ROCK SOLID IN HIS SUPPORT FOR SENIORS, A TRUE GEM!

For significant service to the Indian community of Victoria, to aged welfare, and to education

' 1 BY , , PREETI JABBAL

Ftom humble beginnings to being recognised with an A 1\lf in the Queens Birthday honours list this year, D.t Prem Phakey AM and his wife Usha have a lot to celebrate. Thi s year was also a oillestone for tben.1 as it marked 50 years of living in Austtalia The recently announced prestigious honours list recognised Dr Phakey for significant service to the lndian community of Victoria, co aged wel fare, and to education.

Life has been a gem for Dr Ptem Phakey who arrived in Australia in 1964 to take up a three-year contract reaching assignment He was appointed as lecturer in Phrsics at ilie Monash University in L967 and promoted to senio r lecturer in 19TI and later on to reader in Ph ysics till he left the Univers ity in J 994 He was also hono rary lecmrer for Gemmological Association of Aus tralia, Victorian Di,rision from 1968- 1988. His scientific research included minerals, ro cks of importance, shells, teeth, gemstones and diamonds He expresses gratitude to Professor Rachioger, late Profess or Street and Monash University for encouragement and support to carry out s cientific research.

" I am passionate about Indian diamonds and have recently given a series of l O talks on iliis subject," said Dr Phakey wbo continues to be engaged in academics well past his retirement. With an expertise in crystallo graphy, m icroscopy and optics, Dr Phakey has contributed various papers and articles on gemstones and Indian diamonds in community newspapers.

Renowned for his work in moon rocks and lunar dust (both American and Russian sao1p les) Dr Phakey held many academic appoiotrnems and fellowships at institutes like

U niversity of Californi a, Los Ang eles (U CLA) , University o f California Berkeley, University of Washing ton and \X/illian1 E vans Fel.lowship at U ni versity of Otago, New Zealand. Locally he held a fell o wship at Royal Children's Hos pital, Melbourne, seni o r fellowship at the School of Dental Science, U niversity of Melbourne and after retirement, senior fellowsh ip at Monash University Dr Phakey is well reg arded in the Indian community for his dedication and involvement in the welfare of the community He was the founding s ecretary and then vice president of the Punjabi C lub of Victoria in 1987- 199 l , vice president and public officer for Australian Indian Innovations Inc. (AIU) from 2003-2005 and trustee of cbe Australia India Charitable Trust.

Heis equally passionate abouc the wel fare of senior citizens as the founding chairperson of d1e Indian Senior C itizen's As sociation (ISCJ\) and current president since 2007.

"Tbe need and composition of our society has changed and it is important to make efforts to av oid isolation and bored o m for se1:uo rs, especially chose wh o may rel y financiall y and emotionally o n their children," said Dr Phakey as he e.xplained ISCA's objectives.

"At ISCA we offer an env iro nment where seniors can sociali se, display their talents, be entertained and educated," claimed Dr Phakey, "We hold regular taJ ks on issues relevant to the senior communit); we hold classes that assist seniors to adapt tO new technology like iPads, mobile phones, and we bave dedicated seniors teaching yoga and clmir exercises to others. In terms of entertainment we have a day centre that holds weekl y sessions of various activities and we also ce lebrate multicultural festivals and events. Our membership is gro wing at a rapid rare we have a pool of kn owledge, ralenr and expertise wid.tlo our o rganisation' ' Dr PhaJce y went on to share his vision for ilie senior community.

·•we have given the organisation a strong footing and taken it to a sustainable, stable position, however, it's now rime for the next generation ro get involved a nd rake i r further," Dr Phakey expl ained. " M y dream is chat every senior benefit from an organisation li ke lSCA and w e should have more clay ce ntres, in n.10re areas around Victoria chat offer a structured, or open environment co facilitate seni o r care solutions and indepeadence".

Letters of congramlations are pouring in for Dr Phakey from all directions including commendation from tbe G o vernor of V ictoria Alex Chemov, Premier Denis r apthine, local u:uoi s ters and councillors. His famil y, comprising of WLfe Usha who is a retired reacher, son Vivek Phakey who is. an ophthalmologist and daughter ishi who is a dentis t, are proud of his achievements. " lt's good to be recognised with tl:u.s honour, howev er, as an academic I have had the opportunity to be rewarded in many od1er ways and all of diem are equally significant for me," answered Dr Phakey when asked about receiving the recognition. "This is tl1e icing on tbe cake, and as far as 1 am concerned there's still miles tO go before I sleep". www.indianlink.com.au

Young architect William Chan utilises his passion for the built environment to develop global communities

Young architect William Chan demonstrates how the sharing of knowledge can result in the de,, elopmenc of inn ovative solutions co global issues.

\'{/ illiam, named one of Australia's Top 100 Brightest Young ]\,finds in 2010, recently received the 2014 Student Prize for the Advancement of Arc hi tecture from the J\uscralian lnstitute of Architects.

His achievements are spectacular for o ne so young. Besides being a Future Green Leader for tl1e Green Building Council of Australia, he is also a you th mentor for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney.

His passion for socially an d environmentally s ustainable architecture has taken this young Australian, o riginally from Hong Kong , around the globe assisting communities in need

William graduated from the U niversi ty of S yd ney with the Convocation Medal from the Facul ty o f Archfrecture, Design and Planning and received a faculty scholarship co participate in an inter-disciplinary design program called Global Studio.

Globa l Stud io is an action research program with students, academics and p rofessionals from all over t he world diat use a participator y design process co facilita te projects.

William's first experience was a t Dieps loot, a slmu in J ohannesburg. This project opened h is eyes to how archicecmre could positively inAuence people and their livelihoods.

His continued invo lvement w itl1 Glo bal Smdio gave William the nex t op portuni ty co coordinate the prog ram in Bhopa~ India Here William was part of a team developing an urban renewal master p lan with a process o f i ndepm community consultation.

''Working in Bhopal a nd visi ting other p laces in India was a n incredible and eye-opening experience for me," William said.

The inter-discipl.inary project that William was pare of had sLx different groups working in tl1e Bhopal slums. Students and professionals from around the

Global St udio s tude nts in Bhopal, India world - Europe, USA and Asia from the areas of architecture, business and law, worked in designoriented projects or researchorie nted project~, covering different aspects.

William's group looked at the master pla n of Bhopal They studied me new and o ld parts of Bhopal city, examining how the di stinctive Is lamic side and Hindu sides worked coge tl1er.

One to One Wall House at the Venice Bie nnale

why mey enjoyed me space.

T hey partnered wim tl1e local universi1:y, Manlana Azad Natio nal Institute of Techno logy (MANTI) who helped the overseas guests with incerpreti"ng, as weU as research.

The highlight of the whole process was its culmination in a festival called [Pe are Bhopal, which encouraged people who l.ive i n Bh o pal to sh are their ideas for the city.

''\'(/e held a communir:y consultation, asking children and ad ults to draw on maps of Bh o pal and put down me.ir ideas," said W illiam, me memory of me interactions still fresh in his mind.

"

\ '.\le showcased different ideas to give th e comnmni ty an idea of how a public space could change. We did illustration s and compmer renders to s how the 'before' and 'after' of possibilicie.~, so d1ar they could start talking and discuss these ideas "

So did di e project get implemented after the overseas v isitors returned home?

William regrets th01t tllis was unfortunately nor the case.

"Attempting co change a city i s a large scale project," admitted William.

T h ey p rese n ted the plan to the local government but he said implementing i t would be a long, hard process.

He fom1d me history of Bhopal fascinating.

" It was amazing to see how d1e ci ty 1·ecovered following the U nion Carbide disas ter and seeing h ow it has i m pacted me communi ty," he said.

As part of the process of d eve loping a masrer plan for Bh o pal, his group went around me publ ic sp aces of the ci ty, tallcing witl1 residents co find o uc how and

"At least we were able to initiate some di scussion around how to make the city better and we invo lved the co mnmnicy in chis process I feel it is so p owerful if we actually speak to the people. They will tell you what d1ey need, we just need to take the time to listen and find out d1e bes t solutio ns," he said hopefully.

Volunteering with World Vision and having worked in aid and d evelopment, W illiam mer man y peop le who had previously travelled to lnclia

"When I was leaving, they warned me about h ow incredible and crazy India is. \'Vhile I was over there l could understand why!"

Besides Bhopal, he travelled co Mumbai, Delbi , Agra, Varanasi and Chandigarh

"Chandigarl1 was a llighlight for me as ic was designed b y m e famous architect Le Corbusi e r and it was interesti ng co see h ow architecture and design changes d1e way people l.ive Here was a city which was completel y p lan ned and I noticed how different i t was from tl1e rest of India Peop le followed road rules and respected tl1 e environm ent," he said

Tllis reiterated what William passio nately believes - an architect can create an environmenr that i n fluences me way people l.ive and behave, through design

In 2012 W illiam also received a scholarship co partic ipa te in d1e Internacional Exhibition ar the Venice Architecture Biennale d1e world's most prestigious archirecm re festival.

H ere he helped Anupama Kundoo, an Indian architect now based in Brisban e, build a low impact h o u se based o n her own h o me atAuroville in Po ndicherry.

"l was captivated by Dr Kundoo's passion in sus tainability and genuine advocacy for social inclu sion within architecture, particularl y how s he re-inte1-prets a·aditional design, materials and skills," said William.

Hi s experiences in Bhopal and around me world, has given t he youn g man direction for w ha t be wants co achieve in tl1e future.

Itis said, you bave to stand out to be outstanding" and tbat's exactly what Indian celebrity chef Sanjeev Kapoor wished ro do in life Today he is the head of an international media and food empire and a hou sehold name in India.

Millions of viewers around d1e world watch hi s daily televi sion show, and he has hundreds of cookbooks and multiple restaurants in his name.

Bur did you kn ow, the Kbanr, Khaza11r1 whiz ventured into tbe field of cooking by accident?

At a reception while touring :Melbourne recently, Sanjeev Kapoor surprised everyone with the sto r y of how he stumbled on to what ultimately became a glor ious career.

At a time when the 'professions' (read m edici ne, engineering, ac coLmtiog) were considered prestigious above all other options, Sanjeev was determined to pursue something different.

"When I finished schoo l I wanted to do some dtlng that no one in my family o r circle of friends had attempted before," Kapoor revealed "Cooking however was not on my wish list at that po i.nr of time. I had al ways been creative a nd brilliant at ac ademics, a nd so ,vas veering cowards architecture, a little- known but still prestigious field rben".

A friend coerced him into app lying at a cooking institute so he could gain from Sanjeev's experience at me inter view. Sa n jeev applied on a wbim and even received au interview call. His fuse reaction was to refuse; however, he agreed co accompany his friend for his inte rview.

''\XThile waiting for rbe inte rview, the others around were discussing how the in stitute was really tough to get into and that merit did not count as one needed to 'know so meone' i n order to get admiss ion there," Sanjeev recalled. "This triggered a challenge in my mind. 1 became determined to get an admission there witl1 absol utely no intentions of joining!"

He cooked up a plausible excuse and gained another opportunity to be interviewed A ccording to Sanjeev at that time, cooking was considered to be a mediocre field in India and not a common choice for people who scored well academically. During me incerview Sanjeev managed co convince me panel that despite his brilliant scor es he wished to do nothing else in his life but train as a chef.

He got selected, bur the admiss ion into arch itecture came through as well.

Sanjeev decided to join coo kery upon advice from h is father's friend who said co him that 'it i s better to excel in a medioc r e field than be mediocre in an excellent field'.

Sanjeev decided he would t'lke up cooking and raise irs profile. The rest, as tl1ey say; is history.

Witl1 his passion, sustained effort and some pretty smart choices, Sanjeev Kapoor e m barked on a rnission to raise the profile o f cooking across the countt:y.

Today, his Khana Khazpna show is the longest running TV s how in As ia with m ore than 500 mi!lion viewe r s. He has l.aunched

Soumeasc As ia's deb ut 24/7 cooking channe l, Food Food. He i s an internatio nally bestselli ng author, recipient of countless major awards, and the O\'lmer of a line of restauran rs, a cookware range and ready- co -eat meals

"l dreamt big," San jeev said simply, wim a shrug of his shoulders Sanj eev was in Australia earlier this year to fiLn a series on the cuisine and produce of this coumty.