2012-04 Sydney (1)

INDIAN LINK

PUBLISHER

Pawan Luthra

EDITOR

Rajni Anand Luthra

ASSISTANT EDITOR

Sheryl Dixit

MELBOURNE

Preeti Jabbal

CONTRIBUTORS

Shai Bedarkar, Jyoti Shankar, Malli Iyer, Sharmila Wood, Sudha Natarajan, Komal Utsav Jagad, Astha Singh, Noel deSouza, LP Ayer, Chitra Sudarshan, Tim Blight, Petra O’Neill, Liz Gaete, Rani Jhala, Talia Kaur, Nancy Jade Althea, 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 Indian Link Level 24/44 Market St, Sydney 2000 or GPO Box 108, Sydney 2001

Ph: 02 9279-2004 Fax: 02 9279-2005

Email: info@indianlink.com.au

www.indianlink.com.au

Applying the blow torch on community organisations

PAWAN LUTHRA

According to experts, a successful strategy for an organisation, business or otherwise, is one that accomplishes two goals: it creates value (meets and extends demand), and then allows one to capture enough value to prosper. This is, in a nutshell, what an unbiased consultant will preach at any review of an organisation. The question is, can this be translated across our various community organisations?

Enough has been written and discussed about the plethora of community organisations across the Indian diaspora in Australia. Not only community organisations, but media outlets, showbiz entertainers and community functions have sprung up in the past few years. As the number of Indian Australians has skyrocketed to over 400,000, there are now enough communal and commercial opportunities that have emerged, allowing for more competition. While in the commercial

world, the harsh reality of economics will determine long-term survival, community organisations need to take a long hard look at the twin questions of creating value and after that, prospering within their market.

Over the years, most community organisations have certainly created value; they have brought together groups of people from specific linguistic or regional background and bonded them through shared factors. They have conducted get-togethers, celebrations and maintained traditions for their members. They have connected Indians in their country of migration.

However, they need to ask themselves if there is something they can do which the others cannot. Are they duplicating their services and creating divisions? Is there a unique service which they can offer to the community?

If the answer is ‘yes’, have they captured enough value to prosper? Have our community organisations flourished, as the community has grown in numbers?

From an activity point of view, if they have increased membership and financial stability, they can be seen to have captured the value within the community. If they are still where they were about

two to three years ago and have not been able to grow, it may be time for them to merge their energy with other groups while continuing to serve the community. While it will be hard to let go of egos, taking this decision to merge will only strengthen the community which, one assumes, is their reason for being involved in community organisations.

From a community relations point of view, politicians and bureaucrats need also to set up some criteria to measure the depth of community organisations. Sadly, this lack of due diligence allows important space in forums to be taken up by those whose contributions to the community are marginal, while those silent but true workers are often pushed in the background. One assumes it will not be too hard to set up the evaluation criteria (and being an evaluation of community voluntary organisations, it does not have to be too harsh), to audit the veracity of these organisations and rank them accordingly. Those who are in the top tier will benefit from government grants and other handouts, others will be lower in the pecking order.

This carrot-and-stick policy will allow the true believers to serve the community; the others will slowly fade away, unless they perform.

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Book the UMATE 8 program by 22nd April and mention India Link newspapers to receive a 10% discount off your package!

SPIRITUAL Bhagavad Gita classes by SVT

Learn Chapters 7 to 13 of the Bhagavad Gita as taught by Sri Vasudevacharya, a senior disciple of Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati, and a respected Vedanta Guru. Commencing 4 March 2012, on first three Sundays of each month, and concluding 9 September 2012, at Darcy Road Public School Hall, Darcy Road, Wentworthville, 3:00pm to 5:30pm

No prior knowledge is required.  The course is in English and all materials will be provided.  The course is free of charge; donations are accepted.

Details at www. srivasudevacharya.org

Shree Ram Sharnam society

The Shree Ram Sharnam society’s Sydney headquarters are located at 23 Sheba Crescent, South Penrith. One-hour prayer sessions featuring the recital of the Shree Amritvaani are held daily between 7:30pm and 8:30pm (except Saturday and Sunday

What’s on

when prayers are held from 6pm to 7:15pm). The society’s next prayer-meditation sessions are scheduled for April 1, May 13 and June 3 from 9am to 10.00 am at the Woodcroft Community Centre on 65 Woodcroft Drive

Mahavir Jayanti celebrations

Sun 15 April Sydney Jain

Mandal announces Mahavir

Jayanti celebrations at Auburn Hindu Temple (286 Cumberland Rd, Auburn), 9.00am-1.00pm. Details Abha Jain, 0432 248 791 or visit www.sydneyjainmandal.com.

au

EXHIBITION 31 March – 11 April India-

born artist Nafisa Naomi presents Passion, an exhibition of paintings and sculpture, at Richard Martin Art (98 Holdsworth St, Woollahra. View paintings online at www.richardmartinart.com.au

Details Ph 02 9327 6525.

FUNDRAISERS

Mother’s Day dance for charity Sat 12 May SOUNDWAVES, a

popular group of communityminded people, announce a dance event on Mother’s Day, to raise funds for children’s welfare programs in Somalia and Sudan. Harvey Lowe Pavillion, Castle Hill, 7.00pm.

Details Nicky Pillai 0418 276 120

MISC

Hindi studies for high school students

Hindi Language is offered by the Saturday School of Community Languages - DET at Liverpool Girls High School, Hills Sports High School and Strathfield Girls High School. This provides opportunities for high school students to study Hindi language to Higher School Certificate levels as it is not available at their day school. Board of Studies syllabus is followed. The classes are free of charge and are run on Saturdays from 8.30 am to 10.30 am for Years 7 – 10, and 8.30 – 11.45 am for Years 11-12. Enrolment forms can be accessed from the School Principal of the mainstream school of your child or can be downloaded from www.

curriculumsupport.education. nsw.gov.au/secondary/ languages/sscl/ Details 02 9886 7505; Saturdaycl-h.School@det.nsw. edu.au

Star Gazing at Parramatta Park

Sat 28 April Come along and share the mystery of our place in the universe at Parramatta Park’s popular Star Gazing @ Parramatta Park. There will be up to 20 telescopes provided by members of the amateur astronomical societies who will be there to share their knowledge with you, or you can bring your own telescope and get pointers on its use from fellow enthusiasts.

5.30pm to 8.00pm. Dr Ragbir

Bhathal of UWS will be presenting a talk entitled ‘The scientific achievements of the Parramatta observatory’, at

6.00pm.  Details Susan Clunie 02 8833-5020.

India Club Sunday Social

Sun 8 April Guest speaker Swami Sridharananda, President of Vedanta Centre (Ramakrishna Mission Sydney),

will present a talk on Swami Vivekanand and Karmyog, 2.45 pm, at Epping Leisure and Learning Centre, 1 Chambers Court, Epping. (Regular Sunday activities continue from 2.00pm – 5.00pm). Details Shubha Kumar 02 9873-1207 / 0402 257 588.

OzSpell Challenge

OzSpell Challenge, a new Australia-wide spelling competition, is sponsored by Macquarie Dictionary and targets students aged 1014. The Grand Final will be held at the Seymour Centre, the University of Sydney in August 2012. The Champion of Champions (based on one district finalist from each of 150 Australian federal electorates) will take home $5,000 cash and $5,000 cash for their school’s library resources. Details visit www.ozspell.com.au or calling 1300 ozspell (1300 697 735).

Sydney Sakhi Sangam

Sun 24 June Sakhi Sangam will be held this year at the Croatian Club. Details Nandini 0423 684 340, Susham 0411 967 374, Aruna 0410 338 900.

Rang de basanti!

It’s a splash of colour at the annual Holi Mahotsav at Darling Harbour

BY SHAILENDRA BEDARKAR

When someone asked me the way to Tumbalong Park to catch the Holi Mela, I said, look for coloured faces, people in clothes splashed with colour, kids running around covered in coloured powder, some loud music….

Holi, as a festival of colour, is meant to welcome the colours of the spring season, but really, people celebrate it by letting their hair down and rejoicing (presumably because the long hard winter is over and the days have opened up).

Ironically, for us the ‘Aust’racised Indians, it marks the start of the winter solstice. Shorter days and the start of the cold……Well, who cares, we Indians only need the slightest reason to dance and celebrate and eat good food!

So we take ourselves to Tumbalong Park each year to let our hair down at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s annual Holi Mahotsav.

As we walk there this year, the music that can be heard in a distance hits a chord. The bhangra sound and Bollywood tunes mean we must be walking in the right direction. And then we point and chuckle at the happily messy faces we begin to see: red, green, yellow, blue. A Holi-coloured face is always a delight to watch… Hair, clothes, palms, even pants and shoes are all smeared with colour. The ‘smear campaign’ is well and truly on! People are chatting away in excitement, and you can hear peals of laughter everywhere. There’s such a feeling of abandon that you feel the urge to join in, and that is exactly what we do…we get into the ‘colouring-ring’, an area cordoned off to let people throw coloured powder on each other. It’s mayhem inside the mosh-pit, but the most masti we’ve had since – last Holi! Yes, this is a piece of India we all crave to experience. Little kids sit on their dads’ shoulders to watch in amazement. Onlookers of other nationalities, surprised and bewildered, step forward courageously to participate in the colourful indulgence. Their faces are worth any tabloid cover page. Memories are captured and the experience will be ruminated on for a long time.

But soon it’s lunch-time, and dosa, chole bhature, rice and curry, ice-sorbet-golas, sugar cane juice confuse us. Are the food stalls less in number this year, or am

I just extra hungry? Who knows, but the choice comes with a heavy opportunity cost. Line up, and miss the shows! We grab a samosa and lassi, and decide to relax and enjoy the experience.

One after another various dance items in various traditional genres: Kathak, Bhangra, Bharata Natyam, Kuchipudi and a potpourri of Bollywood. There are a couple of bands too that show off their talent. Geetanjali and Nupur dance academies have been known for their young recruits. When these kids perform, you have to admit the minor confusion they go through couldn’t make it more enjoyable. My personal favourite is the Bhangra dance. This particular performance was authentic. Participants dressed in bright yellow and blue take us to the beautiful green land of Punjab (talk of colour!). The beats just reverberate in your heart.

“The success of Holi Mahotsav could not have been possible without the selfless untiring support of nearly thousand artists and performers from a large number of dance academies and cultural groups,” Bhavan Australia director Gambhir Watts would say later. “We bow before and salute them with humility and greatest gratitude”.

Besides the music and dance, this year there’s also yoga, prayers and meditation activities, Chinese and Balinese dance, a variety of business and craft stalls, and dance and art workshops (such as the one by special invitee Shila Mehta, renowned Kathak dancer from India). And of course, the ISKCON rathyatra, a yagna fire ceremony), mainstream school kids in India-mode (including a little Aussie Gandhi!), and a whole host of dignitaries visiting.

I have a more specific reason to visit Holi Mela this time. Remember the Kolaveri Mob that performed at Pitt Street not so long ago?

Well, that was my wife and I, and a few dozen of our friends. After that fun experience, the participants insisted that we do another one. And so are here with – what else – a racier number to incorporate the Holi spirit, ending with the high-octane Rang de basanti! Throngs of people, this time more aware and more prepared, bring out phone cameras and muscle their way forward to get a better view. Suddenly we feel the space is limited! The spectators want not only a closer view, but also to join in!

Holi is known to bring out the extremes in people, and do we see that here? We certainly do! More pics on pg 36-37

It’s mayhem inside the mosh-pit, but the most masti we’ve had since – last Holi! Yes, this is a piece of India we all crave to experience.

Tastes and traditions

Five schools learn more about what makes India unique via a special educational programme

In a unique initiative, five schools in NSW are a part of ‘India Calling’, an educational programme organised in coordination with the NSW Department of Education and Training’s ‘Expanding Horizons with Asia initiative’. The objective of this educational programme is to develop an understanding of India and an insight into the Hindi language. Face-to-face lessons by a specialist teacher and video conferencing technology connect 520 students in Years 3 and 4 across participating schools.

School children are encouraged to learn respect for each other’s cultures, customs and religions

and students from the schools meet on significant days in the Indian calendar to participate in cultural activities.

The five participating schools in 2012 are Ashbury Public School (‘Mumbai Indians’, Maharashtra); Carlton South Public School (‘Rajasthan Royals’, Rajasthan); Cronulla Public School (‘Kolkata Knight Riders’, West Bengal); Double Bay Public School (‘Chennai Super Kings’, Tamil Nadu) and Mascot Public School (‘Kings Eleven’, Punjab).

Recently, students from the participating schools celebrated Harmony Day on March 21, and Holi, the festival of colours, on March 23.

Cooking cheers on Harmony Day

It was an ‘Indian food’ theme at the Harmony Day celebrations at Carlton South Public School this year, with guests Kandiah (Kamahl) Kamalesvaran A.M, Dr Phil Lambert (Regional Director, Department of Education and Communities), and Raju Varanasi (Director, NSW Curriculum & Learning Innovation Centre). All the other ‘India Calling’ schools participated via video conferencing, a delivery method that the program has been using to great advantage.

The strains of the peace song Hum Honge Kamyaab, sung by students of all schools, signified the importance of Harmony Day. Kamahl sang One hundred children and spoke briefly on the importance of living in harmony. The guests then donned special ‘India Calling’ aprons, and got cooking! A demonstration on how idlis are made was well-received by students and guests alike.

Kulwinder, a Hindi teacher for ‘India Calling’, and Mala Mehta, founder and teacher of IABBV, conducted the interactive cooking session with a powerpoint presentation, also naming some of the vegetables and fruits.

The students took on the roles of sabziwallas and sabziwalis, phalwalas and phalwalis, and moved around selling their fruit and vegetables to all present.

Kulwinder described the process of preparing aloo sabzi and pooris, followed by a display of Indian cooking utensils and their uses, conducted by Mala.

An appetite for lunch was worked up with those dance

moves taught by Purvi Didi: Jai Ho and Nachle. After presenting Kamahl, Dr Lambert and Mrs Elizabeth Maher, Principal of Carlton South with thank you gifts, the video conferencing ended with a big Namaste and Dhanyavaad to all present. The students from Carlton South then enjoyed their Indian lunch.

of India

The students took on the roles of sabziwallas and sabziwalis, phalwalas and phalwalis, and moved around selling their fruit and vegetables to all present.

‘India Calling’ students at Holi celebrations

Students from Mascot Public School and Cronulla Public School enjoyed a day out at the Holi Mahotsav in Darling Harbour organised by Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan Australia.

Over a hundred students accompanied by their teachers arrived at the venue and changed into their costumes, supervised by teachers and volunteers of IABBV Hindi School.

Representatives of the ‘India Calling’ initiative, namely Dr Phil Lambert, Mr Scott Smith (Project Officer, Expanding Horizons Asia Sydney Region), Ms Janet Freeman (ESL Multicultural Consultant K-6, Sydney Region, NSW Department of Education & Communities), and Ms Kerry (Teacher Sans Souci PS), were also present.

The highlight here was a special Gandhi Dandi March, enacted by 29 students of Cronulla Public School, which included a reading of this historic event.

The peace song, Hum honge kamyab was sung by all students, followed by a rendition of Where the mind is without fear, Rabindranath Tagore’s famous poem.

Another highlight was the Indian costume display fashion parade, in which the students showcased different traditional outfits from around India. The students were dressed in Punjabi lungi kurtas with pagris, while the girls wore colourful salwar khameez sets; Rajasthani outfits were displayed through lehengas, with the Maharashtrian set wearing white kurtas and Gandhi topis. Stunning Indian sarees were also displayed by the female teachers, with their male counterparts looking dashing in their pagris and odhnis

And could Bollywood have been far behind?! It was Nachle and Jai ho all over again, and the audience joined in enthusiastically to the dholna folk dance and Zoobi Doobi, choreographed and lead by Purvi

Desai. The students and teachers then enjoyed free vouchers for their choice of Indian food, courtesy of Bhavan Australia. Some of them were even seen opting to buy fresh coconut water as opposed to soft drinks.

A Rangoli Art and Henna Art workshop conducted by volunteers of IABBV Hindi School was well received too, as was a display of artwork from 2011 ‘India Calling’ students.

The five participating schools in 2012 are Ashbury Public School (‘Mumbai Indians’, Maharashtra); Carlton South Public School (‘Rajasthan Royals’, Rajasthan); Cronulla Public School (‘Kolkata Knight Riders’, West Bengal); Double Bay Public School (‘Chennai Super Kings’, Tamil Nadu) and Mascot Public School (‘Kings Eleven’, Punjab).

Eat your heart out, United Nations!

NSW Government announces grand plans for next year’s celebration of Harmony Day

Bicentennial Park was the chosen venue for the inaugural NSW Harmony Day dinner. It was an appropriate site indeed for the state to acknowledge the 200 different nationalities and backgrounds of the gathered guests. The park was created by the state and federal governments during the 1980s to celebrate Australia’s Bicentenary in 1988, and 224 years after the arrival of the First Fleet, the WatervieW restaurant in Bicentennial Park hosted dinner for the rich tapestry of the multicultural communities of NSW.

“200 nationalities and language groups in this room, United Nations, eat your heart out”, proclaimed an excited Stepan Kerkyasharian, the Chair of the Community Relations Commission, who has been largely appointed as the man who drives forward the vision Premier Barry O’ Farrell and Minister for Communities and Citizenship Victor Dominello have for a multicultural NSW

The vision is indeed grand. While Premier O’Farrell is keen to harness the commercial benefits of what multicultural NSW can offer, Minister Dominello has to actually put the strategy in placewhere the diverse community of New South Welshians, in which 25% are born overseas, and 40% have at least one parent born overseas, can actually rally together and give back their talents and expertise in helping NSW become the number one state in Australia. Dominello has set up a blue print

for just that. Next year, rather than just devoting a single day for Harmony Day, the entire month of March will be celebrated as ‘Multicultural March’.

While the Harmony Day dinner will be an important landmark this month, another feature will be The Voices in Harmony Concert which will immerse the audience in a cross cultural experience to remember. The vision is for this concert to focus on the celebration of choral music from a variety of cultures, attracting, entertaining and connecting people across various boundaries.

As a lead up to the concert, the Community Relations Commission (CRC) will be holding a competition, open to every resident of NSW, to design a banner promoting the month of March as a time to celebrate the unique diversity in our state.

Also tagging along will be a poster competition open to all private and public schools and TAFE colleges to celebrate multicultural NSW, and a song writing competition, open to aspiring singers and songwriters celebrating cultural diversity. There is also a desire to combine a multicultural youth “tropfest” short film competition and a condensed foreign film festival.

The Multicultural Action plan will also unveil new honours for outstanding members of ethnic communities who give extraordinary service to the New South Wales community, which will include the establishment of an Honour Roll of leading migrant figures who have distinguished themselves in the past.

Initiatives will also be established to give ethnic communities every opportunity to be fully involved

in Australia Day activities, to bind the multicultural and mainstream communities together.

With these cultural issues, the Premier and his Minister are also keen to focus on using the multicultural strengths to attract key international events and conferences to NSW. Building on the commercial links of the communities, the Premier has already established the Multicultural Business Advisory Panel with its Business Summit held six months ago.

“It is all about economics”, said Premier O’Farrell. “When the Irish came here in the 1850s, they were fleeing famine in Ireland, and Australia seemed as good a place to be. They came here and found the gold boom”.

Also sharing their multicultural experiences were SBS TV News presenter Peta Jane Madam and

Principal of Punchbowl Boys High School Jihad Dib. Recounting their experiences of working in media in Australia, Peta urged the need for a well balanced presentation of multicultural Australia by the mainstream media while Jihad, funnily recounting of the “random” checks he has to endure at Airport screenings because of his name, also spoke about the need to speak out in case you find any injustice in the society. “Believe you can make a difference and stand up for it, this is what I tell to my students at Punchbowl High School,” he told the 600 guests at dinner, with all of them getting his message that they need to speak up also as leaders in their communities.

Victor Dominello summed it best when he tried to put a figure on the value of a multicultural society: “priceless”.

PAWAN LUTHRA

Photo courtesy Warren Duncan CRC

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Young at heart

Indian community seniors are willing participants in the 54th year of NSW’s Seniors Week program

RAIN’s Dr Sudha Natarajan is presenter at Seniors’ Achievement Awards ceremony

For RAIN seniors and their Ambassador Dr Sudha Natarajan, it has been a busy week. Several activities marked the 2012 NSW Seniors Week, beginning with the state government’s Seniors’ Achievement Awards ceremony on March 18. 59 NSW seniors and organisations were recognised through these awards for their exceptional contribution to the community, under various categories from community services and volunteering to business and environmental awareness, among others. Almost 400 people gathered at the City Recital Hall

dancers, musicians and other entertainers put on a sterling performance over two concerts on both days, in an event planned and organised by the ADHC – Ageing, Disability and Home Care, a division of the Department of Family and Community Service. Dr Natarajan, in her capacity as Ambassador attended the event and subsequent party to meet the performers on March 19, while nearly fifteen RAIN seniors attended the performance on March 20. It was a wonderful show and much enjoyed by the seniors.

On March 22, in an event close to their hearts, fifteen members of the RAIN Geetanjali Choir put on a performance at the Senior Citizens Centre at Hurstville, treating the audience to songs in Hindi and Gujarati, among others. The Chinese Group Choir also performed, with both sets of singers offering a melodious treat to the hundred-odd attendees, many of who enthusiastically joined in the singing. Dr Meena Srinivasan’s

Proving their culinary prowess

The Indian Welfare Association (IWA) organised a cooking competition for seniors at the Dundas Community Centre on March 24, as part of their dedication and encouragement to vegetarianism. Participants were allowed to enlist help from younger members, but their recipes had to be original, nutritional and promoting good health. They were given 45 minutes in which to cook and serve the dish. The judges for the competition focussed on its colour, taste, presentation and acceptance in a restaurant environment.

joined approximately 50 seniors in viewing a powerpoint presentation, followed by entertainment through a dance by the Abhinaya Performance Group, and lunch.

As part of the ‘Get Healthy’ information and coaching services campaign, RAIN seniors recently enjoyed the first of a series of talks on healthy living by accredited practicing dietician Priya Iyer. Lasting for about an hour and followed by a Q&A session, the talk was organised by the Multicultural Communication Services Health Department of the NSW government, with 30 lectures scheduled over the next three months aimed at promoting healthy eating habits and the benefits of exercise for seniors. Ten sessions of yoga will also be conducted every Saturday by Mythili Chandrashekaran. The Helpline number is 130086258, for those seeking more information on healthy living.

Sheryl Dixit

There were four entries in the ‘Mains’ category and two entries in the ‘Dessert’ category. Participating seniors came out with flying colours in the presence of a wideeyed audience of nearly a hundred, who appreciated the nimble-footed work which went into the culinary creations. It would be true to say that the talents of the seniors were a revelation to younger members of the community. Winners in the ‘Mains’ category were Saroja Nagarajan who won the first prize for her creation Vegetarian Rice Dumplings, and Bhuvana Venkatraman who came second with Kadaai Black Eyed Beans. The winner in the ‘Dessert’ section was Cheenu Srinivasan for his Kulfi on the go.

All the participants received consolation prizes as the judges decided that it was a high quality competition with many interesting dishes. They commended the efforts which had gone into preparing the items.

Vegetarian cuisine is rediscovering itself and the world is increasingly becoming alive to its virtues. Several factors have contributed to this – fruits and vegetables are far cheaper to grow when compared with meat production. They use less of the world’s available supply of fresh water; besides, their nutritional value and disease prevention qualities make them a much sought after option for the health-conscious. High protein in many vegetables and fruit make it entirely possible for most of us to live without animal protein.

Malli Iyer

RAIN’s Gitanjali Choir

Minister for Ageing Andrew Constance and at

Lucy Durack one of Australia’s leading theatre actors, with Jayanthi and Sudha Natarajan at the Gala Concert reception at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Lessons and laughter for seniors and ‘senioritas’!

As part of the NSW Seniors Week celebrations March 18-25, the Hornsby Indian Seniors Group (ISG) met at the Vedanta House in Ashfield on March 22 for a fun-filled day of computer learning sessions and laughter yoga. The event was made possible thanks to a grant of $500 received by the Group from the Department of Family and Community Services - Ageing, Disability & Home Care, and the enthusiastic organisational skills of Dave Passi, Secretary of the Group.

Mahesh Trivedi, who works as Systems Administrator at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), introduced the simple program he has created for seniors, to teach them the basics of negotiating email, social media like the Facebook and general information on the internet. Tips on how to organise contacts through groups, attach pictures and be aware of phishing and scam emails were well received. Mr Trivedi is also the founder of eSatsang Australia, and the seniors were as interested in learning computers from him, as in discussing spirituality. One of the members said that the best tip they took away that day was to know that the computer would not break if they press the wrong key! This gave them the courage to try out new things and overcome their fear of computers. Another member said that this was a useful tool to keep in touch with children and grandchildren, and that they would love to learn more. Mr Trivedi feels that by creating simple websites about their lives and philosophies, the seniors could tell their stories as well as preserve their knowledge and memories for generations to come.

The two computer sessions were alternated by two laughter yoga sessions conducted by Shari Coventry. These sessions of laughter and gentle exercises

Sri Om Care seniors gala ends with a heavy heart

For Sri Om Care’s annual Seniors Week events, a festival of Indian cultural dances and cultural shows was held this year at Auburn Town Hall. Seniors from the group’s many centres across Sydney were shuttled to the venue by bus for the day. They enjoyed morning tea and lunch, gentle exercises, and some cultural presentations about which there was much excitement.

Team leader Shweta Sharma told Indian Link, “We had been preparing a dance number with the ladies for two months. It came together quite well, so the ladies decided at the last minute they would like to do a second one too. They decided on a gidda, and practised for only one day. Guess what, it turned out to be hit!”

The girls were all in the 60-75 age group.

The men opted for solo singing, with Harbans Singh, Gurinder Singh and MP Singh all strutting their stuff.

Everybody’s favourite poet Vimla Luthra presented her latest offering, a poem on the stages of life to which all could relate very well.

Another women’s group, a choir, presented a group song they had spent much time practising, together with live piano accompaniment.

“It was such fun to see everybody become so absorbed in their items over the weeks,” Shweta

began with hesitant trepidation on the part of the seniors, but they were soon participating with gay abandon and peals of laughter filled the room. Post lunch, the group gathered for an impromptu antakshari session, aptly proving Bernard Shaw’s words that, “We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing”.

It is tough growing old, but it is often all the more difficult for Indian seniors finding their way in a new country, moving here to be with their children. They also support their children’s young families when required. The need to provide these seniors with support should not be overlooked.

Seniors groups like the ISG provide a platform for mutual support and make their lives enjoyable. The ISG in Hornsby was formed in 2006 as an informal and private group. As the Indian population in Sydney grew, the group likewise grew and in 2009 they became an incorporated organisation. This gives them access to funding and the opportunity to organise many activities in addition to their monthly meetings at the Epping library. Currently the Hornsby ISG has about 65 members. The local council has been providing good support in organising bus trips to different places and guest speakers on diverse topics like health, disability and government services for the aged. The group’s monthly meetings provide a forum for learning, interaction, celebration of festivals and participation in activities such as singing and dancing.

The aim of Seniors Week was to celebrate their presence in our lives.

Eleanor Roosevelt once said that, “Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art”. This statement could not have been more truly realised than meeting and interacting with the seniors at the event.

Jyoti Shankar

observed. “They were like a bunch of schoolkids, with all that enthusiasm, discussing the minutest details such as what they would wear! It gave them much pleasure to be up on stage, and it gave us so much satisfaction to see them all caught up in the moment”.

Food came donated from various Indian community businesses and charity organisations.

It was sumptuous and enjoyed by all.

The President of Sri Om Care Group Mr Jayraman, introduced the dignitaries to all present, including the Mayor of Aubrun Ronney Oueik, state Member for Auburn Barbara Perry, and representatives from local Indian organisations.

The next day however, the members were all saddened to learn of the loss of one of their valued members, Ishwaran Iyer. While the special day was being enjoyed by all, Ishwaran had been rushed to hospital, where he passed away soon after. The 52-year-old Ishwaran had endeared himself to all in the group as one of the coordinators - he helped Sri Om Care organisers with the regular meetings, picking seniors up and taking special care of those that needed extra attention. His selflessness will be remembered by all, and he will be much missed at Sri Om’s events.

Rajni Anand Luthra

Laughter yoga session led by Shari Coventry

An introduction to computers for Hornsby ISG members

Indian influence prominent at Hornsby festival

Hornsby Shire Council celebrated its annual OneWorld Multicultural Festival on March 20 with much fanfare. It was a day dedicated to harmony and to cultural diversity, with numerous schools in the Shire also celebrating Harmony Day.

Hornsby, once a small town on the northwestern fringe of the Sydney metropolitan area, is today a thriving and growing city of over 18,000 people. It is the capital of the Hornsby Shire Council (population about 160,000) and an important transport hub. It is a rapidly growing centre where new developments have sprouted at what might seem like an alarming pace.

The change was not limited to increased numbers. With growing immigration, an increase in diversity has also resulted. Quite a large portion (over 30%) of the population of the Hornsby LGA (Local Government Area) were born abroad, of which about 23% come from a non-English-speaking background.

This indicates that the current generation is witnessing an era of demographic change and it is to the credit of all concerned that this change is being ushered in peacefully. The Hornsby Festival was intended to generate, according to the Mayor Nick Berman, harmony amongst the various cultural groups.

There was a veritable “smorgasmord” of foods at the festival. The subcontinent

was well represented with two Indian (including one Goan and Portuguese) and one Nepali food stall. Most people speak about Indian food being ‘hot’; such connoisseurs should have tried the very hot Portuguese peri-peri chicken at the Goan stall, which also had prepared a very pungent vindaloo. The Mexican food stall had a good element of spice too.

The Hornsby LGA has an ageing population; the Shire’s average age is 38 years which is comparable to the national average of 37.2 years. This has implications for having sufficiently qualified personnel to man such industries as health, communications and computers.

Australia is experiencing an ageing workforce with the ‘baby boomers’ approaching retirement in unprecedented numbers. The median age of an employed person now exceeds 40 in almost every industry sector, and in some like education and health it exceeds 45.

With this in mind, the Hornsby Council is running a Healthy Living Festival throughout March and April with activities for all age groups, that is, for seniors and for the young. There are several sessions targeted at the Asians in Asian languages, as for instance on diabetes which is a problem many migrants develop after living in Australia. There are classes in Tai Chi and other Eastern practices.

The Vishva Hindu Parishad has had a show featuring South Asian dances in Pennant Hills.

Statistics of the years 2006 to

2008 show that the Hornsby LGA is a prosperous area compared to other areas. For example, the Hornsby LGA had higher average incomes ($52,199) when contrasted to the national average ($42,476), a higher percentage of professionals (28.9%) compared to the national (19.88%), and lower unemployment (3%) figures compared to the national (4.2%).

Statistical figures clearly show the great ethnic diversity now populating Hornsby Shire. If China and Hong Kong are taken together, they form the largest group of immigrants (8,764); in fact, there are 2.4% of Hong Kong migrants in Hornsby in contrast to 0.9% in Sydney as a whole. India has contributed 3,361 migrants and Sri Lanka, 1,453. The Mayor Nick Berman is of Sri Lankan descent and one of the Councillors Dilip Chopra migrated from India.

During the festival there was almost non-stop dance and music on a stage with seating for the appreciative audience. The Latin American dances and music were very energising.

The much more sedate and colourful Indian dances received great applause. They were organised by the IABBV Hindi School under the guidance of the School’s coordinator Mala Mehta, OAM. The Hindi School also organised other activities such as creating rangoli designs with colours, hand-painting and lightly spiced food. The mango lassi was particularly attractive to the children.

Not all Indian contributions related to India itself. TV personality Indira Naidoo, whose origins are Indian, presented a ‘Meet the Author’ talk at the main Hornsby library during the festivities. She presented and discussed her book The Edible Balcony: How To Grow Fresh Food In A Small Space Plus 60 Inspiring Recipes

Multiculturalism is here to stay. Our multiple ethnic communities should be allowed to contribute their creations to a new pot-pourri of tastes and sounds. The ultimate goal is that all residents in the country can then strive to live in harmony. These objectives are best

achieved at the grassroots municipal level such as those achieved at the Hornsby Harmony Festival.

Clockwise from top: Dancing troupe all dressed up

Hand painting with henna colours

Councillor Dilip Chopra at the festival

Mala Mehta and her team at the Hindi School stall. Creating rangoli designs

Noel G. de Souza

A frenzy of folk & fusion

It’s E haalo as well as Balle balle at CHYK event

turned out to be a truly unique contemporary piece indeed, perfectly suited to the evening.

BY KOMAL UTSAV JAGAD

The Chinmaya Yuva Kendra (CHYK), youth wing of Chinmaya Mission, brought together a frenzy of folk and fusion at their annual Garba and Bhangra Night. Merrymakers came together cheerily in “E haalo…” and “Balle Balle…” mode, and created pure unadulterated masti as they danced the night away!

The Gujju-Panju atmosphere, created at the Hills Basketball Centre, helped raise funds for the Chinmaya Mission.

750 dance zealots attended this year in what has become a cannotmiss event amongst community youth. For most girls it was a reason to clearly break out of the standard daily humdrum to deck up in resplendent chanya cholis and stunning odhnis (scarfs), bringing out the traditional bandhani (tie and die) and abla (mirror work) fare. For others, the trick was to get creative with the latest designer saree or salwar kameez and accessorise heavily with necklaces, sparkling bangles, kadas and the like. The boys also strutted their stuff in our very own ethnic kurta pyjama ensembles.

All the jazz really paid off when the musicians played the traditional garba numbers, mostly in praise of the mother goddess Amba, describing her powers and invoking her blessings to kick start the first dance round of dancing. Skirts swirled and chunnis twirled as everyone swayed to the tune of melodious numbers in pirouettes by swinging their arms and clapping their palms.

Of course, energy levels did not fade after an hour-long round of garba. In fact the guys and gals were only more energised as the dandiya sticks came out. Some of the dancers did not know the dandiya moves, but that did not bring down their gusto even a notch. Soon they were grooving away with the most diehard of dandiya addicts. As the sticks clacked in rhythm, it was CHYK bonhomie all around!

As they paused to catch breath, classical stars Shweta Natrajan and Amala Ramarathinam took over the floor with a graceful rendition of Liquid Dance from Slumdog Millionaire. A Kuchipudi and Bharatanatyam fusion (the dance forms in which the girls have trained for many years), it

Other performances included a garba act put together by a group of eight called “Rhythm of Gujarat”, and a performance by CHYK Swaranjali members

Amrita Subramaniam, Kavita Nambiar and Abhinav Rajkumar.

And then the much awaited bhangra came on. DJ Oily from Stereo Nation Sound Reinforcement, in a powerhouse performance, let out an inundation of Punjabi Bollywood hits. Within seconds everyone was tapping and twirling, screaming and waving to some typical Balle balle numbers.

Ahun Ahun Ahun, Aaja Nachle, Soni de Nakhre… was there anyone who could stand still?! Even the disco lights seemed to be saying Dhoom Machale as the merrymakers machao-ed some pretty heavy dhoom on the dance floor!

With all the calories being shed at the dancing, some ravenous stomachs were queuing up at the Chutney stalls to grab delicacies like bhalla papri chat, pani puri, chole bathura, samosas and the like.

Emcees Kieran Pradeep and Khajal Gopal stuck to their roles and kept the show going smoothly.

Brahmachari Gopal Chaitanya, who organised the programme with CHYK, told Indian Link, “We have been organising the Garba and Bhangra night as an annual event since 1998. It helps keep up our motto to give maximum happiness for maximum people for maximum time, through the teachings and practise of Vedanta. We wish to show people that fun can be had without alcohol, without bad language, without smoking, without meat, without any of the usual ways youngsters nowadays use to get happiness from. This Garba Bhangra night not only shows our culture but also keeps it fun for the youth.”

The CHYK stall, posters and video displayed the mission’s activities inviting everyone to join its pursuit and experience happiness through Vedanta.

Ashish Kumar who attended the night with his wife Jyoti Chaudhary said, “I am attending for the first time. My wife is 8 months pregnant but could not resist coming – she’s loved every minute! The DJ is awesome, the crowd’s going crazy, and we are so glad we came”.

Many people also brought in their friends from other communities, who came decked up in Indian garb and who learned the moves in no time.

What better way to bring people together, than to just dance!

“Garba and Bhangra Night helps keep up our motto to give maximum happiness for maximum people for maximum time, through the teachings and practise of Vedanta” Br Gopal Chaitanya.

Building bridges

A UTS workshop takes a look at the Indian students’ crisis of 2009 and its repercussions

In 2009, a series of media reports in India publicised reports of crimes and robberies against Indians in Australia and described them as racially motivated Thereafter, an Indian Government investigation concluded that more than 20 incidents involved racial implications. Demonstrations in Melbourne and Sydney were intensely covered by the Indian media, which was mostly critical of Australia’s police force. The Australian government called for calm and began its own investigation into the crimes. In June 2009, the Victoria Police Chief Commissioner, Simon Overland, stated that some of the crimes were racist in nature, whereas others were opportunistic. Although the situation deescalated, it resulted in a decrease in student enrolments in Australia among other repercussions, and impacted the bilateral relationships between the two nations. Perceptions of both nations were also affected, and bonds became fragile.

Looking back at the socalled ‘Black year of 2009’, Devleena Ghosh, the director of the Indian Ocean and South Asia Research Network (IOSARN) at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) in conjunction with the Indian Consulate organised a workshop in late March. Attending were academics, community relations officers, research scholars and Indian consulate representatives. Prominent personalities present were Gail Pearson (academic lawyer of UTS), Jim Masselos (Indian history emeritus professor, USyd), Amitabh Mattoo (Australia India Institute, University of Melbourne), Matt Wade (Fairfax correspondent for India), Heather Goodall (Professor of History, UTS), Amit Dasgupta (Consul General of India) and Robert Redfern (NSW Police), among others.

Heather Goodall elucidated on the Australian policy of citizenship at the workshop.

Ms Goodall was in India in 2010 as visiting academic and recognized the deeper levels of tension and fear amongst parents of Indian students. She

referred to the hyped-up article by Pranay Sharma in Outlook that was criticised by the Australian media. Ms Goodall suggested that a real exchange of students and academics is necessary for a better understanding of both nations on a wider scale. She emphasized that Sharma missed salient aspects in his article, like Nitin Garg’s murder, Pradeep Kumar in Mildura and Rashmi Patel in Griffith, all of which were eventually resolved.

“I would highly recommend a faculty-based support programme at UTS as the central University system does not seem to work very well,” said Goodall. Overall modification in the structural and industrial settings of workplaces, and occupation-based safety in Australia especially for Indian students and employees, were her other recommendations.

Matt Wade analysed the impact of the crisis on both nations and what would have worked better in the situation at the time.

“The Indian students’ crisis was the biggest story in India in the year 2009-10 and a nationally rebellious mood fostered the news to a higher level,” said Mr Wade. He stated that a general pattern of the repercussions of the crisis was the Indian media releasing news headlines and hyping up the incidents, which were then vociferously responded to by a defensive Australian media. These back and forth volleys of annotations and explanations continued with stories being spun on many different angles resulting in people drawing their own conclusions and adding up stories.

“Public relations by the Australian

Government should have been appropriate, but Australia’s response was too slow,” stated Mr Wade. Australia should have been more careful about what was said to the media.

Rory Medcalfe from the Lowy Institute for International Policy (Programme Director, International Security) then spoke about the implications of the 2009 student crisis on bilateral relationships between India and Australia. He emphasized on the excessive defensive responses from Australia towards the entire crisis. “There should have been warnings by officials that the problem was coming, focus should have been on violence and thereafter on welfare,” said Medcalfe. The crisis blew out of proportion in Victoria, which was the major cause of the rift.

Devaki Monani, a UTS academic, presented a paper which comprehensively covered the history of Australian politics in relation to human rights, raising a priority question about whether the basic rights of security, housing, information, anti-racial discrimination should be religiously provided to international students. Students and other immigrants on temporary visas also pay taxes like transport, GST, council rates for housing rents hence, should they be excluded from the services that are provided to other Australian tax payers? Monani emphasised that many students and temporary workers stay back in Australia and therefore they should not have to go through losses due to changed rules in the immigration policy.

Amitabh Mattoo of the

Australia India Institute (AII) at University of Melbourne, talked about the links between education, employment and immigration/ citizenship. “The Indian students’ crisis story has different narrators and therefore it is not easy to get one clear picture; most of the time the incidents happened at the wrong place at the wrong time, they were seldom racist and often of a criminal nature,” said Mattoo. He suggested that deconstructing all the incidents and bridging the different narrators to come to the same storyline is a good idea. He stated that knowledge of Australia, its culture and other aspects need to be heightened so that everyone is aware of how the country works.

Amit Dasgupta, Consul General of India in Sydney suggested that IOSARN at UTS and spokesmen at the workshop should endeavour to compile a book on the Indian students’ crisis for future reference. He summarised the main points discussed at the workshop: “Perceptions matter; be aware of generalisation; there needs to be a problem to realise there is a problem.”

He continued, “Communications should be open; be aware of rumours; be selective about who gets involved in the building of solutions to the crisis; create and build trust; keep the media in, but learn to keep them out; stay focussed when negotiating, and never underestimate the power of a cellphone!”

Dasgupta also noted that the uranium issue was totally different to the student crisis: one was a government issue and the other

was totally non-governmental, so they do not need to be linked to each other by the media.

Robert Redfern from the NSW Police who played a key role in the handling of the Cronulla riots as well as the student crisis, stated that his department engages very well with the community. He explained that the demonstrations at Harris Park had to be concluded by the NSW Police because they could instigate revenge attacks and other crimes. Redfern emphasised a few general safety tips: “Do not make yourself an obvious target for crime; do not be susceptible to any roadside misconduct; be aware of your surroundings; walk together whenever possible; do not take shortcuts via dark alleys, and be safe.”

Stepan Kerkyasharian from the Community Relations Commission also talked about lessons learned. “The NSW government and Indian Consulate were involved at a very deep level during the crisis and there was no hypocrisy. It is important that we listen to people and international students, and that we are open with everyone.”

Christopher Kremmer (author, correspondent for SMH and ABC) offered reflection on the workshop by saying that perhaps Australia should learn to ‘listen’ better. “We don’t listen… we refused to listen about the uranium issue,” he observed, adding that negative perceptions can be ‘sticky’. Yet, the wellknown Indophile concluded, Australia must strive to become a welcoming country for Indians.

Robert Redfern makes a point as Devleena Ghosh and Stepan Kerkyasharian look on

Amitabh Mattoo and Jim Masselos Heather Goodall

ASTHA SINGH

Herbal

Hair and Beauty (for ladies only)

Yeh jo halka halka...

BY RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA

Is he a qawaali artiste, a Sufi singer, or a pop star?

Singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan’s particular style that mixes genres and transcends barriers is proving to be a winning formula for an audience that is seeking new pastures - a respite from both traditionalism and MTV.

As he embellishes an ancient art form with modern tones, he is winning new fans for a centuries-old tradition, and in the process, becoming one of the subcontinent’s most captivating performers of our time.

Rahat’s innovations with style came through as soon as he stepped on stage in Sydney recently, shimmering in understated gold. The opening number Allah Hu (God is truth) served many purposes: while it paid obeisance to a higher authority to kick start the concert, it was also a tribute to the performer’s illustrious uncle and guru Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the poster-boy of the qawaali and Sufi artform, whose signature tune this number has become. As well, it was a perfect number to introduce the spiritual frenzy that Sufi singing can evoke, as Rahat worked up the passion so characteristic of this particular style of devotional singing.

Helping him reach this state of fervour were his back-up singers, part of a 13-member ensemble that included traditional as well as modern instruments.

Saxophone and bass guitar at a qawaali concert? It was Jiya dhadak dhadak alright from the very outset, and even before that hit number came on, as the drums dhadak-ed to your very core.

Combining his soulful lyrics with some pretty intense singing, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan showed what the new entertainment industry in India is all about: contemporary treatments applied to traditional fare.

The tenderness in Aaj Din Chadheya and Teri Ore, and the exhilaration in Kaisa Yeh Ishq Hai brought a beautiful Sufi quality to modern expressions of sentiment.

With Tum jo Aaye Zindagi Mein, and the new number Chahat, Rahat combined both tenderness and exhilaration like only his genre can allow. The sargam explorations in O Re Piya and in Main Jahaan Rahoon impressed just as much as the sax and guitar in Main Tennu Samjhavan

Rahat Fateh Ali Khan brings on some halka halka suroor at his Sydney concert

. Who knew that seemingly different schema can come together so successfully?

And when the affecting dhadak dhadak number did come on, you could tell from Rahat’s demeanour that he knew he had them eating out of his hands.

If his famous uncle is credited with reviving the qawaali and Sufi singing as art forms, Rahat can be credited with taking them to the masses. And Bollywood can claim to have played a not insignificant part in this rush of popularity.

Rahat had recorded Man ki Lagan way back in 1998 for a private album when film-maker Pooja Bhatt picked it up. Her film (Paap) was released a full six years later, but it landed Rahat onto India’s entertainment scene with a bang. He arrived, travelling on the torso of a shirtless John Abraham. Who said Sufi singing would not appeal to the subcontinent’s MTV generation?! There was no looking back for Rahat, as hit after hit followed, and concert after concert all across the country and amongst the diaspora. With a judging role on a leading TV music reality show, he was right up there with the most-loved in the industry. That he was loved and admired was obvious when the public forgave him with the same reverence accorded to the most charismatic in the business, his detention at Delhi airport for a foreign currency transgression. But such is the appeal of Rahat’s art, that none of it seems to matter today. “Sell-out” is a term that is used in the same breath when describing his concerts – whether

at Sydney most recently, as the organisers took pains to point out repeatedly.

Five months in the making, Sydney entrepreneur Nash Patel’s Red Chillies Entertainment planned the Rahat concert quite meticulously. It was still ‘Indian Standard Time’ at the Sydney Convention Centre, though, but the crowds were patient. The warm-up musical act, a new age fusion of tabla, didjeridoo and hang by Yama, Scot and Prabhu, went down beautifully, and the kathak-kuchipudi presentation was pleasing in its authenticity. And there were definitely some aspects that other event organisers might learn from, such as the film clips that played on the giant screen behind the stage. These served not only to tease the audience’s memory but also brought in a splash of glamour. Some of India’s most desirable personalities have lip-synched to Rahat – one wonders whether they have added to Rahat’s appeal, or whether it is Rahat that has given them a longer lease on life (Dabanng Salman of Mast Mast Do Nain fame, are you listening?)

But seeing the sponsors on screen, in rather pointless and lengthy interviews, right in the middle of the show – let’s hope that’s a trend that doesn’t catch on!

For an artiste who claims in interview after interview that he is indebted to the audiences at large for his success, Rahat’s interaction with the audience at this concert was minimal, such as with the briefest ever introductions to an

upcoming number. But did he know how to play the audience?

You betcha: his trademark babyfaced smiles and that boyish charm made sure he did!

Without a doubt it was with his music that he connected best, showing more than once that if you want to dance while sitting cross-legged, this is how you do it – elbows and shoulders that seemed they would have gone wild if they didn’t have to be connected at the extremes to that harmonium, and thighs flapping like they wanted to break out of that sitting posture. The men in white behind him – professional ‘clappers’ – turned into a chorus of Energizer bunnies similarly caught up in the fervour of it all, almost as if they had worked themselves up into a rage! Together, they transmitted to the listeners more than sufficiently, the devotional frenzy that this particular style of singing creates. Dare yourself to be still, they seemed to be saying, with numbers such as Akhiyan Udeek Diyan, Mast Nazron se Allah Bachaye, Maine Masoom Baharon Mein Tumhe Dekha Hai, and Dhamaal Mast Kalandar

But nowhere was this more evident than in Halka Halka Suroor – by far the most memorable number from the night if one was forced to pick. This phenomenal number, sure to be on anyone’s list of top ten qawaalis, was once famously sung by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan at a stretch for 68 minutes. (Nusrat, it has been described, would continue with his qawaalis until he had ‘satisfied his hunger for spiritual ecstasy’).

The sargam explorations in O Re Piya and in Main Jahaan Rahoon impressed just as much as the sax and guitar in Main Tennu Samjhavan Ki.

(This mild intoxication

Is all thanks to your eyes

For they have taught me the pleasures of wine).

While the lyrics are ostensibly about alcohol and love, in typical Sufi tradition, they are a metaphor for the love of the divine. (The poet seems to be saying, “Now that we have abandoned ourselves to the love of God, can we reasonably be expected to be completely in control of ourselves?”) Rahat and his boys were left happily breathless at the end of it all.

Days after the show, one continues to be ‘mildly intoxicated’ with Halka Halka Suroor – reading various translations and listening to American musician Jeff Buckley’s version.

Photo: Red Chillies Media 2012

Yeh jo halka halka suroor hai Yeh teri nazar ka qasoor hai Ke sharaab pina sikha diya

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People Parties Places

School reunion: Class of 1977 at the Nehru Memorial Primary School in Fiji gathered at Sydney, with ex-students joining in from all over Australia and New Zealand. Four ex-teachers attended as well.

Abha Gaurkhede (second from left)

It’s a Chandigarh wedding for Manu and Mona Sharma

BY LP AYER

No other city’s name has such a nice ring to WOMAD (World Music and Dance) as Adelaide does, since it adapts very well to the event ‘WOMADelaide’. Presenting different sorts of music, arts and dance, WOMAD encourages people to experience the music of cultures other than their own as a way of developing global understanding.

Womadelaide is much more than a musical extravaganza. Besides being a feast for the ears, the event caters to the tastebuds with ethnic food stalls providing rich fare, along with arts and craft shops offering trinkets of all kinds. A number of people turn this into an extended family picnic with many pitching their tents. This year the festival, held from March 9-12, was particularly significant as it celebrated 20 years. Unlike in the past, even the weather gods provided perfect climate comfort.

Started in 1992 as a biennial weekend event, Womadelaide morphed into an annual festival in 2003 and expanded to a four-day treat in 2010. The sylvan setting of the 34-hectare park flanked by the zoo and the Botanic Gardens provide an unrivalled atmosphere. Sitting on emerald green lawns under tall plane trees and massive Morton Bay fig trees and enjoying soul-stirring music from the East in moonlight is something to be experienced! At the other end of the spectrum, thousands of attendees of all ages waving and clapping their hands while turning and twisting their torsos in a kind of trance to the rhythm of African

A triple treat

Indian artistes strut their stuff at Womadelaide

music is pure ecstasy. In between these two tangents run a variety of musical sounds produced by artistes from countries ranging from Mexico to Mongolia. This year, there were 645 performers from 35 countries. Every year India gets a fair share, given its rich and diverse forms of music and musical instruments.

In the past, some notable Indian artistes who performed included Amjad Ali Khan, Asha Bhosle, Dr N Ramani, Manjiri Kelkar, Musafir Gypsies of Rajasthan, Rajendra Prasanna, Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar, L Subramaniam, Sultan Khan, U Srinivas and Zakir Hussain. This year, three different segments of Indian art forms - classical music, dance and filmi musicwere presented by artistes from three different parts of the globe - Shivkumar Sharma from India, Shantala Shivalingappa from France and Bombay Royale from Australia.

Speaking with Indian Link, Shivkumar Sharma revealed that he was the first to bring the ‘santoor’, a folk instrument from Kashmir traditionally used to accompany sufi music, to the public arena. This dulcimer, looking like a square metal briefcase, has 100 strings that are tapped by a pair of walnut mallets resembling thin forks. This instrument is widely used in Iran, Greece and China.

Shivkumar had his training in vocal and tabla from his father Pt. Uma Dutt Sharma, who introduced him to the santoor some sixty years ago. “Indian classical music is food for the soul and traverses beyond pure entertainment to provide spiritual bliss,” says Sharma convincingly. A recipient of the Padma Vibhushan, he won the first prize at Reza Shah Pahlavi’s World Festival of Santoors in Teheran. It was interesting to note that Sharma was accompanied on the tanpur by

Takhhiro Arai, his Japanese student. Two members of the audience at his Adelaide event, Murali and Sharada noted, “At the start Shivakumar encouraged his audience to close their eyes to help them connect with their souls during the ‘alap’ – an improvisation without tabla accompaniment. He chose the raga Charukesi for elaboration. His alap and the following 10-beat jap tal and 16-beat teen tal gat compositions clearly brought the full flavour of the raga. Yogesh Samsi’s tabla was outstanding, with the lively rhythm nicely complementing the santoor’s soothing sound. During the gat improvisation, the pair was engaged in delightful musical ‘dialogues’”.

Shantala Shivalingappa, born in Chennai but brought up in Paris, specialises in the ‘kuchipudi’ style of dance that originated in a village of the same name in Andhra Pradesh. Having learnt this form of dancing from renowned master Vempatti Chinna Satyam, she also worked with some prominent names like Maurice Bejart, Peter Brook, Pina Bausch and as such, is a blend of eastern and western influences.

Shantala’s dance was preceded by the accompanying orchestra group comprising of a vocalist, a flautist and two mridangam players. They selected a rare scale in Carnatic called ‘ pati priya’, and sang a popular composition Jagajjanani, sukha paani, kalyani. One of the mridangam players, apart from supporting the singer, got the audience involved by encouraging them to clap their hands to match his diverse range of beats, a rarity in such concerts. This was well received.

Shantala started her programme dancing to the composition Sidhdhi vinayakam in raga Arabhi

Varnams and thillanas are important parts of the Carnatic music, written mainly for dance performances.

Shantala chose a taana-varnam Omkaara pranava in raga Shanmukha priya as her main piece, exploring the relationship between life, nature and the primordial sound of ‘Om’. Next, she performed a tarangam that involved dancing while delicately standing on the ridge of a brass plate, the highlight of kuchipudi. However the audience could not see the intricate footwork

concluded with a romantic thillana set in Raageshri, a raga that brilliantly expresses longing and love; the thillana’s pace and rendering were breathtaking. Another group with Indian flavour was The Bombay Royale, a Melbourne-based band reviving 1960s and ‘70s Bollywood soundtracks by such iconic names as RD Burman, Anandji-Kalyanji, Asha Bhosle and Mohammed Rafi. Lead singers and founders of the band in 2010, Parvyn Singh and Shourov Bhattacharya were backed by the cream of Melbourne’s notable bands like LABJACD, The Public Opinion Afro Orchestra, San Lazaro, Mr Savona, Vulgargrad and Illzilla playing various instruments with Sam Evans on tabla and Josh Bennett on sitar and dilruba. It was a mix of a few film songs with the background orchestral sound of an extravagant disco!

This year, there were 645 performers from 35 countries. Every year India gets a fair share, given its rich and diverse forms of music and musical instruments.

The Paris-based kuchipudi exponent Shantala Shivalingappa

Pt Shivkumar Sharma on the santoor

Pilbara perspective

From March 20-26, FORM, an independent, notfor-profit Western Australian cultural organisation hosted iconic Indian photographers Bharat Sikka, Ketaki Sheth and Sohrab Hura, along with Curator Devika Daulet Singh. The photographers were on a cross-cultural exchange programme which included exhibitions, artist talks and most profoundly, a trip to Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region.

FORM’s engagement with these eminent Indian creative artists began with an exhibition as part of Divergence: Photographs from Elsewhere at the Midland Railway Workshop. This monumental showcase of photography from around the world was headlined by the three Indian photographers and renowned Magnum photographer, Martin Parr.

Heralded as the ‘must see’ exhibition of the Foto Freo Festival 2012, the event had two thousand people visiting within the first two days. On March 17, Sohrab Hura and Ketaki Sheth presented a slideshow on their respective bodies of work, and answered questions to an enthralled audience.

Bharat Sikka exhibited his series, Matter. Sikka is a mercurial creative - he photographs landscapes and portraits; moves between the studio and the street; between rural and urban India; from highend commercial photography on assignments for magazines like Wallpaper, Vanity Fair, Vogue India and The New Yorker, to directing

advertisements in a cinematic style as a Creative Director.

In Matter, we see Sikka’s distinct mode of visual storytelling, as he lures the viewer into an illusory world that collapses the boundaries between art and commerce.

Sikka is adept at creating moods and evoking emotion; he crafts longing and desire, illustrated in his poignant, romantic and intimate portrait of Carla Bruni, created for her No Promises album cover. Yet, his most compelling and intriguing images are developed as part of his personal projects, Indian Men, Space in Between and Salvador do Mundo which belong to the realm of fine contemporary art.

With his medium format camera, Sikka composes conceptually driven and visually sumptuous images that capture India as it transitions through a complex and awkward metamorphosis, grappling with globalization and the rapid changes brought about by accelerated, social and economic growth.

Ketaki Sheth’s exhibition Twinspotting, takes one inside the homes of the Patels, a community with a high percentage of twins (one in every 300 people is an identical twin, while one in 99 are fraternal). Sheth introduces the viewer to the immigrant community’s diaspora from the UK and Gujarat in India, from where they originated. The Patels are a highly migratory community and were the first Indians to move in large numbers to East Africa during the late 1960s and early 1970s, before settling in the UK and US, where they remain one of

the largest immigrant populations. Sheth has won the Sanskriti Award for Indian photography (1992) and Japan’s Higashikawa Award (2006) for best foreign photographer. In 2008, she was honoured with a special show of 50 works from her series Bombay Mix at Fête du livre in Aix-en-Provence. Sheth began taking pictures on the streets of Mumbai almost twenty years ago, under the guidance of renowned

Three renowned Indian photographers visit and capture on camera, the very essence of rural Western Australia. Sharmila Wood reports

Ketaki Sheth photographing near the BHP Billiton Nelson Point

Below: Sohrab hura photographing in the Pilbara

Photo: Samantha Bell

Photo: Sharmila Wood

Photo: Samantha Bell

through Indian lens

Indian photographer Raghubir Singh. She is influenced by the work of photographers André Kertész, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugène Atget, Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander and Helen Levitt.

Sohrab Hura, the young emerging talent from the group exhibited work from his Benares, Holi and The Naga Sadhus at the Ardh Kumbh Mela series. Hura is a young photographer who has been lauded as one of India’s next generation talents. He is widely exhibited and has won three Indian Press Photo Awards, (Benares in 2006, Oasis and Holi in 2008), a China International Press Photography Award for Holi (2010) and he was a recipient of the Magnum Foundation’s Emergency Fund in 2010. Hura participated in an international residency for young photographers called Pour l’instant Rencontres de la jeune photographie internationale, at Niort, France.

After attending the opening, the photographers, accompanied by Devika Daulet Singh of Photoink, New Delhi, and

yours truly as FORM Curator, travelled with the photographers to Karratha. The journey began from Point Samson to Roebourne, to Wickham, Port Hedland and Marble Bar.

Throughout the trip the photographers met Pilbara personalities, visited Aboriginal communities and commented on the truly multicultural nature of the region which comprises of 52 different nationalities. They were awed by the intensity of the light and were unable to shoot between 1- 4pm, and by the vast expanse of the land.

The trip gave the group a chance to experience first-hand a lesser known Australia, one that is unique and memorable. As Sheth commented, “The landscape was so stark and staggering, the people so compelling, the light so harsh and the distance from anywhere seemed interminable. But in retrospect, I feel all of this helped get into the heart of it.”

The photographs will be part of an exhibition and publication, which will tour Australia and India.

Throughout the trip the photographers met Pilbara personalities, visited Aboriginal communities and commented on the truly multicultural nature of the region which comprises of 52 different nationalities.

Divergence: Photographs from Elsewhere, a monumental showcase of photography by over 60 photographs from 15 countries, is on at the historic Midland Railway Workshops site (Yelverton Drive, Midland WA 6056) until 15 April. Ph 08 9226 2799

Top: Ketaki Sheth’s presentation at divergence: Photographs from Elsewhere

Below: The installation at the Midland Railway Workshops

Bharat Sikka photographing in Marble Bar

Photo: Matt Bioich

Indian artist’s painting fetches $300,000 in US auction

A previously unrecorded work by the master Indian artist Bagta fetched a record $302,500 at the Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art auction in New York in March.

This portrait of the imposing figure of Rawat Gokal Das celebrating ‘holi’ with his consorts (fl. 1761-1814) was consigned by a collector who bought the piece two decades ago for a modest $125, according to New York auction house Bonhams.

Dated 1808 and measuring 16 x 22 inches this work is a rare representation of Bagta’s larger scale depiction.

Bagta was featured in the landmark exhibition which opened at the Museum Rietberg, Zurich, and was on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York’s ‘Wonder of the Age, Master Painters of India, 1100-1900’ exhibition until recently.

“It was truly incredible to witness the sale of this work come to fruition. Bringing in a lot of this calibre has proven to be not only a highlight of my career but also a highlight for Bonhams and for this 2012 Asia Week,” said Edward Wilkinson, Bonhams department specialist.

Indian-origin people close to being 1 in 100 Americans

People of Indian origin are close to making one percent of America’s population of 308.7 million with their numbers shooting up by a whopping 69.37 percent over the last decade.

Indians are now the largest Asian subgroup in 25 states in America, mainly in the South and Midwest, making them the main driver in population growth of Asian Americans, according to an analysis of US 2010 Census data by the California based India-West newspaper.

The New York-Northern New JerseyLong Island metro area had 526,133 Indian Americans in 2010, about 18.5 percent of the nation’s total of 2,843,391 with a dramatic increase in their numbers from 1,678,765 in 2000.

While California had the most Indian American residents at 528,176, and New York was second at 313,620. Indians have a higher percentage as a ratio of a state’s total population in New Jersey.

There are now 292,256 Asian Indians, as the Census Bureau terms Indian Americans, in New Jersey, 3.3 percent of the state’s total population. Indian Americans in New Jersey numbered just 169,180 in 2000, so their number has increased almost 73 percent.

The next states after the top three with the largest numbers of Indian Americans in 2010 were: Texas, 245,981; Illinois, 188,328, Florida, 128,735; Virginia, 103,916, Pennsylvania, 103,026; Georgia, 96,116; Maryland, 79,051; Massachusetts, 77,177; Michigan, 77,132; Ohio, 64,187; Washington,

61,124; and North Carolina, 57,400.

Indian Americans are the largest Asian group in six of the 10 largest metro areas in the US. These with their national rankings by population size listed in brackets were: Chicago (3), Dallas (4), Philadelphia (5), Washington, D.C. (7) Miami (8) and Atlanta (9).

The Indian American population increased due to several factors, including the influx of a large number of professionals, particularly those coming on H-1Bs, according to the India-West analysis.

India was also a leading source of foreign students from 2000-10. Many have stayed to continue their studies or to work in the country. Many others who immigrated to the US in the 1980s and 1990s have sponsored relatives under the family visas.

Another factor is the growth of small businesses run by Indian Americans, particularly convenience stores, hotels and motels and in the health-related fields.

Pakistan to protect Hindu temples

Pakistan is committed to protecting shrines belonging to minorities, a minister said recently in Islamabad, following a protest by Hindus over illegal occupation of a temple in Punjab.

Minister-in-charge for National Harmony

Paul Bhatti said all steps were being taken to maintain Hindu temples, Online news agency reported.

More than 30 Hindus from Zafarwal in Narowal district protested in front of the National Press Club here to seek an end to the occupation of the temple.

Bhatti said no one should be allowed to occupy places of worship of the minorities, and ordered authorities to resolve the issue at the earliest.

“Inter-faith harmony can only be achieved through inter-faith relationship. We should have interactions to understand each other’s point of views,” Bhatti said.

Punjabi museum opens in Yuba City

A multi-media museum celebrating more than 100 years of the Punjabi community in the US opened in the community-dominated Yuba City in California recently.

A brainchild of the Punjabi American Heritage Society (PAHS), the multimedia museum, the first of its kind in the US, highlights the contribution of the Punjabi community to the social fabric of their adopted land.

``The museum is a multi-media record of the challenges and successes of generations of Punjabi Americans. It documents the hardships they faced on their arrival in California in the early twentieth century and their journey to ‘Becoming American’,’’ said prominent community leader Jasbir Kang.

In his message to the community on the occasion, California Governor Jerry Brown said, “Showcasing the story of the Punjabi American and South Asian migration to the United States is a valuable and needed resource for current and future generations.

``I congratulate all the individuals and families along with the Punjabi American Heritage Society of Yuba City for their dedication and hard work for the successful completion of this project.”

California assembly members Jim Nielsen and Dan Logue, County Supervisors Jim Whiteaker, Larry Munger and Stan Cleveland, Yuba City Council member Tej Mann and former Yuba City mayors Kash Gill and Rory Ramirez were among the hundreds who attended the opening ceremony.

In a press release, the organizers said: ``Since 9/11, Sikhs and South Asians have borne the brunt of mistaken identity by racist attacks, assaults and even murder. Through this exhibit, PAHS tells the story of Punjabis that have a long tradition of contributing to the success of their local communities.

``The story of the Punjabis, the Sikhs and the South Asians is the same as that of the Irish, the Italians and the Polish before them; it is an American story.’’ Yuba City was one of the first destinations of Punjabi immigrants to the US in the early 20th century.

Known as Punjab da Pind, the city has the largest concentration of the Punjabi community in the US and boasts many gurdwaras, temples and even a mosque.

Indian American student among wounded in US shooting

A gunman who killed seven people at a California University ordered everyone to get up against a wall, and started shooting, according to a 19-year old Indian American student who was among the three wounded.

Davinder Kaur, 19, a US Army Reservist from Santa Clara, told relatives the gunman had been a student in her class but had been absent for months before reappearing the fateful morning, Oakland Tribune reported.

“The people started running, and he started shooting,” said Gurpreet Sahota, who relayed an account from his sister-in-law, a nursing student.

Some panicked when he drew a gun and began firing; she was shot in the arm as she helped a friend who had fallen on the classroom’s floor. She then ran outside and called her brother, Paul Singh.

“She told me that a guy went crazy, and she got shot,” Singh said. “She was running. She was crying; she was bleeding. It was wrong.”

Police received a 911 call at 10.33 a.m. Art Richards, of Oakland, told the Tribune he

arrived at the school right around that time to pick up a friend who’s a nursing student there.

Richards said he saw a young woman wearing blue scrubs -- possibly Kaur -emerge from bushes near the building, with blood running down her right arm from a wound near her elbow.

She told him the gunman had fired point-blank at a man’s chest, and she had been grazed by a bullet before she fled the building.

Kaur’s family, standing vigil as she was being treated at Alameda County Medical Center’s Highland Hospital, said they saw other victims as well: a man shot in the shoulder and a woman shot in her hand and back.

Kaur’s father, Balvir Singh, via translation by Sahota, said her family is “lucky she is alive. We are thankful that God saved her.” The gunman, he said, “should get the full consequences that he deserves for doing this to these people.”

Oakland Police have arrested the alleged shooter identified as 43-year-old One Goh, an American of Korean origin.

Custody row: Norway to hand over children to their uncle

Uncertainty over the custody of two NRI children who have been taken into foster care in Norway on grounds of alleged negligence by their parents seems to be over with the Norwegian authorities agreeing to hand over the kids to their paternal uncle Arunabhash Bhattacharya, a family member said.

“The (Norway) Child Welfare Service (CWS) has informed that the children, Abhigyan and Aishwarya, will be handed to Arunabhash on April 17 after conclusion of the court hearing on the issue,” Ajay Bhattacharya, grandfather of the children, told IANS over phone.

“The April 17 court hearing was earlier cancelled over the reported differences between my son Anurup and his wife Sagarika (parents of the children), but the matter has been resolved, and the hearing will take place as slated where the custody of the kids will be handed over to their uncle,” added Ajay Bhattacharya.

After the Indian government’s intervention, the authorities had agreed to recommend to a court in Norway March 23 that the children be placed in the custody of their uncle Arunabhash.

However, that did not happen following reports of marital discord between the parents of the children.

The kids, aged three and one, were taken away from their parents by the child welfare service of the local municipality and placed under emergency foster care in May 2011.

Christian devotees in Chennai hold palm leaves as they take part in a religious procession to celebrate Palm Sunday, 1 April 2012. The Sunday before Easter is known as Palm Sunday. It celebrates Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Passover. Traditionally people lined the streets and waved palm branches to welcome him and devotees spread branches on the road.

Antony asks army to streamline acquisitions

Amid allegations of bribery, Defence Minister A.K. Antony recently asked the army to streamline its purchase process in a manner that accountability can be fixed in the event of slippages.

This was conveyed by Antony to the army brass led by its chief Gen. V.K. Singh at a meeting to finalise the army’s capital acquisition proposals at the South Block in New Delhi.

This is the first time Antony and Gen. Singh came face-to-face since the acrimony over the army chief’s allegation of a bribe offer made to him by a retired officer and the leak of a secret letter from him to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on gaps in defence preparedness.

The meeting was in continuation of earlier review meetings held in September last year and January.

“At the meeting, Antony directed the army to streamline its acquisition process in such a manner that accountability can be fixed in case of any slippages,” a defence ministry spokesperson said here.

Antony also asked officials of the defence ministry and the army to examine the possibility of compressing the time taken for technical evaluations and trials.

It is assessed that the services and the defence ministry take about seven years for completing the procurement processes of any major equipment.

He favoured delegation of more financial powers to the service headquarters if it can lead to speedier acquisition of equipment, platforms and systems for the services.

At present, the services vice chiefs can approve defence contracts worth Rs.50 crore or less.

The other competent financial authority

for defence acquisition are the defence secretary for deals worth Rs.75 crore, defence minister Rs.500 crore, defence ministry in concurrence with the finance minister for Rs.1,000 crore, and the cabinet committee on security (CCS) above that.

Among those at the meeting were Defence Secretary Sashi Kant Sharma, Director General (Acquisition) Vivek Rae and senior army officials.

Among the major army acquisitions that are pending are the Rs.20,000-crore (over $4 billion) worth of artillery guns to replace the ageing inventory and air defence weapons.

Gen. Singh had, in his latest letter to the prime minister written in March, pointed out that the army had major gaps in its air defence, artillery, night vision capabilities and infantry.

In an unrelated event, the army chief had given an interview to the media in which he claimed that a retired lieutenant general had offered him a bribe of Rs.14 crore for approving a contract for 600 trucks for the army.

Both the developments had caused a major uproar in parliament. Some political parties wanted the army chief to be sacked.

The Intelligence Bureau has been asked to find out who leaked the letter from the army chief to the prime minister.

India further eases defence offsets norms

India recently further eased its defence offsets norms, saying the value of technology transferred under a deal could be written off against the obligation to reinvest 30 percent of all contracts over Rs.3 billion ($75 million). The offsets clause is expected to bring in investments of $30 billion over the next decade.

Under the Defence Procurement Procedure that was last amended in 2011, a firm winning a defence contract in India worth over Rs.3 billion will have to mandatorily plough back 30 percent of the deal amount in Indian defence, aerospace and homeland security industries.

This provision is a common practice by several nations which make defence purchases from foreign countries.

“The revised policy recognises TOT (transfer of technology) as eligible for discharge of offset obligations,” the revised provisions of offsets clause approved at the Defence Acquisition Council meeting chaired by Defence Minister A.K. Antony said.

The revised provisions also make a distinction between equity and non-equity route, that is investment in “kind” made by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) for discharge of offset obligations.

“Investment in kind in terms of TOT must cover all documentation, training and consultancy required for full TOT (civil infrastructure and equipment excluded),” the salient features of the new defence offset guidelines said.

The TOT, it said, should be provided without licence fee and there should be no restriction on domestic production, sale or export. The offset credit for TOT shall be 10 percent of the value of buy back by the OEM during the period of the offset contract, to the extent of value addition in India.

The guidelines also noted that the technology acquisition by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for a list of specified technologies will be treated as an eligible offset with a multiplier up to three.

It has already been decided to allow

the tier-I sub-vendors under the main procurement contract to discharge part of the offset obligations on behalf of the main vendor. However, the overall responsibility for discharge of the offset obligations shall rest solely on the main vendor.

Now, the agreement between the OEM, vendor and tier-I sub-vendor and the Indian offset partner will mandatorily be subject to Indian laws.

In the earlier policy, offset guidelines have to be discharged during the period co-terminus with the main procurement contract. The revised guidelines allow offset obligations to be discharged within a time frame that can extend beyond the period of main procurement contract by a maximum period of two years.

The overall cap on penalty will be 20 percent of the total offset obligations during the period of the main procurement contract. There will be no cap on penalty for failure to implement offset obligations during the period beyond the main procurement contract, which may extend to a maximum period of two years.

Under the existing guidelines, banked offset credits were valid for a period of two years. The period of validity has been increased to seven years under the revised guidelines.

In the discharge of offset obligations relating to direct export, foreign direct investment and technology transfer or investment in ‘kind’ in Indian enterprises through non-equity route, a multiplier of 1.50 will be permitted where micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) are the Indian offset partners. The monetary limits specified by the Indian government’s department of MSME shall be applicable for identification of the MSME.

“In exceptional cases, the competent authority may permit change in offset partners or offset components provided the value of offset obligations remains unchanged. This will provide greater flexibility in implementation,” the guidelines said.

US urges India to press Iran over nuclear issue

Downplaying divergences on the Iranian issue after imposing fresh sanctions, the US recently sought India’s cooperation in pressing Tehran to come clean on its nuclear programme and clarified that it was not seeking to undermine New Delhi’s energy security.

US Undersecretary of State for Political

Affairs Wendy Sherman met Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai here on a range of issues that focused on setting the agenda for the forthcoming strategic dialogue between External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in June.

Sherman also met National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon and discussed closer collaboration in combating terrorism and issues related to the AfghanistanPakistan region, informed sources said.

The US lauded India’s reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and promised not to allow that country to become a safe haven for international terror.

The Iranian nuclear issue figured prominently in the discussions.

India conveyed its concerns over the proposed US sanctions against Iran which has the potential to undermine India’s energy

Photo: AP

security as it imports around 10-12 percent of its oil from Tehran, said the sources.

The US appreciated India’s position and agreed with New Delhi that space should be created for dialogue to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue.

“Recently, the press has asserted that our two countries have divergent views on Iran. Let me correct the record. Our countries share the same fundamental goals: preserving regional stability and preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” Sherman said at the American Centre here.

“Achieving these goals will require making hard choices. We recognize India’s historical linkages with Iran and Persian culture and understand its interest in developing Iran as a gateway to Afghanistan and Central Asia,” she said.

Sherman, however, made it clear that although the US was serious about “a diplomatic resolution” of the Iranian nuclear issue, it has “made clear publicly and privately that we believe there is time and space for diplomacy, though that time is not unlimited”.

Sherman assuaged India’s worries about the impact of the US sanctions against Iran and sought New Delhi’s leverage to persuade Tehran to dispel fears about its nuclear programme.

“We do not seek to undermine India’s energy security; however, India’s partnership and willingness to press Iran to fulfill its international obligations is essential for international efforts to be successful,” she said.

The US recently granted an exemption from punitive sanctions to 10 European nations and Japan for significantly reducing oil imports from Iran.

India does not figure in this list. India has made it clear that it will abide by the UN sanctions but is not bound to accept unilateral sanctions.

Welcoming the recent elections in Myanmar which saw Aung San Suu Kyi winning a parliamentary seat, the US also sought closer collaboration with India to encourage reforms and national reconciliation in that country.

“Though only a small number of parliamentary seats are at stake, with the inclusion of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, today’s events mark the first opportunity for many Burmese voters to participate in a genuine multi-party election,” said Sherman.

“Despite our past differences, I hope we can work with India to foster this opening in Burma and build a brighter future for its citizens,” she said.

Structural, administrative reforms needed for developing education: Sibal

Regretting that 14 legislations, including the Educational Malpractices bill and Foreign Education providers bill, were pending in parliament, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal recently said structural and administrative reforms are needed for development of the education sector in India.

“We have introduced about 14 legislations in parliament. They are all pending in parliament, and for two years. Nobody wishes to debate them, nobody wishes to put them on the agenda. So if the policy framework becomes paralysed, because the political processes don’t allow the education to be looked at elaborately, then how do we

move forward?” said Sibal, speaking from Kolkata.

“We (UPA) don’t have majority in the Rajya Sabha. So if somebody says we will not allow the bill to come on the agenda what can we do? How do we pass the Educational Malpractices bill, Foreign Education providers’ bill?” he said.

The seasoned politician pointed out that 10 years from now, people are going to ask about these facilities.

“By 2020, 100 million additional people will be part of the workforce from India only. By 2030 one third of world’s workforce will be provided by India. It’s going to be demand driven, and they are going to ask what we did,” he said.

Sibal stated there is a need for structural and administrative reforms and a collaborative approach for development of the education sector.

The minister said he expected the National Vocational Qualification Framework to be introduced in 2012 academic year. The matter is likely to be placed before the cabinet in the next three to four weeks.

Hyderabad airport gets greenhouse certification

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA) in Hyderabad has received ISO 14064 certification, becoming the second airport in India and the third in Asia to complete verification of greenhouse gas emissions.

The airport successfully accredited its greenhouse gas (GHG) inventory including greenhouse gas emissions and removals for reporting years 2009 to 2011, according to the ISO 14064-1:2006 specification.

Bureau Veritas conducted independent audit and issued the verification statement,

said a release from GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd (GHIAL), which operates the airport.

The verification of GHG inventories helps RGIA in reducing its carbon intensity, which is carbon footprint per passenger or per tonne of cargo handled, cost of energy and meet GHG accounting international norms in aviation sector.

RGIA is not just a greenfield airport but a green airport primarily developed on eco-friendly concepts, said the statement.

Advent invests $105 million in CARE Hospitals

Advent International, one of the world’s leading global private equity firms, recently announced that it is investing $105 million (Rs.523 crore) in Hyderabad-based CARE Hospitals by acquiring shares from existing investors.

The business will continue to be run by the founders following Advent’s investment, said a statement from Advent International. CARE is the largest multi-specialty hospital chain in south India. It is ranked five by number of beds and by revenue in India, and has a significant market position in Andhra Pradesh.

“From a 100-bed single specialty facility focusing on cardiac care, CARE has become a multi-specialty hospital group comprising 1,590 beds across 11 hospitals. Our partnership with Advent provides us with the required resources and support to expand our presence and reiterates our commitment in providing the best in healthcare with compassion, to more people in India,” said CARE Hospitals founder B.Soma Raju.

“Through this union, Advent brings relevant global experience to support CARE’s expansion plans in India. CARE aspires to match the best international

benchmarks in healthcare delivery and we are committed to supporting them in this endeavour,” said Georg Stratenwerth, managing director, Advent India PE Advisors Pvt Ltd.

CARE has hospitals in Vishakhapatnam, Raipur, Bhubaneshwar, Nagpur, Surat and Pune along with Hyderabad, and is poised for further growth and expansion in tier II cities, added the release.

Need to sensitize society on autism

Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment Mukul Wasnik recently said there was an urgent need to sensitise the society about autism to ensure a dignified life for India’s 10 million autistic people. Wasnik was speaking at a workshop organised by the National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities to mark World Autism Day in New Delhi.

Worldwide, April 2 is celebrated as the World Autistic Awareness Day. Autism is an incurable condition that impacts communication, behaviour and social relationships and affects 1 in 110 people.

“Ten million is a big number. It is time we sensitized all the stakeholders of civil society,” Wasnik said.

Wasnik also laid emphasis on the importance of improving special education systems for people with disabilities.

“It is time we got academics, disability experts and the ministries of social justice and human resource development to come together so that there is no confusion,” he said.

Wasnik announced that a national festival for people with disabilities will be held in September.

A Russian tourist in a field of tulips in full bloom in the foothills of Zabarvan mountain range in Srinagar, 2 April 2012. Domestic as well as foreign tourists flock to the Tulip Garden in spring to see the bloom, which lasts for two months.

Holi

Photos:Greg Dickens

Holispirit!

Scenes from Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Holi Mahotsav held at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, March 24-25

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Of degradation and drugs

Two powerful novels explore the theme of personal destruction and historical deprivation

BY CHITRA SUDARSHAN

Lahore-born Roopa

Farooki has a few novels under her belt: they include Bitter Sweet, which was shortlisted for the Orange Award for New Writers in 2007 and The Way Things Look to Me, published in 2010 and longlisted for the Orange Prize last year. This was followed by Half Life soon afterwards, and her latest offering is The Flying Man Roopa’s mother is Bangladeshi and her father was from Pakistan; she moved to the UK with her parents when she was a child.

The Flying Man is the story of Maqil Karam – a figure based on the author’s own father, we learn – who is born in Lahore and educated in America, who changes his identities like a chameleon. In Cairo he is the earnest Arab ‘Mehmet’; in Paris, he is the playboy MSK. He abandons his families and responsibilities; he is a gambler and a conman who does not care much for others - and little for himself. Farooki does not romanticise or sentimentalise Maqil Karam, and he emerges more contemptible than heroic at the end of the book. But halfway into the novel just as the protagonist begins sounding banal, other characters gradually come into their own and the book begins to re-engage the reader.

Farooki’s many novels could have easily fallen into the genre of ‘chick flick’ were it not for her elegant prose and superior storytelling skills. They are both compelling and set her apart from the throng of South Asian-origin writers now populating the literary field. This is a superior novel by a truly talented writer.

Jeet Thayil’s Narcopolis is yet another novel located in Mumbai; this one however, is not your run-of-the-mill family saga. It is the Mumbai (or Bombay) of opium dens, prostitutes, drug dealers and criminals. Reading it was somewhat akin to watching Mira Nair’s Salaam Bombay, only more eerie. We learn, for instance, that Mumbai was built – even before its textile mills and natural harbour – on its opium export to China; that the great Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, after whom the famous hospital and school of art

are named, was a pioneer of the opium trade, as were several other prominent merchants in the city at the time!

India’s opium links with China are old. British traders got China addicted to opium grown in India, and transported it on ships owned by Indian merchants. Who said globalisation is a 21st century phenomenon? Delhi University’s Prof Amar Farooqui showed us in his brilliant essays how Mumbai owed its prosperity to opium; Amitav Ghosh’s Ibis trilogy also traced those links; Kunal Basu showed us in his novel The Opium Clerk, how his protagonist Hiran seized the opportunity provided by opium export under the British Raj, during the time preceding the Opium Wars in China. Basu located his novel in Calcutta. Thayil locates his in Shuklaji Street, Mumbai’s last connection with opium. It is the epicentre of vice and the narrator of the novel, Dom Ullis, arrives in Mumbai to take part in the trade, 150 years after it first started. He frequents Rashid’s opium den, an oldfashioned one where pipewallahs prepare the smoke for its clients. The story opens in Rashid’s opium house in the 1970s where we meet the owner himself, his regular clients and Dimple the eunuch, who prepares his pipes. Very gently, we move deeper and deeper into their lives as he portrays in vivid details the way pipes are prepared for the opium, the ambience of the opium den, and such like.

We also meet characters like Mr Lee, a former soldier from communist China who has fled that country’s cultural revolution and who gives us as sharp a portrait of it as one will ever read – and how it destroyed his parents and his girlfriend. We move onward with the years: hippies arrive and begin to appreciate the quality of Rashid’s opium; then the coming of the market liberalisation tsunami that strikes after 1991, and the whirlpool of communal riots, murder and mayhem. Thayil disaggregates the complexities, contradictions and hypocrisies of Indian life with his razor sharp but elegant prose: through his characters he portrays the emerging divisiveness of the city; the good Muslim Rashid selling heroin while complaining about brazen women; his son Jamal stares at the scantily clad women while bristling at the

images of Afghanistan and Iraq and gets politicised – he might even consider becoming a suicide bomber when the time is right; the queenly beggar woman who makes the street her living room, and the Hindu praying in church, et al. He squeezes the whole world and its history into these few hundred pages of the novel. Narcopolis is a brilliant debut novel that compares with some of the best. Thayil may have lost almost 20 years of his life to addiction (as he has been quoted) but if this novel is any indication, that experience did not go to waste and we are fortunate that he came out of it and lived to write this book. He is a talented poet and librettist, and also a man of courage: he was one of the four authors who read from Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses at the Jaipur Festival in January this year, and who may now face charges for reading from a banned book.

Farooki’s many novels could have easily fallen into the genre of ‘chick flick’ were it not for her elegant prose and superior storytelling skills.

Thayil may have lost almost 20 years of his life to addiction but if this novel is any indication, that experience did not go to waste and we are fortunate that he came out of it and lived to write this book.

Roopa Farooki

Jeet Thayil

Learn Yoga, Pranayama & Meditation

Europe versus Asia?

Is Europe beginning to ressurrect its Big Brother attitude towards the rest of the world?

BY noel g de soUZA

In 2009, India was given an unprecedented place of honour at the July 14 French national day. Indian troops from all its military wings marched at the head of the national parade, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the Guest of Honour. Reciprocally, the French President Mr Nicholas Sarkozy was the Honoured Guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations a year later.

All the three former colonial powers in India were then paying India singular tributes. The British royals were prominent at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi and the Portuguese Prime Minister led a high-powered delegation to India. Portugal is participating in a variety of projects such as wine production and the computer company Wipro is setting up a branch in Portugal.

But those times now seem remote. Portugal has a new Prime Minister. Sarkozy, according to the polls, might lose the forthcoming Presidential election in France. Europe is a financial crisis and several issues divide India and Europe.

In January 2012, an Indian couple were charged initially with child abuse and neglect in Norway. Their children were taken away from them. The so-called abuse involved sleeping with the children and feeding them by hand! If that is the Norwegian norm then most of the world neglects its children.

are slated to be tried in Kerala. One would have expected that Italy would have been conciliatory. Instead, India was accused of violating Italian sovereignty as the incident had supposedly taken place in international waters and that the Italians cannot be prosecuted under Indian law. A magistrate in Kollam has rejected this argument and has instead ordered that the Kochi Port Trust bring the Enrica Lexie into Kochi harbour. The two Italian naval men have appealed to the Kerala High Court.

The Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is adamant that there will be no out-of-court settlement regarding the killing of two Indian fishermen as this involves a case of murder.

The emerging Europe versus Asia scenario is not limited to isolated incidents. The European Union has precipitately imposed a carbon tax on aeroplanes landing in Europe despite howls of protest from several quarters including the USA, Russia, China, India and Brazil. China has flatly refused to pay the tax. It has spoken about retaliatory measures such as levies on EU airlines and, more importantly, it has cancelled its order for Airbus aeroplanes.

Asia’s perception is that the European Union has regressed into a colonial style mode; Europe once considered itself the centre and the rest of the world at its periphery, to which it could dictate terms.

The issues invovled in the case may be much more complex, but the outrage in India is understandable.

As news of these hush-hush Norwegian secret proceedings came to light, noisy demonstrations were held in New Delhi in front of the Norwegian Embassy demanding the restoration of the children to their parents and to their nation. Norway has underestimated India’s anger. Some sort of compromise is being now worked out.

In February this year, two Kerala fishermen in wooden boats were fishing along the Kerala coast when two Italian naval officers, working as security men, on the Italian cruise ship Enrica Lexie opened fire killing the two fishermen. Initially the story was that the fishermen had fired first and that the Italians returned the fire. But then it was admitted that the fishermen had not been armed. Evidently, there had been a tragic mistake.

When the ship entered Kochi harbour the naval security officers were arrested. They

The USA considers retaliatory measures to be premature but others do not, as the European carbon emission rules were neither discussed nor agreements reached with foreign governments. Amongst the measures contemplated are complaining to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and ceasing negotiations with European carriers on new routes.

Chief Executive Louis Gallois from the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), maker of the Airbus aircraft, has had to deal with the shock decision by China to cancel Airbus deliveries. Airbus Chief Executive Tom Enders is concerned that his successful company might have to pay the price for the European Union’s carbon tax. “What started out as a solution for the environment has become a source of potential trade conflict,” he says. India’s airlines have had more than 180 Airbus planes already delivered, besides 54 helicopters. Also, India’s INSAT satellites are being sent into orbit with Ariane launchers by EADS.

Asia’s perception is that the European Union has regressed into a colonial style mode; Europe once considered itself the centre and the rest of the world at its periphery, to which it could dictate terms. This attitude is untenable in the contemporary world. The sooner that this perception is rectified, the sooner will Europe’s own problems get resolved by cooperating with Asia.

Holy, hey?

BY TIM BlIgHT

Amonth has passed since Holi, the festival of colours which exploded across northern India. Being in Chennai, I missed the best of it; apart from a couple of colour fights in the old market town of Sowcarpet, it was business as usual in the Tamil capital. I did, however, make it to Nashik, Maharashtra, in time for Rang Panchami – a sort of “Holi strikes back” festival five days later! As bhanged-out revellers filled the streets, it got me thinking about the realities of spirituality in modern India.

On one hand, India is a conservative society. In some respects, it is very conservative. In other ways it is more liberal than many western nations. Such pluralism goes to the heart of Hinduism, the subcontinent’s original native religion. Confounding as it is to many westerners, it is carried off effortlessly by India and her people who see no conflict in blending traditions, realities and modernity.

Of course, that is, except for the ones who do. “Hinduism is a religion of understanding, of tolerance,” I have been told many times. “We accept people of every race and religion.” However, many of the people who have told me that they would drink a cup of village tap water before allowing their daughter to marry a Muslim! So is Hinduism tolerant and understanding? Yes – in fact, it is even tolerant and understanding enough (although perhaps not approving of) people like the aforementioned parents. It is written in the Gita that Lord Krishna receives all forms of prayer and worship, even from those who don’t recognize his avatar. Vedas also espouse the notion that actions in everyday life are a form of worship in themselves. This point was hammered home when I visited the shrine of Sai Baba in Shirdi, devoted to a man who prayed alternately in a mandir and a mosque.

The push by some groups to transform Hinduism into a militant monolithic faith is therefore quite misguided and

concerning. Let’s not forget that the practice of the faiths present in India are highly influenced by Hindu teaching. After my visit to Nashik, I spent a day in Mumbai during which I visited Haji Ali’s shrine. Among many Muslims worldwide, prayer at a shrine would be considered blasphemous, lest the corpse be viewed as a deity. However, historical evidence documents the development of Muslim practice in the subcontinent and the building of shrines, similar to Hindu tradition. Both Sai Baba’s shrine and Haji Ali Dargah were full of devotees of all faiths.

Arguably, neither Sikhism nor Buddhism would exist without the premise of Hinduism. Even the Christians at Saint Thomas’ Basilica in Chennai take their shoes off before entering the building – I haven’t seen that in a church anywhere else!

Perhaps Hinduism’s (not Hindus’) tolerance and understanding is to India’s detriment. Would India have been so easily colonized throughout its history if its people weren’t so disparate, especially with regard to their faith? We’ll never know the answer to that question, but it’s unlikely to happen again any time soon, thanks to the current climate of nationalism. On the contrary, is India embarking on a cultural colonization of the west?

Swami Vivekananda once stood at Kanyakumari, at the end of India, and pledged to spread the word of Hinduism beyond the

subcontinent’s shores. Does yoga, the saviour of so many stressed westerners, not have its roots in Hinduism? Across the world, chakras are being stimulated by the practice of ayurveda, currently ‘en vogue’. Even Oprah Winfrey endorses Deepak Chopra, so he must be on to something!

Modern India encompasses the spiritual and the material, and indescribably melds them together into a heady cocktail which is consumed by both westerners and Indians alike. Religious men still attend the temple each morning to perform their hand. IT professionals continue on their way to work, plugged into their iPods. Often, they are the same person, and the iPod is just as likely playing the latest hit as religious teachings. This straddling of the modern and the ancient is seen publicly too – in February, NDTV announced that they would air Sri Sri Ravi Shankar’s teachings on a podcast!

Back in Chennai, I flicked on the TV and caught sight of Akshay Kumar (a Hindu) and Salman Khan (a Muslim) thrusting together to a song called swear by Allah). My head started to hurt. Following this was a Hindu priest performing satirical gay marriage rites in a video clip from the movie to change channels before my head exploded. Over on Colours was Swami Agnivesh, teaching contestants of the Indian version of Big Brother of being altruistic. Boom!

It is written in the Gita that Lord Krishna receives all forms of prayer and worship, even from those who don’t recognize his avatar.

Hinduism’s edict of tolerance and understanding is sometimes unwittingly practiced by Indians of all faiths

Rang Panchami on the streets of Nashik

St Thomas Basilica, Chennai

Message of tolerance: Sai Baba of Shirdi

Getting Your Driver Licence

Information Seminars for Migrants in the Ashfield area

Are you a migrant and thinking of getting your Australia driver licence? Ashfield Council offers a FREE seminar providing practical information and advice on:

• International driver’s licence recognition and transfer

• Getting a licence

• Preparing your Driver’s Knowledge Test

• Planning on-road driving sessions

• Road safety issues

The session is on Thursday 19 April (in English) from 10.30am – 12 noon in Ashfield Civic Centre 260 Liverpool Rd, Ashfield.

For more information or to make bookings, please contact Cathy gao on 9716 1813 or email cathyg@ashfield.nsw.gov.au. This project is funded by the department of Immigration and Citizenship under the settlement grant Program

NSW DET Government Funded Microsoft MCITP plus Cisco CCNA Plus Diploma of Telecommunication

$14500

Free for unemployed Australia residents* This training is funded by the NSW Government in partnership with the Commonwealth Government.

If you are an unemployed Australian resident with some networking background then you are eligible to study Cisco CCNA plus MCITP at Microsoft IT Academy free of charge

This program includes:

• MCITP Training using official Microsoft Training environment

• MCITP official exams and certificate

• ICT50210 - Diploma of Telecommunications Network Engineering

• Work experience

Candidate eligibility:

• Must be an Australian resident

• Unemployed for at least last two weeks.

• IT or telecommunication background

• Admin fee may apply if you are not on a Centrelink benefit

This is a 4 months fast track program and

• Application close: 30/03/2012

• Course commencement: 09/04/2012

Please visit our website or call us to enrol today.

www.abbeytraining.com.au

TEL: (02) 9212-4470, (02) 9635-7114

Where the wild things

BY PeTRA o’neIll

So which country produces the best hikers?” I asked.

“Slovenia!” replied Ryan our guide, as he nonchalantly spun his index finger around his belly button to dislodge a tiger leech embedded there. I was in the Danum Valley Conservation Area in Borneo, dressed from top to toe in leech-proof hiking gear, in one of the world’s most remote rainforests and best places for viewing wildlife.

Borneo, the third largest island in the world is shared by three countries: Indonesia, Brunei and the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak. While much of it has been tamed by logging and palm oil plantations, Borneo remains one of the most dramatic and exciting destinations, an island of dense prime growth rainforest, indigenous tribes, abundant birdlife and mammals including pygmy elephants, clouded leopards, gibbons, orang-utans and proboscis monkeys.

In search of orang-utans

I had persuaded my 17-year-old daughter Nicky to join me on a journey to search for orang-utans that began in Kota Kinabalu. At the Shangri-La Rasa Ria Resort, three well-cared-for baby orangutans would swing down from the jungle canopy of the resort’s expansive nature reserve for their daily feed. In collaboration with the State Wildlife Department, the resort facilitates rehabilitation programmes for endangered species.

A six-hour bus ride took us past the majestic Mt Kinabalu before arriving in Sandakan, a bustling, vibrant city where we stocked up on leech socks. The next morning we visited the Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, a 4,500 hectare reserve for rescued orang-utans. The orang-utan gets its name from the Malay words for ‘‘man’’ (orang) and ‘‘jungle’’ (utan). Found only on Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, orphaned orang-utans rescued from illegal hunting or found at logging sites are taught survival skills and eventually returned to a protected rainforest habitat.

A twinge of home

We met our guide Mirawan and

travelled by speedboat from Sandakan to Sukau upstream along the mangrove-lined Kinabatangan River, Sabah’s longest at 560 kms. Along lowland rainforest we sped, pausing to view sunning crocodiles, proboscis and macaque monkeys, egrets and hornbills, hawks and eagles, the area being renowned as having the largest concentration of wildlife in Malaysia.

“Welcome to Sukau Rainforest Lodge!” was not what I was expecting, spoken with an unmistakable Aussie twang. Our amiable manager and head chef was Brett from Gosford, who had arrived on holiday 3 years ago and stayed. With no time to unpack, we enjoyed afternoon tea with hot banana fritters before joining Mirawan for a late afternoon cruise in a small wooden boat to view more wildlife. There were many proboscis monkeys, distinguished by their long droopy noses and white tails scampering along branches in the treetops, a female orang-utan with her baby, many mischievous macaques and then the most amazing sight of all – perhaps 30 or more pygmy elephants grazing along the river’s edge, only a metre or so away from us. The pygmy elephant is small, with large ears and straight tusks, and is genetically distinct from other Asian elephants. “You are so lucky, the elephants don’t always come,” said Mirawan. Hornbills and egrets flew across the sky in front of us, the light fading under the thick forest cover.

After a splendid dinner overlooking the river, we retired with Brett suggesting that a visit by the elephants during the night was possible. “They like to look through the windows, perhaps they are just curious!” he said.

Up close with creepy crawlies

“Don’t look up and talk,’’ said Mirawan the next morning, as we entered the Gomantong Caves, the largest in Sabah. The ground was covered with a thick carpet of spongy, smelly, moist droppings left by the estimated 100,000 bats and swiftlets that live here. Flying rapidly in and out of the cave’s entrance were the tiny swiftlets whose nests bring high prices for bird’s nest soup.

“Do you want to walk across

Being in the midst of an amazing variety of flora and fauna is an intrinsically unique experience

or on the boardwalk?” asked Mirawan and I pointed my flashlight at a surface which appeared to be a mass of moving cockroaches. “Look at this,” said Mirawan, and with that he spat. Thousands of creepy crawlies converged on the spot. They were everywhere, as where the centipedes. I felt goosebumps and was relieved to leave. Driving past Palm Oil Plantations, we arrived at Lahad Datu, our driver depositing us at the Borneo Rainforest Lodge office for our three-hour journey through the rainforest by 4WD.

Rainforest retreat

Spanning 438 square kilometres of primary lowland dipterocarp rainforest, the Danum Valley Conservation Area is recognised as one of the world’s most complex ecosystems and sanctuary to rare and endangered flora and fauna. Far removed from human habitation it is renowned for its rich variety of plants and wildlife, with over 275 species of birds and 110 mammals including the rare Sumatran rhinoceros, pygmy elephants, clouded leopards and orang-utans.

Ryan met us on arrival and invited us to join him on a walk through the rainforest. It was damp and cool, and for the next two days he guided us on walks to waterfalls for refreshing

swims, to viewing platforms, tree top canopies and along high escarpments for amazing views of the river and rainforest below. Ryan had studied Mechanical Engineering, but after graduating he found that he missed the rainforest, where his father had often taken him as a young boy. Clearly he loved being here and was keen to share his considerable knowledge. We saw many species of orchids, pitcher plants, ferns, begonias and plants used by indigenous tribes people for medicinal uses. We saw flying lemurs, gibbons, proboscis monkeys and orang-utans including Abu, a large male who lives near the lodge high up in the tree canopy.

Ryan talked optimistically of the survival of Borneo’s endangered species. The Sabah Wildlife Department in collaboration with industry groups are looking at the further creation of wildlife corridors, better enforcement against poaching and the conservation of forests.

Seeing orang-utans, proboscis monkeys and pygmy elephants up close in their native habitat was one of the most amazing travel experiences I’ve ever had. And as two adventurous travellers had said to me several months earlier, “You really should go there sometime.” I’m glad I took their advice.

Travel noTebook

B o R neo

GETTING T h ERE

From Singapore, Kota Kinabalu is a short flight away (Silk Air or Air Asia). From Kuala Lumpur, you can fly to Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan or Tawau (Malaysia Airlines or Air Asia). There are flights from Kota Kinabalu to Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Tawau or travel by express bus. Sida or Tung Ma are preferable, Dyana has regular services to Lahad Datu.

ACCOMODATION

Just north of Kota Kinabalu, the Shangri La’s Rasa Ria Resort, provides a cocooned stay in paradise with impressive service and attention to detail. The deluxe wing is worth the splurge. The hotel offers a comprehensive program of activities with an environmental focus that includes meeting orang-utans undergoing rehabilitation. Phone: +60 88 792 888. Email: rrr@shangri-la.com

Website: www.shangri-la.com

The Swiss Inn Waterfront Hotel in Sandakan is centrally located with comfortable rooms. www. swissgarden.com

The 20-room multi-award winning Sukau Rainforest Lodge, managed by Borneo Eco Tours, is built from hardwood on stilts in a traditional architectural style with a spacious open lobby and restaurant overlooking the river. Their use of green technology including solar panels and electric powered boats is commendable. Borneo Eco Tours offer ecologically sustainable tours and is highly recommended. Phone: +60 88 438 300

Email: info@borneoecotours.com Website: www.borneoecotours.com

Borneo Rainforest Lodge provides a unique rainforest experience. The all inclusive tariff includes guided walks, bird watching, and night safaris in an open jeep. The nature guides, chalet accommodation and food are all outstanding. Given its remote location, the Manager, Edmundo Cafe Jr, has performed miracles.

Email: info@borneorainforestlodge.com Website: www.borneorainforestlodge.com

INFORMATION

The helpful staff at Sabah Tourism provided detailed responses to all my email inquiries: www.sabahtourism.com

Found only on Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sumatra, orphaned orang-utans rescued from illegal hunting or found at logging sites are taught survival skills and eventually returned to a protected rainforest habitat.

Elements of easter

Maintaining tradition is an essential part of life in India

BY HeRYl dIXIT

This Easter break we hope to catch a final burst of warm autumn sunshine at one of NSW’s southern beaches before winter truly starts settling in. I’m a bit reluctant to divulge details of our trip to my family back home, as I can almost hear them say in hushed, slightly shocked tones, “You’re travelling on Easter Friday? But what about going to church?”

Now it takes a long while and lots of explaining to my staunchly Catholic family back home that Easter brings with it, for the majority of Australians, all the charm of a well-deserved long weekend. Of course, some people here do observe Lent, giving up eating meat or certain favourites. But the others, well, they just look forward to a range of hot cross buns and the pleasure of four days of holiday bliss before returning to the commitments of work, routine and a chilly winter.

In my childhood I couldn’t ever imagine spending the days up to Easter in ‘holiday’ mode. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Starting with Ash Wednesday that signifies the beginning of Lent, the forty days leading up to Easter Sunday marked a solemn phase in our normally ebullient household. We were expected to go to church more often, to attend midnight vigils and Stations of the Cross and generally maintain a sense of piety. The household abstained from eating meat and imbibing alcohol, leading to somewhat raucous indulgence on Easter Sunday, to make up for lost time. On Palm Sunday, the weekend before Easter, we struggled to make a variety of crosses from fresh fronds of the coconut tree on our way home from church, stacking these up behind the altar at home until next year when they would be burned and replenished with fresh ones. My mother was particularly talented at making unusual designs, transforming these long green stalks into an attractive display of arches and twists that enhanced the

simplicity of the original design. With my late teens came rebellion and sneering nonchalance to anything traditional, which I now see as childish and immature. But at that time, in today’s modern parlance, it was ‘cool’ to not attend the Holy Thursday and Good Friday services, and instead read Khalil Gibran while convincing oneself that intellectual stimulation was more relevant than dogmatic doctrine. Yes, that was another folly of youth, because if I’d been honest with myself, I quite enjoyed those pre-Easter services.

Maundy Thursday and Good Friday were my favourites. Dressed in sombre clothing, we would troop to our local church where a football field adjoining the school would be transformed into a huge open air auditorium, with folding chairs numbered and placed in neat blocks. On a higher level facing the attendees was a large, newly erected stage, shielded to the audience by red or blue satin curtains, gently swaying to a mild evening breeze. Besides this was the altar and lectern, from which the presiding priest would say the Mass. The ceremonials on both days were longer than the usual hour-long Mass, because they included enactments of the significant past events of these two days. Maundy Thursday was the day of the Last Supper, at which Jesus Christ ate his last meal with his disciples, and washed their feet. This tableau was enacted by a group of aspiring amateur actors, and almost invariably we knew at least three of them. This familiarity led to a lot of elbownudging as we watched them trying to keep still for certain sequences and stay serious while their feet were being washed.

The tableau on Good Friday was the lead up to the death of Christ, with several scenes depicting the judgement on Christ, carrying of the cross, the actual crucifixion and His body being placed in the tomb. Heavily dramatic yet with strong symbolism, these scenes enacted before an appreciative audience brought into perspective the significance of Good Friday. The props were simple, but sound effects like thunder and lightning, the hammering of nails and clacking castanets were

more poignant and real than mere spoken words. Basic gestures like the apostles looking up at the cross or Mary, the mother of Jesus with her hands covering her face had a tremendous effect on the audience, with the air of breathlessness interspersed with an occasional gasp or hastily suppressed sob as we were all carried away into an era 2000 years ago, to that fateful evening which changed the course of history and gave rise to one of the world’s most powerful religions.

There was an aura about these ceremonies, and like most others there, I too shared in those moments under a gently darkening evening sky. And at its end, I joined the rest of the procession filing past to view the statue of Christ laid in a coffin, smothering His image with flowers, unlit candles and little token medals and rosaries while ushers replaced full donation boxes with empty ones. There was a sense of catharsis in the air and the world became real only when we walked out of the gates to bustling traffic while hawkers with little baskets of boiled channa and black eyed beans thrust their little packets in our faces. We went home with some relief and much hunger as traditionally, one fasts on Good Friday indulging in only the evening meal.

Holy Saturday was never too holy as frantic preparations for Easter Sunday were always underway. There were Easter eggs to pick up, lovely homemade chocolate or marzipan

delights, intrinsically decorated. A visit to the tailor was often on the cards to ensure some final outfit adjustments, and I often found myself wandering along Bandra’s Hill Road looking for a new pair of shoes! Back home, the sorpotel would be diminishing as several people sneaked a taste, while curtains and cushion covers would be changed in a flurry of activity. It was a bustling, happy, cheerful time as we debated on the pros and cons of attending Midnight or Morning Mass. There was an air of anticipation as the iron worked overtime, jewellery was rescued from hidden corners of my mum’s wardrobe and finally, in our resplendent best, we went to church to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

We returned to a well-deserved feast in which good cheer was the most important ingredient. I never attended a single Easter egg hunt in my life before coming to Australia. The Easter Bunny was a vague concept, because the religious significance of the festival was the strongest factor and inspiration in our lives.

These Easter traditions still exist in all their glory back home in India, and I commend those who still strive and succeed in maintaining those same traditions here in Australia, even amidst the gaiety that ironically begins on the eve of Maundy Thursday in anticipation of the long weekend. In addition to the power of faith and belief, this ability to uphold tradition is indeed, a wondrous thing!

Heavily dramatic yet with strong symbolism, these scenes enacted before an appreciative audience brought into perspective the significance of Good Friday.

There was an air of anticipation as the iron worked overtime, jewellery was rescued from hidden corners of my mum’s wardrobe and finally, in our resplendent best, we went to church to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.

Easter chocolate cheer

Indulge in a special chocolate treat this Easter, that’s as much fun creating, as eating

BY elIZABeTH gAeTe

When it comes to food at Easter time, most of us are very familiar with the big role that chocolate plays over this holiday period. Easter egg hunts in the backyard for the kids are a regular occurrence. But why let the children have all the fun?

Many of us will have a social gathering with friends and family over this holiday period and what better way to indulge the adults with a decadent chocolate Easter cake. It will not just serve as the crowning glory of your Easter feast, but will satisfy the cravings of even the most fervent chocolate fanatic!

Sift together the self raising and plain flours, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl place eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla, and whisk together until well combined.

chocolate, 125g milk chocolate)

Coloured Easter eggs

If you want to impress your guests while entertaining over Easter, make your own edible Easter eggs. They make a great table display and add a savoury touch to your meal.

Hard boiled eggs

Food colouring

¼ cup vinegar

Water

Small bowls

Fill each bowl with water and ¼ cup of vinegar. Add different food colours to each bowl – the more

you add the more intense the colour.

Dip each egg, into the bowl, removing with a spoon when they reach the desired colour.

Leave the eggs to dry on paper towels.

Tip: You can place round or star stickers or tape around the egg before placing into the bowl of food colour, to create lovely patterns on your eggs. Allow to dry thoroughly before gently removing the stickers.

100g self raising flour

½ teaspoon bicarbonate

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate ganache

150g milk chocolate

150g thickened cream

150g milk chocolate

For the mud cake

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees for a fan forced or 160 degrees Celsius for a normal oven.

Grease an 8in/23cm round cake tin. Line the tin with baking paper, extending the paper a few centimetres above the tin. Put chocolate, butter, coffee, water and caster sugar in a medium sized saucepan, over low heat. Stir occasionally, until the chocolate and butter have melted and the sugar has dissolved. Remove the saucepan from the heat and allow to cool to lukewarm.

Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until well combined. Then add the chocolate mixture to the flour and egg mixture. Do this in two batches, stir after each addition until well combined. Use a whisk to stir the mixture instead of a wooden spoon.

Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin, through a sieve. This will give you a lump free cake mixture and the results will come through with a lovely textured cake.

Bake the cake for 1 hour and 30-45 minutes. Insert a cake skewer or a knife through the cake and if it comes out clean, the cake is cooked.

Remove the cake from the oven and place a sheet of baking paper on top of the cake. Then wrap the cake, still left in its tin, in an old towel. Leave overnight or for a couple of hours until completely cooled. Once the cake has cooled remove it from the tin. The cake will be unlikely to be level, so cut it straight across the top, and place the levelled cake on serving dish upside down. The bottom of the cake will be level and will create that straight finish.

While the cake is cooling make the Easter nest.

For the Easter nest

Melt the chocolate in a small

saucepan over low heat. Once the chocolate has melted remove saucepan off the heat and stir through the fried noodles. Do this gently so that the noodles don’t break and hold their shape. Spoon the mixture onto a baking tray, lined with baking paper. Shape the noodles into a nest. Use your fingers to form the mould of a nest shape. Make an indentation in the centre, so that it can hold the Easter eggs. Place the tray in the fridge to set.

For the chocolate ganache

Put the chocolate and cream in a medium saucepan on a low heat, stirring continuously. Remove from the heat once the mixture is smooth and the chocolate has melted. It is important not to heat the mixture any further as the chocolate can burn. Allow to cool slightly.

Pour the ganache over the cooled cake and spread with a palate knife evenly over the top and sides of the cake.

Take the Easter nest out of the fridge and carefully run a knife under the nest to lift it off the baking paper. Place it on the centre of the cake, while the ganache is still runny.

Put the cake back into the fridge. This will set the ganache and allow the nest to stick to the top of the cake.

Take the cake out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature before serving. Place an assortment of solid and ‘birds eggs’ Easter eggs into the nest. Jelly beans can also be used to add a splash of colour.

Indian links at l’oréal Melb Fashion Fest

The intricate craft of Indian artisans inspires two Aussie designers

BY TAlIA KAUR

This year’s L’Oréal Melbourne Fashion Festival has been said to be the best yet. It showcased the works of talented Australian designers, two of whom were motivated by the fabrics, textures and colours which make Indian fashion so unique. But if you didn’t manage to grab a seat at the event, don’t despair! Here are the main highlights - straight from the runway.

LInDA JACKSOn

Designer Linda Jackson added a distinct and incredibly unique approach to her designs. She ventured beyond the conventional seasonal trends in Australia and definitely pushed the limits of Western fashion this year. Using her artistic skills, Jackson added her own individual taste to each garment. Her designs are playful and bright, and the incredible use of colour and detailed patterns allow each piece to make a statement.

MEGAn PARK

Megan Park’s collection this year featured a combination of traditional craft and hand embroidery with today’s most popular shapes and fabrics. Every item - whether a garment or accessory - had been stitched, beaded and embroidered by hand in India by highly skilled artisans. The prints and dyes were also produced using old Indian handcraft techniques which have been passed down through generations. Her designs were feminine and detailed, relaxed and luxurious. Megan created a perfect balance in her collection by pairing colourful handblock patterns and accessories with simple, dark staple pieces such as jackets and stockings. The entire line was beautifully unique, current and timeless. Her inspirations come from around the world, including

street markets in New Delhi and Mumbai. Each garment showed incredible attention to detail, making them outstanding works of art.

She drew inspiration from India and Africa to create an electrifying mix of cultural fabrics, textures and styles. Her work included pieces of appliqué (sewing fabric on fabric), patchwork, screenprinting, hand-painting and cutwork – all of which were also inspired by traditional Indian and African handcraft techniques and exuded a definite ‘wow’ factor.

A lucky break

Abuse can be seen in a different perspective depending on your gender, but the experience is mentally and emotionally crippling

happened in their life would become public knowledge and would be splashed across the newspapers a year later.

BY R A

Iam Serena. I am a woman first, and then a mother. As a woman, I must empathise with another woman’s sorrow. As a mother, I must defend my child’s rights.

Ours is a singular tale, but those who read this will see reflections of their own lives or will relive moments of their own personal horror: a tale that made me realise that when parents assault their children, they create a whirlpool that grows to finally drown everyone that comes in its path. It sacrifices the guilty and the innocent alike.

Theirs was a love marriage. My son met Sheila at a restaurant and called the moment ‘love at first sight’. They dated briefly before a rushed wedding. We thought it was because he feared losing her, but we learnt later that she was a child from a home where physical violence was a common event and verbal abuse was a daily practice.

The day my son saw Sheila being hit by her mother, he asked her to marry him. We were proud, more proud of him that day than any other moment. We had taught him well and he had learnt even better.

For two years we remained in the utopia of our perfect family. Totally unaware of the sham that was their marriage; the tragic tale that began on their honeymoon itself.

It was during their honeymoon that my son first realised that ‘his damsel in distress’ was not as weak and helpless as she appeared. They had bumped into a few of her relatives whom she did not like and told them in not so polite terms to exit her life. She excused her behaviour by claiming that those relatives had encouraged her mother to drink and then sat back and saw the ‘terror’ that followed. My son encouraged her newfound strength and supported Sheila in her move to exhibit her new freedom and power.

Yes, he encouraged her, until just two weeks later when that newly discovered strength was directed at him. She had got upset with him because he had thanked the waitress at the restaurant with what she claimed was a ‘smile that lasted longer than required’. She made the excuse of wanting to go to the toilet, and then disappeared with

the car. After 20 minutes of frantic worry, my son rang home only to have her hang up on him. When he reached home, she had bolted the door. My son took a taxi to the nearest motel and spent the night there, too embarrassed to come to his family. The next day he returned home to find a weeping Sheila who promised him it would never happen again.

That ‘again’, happened three days later. A friend dropped in and my son joined him for a drink. As soon as the friend left, all hell broke loose. Sheila broke every bottle and glass in the house. Again the tears flowed. She said alcohol reminded her of her mother and all the pain she had suffered. My son ended up feeling guilty. The next day they went shopping and replaced everything. A week later he replaced them with plastic ones.

We thought it was because he feared losing her, but we learnt later that she was a child from a home where physical violence was a common event and verbal abuse was a daily practice.

The temper tantrums grew more frequent, as did her suspicions. She would smell my son’s breath for alcohol every day and go through his briefcase, diary and wallet when she got a chance. If something annoyed her she’d tear up all his paperwork. It got so bad that he ended up keeping a set of clothes and copies of important papers at our home. He said it was in case of an emergency. We learnt later what that ‘emergency’ truly was.

We knew nothing of what was really happening in their home, though we guessed that something was amiss. They would often cancel out on get-togethers. But we worried when several friends expressed concern over Sheila’s fear of my son. My niece confronted my son in the hope of finding out the truth, but he never spoke up, even to someone so close to him. Instead, he covered

up all the ‘gifts’ from his bride as sports injuries and laughed off the rumours as idle gossip. He said later, a woman being abused raises sympathy; a man being assaulted meets with humour and ridicule. And so he silently bore what no child of mine should have, living in his own private hell.

Then one day she let down her guard and punched my son in front of all of us. She claimed it was in jest, but it was hard enough to bring tears to his eyes. That was the first time I spoke up against that act of violence only to be told by my own son, that it was their life and that was how she ‘joked’ with him. My own son ended any further attempt to stop what we now saw as ‘inappropriate’ behaviour.

My son’s visits became few and far between. My daughter-inlaw stopped coming at all. What

We learnt during the ensuing investigation that finally having had enough, my son asked for a divorce. The morning after that, he was questioned by the police in response to the charges laid by his wife. She had accused him of mental abuse and physical assault. She had produced doctor’s certificates to support the two injuries that she had received after their marriage.

It was during the investigations that a lot more lies surfaced. My son’s solicitor feared the worst knowing that her past with her family would win her more sympathy. I prayed as I had never prayed before. And then there was a lucky break. My son’s secretary found an invoice that proved that my son was away on an overseas trip on the night Sheila had claimed she had been assaulted, and the night she had seen her doctor. There was also a cassette from the answering machine. On it was a recording from Sheila asking my son to return home as her mother had attacked her again. The date coincided with her mother’s second attack.

Armed with this evidence, the solicitor ensured that all charges against my son were immediately dropped. Their divorce was expedited and she left the country soon after. We hear she has now remarried.

While I wish her happiness, I will not forget what she did to my child. She took from us a ‘perfect son’ and returned him ‘a broken man’. Once again my husband and I are walking the path of caring and nurturing. Once again, we are looking after our son. At 25, he is learning to walk again but this time we are wiser and we will not let go of his hand.

The truth is, I don’t blame her. I blame the person who struck her first. I blame the family that did not protect her against the assaults, and I blame our society that thinks it is funny when husbands and boyfriends are abused and assaulted by women. But most of all, I blame the celluloid world that encourages comedy to be reflected in these assaults. It is not funny. Why is it called ‘assault’ when a woman is hit by her partner, but ‘comedy’ when it is the man being hit? If we want equality in everything, then let assault be called assault!

Commonwealth Bank launChes nRI BankIng In austRalIa

TAROT

ARIEs March 21 - April 19

This month you will be displaying your leadership qualities: you are going to have enthusiasm and drive, and will to do just about anything that needs to be done. New projects and plans are on the cards. You will find a lot of new things that interest you. Make sure you look good, as there is also a new love interest around. Keep a check on your diet as the cards indicate it is time for a few stomach issues.

TAURUs April 20 - May 20

This month the cards show that your love life seems to be taking on a new intensity. But hang on, this may not necessarily be with a present partner. Your work is also going through some changes, as there are new department reshuffles and moving of staff that may effect you. If you are looking for work, you may decide to do something completely different. It is time to start a new chapter. However, keep the exercising going.

GEmINI May 21 - June 20

This is a month for great thoughts and new plans in your life, according to Tarot. You seem to have come to a crossroads, and seem to be quite unsure of which direction to travel. The cards indicate that there could be a possible change of residence or even country. Love is not giving you the rewards you require, and you are feeling quite upset with your current situation. Legs and feet will need special care this month.

cANcER June 21 - June 20

This month you are really working hard and require the rewards and recognition you feel you deserve. The cards indicate a time of great humbleness that exists around you right now. Your love life seems to be on a balanced note, but there are also those of you who are bored in a certain situation. Financial pressures could begin to get on top of you, but there will be some great news before the end of this month. Keep meditating.

LEO July 23 - Aug 22

This month sees a great deal of difference in your attitude and outlook to life. The cards indicate a time of great power and energy around you. There will be a few different interests where your love life is concerned, so if you are married, watch out! Spend your money wisely, because you may be tempted to spend on things you do not need. The health of a younger member of the family may concern you during this time.

VIRGO Aug 23 - sep22

This month you may feel the need to reinvent yourself. The cards indicate that you may be looking at moving forwards in a new direction. Be careful with tax and money matters too. Make sure you have enough time to spend with your family and loved ones, as you tend to get carried away with yourself and work, and there is no stopping you when this happens. There is also a new health regime on the cards for you.

predictions for APRIL 2012

By NANcY JADE ALTHEA www.nancysood.com

LIBRA sep 23 - oct 22

The cards indicate a time for bringing peace into your life. In this month the way you communicate with those around you will be very important, as you seem to have upset a few members of the family with your direct speech. There will be some news regarding a property or business, and you are advised to seek assistance and information before going into any new deals. There is a strong indication of a health check up that is needed.

scORPIO oct 23 - nov 21

This month you will be looking at a new love in your life, and the need to seal up your relationship. You may have some personal or family issues to deal with, and you must not avoid anything that needs your attention at this time. There is a good chance of making more money at work or indeed, even a promotion. Take time out to relax and unwind, as lately you have been working long hours.

sAGITTARIUs nov 22 - dec 21

This month you need to really watch what you say as you can be a little harsh and outspoken at times. You also need to be careful that you do not rub people up the wrong way at work, as there have been some unfortunate clashes. There will be news of a change of residence or office. Love is under pressure, as you are not happy, but you are keeping things within control, which is not a good sign.

cAPRIcORN dec 22 - Jan 19

This month you could be concerned about your parents. The cards indicate that you may spend time communicating with them. There seems to be some concern around their health. This is a great year for marriage, love and commitment. Responsibility is not something you are good at, but you will learn to find a happy balance. Your work is not giving you the rewards you desire, and you are being urged to find another career.

AqUARIUs Jan 20 - feb 18

This month the cards indicate that you are entering a time of love, peace and harmony. This is what you have been striving for since some time now. Your work is causing pressure around you, and your partner is not happy that you seem to be putting all your time only into work. News of a new baby is around you. Take time out to pamper your partner and show them how much you love them.

PIscEs feb 19 - March 20

This month you will be looking closely at your financial situation and making changes around your life. Work is going well and you will feel stable in what you are doing, although the cards indicate that it is best to keep an eye open for other opportunities that may come your way. Love is going well with the possibility of deeper commitment in your relationship. Watching closely your stress levels this month will be beneficial.

SEEKInG GROOMS

suitable well settled professional match for Punjabi S/Brahmin girls age 23 and 25 years.  Serious enquiries only.  Email with photos and full bio data to way2divine@gmail.com

seeking well qualified match for very fair, young looking hindu lady, 54, veg, divorced, daughter living with her.  he must be aged 49-55, non smoker with strong moral values. Contact lifepartner@hotmail.com.au or

0404 043 904.

Well-settled Hindu family in Sydney seeks a mature, well settled, good natured, professional boy from a cultured family for our charming daughter, ‘79 born, 5’2”, IT professional (Masters IT). Caste no bar. Please respond with photo and particulars to sssvjp@hotmail.com

suitable well-settled, professional match for Punjabi Arora girl, beautiful, never married, 38/165, qualified IT professional. GSOh with good family values. Brought up in India.

Working in MNC Sydney. Australian citizen. Early marriage. Serious enquiries only. Email details with photo to ausgirl101@gmail.com

seeking suitable match (from Australia, never married) for hindu girl 35 years, Chartered Accountant (non-veg), living in Australia over 25 years, with eastern & western family values. Please email with all details on ganesh2011v@gmail.com

SEEKInG BRIDES

seeking Hindu girl, preferably Gujarati, good family values, for my son, dob 7/8/75, divorced, no children, fair, 5’8”, vegetarian, down to earth, genuine, well-built, nonsmoker, light drinker, Australian citizen, tax consultant, lives with parents. Contact 0423 328 800 or sydau714@hotmail.com

Compatible match for 1975 born, clean shaven Sikh Khatri boy, 5’ 9”, two postgraduate degrees from India and recently finished Masters in I.T from Australia. Currently on temporary resident visa (with full work rights) and doing 3 months Internship at Optus Sydney. Living with elder brother (Australian citizen), and parents who are on 1 year Visitor visa. Girl should be tall, well educated, with pleasing personality and must be from Sikh background. Early marriage and serious proposals please. Contact Ph. 02 9476 4570 or Email: jas_ghai01@hotmail.com

seeking a suitable match, with Indian values, for 27-year-old, 5’6”, Punjabi Khatri boy, Permanent Resident, permanent job, parents in Australia for visit. Please email sunaina_aqua1@yahoo.com or call 0421 959 861.

seeking Hindu girl, preferably Gujarati, good family values, for my son, dob: 7/8/75, divorced, no children, fair, 5’8”, vegetarian, down to earth, genuine, well-built, nonsmoker, light drinker, Australian citizen, tax consultant, lives with parents. Contact 0423 328 800 or sydau714@hotmail.com

Jo darr gaya, samjho mar gaya!

Some bandits portrayed in Hindi cinema have left their indelible mark, while others have been eminently forgettable

BY sHRAdHdA ARJUn

Recently one evening, when I had decided to unwind to watch a film, I looked forward to some lighthearted Bollywood flick. My better half though, was in the mood to watch Paan Singh Tomar – a biopic of a most wanted dacoit instead! I was in no mood to spend an evening watching violence, listening to obscene language and vulgarity.

I was drawing a reference from Shekar Kapoor’s intense and brutally honest film, The Bandit Queen. It was a film that was banned initially and after several ruthless cuts by the censor board, it still managed to stir up quite a lot of controversy post-release. People were shocked and shaken by what they saw in the film.

Phoolan Devi attained celebrity status almost overnight! People took notice of a brilliant actress who had literally given the role all she had, and Seema Biswas stood tall and carried the film on her shoulders with her stellar performance.

Just as I was lost in thought, I suddenly remembered the very famous one-liner from Sholay: Kitne aadmi thae? Who could possibly play the role of a filmy dacoit better than Gabbar? Sholay’s Gabbar was to be originally played by the Big B – the “angry young man” then; however Amjad Khan was chosen to play the role. He essayed the role with such panache that Gabbar’s lines, his gait, laughter and mannerisms were etched into the minds of the audience forever. A performance so effective that Amjad Khan himself couldn’t pull off a Gabbar ever again! When Amitabh Bachchan years later played the role of Gabbar in RGV’s Aag it was a damp squib. Ramesh Sippy’s Sholay was perhaps the first original “western” that achieved blockbuster status that was unbeaten for over a decade.

Vinod Khanna better known for his cop roles, also tried his hand at playing a baddie, in fact he was very convincing as a dacoit, in not one but three films! Mera Gaon Mera Desh, Pathar Aur Payal and Kacche Dhaage. Mera Gaon Mera Desh was a multi-starrer which had Dharmendra pitted against him. However Vinod’s performance stole the show. He did make quite

an impression as a menacing dacoit and these films reiterated his reputation as perhaps the bestlooking bandit in Bollywood. However he’s not the first “hero” in Bollywood who dared to play the baddie, Dilip Kumar did in the film Gunga Jumna, in the role of the brother on the wrong side of the law. He wowed the critics and masses alike with his impeccable portrayal of a Bhojpuri bandit. Until then everyone had seen him play several roles mostly as the protagonist of the film, who would sing songs, recite couplets, fight for good and even give up his life for love. This film changed the way people perceived the star; he essayed a myriad of complex emotions playing this role in

Gunga Jumna

Actors in Bollywood often get stereotyped into playing the same kind of roles one film after another, and in that league there has been one actor who has played the bad guy in many films. Pran with his stern face and ruthlessness on screen made him one of the most celebrated film stars in Bollywood. He gave a very memorable performance as a selfseeking dacoit in the Raj Kapoorstarrer Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai. Raka (Pran) emerged as one heck of an unsettling dacoit with a fierce get-up. This malicious character went on to become one of the best roles of his career.

While I believe that Ajay Devgan’s role as Omkara in the film Omkara was probably quite close to playing the role of a bandit, he did play one in Lajja. It was a brief role but he did garner a lot of wolf whistles when he appeared on screen. His loquacious delivery of dialogues and flounce as the bandit Bulwa who saves the damsel in distress made him a tad unconventional as a dacoit.

“Sunny Deol ka gussa!” we all know what that means. But

his on-screen fury hit another level altogether playing a dacoit in Rahul Rawaii’s film Dacait. Not that anyone remembers the film, let alone the fact that he ever played this role. It’s probably one of the biggest flops of his career. Despite his histrionics and gripping temperament as a dacoit, the film did nothing for his career. It was a predictable plot wherein an innocent man turns into an outlaw to avenge the death of is family by an evil “Thakur” with a corrupt village police connection. However he went on to play a dacoit yet again in J.P Dutta’s Yateem, which fared probably slightly better than the former. Yateem was not a commercial success either.

Talking about forgettable on-screen dacoits, Sanjay Dutt starrers Jeeva (1986) and Jai Vikranta (1995) were huge disappointments. Jeeva’s only strong point was its music, which was composed by the legendary RD Burman and its lyrics penned by the living legend Gulzaar. These films were nothing in comparison to what Dutt Senior had played in his prime. Sunil Dutt who was seen as a mild mannered protagonist in most films turned into a powerhouse of intensity as an avenging brigand in Mother India. He then outdid himself playing the role of Jarnail Singh in Mujhe Jeene Do. These two films were huge hits. Mother India received a lot of appreciation from the west and was selected as one of the final five nominees for the best foreign language film at the Oscars. As Jarnail Singh in the film Mujhe Jeene Do Dutt provided an insight into his human side. However his third attempt at playing a ‘daaku’ in the film Pran Jaye Par Vachan Na Jaye was nowhere close to the charisma of his previous performances in dacoit dramas.

So, did I watch Paan Singh

Tomar and more importantly, did I enjoy the film? I watched it with a million preconceived notions and expectations, only to be pleasantly surprised by Irrfan Khan’s understated and engaging performance as the protagonist. It was raw, authentic, uncomplicated, poignant and free from a lot of prejudice. Most past films about dacoits have either been too violent and insensitive, or they have been way too ‘filmy’, much like caricatures of a dacoit. This film is refreshingly different to others in this particular genre. You empathize with the protagonist, and even cheer for him at times. This bandit seems to have a sense of humour about himself and his life in general. Having said that, the film also People took notice of a brilliant actress who had literally given the role (Phoolan Devi) all she had, and Seema Biswas stood tall and carried the film on her shoulders with her stellar performance.

very large extent it even justifies, and nearly advocates this outlaw’s actions. The film has layers and the character of Paan Singh Tomar is complex and undergoes several transformations. I was stunned by the simplicity of the film; I’d like to think that it was perhaps the best way to tell a tale effectively. It seems to have achieved moderate success at the box-office as well. Which just goes to prove that an honest film made with sensitivity and empathy, not just towards the protagonist but also towards the audience, ends up being a successful one. So with great satisfaction that night my partner and I managed to watch a film that thankfully did not upset our systems, and yet gave us some food for thought! Now I’m looking forward to a film to beat that!

Vinod Khanna in mera Gaon mera Desh

Right: Ajay Devgn in Omkara

Below right: Amjad Khan in sholay

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

the Buzz

Production pressure for John he’s proved to be more than just a hunk, winning accolades for a range of roles in different avatars, and John Abraham’s making sure he maintains the reputation of being a dedicated and professional actor. John will soon be seen in director Aditya Bhattacharya’s new film Kala Ghoda, also featuring Kunaal Roy Kapoor of Delhi Belly fame.

Kala Ghoda, set in Mumbai’s underbelly, will be shot in real time on actual locations and promises some real action. A story of two cops, one hardnosed no-nonsense and volatile played by John and the other a goofy ineffectual bumbling cop, played by Kunaal Roy Kapoor, the duo come together under trying circumstances for a night of relentless action in Mumbai. Director Aditya, who is Bimal Roy’s grandson and director Basu Bhattacharya’s son, admits that he was reluctant to get into the project which involves situations that come straight out of the record books of real-life police stations. however, it was John’s exuberance and energy level that convinced him to go ahead, and Aditya was impressed at the level of homework and dedication the hot actor put into his role. John will also produce the film, which he sees as a low-budget, gritty, independent film, meant for a specific target audience. It’s a far call from his promotional video titled Rum Whisky for his first production venture Vicky Donor Tongue-in-cheek, John describes himself as an “item producer”.

“I did the song for fun. In this song I am not only the item boy, but I am the producer also. I am the item producer,” said the 39-year-old.

Vicky Donor stars veejay-turned-actor Ayushman Khuran and TV actress Yami Gautam in the lead roles. John says he chose to stay out of the cast of the film

GUESS WHO

Katrina is now collectable!

There’s good news for fans of the delectable Katrina Kaif. Beverage brand Slice is bringing out a limited range of collectable bottles inspired by the actress who also endorses the brand. Fans can get a chance to win the bottles which are available in four designs. Interestingly,

the TVC actually shows Kat inside a bottle, but fans entering the competition mustn’t expect to find her inside one. Reassuringly, she’ll be depicted on the label instead.

So gear up, copy- Kats, for your chance to win a special Kat!

he’s working hard at his career, but this actor seems to be better known for his connections with Soha Ali Khan

about sperm donors because he wanted to test himself as a producer.

“I am taking this role very seriously because actors usually star in their own films and then they produce it. It is my first film and I am not starring in it. I have cast newcomers because I wanted to see how effective I am as a producer,” said John. Well, good luck John, I’m sure you’ll be as dedicated in your ‘producer’ role!

Pregnant Shilpa’s preparations

Lamaze classes are soon going to be the hottest thing in pregnancy circles as actress Shilpa Shetty tries this technique to help her have an easy birth. The actress seems to be thoroughly enjoying every phase of being pregnant and loves being pampered by all, including superrich hubby Raj Kundra. Calling this the “most beautiful phase” of her life, Shilpa is enjoying being spoiled.

“The best part of pregnancy is that everyone is so nice to you. So much love and pampering all around. Bad part, everyone feeds you so much, phew,” she tweeted.

The worst part will be getting rid of all those surplus kilos once the baby’s born, Shilpa. Take it from one who knows….

Insights into Satyajit Ray, via son Sandip

Two decades after the legendary Satyajit Ray’s death, his son says the skill of being a “ruthless director” that he has inherited from his father is a prime reason for his success as a filmmaker.

“I have learnt several things from my father and the crew members of his team, which have helped me. But one thing which has helped me is that he used to say that a director has to be ruthless and he should never have any fancy for any scene or shot which was done meticulously,” said Sandip Ray in an interview.

“he used to say that a director has to be flexible and should make fatless movies. I still remember his words that a director cannot bore the audience,” he added.

According to Sandip, Satyajit Ray’s ability to buck the trend, coupled with a strong subject matter and simple storytelling helped him to churn out classics which are considered benchmarks for world class movies.

Satyajit Ray, India’s first and only Oscarwinning director, with his timeless classic like the Apu Triology, Jalsaghar, Sonar Kella, Charulata, and Shatranj Ke Khiladi captured the attention of movie buffs both nationally and internationally. Born in May 1921, he passed away in April 1992.

Baptised in the art of film making as assistant director to his father, Sandip

(Find the answer under Caption Contest)

made his debut film Fatikchand in 1983. As Ray became ill after a heart attack, Sandip became the director of photography in the master’s last three films - Ganashatru, Shakha Proshakha and Agantuk

Sandip agrees that his father’s status of a legendary director made things difficult for him initially. “Yes, it is true that initially it used to disturb me a bit, I used to be extra cautious. There is an extra pressure when you are son of such a great filmmaker. But later on I stopped thinking about it and, yes, I do feel happy that I have been able to create a place for myself”.

With movies like Nishijapon and Uttoran, Sandip has been able to create a genre of his own. he cemented his presence in the industry with blockbuster hits like Bombaiyer Bombete and Baksho Rahashya based on Ray’s immortal detective series Feluda

Armed with his father’s teachings and having made movies like Royal Bengal Rohosso, Gorosthaney Sabdhan, Tintorettor Jishu and Hitlist, Sandip has evolved as a leading filmmaker of India. he is now planning a movie on scientist professor Shanku, another immortal literary character of Ray, and a film by compiling horror stories.

Sandip, however, still bears the pain of his father receiving the prestigious Oscar award for lifetime achievement at a very late stage of his life.

“I personally feel that he received the Oscar at a very late age. he could have got an Oscar much earlier. very badly to collect the Oscar himself, but he couldn’t due to his illness,” he said. Ray received Oscar for his lifetime achievement just days before his death.

Kudos to Sandip for keeping alive and carrying on his father’s immortal legacy in cinema.

Parineeti’s on a roll!

She may be the younger sister, but Parineeti Chopra’s unlikely to bask in the shade of big sis Priyanka’s shadow. The young actress recently bagged 10 best debutante actress awards for her role in Ladies vs Ricky Bahl, and she’s now aiming at winning an IIFA award too.

The 13th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards celebration has started with the film fraternity voting for the winners, and naturally, the 23-year-old is very excited, promising to throw a huge party to celebrate if she wins. Parineeti is also pleased when people identify her by her character’s name, Dimple, a Delhi girl in

“Today less people know me as Parineeti and more call me Dimple, which I think is a good thing. When you remember the name of the character and don’t remember the real name of the actor, it is a good thing. You don’t say Shah Rukh - Kajol, you say Raj-Simran. So I am very happy,” said the enthusiastic actress.

Parineeti’s next film is Yash Raj’s Ishaqzaade with Boney Kapoor’s son Arjun. Looks like another sister duo is ready to rock Bollywood!

Golden Kela announces awardees

In no surprise, Imran Khan was named the worst actor and Deepika Padukone the worst actress at the fourth annual Golden Kela Awards, a spin-off of hollywood’s Razzie awards, which recognises the worst in cinema. While Imran won the award for Mere Brother Ki Dulhan, Deepika was given the award for her performance in Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan

Shah Rukh Khan’s sci-fi film RA.One did well, carrying away with two trophies for worst film and worst director for Anubhav Sinha.

The award for the most atrocious lyrics went to Amitabh Bhattacharyya for Pyar do pyar lo (Thank You), Jigar ka tukda (Ladies vs Ricky Bahl), and Mutton (Luv Ka The End).

Bodyguard was named most

Prateik was given the Kela for worst supporting actor award for Dum Maaro Aarakshan

Filmmaker Kanti Shah received a special Platinum Kela award for excellence in cinema, which quite delighted her. “I’m feeling good at being invited at the event. It’s special because it’s been organised by true fans of my style of movie-making. This definitely is special because it’s solely driven by fans of my movies,” said Shah, on receiving the award.

Actor Pankaj Kapoor’s maiden directorial venture Mausam got the Bawra Ho Gaya Ke award, while Chirag Paswan won the worst debutante for , and Esha Deol won the award for the worst attempt at a comeback for Tell Me O

The Lajja award for worst treatment of a serious issue

Aarakshan, and Pritam was awarded the Bas Kijiye award. owever, there was a special ‘Anti-Kela’ awards for the films that were the saving

The recipients were Yeh Saali Zindagi, Saheb, Biwi Aur Gangster, Shor in the City.

“I think Sudhir should be the one accepting this. I’m quite honoured and amused to accept this award. It is good to see this movie getting some recognition. And you guys obviously have a great choice,” said an ecstatic Arunoday Singh, on receiving Yeh Saali Zindagi. Imran and Deepika were not available for

will be

Director Sajid Khan is brimming with confidence about the soon-to-beclaiming that it will be a blockbuster hit with the

“I can say it with a lot of confidence is a blockbuster. I am not saying this because this is my film, but because I have made this film according to the audience. Every film I make, I make it as an audience,” said the 40-year-old recently, adding that it’s the family audiences that make a film a hit. The cast of the film is known as ‘dirty dozen’ and

What’s the chitchat between saif and Kareena here?

Kareena: I will do the talking, jaan, cannot afford to have you behind bars.

saif: Sona, aajse sirf ‘pyar ki pungi’ bajaunga, esp around businessmen in restaurants.

Jaya Didugu

Jaya wins a Hoyts ticket to a movie of her choice

Another good one

Kareena: Buy me a gift now that you’re Nawaab of Pataudi, or I’ll buy that $2million dollar necklace.

Saif: No, not that, I’ll go bankrupt!

Shubham Bhatia

it comprises of Akshay Kumar, John Abraham, Riteish Deshmukh, Shreyas Talpade, Shazahn Padamsee, Jacqueline Fernandez, Asin Thottumkal, Zarine Khan, Boman Irani, Mithun Chakraborty, Randhir Kapoor and Rishi Kapoor. Now with a cast like that, it’s likely that Housefull 2 will run to housefulls!

SHILPA SHETTY

IMRAn KHAn

PARInEETI CHOPRA

JOHn ABRAHAM

Cine Talk of age comes

Espionage genre Espionage genre

It’s a small world indeed. Even though a film purporting to be as epic in proportion as Agent Vinod travels all across the world to capture some of the most never-seen spots in the world, the plot - an intelligent clever, urbane and wry melange of Bourne, Bond, Farz and Mission Impossible, finally finds its most assured resting-place in apana jahaan Delhi.

The last half hour where an international terrorist outfit attempts to blow up Delhi, gets the grammar of an espionage thriller so riveting and so right, you wonder what took director Sriram Raghavan so long to get there.

Agent Vinod is the kind of meticulously crafted spy drama where cerebral considerations mesh into more earthy demands of commercial hindi cinema, like item songs in smoky bars, shootouts in dust toasted-brown locations that are as treacherous as they are daunting and, wonder of wonders, a clumsilychoreographed mujra which doesn’t quite fit into the smooth storytelling.

From its opening in a Talibaninfested area, there is no dearth of intrigue in Agent Vinod Agents, counter-agents, moles and molls, open-air flea markets and shopping malls jostle for attention in a script that appears to know its John le Carrre as well as its Nick Carter.

Raghavan spins a delicious yarn of guns and growls, but blessedly no gadgets. The action is crackling. The soundtrack is a chirpy mix of cheesy retro (RD and Asha Bhosle Meri jaan tune kaha from the film The Train pops up unannounced) and contemporary techno sounds.

The plot, perched precariously on the brink of self-indulgence, never spins out of control.

Clearly Sriram and Saif adore the spy genre. We can see the fun they’ve had in doing this film.

But beneath the boys-havingfun mood is an undertone of reverence for all the espionage films from our own Agent Vinod in 1977 to hollywood’s Mission Impossible series.

holding the restless plot in place is Saif’s clenched and controlled performance. he

desists from playing the spy to the galleries. he is urbane cool, yes. But he doesn’t enjoy shooting the enemies for his country and really, patriotic jingoism is left far behind in the race to save civilisation from a nuclear catastrophe. There’s a job to be done. And no room for fornication and fun.

Agent Vinod must be the only spy film from India where the Indian flag is not saluted or even mentioned in passing in hushed or shrill tones. This guy with a funny name would rather just get going with the job.

Saif’s performance is unfussy, no-nonsense and largely humourless. The end-title when he attempts to do a funny song seem so out of character, you wonder why the spy is trying so hard to be comical when we like him martini-dry .

Ambling from one exotic location to another with the irradiant Kareena Kapoor in tow, Saif is a portrait of restrained heroism. he gets much-needed support from a cast of actors who seem to have been chosen without a second option. Every

player knows his job and does it without looking distracted or self-important.

Raghavan’s direction is deepfocussed on the inner world of people who live on the edge. There is no room for romance or emotions. In the only meaty sequence that she has, Kareena moves us to tears when she tells Saif she wants a normal girl’s life.

Significantly Saif eats as she weeps.

No, he isn’t rude. Just honest. Life doesn’t just go on. It goes on uncaring about those moments of tearful stock-taking which moviegoers would like to think of as the essence of life.

For all its sharply-defined interludes of counter-intelligence manoeuvres, Agent Vinod tends to get long-winded, though miraculously the narrative never gets out of breath. On the contrary it takes our breath away towards the end in a climactic bomb-defusion end-game that is reminiscent of Mani Shankar’s 16 December.

The globally-shot material is edited by Pooja Ladha Surti with more room for the

narrative to sprawl and recline than necessary. Really, how much of the disconnected derring-do can we take before we throw our hands up in unresisting surrender?

The action sequences by Peter heins and Parvez are sometimes heart-in-the-mouth. Other times they seem to have been put together on the editing table. Life’s like that. You are either swept away in circumstances beyond your control. Or you create situations that you choose to be swept away in.

Agent Vinod is not quite the overwhelming experience that you would want a global espionage thriller to be. More thoughtful than thundering, more la Carre and less Bond, it nonetheless take the spy genre in hindi to a new level of finesse. Finally, the cool quotient in Raghavan’s chic spin on the espionage thriller is so high that you forget Bond and all his bloody brothers.

Saif imparts a dry devilish dispassion to his spy’s part. he doesn’t get time to tell Kareena how much he loves her.

That’s for the best. We already know that.

subhash K.Jha

FILm: Agent Vinod

sTARRING: Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor DIREcTED BY: Sriram Raghavan

a masterstroke by Rajshree ojha

Four stories, originally written by Nirmal Varma, come together in a mysterious melange of pain, longing and tentative redemption in Chaurahen. In her other film Aisha, director Rajshree Ojha gave us no clue of her affinity to such an intimate contact with the deepest recesses of the human heart. Aisha ended up being as shallow as its Jane Austin-derived protagonist.

Dare we say the characters in Chaurahen are as thought-provoking as the writerdirector’s vision of a life in the metros? Under the bustling soundtrack (from Rabindra Sangeet to Carnatic sangeet), there’s an all-pervasive stillness at the core of the stories that crisscross so effortlessly in Chaurahen. The characters are all living with ghosts, reluctant and afraid to let go of their past and live in the present. Each of the four stories is steeped in nostalgia, pain and a final redemption (although the airport finale feels fake).

With amazing clarity and an arresting economy of expression, Ojha brings forward these lives scattered across three cities trying to come to terms with their past and present, making an effort to focus on that beam of light which is visible only if the pain of existence is seen to be a variable circumstance in the wider scheme of the universe.

Ojha’s film concentrates on getting the characters to bare their soul without flashy acting or flamboyant moments of self-revelation. In my favourite segment, a young gay NRI (played evocatively by Tamil actor Karthik Kumar) visits his parents (Arundhati Nag and Nedumudi Venu) in Kerala after the death of the family’s elder son. The sequence where he confesses to his sister (Suchitra Pillai) that he has “someone” in Vienna and that someone is a he, could easily have become an occasion for high-pitched drama.

Throughout, Ojha deals with the heightened emotions at the lower octave, letting the characters assimilate their emotions in the sounds, flavours and sights of the cities that they so tellingly inhabit. In the dramatic moments Ojha’s narrative is stubbornly muted, at times audaciously playful, daring her characters to take life too seriously.

A rare and charming synthesis of drama and normality is achieved. There are no awkward moments even when the characters are caught at their most awkward times of self-revelation.

When the distinguished Mr. Bose (Victor Banerjee) flaps his fading libido in the company of a fey foreigner, played by Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter Keira - a complete nonactress - the narrative opts to zoom in on the dignity and grace that Mrs Bose brings to her pain rather than on the mess that the unlikely triangle creates.

Indeed, as a woman trapped in a sterile loveless marriage Roopa Ganguly emerges with the strongest performance of the film. The neglected wife is a favourite archetype of films

FILm: Chaurahen

cAsT: Victor Banerjee, Roopa Ganguly, Ankur Khanna, Soha Ali Khan, Karthik Kumar, Shayan Munshi and Zeenat Aman DIREcTOR: Rajshree Ojha

set in Bengal. Roopa’s portrait of desolation reminds us of Madhabi Mukherjee in Satyajit Ray’s Charulata

Victor too is flawless in depicting the ratherregrettable Lolita-fixation of a bhadralok

The rest of the brilliant cast is also near-perfect in bringing their characters faceto-face with their conscience.

Soha Ali Khan and Ankur Khanna, playing a couple that must separate because he insists on living with his dead parents, Karthik Kumar as a closet gay being forced to live his parents’ dreams for his dead brother, and Zeenat Aman as a lonely single woman at a bar being courted by a soldier, seem to have been cast in roles that they were born to play.

Chaurahen is deep, layered, luminous, literary yet light-hearted. The characters are burdened with the ghosts of their past, and yet they manage to search out a sense of desirability in their present.

The film is located in three cities, but is actually shot straight in the heart. And if you are wondering how Tobias Datum’s cinematography shoots on location in the heart, then you only need to look at the characters in Chaurahen who are captured in postures that go way beyond the body language.

This is a film so rich in unstated relevances that you wonder why dialogues for cinema were ever invented. Or why cinema for that matter, was invented if not to take us into places of the heart that are barred in Bollywood.

Recycled morality tale disappoints

It would take the Bhatts, those grand-masters of morality tales, a very long time to live down this one.

Clotted with cliches and cluttured with trite situations straight out of the Bhatts’ earlier impressive oeuvre, Blood Money dives into a cesspool of predictable characters who we know are heading nowhere. And we couldn’t care less.

Debutant director Vishal Mahadkar seems to vacillate between high-anxiety and laziness. he lets the plot hang loose at the most crucial junctures prompting us to wonder if the director lost interest, just like we do after a point.

There are seeds of an engaging morality tale here. A bright-eyed eager-to-succeed MBA from India arrives in Cape Town with his equally wide-eyed wife. They take in the grand lifestyle with squeals and gasps that kindergarten children would recognise when they visit the zoo for the first time.

The scenic location is shot with a kind of inert aloofness that comes to the camera when it knows it’s shooting a no-go.

Once in Cape Town, the directors simply flops down to a kind of cinematic siesta from which the narrative seldom wakes up. Plodding through a sequence of long-winded images denoting the protagonist’s (Kunal Khemu) descent into a diamond-studded hell, we are left with a film that has too much to say, and doesn’t say it well enough to hold our interest.

At the outset, Khemu’s idealistic wife (Amrita Puri) tells us their posh mansion reminds her of the chocolate-coated home in hansel & Gretel. Before we can chew on that one, the director moves to an elaborate sequence in an Italian restaurant where, visà-vis Khemu’s growing awareness of the “money trap” laid down by his bosses, his boss snarls, “So you want to taste the dish or investigate what’s going on in the

kitchen?”

We really don’t know what’s gone into the slowcooking plot of Blood Money. The screenwriters seem to have decided on piling on the predictable with no respite in sight. The songs credited to four composers come on with a desperate intensity that fails to impress us about the film’s noble intentions.

Blood Money purports to be an eyecatching soul-piercing take on misguided ambition, degeneration and redemption. But it fails to generate any kind of original perception on the subject. Worse, there are sure signs of laziness in the storytelling where the original intention of creating a sense of foreboding and suspense in the hero’s morally challenged world, falls apart leaving gaping holes in the narration.

The film talks of maladies and aberrations in a multibillion corporate house. But on screen, all we see is one snarling tycoon and his hyper-ventilating brother whose sophisticated-goons’ acts are as intimidating as two amateur guys trying to hold up a bank with a toy gun.

Khemmu tries his utmost to inject earnestness into his bland role. he fights off the cliches to come up with some heart-melting emotional moments. But he can’t really hold up a film that sags like an over-the-hill diva’s face-lifted glamour.

Puri as Khemu’s wife succumbs to the vast legacy of dejà vu that her role carries. From Mumtaz in Vijay Anand’s Tere Mere Sapne to Sonal Chauhan in Kunal Deshmukh’s Jannat, leading ladies have forever watched their husbands lose their moral ground with no hope of redemption. Puri is way back in the queue.

Blood Money suffers from a serious deluge of

FILm: Blood Money sTARRING: Kunal Kemmu, Amrita Puri, Manish Chaoudhary, Sunil Sickand

DIREcTED BY: Vishal Mahadkar

monotonous scenes where the actors speak their line as though in a radio play. We hear them loud and clear. But we fail to empathize with the cleverness that the dialogue tries to achieve in scattered showers.

By the time Khemu’s character takes that tumble in the hay on the office desk with the office whore, we know the film and its main character are doomed. Salvation in this film is that exit door which we rush to when the end-credits roll.

Provided we last that long.

subhash K.Jha

subhash K. Jha

True love travails

Is your partner having an affair if he shows all the symptoms of a heart with a conundrum?

BY sHeRYl dIXIT

An acquaintance called me up recently. The controlled excitement in her voice made me abort my hastilyplanned excuses to cut short her call. Her breathy, barely suppressed impatience at our mandatory small talk was a clear indication that she had some red-hot gossip to impart.

After a couple of minutes of polite dithering, she got down to it.

“I think M is in for a big shock!” she said dramatically.

The M in question is a mutual friend and actually, a sweet person with a wicked sense of humour.

“Really? Why?” I couldn’t resist asking.

“Her husband’s having an affair!”

“WHAT?” My yell must have blown off a good bit of her left eardrum but she didn’t seem to mind, as my reaction amply satisfied her desire to make an effect.

Now I knew the husband in question having met him a few times, and he seemed like a good husband and dedicated father of their two energetic kids. I knew he had a good job in the IT industry (where else), travelled moderately and liked lamb kebabs with his beer.

The lady on the phone was just about getting into her stride. “M spoke to me, you know, the other day, you know. She told me that she doesn’t know what’s wrong with him, he hardly ever speaks to her these days, you know. He doesn’t even seem to know what he’s eating, and he seems to be drinking even more, specially on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sunday nights, you know! He starts from noon,” she added in hushed tones which implied that this was the greatest of all his misdemeanours.

Resisting the temptation to tell her that “I knew”, I said, “But that’s no indication that he’s having an affair, men do that all the time.”

“Not my husband, you know he is devoted to me,” she said convincingly, which left me speechless for a minute. Were we talking about the same person who had, at a large social gathering, fallen into deep slumber with gentle snores as his wife recounted the fascinating details of her latest knee operation?

“M’s husband is also on his iPhone all the time,” she said. “He never puts it down these days. If

she asks he gets irritable, he says why are you asking me so many questions? Suddenly sometimes he looks at his phone, even late in the night and either begins giggling to himself or swearing softly, you know. This is not normal, you know, not normal at all, for a man.”

“Oh!” I said somewhat lamely because I am not an expert at what’s abnormal for a man. Mostly they all seem fairly normal to me. Except the ones who fall asleep while their wives are talking….

“I told her,” she continued, progressing to the next phase, from delighted expressions of shock and disbelief to alleged good advice. “I told her to be careful. I had recently read an article in some magazine in which all these symptoms were clearly mentioned, you know. (I knew, I had read that damn article!)

First they are preoccupied, then they act mysterious, then they are always sneaking off to check their phone, they have secret messages which they share, they get moody, you know. I told her all the symptoms were that of a man having an affair!”

“Oh, so she didn’t tell you he was having an affair, this is what you

worked out,” I said, finally seeing the sun.

“Of course, you know, what else could it be?” she said indignantly. “I told her, you know, work out your future right now. Think about your children and your finances. Find a good divorce lawyer on the internet, or I could give her my brother-in-law’s cousin’s contact, he is a good divorce lawyer, you know! He will not charge much because we know him. Make your husband pay, I told her, he has no right to treat you like this.”

By now, I had surreptitiously filled a bucket full of water to dunk my head and quench the fire raging in my ears. “Oops, there’s someone at the door, it’s a French student selling paintings, so I’ll speak to you later,” I said, abruptly hanging up.

I thought for a minute and then picking up the phone, I called M.

“I need to tell you something,” I said on hearing her cheery greeting. “For over a month now my husband goes through phases of moodiness and few ones of elation. He can’t seem to put down his mobile phone, he’s constantly sending out messages on it, even late at night. He manifests these

symptoms only on particular days of the week. I don’t know what the problem may be, do you think he’s having an affair?”

“Hmm, do you really think so?” she asked.

“What do you think?”

“I wouldn’t worry,” she said calmly. “It will all be over before you know it, and things will come back to normal.”

“How can you tell?” I insisted.

“Because the cricket’s over, India’s gone home and the love affair is finished!” she said decisively.

“But the phone communication – those late night messages…”

“Just the boys getting out their angst via Twitter to anyone who’s willing to tweet,” she said.

“The drinking, the moods!”

“Who wouldn’t want to drown their sorrows at the way the Indian team’s been performing?”

“So, no hot, steamy affair that will build up into high drama in our lives, leading to divorce, destitution, despair and detestation?”

“Nope, not a hope!” she said, the grin in her voice building into a laugh. “I would know, you know, and you would know too, you know! If it wasn’t cricket, you know!”

First they are preoccupied, then they act mysterious, then they are always sneaking off to check their phone, they have secret messages which they share, they get moody, you know