The Senior scene

NRISA: On staying fit and active, and on Indo-Oz art links

ISCA: Celebrating an OBE

Sandy San, who served as secretary of the Indian Senior Citizens Association this month obtained his OBE (Over Bloody Eighty). To acknowledge his long association with ISCA members, Sandy invited many performing artists, including old ISCA members who now attend seniors’ meets in suburbs closer to their homes, and many more from his fraternity. There were around 250 in total for the ‘Sandy San Day’.

Prem also spoke with regret about a recent burglary at his home when he and his wife Usha were away. Usha lost all of her gold ornaments collected over a lifetime, and Prem, who is an authority on precious stones, lost an irreplaceable and beyondmonetary-value collection of rare and precious stones. The advice went out from police that the best place to keep one’s jewellery is either in a bank vault or on one’s person.

orthern Region

conjunction with Sharda Kala Kendra, organised an evening of celebration of Indian culture in the City Hall at Northcote. The event was supported by both the Victorian Multicultural Commission and the City of Darebin.

NRISA President Dr. Santosh Kumar welcomed guests and participating members, and aptly drew everyone’s attention to an article in The Age that read, “We should use, not loose, our seniors’ brain power”. To emphasise this, Santosh made a reference to a Zen Buddhist saying, “Before enlightenment, chop wood and carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood and carry water”.

“Today,” Santosh pointed out with pride, “we at NRISA justify this Buddhist saying by staying alert and physical, and thus keeping our minds and bodies healthy”.

Our group disproved the antiquated idea that after age 65 you are weak and frail, incapable

NRISA takes the initiative to regularly invite the young of the community to attend their program, and most, thrilled by the variety and vitality of our program, dance along and participate in other activities as well.

The audience was entertained on this occasion by Piya Modi and Shruti Raman’s performances of Bharatanatyam, and by the songs of Sunila Sharma Patel, Sushil Sharma and Sunita Sethi.

In a ‘special appearance’ however, the vivacious Pallavi Sharda stole the show. The young daughter of Professors Hema and Nalin Sharda, Pallavi is an accomplished Indian classical dancer, and now a popular Bollywood actress. Pallavi has acted in many movies, My Name Is Khan, Dus Tola, Love Breaks up Zindagi, Heroine, and an Australian movie Save your Legs, to name just a few. She is now engrossed in her work in the upcoming Besharam, co-starring as lead with the popular star Ranbir Kapoor and guest star Rishi Kapoor. Many members of NRISA have known Pallavi since her childhood days in Melbourne.

Reminiscing on her childhood, impart cultural education to the younger generations.

Pallavi spoke at length also about the Indian Australian collaboration in the cinematic arts. She introduced a new project entitled Lights Across The Sea, a musical documentary based on the fusion of traditional and contemporary arts. It revolves around William Eicholtz’s contemporary sculpture, Louise Rippert’s artworks and the traditional techniques of Bengal’s Durga deity makers. The music in the film is composed by acclaimed classical Indian singer Dr Revati Sakalkar, who also features in the documentary.

Dr. Amit Sarwal, an Alfred Research Fellow at Deakin University, also detailed the evolution of this Indian Australian art collaboration, and stated that the documentary will be screened at Federation Square, as part of the Deepawali celebrations late this year. No doubt it will enlighten young and seniors of the community alike, even those who are not Indian.

NRISA meets every third Sunday of the month, at Seniors’ Hall, 18 Bent St. Northcote. Details Dr. Santosh Kumar: 0411 136 612.

Baba, of Baba Entertainments in Little India conducted music on a rather elaborate arrangement, including shlokas in Tamil, Sandy’s native language, and instrumental Veena, which Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, is known to play, and showered praises to a print of her that was displayed.

Sandy, along with dancer Lisa, hit the large floor and sashayed to music from The Sound of Music Lisa, who has learnt ballroom dancing for five years and now runs her own school in East Doncaster, was impeccable. Eric, her partner in the many dances they performed, beautifully matched Lisa’s every move, never once stepping on her toes. Many couples joined in.

Then came the young, energetic and accomplished Luba, who danced non-stop in Spanish Salsa, Mexican Flamenco, English Ballroom, even Bollywood style, to tunes played by Baba.

At age 80, Sandy, switching from Portuguese to Mexican, to baseball to English hats, tried his best to keep up in every dance. This turned out to be an international musical affair that entertained us for two hours. Getting down to business, President Phakey thanked Sandy for shouting the vegetarian luncheon and drinks on the day.

He also announced ISCA’s intention of buying out a property where meetings could be held for free rather than in a hired hall, and requested donations.

At the end, Sandy had a special word for Parag Mody, the gentleman who, in the year 1995, aged 30, laid the foundation of ISCA, the first Senior Citizens Association in Melbourne. Thanks to this organisation, senior members of the community keep themselves physically and mentally fit, make friends in their new country of residence, and help each other in their time of need.

To close the event, came the fast Radha Tera Jhumka, and members just went berserk. Young Tripti Mithaiwala, even though she’s a new mum, was the mover of the day.

ISCA has secured the use of Ashwood Hall where every Friday, members gather to socialise, bring food to share, participate in yoga and oil painting lessons that Bhagatji offers, and also learn basic computing and use of ipods, etc., from Dinesh Sood, while many other disciplines of learning remain in the pipeline.

At another Friday event at Ashwood Hall, Marina Raghavan arranged a delightful sitar recital by the renowned Jyoti Thakar, a fifth generation musician from the Ashtewale Gharana of central India, some of whom performed at the darbar of the Maharaja of Gwalior. Arvind Shankar Paranjape accompanied her on tabla, himself an accomplished musician who spends much time and effort promoting Indian music. Their CD was on sale. A collection by participating members was presented to the duo.

ISCA meets every second Saturday of the month. Details President Phakey: 9560 9607