2013-10 Sydney (2)

INDIAN LINK

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Rajni Anand Luthra

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Looking at Brand India

Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (PBD) or Overseas Indian Day programs are a wonderful opportunity for the Indian diaspora to connect with their homeland, and more particularly, to the powers-that-be of their country of origin. The regional convention of this annual event is to be hosted by Sydney this year. Much effort seems to have gone in to its organisation under the leadership of the Indian High Commissioner to Australia Biren Nanda. The expected attendance is 600-1,000, well short of the over 11,500 who made it to a recent Bollywood concert, even with average pricing for both events being similar.

PBD Sydney will hold a number of discussions on economic and business options as well as culturally and socially relevant issues. While the talkfest will allow the regurgitation of issues which have always dominated the landscape, what is sorely lacking is an opportunity to put on the table the somewhat tarnished image of Brand India in recent times. For overseas Indians, the water cooler discussions at work continue to be focussed on cricket and Tendulkar, but have now begun to

include news such as the treatment of women as highlighted by the horrific Delhi rape case less than twelve months ago. At the business levels, India’s slow pace in rising up to expected economic standards, as well as issues of bureaucracy and corruption, have begun to crop up too. Representatives of the Indian government here, as much as Indian-origin settlers themselves, perhaps need to spend a bit of time specifically talking about this, and the PBD would have been the perfect platform to do so.

Pravasis in Australia held candle-light vigils and marches in December 2012 in solidarity with the Indian masses that were shocked by the Delhi rape case. Our ears burned as news came in day after day about Delhi’s poor preparation for the Commonwealth Games and even more so about its corruption scandals. Anecdotal evidence of the deeply entrenched corruption and its gaining momentum at various bureaucratic and government levels are a regular lament at every social gathering.

This is the time to bring these issues, as elephants in the room, to the fore. Perhaps the High Commissioner and his team of organisers will facilitate much-needed dialogue on this matter as well.

Meanwhile, Diwali, the Festival of Lights is just around the corner. The

community is already coming alive with the spirit of the festival, with an unprecedented number of celebrations planned this year. In a happy occurrence, a number of mainstream platforms are also organising their own celebrations, and inviting the Indian community to join them. Telstra, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are all reaching out to the community at large. The Hindu Council’s increased footprint in Martin Place is indeed a praiseworthy endeavour. Even as community members are beginning to spruce up the home for the advent of Goddess Lakshmi and the entertaining of friends and family, our message goes out to all to enjoy the festivities (perhaps invite a non-Indian neighbour over), and look forward to a new postDiwali year with optimism and hope. And finally, a huge thank you to the dozens of readers and supporters who sent in congratulatory messages as we began our 20th year in publication this month. We are buoyed by your encouragement; it further reinforces our commitment to continue to bring you quality reporting on issues that affect us as Indians, as Australians and as Indian-Australians.

A happy, healthy and prosperous Diwali to you all.

Pawan Luthra is the 2012 Parliament of NSW Multicultural Journalist of the Year.

PAWAN LUTHRA

dIWALI

Hindu Council of Australia’s deepavali at Martin Place

Thu 17 Oct 11am onwards

Henna, pics in Indian costumes, Bollywood dance and music with workshops, giveaways.

Details: Nihal Agar 0412 618 893, www.hinducouncil.com.au

strathfield diwali

sun 20 Oct

Strathfield Australians of Indian Sub Continental Heritage Inc present the Festival of Lights at Strathfield Town Square from 12noon to 3pm and at Strathfield Town Hall from 7pm to 10pm. Highlights include cultural performances and food stalls at both events. Details:

Prabhat Sinha 0410 546 684.

Hindu Council of Australia’s deepavali Fair

sat 26 Oct

Sydney Olympic Park, Athletic Centre, 12noon onwards. Special delights include food, rangoli competition,

What’s oN

cultural show, Western Union Dance Contest, kids and youth activities, raavan effigy burning and fireworks.

Details: Nihal Agar 0412 618 893, www.hinducouncil.com.au

NsW Indian Welfare Association

sun 27 Oct 5.30pm to 8.30pm

Dance drama by Thrayee Dance School and a Tamil drama by Holsworthy Balar Malar. Ermington Community Centre, 10 River Road, Ermington.

Details: Sujatha Jaishankar 0404 880 693, www.nswiwa.org.au

FAIA diwali

sun 27 Oct 4pm-8pm

Federation of Australian Indian Associations (FAIA) presents “Shaam-e-Diwali” at Dundas Community Centre, 27 Sturt Street, Telopea.

Details: Neera Srivastava 0415 807 520, www.faia.org.au

VIsION 2020 diwali dinner sat 2 Nov 6.45pm

Annual Diwali dinner, at The Don Moore Community Centre, Carlingford. Funds collected will be used to support a worthy project in Bangalore, India called MITU (Multiple Initiatives Towards Upliftment) to help provide an affordable and eco-friendly aid for personal hygiene to school girls in rural areas of India. ‘Special Diwali Sweets’ offer is on again. Don’t forget to place your order for Diwali sweets and savouries sourced from Grand Sweets and Adayar Ananda Bhavan, Chennai, India. (Tirunelveli Halwa sourced from Archana Sweets). Please email your orders as soon as possible to vision2020au@gmail.com. Deadline with the vendor is 15 October 2013. Orders can be collected before the Diwali dinner event.

Details: Beema 0424 943 590, www.vision2020australia.org.au

Hornsby sat 2 Nov 5.30pm

Laxmi poojan, bop till you drop, fashion show, pyrotechnics, Bollywood dances, lucky draws and much more at Hornsby RSL War Memorial Club.

Details: Kamini Sahni 0401 059 923.

Chinmaya Mission

sun 10 Nov 9.30am-11.30am

Diwali Trivia for the family at Crestwood Community Centre, Baulkham Hills. Free program, including pooja and trivia, lots of prizes to be won and silent auction. Details Chinmaya Sannidhi 02 8850 7400, www.chinmaya.com.au

A spiritual odyssey

Participants in the paadayatra embark on a successful journey of personal and spiritual achievement

BY UsHA RAMANUJAM ARVINd

At the crack of dawn when most Sydneysiders were probably snuggled under their cosy doonas or recovering from a Friday night hangover, a young lad stood patiently on the footsteps of Murugan Temple at Westmead. The only other soul in sight was the temple priest, getting ready for the morning abhishekam

Twenty minutes later, organisers appeared on the scene, bustling about in preparation for a big day ahead. Participants slowly started trickling in and by 6am, a sizeable crowd had gathered, a motley bunch of young and old, all sporting fluorescent vests, with anticipation in their eyes.

If there was any trepidation, they certainly didn’t show it. But then, they were in good hands and they knew it. Invoking Ganesha, the God of good beginnings and Tirupati Balaji, the group started out on the paadayatra

The Westmead to Helensburgh paadayatra has now officially

become part of Sydney Hindu calendar and an integral feature of the October long weekend. Personally rewarding, paadayaatra is a spiritual journey on foot undertaken by the devout, as they seek to understand the special bond between man and his maker.

Commissioned in 2012 by the Hindu Council of Australia and organised by Let’s Give Hope, a Sydney based youth group, this unique event follows in the tradition of our ancient seers, who travelled from Kashi to Kanyakumari on foot, long before motorised transport and roadside motels were taken for granted. Centuries later, it was revitalised by the peace-loving Mahatma Gandhi as he single-handedly took on the British Raj.

Carefully planned and organised by Sai Paravasthu of Let’s Give Hope, the SVT paadayatra has the official support of several leading organisations including the Premier’s Office, Events NSW, RTA, police and ambulance services, as well as all the local councils along the walking trail.

Yet again, a determined group of Sydney Hindus took part in and successfully completed the gruelling journey of over 75kms from the Murugan Temple at Westmead to Sri Venkateshwara

Temple at Helensburgh, visiting Shirdi Sai Mandir along the way. A number of eager devotees undertook the shorter stretch between Westmead and Sai Mandir. Building on the experiences of 2012, the team was even better prepared for eventualities. A core group of volunteers escorted the walkers, offering revival strategies. Prior to the walk, an induction night was held for participants at Murugan Temple, briefing them extensively on the procedures. Arrangements were also in place regarding health and safety issues. All participants were previously screened and registered, with an insurance cover being provided by the Hindu Council of Australia.

While the paadayatra may seem like something of a novelty to many Indian Australians, interestingly, a close-knit group led by Wentworthville veteran Murali has been walking the same stretch for several years now. In fact, it was Murali’s 25th paadayatra last year. Sporting his trademark thongs and infectious enthusiasm, he was yet again motivating newcomers as always, giving them tips on how to cope.

Embracing sustainable values for the individual, the paadayatra is a not just a test of stamina and

endurance, but also of faith. While it may be a personal milestone, it is no less a great team-building opportunity. It was therefore heartening to see a number of teens and young adults in the group, willing to give up their weekend for a wonderful cause. After all, not every lesson is learnt in the classroom.

On a larger scale, this novel initiative also sought to bring Hindu temples, missions and organisations in Sydney together as one happy family.

Singing and chanting along the way, the group walked down Parramatta Road, reaching Sai Mandir in time for aarthi Volunteers had prepared a nourishing breakfast at the temple. Rehydrated, the yaatris now embarked on the most strenuous stretch, Strathfield to Sutherland, reaching the venue by 5pm. Overnight accommodation had been arranged for all of the walkers.

Well rested, the participants were all ready for the homestretch, departing at the crack of dawn. Enthusiastic walkers showed no tiredness from the day before, and outdid expectations by walking briskly to the temple, reaching Lawrence Hargrave Drive before 10am.

Personally rewarding, paadayatra is a spiritual journey on foot undertaken by the devout, as they seek to understand the special bond between man and his maker

Once the entire group had slowly gathered, the devotees walked en masse to the temple. A large welcome party awaited them, and aarti and annadhaanam followed.

Talking to Indian Link after the event, Sai Paravasthu, the event leader stated that he was very happy with the successful outcome of the 2013 paadayatra

“I would like to congratulate all the walkers for their dedication, perseverance and patience in participating and completing the paadayatra this year,” Paravasthu stated. “We had no issues, casualties or problems (by God’s grace) and everyone enjoyed the event and hopefully rested well”.

He is particularly grateful to the volunteer teams who were at the service of walkers at all times, preparing delicious food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “A lot of volunteer hours and effort has gone in making this event seamless and successful, and we hope to build on this for next year,” he added.

Having successfully managed two paadayatras, Paravasthu and his dedicated team would like to invite more members of the community to join this event, reinforcing age-old customs and values and making it a bigger success.

Walking from Westmead’s Murugan Temple (above) to Helensburgh’s SVT (inset)

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A date with

SRK!

Der aaye durust aaye! Despite a near two-hour delay, King Khan rules like only he can

BY RAJNI ANANd LUTHRA

It was a late start. Very late. So incredibly late that this article was very nearly called The (late) Shahrukh Khan

But just as you expect the most beautiful brides to be late to the altar, so too do you expect the biggest and brightest of Bollywood stars to be late for their performances. Heck, you’d be surprised if they were on time!

And yet this time round, the Sydney audience could not contain themselves as the hugely publicised Temptation Reloaded show opened after a delay of an hour and forty-five minutes. They broke out in ‘boos’ as the lights finally dimmed, and as the introduction came on, the usually suave Harry Harinath, Parramasala director, fumbled as the waiting gallery showed their displeasure.

But such is the power of Bollywood that ultimately, the masses forgive its stars their every folly. This time round, the star was the indomitable Shahrukh Khan, and no one can be mad at him for too long.

It was him they had come to see.

There was much build up on the screen as the audience sat on

the edge of their seats in those final moments, waiting for their favourite star. The music was deafening and climactic as SRK clips flashed by with dramatic speed, hypnotising the audience into hysteria. It was almost as if what you were going to see would be the best thing you would see for a long, long time, or that you were going to lay eyes on some kind of messiah…

And when the messiah set foot on stage, escorted behind open umbrellas before a dramatic ‘unveiling,’ he looked, er, kind of puny. No, I am not going to hit ‘backspace’ and erase that last bit. And if you’re a diehard SRK fan, you can start writing out your letter of protest; but please be aware that I have myself been an admirer ever since I first saw SRK on the TV series Fauji and more so since he gave the most amazing interview to this newspaper when he was in Sydney last during the making of Chak de India. But, he did look rather scrawny, and was a bit of an anti-climax after that massive build-up. And dressed all in black, with the blackest of black hair even at age 48, and in what looked like a black raincoat, the messiah looked less like a messiah and more like a baddie from Lord of the Rings. Yet oh, how the audience loved him; they roared as he greeted them in different tongues, and in one very bad Aussie accent.

SRK’s first act, 45 minutes

into the show, lasted just over ten minutes, but included the best and most expected of SRK, in a medley of Chaiya Chaiya, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kali Kali Aankhen, Chammak Chhalo, and that trademark line Picture abhi baaki hai. The Badshah of Bollywood also felt hot and cold alternatively, because he changed jackets four times in those ten minutes, each change respectfully carried onto stage by one of his minions.

At least some of his fans in the audience had by now forgiven him his late start, especially as he related how much he loved Sydney and would like to settle down here, probably in ‘Harish’ Park. He also thanked the acts that came before him, some of Bollywood’s leading women, who were huge drawcards to his show. Perhaps no one has the guts to tell the King that you can’t refer to each woman as ‘the one and only’; he might ask for their head on a platter. Or then again, ask the women: he probably makes them feel they are his ‘one and only’ as he romances them in his oh-so-special way…

Sydney’s very own Poonam Chandiramani definitely felt she was his ‘one-and-only,’ as he singled her out from the audience for some special King Khan attention. One-time Miss India and the country’s leading model in the mid to late ‘80s, Poonam (nee Gidwani) must have stood out like a flash in the pan from where SRK stood. She came across with dignity in the face

of the star’s gentle needling, and looked stunning on screen as he wooed her with his love songs. (In a parallel world somewhere, Shahrukh probably would have wooed her on screen: few people know that in her heyday, Bollywood came knocking at Poonam’s door, and while she declined the offers, her bestie from the industry, another Miss India called Juhi Chawla, chose to take them on).

“I felt like I had known him for years as I stood beside him on stage chatting,” Poonam told Indian Link later.

Three other members of the audience, the irrepressible Lucky Singh, her hubby Balbir, and Abhishek Chopra will probably tell stories of their time up close and personal with Shahrukh, for as long as they live. Jab tak hai jaan? Meanwhile, there must be a YouTube clip somewhere of Lucky’s relentless refusal to give up the mic, of Balbir rolling on the floor, or of Abhishek’s unfortunate lungi wardrobe malfunction. Now that would be priceless!

For many, SRK’s hobnobbing with randomly picked members of the audience will remain the standout memory from the event. King Khan was in his element as he did what he does best in his stage shows, taking the mickey out of his beloved fans.

The dancing divas Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukherjee and Jacqueline Fernandez were

reduced sadly to ‘side-acts’. Many wanted to see them and hear from them, especially the divine Madhuri, as much as they wanted to see Shahrukh, and they were left disappointed. Madhuri Dixit’s advent on stage particularly saw the entire auditorium light up like a night sky as phone cameras went off. The hit O Re Piya was performed to non-stop screaming, even as the iconic star was slowly raised on a white cloud in near darkness. As the stage lit up to Devdas-style decorations, it was the foot-stomping Ek Do Teen and Aaja Nachle, so enticingly performed that one felt like telling the chorus to step aside and let the lady speak on her own!

With Rani as well the crowd roared to see the lovable star say Shava Shava. The chorus line in red allowed her to stand out in shimmering white, a strategically placed head-piece giving her added height. She may not be our best dancing star, better known as she is for her histrionics, but she put enough vigour and gamine energy into her performance to make it pure entertainment, and brought her best-known numbers to life admirably. And the best part of it was, she looked like she enjoyed every minute of it!

The leggy Jacqueline Fernandez, completely overshadowed, was reduced to being but a filler act.

Cleverly picked clips from their films (and dialogues in Rani’s case like “Ab kuch dramatics ki zaroorat hai”) whet the appetite

just before the stars came on. In hindsight, they probably showed the gloriously transforming power of the silver screen that converts regular people into the enigma that they are.

In contrast, self-proclaimed rapper Honey Singh Yo Yo (or is it the other way round?) got way more exposure. Some of his songs such as Lungi Dance down well, but hey, did we have to sit through two renditions? And did we really have to listen to him blast on about himself: he had successfully wrapped up the controversial court case against him; the newspapers write good stories about him now; he would bring home a Grammy one day; he is going to record in every Indian language; his next song is so good he deserves an award for it… And it was Shahrukh who referred to himself as a “self-obsessed superstar” only a few minutes ago.

MC Meiyang Chang on the other hand, managed to reach out more successfully. His clean image, his sheer love for what he does, and his unmistakable talents as a singer and entertainer came across commendably. For someone of non-Indian heritage to mouth words like Saadi to aisi hai ada sing older classics as well as new hits and to do a parody of maestro Jagjit Singh… what can we say but Bravo!

There is no doubt that the show will go down as one of the highlights of the year. But there was much discussion in the

of a full house. One remembers the AR Rahman concert at the same venue a few years ago which pulled in well over 15,000 people.

For many, SRK’s hobnobbing with randomly picked members of the audience will remain the stand-out memory from the event. King Khan was in his element as he did what he does best in his stage shows, taking the mickey out of his beloved fans

is serenaded on stage by the ‘King of Romance’ (above); and SRK with Premier Barry O’Farrell

Poonam Chandiramani

What gandhi means to young people today

BY JYOTI sHANkAR

Every year, October 2 is celebrated as Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday. In India, it is one of the three national holidays, along with the Republic Day and Independence Day. Since 2010, this day is similarily as important in the calendar of events of the Sydney node of the Australia India Institute (AII). This event, and the Gandhi Oration on the occasion of the Mahatma’s death anniversary (January 30, Martyr’s Day) are well-received events at the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

The violent attacks on Indian students in 2009 was a sad chapter in the history of AustralianIndian relations. It was in 2010 that the then Consul-General Amit Dasgupta, presented a bust of Mahatma Gandhi to UNSW as a gift from the people and the government of India, as an acknowledgement of the University’s connection with India and its provision of a safe environment for Indian students.

Gandhi has always been a symbol of non-violence and has been an inspiration to many world leaders such as Nelson Mandela (whose bust now stands on the same lawn as Gandhi at UNSW), Martin Luther King, Aung San Suu Kyi, Barack Obama and Albert Einstein. Said Neville Roach AO, patron of the AII and MC of the remembrance ceremony, “Gandhi

values such as satya (truth), ahimsa (non-violence), sarvodaya (universal upliftment) and swaraj (self-rule).

“There are many causes that I am prepared to die for but no causes that I am prepared to kill for,” said Gandhi. Usha Sridhar and Heather Lee Cunio sang his favourite hymns to mark the occasion,

Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram and Lead Kindly Light

That Gandhi continues to inspire even the younger generations was evident in Gianluca Santoro’s words. The young student from Ashbury Public School, gave a moving speech on how he was inspired by Ela Gandhi’s visit last year to learn more about Gandhi and his teachings. The panel session later in the evening, on the topic, ‘What Gandhi means to young Indians and Australians today’ shed some more light on this. Moderated by Rory Medcalf, Associate Director of the AII, this session had six young people sharing Gandhi’s influence on them personally, and reflecting on his impact on the world.

Dr Monika Barthwal-Datta, a lecturer at UNSW and a member of the Australia India Youth Dialogue (AIYD), felt that “Gandhian principles of social justice and self-reliance are very relevant in this age of globalisation, where achieving food security and sustainability are proving to be increasingly difficult”.

Ruchir Punjabi, Chair of the AIYD, was concerned at frequent use of the Mahatma’s words as political rhetoric in India today. “As a former resident of Ahmedabad where Gandhi spent many years of his life, when I was younger, my peers and I often discussed the person who was Gandhi, rather than the icon the world has made him,” he stated.

Said Ayshe Sahinovic, a student of Fort Street High School, “Though presently we do not face struggles of the magnitude that Gandhi faced, his non-violent approach to life, and belief in the respect and dignity for others, has certainly shaped my attitude about how to respond to my own smaller challenges and to the actions of others”.

Matthew Benjamin of the Australia India Internship Program too, has been similarly inspired. “Gandhi taught us what individuals can do to challenge the status quo. There will always be imperfections in the world but Mahatma Gandhi taught us to believe in the power of change, as he said: Be the change that you wish to see in the world,” he added.

Danielle Rajendram, research associate at the Lowy Institute, opined that Gandhian tactics such as fasting and satyagraha, was very much alive in today’s India, as observed recently in the anticorruption and sexual violence campaigns. “But it is true that politicians do continue to take advantage of his name. Gandhi is a recurrent theme in Narendra Modi’s speeches, his claim to Gandhi being that they were both born in the same state of Gujarat. And they wear homespun khadi.

she said. Danielle was honest in saying that though she could see Gandhi’s philosophy underpinning environmental and secular movements, they do not resonate very deeply in Australia.

Sanushka Seomangal, a South African-Australian, practising lawyer and secretary of the AIYD, had a personal connection to Gandhi. Her grandfather had to carry an obligatory identity document card commonly known as the ‘pass’ to live in South Africa, and had to pay an ex-indenture tax to grow their fruit and vegetables. Gandhi, who lived in South Africa during the time of her grandfather, taught Indians to respect themselves as Indians and feel proud of their identity, and not distinguish themselves by caste or religion. “The difference in being a migrant at the time of apartheid in South Africa that my grandfather experienced, and my privileged life as a migrant in Australia could not be more acute,” she said.

Questions about Gandhi’s role in the partition of India have been discussed time and again, and the issue came up here too. The panellists felt that it was not necessary to defer to everything that Gandhi said, but choose some of the universal values that he espoused. After all, he was a man of his times and situations are never the same. Can his methods work for the Middle East is a hypothetical question. As Mahatma Gandhi himself would have argued, everything is an experiment in truth.

Rory threw up an interesting question to the panel, if Gandhi was alive today, would he use social media? There was a consensus among the panel on this. The master of sound bites, Mohandas

Karamchand Gandhi aka ‘The Mahatma’, would definitely be very active on Twitter and would have an interesting Facebook page. His voice would have travelled further and inspired many more around the world. As Einstein said on the occasion of Gandhi’s 70th birth anniversary, “Generations to come, it may well be, will scarce believe that such a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”.

For the youth of today, though the Indian freedom struggle seems like a distant memory, Gandhi’s aphorisms have lingered on. Few from the generation of people who lived and witnessed the times of pre-independence India, exist today. The present generation is detached from the baggage of their fathers and grandfathers who revered the man, who was a ‘Mahatma’, above criticism. The Mahatma was his own greatest critic and a simple man who did not like being revered. As Monika said, what he would have definitely been sad about would be the apathy of the youth, the lack of readiness to give up their comforts for the greater good, and the lack of collective responsibility today. So the values of Gandhi are still relevant today. As Jayaprakash Narayan, a close associate of Gandhi said, “If all these ideas and activities are viewed in isolation, they constitute a miscellaneous and rather archaic collection, the importance of which will dwindle and fade away with time. It is only when it is realised that Gandhi was fundamentally a moral and social philosopher and that, through these items, he sought to experiment with certain far-reaching fundamental principles, of whose absolute truth he was convinced beyond all doubt, that their true significance becomes clear”.

The ideals of the Mahatma still have the power to resonate with today’s youth

Photos: Mark and Jenny Evans

Photos: (left to right)

Gianluca Santoro, student of Ashbury Public School addresses the gathering

Panellists – Standing L to R: Dr Monika Barthwal-Datta, Ruchir Punjabi, Rory Medcalf, Ayshe Sahinovic, Matthew Benjamin, Seated L to R: Sanushka Seomangal and Danielle Rajendram

A journey through time

Hamsa Venkat’s

production is a celebration not just of art but of life itself

Who is an individual, what is their identity, how important are they and where do they fit into the Great Chain of Being? These were some of the philosophical issues that Kaalachakra explored

and narrative interpolations helped create the mood as the dancers embarked on a creative journey.

“Basically, I feel any art should reach to the core of the human being and explore the creative spirit of those involved while giving to the community we live in,” Hamsa told Indian Link after the show. This is exactly what Kaalachakra achieved, in the process raising over $20,000 for the seniors’ cause.

The music for the performance, both the choice of lyrics and the rendition, was clearly outstanding. High calibre live orchestra has become one of the hallmarks of Samskriti School of Dance.

BY UsHA RAMANUJAM

Man’s tenuous relationships within the turning wheel of time formed the basis of Kaalachakra, Hamsa Venkat’s latest Bharatanatyam ballet.

The enchanting production by her Samskriti School of Dance was staged at Marana Auditorium in Hurstville for the Resourceful Australian Indian Network’s (RAIN) annual fundraiser.

The esoteric concept throws up many existential challenges which are not just difficult to answer, but also to understand. Who is an individual, what is their identity, how important are they and where do they fit into the Great Chain

of Being? These were some of the philosophical issues that Kaalachakra explored.

The three hour long performance, harmoniously balanced the ephemeral with timeless, and mundane with profound, to create an artistic extravaganza that appealed to people of all ages and backgrounds. Kaalachakra was not just a celebration of art, but life itself.

Hamsa’s ability to reach out to her audience and keep them engaged while exploring a subject of this depth and magnitude is especially commendable. The stories (particularly those about sibling rivalry, lifelong friendships and young romance), were aptly chosen and clearly resonated with the audience.

Not only did her selection of texts for the thematic presentations provide variety, the segments themselves were beautifully choreographed and executed. The elaborate preambles

The soulful vocals by Sangeetha Ayyar and Krishna Ramarathinam, supported by Mohan Ayyar on the synthesiser, Pallavarajan Nagendran on mrudangam, Balaji Jaganathan on violin, Chidambaram R Suresh on morsing and Hamsa on nattuvangam, came together seamlessly, setting the mode and tone for the performance. The chemistry between the orchestra on the sidelines and dancers on the main stage was palpable.

Conforming to the traditional framework of Bharatanatyam ballet, Kaalachakra was presented in seven segments, each exploring a new facet in the wheel of relationships as one journeys through time, Santhaanam (sacred umbilical ties), Sahodaryam (bonding among siblings), Sishyam (teacherdisciple relationship), Srishti (dependence on nature), Sakhyam (lasting friendships), Shringaaram (innocent romance and sanctity of marriage) and finally, Smaranam (human kind’s communion with

their maker).

Each relationship was explored in great detail, offering ample opportunity for the senior disciples to display their mastery over this ancient and difficult art form. Samskriti’s junior students showed no less promise; rising up to the challenges that such a large-scale production demands. Clearly there is no dearth of talent or dedication.

The highpoint of the evening of course was the dramatic centrepiece, Srishti, which probed humankind’s links with the environment. Fittingly, the sun, which is revered in many cultures as the life force, held pride of place in this sumptuous piece. Through the stories of Pandavas, Hanuman, Kunti and Surya himself, the Varnam paid homage to the Sun God in all his dazzling glory as he journeys across the horizon. Not only was it a feast for the senses, Srishti also tested the stamina and endurance of the performers. Elaborate formations, sculpturesque poses, brilliant lighting, thoughtfully chosen costumes, as well as high-energy vocals ensured that the varnam would be etched in the audience’s mind long after the curtains came down.

In fact, each segment had its own unique charm. The opening kauthuvam from Mahabharatha, on Abhimanyu and Chakravyuh, explored how life’s learning curve begins in the womb. Sibling love (Draupadi/Krishna) and rivalry (Krishna/Balarama), lifelong friendships (Tamil padam Pandadithanale Unnai Thoodhanupinen about Valli and

her sakhis) as well as devotion and respect of student for his guru (Padmapada/Adi Shankara) are all influential relationships that shape our perceptions, and eventually our destiny. The odyssey of love (the staple of every relationship) was sumptuously told through the immortal tale of Nala and Damayanthi (once again verses from Mahabharatha, which were translated into Tamil by US based scholar Dr Ravi Shankar).

The concluding segment from Thyagaraja’s Naukacharitham poignantly explored ego and man’s relationship with God himself. Quite like a boat that traverses through storms and calm seas, taking it all in its stride, life is filled with surprises that test the individual’s ability to embrace the good and bad, the beautiful and terrifying, with grace and dignity. Such trials not only shape his character and personality, but also make him realise that he is after all only a small aspect in the larger scheme of being, a drop in the ocean. The lesson that Kaalachakra teaches us is interdependence. The props and special effects (Adrian Van Raay, Muthu Sharma, Rama Vishwanathan, Deepa Gopinath and Devika Krishnamurthy) of this scene provided the perfect backdrop for a breathtaking audio-visual presentation.

In fact, the whole production was thoughtfully conceived and brilliantly executed. A thing of beauty is a joy forever. Hamsa Venkat’s Kaalachakra is a lasting contribution to the Indian Australian cultural scene.

latest

ARVINd

Photos: Binu photography

Dance, music &

masti

A mass street party full of fun and frolic marked the start of Parramasala 2013

To celebrate Western Sydney’s multicultural diversity and the contemporary arts of Australia, this year’s Parramasala Festival 2013 begun with an incredible parade from Parramatta city’s Town Hall to Prince Alfred Park on the evening of October 4. It was a fitting beginning to the festival that celebrates Australia’s complexity of cultures through heralding the arts via colours and classics, with festivity and frolic. The parade was created and directed by one of Australia’s most awarded international producers and director of major events, Di Henry.

“Cultural diversity and the oneness amongst all the culturally different diaspora is the key to vivacity that encourages such events,” said Di, explaining the significance of the event. “By joining this awesome huge street party in the form of the parade, everyone had a good time and lots of fun,” she added.

The parade began at exactly 6:30pm in a very disciplined and diligent manner, starting with the Golden Kangaroo Epping RSL marching band flaunting their yellow uniforms and the band’s flag. The parade also comprised of various Bollywood dance groups,

a multicultural procession of different ethnic groups, Sydney’s Youth Dragon and Lion Dance, Studio Dance Orientale, individual performers and drummers. It was a fascinating blend of colour and sound, of celebration and tradition, as different nations vied with each other to showcase their culture and heritage.

Almost all the participants were worth a mention, but the most unique were the dancers and drummers, associations and communities. The Karifi-Ghanian drummers group represented the ethnic communities of Africa, who, along with the Brazilian drumming group, and Lebanese drummers, kept the crowd engaged and excited.

The dancers were varied, ranging from the beautiful Srikandi Indonesian dance group with their graceful moves, the curvaceous and adept belly dancers, Peruvian dancers, the ubiquitous Bollywood, bhangra and various other classical and neoclassical dancing which had the crowd engaged in their moves.

Groups of participants included the Hindi school, the colourful and well-lit National Sikh council of Australia troupe and the NSW Indian Welfare Association, accompanied by members of the Indian community.

Well-decorated and beautiful rickshaws gave some lucky women from the crowd a free ride. Penny-farthing bikes, with riders in traditional costumes, alongside the NSW lancers, Mark II tanks, a military vehicle with decorations and army

personnel, followed by the Parracity shuttle bus, made up the motoring element. And the natural element of attractively decorated grey horses and camels. The Parramasala float with its Maharshi drummers and Parramasala trucks with one of the Purotrucks with a fire demonstration caught the attention of the crowd.

Alfred Park is just 10 minutes away from Parramatta Town Hall, but the parade that took about 25 minutes to get there had everything, from walking puppets, sailors with walking boats, floats, dragon and lion dances from the far east, traditional folk dancing from the middle east, Bhutanese walkers, Bollywood dancing, dandiya, mridangam and dhol playing, to make it an attractive medley of music, dance, display and excitement!

On reaching Alfred Park, the crowd was treated to an eclectic music concert that got most people dancing to world music from L-fresh The LION and his Punjabi Hip-Hop Band, Karifi and his African Union Beats and the headline act, Bangalore music sensation and the guru of folk rock, Raghu Dixit and his band. With his group of outstanding musicians, Dixit took the audience to a world of Indian folk music infused with elements of western rock, Arabic, Latino and Reggae rhythms.

The masala markets at the venue featured Asian Indian cuisine, fashion, spices, fabrics, arts, crafts and refreshments in open stalls under the trees from

4pm until 10 pm. Judging by the amount of people flocking to the stalls, it was clear that the food was a resounding success.

The opening night of Parramasala ended with a sensational display of fireworks, with the crowd reluctant to leave. But the program to come over the week was a promising one.

The Bollywood concert featuring Shahrukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit, Rani Mukherji and Honey Singh was on the cards, and several other individual events featuring international performers and

events were eagerly anticipated. There’s little doubt that the opening ceremony of Parramasala 2013 was an enjoyable and memorable event.

Di Henry anticipated that at least 10,000 people attended the event through the day, ranging from seniors to youth groups, to families with children. It was an eclectic mix of communities and performers who gathered together to celebrate multiculturalism in Australia, together making the festival a resounding success.

sTHA sINgH

Rocking

with Raghu

BY HRAddHA ARJUN

ey Bhagwan, mujko tu zindagi dobara de,” sang Raghu Dixit with passion to a multi-ethnic crowd at Prince Alfred Park in Parramatta on the opening night of Parramasala 2013. I could barely feel my feet on hearing his voice and the distinct sounds of his band. Quintessentially Indian, it almost felt like I had been teleported to a rock concert in Bangalore. That infectious energy and eclectic mix of Western rock, Latin, funk, reggae and Indian folk, made people in and around the venue get involved and start dancing to the catchy beats.

Following the opening night’s fireworks, The Raghu Dixit Project began with a bang!

The Raghu Dixit Project has played in about 500 concerts in various parts of the world, and in extreme conditions and venues.

The list of performances includes their stellar performance for Queen Elizabeth II of England and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip, at a spectacular Diamond Jubilee Pageant marking 60 years since her accession to the throne in 1952.

The Raghu Dixit Project, in Raghu’s words “is an open house for musicians and artistes from different genres to come together, collaborate and create a dynamic sound and expression”. Raghu is the front man of the band and at Parramasala, the six member strong team included Raghu Dixit himself as guitarist/singer, Gaurav Vaz on bass guitar, Vinodh Dev on drums, Bryden Lewis on guitars, Parth Chandiramani on flutes and Vinod Bangera as sound engineer.

The audience at Parramasala was made up of some ardent fans of Raghu Dixit, and the rest who had never heard of him before, had absolutely no idea about what they were about to witness. The fans did make a whole lot of noise;

Hbut it ended up being a group right in front of the stage who were the loudest, who weren’t even his fans! Their behaviour was rather embarrassing as it did disrupt the performance for a brief moment. Members of the band were dressed in lungis and kurtas as usual, and the loud group in the crowd began shouting at Raghu, “Do the lungi dance!” for reasons only known to them! This was followed by, “Have you watched Chennai Express?” and “Say something like Deepika Padukone in the film”. Raghu’s reaction was succinct yet assertive, “This is my show fellas, I’m on stage… so thank you, we can manage on our own”. The group did not see this coming. The girl among them moved away and offered me her spot in the front row saying, “I don’t understand what he’s singing!” Slowly but surely, the group disintegrated and vanished.

Raghu then took over and as he belted out his popular Kannada numbers, the Kannadigas in the audience were euphoric. Most of Raghu’s Kannada songs are inspired by Shishunala Sharif’s literature (a saint and poet from the state of Karnataka). “Gudgudiya Sedi nodu…” he crooned, an interesting song with lyrics that quite literally translate to “Gudu gudiya sedinodo (smoke the hookah and see), vodalolagina roga toredu idyado (smoke out the disease inside you and feel good)”. Raghu made it a point throughout the concert to explain all of his songs prior to performing them for the benefit of those who did not understand the language. He explained the deeper meaning of this particular song. “Open that small cloth bag called ‘mind’, pull out the hash called ‘lust,’ put that in a chillum called ‘faith’ and burn

it with a fire called ‘intelligence’. Smoke that hookah and tell me how it feels!”

He went on to sing Lokada Kalaji, which involved interacting with the crowd. Patiently, yet thoroughly, Raghu sang and taught us all the first line of the song. He made us all clap and sing along! The meaning of the first line in Raghu’s words is, “Don’t worry, and be happy! But if want to worry, I don’t give a damm”. He elaborated on the lyrics, saying “you want to worry all the time, earning a lot of money, building a palace, to live like a king riding an elephant. However you eventually would need to get off that elephant and go six feet down under or maybe just turn into ash in the end. So why worry be happy, but if you want to worry and not sing, I don’t give a damn…!”

The cold night suddenly felt warm as people moved closer to clap and cheer as a single entity. You just had to be there to feel the excitement!

This was followed by a Punjabi song and then, by his not so favourite, yet superhit Kannada song Mahadeshwara from a film named Psycho! This song had a great resonance with the Kannadigas crowd.

The last song for the night was a Hindi song, Mysore se aayi who to which Raghu made us all dance along, well almost… Gaurav Vaz on the bass guitar had the responsibility of teaching us the dance moves. It was as simple and easy as it could be. All we had to do was jump with our hands up in the air, or clap. The tempo got faster towards the end, leaving the audience asking for more. Ignoring the shouts for an encore, Raghu wrapped up nicely by acknowledging the efforts of the

band members, the organiser and the audience. The band took a bow and left the stage.

This was not the end though, as autographed copies of Raghu Dixit’s first album were on sale, and fans couldn’t just get enough of Raghu, clicking photographs with him, talking to him and refusing to leave!

Some came back for more the very next day. This time round the concert was indoors at the Chai temple, and it was packed!

The Raghu Dixit Project serenaded the crowd with acoustic versions of their mellow, mushy and romantic numbers.

They also performed at the closing night for Parramasala 2013 on October 7, where the song set was slightly different. Raghu offered a sneak peak into his forthcoming album, with a Kannada song, Kande na, which is about hope.

At the end of the concert, I briefly asked Raghu to comment about how he felt when performing to a disruptive crowd. He simply stated that a disruptive audience prevents genuine fans from enjoying the show. There was no bitterness, just concern that he expressed. So would he be singing in any other language in future? Well, we could soon expect to hear a Tamil koothu song as part of his forthcoming album. He will also be singing in Malayalam for a yetto-be released film called North 24 Khaatham with Bijipal, composed by Govind Menon.

Independent bands such as the Raghu Dixit Project rarely come over to Sydney to perform. However, when they do it’s pure magic. In the hope that we see them again, I left reminiscing about the dreamlike concert and humming “Lokada Kalaji”.

Raghu made it a point throughout the concert to explain all of his songs prior to performing them, for the benefit of those who did not understand the language

The Raghu Dixit Project performing at Parramasala 2013 was a treat for Kannadigas

Hunterwali

rides again!

An iconic Aussie heroine of the Indian screen makes a memorable comeback at Parramasala

BY USHA RAMANUJAM ARVIND

Long before India opened up its shores to global market forces and certainly well before Bollywood became an international phenomenon, a fearless young Western Australian woman charmed her way into its hearts and homes. Liberalisation and bilateral trade were decades away. Free-spirited, self-made and ahead of her times, this daring woman rose from being a virtual nonentity to a celebrated Bollywood icon.

Meet Hunterwali, the lady with the whip, aka Fearless Nadia (born Mary Evans), best known for her roguish charm, swashbuckling heroics and death-defying stunts. The silent era film goddess was the ‘tough-talking, whip-cracking, action heroine of Indian cinema in the 1930s and ‘40s’.

Her lasting contribution to Indo-Australian cultural scene was celebrated at Parramasala 2013, with an electrifying performance

of Ben’s Walsh’s Fearless Nadia

The multimedia spectacle, which debuted at Adelaide’s OzAsia festival last year, was screened in Sydney for the first time. It has also successfully toured major metros in India.

“Fearless Nadia is a wonderful paean to Bollywood and a great night of music,” Festival Director David Malacari stated at the launch of Parramasala 2013.

“Nadia’s biffing and boffing of assorted baddies is great fun, but the music turns it into a must-see event that was a huge success in Mumbai, the home of Bollywood,” he further added.

A world-renowned drummer, Walsh who fronts the eclectic international band Orkestra Of The Underground, entertained audiences with an adrenaline charged live performance at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre.

Featuring 12 Australian and Indian musicians, including Sandy Evans, Shenton Gregory, Bobby Singh, Greg Sheehan, Sangeet Mishra, Sudhir Nayak, Aneesh Pradhan, Vinod Prasanna, Kim O’Sullivan, Matt Ottignon, Eden Ottignon and Daniel Pliner, Fearless Nadia is a musical collaboration steeped in history.

The ensemble incorporated the sounds of the tabla, sarangi, dholak, Indian flutes and harmonium and

combined it with the trumpet, drums, violin, clarinet to make up a spectacular soundscape, with Kathak dancer Shruti Ghosh also taking centrestage.

Paying homage to 100 years of Indian cinema (nowadays better known as Bollywood), high voltage percussions, gravity defying acrobatics by viola player Shenzo Gregorio, slapstick acts by Walsh and Greg Sheehan, and an original score, were some of the added extras as audiences were once again treated to the daring exploits of Nadia.

High-energy visuals from Diamond Queen (1940) have been painstakingly edited and collated by Walsh for Fearless Nadia, before being transferred from its nitrate original to digital format.

“For me, the project is a true labour of love. I have always enjoyed the world of the silent film as it lends itself to the potency of live music,” score composer Ben Walsh told Indian Link after the live performance.

“Dusting off the cobwebs of a nitrate film and infusing a new energy into the movie was an enriching experience,” he added.

“I am truly grateful to Roy Wadia (Wadia Movietone) for trusting me with his family legacy, and believing in me the whole way. For me it was a great honour to bring

history from the vault and into the world once more”.

Walsh, who has been to India several times, first met Wadia in Mumbai while on a concert tour. The chance meeting led to the idea of reincarnating the body of Nadia’s work. The storyline, action and comedy of Diamond Queen instantly appealed to Walsh.

“The action, romance, drama and also the political aspects spoke to me instantly when I first saw the film,” he reminisced. “I could instantly hear the score!”

Elaborating on the background music, Walsh spoke about how the strong Indian and Australian elements have blended into a harmonious mix. “The Indian system of melody and rhythm have been skilfully married into pronounced Jazz elements,” he explained.

“For me it is a theatrical reinterpretation. The music drives the emotion and in turn, the scene itself. And having a live orchestra engages the audience like never before. As a director, I believe I have redirected the whole movie itself. I have put my heart and soul into this black and white world of kooky characters and iconic heroines,” he added.

Fearless Nadia also included passages of solo tabla composed by Aneesh Pradhan.

“I have put my heart and soul into this black and white world of kooky characters and iconic heroines”

As the music came alive, the audience was in raptures, enthralled by the whole sensory experience and transported back in time to the world of the swashbuckling ‘40s, willingly suspending their sense of disbelief. It was a night to remember.

Ben Walsh

Pole dancing of a

different kind

The ancient sport of mallakhamb is introduced to Australia with jaw-dropping results

BY USHA RAMANUJAM ARVIND

They came, they performed and they left us completely awestruck. With gravity-defying feats and jaw-dropping poses, mallakhamb acrobats Vijay Ashok Bhojane and Rajesh Amrale were one of the biggest drawcards of the recently concluded Parramasala 2013.

In the lead-up to the October long weekend event, multiple shows were also staged at prestigious venues across Sydney, including the Harbour foreshore area, Chatswood and Liverpool shopping precinct, Parramatta Town Hall, Prince Alfred Park and Penrith Art Gallery.

In a thrilling performance outside the iconic Opera House, as the duo swung and swayed, the gathering crowds looked on in sheer disbelief. Is this a sport or an art, rhythmic gymnastics or circus acrobatics, they wondered? Whatever it was, it had to be seen to be believed!

Displaying incredible agility, composure and strength, the talented artistes balanced delicately on a wooden pole, performing impossible tricks. Clad in bare essentials, they wound their supple yet powerful bodies around the pole.

“What an amazing feat this is,” onlooker Arya Verma said. “I am so glad I came to watch the show. My two boys particularly enjoyed the physical spectacle. Until today, I did not know that such a sport existed. India is truly a country of wonders and our ancient customs and traditions are full of surprises. We have so much to offer the world”.

This is the first time the ancient art-form has been showcased in Australia. However, Mumbaikars Bhojane and Amrale have travelled the world, wowing audiences wherever they go. They have performed at international festivals, sporting competitions and even on TV, in a bid to introduce this dying sport to newer audiences.

While Bhojane has performed in Germany, Holland, France and the Netherlands, Amrale was a 2009 finalist in India’s Got Talent and twotime finalist in the Indian National Championships of Mallakhamb.

Originating in 17th century

Maharashtra as a complementary exercise to wrestling, mallakhamb is an ancient Indian sport. Deriving from the words malla (athlete or strong man) and khamba (pole), artists are traditionally suspended from a rope on balancing on a pole while performing a variety of yogic and gymnastic poses. Naturally it develops the mind as much as the body, requiring phenomenal willpower and composure.

Of the sixteen corollary practices that were developed, only one survives, the pole act.

Sadly, this traditional sport is facing extinction as with most Indian art forms, for want of patronage. This quirky sport received a bit of attention in India when it was showcased in the 2005 Bollywood movie Kisna Surprisingly, mallakhamb has found new support in east European countries.

Speaking to Indian Link at the Prince Alfred Park, Bhojane explained that mallakhamb combines meditation and gymnastics. “It not only develops the muscles of the body but also improves the circulatory system,” he said. “This sport efficiently provides optimum exercise to the entire body in the least possible time”.

“It is wonderful to be invited to Sydney to showcase our body art to the Australian audience,” Amrale stated. “Hopefully all this attention and interest will provide new impetus to mallakhamb,” he added.

Destination NSW in conjunction with Parramasala 2013 brought Bhojane and Amrale to Australia.

Originating in 17th century Maharashtra as a complementary exercise to wrestling, mallakhamb is an ancient Indian sport

Sadly, this traditional sport is facing extinction as with most Indian art forms, for want of patronage

Aakash Odedra’s stunningly acute performance in Rising at Parramasala 2013 leaves the audience spellbound

Magical fairyland of dance

Wthing of immense beauty becomes an animal trapped in its suffering.

delicate grace is reduced to an anguished flurry of wings and its feet are desperate to maintain their balance.

inspiring creature cannot help but maintain a kind of heart-wrenching beauty, even within its painful movements.

This is what UK contemporary dancer Aakash Odedra portrayed in his animal-inspired piece Shadow of Man by Akram Khan. Haunting music by Jocelyn

Pook provided the perfect instrumental dialogue as Odedra became one with the distressed creature. began as a barely discernible shape, crouched in the dusklike light. As the music came to life, so did the creature and we became caught up in its distress. The anguished writhing was punctuated with deeply stirring cries that were reminiscent of a trapped or wounded animal. Odedra’s fascination with animals and their movements from a young age served him well in this intense and thought-provoking piece.

The performance titled at the Lennox theatre in the Parramatta Riverside complex was a standout part of the Parramasala festival. It began with an abstract pure dance piece as suggested by the title. was an electrifying introduction choreographed by the dancer himself, which highlighted his technical precision and elegance.

of soft light that were suspended from the ceiling. It was Odedra’s

Gifted dancers, depressing piece

This year’s Parramasala featured Zameen by two dancers from the Attakalari Centre for Movement Arts, a dance and multimedia presentation. The work was intended to explore the plight of remote communities in India that are fighting to preserve their way of life in a country driven by progress.

Zameen began with the two dancers binding each other’s hands together, presumably depicting the frustration that is felt by members of these remote communities. Video clips of the lives of some

of these people were interspersed into segments of dance, designed to bring to light issues such as a shortage of essential resources.

While the dancers were obviously talented, with commendable technique, the performance did not draw me in as I had hoped it would. The exploration of this issue was admirable, and it is one that I think should be further exposed. However, I felt that instead of the engaging intensity that was required, there was a depressive nature to the piece and the result was that I left without the joyous feeling that I normally

experience following a dancebased performance, regardless of the subject.

While some of the video clips were of value, others had a strangely spooky quality reminiscent of a Japanese horror film, which I feel did not enhance the depiction of this topic. The dance segment towards the end of the piece saw a little more dynamic movement compared to the rest of the performance, and it was then that the audience could truly appreciate the finesse of these dancers. Their elegant and controlled movements were able to shine

was a glimpse of the magnetism that I would expect from a performance by a professional dance company.

The haunting musical score by Leah Barclay was probably the highlight of the piece and its undulating nature was an appropriate representation of the topic at hand. There is no doubt that Zameen was a collaboration of some very talented individuals; however, the result of the show for me, somewhat missed its mark.

Deepa Gopinath

Although the subject was relevant and the performance commendable, Zameen was unfortunately dismal

Treasure trio of

docos

Three well-made documentaries tell diverse stories of the transgender community, poets and activists

When it comes to Indian cinema, hardly anyone mentions or knows about documentaries, the poor cousin of feature films. So it was a rewarding experience to watch three award winning Indian documentaries made by KP Jayasankar and Anjali Monteiro at Parramasala 2013 from October 5-7 at the Riverside Theatre in Parramatta. The program was presented by Dr Anne Rutherford with the support of University of Western Sydney (UWS), University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Indian Council of Cultural Relations and Information and Cultural Exchange Inc. (ICE).

The three documentaries screened were Our Family, So Heddan So Hoddan (Like Here, Like There) and Naata (The Bond). Our Family explored the lives of some members of the transgender community. What does it mean to cross that line which sharply divides us on the basis of gender?

Is there life beyond a heteronormative family?

This documentary was set in Tamil Nadu, India and brings together excerpts from Nirvanam (Liberation), a onewoman performance, by Pritham K Chakravarthy, and a family of three generations of transgendered female subjects, Aasha, Dhana and Seetha. The film explores the normality of their existence with the dark and powerful narrative by Pritham.

Nirvanam refers to the act of liberating oneself from the male body and transforming oneself to a female, also alluding to the surgical ceremony opted for by some transgenders. The journey of the three protagonists towards a reinvented selfhood is a tumultuous one that is often fraught with violence, exploitation,

affection and courage. Weaving together performance, life histories and everyday life, the documentary slowly makes one realise that perceived divide between ‘us’ and ‘them’ does not really exist.

So Heddan So Hoddan (Like Here, Like There) languidly explores the many-layered beautiful poetry of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, a medieval Sufi poet, and the world of three men from the Fakirani Jatt community, on the Indian side of the border of India and Pakistan, who struggle to keep alive the syncretic legacy of Bhitai. Bhitai, an iconic figure whose poems are sung in Kuchchh, Gujarat, and across the border in Sindh, Pakistan, celebrates diversity and nondifference. Before the partition, the Fakirani Jatt community had no borders and moved around freely. With the tightening of the Indo-Pak border many of them have ‘lost’ members of their families in Pakistan. The growing industrialisation of Gujarat has meant a fight for survival as they continue to be marginalised in their own land.

During the lively Q&A session that followed the movie, a member of the audience of Pakistan origin commented that Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai was very much in ‘alive’ in Sindh. His poems are still taught in schools.

Naata (The Bond), screened on the last day of the Parramasala weekend to even greater audience numbers than the first two documentaries. This was a testimony to the power of the film-makers’ storytelling, obviously spread by word-of-mouth. Naata is about Bhau Korde and Waqar Khan, two activists from different communities who become friends when they get involved in conflict resolution and working with neighbourhood peace committees in Dharavi in Mumbai, reputedly the largest slum in Asia. This film explores their work and includes documenting the process of collective production of a film by

Waqar Khan and use of visual media for ethnic amity. The story is interwoven with the personal story of Monteiro and Jayashankar who also come from different communities and religions, but are now married. It also explores their daughter’s quest for identity.

A recurring question at the Q&A session that followed was regarding safety at Dharavi. Many members of the audience had a different perspective of the location, as depicted in Slumdog Millionaire, which the filmmakers set out to dispel. The filmmakers said that since the 1992 riots in Mumbai, there have been no major communal riots as the protagonists and other members of the committees actively sought ways to maintain peace in the area.

Anjali Monteiro and KP Jayasankar, the filmmakers of these three very different documentaries, are professors at the School of Media and Cultural Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. Monteiro has a Masters in Economics and a PhD in Sociology. Jayasankar has an MA in German Studies and a PhD in Humanities and Social Sciences. Both of them are involved in media production, teaching and research. Jointly they have won thirty national and international awards for their films. Their most recent award is the Basil Wright Prize for So Heddan So Hoddan at the 13th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film 2013. They have several papers in the area of media and cultural studies, and serve as visiting faculty to several institutions in India and abroad. They are currently visiting professors at the University of Technology, Sydney.

It is fascinating that the filmmakers were able to tell their stories effectively with minimal

resources in terms of money and manpower. In all three documentaries, the roll of the credits for the crew lasted less than a minute. Making documentaries for over three decades now, these filmmakers are driven by their belief in social justice. When Indian Link asked them about their motivation to make these documentaries, they said that they were intrigued by the wisdom and dignity of the marginalised communities and have learnt much from them.

“Our methodology of work involves collaborative documentation with the subjects, discussion with them on what they would like documented, sharing and discussion of the footage on location, exploration of what kind of representations they are comfortable with and finally, sharing of the film before it is finalised,” they revealed. “On most occasions, we maintain contact with our subjects”.

What made it interesting was that all of the documentaries were unique, touching on different issues, challenges and victories of humanity. Documentaries are generally much varied in the subjects they portray and closer to the truth than fictional feature films. Give it a try, be brave, go ahead and watch some documentaries, and you are sure to be drawn to them!

Our Family explored the lives of some members of the transgender community. What does it mean to cross that line which sharply divides us on the basis of gender?

Naata explores their work and includes documenting the process of collective production of a film by Waqar Khan and use of visual media for ethnic amity

UTTAM MUKHERJEE

Filmmakers Anjali Monteiro and K P Jayasankar

Still from So Heddan so Hoddan

IMMIGRATION & VISA ADVICE SINCE 1999

Victor S. Lamba

Registered

Frustration-free Foogi

BY RITAM MITRA

It’s the typical office problem: you need to schedule a meeting between your team, yourself and several external stakeholders. You know when your colleagues are free, you’ve just checked your shared calendar on Outlook. But it takes 20 emails or a dozen phone calls to try and find a bit of common free time with others, and soon enough, you’ve spent hours trying to organise just one short meeting. A new app, Foogi, aims to free up time for more important things by making the act of scheduling meetings a cinch, and the idea was the result of a very long bus trip.

Foogi takes advantage of the smartphone age, allowing for the sharing of all types of calendars, including Outlook, Google and iCal, across all mobile operating systems, such as BlackBerry, Android, iOS and Windows Mobile. But its main strength is that it only shows others free spaces in your calendar, so they can’t see who else you’ll be have meetings with. Although Foogi has not been formally launched yet, 60 users have already downloaded the free app from Google’s Play Store, with an iOS launch imminent. Foogi founder and CEO, Amit Jaiswal, wants to use this early period in the app’s cycle to learn exactly what users want and make the product as good as it can be.

“Once we’ve figured out exactly what is the easiest way for Foogi to work for users, we’ll start marketing it,” he says. “By next month it should be available on all platforms, and that’s when we’ll have a proper launch”.

As recently as this year, Amit was working as a business analyst, a job which involved regular meetings with clients and other stakeholders. Having been in the corporate/profit environment from a young age, Amit was more than familiar with the pain of trying to schedule meetings. Although most organisations allow for calendars to be shared between colleagues, for confidentiality reasons, sharing your calendar externally is usually not permitted. You obviously don’t want anyone else to see the meetings you have lined up for that week. “Outside the company,

it was a nightmare,” says Amit. “If you try to meet with five people, you call the first person up and then call the second person, and then you might have to go back to the first person again. You put in 4-5 hours’ work for just an hours meeting”.

It was in this backdrop of mundane to-ing and fro-ing that Amit went travelling for six months in South America, and had an epiphany. “The only way to get around was by bus, so there were 15-hour bus trips. On such long trips, your brain comes up with new ideas. I realised that the (scheduling) problem was solvable now because of mobile technology. I realised that there’s an easy way to do this!”

Everyone’s syncing their calendars onto their phone, and if I create an app, it will have an easy way to get access to any calendar. I basically built the tool to solve my own problem,” he reveals.

Although he has a background in computer engineering, having built several Windows and web applications in the past, Foogi is Amit’s first attempt at a mobile app. He’s enjoyed the experience so much that he’s given up his regular job as a business analyst, and he refuses to look back. “I have no regrets at all,” he says. “But it’s not easy. Part of the reason why I gave up my job was that while I was working

parts that are very boring, like organising meetings and so on. And even more than that, it’s the Gen Y dilemma where we feel like we can do more with our lives, and we’re all kind of dissatisfied with our jobs, even though we are really well paid and we should be grateful”.

Amit’s theory behind the job dissatisfaction that he says is typical of Gen Y, is two-fold. Jobs offer no opportunities to grow, and Gen Y’s have nothing to fight for. “In all the jobs I’ve had you don’t really grow, you don’t really learn, you take the skills you have and you just do it. It kind of felt like stagnation, it felt like death,” he says. Meanwhile, in generations before us, says Amit, events such as war and Indian independence gave our ancestors something to strive towards.

“They had a sense of accomplishment and achievement,” he avers. “Even our parents’ generation, they came from nothing and they worked really hard to give us this awesome lifestyle. They came to Australia, leaving their families behind, and sacrificed a lot to give us everything”.

Amit continues, “But for us, we graduated and straight away we started earning as much as our parents. We lack that feeling of

accomplishment and achievement, because it came so easily. If we’ve got none of those obstacles (that previous generations faced), we should be achieving a lot of things but why aren’t we?”

There are a number of perks that come with starting your own company. To Amit, the most rewarding aspects of starting Foogi have been the constant learning curve, the intimate startup community that has supported him throughout the whole process, and the opportunity to build his own team. Groups such as Alive Mobile have provided advice and mentoring to Amit, as well as introductions to industry leaders and potential clients. In light of receiving no form of support from the Australian government (“It’s all talk,” says Amit), he recognises that the close-knit start-up community was crucial to getting Foogi on the road.

Meanwhile, Amit’s Foogi team has now grown to eight members, including three partners and four interns. “Unfortunately I’m not paying any of them. But the people are like-minded and they didn’t really like the profit lifestyle. It’s great, but there’s also a sense of responsibility, I need to start making money with Foogi as soon as possible so that I can pay these great people,” he says.

“It was really exciting being offered a position with Foogi,” says Shikha Jaipuriar, a 20-year old PR and Media Intern at Foogi. “It’s a really unique opportunity, especially being able to take charge and handle projects on my own, which I’d never get to do in any other work setting. I think it’s definitely taught me a lot more about the business and shown me how to be more hands-on”.

Foogi is just one of a few ideas in Amit’s pipeline. Along with a connection at Alive Mobile, he’s also working on a disaster

Foogi allows for the sharing of all types of calendars, including Outlook, Google and iCal, across all mobile operating systems, such as BlackBerry, Android, iOS and Windows Mobile

To Amit, the most rewarding aspects of starting Foogi have been the constant learning curve, the intimate start-up community that has supported him throughout the whole process, and the opportunity to build his own team

recovery app that will help those affected by events like the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami locate their loved ones in the immediate aftermath of the disaster. Amit’s entrepreneurship is certainly an inspiration to others seeking a more exciting and innovative existence.

A long bus trip in South America resuled in a ground-breaking new app that will simplify external meeting requests

Amit Jaiswal

Harnessing the power of the sun

India One, a solar thermal plant aims at becoming a landmark in the future of Indian renewable energy

BY JYOTI SHANKAR

Many ancient cultures have worshipped the sun god. Whether it is the Egyptian Ra, Polynesian Maui, Greek or Roman Apollo or the Indian Surya, the sun has been the supreme deity in the hierarchy of gods. There are a number of temples dedicated to Surya in India, the most famous being the Konark Sun temple in Orissa, now a World Heritage Site. But today, channelling the power of the sun god has a new manifestation, and it is bigger than ever before. India One is a 1 MW solar thermal power plant project coming up at Abu Road in Rajasthan. Since 2010, Joaquim Pilz aka Golo to his friends and colleagues, has been coordinating the design and construction of this plant. Golo was in Sydney in October with a group of members from the environment initiative of the spiritual organisation of Brahmakumaris. He spoke to students and many other interested groups about the power of solar and why it makes sense to harness this energy.

Golo came to India about 25 years ago on his spiritual quest, and has been instrumental in the establishment of a number of very large scale solar cooking systems that now cook for tens of thousands of people every day, especially in temple complexes where wholesome food is often distributed freely to everyone.

When something seemed lacking in his life at Frankfurt in Germany, Golo was drawn to the spiritual teachings of the Brahmakumaris. He sees the India One project, as part of his personal journey. This research project initiated by the Department of Renewable Energy of the World Renewal Spiritual Trust (WRST), a sister organisation of the Brahmakumaris, is funded by the Ministry of New

and Renewable Energy of the Government of India and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety, along with a few other partners.

What is unique is that each of the 770 parabolic dishes needed for the array are manufactured inhouse and feature an innovative thermal storage for continuous night operation too. When completed, the plant will generate heat and power. Golo has initiated various innovative research projects that are focused towards rural adaption, and hopes that India One will be a landmark in the future of Indian renewable energy scenario.

The merits of using solar energy are well-known. In an energyhungry world, solar power is not only freely available in abundant quantities, but is also pollution free. The technology has been available for decades now, but its adoption has been slow and not far-reaching. A majority of the world’s electricity supply is still generated from fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, but the challenges facing these traditional sources are mounting, rising prices caused by depleting stocks, dependence on imports from a limited number of countries, and growing climate change impacts caused by power generation using fossil fuels.

Rajasthan has 290 days of glorious sunshine. Although there

is variability in the amount and timing of sunlight over various days depending on the weather and seasons, a properly configured system can be designed to be highly reliable. The India One is a pilot project for large scale solar energy generation and if successful, the technology will be used in villages and small townships such as Shantivan in Mount Abu.

We see more houses with solar panels on rooftops in Australia, and in India the government has been promoting solar energy through its Aditya stores. The Solar Aditya shop at the Shantivan has distributed over 15,000 solar lanterns, 500 home lighting systems and 400 solar cooking boxes. But this is different to harnessing of large scale solar energy for heat and power that India One aims to achieve. Each 60 m2 parabolic dish will concentrate solar rays on to the cavity receivers positioned in front of each dish. This innovative receiver with heavy iron casting which provides excellent thermal storage is designed in-house. The thermal storage can be discharged on demand and its excellent insulation helps to avoid substantial energy losses at night or cloudy days. India One will be the first of its kind in the world in dish technology in direct steam generation mode, with full

thermal storage for 16 hours of continuous operation for base load energy.

“The world is but a reflection of ourselves and if we experience ourselves as a positive being, we can radiate that energy and help to make changes in the world around us,” says Golo, explaining his belief. “I find that meditation helps me focus better and be patient”.

“Problems keep surfacing as the project progresses, but it is now about 50% complete. While nature is an obstacle sometimes (we often work in 45o C temperatures), and technical difficulties in finding cheaper solutions that can be adapted to Indian conditions can be an issue at other times, more than often it is the Indian bureaucracy that can stall the project,” he admits candidly.

Release of funding can be a slow process and the project team have to carry on with true grit, keeping the distant goal of a clean energy world in focus.

The environment initiative of the Brahmakumaris is based on five main principles: living with simplicity; buying compassionately; using economically; learning continuously; and sharing generously. These age-old values are seeing a resurgence as people have found that growth or materialism does not equate to happiness. The India One project is one step closer to a sustainable

future for the 25,000 people living at the Shantivan campus, and will be a milestone for clean power generation without dependence on the grid in India. The local workers have been engaged in the construction and maintenance of the power plant, thus building capacity and expertise. It is hoped that the project can be replicated in many other places, and will offer a cost effective alternative to polluting fossil fuel-based power generation. Unfortunately today, as Ralph Nader, American political activist and lawyer put it, “The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun”. But projects like India One will change the world one day, slowly, silently and surely.

Pasting mirrors on dish

View from Mount Abu - a field of parabolic dish mounts

What is unique is that each of the 770 parabolic dishes needed for the array are manufactured in-house and feature an innovative thermal storage for continuous night operation too

India One will be the first of its kind in the world in dish technology in direct steam generation mode, with full thermal storage for 16 hours of continuous operation for base load energy

Parabolic dish array - the new Sun Temple

Pics: (Left) Bird’s view of India One project Receiver Erecting the frames

Green energy solutions for urban poor

Eradicating energy poverty is the challenging task of a group of young eco warriors

grinding poverty, the importance of organisations like Pollinate Energy really hits home. The low would definitely have to be the realisation that many of the people in the communities have no legal rights and their fate and homes are under constant strain and uncertainty. The high was most certainly the people: the Pollinate Energy founders and their vast energy for this cause, the young professionals from India, Australia and New Zealand with their fresh ideas and enthusiasm, the Pollinators who welcomed us in and guided us through our community experiences, and the communities themselves with their warmth and kindness.

BY USHA RAMANUJAM ARVIND

As global economies lobby to contain spiralling energy consumption, fringe communities in developing countries have quite literally been left in the dark. In today’s world of tablets, touch screens and texting, ironically, many still face acute energy poverty. According to estimates, 1.3 billion people worldwide have no direct access to electricity, of which 400 million live in India alone. As the sun sets, their lives come to a grinding halt.

There is a widening gulf between the haves and the havenots. Lack of proper infrastructure and poor awareness has forced those living below the poverty line in rural and semi-urban areas to rely heavily on age-old practices like kerosene lamps and coal-fired stoves that are not only harmful to the environment, but also pose a serious health hazard.

In a bid to improve the living conditions of such Indian families, a group of young eco warriors have been striving to create safer and more affordable lighting solutions. Known as Pollinate Energy, for this dedicated team, social impact outweighs profit.

Embracing sustainable production and consumption concepts, Pollinate’s Young Professionals Program has been regularly sending experienced volunteers to educate and train local communities in India and thereby empower them.

Pollinate Energy co-founder and director Emma Colenbrander said the program which has a far-reaching social vision, brings together Australian professionals

with Indian micro-entrepreneurs to help promote the distribution of safer, more affordable clean energy solutions to urban poor communities. Besides removing the burden on unsustainable fuels, the programme also aims to increase overall productivity and foster economic independence.

Global technical management services provider AECOM is one of the Pollinate’s first corporate partners. AECOM employees, Sydney-based landscape architect Belinda Dods, environmental engineer Rosanna Sanderson (Brisbane) and engineering geologist Johannes Wilson (Christchurch), recently volunteered in Bangalore as part of Pollinate Energy’s Young Professionals Program. During their India stint, the trio worked closely with local entrepreneurs, or ‘Pollinators,’ mentoring them as they introduced solar lanterns and smokeless cookstoves in the local community.

“AECOM sees ‘social businesses’ like those championed by Pollinate Energy as a solution to environmental, energy and economic challenges,” AECOM Chief Executive, Australia New Zealand, Michael Batchelor stated.

“Our people are extremely passionate about improving liveability, sustainability and connectivity, in their own communities and around the world, and we are glad to support innovations and programs that do so,” he added.

What drew Dods to the project is Pollinate’s strong focus on innovation. The former international trade and business finance professional left behind a thriving career in the corporate sector to follow a passion in landscape design and architecture. Her interest in sustainable technologies also led her to compete in the International Solar Decathlon, where her team

finished third. More importantly, the experience certainly triggered a passion for innovative and sustainable design as well as desire to use this to drive social change.

Indian Link caught up with Belinda Dods to find out more about her involvement with Pollinate Energy’s Young Professional Programme.

Indian Link (IL): What prompted you to volunteer for Pollinate programme? What was the experience like?

Belinda Dods (BD): I’ve always been interested in social businesses and was eager to find out more about how Pollinate Energy is achieving its goal to ‘eradicate energy poverty’. So when my manager approached me to apply, I was really excited.

The program totally exceeded my expectations. We had incredible speakers join us to discuss the finer points of social business, and this helped us gain a greater appreciation for the problems and the solutions out there.

As well as the work we completed in the communities, another facet of the program was to develop a part of Pollinate Energy’s business. Another Sydneysider, Lorenn Ruster and myself were tasked with promoting advocacy for Pollinate Energy’s cause in Australia. Pollinate Energy has teamed up with some very clever local talent; design firm Amigo & Amigo and public engagement firm Wildwon, to create the very first solar powered VIVID Festival lighting installation. We will be liaising as Pollinate Energy Ambassadors to see this exciting project come to fruition. Our roles as Ambassadors will also see us more broadly assisting with their operations in Australia.

Having travelled through India previously, I had an idea of what it would be like, but faced with such

just a matter of time before they infiltrate the communities on a large scale. The initial solar light products are at the point now where they almost sell themselves. People can see the benefits for their own eyes and have come to trust the Pollinators and their products.

IL: Who were some of the other participants and what did they bring on board to the project?

IL: Tell us more about your specific role with this project? What did it involve?

BD: We were partnered with a ‘Pollinator,’ and accompanied them to communities, helping develop sales strategies to improve and grow their respective businesses. The current program sees us introducing fuel-efficient cook stoves into the community. The cookstoves burn at least 50% less wood and emit at least 50% less smoke, so are better for peoples’ health (people mostly cook inside within the midst of clouds of smoke) and economically better, saving them money on fuel. Having discussed our approach for the day, we head out as a team to a slum community to do demonstrations, making chai and explaining the benefits of the product. As a group we assess our strategy and propose changes for the next day. The second part of our role sees us involved in working bees. The three groups look to bring in a source of income that can subsidise the social part of the business by creating pictorial guides for the products to be used by the predominately illiterate users and advocating Pollinate Energy’s work.

IL: How did the team work to educate people on urban fringes about cost effective renewable energy resources? What was the reception to this novel idea?

BD: It is difficult with any new product to convince the community that it does all it is said to do, but it only takes one person to give it a go to gain the trust of a community. One woman cooking chapati tested the cooking time on both their traditional fires and the new fuel-efficient cookstoves; the benefits where obvious with the cookstove taking far less time and using far less wood. So it’s

BD: From India, Neelima Jain, Keshav Lakshman and Sneha Kariyappa were part of our team; and from Australia there was Holly Hyder, Lorenn Ruster and Rosie Sanderson. Johannes Wilson, one of my AECOM colleagues alongside Rosie, is from New Zealand. I can honestly say that everyone had a unique talent that came to light during the program, from Sneha’s ability to befriend everyone in the communities and make them feel comfortable, to Rosie’s unique insight into the area having previously worked for Engineers without Borders in Chennai. We had strategic consultants, engineers, and landscape architect. It was refreshing to hear all the different points of view and to learn from each another. We were all there for the right reasons and had so much to learn from each other.

IL: What images of India did you come away with, what were your personal experiences?

BD: Colour, noise and spices! Everywhere you go, India surrounds you with activity, be it the noise of the horns on the street, the brightly coloured saris everywhere, or the smells of so many different spices mingling in the air, which themselves act as a welcome respite from the pollution, rubbish and dust. At first it all hits you and feels overwhelming, but as you adjust you see more of what is the same and less of what is different.

For example, we made tea one evening, and as the ladies in the community laid out a mat for us to sit on, I cuddled one of their babies. Asking the few questions of Kannada I have picked up along the way, we drank tea and laughed with them, recognising a common joke made about wanting us to adopt their children. They have come to Bangalore to make a better life for their families, and it’s a wonderfully humbling experience to sit and share tea and try to begin to understand the daily pressures they face.

Details: www.pollinateenergy.org

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Tadka boys claim their first award

Urban

Tadka wins Best Indian Restaurant award

BY RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA

Urban Tadka

Restaurant in Terrey Hills

was announced earlier this month as Sydney’s Best Indian Restaurant in the 2013 Savour Australia Restaurant & Catering HOSTPLUS Awards for Excellence.

Only two years and three months old, the restaurant took the fancy of the local Indian community almost from its inception. Now it is just as popular with the wider mainstream.

Set up by long-time restaurateurs Mandeep Rana and Dimpy Singh, Urban Tadka, nestled in an acreage in leafy Terrey Hills, is modelled on the elite farmhouse-restaurants of Delhi. The food itself, authentic in style and classy in its presentation, reflects the trends in high-end restaurants in contemporary Mumbai.

It’s hard to believe that not so long ago an abandoned farmhouse stood in its place, over-run with weeds, snake holes and spider-webs. It was painstakingly refashioned into a swanky restaurant, with a cosy but modern lounge and bar area, an open kitchen, a dance floor and beautifully landscaped lawns.

Urban Tadka, or ‘UT’ as the trendy set are now calling it, has also gone on to become one of the community’s most soughtafter function venues.

The 250-person capacity, the dance floor and DJ facilities, as well as the ample parking (for over a hundred cars) and the specially erected marquees in the sprawling grounds outside, are particular drawcards.

“We took great pains to set it all up,” Dimpy tells Indian Link His partner Mandeep chimes in, “Now we take great care with our service. Regular guests come in and say, ‘Can we leave things up to you?’ We know whether they want a tapas-style meal, or the whole deal!”

In June this year, Urban Tadka was selected as the winner of Dimmi’s Top-rated Australian Indian Restaurant category.

“Being picked for this win, from the collective opinion of Dimmi’s 250,000 patrons was extremely rewarding,” Mandeep says. “It pushed us even further in our

aim to become one of the leading fine-dining Indian restaurants in this city”.

The Savour Awards are held across Australia over nine events, including both regional and metropolitan regions.

Urban Tadka took the award in the Indian/ Subcontinental category, while awards were announced for other cuisines such as Contemporary Australian, European, Asian, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Indian, Turkish and Vietnamese. Awards were also given out for winners in the Breakfast restaurant, Café restaurant, Coffee shop, Pizza restaurant, Seafood restaurant, Steak restaurant and Family restaurant categories. The National awards are coming up shortly.

Tetsuya’s Restaurant, China Doll, Catalina, Ananas Bar & Brasserie, Boathouse on Blackwattle Bay and Garfish at Manly were other winners for 2013.

On the Awards night held at Star Casino, the Tadka boys felt

push back my chair and start walking up to the stage. ‘Get ready, buddy,’ I whispered to Mandeep, and saw that same look on his face as he said ‘Yes’. Within seconds, they announced our name as winners!”

“Our efforts have all paid off,” Mandeep agrees. “And to be recognised like this, is surely a topof-the-world feeling. Even to be listed as finalists, was immensely satisfying. We thank all our loyal patrons who have made this achievement worth more than we could have ever asked for. A very special thanks to our superb team of chefs, bartenders, waitstaff and kitchen hands, who have all contributed equally in our success”.

Dimpy finishes off, “We had a vision, to be the most promising Indian restaurant in town, and we’ve proved ourselves, by the grace of God, the blessings of our parents, and the support of our families”.

And yet, that unmistakable Punjabi self-assurance is never far behind. “This is just the beginning,” both say with stars in their eyes.

The national awards are up next, and the Tadka boys, finalists there as well, are keeping their fingers crossed. We wish them all the very best.

and Dimpy Singh, Urban Tadka, nestled in an acreage in leafy Terrey Hills, is modelled on the elite farmhouserestaurants of Delhi

MUsT-TRY

Dastan-e-Chaman

Murgh 65

Lakhnavi Seekh Hazarvi

Kheema Baingan

Pork Lababdar

Jhinga Malabari

Methi Lachcha Paratha

Kashmiri Naan

DIsHes AT URBAN TADKA

Mandeep Rana and Dimpy Singh

All aboard the INS Sahyadri

Sydney’s Indian community were invited onto the Indian warship and enjoyed the authenticity of ambience and cuisine from back home

BY NIMA MENON

INS Sahyadri is the third and final addition to the Shivalik class of indigenously-built stealth warships, and was commissioned into the Indian naval fleet on July 21, 2012. While Sahyadri (the benevolent mountains) is the major hill range starting from the north of the Western ghats of India, Shivalik Hills is a mountain range in the Himalayas. Commanded by Captain Sanjay Vatsayan, with 24 officers and 250 sailors aboard, this antisubmarine warfare guided missile stealth Frigate, represented the Indian naval prowess at the International Fleet Review hosted by the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in Sydney from October 3-11. A latest addition and the pride of the Indian naval arsenal, INS Sahyadri set sail from Vizag to Sydney and participated in various exercises along with naval ships from other countries.

On October 7, the captain and crew invited prominent members from the Indian diaspora in Sydney aboard the ship for some fauji style entertainment and dinner. The ambience was

nostalgic and patriotic.

The evening was also attended by the High Commissioner of India Mr Biren Nanda; the Consulate General of India for Sydney Mr Arun Goel; and veterans from the Indian Defence Forces. Admiral Anil Chopra, Commander-inChief of the Eastern Naval Command addressed the gathering and welcomed the guests. He expressed his joy, and acknowledged the importance of this exercise in improving ties between India and Australia.

“Defence ties and cooperation between the naval forces of India and Australia have developed rapidly since the establishment of a Strategic Partnership between the two countries in 2009,” Mr Nanda said in his speech. “Earlier this year we had the first ever visit by our Defence Minister to Australia. A major outcome of the visit was to institutionalise maritime exercises between the two navies”. He further reiterated India’s dynamic pursuit in building strong ties with the ‘Indian Ocean littorals’. He concluded saying, “India and Australia share a global vision of peace, stability and shared prosperity based on sustainable development. Shared democratic values and commitment to human rights, pluralism, an open society and the

rule of law underpin the strategic partnership between our two countries”.

Lieutenant Commander Jamie Watson was the Australian liaison officer aboard this Indian warship, and sailed with them from Fremantle to Sydney. When asked what was the difference in practice between the Indian navy and the Australian navy, he said, “Nothing much, except that I am woken every morning at 5am by the sound of the bugle!” He described his experience and interaction with the Indian naval crew as warm and friendly. He is no stranger to the Indian ways, as he has visited India before in his capacity as naval officer, as well as a tourist.

The captain of the ship, Captain Sanjay Vatsayan, was a host par excellence, making every person welcome in the true Indian and

naval tradition. The Indian naval band entertained the guests with some peppy Bollywood numbers, and I had great difficulty restricting my dancing toes from moving onto the dance floor. There was a vibrant bhangra to add that extra zest to the evening.

The soup and the dinner were typical ‘mess’ style. I felt that the taste and texture of the yummy tomato soup, rotis and dhal makani had not changed in 15 years. On enquiring, it was revealed that all the ingredients for the meal, including the chicken had come from Vizag. It was the smell and the taste of the nation one had left behind, but still continues to be part of one’s identity.

The evening culminated very appropriately with the naval band playing Advance Australia Fair followed by Jana Gana Mana. An unforgettable experience, indeed!

Commanded by Captain Sanjay Vatsayan, with 24 officers and 250 sailors aboard, this antisubmarine warfare guided missile stealth Frigate, represented the Indian naval prowess at the International Fleet Review

Australian LCDR Jamie Watson (middle) is shown aboard by officers of INS Sahyadri, LCDR Pradeep Raja (left) and LCDR Santosh Kumar Mohanta (right)

INS Sahyadri

The Fleet Review in Sydney Harbour

A Christie’s employee surveys Indian artist Jitish Kallat’s Public Notice 2 (painted

place on October 17 with no estimate or reserve prices

Madhya Pradesh stampede toll 111, Datia officials suspended

The toll in a horrific stampede at a Durga temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia on Oct 14 rose to 111, including 47 women and 33 children. The state government, which ordered a judicial probe, suspended four top district officials after the poll panel’s nod.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (revenue) Mahip Tejaswi, who announced the toll, said search operations were continuing in the Sindh river in which a number of trapped people had jumped in a bid to escape the crushing throng.

The temple at Ratangarh is located in a forested part of Datia district, 390 km north of the state capital of Bhopal and 55 km from Datia town.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who visited the spot and the hospital where the injured were admitted, asserted that the guilty will be punished at the earliest.

“A judicial inquiry will be done... It will be completed in two months. Once the report comes, within 15 days, the guilty will be punished,” he told journalists. He said the commission has been appointed.

“Since the judicial inquiry report will take time to come, depending on the feedback, administrative responsibility will be fixed. We will seek the Election Commission’s permission so that we can take action against those found guilty,” he said.

The state government later suspended

District Magistrate Sanket Bhondwe, Superintendent of Police Chandrashekhar Solanki, Tejaswi and Sub-Divisional Police Officer B.N. Basawe after taking permission from the election commission, mandatory since the model code of conduct is in place ahead of assembly elections November 25.

The stampede at the Ratangarh temple on the last day of the Navratras was sparked by a rumour that the bridge to it had collapsed and police’s use of force to control the crowd. Women and children were trampled in the stampede while many people jumped into the river.

Datia’s Chief Medical Officer S.R. Gupta said post-mortems had been conducted on 109 of the dead and the bodies were

returned to their families for the last rites.

Union Minister of State for Power Jyotiraditya Scindia also visited the area on Monday and met the victims. Attacking the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) without naming it, he said those doing politics in the name of god had killed off 300 people while the administration had only put the toll at 111.

He claimed the tragedy could have been prevented and attributed it to the incapacity of the government and the administration.

Chouhan later said that politics surrounding the tragedy is “unwanted” and that steps will be taken to avoid any such tragedies in future.

“The focus should be on attending to the injured and take steps to avoid any such incidents in the future,” he said in a comment on Twitter.

Relief work in full swing in north coastal Andhra

Relief and restoration work was in full swing in the cyclone Phailin-affected Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh, officials said in Hyderabad recently.

The rescue workers were busy providing relief to some villages inundated by the water from Vamsadhara River following heavy rains on October 12. The water level in the river is now receding.

All relief camps opened in Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Visakhapatnam districts were closed as the situation has improved, said a statement from the chief minister’s office.

Over 1.34 lakh people were evacuated from 294 villages in the three districts from October 11.

Phailin, which crossed the Odisha coast, damaged crops, roads, electricity and communication towers in Srikakulam districts, while two others districts were not affected by the cyclone.

One person died in a wall collapse in the Srikakulam district. Officials said the damage was not on the scale anticipated earlier.

Clear weather prevailed in Andhra on October 14. Fishermen also returned to the sea as the Indian Meteorological

Department (IMD) withdrew its warning.

Officials said electricity supply to mandal headquarters was restored, with supply to all villages to follow, except in a few cases of villages being inundated. About 700 people were engaged in restoring power supply.

Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy reviewed the relief work with Chief Secretary P.K.Mohanty Commissioner, Disaster Management, T.Radha and other officials.

Officials said relief and restoration works were being completed on a war footing. All damaged roads were repaired and cleared of the trees which fell due to strong winds.

Drinking water was being supplied through tankers and medical teams were attending to the affected people. Officials from Coconut Development Board, Bangalore, are reaching Srikakulam to assess the damages.

As per preliminary reports, paddy was inundated with over 6,192 hectares. Over 555 hectares of maize and over 145 hectares of sugarcane were damaged. Over 3,219 hectares of coconut trees were damaged, with over 929 hectares of cashew damaged.

The district administration has constituted teams to assess damages to fishermen, agriculture and horticulture.

Food prices push inflation to seven-month high

Driven by high prices of onions and other food items, India’s wholesale price inflation surged to 6.46% in September, the sharpest in seven months.

According to data released by the ministry of commerce and industry, the headline inflation, measured in terms of the Wholesale Price Index (WPI), accelerated to 6.46% in September.

The WPI had increased 6.10% in August as against 5.85% in July.

The headline inflation was recorded at 8.07% during September 2012. The food inflation for the month under review rose to 18.40% from 8.06% in the corresponding month of the previous year.

Prices of vegetables shot up by 89.37% in September, from a 6.73% deceleration in the corresponding month of 2012.

The prices of onions soared by 322.94% in the month under review from a fall of 24.69%.

Onion prices rose 244.62% year-onyear in August. Fruits became costlier by 13.54%, from 7.02% in the corresponding month of 2012.

Eggs, meat and fish became slightly costlier by 13.37%, from 13.22% recorded in September 2012.

Rice became costlier by 18.76% from 12.58% in September 2012.

Food inflation had accelerated by 18.18% in August on an year-on-year basis. In July, the food items became dearer by 11.9%.

Acceleration in inflation levels will make it difficult for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut rates and bring in cheap funds for the sluggish economy to grow.

However, it may even go in for a rate hike to check increasing prices.

The RBI is scheduled to meet and announce its monetary policy October 29.

Durga Puja ends in Bengal with idol immersion

With tears in their eyes, scrambling to touch her feet one last time, devotees across West Bengal bade goodbye to their beloved mother goddess Durga as her idols were immersed in ponds, lakes and rivers on Vijaya Dashami recently.

The banks of the Ganga and other rivers wore a festive look despite the slight drizzle, as puja organisers came in colourful processions to the accompaniment of drums to immerse idols of the goddess and her four children, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik.

Several huddled under umbrellas to watch the processions.

Hundreds of devotees, including the young, joined hands in gently lowering the idols into the river. An element of emptiness at the end of the biggest celebration in this part of the country overcame all and sundry, but they consoled themselves shouting “Asche bochor abar hobe” (see you next year).

Central Kolkata’s Babughat, a popular stretch on the Ganga, was the centre of attraction as it drew a large number of

fiberglass, in four thousand four hundred and seventy-nine parts), which re-invokes the speech delivered by Mahatma Gandhi on the eve of the historic 240 mile ‘Dandi March’, in London earlier this month. The piece features in the “Thinking Big” auction sale of contemporary sculpture and installation, a joint venture between Christie’s auction house and the Saatchi Gallery which takes

people, even from abroad, who soaked in the festive spirit. Most were clad in ethnic wear as they danced all the way to the ghat to the beats of the dhaak (drums).

Leading actors and actresses of the regional film industry were seen lending a hand to help the goddess during the immersion. Senior citizens played cymbals as the idols were lowered into the water while children splashed water on the submerging goddess.

The immersion ceremony symbolises the end of the goddess’s annual sojourn to her paternal home and she returns to her husband Lord Shiva at their heavenly abode in Mount Kailash.

Elaborate security arrangements by city police as well as civic authorities were in place on various ghats of the river to ensure that the immersion of the idols passed peacefully.

Officers of the Kolkata Police manned the riverfront to prevent onlookers from getting too close to the river. A special vigil was maintained from a watchtower near the ghat.

Cranes were deployed at certain ghats to lift and extricate the remains of idols from the river to avoid pollution. Additional lights have been put up at the immersion ghats and the flowers, levers and metallic weapons were dumped in separate vats to avoid polluting the river.

Other than maintaining law and order during immersion, the teams of river police and disaster management groups patrolled the river. Closed-circuit television cameras were installed at certain ghats, a senior police officer said.

More than 2,700 community pujas were organised in the city and their idols will be immersed in the river.

In the morning, married women smeared the goddess and her children with red vermilion and offered sweets and prayed for the well-being of their families and long lives of their husbands.

School students visited the marquees and kept their books and pens in front of the goddess, praying for her blessings for a good academic record.

As evening descended, large parts of the city got clogged as idols of big ticket community pujas were taken for immersion in big and colourful processions accompanied by a large number of devotees.

Late in the afternoon, however, most of the idols in residential apartments or houses of one-time zamindars were immersed after being carried manually as per tradition.

There were long queues before sweet shops as people started visiting relatives and friends to wish each other “Shubho Bijaya” (Happy Bijaya Dashami).

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also extended Bijaya Dashami and Dussehra greetings to the people through her official Facebook page.

India questions IMF’s lowered growth projections

India has joined issue with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the paring down of its growth rate from 5.6% to 3.8% since July, saying India didn’t share “this pessimistic outlook”.

“I would like to ask, respectfully, what is the information that IMF has gathered between July and September, that we do not have, that has impelled the Fund to drastically change the estimate?” Finance

A Kantapada villager in Jajpur district, Orissa, rescues food bags on15 October 2013. India’s most powerful cyclone in 14 years left a trail of destruction along the eastern coast and killed at least 22 people. The biggest evacuation in the country’s history, involving a million people, was credited with saving many lives

Minister P. Chidambaram asked recently.

“We do not share this pessimistic outlook,” he said addressing the plenary of the Fund’s steering International Monetary and Financial Committee at the Fund-World Bank’s just concluded annual meetings in Washington.

Noting that in some cases IMF projections have been revised downwards significantly in the very next update and have in the past often been at divergence with final growth numbers, he also stressed the “need for reviewing the methodology for growth projections”.

“There is no doubt that the Indian economy has suffered from a significant downturn this year,” Chidambaram acknowledged while pointing out that India has “taken several measures to put our economy on a sustainable growth path”.

Steps have been taken to ease supply constraints and improve the investment climate, and necessary measures have been initiated to contain the fiscal deficit and the current account deficit, he said.

Committed to the path of fiscal consolidation, the Indian government would not allow the red lines on the two deficits to be breached under any circumstances, Chidambaram said. “We are prepared to take difficult decisions in this regard, should the need arise,” he added.

Projects amounting to more than $64 billion have been cleared in the last few months. Once these projects come on stream, they should have an all-round salutary effect, he said.

Describing persistent inflation as another major challenge facing the Indian economy, he said India has taken measures to bring inflation down through a mix of demandside and supply-side policies.

At a press briefing recently, IMF’s Director, Asia and Pacific Department Anoop Singh had said IMF lowered its growth forecasts for India as “there has been fallout from recent stress”.

However, he acknowledged that corrective policies are being taken and “as a result, we expect growth to pick up in India next year”.

Asked about India’s disagreement with the IMF assessment, Anoop Singh suggested there wasn’t a “huge difference” between the growth projections and “the issue simply is how quickly the economy responds”.

“Going by historical evidence, it will take several quarters, and the economy may only fully recover next year,” he added by way of explanation. “I certainly hope that we are wrong and that the economy recovers faster and the lags are shorter”.

IIT-Roorkee working on easy-tear packaging, best healthcare models

Do you find it frustrating tearing open small ketchup sachets or other air-tight plastic packets? IIT-Roorkee is embarking on an innovative packaging technique that will not only tear easily, but will be bio-degradable.

Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT-R), situated in the hilly state of Uttarakhand, is also embarking on two other projects, providing the best of healthcare at affordable costs to remote villages in the hill state as well as effective water harvesting and waste water management in the hills.

Three centres of excellence are being developed by students and faculty of the premier institution - Centre for Urban Design and Development, Centre for Packaging and Centre for Healthcare Engineering.

“I call these centres of excellence because they are very different from the academic entity. It is how we can leverage the strengths of our researchers and then reach society and help them,” IIT-Roorkee director Pradipta Banerji said recently.

Elaborating on the packaging technology, Banerji said: “Whenever you have to open ketchup packets it is difficult to tear them and the contents spill out. We are working to develop easy and flexible packaging for the Indian market. It will be a blend of paper pulp and polymer technology”.

IIT-Roorkee is the only IIT that has pulp and paper technology and

polymer science departments.

“The centre will bring together the students and teachers to create biodegradable innovative and flexible packaging,” he said.

“The Indian market is in dire need of easy packaging technology”.

Banerji said he is keen to take the best of healthcare provided by speciality hospital chains to remote villages in the state.

“We want to deliver the best and affordable healthcare to the remotest villages, like in Mana, which is situated in Chamoli district. Our effort is to be able to deliver the same healthcare which Max Hospital in Dehradun delivers,” said Banerji.

The centre will also be working on a design for a hospital setup, complete with proper sanitation and a well-planned structure of construction and hospital management. It would work as a basic design for setting up future large healthcare centres in the state.

Researchers from the department of nuclear science, electrical engineering, chemistry and biotechnology will work to develop an effective healthcare model, he said.

For optimum water utilisation in the hill state, IIT-Roorkee is also working on rain water harvesting, waste water recycling and water management. This would help farmers with irrigating their terrace farms.

The Centre for Urban Design and Development will bring together students and teachers of architectural planning, civil and electronics engineering and the departments of earth and earthquake sciences to develop models for waste management, he said.

“We are also looking at a couple of villages as pilot sites around which these water management projects will be developed. However, this project will be taken forward only after close interaction with the people of the region so that their wants and aspirations are fulfilled,” he said.

The director is hopeful the institution will be able to deliver on the projects.

From dancing to drums and everything in-between, the festival was a huge hit!

Parramasala 2013

Photos: Cynthia Sciberras

Parramasala

At the last Council meeting in September, was fortunate to be re-elected by my fellow Councillors to serve as Liverpool City Council’s Deputy Mayor for another term. I am committed to working with Mayor Ned Mannoun and my fellow Councillors to help transform Liverpool into a thriving economic hub of South West Sydney.

So we can achieve this vision Council recently launched Growing Liverpool 2023 which forms the strategic road map for the future investment, growth and development of our City. The plan outlines the role each of us play in helping our region reach its full potential.

Growing Liverpool 2023 was developed with the feedback of more than 3,500 residents, businesses and community groups. Congratulations to the residents who entered Liverpool’s 2013 Spring Garden Awards held last month, particularly all of the winners. As a keen gardener I know how much effort and work goes into maintaining a garden, let alone bringing it up to competition standard. Well done!

Mazhar Hadid, Deputy Mayor

examples of this have been identified by the

creates distress

anti-corruption court or ICAC in New South

In the United States, the first task of an government from scratch. Such appointments can take some time and important cabinet chambers (the Senate and the House of Representatives). This is especially true in the first term

President Obama decided very quickly after he took office to appoint some Republicans in his Government. It was a question of acquiring some well experienced staff who had a deep knowledge of the problems that the nation

administration is facing a crisis as the House of Representatives is stubbornly refusing to permit the Government to borrow money to Similar situations have existed in Australia, such as during the General sacked the Whitlam Government because it could not get supply through the

The Abbott Government is currently in the phase of addressing the problem of manning Coalition had made no secret that it would reduce the number of public servants. Soon after taking office, the Climate Commission, headed by the outspoken Tim Flannery, was dismissed. The members of that Commission have decided to form a sort of think-tank and use an internet site to inform the public about the growing concerns regarding climate

The next exodus of high profile members

National Broadband Network. The Minister concerned, Malcolm Turnbull, has not accepted their

The world is currently watching House of Representatives in the USA does not show any signs of being resolved. That battle is over a bill to enable the public service to be adequately funded. President Obama says that the Republicans are holding a gun to the head of the government, to

The unacceptable bill has not been put to the vote presumably because a number of Republicans have revolted, and wish to end the impasse. If the USA cannot get the bill passed, the entire country could get downgraded and it will find difficulty in borrowing money. This could set off a global financial crisis, the effects of which could threaten the economics of many nations in Europe and Asia.

Why do South Asians love political dynasties?

South Asian cultures still defer to traditional authority, while Western cultures strongly question it

BY tAnveer AHMed

Afew weeks ago, on a cold, blustery evening in Sydney, close to fifty people gathered in a seminar room at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). They were predominantly Bangladeshi men in their forties and fifties. Most worked as taxi drivers or in restaurants, in contrast with the professional and skilled migration in the majority of the South Asian community.

Their purpose was to honour Mr Tarique Rahman, the son of Khaleda Zia exiled in the United Kingdom. He had published a book from a range of contributors complimenting his ideas of a grassroots revival in Bangladesh, and extolling his virtues as a future leader. The night involved speeches from several political figures, including former Liberal candidate for the seat of Kingsford Smith Professor Michael Fenely, and Pakistani born NSW Greens Upper House MP Mehreen Faruqi.

What was striking was the reverence and devotion shown towards Mr Rahman, in spite of him having no discernible worldly achievements, other than being the son of a former leader. The crowd regularly burst into cries of ‘Bangladesh zindabad!” (Long live Bangladesh), a cry common in both Pakistan and Bangladesh.

tradition. “We have never had anything quite like the Kennedys,” says ANU fellow Norman Abjorensen to the Crikey website, “but there have been political families prominent on all sides of politics, like the Playfords (Thomas II and Sir Thomas IV), Downers (Sir John, Sir Alec and Alexander), Creans (Frank, Simon and David) and the Anthonys (Larry, Larry Jnr and Doug)”.

But there are few regions in the world so powerfully tied to dynastic rule than the countries of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. At the heart of this trend lies relationships and outlooks towards authority. Asian cultures still tend to defer to figures of authority and elders and emphasise duty, while Western countries celebrate the questioning of traditional authority. The sociologist Max Weber, known for popularising the notion of the ‘Protestant Ethic’ categorised authority into legal, traditional and charismatic types.

It appears in countries like India and Pakistan, we still have great respect for traditional forms of authority such as those with links to former leaders. This is similar to monarchs, where there was a belief that a king or queen had authority tied with God or higher powers from their birthright, regardless of any worldly qualifications.

Asian cultures still tend to defer to figures of authority and elders and emphasise duty, while Western countries celebrate the questioning of traditional authority

The behaviour of the crowd was a reminder of the great power and endurance of political dynasties in the South Asian region, with political families dominating the landscape, if not holding the key positions of power. The Nehru dynasty in India is one of the most enduring political families that ruled the country for 37 years across 3 generations. Jawaharlal Nehru ruled from 1947 to 1964; his daughter Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister during 1966-1977 and again in 1980-1984; and her son Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister during 1984-1989. Rajiv’s son Rahul Gandhi is a rising force and is tipped to be a future leader.

There are of course, the Bhuttos in Pakistan, whose family’s shadow continue to threaten the stability of Pakistani politics at every turn. More recently, the youthful son of Asif Zardari and Benazir, Bilawal, has been rapidly elevated to the Chairman of the Paksitan People’s Party.

Both female leaders in Bangladesh, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina, derive their authority from their links with past male leaders, former Prime Ministers General Zia and Mujibur Rahman.

Political dynasties have resonance everywhere, not just in the developing world. Take for example the Kennedys or Clintons in the US. Australia does not have the same

Professor Mark Thompson is an academic at the University of Hong Kong and studies political trends in Asia. He believes the weak institutional structure of countries within South Asia are a key reason for the endurance of dynastic authority.

“Political dynasties are modern hybrids in which elite political aims are linked to popular norms of charismatic legitimacy… they provide key advantages in a context of weak institutions or institutional decay,” he says. There is no reason that a relative of a politician should not enter politics. It is no different to taking over the family business in some respects and of course, there is much knowledge handed down to children, regardless of what jobs their parents do.

But to what extent is a reliance on dynasties a marker of immaturity and a society that remains highly stratified from a class or social basis? In many respects, political dynasties legitimise the status quo, continue to attach privilege to birth and dilutes the progression towards healthy democracy. For all the positives our culture has towards embracing authority and our elders, we have too much deference to authority and hierarchy for its own sake.

There needs to much greater scrutiny and outright cynicism whenever a relative of a prominent political family seeks to acquire power through entitlement and not achievement.

Pride and reconciliation

Life is too short to hold grudges, particularly within the family

friendship is lost. Occasionally, strong friendship ties that existed in the past help to resolve it. When such quarrels exist in adult relationships, it is indeed a sad state of affairs.

Not so long ago, I came across a family who were scattered all over the world with no contact between them. We hear of such break-ups and wonder how it could have started? Perhaps an unresolved argument about a trivial matter, a disagreement about a family decision, or just a simple misunderstanding. Who knows? Was it an unresolved resentment simmering below the surface that was vented in an argument that led to the standoff?

If good friends and close family members do not have the humility to make amends and bring back the closeness they once shared, how will they ever be considerate to others?

BY SAroJA SrInIvASAn

Have you ever wondered why or how best friends and family members stop talking to each other for years?

What is it that each find so difficult to extend the olive branch and make amends? They find it so hard to say ‘let bygones be bygones’

and start again. Is it pride? Is it an overvalued sense of their own selfrighteousness and self-importance that stops them from crossing the bridge to shake the other’s hand? Is it stubbornness or a lack of willingness to improve the situation? Many people confuse the courage that is required to make an effort to say sorry, as weakness. In fact, the opposite is true, as it takes a courageous person to have the modesty to take the first steps to clear the air.

Far too often people forget that life is too precious and too short to carry grudges. If good friends

Sadly, whatever the reason, pride and ego seem to come in the way of an amicable resolution. Repeatedly we find that a sense of empathy and understanding is sadly lacking when such resentments remain unresolved over several years. The longer it remains unresolved, the harder it becomes. It is very important to sort out differences quickly and aim to come to a resolution even if it means agreeing to disagree, so that the doors of communication remain open. An old saying comes to mind: ‘Never go to bed angry and upset after an argument,’ which really means resolve conflicts quickly, preferably on the same day.

The bonds of family and close friendships are surely worth preserving, whatever it takes and close family members do not have the humility to make amends and bring back the closeness they once shared, how will they ever be considerate to others? One may wonder how they would react if someone crossed their path, even accidentally. Their stubbornness to see another’s point of view could cost them heavily. During teenage years, it is common to come across rivalry between friends, with petty arguments leading to stand-offs. Sometimes many such situations never resolve and a precious chance to start a life-long close

If we stop for a moment and realise how many people do not have a family to call their own, either from birth, or due to a totally unforseen accident, the luxury and privilege of being part of a family unit or enjoying close friendships becomes very precious. One has to have maturity and humility to value it and preserve it at all costs. This effort has to

come from both parties. When each refuses to start the process of making-up, waiting for the other to make the move could mean the moment of reconciliation is lost forever. The bonds of family and close friendships are surely worth preserving, whatever it takes.

Healthy diwali

It’s time to put away those sweets and swap them for fruit, fragrances and fun candles

Another year has gone by and festival season is back again! India can never be complete without its special foods and good hospitality, and Diwali, the festival of lights, is the most awaited festival of India. And at this time, anyone even talking about dieting or healthy eating is deemed to be very unpopular.

It has been seen over the years that, right after the festival season, the rate of obesity and diabetes goes up. Therefore, experts warn that this festival fun, and not least, the culture of sweet-eating that peaks at the time, can trigger long-term health problems, with diabetes only at the start. But with festivities all around it is very difficult to stay focused and adhere to a strict diet. It might start with a bite here and a bite there, but before we know we have suddenly eaten an extra plate full of extra calories. Counting calories at festivals is a big challenge.

Diwali is not complete without exchanging gifts for friends and family. The tradition of gifting mithai is a very old tradition. But many a time these days with people being a little calorie conscious, they do not tend to consume these and either the sweets are wasted or are passed from one family to the next. So this Diwali, why not be a little untraditional and gift everyone the gift of health. Look a little more closely at gifts, and try to combine taste with health. Here are a few ideas.

Fruit basket

A fruit basket is the healthiest gift you can give anyone. Fill it up with different exotic fruits and give family and friends the perfect gift of health. According to dietary guidelines, we should have at least two serves of fruit and five serves of vegetables every day, but most of us do not even have one piece of fruit a day. Fruits such as oranges, limes, mangoes, strawberries, rockmelon, and pineapple are excellent sources of vitamin C that help to heal cuts and wounds, build up our immune system and keep our

gums and teeth healthy. Bananas, prunes, dried peaches, apricots, honeydew, melons and oranges are good sources of potassium. Fruits are also a good source of fibre. Some fruits, such as avocadoes and olives are excellent sources of unsaturated fats.

Nuts and dried fruit

Nuts and dried fruit are always a great healthy gift idea. Prepare a basket, or a beautifully decorated thali with a bountiful array of different nuts such as walnuts, almonds, macadamias, Brazil nuts, or others, and exotic dried fruit, such as dates, dried apricots, peaches, pitted prunes or dried apples. Nuts are an excellent source of protein and unsaturated fats and dried fruits are an excellent source of fibre, as well as an ideal replacement to desserts and sweets.

Healthy desserts

If you are home and have time to prepare some desserts, these would be the ideal and most thoughtful gift. Try and use low fat ingredients like low fat milk and other dairy

products. Use natural sweeteners like honey and dates to make sweets, and avoid using refined sugar or artificial sweeteners. You can also improve the nutritional value by using wholemeal flour and adding some fruit, such as berries and bananas, nuts and dried fruit.

Herbs and seasonings

With everyone bringing in sweets, wouldn’t it be good to spice up your gift baskets with some fresh herbs, spices, condiments and healthy salad dressings. An exotic basket with bottles of herbs, spices, and a bottle of olive oil, some seasonings and a bottle of balsamic vinegar or Dijon mustard is sure to be a welcome gift. This gift is not only for Diwali, as it is not perishable, and your friends can enjoy its contents for months (except for the fresh herbs that is).

Basket full of tea

We Indians love a cup of chai. And giving someone the gift of tea means giving them the opportunity to stop, relax and enjoy the moment, time and time again. Prepare a basket full of different

types of tea such as herbal, Tulsi, green tea, organic tea, or flavoured tea, and present it to them.

Gift of light

Do not limit yourself to just sweet hampers; try to broaden your horizon and focus on other gifts too. Diwali being the festival of lights, pick up a variety of light symbols such as diyas and candles, such as wax diyas, brass diyas, Lakshmi and Ganesh diyas. Attractive lanterns and lamps can also be gifted.

Home fragrances

Home fragrances, such as Diwali incense sticks, floating candles, fragrant sachets available in a large range of fragrances such as lemongrass, rose, orange and sandal might last for a long time.

The size of the gift should not matter, as even the smallest of gifts can be made to look elegant, but it is the thought that counts. So this Diwali let’s give our friends and family thoughtful gifts, instead of giving for the sake of giving!

With every one bringing in sweets, wouldn’t it be good to spice up your gift baskets with some fresh herbs, spices, condiments and healthy salad dressings

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Truly the best for less

Top travel company Best & Less wins prestigious awards

Best & Less just keep on doing it. In September they won Top Retail Agent for the Indian subcontinent in both Australia and New Zealand, at a function held in Kulalumpur.

In June this year they also took out the Singapore Airlines award for the Top Agent of NSW for the Indian subcontinent, which they have proudly won for the past eight years! Yes, eight years in a row.

In addition to all of these, Best & Less have also won the Sabre Pacific (airline booking system) 2012 award for being the top performing agent of Australia and New Zealand, at a function held in south Korea.

Best & less travel, the largest travel agent which sells tickets to the Indian subcontinent, have kept their cheapest airfare guarantee from day one, which was a whole 18 years ago.

and Melbourne city, as well as having plans to open more stores

in the future as they continue to expand. Their goal is to serve their customers with the best possible service at cheaper prices, which is hard to argue with.

IndIan VedIc & LaL KItab RemedIaL astRoLogy

Vastu

Match Making/Guna Milan

Shubh Muhurat for the important occasions

Removal of Pitri Rin/Dev Rin/Kanya Rin Your

little Miss Sunshine

Manvi Rastogi’s latest painting has been chosen for display at a prestigious public location, reports FARZANA SHAKIR

It is every young artist’s dream to have their painting hung in a public place where it can be admired by throngs of people everyday. Manvi Rastogi is just eight, and has already achieved this distinction. Her painting Sunshine Town is one of a handful chosen from the Operation Art Exhibition to be displayed for a year at the head office of NSW Commission for Children and Young People, before being hung permanently at one of the state’s regional hospitals.

Manvi is a veteran of Operation Art, an initiative of the Westmead Children’s Hospital, in association with the New South Wales Department of Education and Communities. The Premier’s state-wide exhibition provides a platform for schools and students from kindergarten to year 10 to demonstrate their visual arts achievements through exhibitions at the Armory Gallery, Sydney Olympic Park and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

All schools from the state are invited to enter four paintings into the exhibition. The contestants are encouraged to create cheerful and uplifting artworks suitable for display in hospitals. All entries find a place in the exhibitions, and 50 are chosen to become part of the permanent collection at the Westmead Children’s Hospital.

Manvi’s paintings have been making the cut for the past three years from Haberfield Public School, but this is the first time her work has been chosen for the permanent collection. Her winning entry this year is a bright watercolour and oil pastel landscape created on A2 size poster paper.

Speaking to Indian Link, Megha Rastogi was rightly proud of her daughter’s achievement admitting that “It is very encouraging to have Manvi reach this level. Her success has reinstated in us that we need to support her talent even more”. Manvi receives no formal training in art, but her artistic flair is inherent from her mum and maternal grandmother.

Sunshine Town is a brightly coloured piece featuring a large sun overlooking houses nestled on a hill. “It represents love, hope, peace and happiness,” explained Manvi.

Megha observed that her daughter’s paintings often include a big, bright sun, which to her, signifies the positivity, hope and happiness that the child is trying to convey through her art. the last two years I had been painting animals for Operation Art, so this time I wanted to do something different,” Manvi said talking about Sunshine Town wanted to draw mountains and houses”. She took to the internet and sifted through picture books for inspiration to come up with the unique piece.

Manvi loves to paint animals and buildings. She experiments with varied mediums like watercolour, acrylics and oil pastels, but admits her favourite is watercolours. She is a quick painter, revealing her winning entry Sunshine Town took only 45 minutes to complete.

Manvi is not sure whether she wants to be an artist when she grows up, because there is so much to explore yet. In addition to indulging in her painting pursuits, Manvi sticks to a wholesome schedule of

swimming, cricket, photography and the violin, which feature prominently in her life. But she also innocently admits, “what I enjoy most is cooking with my mum”.

Apart from Operation Art, Manvi has participated in the Harmony Day competition every year and has entered and won the K-Mart Art Competition in the past. She is always on the hunt for more competitions and is

planning on continuing to participate in Operation Art.

The exhibition at Armory Gallery is on until October 27 and with a record 897 entries, the 2013 Operation Art offers a unique opportunity to witness the creativity of Manvi and other young masters in the making, for free.

Sunshine

Town is a brightly coloured piece featuring a large sun overlooking houses nestled on a hill. “It represents love, hope, peace and happiness,” explained Manvi

Hide your age

A few simple tips can conceal the signs of ageing and make you look younger and more attractive

s we age, patchy skin, crow’s feet, wrinkles and dull skin are dead giveaways to our age. But if you already have a good skin care routine, a few make up tricks can make you look years younger and leave people guessing your true age.

To retain younger looking skin for a long time, it is important to have a skin care routine from your twenties. A cleansing, toning, moisturising routine gradually incorporating a weekly facemask and exfoliating treatment, works for most people. The important thing is to choose products according to your skin type.

Once a woman hits her 40s and 50s, or is closer to or past menopause, the skin can get drier. Age spots and patchy skin are also some of the signs of ageing skin. Here is where modern day makeup comes in that hides flaws, highlights your best features and makes you look younger.

Lay it on thin

An important point to remember is not to cake on the foundation or concealer in thick layers, as that will only highlight your wrinkles and fine lines. Use a cream based foundation to cover any blotches or dark patches on your skin. Use a stick or a liquid foundation that can spread over the skin easily with your fingertips, without having to pull at the skin. If you don’t want it to look caked and thick, apply moisturiser before applying foundation, it will blend better.

Also, don’t forget the neck area, as that is usually the most obvious sign of one’s age. Blend the foundation all over your neck and jawbone. First apply foundation in dots all around the area, then blend in an upward direction with the fingers.

Eye openers

With age, our eyelids begin to droop, not to mention crow’s feet for those of us who squint in the sun or smoke. What often happens

is that one applies kohl or eyeliner to the lower lid and because the skin is not so firm anymore, it tends to smudge. Instead, apply liner and mascara on the top eyelid only. This solves two problems with one stroke, no smudging and the mascara opens up your eyes. If you absolutely must use liner on the lower lid, go for gel liners which are easy to apply and take off.

For fine lines and wrinkles around the eye region, concealer should work, but be sure it is in a shade that compliments your skin, or the attempt to hide dark circles will only make you look more tired.

An effective way to hide wrinkles in the upper eyelid is to wear eyeshadow. I know of a cosmetologist in her 50s who is never seen without it. Her own products keep her skin looking young, but the giveaway signs around the eyes are camouflaged to a large extent with eyeshadow. Go for shades of burnt orange or copper as they work best with Indian skin tones.

If you wear mascara daily and find taking it off every night is a chore, you can always consider professional eyelash tinting.

While dealing with the eyelashes, don’t forget your eyebrows. Make sure you have them in shape at all times, with the extra growth threaded off. Also, if, like me, you have a very thin growth at

the start of your eyebrows, use a brow pencil to fill in the gaps and give the brows a shape. Only don’t make them too thick or dark as that looks artificial.

Luscious lips

Our mouth and the area around the lips can also reveal our age. I have noticed especially in Australia that women who smoke have several vertical lines above their upper lip. To avoid these, besides obviously not smoking, one should consciously relax facial muscles regularly. As for the fine lines, the concealer should do the trick.

However, it is important to choose lipsticks carefully. I always go for the ones with extra moisture or those that have a very creamy texture. They are easy to apply and the moisture keeps the lips from looking dry.

Shades from the colour palette of brown, rose, nudes or berry work well. Go for the brighter shades as they can make your lips look larger and the full effect gives you a younger look. A coat of gloss also adds to the full appearance.

Cheek chic

The most problematic area can be the region of the cheeks as this is the largest portion of the face that is visible, so any blemishes there are immediately noticed. While the concealer and foundation may

have taken care of the patchy skin and fine lines, you need to give them a touch of blush to look good and to complete your look. I prefer the powder blushes as one can apply a really thin coat and not look made up. The creamy ones can cake up as you already have the foundation layer below, which is cream based.

A layer of separation must be created between the foundation and the blush, with a coat of translucent powder. Then apply the blush, preferably in pale shades of peach, rose or nude onto the apples of your cheeks towards your hairline. This will make your face look younger. Blend it well so that the blush doesn’t look like two red blotches on your cheeks.

Body tips

This is something everyone knows but no one follows: go easy on the caffeine and drink 7-8 glasses of water a day. The water flushes out the toxins from the skin and helps to keep it firm and moisturised.

Also, avoid using very hot water while showering; it is better to shower in the morning than at night, as the daytime humidity hydrates the skin and the moisturiser you apply keeps it trapped in.

Other than that, meditative practices, exercises and yoga are all great contributors to younger looking skin.

To retain younger looking skin for a long time, it is important to have a skin care routine from your twenties

If you wear mascara daily and find taking it off every night is a chore, you can always consider professional eyelash tinting

nnAl KHonA

It’s time to move on

Senior sportsmen present a myopic view on cricketer Fawad Ahmed’s religious beliefs, despite unstinted support for him from Cricket Australia

suggest that by refusing to wear the VB logo, Ahmed was in breach of his contract. It begs belief that a former coach of the predominantly Muslim Pakistani cricket team could trivialise the issue so readily.

BY rItAM MItrA

It’s a mark of modern times that foreign-born athletes can represent their adopted countries with pride on the sporting field. Indeed, in the 2011 census, it was revealed that over a quarter of the population was born overseas. It’s no surprise that foreign-born athletes have become ubiquitous in all Australian sports, think tennis player Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia), former Wallaby Clyde Rathbone (South Africa), and boxer Kostya Tszyu (Russia). Australia also recently welcomed its first ever Muslim test cricketer in Usman Khawaja.

But recent comments regarding Fawad Ahmed, who was in 2012 granted asylum as a refugee from Pakistan, serve to remind us that Australian cricket, at all its senior representative levels, has rarely been representative of the varying demographics of its adoring population.

Fawad Ahmed played ten first class matches in Pakistan before fleeing to Australia in 2010 as an asylum seeker. In Pakistan, Ahmed had been involved with a non-government organisation that sought to provide education to women, and this allegedly led to threats being made against

him by extremists. After fleeing to Australia, he began playing cricket with Melbourne University and working in a warehouse, but his claim for asylum was initially rejected. It must be noted, however, that heavy support shown by Cricket Australia (CA) led to ministerial intervention through which Ahmed eventually become a permanent resident in late 2012. Ahmed later had his citizenship fast-tracked through the enactment of Commonwealth legislation, lobbied for again, by CA.

CA’s expanded role in promoting an inclusive and more representative culture at the elite level was made even clearer when they first approached Ahmed to ask whether he would be comfortable wearing clothing with the Victoria Bitter logo, given he was a practising Muslim and did not drink alcohol. After Ahmed suggested that he would be uncomfortable wearing the logos, CA produced special uniforms for Ahmed.

And that would have been the end of the matter, but, as happens with those who find themselves in the public spotlight, someone will always have another word to say.

First came the inevitable racist comments on Twitter, which CA Chief Executive James Sutherland appropriately condemned. Indeed, Sutherland expressed that “CA is fully supportive of Fawad’s personal beliefs and he is a valued and popular member of the Australian cricket team and the

wider cricket community”. But it was not good enough for some.

Last month, former Australian batsman, Doug Walters, took offence to Ahmed’s choice saying, “I think if he doesn’t want to wear the team gear, he should not be part of the team. Maybe if he doesn’t want to be paid that’s okay”. This formed part of a revealing Daily Telegraph piece that only highlighted the myopic view of some of the country’s other ageing statesmen.

Geoff Lawson, the former fast bowler and Pakistan team coach, thought there were contractual issues that arose, announcing that, “If you don’t agree with the terms you have a choice as to whether you work somewhere else. Players should be able to object on a number of moral grounds… as long as they don’t accept the payments the sponsor provides”.

To begin with, Walters and Lawson both missed the memo from Victoria Bitter themselves. A Carlton & United Breweries (CUB) spokeswoman said, “We support the approach taken in the case of Fawad’s shirt,” and there is no doubting the fact that Ahmed’s declination to wear the sponsor’s logo would have been an absolute blessing for CUB. Ahmed, a quiet, humble, respectful, and as of yet a relatively unknown cricketer, would certainly not have been a marketer’s dream, but VB instead enjoyed a tremendous boost in publicity, ironically as a result of the logo Ahmed wasn’t wearing. Secondly, Lawson’s comments

Ahmed reached an agreement with CA not to wear the logo, and it is almost certain that this agreement was honoured in writing within his contract, which lends Lawson’s argument no weight whatsoever. In any case, it does not matter that the agreement may not have been explicitly set out in Ahmed’s initial player’s contract, as the subsequent negotiation and consensus between all parties, including CUB CA and Ahmed, would still have legal effect, whether oral or written. Even great cricketers such as Lawson and Walters would not seek to challenge centuries of common law contract principles.

The best (or worst, depending on how amusing you find his bigotry) comments were made by the former rugby international, David Campese. If you’re struggling to make the connection between Fawad Ahmed, CA and David Campese, don’t worry, others did too. On his Twitter account, Campese applauds Walters, writing, “Well said Doug, tell him to go home”. When reminded that the South African batsman Hashim Amla also refuses to wear a South African sponsor’s logos for the same reasons, Campese’s retort was certainly worth a read, if for pure entertainment value, “It is SA. Who knows what the deal is? And I don’t care. At least Doug Walter (sic) cares. Which is a start. Great player”. Sutherland denounced Campese’s tweets unequivocally, although the tweets themselves probably discredited the man adequately.

Australia got its cricket from England, but as much as we berate the ‘Whinging Poms,’ they’re a generation ahead of us in their attitude towards and acceptance and inclusion of players with foreign backgrounds. Players such as Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah, Monty Panesar, Sajid Mahmood and Adil Rashid are standouts with sub-continental roots. Then there are players with South African backgrounds, including Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott and Matt Prior.

Sutherland expressed that “CA is fully supportive of Fawad’s personal beliefs and he is a valued and popular member of the Australian cricket team and the wider cricket community”

There may be a quiet murmur here or there regarding the presence of so many players of South African origin on the team sheet, but if anyone knows how to take pride in their national team, it’s the English.

It is refreshing and exciting to see CA initiatives aimed at increasing cross-cultural awareness and take-up of the game from a grassroots level.

CA recently announced that two community rookie contracts would be offered by each BBL team in an effort to “provide opportunities to players who might not otherwise be identified as one of Australian cricket’s pathway programs; players from rural communities, indigenous backgrounds, low socio-economic areas and those from non-English speaking backgrounds”. The CA drive makes sense, many junior representative sides will feature young talents from a variety of backgrounds, but at the higher levels the numbers dwindle. Now, with the likes of Ashton Agar, Gurinder Sandhu and Fawad Ahmed at the highest level, it’s time to cast off the shackles of times gone by.

Because at the end of the day, the best 11 players should represent Australia on the cricket field. It should be enough that a player chooses to represent Australia. After all, since when did wearing a sponsor’s logo make you an Australian? It’s time to move on from the past.

tendulkar to retire! t

The little master will have much to contribute to Indian cricket, writes VETURI SRIVATSA

he greatness of Sachin Tendulkar is that he has never been dropped from the Indian team in any form of cricket, barring a bizarre decision to rest him from the OneDay Internationals (ODI) on the last tour to Australia. That’s an awesome record.

Only he decided to call time, last year from ODIs and now from Test cricket. He is going out at a time and place of his choosing, not at the prompting of others, whatever be the speculation over his meetings with the cricket board officials or the national selectors.

For quite some time Tendulkar’s retirement had become a national obsession, everyone had an opinion. Now the cynics have started saying that he didn’t want to go to South Africa and face the fearsome fast bowlers, and so he got the board to quickly arrange for a two-Test series at home against the West Indies to reach the milestone of playing 200 Tests. What’s more, he wanted to do it at his home, Mumbai.

It’s uncharitable to point a finger at the great man’s integrity. Even if he indeed wants to play his final Test in front of his home crowd, what’s wrong with that?

Tendulkar’s exit was very much on the cards after his two other famous contemporaries, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman, decided to call it a day in the last couple of years. Only he will reveal why he chose to stay on after his career ambition of winning the World Cup was fulfilled.

Now some well-wishers might say he should have hung around to celebrate his Silver Jubilee in international cricket next year before walking off the field, but like timing his shots he knew exactly when to go.

Tendulkar has been a star right from the day he played his first Test in Pakistan as a 16-year-old. On his second tour in New Zealand, he was mobbed by fans wherever India played and called him ‘Boy Wonder’. He chose his matches and tours till the team management found a way to rest him in a bizarre rotation policy in the ODIs on the recent tour of Australia in 2011-12. There were stretches when he could not attain the bar he has set for himself. Just as it took 370 days for him to get his 100th hundred, there was a time when he had only a couple of hundreds against Bangladesh to show. There was a spell when his overseas averages

fell. Yes, there was a time when he could not cross the 30-run mark in nine Test innings.

Curiously, his landmark knocks came against Bangladesh. Just as he picked Bangladesh to hit his 100th hundred, he chose to get his highest international score, 248 not out in a Test in Dhaka in 2004.

In the last seven years or so there have been noises that he should go. Someone coined that terrible headline ‘Endulkar’. Nothing ruffled him. He answered his critics with his bat.

Watching and following his cricket all these years has been one of the pleasures of making a living as a reporter. On that 1989-90 New Zealand tour, he got all the freedom and protection he needed to enjoy himself. Those were the days when on tours there was not so much of nitpicking by the media.

Tendulkar was the talking point wherever people discussed cricket. “What’s special about that kid,” everyone in New Zealand wanted to know. “I can’t imagine a 16-year-old facing Richard Hadlee who has taken 400 Test

wickets,” said an amateur painter as he sketched the ambiance of Christchurch, the garden city with Gothic architecture in South Island, as a memento to be given to him.

As a batsman, Tendulkar is a cut above two of his great contemporaries, Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting. But both have no hesitation to admit that Tendulkar has something extra to make him a class apart.

The only time he betrayed his emotions was in the aftermath of the 2007 World Cup disaster in the Caribbean. There were shrill calls for his head and he publicly ticked off the then coach Greg Chappell, inviting a show-cause from the Indian cricket board.

Anyone who has played with Tendulkar unreservedly says that he has benefited by his ability to convey the finer points of the game.

Tendulkar always talked of his senior colleagues with respect. He was all praise for Laxman after their record 353-run fourthwicket partnership in the 2004 Sydney Test. Seeing Laxman hit

30 fours in his innings of 178 to Tendulkar’s 33 in his unbeaten 241, he put the artistry of ‘VVS’ in perspective.

“When Laxman was playing those shots, I decided it was best to just watch and enjoy his batting rather than try to do what he was doing”.

Tendulkar had to make minor adjustments to his technique over the years, mostly necessitated by injuries. But he has never been a slow couch in the field and patrolled the deep boundaries.

None of his contemporaries, or his huge league of admirers, including some greats of the game, seemed to be able to find any human weakness in him. This is quite unlike Don Bradman, who was not spared by his teammates, who found chinks in his persona even as they praised him sky-high as a cricketer.

Sachin, his admirers say, is more humane and likeable, though as a captain he appeared too stubborn, refusing to deviate from his pet fads.

“I look forward to playing my 200th Test Match on home soil, as

I call it a day,” he said.

Seldom has a player caught the imagination of cricket fans as he did. Tendulkar was the talking point wherever people discussed cricket. That continued and will continue even after his retirement. He will still have much to contribute to Indian cricket.

What was your favourite tendulkar trademark shot?

• His crisp back-foot punch through the covers

• His impeccable straight drive

• His cheeky upper cut

• His serene flick off the pads

VoT e o NLIN e: http://wp.me/p1oxkz-3Ds

IP Hor

Ilove train journeys. I enjoy the speed, rattle, occasional jerks and most importantly, gazing through the window at the rolling scenery outside. So when in Italy recently, I obviously opted for the railways, rather than flying.

Like the rest of Europe, the rail network in Italy is well developed. It offers the best of efficiency and comfort, and its outstanding record of punctuality gives a traveller more time to explore the nation’s uncountable sights.

You arrive at Rome and savour its history, then hop onto a superfast train to explore Florence’s Renaissance architecture, discover Venice’s canals at that perfect and romantic destination, and finish off the trip in Milan, Italy’s football city and the world’s fashion capital. I followed this itinerary and got a great taste of Italy.

Rome, the Eternal City

Arriving at the nation’s capital city, I sensed over two millenniums of history in the air that is filled with memories of Caesar, Nero, Michelangelo, Raphael and many other Roman greats who have contributed to build and beautify this city. This is the point from where the mighty Roman Empire expanded, Catholicism blossomed and European art and culture were epitomised.

Flanking the famous

thoroughfare Via Veneto, the grand Regina Baglioni Hotel where I resided was charmingly close to the city’s iconic landmarks, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Colosseum, the Forum and the Vatican City, dominated by St Peter’s Basilica and the Sistine Chapel. Visiting all of them proved to me why Rome ranks as one of the world’s most visited destinations. Delightfully, almost all of these sites can be spotted if one occupies the hotel’s 560sq/m luxury penthouse suite, which offers the best overview of the city, but at a price.

The two museums that drew my attention were the Borghese Gallery which exhibits many master creations of Bernini, celebrated as the father of Baroque style; and Capitoline Museum where artefacts simply mesmerise visitors.

Roma Termini is the city’s main railway station. With 29 platforms and over 150 million passengers each year, it is one of the largest railway stations in Europe.

Florence, the Renaissance Quarter

Just a few hours from Rome by rail is Florence, recognised as the nation’s cultural and intellectual epicenter. The city in which the Renaissance period was conceived, was home to many well-known artists, writers, explorers and scientists; Leonardo da Vinci,

from around the globe landing here with a huge appetite for art as this city houses several museums and galleries, the most famous being the Uffizi Gallery. Designed by Vasari in the 16th century, it is regarded by art connoisseurs as one of the most important museums in the world, displaying classics from Bottichelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Titan, Caravaggio, Michelangelo and many masters of the period. I regretted not having enough time to spend here. In fact, one needs days, perhaps weeks, to go through the wide range of the exhibits, each of which is a gem on its own. I also dropped in on another famous museum called the Accademia, to pay a visit to Michelangelo’s immortal creation David, an exact copy of which graces the Piazza Del Signoria, a cobblestone paved area powdered with a gorgeous fountain and several samples of art, akin to an open air museum. Many of the city’s churches are works of art in themselves, the most famous being the city’s landmark Santa Maria del Fiore, popularly known simply as the Duomo. My next stop on the train was to Pisa to see its world famous Leaning Tower.

Venice, the centre of Romance

Venice, as we have all seen in pictures and photographs, floats dream-like on canals and lagoons. This small city, with its ensemble of waterways and tiny bridges, gondolas and yachts, and its labyrinth of narrow alleyways opening to large piazzas flanked by a galaxy of colourful buildings glaring at the paved

space occupied by locals, tourists and pigeons, induces novel thoughts even in the minds of the unromantic.

The best way to appreciate the beauty of Venice is by wandering aimlessly and losing yourself in its maze of unknown streets where every turn finds a new charm like

a church, a former palace, an old house or a café servicing authentic Italian coffee and snacks.

However, whichever mystic route is followed, you will ultimately end up at St Marco Square conquered by the presence of St Mark’s Basilica and the adjacent Doge’s Palace, the two most significant signposts of Venice. Another inescapable Venetian site is the Rialto Bridge, the oldest pathway across the Grand Canal, a tour of which in the local water-buses called Vaporetto, is fascinating. It presented me a different view of the fantasyland, while thinking about episodes of Bassani, Portia and Shylock from Shakespeare’s Merchants of Venice

Milan, the Mecca of Italian football

Being the home of legendary football clubs Inter Milan and AC Milan makes Italy’s second largest city football-crazy, but there is more than that for visitors. Here you can see the Leonardo’s breathtaking fresco

The Last Supper in a museum inside the church of Santa Maria delle Grazie (you are required to prebook tickets and the museum is closed on Mondays), and Rondanini

Pietà a marble sculpture that Michelangelo worked on from the 1550s until his last days in 1564, in the Museum of Ancient Art of Sforza Castle. However, the most visited landmark of Milan is the Duomo, the world’s largest Gothic cathedral which, with its 3,400 statues, 135 spires and 155 gargoyles, simply mesmerises onlookers, myself being no exception.

Milan is the world’s fashion capital and you can’t leave the city without paying a visit to its celebrated fashion district located

Another inescapable Venetian site is the Rialto Bridge, the oldest pathway across the Grand Canal, a tour of which in the local water-buses called Vaporetto, is fascinating

St Peters Basilica, Vatican Milan Railway Station Riverfront Florence Leaning Tower of Pisa

Trevi Fountain

Gondola ride

in the heart of the city, not far from the Duomo. Here the streets are lined with shops of every designer label that you can think of. While wandering around, I noticed parking spots mostly filled with Bentleys and Ferraris, who were obviously shoppers! So my retail experience was restricted to window gazing, and surely it was rewarding to discover the latest on fashion.

Travel noTebook

I tA lY

G e TTING TH e R e

Singapore Airlines (www.singaporeair.com) has daily flights from Australia to Rome via Singapore. From Roma Termini railway station there are connections to all major Italian cities and other European destinations. Check www.trenitalia.com for details or contact CIT Holidays in Australia on 1300 380 992 for getting rail tickets on hand before leaving home.

ACCo M Mo DATI o N

At Rome at Regina Baglioni (www.baglioni hotels.com), at Florence at La Casa Del Garbo (www.casadelgarbo.it), at Venice at Hotel Commercio & Pellegrino (www.commerciopellegrino.com) and at Milan at Best Western Hotel Madison (www.madisonhotelmilano.com). All of these hotels are centrally located in close proximity of the main railways stations. Mo R e IN fo RMATI o N www.turismoroma.it; www.turismo.intoscana.it; enturismovenezia.it and www.enit.it.

Clockwise from top left: Venetian masks

Exploring the boot-shaped peninsula through its railway network crossing is a rewarding and interesting experience

Microwave diwali

We know you’ve been watching what you eat lately, but Diwali is around the corner and you know there will be the odd box of mithai coming your way. Each Diwali you’ve proclaimed to all and sundry that there will be no mithai, but that mithai, it knows the way to your house… So this year, why not make your own, and that way, the store-bought Diwali might stay right there, in the store! And of course, because it will be homemade, your mithai will be tastier, and healthier. Yes, we know you’re time-poor and couldn’t be bothered to make khoya or boil milk down to 1/4th its volume, or make that one-string consistency sugar syrup, so we’ve collected some microwave recipes for you. Post Diwali, tell us which ones worked out best for you. (Cooking times may vary with the power of your microwave). Happy Diwali!

Microwave Doodh Peda

1 can condensed milk

1 cup whole milk powder

1 tbsp kewra essence or rose essence

1/4 cup finely chopped pistachio

2 tbsp unsalted butter

Mix together the condensed milk, milk powder, melted butter and kewra essence in a microwavesafe bowl. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Remove and mix thoroughly. Put back in the microwave for another 2 minutes. Stir again and put back in the microwave further if needed – it should all come together in one mass. Remove and let cool briefly. Divide into balls of desired size. Sprinkle each with finely chopped pistachio.

Instant Kalakand

1 can condensed milk

6 tbsp milk powder

2 tbsp yogurt

2 tbsp ghee

Mix all the ingredients in a glass bowl. Let stand for a minute or so. Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Take the bowl out and stir the contents once. Microwave again for 3 minutes on high. Keep watching as it could bubble over. If it does, stir and continue.

The kalakand is cooked when the mixture all comes together

as a mass and browns slightly and unevenly as a result of caramelisation.

Pour into a flat dish and smooth out. When cool, cut into squares. Another variation is to use 1 measure of ricotta cheese and 1 ½ measure of condensed milk. Follow the same procedure.

Besan Laddoo

1 cup besan (chickpea flour)

6 tbsp ghee

1 cup fine sugar

½ tsp cardamom powder

Mix besan and 2 tbsp of the ghee, melted, in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for about 2 minutes. Take out and stir; then add 2 more tbsp of the melted ghee. Mix and microwave again for another 2 minutes. Continue the process until the besan turns brown and gives off its aroma. Add more ghee if you think it’s turning dry. Cool slightly and then introduce the cardamom powder. Mix well. Add the sugar and mix well to combine. Knead gently till the sugar is all mixed in. This could take up to 5 minutes. Then start shaping into balls. If you find that it doesn’t come together,

you might have to add more ghee and give it another whirl in the microwave.

Mango-flavoured Pedhas

1 ½ cups ricotta cheese

2 cups thick, good quality mango pulp

4 tbsp evaporated milk

½ cup shredded fresh coconut ½ tsp cardamom powder

Grease a deep microwave-safe bowl. Put in the shredded coconut and microwave until lightly browned. Then add the cheese, evaporated milk and mango pulp and microwave for maybe 5 minutes. Keep watching it. Take out, mix well and return to microwave for another 5 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t spill over. Take out and allow to cool, but keep stirring intermittently. Return to microwave and heat again till it all comes together and doesn’t stick to the hands. It might take up to 30 minutes all up. Cool slightly and then add cardamom powder. Shape into balls and then flatten.

Taste mango pulp beforehand to see if sugar is needed. If it is,

then add it in the second round of heating.

For a healthier product use half portion low fat ricotta cheese.

Carrot Halwa

2 cups grated carrots

1 tbsp butter

6 tbsps milk powder

¾ cup skim milk

6 tbsp sugar

½ tsp cardamom powder

1 tbsp slivered almonds

Put butter into a deep microwave-safe bowl and heat for 15 seconds. Add grated carrots and microwave a few times two minutes each, till the raw smell disappears.

Mix together in another bowl the milk, milk powder and sugar. Add to carrots and mix well; cook for another 6 minutes. You’ll have to stop at 2 minute intervals to stir.

It should all come together in one mass. If you feel it is getting a bit too dry, add a little milk and heat again. Take out and cool slightly, then add cardamom powder and mix well.

Garnish with slivered almonds.

ABHILASHA SENGUPTA will be making some home-made mithai this Diwali, without sweating over the stove

MAT Ri M oni ALS

SEEkING GRooMS

Seeking suitable match for fair and young looking Hindu lady, 5’ 2”, 55, divorced, vegetarian, Australian citizen. He must be a non-smoker, ideally aged between 50 and 60. Please contact: 0449 623 316 or email alpine_rhapsody@hotmail.com

42-year-old Fiji Indian Hindu divorcee with no children. Teacher in fiji with sober, pleasing personality. father is retired principal, mother is domestic living in fiji. Would like to seek groom 40-50 and settle down in Australia after marriage. Contact uncle/ aunt in Sydney: pushpalal007@optusnet.com.au

35-year-old Fiji Indian Hindu single with BA economics working in university in fiji, with simple, sober personality, would like a groom aged 35 to 40. Parents are retired teachers living in fiji. Would like to settle in Australia after marriage. Contact: uncle/ aunt in Sydney: pushpalal007@optusnet.com.au

Seeking suitable match for 36-years-old who works for a multinational company in a senior position (chartered accountant), who values both Indian and western culture. Seeking Hindu professional man, preferably from a well

settled family background. Please contact: ganesh2011v@gmail.com

Suitable match is sought for remarriage of a professionally qualified, fair and beautiful Khatri girl, 33, 5’ 2” from well-educated and cultured Hindu Punjabi family. Girl has been a lecturer at a university in Jalandhar for the past four years. She is sweet natured and brought up with good family values. Boy should be well settled in service/ business and be a permanent resident/ citizen of Australia. email: Jk.khanna5@gmail.com

SEEkING BRIDES

Fiji Indian male, Hindu, Australian Citizen, mid-forties invites correspondence from single or divorced Indian females (no kids) for marriage or long term relationship and to settle in Melbourne. If interested please contact: 0478 083 457 for further info.

Seeking a well-educated good looking girl for a handsome Hindu Khatri boy, 29-years-old, 5’10”, Australian national settled in Melbourne. He is a finance professional working in a managerial capacity with a reputable firm. Contact: melgroom2013@gmail.com

Contact: Shamsher Singh

e-mail: gerry43@bigpond.net.au

Phone: 0490 144 809

ProsPective Family Day care eDucator

Would you like to be self-employed, operating your own business within your family home?

Are you motivated and skilled to care for and educate children? Are you seeking a career that allows you to earn whilst caring for your own children or be your own boss? Then becoming a Family Day Care (FDC) educator may be the unique career opportunity for you.

Hours: Flexible – Educators can set their own days and hours of operation

Qualifications:

• Preferred childcare industry experience with relevant qualifications. However, we will also consider those who have some experience and are willing to study minimum of Certificate 3 in Children’s Services.

• Current First Aid / CPR certificate

• Current Asthma & Anaphylaxis certificate

• NSW Working with children check, ABN

Looking for educator in Blacktown, Penrith, Hills District, Parramatta, Merrylands, Bansktown, Auburn, Strathfield, Ryde and surround areas.

Phone: 02 9637 0612 or Email: info@sweetangelsfdc.com.au

A tale full of complexity and compromise

A Sydney filmmaker presents a movie that explores how lives change when unknown and unexpected tragedy strikes

BY SYdneY SrInIvAS

Sydneysiders had a unique opportunity to watch a movie made by Sudarshan, a versatile artist and a resident of Sydney. Sudarshan has been a capable playwright, producer and director of plays for some time now. However, his present focus is on directing and producing movies in Kannada. Mukha Mukhi was his first feature length movie, while Thallana (bewilderment/ consternation) is his second.

One of the characteristics of Sudarshan’s movies is the interpretation of contemporary life in any Indian city, such as Bangalore. His films are totally removed from formula-based commercial cinema. He questions life and his films end up in a class of their own because of this.

In Thallana, a housemaid, Jaya works for Sadananda’s house and other households as well. She has a twelve-year-old daughter Sushma who is an intelligent, ambitious girl. Sadananda likes Sushma and helps her in her school projects.

The story begins on the day Sushma does not return home from school. The search begins. Jaya tries her best to find her daughter, but without luck.

Sadananda tries to lodge a police complaint, but the inspector is reluctant, as his priorities are different. As usual, several godmen are consulted, and gods and goddesses are evoked with offerings. Schools are visited, orphanages are checked, all without success.

Jaya is shocked when it is suggested that her daughter may have been kidnapped into prostitution. Visits to prostitution houses begin. The police do not budge. The sequence of hopeless events takes a turn when Sadananda contacts the commissioner of police to intervene. This enrages the local police, who threaten Sadananda

by claiming that they will frame a charge on him for having an illicit relationship with Jaya. In addition, Sandanada has his own crisis, as his daughter Gargi is forced to have an abortion by her in-laws. Worried that his involvement with the missing girl may jeopardise his own daughter’s future, Sadananda drops out.

Jaya loses her friends and her livelihood. She reaches a stage when she says, “If someone can tell that me she is dead, I will be contended and will lead my life”. There is also the metaphysical tone: “Body is dust, life is the space”.

Is Jaya left to herself and her sorrow? No, life is cunning and selfish. Jaya finds a compromise and her life continues as it always does. Even her husband who was a gangster, reforms and starts to earn a livelihood. There is an element of hope and loss in the film that reaches out to the audience in a most poignant manner.

Nirmala Chennappa as Jaya, Sridhar as Sadananda, and Mamatha as Sushma exhibit great acting abilities. In many scenes the acting is natural. Worth mentioning is the meeting between Jaya, who’s daughter is missing and Gargi, who carries a female foetus only

to be aborted, which are examples of the great acting in this film. The affection between daughter (Sushma) and her mother Jaya is portrayed well. Sadananda’s efforts to locate Jaya’s house are filmed interestingly. There are very apt locations, worthwhile dialogues and music interludes, all of which make the film an enriching experience.

Sudarshan looks deeper into life in Bangalore, amidst the IT companies, the glitter of the rich and the ‘haves,’ in parallel to the abject poverty and despair in the real lives of people who live in the slums. This is a meaningful and thought-provoking movie for all of these reasons.

Sudarshan migrated to Australia in 1992 from Bangalore, where he was actively into theatre, working

with BV Karanth, Nagabharana and other critically acclaimed personalities. He has been active in writing and directing plays and other cultural activities since, and has produced three plays.

Sudarshan has also made two short films in Australia. His film Clouds weep on the greenness was a finalist at Tropfest 2002. His other short film Oasis has been shown in festivals around the world.

He is currently working on two other scripts for features, one to be shot in 2014.

Thallana was screened in Sydney on September 22, to an appreciative audience and can be viewed again on October 27 at 4pm at the Hurstville Civic Theatre in Hurstville.

There is an element of hope and loss in the film that reaches out to the audience in a most poignant manner

Sudarshan looks deeper into life in Bangalore, amidst the IT companies, the glitter of the rich and the ‘haves’, in parallel to the abject poverty and despair in the real lives of people who live in the slums

Stills from the film Thallana

CINE TALK

BRAvE CONCEpT, ENgAgINg wAR sATIRE

WA r CHH od n A YAA r

STARRING: Sharman Joshi, Soha Ali Khan and Jaaved Jaffrey WRITER/DIRECToR: faraz Haider HHHHH

Political satires are easily the most difficult genre of comedy in cinema. They have to serve up a telling lesson to self-serving politicians, while providing audiences with a good laugh. We had Kunal Roy Kapur attempting one of ‘dose’ in The President is Coming

But that’s it. full credit to writerdirector faraz Haider for going into the war zone and emerging from the battle-scarred scenario with his sense of humour intact.

War satires are extinct in a country that takes cross-border matters dead seriously. Though War Chhod Na Yaar is a very one-sided view of barbed-wire offences, it does nevertheless fire some mirthful missiles at politicians on both sides who make mileage out of the mythical animosity between the two countries. In the middle of the crackling tension of Indo-Pak differences, there suddenly comes the cackling sound of loud laughter breaking the eerie silence of the desert-scape where ammunition is aimed at both ends.

Sitting in No Man’s Land across the barbed fence are the two squadron leaders from both ends played smartly by Sharman Joshi and Jaaved Jaffrey playing cards, exchanging jokes and making light of one another’s country’s ongoing burden of being border-line belligerent. That the film is shot in the Rajasthan deserts serves the film’s locational purpose creating a battleground realistically, if not opulently.

faraz Haider has scripted a plot that tickles borderline tension. There are passages of breezy bantering between Joshi and Jaffrey. Both actors possess subtle acting skills that they put here to potent use as two army-men who bond across the border even as war escalates overnight. The soldierly bonding over the barbed wires is a heartening thought, not quite executed with the finesse that, say, JP Dutta would have invested into his border-line satire.

War Chhod Na Yaar is a film with a large heart. ‘Hate war, not the warrior’ seems to be the subtitled slogan of this antiwar satire. Rather than taking long shots of battleground images mercifully, the

debutant director goes easy on the gunshots and preaches to focus more on the personal interaction between soldiers from both sides. The crossborder antakshari culminating in the Pakistanis crooning “ India, I love my India” is a cleverly designed episode, though much too obvious an effort at taming the enemy.

Then there is a sequence where Indian soldiers unleash a poultry of roosters across the barbed fence to trap their opponents.

Barb re barb!

The problem creeps into the blithe narrative when the Pakistani army men and politicians are shown largely as bumbling imbeciles, if not outright jokers. Dalip Tahil’s triple role as the Pakistani president, the Chinese premier (whose native tongue is translated into Punjabi in Navjot Singh Sidhu’s voice) and the American

President’s Yankee-accented aide, ceases to be funny beyond a point.

Not that this sort of stand-up comedy material renders itself effectively to cinematic laughter in the first place. Nonetheless, credit must go to the writer-director for attempting to show the utter futility and the underlining farce that define cross-border aggression.

Some episodes in the film are neatly written. The actors add a layer of conviction to the satire. The underrated

underused Sharman Joshi puts up a convincing show as an Indian soldier trying to keep his and his army’s spirits high in the face of violence. Why don’t we see more of him? Jaaved Jaffery, who was effective as a snarling villain in Besharam, puts up another bravura act as Sharman’s colleague from the other side of the firing line. Soha Ali Khan as a television journalist modelled on Barkha Dutta (not again!) gets into the satirical spirit with ease.

The film has a vast cast of comic

performers. But I must make special mention of Mukul Dev as an Afghani infiltrator, who gets it wrong each time. Mukul’s accent and comic timing are fodder for the funny bones.

Very rarely do we get a chance to smile about the grim reality of war. This film gives a nimble twinkle-eyed satirical slant to the scourge of war. Warm and well-packaged with intelligent performances, War Chhod Na Yaar flounders when it abandons the human aspect to get into the nuclear zone.

Then it’s time to groan.

SUBHASH K. JHA

THE BUZZ

Bachchan turns 71

India’s super-mega-star turned 71 on october 11, with the nicest gift being his toddler grand-daughter singing ‘Happy Birthday!’ Yes, Amitabh Bachchan, the undisputed legend of Bollywood is a super septuagenarian, but he’s still raring to go. He is looking forward to new challenges and wants to continue as long as possible.

“I only hope challenges keep coming and as far as possible, and as long as my health permits, I keep working,” Amitabh said to the media on his birthday.

Amitabh also posted on his blog. “A strange calmness descends on the eve of the clock that strikes 12 midnight... the family, the few that are in town, bring in the greetings, the ‘little one’ ably tutored sings a ‘happy birthday’ to herself first, and then, after suitable prompting, to me... it’s these little moments that make up a birthday”. Aaradhya will turn two on Nov 16.

So as we wish the Big B a happy birthday, let’s hope he continues to enjoy the contentment of his family and work and the adulation of his many, many fans!

Sonam for the small screen?

Veteran actor Anil Kapoor is trying to change the face of Indian television with his debut show 24, which has received wide appreciation. And if the buzz around Bollywood is to be believed, daughter Sonam is ready to follow in her successful father’s footsteps.

The charming actress has reportedly received offers to make appearances and to judge reality shows in the past.

FAR FROM besharam

So you’ve all seen Besharam by now, but did you know that its lead star Pallavi Sharda is a Melbourne girl?

Pallavi moved to Mumbai in 2008 but hit the big time after winning the Miss India Australia crown in 2010. Today she has to her credits films such as My Name is Khan, Dus Tola, Love Breakups Zindagi, Heroine, a New York based crossover film Walkaway, and an Australian movie Save Your Legs. She was the lead dancer in the musical Taj Express, staged in Mumbai and Singapore.

Pallavi, a Lowther Hall Grammar School student, did a double degree (Law and Media & Communications) at the University of Melbourne. But Bollywood was a childhood dream, and this gutsy girl has finally made it.

“I will always cherish that my family and friends in Australia allowed me to be besharam and break the mould!” Pallavi says.

And what was the best thing about Besharam? The “grace and humility of the Kapoor family” who she worked with on the film, and who “never made me feel new or junior”.

Along with Brett Lee, Pallavi was an Ambassador for ozfest, organised by the Australian government throughout India from oct 2012 to feb 2013. Apart from many other roles as the oz fest Ambassador, she wore and showcased pink diamonds from Rio Tinto at the Jaipur Palace.

“Sonam is very popular among kids, especially teenagers for her fashion sense. So much so that the actress keeps getting offers to make appearances on kids based reality shows,” said a source close to the actress.

However, for Sonam to consider such a project seriously, it has to be interesting enough.

“She is open to doing television shows when something which interests her comes along,” the source added.

Sonam has had a string of successes to her name, the most recent being Raanjhanaa and Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

She is now gearing up for her upcoming movie Khubsoorat, a remake of the Hrishikesh Mukerjee-directed 1980 family drama which starred Rakesh Roshan, Rekha, Ashok Kumar and Dina Pathak. The remake is being produced by dad Anil Kapoor, and Shashanka Ghosh is directing it.

So if Sonam’s planning a stint on the small screen, its likely to be only with

daddy’s blessings! Let’s hope that comes her way soon!

RGV on the sense behind Satya

filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma is going to great lengths to explain to anyone who asks, that the word Satya in the title of his next film Satya 2 should only be interpreted as a pseudonym. Why would anyone care to know, you may ask. Well, he doesn’t want the audience to consider the forthcoming movie as a sequel to his 1998 crime thriller.

“Satya 2 is all about the ‘truth’ about two characters’ journey,” RGV explains. “Aman (a character) gets off a train in Satya and what happened to him, that was about truth. The name is almost a surreal application of what his life is about,” the 51-year-old said in an interview recently

“This (Satya 2) is in another time period, another man gets off a train in Mumbai. So the similarity is about the truth. The name is a pseudonym rather, not to be taken literally,” he added.

Varma has cast new actors in the film and says that since his characters are raw, only new actors could have pulled them off well. “As far as Satya 2 is concerned, I don’t think it is a risk (to have new faces). Specifically because Satya has raw, realistic characters which only new actors can deliver,” he added. Satya 2 stars Puneet Singh, Anaika Soti and Aradhna.

Debutant Puneet Singh says he plays a “corporate style gangster,” and he hopes that the audience appreciates his work. “His way of working is different, his thinking is different. He does not kill his adversaries himself. He plans and he is a corporate style gangster,” Puneet said, explaining the role. Like his mentor, Puneet too, insists that Satya 2 is not a sequel or a prequel. Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see, won’t we?

Ram Gopal VaRma

Urvashi aims at acting, not stardom

Model Urvashi Rautela, who is set for her acting debut with Sunny Deol in Singh Saab The Great, says she aims to be an actor, not a star. At 19, the attractive young lady has already got a lot to her credit. In 2009 at just 15, she clinched the Miss Teen India crown. Two years later, she won two titles, Miss Asian Supermodel and Miss Tourism Queen of the Year International. In 2012, she bagged the Miss Universe India title, but was later dethroned because she didn’t meet the age requirement. Nevertheless, she is raring to go.

The winner of several beauty pageants is also a popular name in the ad world. Now, she has a three-film contract with director Anil Sharma. Urvashi says she wants to be recognised for her acting skills rather than stardom.

“I don’t want people to treat me like a star or call me one. I want to be an artist... an actor who acts really well,” said

Urvashi recently.

True to being an actor, she doesn’t mind playing the love interest of actor Sunny Deol who is over 35 years older than her. In Singh Saab The Great, her character’s name is Mini. Sunny will be seen fighting for her in the action love story.

“I am being a professional. Age is just a number. When you’ll watch the movie you’ll see great chemistry. My character is lovable. I am playing a damsel in distress and he (Sunny) fights for me, so it’s special,” said Urvashi, who would like to work with the Khans (Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir) of Bollywood someday.

The model, is also excited about a song, which she says, “Is totally my song.

It’s Mehandi lagwaje. It’s very special because I’ve danced on it and is quite similar to what Sridevi did in Mere hathon main nau nau chudiya hai,” she said. Urvashi seems ready to conquer Bollywood after the catwalk. Let’s wish her all the best!

wHO wORE IT BETTER?

War is the best for Javed

Well, not literally! But actor Javed Jaffrey is terribly enthusiastic about his film War Chhod Na Yaar, claiming that it is one of the five best films in his career of 28 years. “I am happy and very excited. In my career of 28 years, this is one of my top 5 films ever. The way this film has been written and presented, it is a beautiful film and I am proud to be a part of it,” said the 52-yearold actor at the recent premiere of the country’s first war comedy.

“The audience has changed and now they are open to accepting a different film, if it is good,” Javed said. “Be it drama, suspense, thriller, and romance, if the entertainment quotient is right, the film will work. War Chhod Na Yaar a message to make you laugh but also leaves you thinking,” he added.

Directed by debutant faraz Haider, War Chhod Na Yaar also stars Sharman Joshi and Soha Ali Khan. Let’s hope the audience agrees with Javed and that War… breaks, not bombs the box office!

The kundras are back!

Businessman Raj Kundra and his actress wife Shilpa Shetty Saturday unveiled the teaser poster of their debut home production Dishkiyaaoon. It is as commercial as its title, says Kundra. Starring Harman Baweja and Sunny Deol, the action thriller will also introduce newcomer Ayesha Khanna. The project marks the directorial debut of Sanamjit Singh Talwar. “Dishkiyaaoon is as commercial as the title. I am very excited it’s our debut film project. especially for Harman who looks amazing and Sunny paaji in a different role never seen before,” Kundra said in a statement. Not to be outdone, Shilpa said, “We are very excited about our very first production. In keeping with our mission, this is a splendid script that will reach out to the large mainstream audience”. The poster shows one half of Harman, who seems to have built a perfect set of abs for the movie. Sneha Khanwalkar will create music for the movie, which aims to shed new light on the Mumbai underworld through the eyes of contemporary characters.

CApTION CONTEsT

What’s the chitchat here between SrK and Madhuri dixit?

Send in your responses to win@indianlink.com.au and win a surprise prize

Diana Penty or Emma stone in Bottega Veneta?

The film went out earlier this year, and it is scheduled to release mid-January. So let’s see what the Kundra clan have up their sleeves.

LAsT IssUE

CApTION CONTEsT wINNINg ENTRy

What’s the chitchat between Amitabh and Mithun?

Amitabh: Mithun, I present to you the Senior Citizen Black Hair dye award.

Mithun: I follow in your footsteps, Amitji.

Mark D’Souza Armadale, Perth

Mark wins a CD of new Hindi film War Chhod Na Yaar

Shilpa Shetty

URVaShi RaUtela JaVed JaffRey

Dear Auntyji

I have been married for five years and I know that my husband is a good man. I love him very much and want nothing but his happiness. But I have noticed that over the past year, he gets very excited when my sister Ashleigh comes over. The two of them sit down and watch the latest Bollywood films together and discuss the merits of what’s going on in the film industry, and while laughing a lot. I have no interest whatsoever in Bollywood, and would not know any of the stars, let alone their latest films. What is beginning to bother me is how much fun Krish has whenever Ash is around, and how they laugh and banter with each other like old friends. I fear that I am losing the interest of my husband to my younger sister. Krish doesn’t really speak about Ash, but when he does, he says complimentary things about her. Is there something going on between the two of them? Do you think I should be worried Auntyji?

Auntyji says

What? Ye kaisa ghatya sawal hai? Just because Krish and Ash like Bollywood films and laugh and talk about it right in front of you, in your own house, does not mean anything other than you being deeply paranoid. If those two are doing anything untoward, it’s probably the fact that they are watching the latest Bollywood films, because everyone knows that no good films have come out of Bollywood since Mughal-e-azam and Pakeezah. And maybe Sholay. But that’s it! So I say instead of becoming suspicious over the innocent getting-together of the jeeja and saali, I suggest you either develop an interest in Bollywood, or train your mind not to harbour disgusting thoughts. You say you want your husband to be happy, well, watching a film with Ash makes him happy. So leave it at that. o f course, if the Bollywood sessions start extending late into the night and results in furtive phone calls and guilty looks on their faces when you walk into the room, that’s when you can put on your jasoosi hat to find out if there is kaala in the dhal Meanwhile, sit down and watch a show with them. You will learn a number of things, including mysteries such as why everyone speaks english in the films and why there is no longer any decorum or modesty left. Not like the olden days when there used to bashful glances by heroines whenever the hero turned their full gaze on them. oh, those were the days! Let me know if Krish and Ash decide to turn their anokha rishtaa into a dil ka rishtaa, then swiftly into a badaltey rishte. You don’t want Ash to become your saajan’s saheli, if you know what I mean!

Race row!

Auntyji says

Dear Auntyji

Last week, in the workplace, I used the term ‘Nigerian scam’ to talk about email scams of which we should be careful, but a colleague accused me of being racist. I was so stunned that I was left speechless for quite a few minutes, and then stumbled through the rest of the discussion. Auntyji, we all know what a Nigerian scam is. Is it racist to call it that? Why can’t I call it what it is? Please tell me because I am getting quite concerned about not being politically correct in the workplace.

Ah yes, the tricks and tribulations of navigating the social boundaries and rules in the workplace. Well, just because you called something by its commonly known name is not racist, it just makes you ignorant. While the original scams may have commenced in Nigeria, hence the tag ‘Nigerian scam,’ nowadays scams are not confined to this part of the world. You will have scammers and spammers everywhere. So in this instance, it’s better to just say online scam, and leave it at that. Likewise, other terms that can have a pejorative meaning should be considered carefully before use. I would not use for example  ‘Chinese whispers,’ ‘Indian giver,’ ‘Mexican standoff’ for this very reason. Language is very powerful and while there are those who will say that those terms are a part of the language and should be used, I feel that any word that has the ability to cast aspersions on an entire group should be avoided. A Nigerian scam does not mean that everyone in Nigeria is guilty of this. online scam should suffice. Just the term ‘standoff’ conveys meaning without disparaging a group. Calling someone a bania or a ‘Jew’ puts a disparaging label on terms. So use your words carefully. Think about these things and put some thought into your choice of words. Incidentally, it is not lost on me that the term ‘racist’ itself is now misused. Because someone uses a term in ignorance does not make them racist. The term ‘racist’ is nebulous at worst and ill-defined at best, but the bottom line is that, at a most simplistic level, a racist is someone who has ideas and beliefs that their race is superior to others and that racial stereotypes can be used to categorise individuals. So when you say these ‘gore log just drink and have a good time and don’t work hard,’ you are being quite racist. Which gore log? All of them? So don’t make these types of comments and you won’t be considered a racist.