Masterchef to the rescue of the India-Australia relationship?

that dinner on our pages).

Contemporary Australian offerings seem to have stuck a chord in the Indian psyche. Move over, cricket – it’s cuisine!

An old friend from India visited Australia for the first time recently with his wife and two teenage kids. All four had their list of ‘things to do in Australia’. The items on the youngsters’ lists simply blew me away.

OK, so they wanted to pat a kangaroo and cuddle a koala. What else? See a show at the Sydney Opera House? No. Climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge? No. Go snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef? No! Believe it or not, they wanted to visit the Masterchef Australia kitchen at its Sydney studios, and dine at celebrity chef Kylie Kwong’s restaurant in Surry Hills, Billy Kwong.

Sadly, my young guests were disappointed as they were able to do neither: Masterchef was not filming, and Billy Kwong was booked out for a private function.

When India’s leading actress Vidya Balan visited last year, one of the things she wanted to do on her only night in Sydney, was meet her “favourite TV personality” Matt Preston. Her hosts, obviously better connected than me, pulled it off for her (although we did get the chance to splash the photos from

A recently released report by the Australia India Institute entitled Beyond the Lost Decade, attempts to analyse the fractured relationship between the two countries, and makes recommendations for closer connections. Over 30 recommendations are listed: some, if adopted can have an immediate positive effect on the relationship; others seem rather ambitious in their scope but it is good to see them on paper.

One immediate action recommended was the extension of the visas of Indian students who were in Australia on Feb 8, 2010 and were affected by changes in the immigration regulations. Adjusting these students in some other visa category, allowing them to extend their stay, will be a welcome gesture by the Australian government. While this can be a short term solution, the report does suggest that Australia must promote quality education for Indian students. However, the report falls short on recommending actions on some of the basic problems which aggravated the student crisis of 2009, those of subsidised travel options for overseas students and low cost housing. Subsidised travel concessions will give the option to overseas students to use public transport rather than cutting corners and while saving a few dollars on travel, expose themselves to unnecessary risk of walking through the streets at night. Not giving these concessions is rather petty compared to the enormous financial gain these students bring to their place of residence in Australia.

What is noted in the report is the decline in student numbers from the peak of 120,000 in 2009 to 37,500 in March 2012, a fall of 82,500. These declining numbers have cost the industry close to $3 billion. Putting this in context, in the May budget the government cut defence spending by $5.5 billion over the next four years in order to return to the surplus forecast of $1.5bn for 2012-13. Connecting the dots gives us a clear indication of the strong link between the loss in Indian student numbers and its impact on the Australian economy.

It is noteworthy that a major report such as this commissioned by the Australia India Institute had limited ground-based community consultation. If the 400,000 plus Indian-origin Australians are going to be ambassadors between the two countries, a greater involvement from them could have been expected in the preparation of the report. Perhaps supplementing this report should be a program to get George Colambaris, Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston to get on a plane and film a series of Masterchef in India. There will be a free flow of goodwill!

SPIRITUAL

Chinmaya Mission events

Starting Fri 17 Aug 9.30am to 11.00am at Chinmaya Sannidhi Ashram, 38 Carrington Road, Castle Hill.

New program at Shishu Vihar: Bonding of Parent and Child

Starting Sun 29 July 5-week program for parents and children aged 2 – 4 ½. Topic will be “Lord Krishna” and “Managing Stress/Art of Parenting”.

Sanskrit lessons

Chinmaya Mission Australia’s Beginners’ Sanskrit Course is held weekly on Thursday nights, 6.30 pm to 7.30 pm. It involves Alphabet, Vocabulary, Basic Reading, Basic Grammar, Basic Conversation lessons.

Krishna Janmashtami celebrations

Fri 10 Aug 6.00pm to midnight at Baulkham Hills Council Function Room Details Br Gopal Chaitanya 02 8850-7400 or 0416 482 149

Krishnajanmashtami at Ramakrishna Sarada

Vedanta Society

Sun 12 Aug Celebration of Sri Krishna’s Birthday: Come and learn about and be inspired by this all important figure who has influenced the history, culture and philosophy of countries from India to Indonesia.

Program: Group chanting of the Sanskrit and reading of the English translation of Chapter 9 of the Gita. Two talks including one by Pravrajika Gayatriprana. Distribution of offered sweets and savouries. 10.40am to 12 noon. Venue: Vedanta Hall, 15 Liverpool Road, Croydon. Details 02 9745 4320 or visit www. saradavedanta.org

Children’s classes at GOD

The Global Organisation for Divinity announces the start of Gopakuteeram, spiritual educational classes for children aged 4 - 12 years.4.00 pm - 5.30 pm at the Crestwood Community Centre, Cnr Crestwood Drive & Chapel Lane, Baulkham Hills. Classes are free for all participating children. Parents can join in the devotional lecture by Sri Deepak Vinodji, kirtans and prayers in another room within the centre during the Gopakuteeram classes.

Details Jayashree 02 9620 4676

MISC

Personal and Home Protection

Sun 22 July The NSW Police Force is presenting a Forum on Personal and Home Protection to be hosted by India Club, 2.00pm – 5.30pm, at the Hills Shire Council Function Room,

129 Showground Road Castle Hill, (Cnr. of Showground and Carrington Road). Details Shubha Kumar 02 9873-1207 / 0402 257 588.

Health seminar: Ready Steady Get Healthy

Sat 25 Aug SEVA’s SAHELI Project presents an evening of information and activities to increase the awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle and to promote the active participation of the Indian community in the free Get Healthy Information and Coaching Service provided by the NSW Multicultural Health Communication Service (MHCS). Cherrybrook Community Centre, 3pm - 6 pm. Details Shantha Viswanathan 0422 082 608 Gunjan Tripathi gunjan@hindi.org.au

Want to help someone with an intellectual disability?

Citizen Advocacy Western Sydney Inc is a not for profit organisation whose mission is to introduce people with intellectual disability to unpaid community members. Individuals are sought to take an on-going personal interest in a person with intellectual disability. Training and on-going support are provided by experienced professional staff. For further information contact Kaye on 02 9893

8210 or drop into the office at 46 Albion Street, Harris Park 2150.

Hindi Divas

Australian Hindi Committee (AHC), IABBV Hindi School and ILASA (Indian Literary Arts Society of Australia) jointly celebrate Hindi Mela with two events:

Sat 15 Sept Kavi Sammelan at Epping Leisure and Learning Centre, 1 Chambers Court, Epping, 4.30pm to 7.30pm

Sun 16 Sept Hindi School program at Thornleigh West PS, Giblet Avenue, Thornleigh, including display of students’ work and resources, children’s poetry recitation, light snacks, awards and skits, 10.00am to 3.00pm.

Details Mala Mehta 0412 283 677; Gunjan Tripathi 0413 886 527.

Seniors

Sri Om Foundation is planning to set up a Day Centre (from Sept/Oct 2012) at Liverpool for Seniors above the age of 65 with any disability. This Day Centre will be primarily for Liverpool LGA residents. The centre will be open once a week (Tues or Wed), from 10 AM to 2 PM. All the activities, including transport, morning tea and lunch and once a month outing will be provided FREE.

Details Jay Raman 0410 759 906 or Shweta Sharma 0405 367 238.

Fundraiser

Light for Life Trivia Night

Sat 18 Aug Come and enjoy a fun filled night of trivia, with singing and dancing too… 7:00pm for a 7:30pm start, at Don Moore Community Centre, North Rocks. Tickets: $20 each, includes dinner. The event is a fundraiser for Lifehouse at RPA, a state-of-the art cancer centre that will incorporate clinical care, research and education into a single organisation. Details Swati Jain 0412 439 596 or swati86@live.com.au

Sur Sandhya for Sunderbans

Sat 18 Aug Jadavpur University

Alumni Association NSW and the Bengali Association of NSW jointly host a musical evening Sur Sandhya at the Redgum Function Centre in Wentworthville. Funds collected will be donated to MUKTI - an NGO working in various areas of India and amongst the deprived communities and villages in the Sunderbans area of West Bengal. The concert will feature visiting sarode maestro from India Sri Anindya Bannerjee and well known Sydney based musicians Details Surja Gupta 0413 209 655.