIs could relate.

Speaking of NRIs, there have been filmmakers like Gurinder Chadha and Mira Nair who have made films in English about the big fat Indian wedding. I would rate Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding as the best film made about Indian weddings in recent times. It is essentially about a wedding that happens in an upper middle class household in Delhi, and there have been moments in the film that I could directly relate to and identify with.

Gurinder Chadha’s film Bride & Prejudice was loosely based on Jane Austen’s classic Pride and Prejudice, and was an interesting adaptation. It brought together Indian actors from the UK and the USA, as well as Bollywood’s A-list. Some well-known Hollywood actors were also a part of this very ambitious film. However, the plot was all over the place and was one of the main reasons why it did not receive a very warm response in India and abroad. But it did benefit Aishwarya Rai a lot as she appeared on The David Letterman Show in the year it released and promoted the film at several international film festivals.

Small budget films, like Bazaar made in the ‘80s were really not about the celebrations; they were in fact about exploitation of women through marriages. Whilst these films dealt with issues related to marriage, films like Hyderabad Blues by Nagesh Kukunoor look at weddings with a completely different perspective, akin to Woody Allen-like treatment to relationships. Nagesh’s Hyderabad Blues adds a comic twist to this subject. He then made Hyderabad Blues 2, which was about infidelity and the business of arranged marriages, and this time again he managed to steer clear from all the histrionics and victimization of the characters involved. I’d say that his films in general are largely ‘feel good’ movies that talk about very important and serious issues. It’s probably how a mature person would deal with his/ her life.

engaged to Ayesha Takkia; however Abhay is in love with a Christian girl. He goes against the family and somehow manages to get engaged to this girl he loves, only to find out that, in time, he’s actually fallen in love with Ayesha Takkia! His family is left baffled! Not your conventional shaadi story for sure. Imitiaz also made box office blockbusters such as Jab We Met and Love Aaj Kal, which were also about weddings and marriages.

When it comes to conventional stories about weddings in Bollywood, one thinks of Sooraj Barjatya’s multi-starrers which are usually about weddings and joint families. It started with Maine Pyaar Kiya with a stylish Salaam Khan and a coy Bhagyashree in the late ‘80s, followed by Hum Aapke Hain Kaun with a soundtrack that featured 14 songs! Then he went on to make Hum Saath Saath Hain and more recently Vivaah. Typically these were big budget films with an A-listed star cast, the story would be about a wedding or several weddings, and lots of family drama. This was a trend that became hugely popular with Indian audiences. The so-called

“family entertainers” were belted out one after the other. Many songs from these films are still played at sangeet functions, baraats, and receptions at weddings across the Indian diaspora.

While this trend was on, Karan Johar made an entry into the Bollywood scene with films like Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kal Ho Na Ho and Kabhie Khushie Kabhie Ghum that ruled the late 90s. It was like as if Sooraj Barjatya’s films had been given a facelift and a fashion makeover. While we saw a lot of Salman Khan aka Prem with Bharjatya’s films, we had an overdose of Shahrukh Khan aka Rahul with Karan’s films. These movies influenced what people wore at their weddings from designer ghagras and sherwanis, to DJs at weddings. And some even had Shahrukh perform at their weddings!

I would like to think that Karan’s films also drew a lot of inspiration from the Chopras, Aditya and Yash. Yash Chopra’s films have wowed audiences since the ‘70s. Enchanting melodies, beautifully written love stories and gorgeous actors, films like

Silsila, Kabhie Kabhie are etched into the minds of the Indian film audience. They were also quite popular amongst film buffs across the globe. Lamhe, Chandini, Dil Toh Paagal Hai and more recently Veer Zaara are love stories that also talk about weddings, and some go beyond the clichéd formula of family entertainers. For example Silsila is a film about an extramarital affair which did not go down well with the conservative society that existed at that time, and with Lamhe, Yash Chopra reveals a relationship between an older man and a young woman in the second half, and between an older woman and a younger man in the first half. His films treat relationships with a lot of respect and grace. The narration is usually poetic, almost like a fairytale. These were movies that made us think and delve deeper into the concept of marriage beyond just the wedding celebration.

There were a many formulae-driven films like Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge and Dil Toh Paagal Hai that became cult hits not only within the country, but had an appeal

There are many big budget films that have dealt with similar issues in a different manner, like Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s Parineeta and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam These films are characterized by intense drama, pathos and grief. They present a rather romanticized view about tragic love stories, the underlying theme being marriage for love as against arranged marriages. The age-old debate about which one’s better usually crops up between my friends at the end of it!

If I’d have to pick one film from the recent times that is about a wedding or weddings, it would most certainly be Band Baaja Baarat. It was about the business of wedding planners and hence the entire film was like a massive party. It’s one of those films that inspires you to not only go after your dreams, but also believe in the concept of a functional marriage which seems to be getting unpopular in India. At a time when divorces are at an all time high, this films reminds us about what weddings are all about - togetherness, family, fun and most importantly, love!

Ask Auntyji

Ask Auntyji

Dear Auntyji

A Merry Xmas story

Dear Auntyji

The youth of today

My parents left India over 20 years ago, and now that I am middle aged, I finally went back to Delhi for a holiday – for the first time in 25 years. Auntyji, to say I am shocked is an understatement. Everything is so different! Yeh kya hua, kaise hua, aur kab hua? Ok, I admit that I am a fairly non-judgemental type of person and because I don’t have a lot of Indian friends or relatives in Australia, I did not have preconceived notions of Indian people. I occasionally watch Bollywood films for the heck of it and this is mainly so I can keep updated with things of an Indian nature. But Aunty, the Indian people I met in India seemed to be a parody of what I see in films! Ok, let’s just talk about anyone below the age of 30. They only spoke English and behaved as they were on reality TV. Their clothes, their mannerisms, their culture.... Auntyji, what happened to the courtly Urdu that was spoken by Delhi people? What happened to all the classy young people – who were trendy and cosmopolitan yet retained their Indianness? What happened to manners and charm? It seems as though Delhiites are so keen to ape the west that we have lost sight of who we are. I was so disappointed that I cut short my holiday and came home early to nurse my shock with gin and tonic. I have not gotten over my experience, and I was hoping you could help me through this painful period.

Auntyji

says

Arre, kya baat hai! Who told you to go to Delhi for a holiday if you now have gora sensibilities? There are so many other places to go to in India to experience culture and traditions, and you choose Delhi? Serves you right for not doing your homework. Everyone knows that everything changes, and if you wanted courtly charm and manners, you may as well have stayed at home and watched Jodhaa Akbar from the familiar safety and myopic view of your sofa. Why you had to leave your house to get this is anyone’s guess. But my dear, nothing stays the same – everything changes. Ok, so the jawan people speak English and have unsavoury manners and questionable culture. But this can be true of young people in almost any city. Except maybe in Ladakh. And at the citadel in Erbil. And also Samarrkhand. As India comes of age and finds itself on the world stage, the behaviour of young people, as you witnessed, is to be expected. These same people, 10 years from now will be reverting to the courtly charms and traditions from the previous era that identifies them as Indians, and they too, will look down on the youth of their era and call them unsophisticated philistines. Youth, as you know are impressionable. So, I suggest that being an old person, you continue to look down on these young folks for doing exactly what you did when you were young, I am sure.

Mujhe aapki salaah chahiye, Auntyji. I am a 35-year-old female, so I really should have known better, but I am hoping that you can provide me some guidance and some akal. My husband started his new job 3 months ago at a medium-sized firm and everyone was invited, together with their whole family to a Christmas barbecue at the boss’s house. Everyone was there. Peter from the mail room. Krystyna the cleaning lady. Even the occasional sour-faced militant courier. I know this because my husband politely and proudly introduced me to everyone, including the dozens of kids who were there screeching their heads off because they had had too much red cordial and were now going off their faces and screaming for their Christmas presents. To cut a long story short, sub kuch theek thaak chal raha tha, until I found myself left alone with the children, and much to everyone’s surprise, including my own, I found myself telling all the bachche log that Santa is not real, and even if he was, he was probably a pedo because why else would he want children sitting on his lap. Well, aunty. You can only imagine the hullabaloo and tamasha that ensued. The kids went running to ask their parents what that word meant. And the adults stared at me as though I was on medication at worst and a puppy killer at best. I was gobsmacked and did not have another word to utter. I felt the same way Rajesh Khanna must have felt when he sang Zubaan pe dard bhari dastaan chali ayee in Maryada except on my zubaan was not a dard bhari dastaan, but a fazool ki dastaan. Krystyna the cleaning lady glared at me. Peter the mailroom man snickered at me. The boss looked at me with open mouthed wonder, and it wasn’t because I was wearing as short red dress. In any case, I don’t remember what else happened because I snuck to the car and blotted the event out of my memory with a bottle of scotch I stole from the drinks table on my way to the car. Yes, I am a besharam. A behaya. But what to do, aunty, the damage is done. Can you make me feel better?

Auntyji says

Oh my poor chameli, my poor madira-loving akal ki dushman Ab mai kya kahoon - aap ne to sub kuch keh diya hai. Aap to ghungroo ki taraa, har waqt bajti rahengi in your husband’s boss’s mind. But not to worry. Move on. The party is over. Every Christmas party needs at least one scandal, and you gave it to that party good and proper. Your husband is probably a legend now and is due for a promotion. These things happen at all parties and it’s good. You are now the stuff of legends and lore. You are a hero in the minds of all the pissheads who were there, drinking away. The kids will move on too - and it’s up to the parents with how they handle such enlightening moments in their children’s lives. So, really, don’t worry about it. At least you didn’t strip naked and dive into the pool. At least you didn’t come onto the boss or his wife in front of everyone. At least you didn’t vomit into the gardenia bushes. So, chameli raani, things could have been worse. I say learn your lesson and move on. And honestly, what else can one expect from a boozer like you? A whole bottle of scotch? Honestly? Where is your maan and maryada, bahenji?

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