2018-09 Brisbane

PUBLISHER Pawan Luthra EDITOR

Rajni Anand Luthra ASSISTANT EDITOR

Neha Malude

MELBOURNE COORDINATOR

What the shenanigans in Canberra mean for Australia-India ties

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

After multiple starts and stops, it looks like the India-Australia engagement will be stalled at least until 2020. He’s not getting much love at the moment, but to his credit, Tony Abbot has been the only Prime Minister this century who has shown any urgency of wanting to do business with India. With the shenanigans going on in Canberra, it may well be 2020 before we see a serious political engagement between the two countries.

Rudd veered Australia towards the Chinese orbit. PM Julia Gillard did bring India back in the equation in 2011when she strongly advocated and won the debate to sell uranium to India.

Narendra Modi took power in India when Abbott was at the Lodge, and went on a successful overseas charm offensive. The shared ideological background between the two men – and the ‘bromance’ that developed – further aligned the path of the two nations.

But with Malcolm Turnbull, the relationship floundered yet again. While Australian business has made inroads in India, the pace, by the sheer volume of opportunities, has been slow.

of the editor. Opinions carried in Indian Link are those of the writers and not necessarily endorsed by Indian Link. All correspondence should be addressed to:

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At the turn of the century, India – still smarting from the Australian Government’s accusations after its nuclear tests in 1998 –took time to thaw to the new John Howard Coalition government. Howard, in his two visits to India, was able to convince the government of the Australian desire to engage, and move along the sale of uranium. The advent of Kevin Rudd at the helm in Australia put a brake on this relationship: rather India perceived that

Case in point the recent white paper on Australia’s India economic strategy by Peter Varghese. The blueprint is a brilliant roadmap of how Australia can work with one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Yet, the low-key launch of the report led to murmurings of a ‘burial’, as key geopolitical impacts were pointed out. Since then, various DFAT and other officials are working overtime to give oxygen to this report.

Though there are 90 recommendations made, the spotlight is on education,

agribusiness, resources and energy and tourism – all low hanging fruit which if grabbed, can initiate business momentum. India would have liked more investment in infrastructure. The problem is that the ministers leading these portfolios need higher and constant engagement with India. The previous education minister Simon Birmingham visited India in April 2017 with the PM; the previous Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment Steve Ciobo also visited India in May 2017. Both have had their counterparts tour Australia. However, the current situation in Canberra will have the ministers scampering to save their seats. While the Coalition Morrison government is still at the helm in Canberra, the punters are not offering any bets on them being there after the next elections. As Canberra bunkers down for the next election – due in May 2019 but which might be called earlier – Varghese’s 514-page tome on engaging with India will definitely not be on top of any reading lists. Whoever wins, it may be a while before the Varghese report is brought out and dusted. With India also entering its 5-year election cycle in 2019, the starting point could well be 2020. The challenge is, will there be the will to make it work?

YOUR SAY

WHAT FREEDOM MEANS TO ME

On the occasion of India’s Independence Day, INDIAN LINK asked what freedom means in a personal sense.

B Vanlalvawna, Sydney Consul General said: Freedom to me is the ability to make choices without being in uenced by external factors. It’s a choice that comes from within.

Mala Mehta said: My parents used to live in Lahore and my father was in the Army and he fought many wars. That in uenced and inspired me to become the person I am today. It’s because of my parents that I am able to appreciate my freedom.

7-year-old Ishan Mehrotra, said: Freedom means I can sit in my room and read books. It also means that I can watch a movie on my own.

Akshay said: Freedom to me doesn’t mean just one thing: it’s many things – it is to empower women, it’s being able to live freely, it’s being having access to education.

Bipin said: Freedom doesn’t just mean being able to speak freely, it can also mean having the choice to listen. But it doesn’t come without responsibilities. It’s our duty to enjoy freedom but according to the letter of the law.

Diksha said: Freedom means to be able to express yourself without hesitation and the fear of consequence. Just being yourself.

Pravina said: Simply put, to be able to do what I want, go where I want, any time of the day.

Sanul said: To be able to practise my values and enact my thoughts is freedom, to me. At the same time, it means keeping in mind others’ sentiments.

Usha said: Freedom to me means equality. I mean look at our girls! They are just as talented and able as our boys. They’re becoming astronauts, scientists. That’s what true freedom is.

Vkane said: Freedom to mean is to study whenever you want.

Shobhna said: Freedom to me means having no fear of life or death here and to live happily in coexistence.

Yash said: Freedom means living life free of judgement. We constantly live in fear of what people might say, so for me freedom means to live free of that fear.

SAY IT AGAIN

CARL BUHARIWALA wrote about a Melbourne-based food joint that provides free, warm food to homeless people.

Deen Parast wrote: Great work by Vishal Vohra and Meetu Arora, and business partner Ranvir Singh. Feeding the hungry is the greatest charity, as per many great saints. Keep up the good work and all the Forces of Good will bless you.

Rajni Luthra wrote: So inspiring Shivani Nikhil Dhawan wrote: This is such a fantastic and superb initiative you guys have taken. I was feeling so proud while reading this post. Keep going and good luck.

SAGAR ON SUNDAY MATINEE

Indian Link Radio’s SAGAR MEHROTRA asked listeners on his show Sunday Matinee to list the apps that have helped make their daily lives easier. Rachit Mehta wrote: ARCity-VPS (Visual Positioning System). It is good while you are walking on the roads or travelling by car.

Tunein Radio for all worldwide radios, you can download it on smart TV and listen to Indian link at home and keep your mobile free.

Parkmate: It’s from Wilson’s Parking, you can book your parking in advance anywhere in Australia where they have parking. They will send you their own card. Space shuttles are part of Wilson’s parking in Mascot and the shuttles are free. Cashrewards Australia gives you rewards for online shopping and doesn’t have an expiry date, you can claim back rewards for shopping or transfer to your bank account.

Velocity Frequent Flyer, it’s free (Qantas rewards are paid) and you can get rewards on ights, shopping, etc. And it’s valid for 2 years.

Stocard: you can save your all plastic rewards memberships in this app and scan where you want to use them.

Sonali Thakur wrote: There is a good app for yoga: Gaia. It’s a paid app but it’s not that expensive. I also use Indian Link app, Whatsapp and FB. Live 360 is a great one. I use this to track the whereabouts of family members. Not to stalk them, mind you, but just to be aware. Particularly helpful if you have young adult kids who are out and about a lot.

I love Melbourne, the vintage shops in Chapel St and Collins St, the nightclubs and gay bars where I can dance with abandon without being recognised Bollywood actor Richa Chadha during IFFM 2018

I’m excited to announce that I’m signing for Jamshedpur FC in the Indian Super League. I’ve been really impressed with the club and their goals.

Tim

Cahill, Australian professional footballer

this picture from Indian

Post a picture on Instagram of Indian Link in your life using the hashtag #indianlink. We will select the best pic and publish it here.

AUSTRALIAN CITIZENSHIP

A message from Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Alan Tudge explaining why Indian migrants have to wait to get citizenship

IELTS8 wrote: What a coincidence. Bill was blocked in Oct 2017 and citizenship processing had been slowed down deliberately, I had applied since Jan 2017 and had already lapsed 18 months. I had my Freedom of information notes demonstrating that my application had already been nalized, waiting for approval on the date I attend the interview and no further progress had been done since then. DHA needs to stop telling lies to restore trust among Australian. The largest agency in the country with the least resource to deal with Australian.

Please send to Australia … rain welcome party will be arranged.

Australia’s ambassador to the US, Joe Hockey’s comment on Kerala oods

NAAN STOP

We posted a picture of Victorian MP Daniel Andrews cooking naan and asked people to guess the ‘secret ingredient’ that made it extra special.

Remiya Goswami wrote: Ghee/butter/yoghurt/chilli sauce... list goes on.

Rupa Kumar wrote: Chilli akes?

Aparna Raghavan wrote: Ghee!

All good guesses but Remiya got it right with butter.

This afternoon we launched the bust of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar on Barry Street, joined by representatives from Ambedkar International Mission.

Australia India Institute

It’ll bring in more visitors, boost our economy...and help us build our very own Vollywood.

to be lmed in the state

Tanvi Mor @tanvimor shared

Link’s Independence Day special edition.

Vic Premier Daniel Andrews on setting up a fund for Indian movies

A moderate among hardliners

A tribute to India’s former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee

He was a man of moderation in a fraternity of jingoistic nationalists; a peace visionary in a region driven by religious animosity; and a man who believed in India’s destiny and was ready to fight for it.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (93), who died on 16 August, will go down in history as a person who tried to end years of hostility with Pakistan and put development on the front burner of the country’s political agenda. He was also the first non-Congress Prime Minister to complete a full five-year term.

In his tumultuous tenure, Vajpayee made India a declared nuclear state and then almost went to war with Pakistan before making peace with it in the most dramatic fashion. In the process, his popularity came to match that of Indira Gandhi, a woman he admired for her guts even as he hated her politics. He became PM, but only for 13 days, from May 16-28, 1996, after his deputy, LK Advani, chose not to contest elections that year. His second term came on March 19, 1998, and lasted 13 months, during which India stunned the world by undertaking a series of nuclear tests that invited global reproach and sanctions.

Although his tenure again proved shortlived, his and his government’s enhanced stature following the world-defying blasts enabled him to return as Prime Minister for the third time on October 13, 1999, a tenure that lasted a full five-year term.

He finally stepped down in May 2004, after losing the election. The BJP’s election strategy rested on seeking a renewed mandate over three broad pillars of achievement that the government claimed – political stability in spite of a multi-party coalition; a “shining” economy that saw a dizzying 10.4 percent

growth in the last quarter of the previous year; and peace with Pakistan.

Vajpayee was born on Christmas Day in 1924 in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. After a Masters in Political Science, he worked as a journalist with Hindi publications such as Rashtradharma, Panchjanya, and two Hindi dailies, Swadesh and Veer Arjun. By then he had firmly embraced the ideals of the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS).

But even as he struggled to win electoral battles, his command over Hindi, his conciliatory politics and riveting oratory brought him into public limelight.

His first entry into Parliament was in 1962 through the Rajya Sabha, and in 1971, he won a Lok Sabha election. Vajpayee spent months in prison when Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency rule in June 1975 and put her political opponents in jail. When the Janata Party took office in 1977, dethroning the Congress for the first time, he became the foreign minister.

The lowest point in his career came when he lost the 1984 Lok Sabha polls, that too from his birthplace Gwalior, after Rajiv Gandhi won an overwhelming majority following his mother Indira Gandhi’s assassination. In no time, Vajpayee was replaced and “eclipsed” by his long-time friend LK Advani.

Although they were the best of friends publicly, Vajpayee never fully agreed with Advani’s and the assorted Hindu nationalist groups’ strident advocacy of Hindutva, an ideology ranged against the idea of secular India. He was often described as the right man in the wrong party. Often he found his convictions and value systems at odds with the party, but the bachelor-politician never went against it.

It was precisely this persona of Vajpayee — one merged in Hindutva ideology yet seemingly not wholly willing to bow to it — that won him admirers across the political spectrum. It was this trait that made him the Prime Minister when the BJP’s allies concluded they needed a moderate to steer a hardliner, pro-Hindu party.

Vajpayee’s diplomatic initiative to start a bus service between New Delhi and Pakistan’s Lahore city was lauded, although it was suspended after the 2001 terror attack on the Indian Parliament. The freeze was cracked in 2003 when Vajpayee, while in Kashmir, extended a “hand of friendship” to Pakistan, which led to the historic summit in January 2004 with then President Pervez Musharraf in Islamabad — a remarkable U-turn after the failed summit in Agra of 2001. Despite the two men being so far apart in every way, Musharraf developed a strong liking for the Indian leader.

He was not known as “Atal-Ji”, a name that translates into firmness, for nothing. He could go against the grain of his party if he saw it deviate from its path. When Hindu hardliners celebrated the destruction of the 16th century Babri Mosque at Ayodhya, he was full of personal remorse and called it the “worst miscalculation” and a “misadventure”.

A poet and a politician

Mere prabhu, mujhe itni unchaai kabhi mat dena, gairon ko gale na laga sakun itni rukhai mat dena (God, don’t ever give me such heights that I’m not able to embrace strangers).

Abbas Raza Alvi narrated the first lines of Vajpayee’s book of poems Meri Ekyavan Kavitayen with the ease that can only come from a genuine love for poetry. “Vajpayeeji’s words are replete with irony, pain and empathy for the common man’s problems,” Alvi said.

He was speaking on Indian Link Radio in a tribute to the former Indian prime minister who breathed his last on 16 August 2018. The Sydney-based poet and musician set to music a select sample of poems from Vajpayee’s book, in an album entitled Sandesh “The

selected works espouse the message of peace and a better future for the world, hence the name Sandesh,” Alvi explained.

The album features local artistes Alka Kumar, Anita Barar, Gargi Mukherjee, Jaya Sharma, Pushpa Jagadish, Rachna Bhatnagar, Anand Arora, Anup Kumar, Ashok Chetty, Pupinder Mintu, Riaz Shah, Surender Bhardwaj, Iqtedar Abdi, Michael Raj, Zafar Siddiqui, Namit Bimbhat and Diana Kropman.

Alvi had been influenced by the late leader’s works in poetry for a long time. The project Sandesh commenced in 2001, he revealed, with the blessings of the man himself, and concluded with a launch in Sydney in 2003.

Just as much as his poetic works, Alvi was influenced also

by Vajpayee’s efforts in building bridges with neighbouring Pakistan.

“No other political leader made a more earnest effort to thaw the tense relationship between India and Pakistan,” Alvi observed. “When I met him in 2003, he told me how much he liked one of the compositions, Jung na hone denge (We won’t stand for war). He was appreciative of the fact that I had roped in both Indian and Pakistani singers for this song.”

Bharat Pakistan padosi saath saath rehna hai, Pyaar karen ya vaar karen dono hi sehna hai.

Vajpayee the poet, Alvi recalled, was not very different from Vajpayee the politician. He talked about the ordinary man and his daily struggle, but he talked about

In his full five-year term, he successively carried forward India’s economic reforms programme with initiatives to improve infrastructure, including flagging off a massive national highway project that has become associated with his vision, went for massive privatisation of unviable state undertakings despite opposition from even within his own party.

However, his judgment was found wanting when his government was rocked by an arms bribery scandal that sought to expose alleged payoffs to some senior members of his cabinet. His secular proclamations and failure to speak up against the killing of more than 1,000 Muslims in Gujarat, allegedly by his party members, were questioned by the liberal fraternity. He wanted then chief minister — now Prime Minister, Narendra Modi — to take responsibility for the riots and quit but was prevailed upon by others not to press his decision.

Vajpayee wanted to devote his time to writing and poetry. But fate ruled otherwise. The man who once said that “I have waited too long to be Prime Minister” found his last days in a world far removed from the adulation and attention. Although people prayed for his well-being, he was surrounded only by care-givers and close family whom he even failed to recognise. IANS

politics in his poems too. “Desh ki rajdhani me Sansad ke saamne dhool kab tak udegi? Meri ankhen band hain, mujhe kuch dikhai nai deta (How long will dust fly in front of the Parliament in the nation’s capital? My eyes can’t see anything). That’s Vajpayeeji talking politics. What other politician writes about things like these?” Alvi asked.

Giving music to Vajpayee’s

poems was no mean feat, but Alvi insists that it was a gratifying experience to breathe life into the words of the man who gave so much, both to the country and the common man.

“His death is a great loss to us. Vajpayeeji was a Prime Minister for Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Parsis, everyone. He was India’s true Prime Minister.”

Charuta Joshi

Abbas Raza Alvi with Atal Bihari Vajpayee

“You will absolutely love India,” India’s favourite Australian sport star Brett Lee told Tim Cahill recently.

Cricketer Dean Jones and he were welcoming to India the Aussie soccer legend and former Australian Socceroos captain, who has been signed up by Jamshedpur FC in the Indian

Tim Cahill, Man of Steel

Aussie soccer star adopted by India’s Steel City, Jamshedpur

Super League.

Commenting on the development, Cahill said: “I’m excited to be part of the ISL and my new team Jamshedpur. It’s been an easy process to make this decision because of the club’s professionalism and their goals for what they want to achieve.”

“To be a part of their project is massive for me because I know I can help the team on and off the park with my leadership and experience. I want to help grow the game in India and encourage young kids to play football,” he added.

Cahill, 38, takes to India his rich footballing experience, having scored 168 goals in 694 club appearances in his career. He is also the all-time leading goal scorer for Australia, having scored 50 goals in 107 international caps between 2004 and 2018. He was the first Australian to score at a FIFA

World Cup and has played in four World Cups (2006, 2010, 2014 & 2018). He also played long spells for English top-tier clubs Everton and Millwall.

Cahill, who has joined the squad in Madrid as the team prepares for the 2018-19 ISL season, has called India his “last hurrah”. However, he will make his farewell appearance as a Socceroo in a testimonial match against Lebanon at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on 20 Nov.

The cash-rich ISL was launched in 2014 and has attracted many international players. Cahill’s team alone has six other internationals, including Brazil’s Memo, and Spain’s Tiri, Carlos Calvo, Sergio Cidoncha, Mario Arques and Pablo Morgado.

Spain’s Cesar Ferrando is head coach of Jamshedpur FC; the assistant coach and goalkeeping coach, Guillermo Gonzalez and

Ezequiel Leon respectively, also come from Spain.

Cahill is the seventh international sign-up for Jamshedpur FC and will be counted as a marquee signing, which means his wages do not come under the established salary cap.

There’s no doubt Cahill will give a fillip to Jamshedpur, which finished pretty low in its inaugural appearance in the 20172018 season.

Jamshedpur FC was launched in 2017 by Tata Steel. This, together with the fact that Jamshedpur is often called India’s Steel City, has led to the team members being referred to as ‘Men of Steel’.

Jamshedpur FC will take on Mumbai City in their first ISL match at the Mumbai Football Arena on October 2, 2018. IANS and other sources

Clean drinking water for India

Meet Shalini Thakkar, a PhD scholar from India who is in Deakin’s Geelong Waurn Ponds VIC Campus these days. She is working on the development of low-cost nano sensors for detection of arsenic in ground and drinking water. For Shalini, who hails from Bihar in eastern India, this is more than just a PhD: it’s an opportunity to change the lives of those who she has seen deeply affected by high levels of arsenic water contamination. Bihar’s heavy cancer burden is largely due to high levels of arsenic, a known carcinogen, in its groundwater.

Shalini is receiving joint supervision from Deakin and TERI under the Deakin India Research Initiative. The first dedicated collaborative Nano Biotechnology Research Centre between Deakin University and The Energy and Resources Institute of India (TERI) opened in India last year. It combines TERI’s experience in biotech applications in food, agriculture, environment and bioenergy with Deakin’s expertise in nanomaterials.

Describing her work, Shalini told

Indian Link, “Millions of people have been exposed to arsenic in drinking water, which at high concentrations, causes skin lesions, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and neurodevelopmental delays.”

Shalini is thrilled with the opportunity she is offered.

“Deakin University is known for its research excellence while TERI is known for good practices in the area of sustainability. I am fortunate to have gained opportunity to carry out my doctoral degree at TERI-Deakin Nano Biotechnology Centre with full fee waiver scholarship and stipend.”

The World Health Organisation calls the arsenic crisis “the biggest mass poisoning in human history” and Human Rights Watch believes some 20 million people are at risk from arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh alone.

“With my supervisors Dr. Wenrong Yang and Dr. Ludovic Dumée in Australia and Dr. Brajraj Singh and Dr. Manish Gupta in India, I aim to develop an easy-to-operate method to remove arsenic and deliver safe and clean drinking water, which can be adopted worldwide. This will improve water quality for

130+ million people in the 70+ countries worldwide experiencing toxicity from naturally-occurring arsenic.”

According to a WHO report, some 239 million people across 153 districts in 21 states in India drink water that contains unacceptably high levels of arsenic. UP has the largest number of people, over 70 million, exposed to arseniccontaminated water. Water has emerged as one of the key issues in which India and Australia are looking for ways to collaborate. The University of Adelaide is currently crowdfunding to produce simple low-cost, self-assembly water purification kits in Rajasthan. The researchers claim this simple device can reduce harmful E.coli from 1 million units to below 1, besides removing other pathogenic contaminants.

Several Australian and Indian universities have established joint research facilities such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) - DEAKIN University Collaboration, Monash University–IIT Bombay Research Academy collaboration. Some

400 research partnerships have been established between the two countries. Collaborations are seen as an investment in innovation capacity, shared intellectual capital, and potentially substantial wealth generation for partner nations. The Australia–India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF), initiated in 2006, is a prime example in which our two nations contribute equally to fund advanced research.

Like Shalini, there are other researchers who through their scientific research are focusing global priority areas including agriculture, energy security and water. They are encouraged to deliver ‘people for science and science for people’, where innovation is defined as an ‘S&T led solution that is successfully deployed in the economy or society’.

Natasha Jha Bhaskar

Bringing God’s Own Country back

Members of the Malayalee community across Australia talk about their loved ones grappling with floods back home in Kerala

the world who have been waiting and watching with bated breath to find out if their families are safe.

BY NEHA MALUDE

Over 400 lives lost, countless homes destroyed, livestock and pets lost – the floods in Kerala have ravaged the state like nothing before. After what seems like an eternity, the water is finally receding and people are taking stock of what’s left behind, picking up the pieces and trying to gather some semblance of normalcy.

And while their distress is unimaginable, it’s just as bad – if not worse – for their loved ones who live on the other side of

“My parents built a house in Valakom (Kollam) last year but my father still goes to the old house in Muvattupuzha during the day,” Raveesh John, Secretary of Perth United Malayalee Association Inc. tells Indian Link. “The town was under water for three days and we lost everything – our documents for the old and new house, paperwork, furniture, our countless possessions that were still there.” John, whose parents MV John and Elizabeth are senior citizens, adds, “My father is 75 years old and there was little he could do. He is still in depression. They’ve lost everything.”

He recalls the panic that had set in when he couldn’t contact them for four days. “It was a tense time for us. But luckily they

had some help. My father is a member of the local cooperative bank which was handing out free rice. The Panchayat also stepped in to help. Actually, it’s things like this they needed then, not money.”

Bijoy, from Adelaide, whose parents live in Chengannur, has a similar story. The municipal town in the Alappuzha district is one of the worst-affected areas.

“I remember that after the floods, for two days no one came. Finally, on the third day, our neighbours were going around in a boat rescuing people. Another neighbour was in a boat, supplying rice to people.”

“My classmate’s father, an 85-year-old man was alone in the house when the floods struck. He had to crouch on the terrace for four days with no food or water. He survived on leaves and rain water before someone came for him. The helicopters

couldn’t airlift in many areas because of the trees and wind wreaking havoc.”

Bijoy’s wife Divya, who’s also a committee member of Adelaide & Metropolitan Malayalee Association, adds, “The airlifting rescue ops were also difficult because Google and GPS were showing two different locations, so technology didn’t exactly help.”

As many others have been saying, it was the fishermen who helped rescue a majority of stranded people. Bijoy says that the defence forces, especially the Navy did try their best to rescue people. They dropped food packets on the roofs, but they were no match for the currents in their inflatable boats. “The fishermen, on the other hand, did a fantastic job. We should really thank them for their help. They know the lay of the land and knew

Sydney Melbourne

how to navigate the flood waters. It’s their experience that saved us.”

Melbourne-based Dhanya Samuel, whose parents are in Kerala, says the extent of devastation left behind by a natural disaster can only be truly felt when it hits one’s own home. “It was a harrowing 4-5 days that I went through recently. While my father and mother didn’t need to be evacuated (our home was at a slightly elevated angle), the rest of the colony where our house is situated had to be. But no power supply meant that I hardly could communicate with them.”

She adds, “My sister’s family resides in Chengannur. There was no connectivity, so we had no idea if they were safe or not. Rescue help line numbers, Facebook posts and WhatsApp forwards were the lifelines we held to. One of the older members of the family had a fall as his cot was placed on top of a table to avoid the flooding water. There was a deep gash on his head and he couldn’t be taken to the hospital. Luckily, volunteers carried him through the water to the house of a doctor nearby who was able to give him the necessary medical treatment. He was then rescued by the Navy boats and taken to hospital.”

Now that the flood waters are receding,

citizens face yet another predicament: postflood clean-up. “There is over two feet of mud inside houses. And although people from Seva Bharati are really helping, there’s so much more to be done. There just isn’t enough manpower,” says Bijoy.

And when resources are few, the effects are inevitable: the cost of water, food and travel has tripled. “People have lost their life savings in one swipe. Where’s the money to pay three times the money for something as fundamental as drinking water?”

For some, the ordeal of cleaning up has been even more terrifying. The flood “brought up everything” as Gita Sudheer from NSW says. Most of her family –mum, grandmother and extended family lives in Kerala. Her father’s brother lives in Thrissur, she says. “He woke up around midnight to use the bathroom and when he put his feet down, there was water up to his knees. And not standing water, either. When he looked around, everything was floating around him – the fridge, the gas, furniture. Can you imagine that?”

She tells us about her mother and cousins in Chalakudy, a municipal town situated on the banks of Chalakudy river in Thrissur. “They were airlifted after spending three days on the terrace. And

when they came back to clean the house after the water receded, they found a crocodile and snakes in the house!”

After what is hopefully the end of one of the biggest natural disasters the state has seen in a century, citizens are trying to get their lives together. Their families across Australia, meanwhile, have been conducting fundraising events and vigils to help in whichever way they can.

Madanan Chellappan of the Brisbane Malayalee Association says the organisation has teamed up with Caboolture Hospital in Queensland to set up a fundraiser next week as many of its employees are Malayalee. The BMA also had a candlelight vigil earlier this week which was attended by Brisbane City Councillor Amanda Cooper and Lord Mayor of BrisbaneGraham Quirk.

AMMA, which was to host Onam

festivities on 18 August, turned the festival into a fundraiser too, and donated all the profits to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). PUMA raised close to $17,000 and hosted a fundraiser on 2 September with other Malayalee associations in Western Australia.

Dhanya has decided to engage in a small, private fundraising to help out her maid whose house was damaged in the floods. “While the Government is offering all possible help, it is important for all of us to come together and do our bit, the least we can from so far away.”

The mission is singular: to help Kerala get back on its feet. Whether it’s through prayers, vigils or events, the Indian Australian community is leaving no stone unturned. It is truly a lesson in resilience. Donate to the CMDRF here:

https://donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in/

They were airlifted after three days on the terrace. And when they came back to clean the house, they found a crocodile in the house

Sydney Brisbane

Melbourne

Photos: AAP, Northside Malayalee Community Club, Suresh Pokkattu, Brisbane Malayalee Association

Oz #StandsWithKerala

BY EMIE ROY

T“here was no way I could hold myself from attending this vigil,” Melbourne’s Benila Ambika said to Indian Link “I was heartbroken when I saw the news of my homeland, Kerala, being ravaged by floods. I saw myself in the people who stood there helpless, watching their homes being taken by the flood waters,” She added, evidently moved after attending a public vigil that was organised in North Melbourne that saw around 300 people from various Indian communities in attendance. “Being part of this vigil is the least I could do to share their agony.”

As Kerala, the south Indian state, is getting back on its feet gradually shrugging off the bruises from the deluge that took the lives of nearly 400 people and displaced a million, people all across the world are lending their hands to rebuild the state and rehabilitate its people. Australia is joining in the league too and the vigil in Melbourne was one of those in many Australian cities to support and #StandWithKerala.

Canberra, the capital city of Australia, saw around 150 people attending a vigil in the Civic Square. Sanju George, one of the attendees had more of a first-hand experience to share. “I was in Kerala during the first stage of the flood, and was involved in relief operations with

my friends. We purchased food kits and travelled in boats through what normally would be roads, to supply those to people stranded in their houses. I returned to Australia before the flood got worse, hence it was quite depressing for me to watch from here what happened afterwards. So here I am, doing whatever I can, from where I am at, attending this and contributing to the $37,000 that Canberra Malayalee Association raised.”

The Malayalee based organisations in Brisbane organised community walks, candlelight vigils and fund-raising events in support of the cause, which were attended by hundreds.

Sydney saw a whopping crowd of around 600 people attending the Kerala Flooding Vigil held at Martin Place, often called the heart of the city. The vigil was quite inclusive of the regions including the afflicted Coorg which is in close proximity to Kerala, and also of the drought-stricken Australia. Sydneysiders also took the ‘Oath of Solidarity’ to support both their homeland and the land that welcomed them with open arms, to the best of their capacity. Roanna Gonsalves, the awardwinning writer who attended the vigil said, “I could feel the outpouring of concern and love for the communities badly affected by the floods. I was surprised yet not surprised that the Sydney Malayalee Association had already raised close to $30,000. Living outside India, we feel acutely our privilege of being safe and well, yet there is also a sense of helplessness, and a desire to use our privilege, to be of service to those affected back home.

A gathering such as this allowed us to collectively express these different emotions. It was cathartic. And hopefully the funds raised will make a difference to the lives of those suffering in Kerala.”

The best and biggest impact of all these activities was how it helped in bringing awareness amongst the crop of young second generation migrants, like Roshan John. Roshan, a kindergartener, has now decided to donate the money from his birthday presents to the flood relief fund. “Mum said there are children in Kerala who have even lost all their books and have nothing to learn from. I said to her that she can collect all the money for my presents and give it to those children,” said a beaming Roshan.

Support from Australian Parliamentarians

Australian Parliamentarians made their presence felt in all of these vigils. Joy Burch, the speaker of the ACT Legislative Assembly attended the Canberra vigil and her recollections about the beautiful Kerala that she had visited last year moved many. Jodie Mackay, the MP for Strathfield (NSW), spoke about the importance of restoring tourist activities to Kerala, and thus supporting the economy

of the state, during the Sydney vigil.

It has been widely appreciated that Michelle Rowland, the Federal MP for Greenway (NSW), and Anthony Byrne, Federal Member for Holt (Victoria) spoke about Kerala floods in the Federal Parliament of Australia.

Michelle said in her address, “Whilst it is crucial that disaster relief support is provided immediately, it is also imperative that ongoing support is given in the region to alleviate the damage to the local economy. It’s crucial that we elevate discussion within the Asia-Pacific and the Indo-Pacific region about preparation efforts for extreme climate events, including flood mitigation. Australia can and should lead this conversation.”

Anthony mentioned, “This is about us working together, in whichever form of Govt we can, to provide assistance, so that we can raise money with all of the communities coming together; and to amplify the absolute scale of the destruction occurred consequent to the flooding and the landslides that occurred. Please also encourage the Australian Govt to make representations to the Indian Govt to provide any support we can.”

For sure, this is a small world, and we are all global citizens.

Australian Parliamentarians participate in efforts to rehabilitate Kerala after devastating floods in the Indian state

Jodie Mackay, the MP for Strathfield (NSW), spoke about the importance of restoring tourist activities to Kerala to support its economy

A man wades through flood waters in Kerala

A birthday party fundraiser

Canberra Canberra

Melbourne

Photos: AAP, Canberra Malayalee Association, Suresh Pokkattu

The big dry

While Kerala soaks wet like never before, closer home to us here in Oz, the states of NSW and Queensland are in the middle of the worst drought in years. The Big Dry has been around for a few months and the situation looks dismal, thanks to a critical lack of rain this year among other things.

What exactly is drought?

Dr Avanish Panikker, Senior Wastewater Engineer in Sydney explains in his paper Predicting the drought: the needs and the haves: “Identification of the beginning or end of drought conditions is debatable. Low rainfall in itself does not constitute the commencement of drought; rain or flooding during prolonged periods of drought does not necessarily signal the end of drought”. So what exactly is drought? Apparently, drought can be felt in four different ways: meteorological drought (deviation from normal precipitation conditions over a period of time), agricultural drought (lack of adequate soil moisture for crops or pasture), hydrological drought (reduced precipitation for an extended period of time) and socio-economic drought (recognises the relationship between supply and demand for water, how low water supply negatively impacts communities in terms of businesses and social behaviour.)

Why is there drought in Australia at the moment?

The Bureau of Meteorology’s autumn summary advised that this year’s April to June period has been the fourth-driest since the Bureau of Meteorology started taking records back in 1900. Being the driest inhabited continent, Australia’s rainfall and natural climate variability is

substantial. Also, our position under the subtropical high-pressure belt encourages the air to push down, preventing the lift required for rain.

Other systems called climate drivers like El Nino and La Nina in the central and eastern tropical Pacific can make things worse from time to time. The Bureau of Meteorology’s Climate Updates also mention that climate change and extreme weather events might exacerbate the risk of droughts.

Who’s affected?

“You have no idea what it is like here. We have absolutely no rains at all,” said an anonymous volunteer in Central NSW who works amongst the farmers. “The farmers

are in a terrible situation. We are trying to provide as much assistance as possible to sustain life here. Life is tough here, to say the least.”

Indian Link was able to engage in an in-depth conversation with Mark Judson, a NSW farmer who owns or leases about 5,000 acres in the country town of Bogangate, between Parkes and Forbes.

“Farmers here are a tough lot, as they have seen many ups and downs,” said Mark, as he confirmed the information on the Bureau of Meteorology’s page.

“This drought did not just commence right now, it has been around for months. The livestock as well as mixed crop farmers have fallen victims, and as an outcome the winter crops like wheat, barley, oats and canola are affected too. The fact that there was not much rain when seedlings sprouted will certainly take its toll on these crops. Without rain most will die within three weeks.”

He added, “There is not much hay or grain available to feed our sheep. Whilst we are feeding them a ration, and also providing them mineral supplements, not

all of them seem to be able to bear with it. Dying animals also affect farmers and their families. Those with young families are the ones who are really affected–just like a young family in the city would suffer if the breadwinner lost a job.”

Asked about farmer suicides, Mark told Indian Link, “The meagre subsidy for farmers here as compared to that in other western countries is causing a tight squeeze. It’s not just the farmers who are the victims. The rural economy itself is getting affected. Usually, the farmers will spend their money in the businesses in the country towns, who in turn source products manufactured in small Australian companies. When farmers stop spending, it creates a cascading effect and impacts the entire economy.”

Sydney’s Lucinda Coble, whose father is from Charleville, an outback town in Queensland, said, “We were out there a few weeks back and the place is a dust bowl. We couldn’t believe it, really terrible.”

How does it affect me?

A predicted pinch in bread and red meat will be hitting markets soon. Bread prices could go up since wheat production is affected. Red meat’s availability will increase initially due to farmers offloading their sheep first, and then it is expected to limit itself as the breeding stock would have perished and it takes time to establish a new stock.

Can I help?

The most important thing seems to be donating to genuine organisations, so do your research before doing so. We have been advised that some of the farmers never want to ask for help. In those circumstances, the volunteers will just leave parcels and care packages at the farmer’s front gate and drive off without going in. This makes it even more important to donate to the right people. A few charities that have set up fundraising efforts for these farmers are Drought Angels, Aussie Helpers, Buy a Bale, Disaster Relief and Recovery Appeal run by Australian Red Cross. Volunteers advise that it’s better to donate cash rather than in kind, to get the money rolling in the rural economy. Even better, you can volunteer yourself. Or take a trip and spend money in these rural towns to inject life into their businesses.

It’s time to brace ourselves for the ongoing drought in NSW and Queensland, and to pitch for afflicted farmers, writes EMIE ROY

Dry sowing (left) and temporary water points as dams go dry

WHAT’S ON

Garba and dandiya night

Sat 6 Oct (6:00pm onwards)

Brisbane Gujarati Samaj and Saptak

Entertainment Group brings to you Garba and Dandiya Night this year, which will feature talented local artists, food and lots of fun prizes. At Algester state school, 19 Endiandra Street, Algester QLD, Brisbane. Details 07 3712 5111.

Navratri Pehla Ni Ratri

Sat 15 and Sun 16 Sept (5:30pm onwards) Enjoy your Navratri with Atul Pandit at 235 Smiths Rd, Redbank. Details 0424 332 913 or 0430 568 708.

Sangeet Premi free open mic sessions

Sun 16 Sept (2:00pm onwards)

Sangeet Premi Club hosts a free open mic session for all members and nonmembers. An opportunity for all singers and musicians (budding or established) to belt out their favourite numbers. Please get your own music tracks. Held at 10 Love St, Spring Hill. Details 0401 006 430.

Soulful Sitar – Smt Anupama

Bhagwat

Sat 6 Oct (7:00pm – 9:00pm) The team behind Sangeet Mela host USbased sitarist Anupama Bhagwat for an evening of ‘Soulful Sitar’ at Queensland Multicultural Centre, 102 Main St, Kangaroo Point, Brisbane. Details 07 3392 3787.

Kishan v Kanhaiya

Sun 23 Sept (6:30pm – 10:00pm)

Paresh Rawal performs live on stage with his team to deliver a hilarious yet meaningful message to the community. At Chandler Theatre Sleeman Rd, Chandler.

Details 07 3131 9626.

Stand-up comedy

Sun 7 Oct (6:30pm – 9:30pm) Hinglish stand-up comedy show featuring Indian stand-ups Kunal Kamra and Varun Thakur, supported by Brisbane’s Sandeep Totlani Comedy. Held at 8 Annerley Road, Brisbane. Details 07 3172 3040.

Meet Kaur live

Sun 16 Sept (6:30pm onwards)

Meet Kaur’s live concert at Brisbane Convention Center, South Brisbane.

Details 0402 351 658.

Indian Literature Festival

Sun 9 Sept (5.00pm – 9.00pm) GNST

- Guru Nanak Sikh Temple Brisbane presents 1st Indian Literature Festival 2018 at American College, 180 Logan Road, Woolloongabba QLD, Brisbane.

Details 07 3391 7599.

Chakra Therapy Workshop

Fri Sept 14 (7.30pm – 9.00pm) Kriya

Yoga Australia presents Chakra Therapy Workshop by Kriyacharya Jyoti to take you effortlessly into a deeper understanding of your Chakras. At Yoga Bones, 33 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington, Brisbane. Details 0451 984 003.

Our dad, a superhero

Melbourne based Indian father chosen as 62nd Victorian Father of the Year

BY TARINI PURI

Afather or father-figure stands rock solid besides their children to provide them moral support, confidence, mentoring, education and the strength to face multiple challenges of life.

So says Sandeep ‘Sunny’ Jadhav, named recently as the 62nd Victorian Father of the Year for 2018.

Jadhav was chosen from over a thousand nominations from across the state for an outstanding father figure by the organisers YMCA Victoria in association with the Father’s Day Council of Victoria.

Declaring Jadhav as a winner, the organisers lauded him for being a fatherly figure dedicated to young people. “Sandeep is an incredible dad and mentor for many. He is a true role model, who inspires the next generation of Australia’s brightest young people,” Chair of the Father’s Day Council Barry Novy said.

49-year-old Jadhav lives in Melbourne with his wife Kiran and two teenage daughters, 13-year-old Sachi and 16-year-old Khushi – who secretly sent his nomination for the award. Nagpurborn, he moved to Australia in 1996. While he works as a Land Maintenance System Electrical Engineer for the Defence Force, his true joy comes from teaching and inspiring others in maths, science and engineering subjects.

For over 15 hours a week, for the past 16 years, Jadhav has voluntarily tutored primary school aged kids, VCE and university students and army officers from all cultures and backgrounds. Mentees and

their parents appreciate his passion and involvement, besides his calm and stressfree demeanour.

Many of Jadhav’s 200-odd students and mentees have gone onto become pilots, surgeons, doctors and scientists across Australia.

They continue to be in touch and hold him in high regard, which makes his wife Kiran observe that he is “really a dad to so many.”

As well as being a dad to others, Jadhav is dedicated to his family. He takes his daughters for runs twice a week at 5.15am,

cooks breakfast for the family, makes his wife tea, drops off and picks up his daughters from school and helps them with their a homework. In the summer months he plays cricket with his family.

Jadhav says mentoring and being a positive role model to his daughters inspires him every day. His own inspiration is his father, a retired public servant back in India who ingrained early in him the attitude he carries to this day. “My father always told me, never ever lower your moral values for anything. He used to travel a lot while I was growing up, but would always manage to

find quality time for me. I am trying to do the same with my daughters. I am ever-engaged and in touch with them, and always try to leave a small inspiring note for them before setting out,” he says.

Jadhav admits there are challenges in the father role. “Parenting is an extremely challenging role. The responsibility of shaping young minds is a herculean task. I have never walked alone on this path, as my wife has always supported me. It feels wonderful to be recognised with this award,” he says.

The best stamp of approval came from his own daughters who expressed their pride for their father in their nomination entry for Jadhav. “Our dad is a real life superhero. He doesn’t wear a cape though because he wears the army uniform. We love our dad so much because he does so much for the community,” they wrote.

No doubt this year’s Father’s Day, Sunday 2 Sept, will be a special one for the Jadhav family.

They’ll be spending it by cheering Sandeep on, as he runs the YMCA Father’s Day Fun Run at Melbourne Tan. He’ll be raising money for YMCA youth programs that build resilience and positive mental health.

Since 1956, the Father’s Day Council of Victoria has named a Father of the Year for Victoria, to celebrate and recognise the important role fathers and father-figures play in family life. Since 13 years, it has been partnering with the YMCA to first identify local YMCA Community Father of the Year awardees before selecting a statelevel winner.

Our dad is a real life superhero. He doesn’t wear a cape though because he wears the army uniform

< Sunny (Victorian Father of the Year), Sally Capp (Lord Mayor of Melbourne), Kiran (Wife)

Keep calm and curry on

Monash University academic traces the many narratives of the term ‘curry’ tied to identity, and the possible origin of the slur ‘curry-muncher’

BY MRIDULA NATH CHAKRABORTY

Opening Night, Melbourne Comedy Festival 2018. Dilruk Jayasinha’s introductory salvo:

This is so exciting. I honestly… Sorry, it’s unbelievable — that I get to do stand-up comedy here at the Palais in Melbourne. Because I… I’m from Sri Lanka! And I used to be an accountant. Yeah. A Sri Lankan accountant!!! So — not just a money cruncher, but a curry-munching money cruncher!

Thaaat word … is it back again? For someone who has spent the last 30 years of her life specialising in English literary, postcolonial and cultural studies, I had never encountered it until I arrived in Australia 10 years ago and soon after chanced upon Roanna Gonsalves.

Not the real-life, award-winning writer of The Permanent Resident, but (to me, at the time) a little known author of the short story “Curry Muncher.” In Gonsalves’ story, an Indian international student working night shifts as a restaurant waiter is attacked on a Sydney train and viciously beaten up, while repeatedly being called a “curry muncher”. Like the story’s omniscient narrator/fellow-passenger/ onlooker, I was genuinely puzzled as to why that term could or would exist:

I wondered how one could possibly munch curry? The way I understood it, curry, being a liquid, could be eaten with rice or one could even drink it as one did rasam and even sambhar. But there was no way one could munch curry as if it were a biscuit.

When “Curry Muncher” was published in Eureka Street in June 2009, in the wake of two years of intermittent protests by Indian international students and taxi-drivers against racially-motivated violence in Sydney and Melbourne, you could be forgiven for assuming that the narratorial voice was a thinly-disguised autobiographical riff. In fact, when I wanted to invite Gonsalves to participate at a university roundtable about the racist attacks, the organisers rescinded the invitation when I told them the short story was fictional - the author was not a “real life” victim of the violence.

Gonsalves has since steadfastly maintained the right of imagination to animate her fiction and has refused to inhabit the implied authentically-currified authorial body. But it seems that time and

time again, stories and identities of the South Asian diaspora get emulsified in the deep pool of curry that Jayasinha too uses to flavour his circular stand-up act.

An invention of the British Empire?

Embedded in the slur curry muncher is a long history of racialised stereotyping and name-calling that accrues to bodies presumed to be the primary ingesters of that great culinary equaliser, the curry. The aspersion is collectively cast upon inhabitants of, and diasporic populations tracing their genealogy to, the Indian subcontinent, alternatively known as South Asia.

A close kin to the noun is the verb “to curry favour,” also related to “brownnosing”, which refers to the orifice at the other end of the digestive canal that comes into contact with curry. In the hands of creatives like Gonsalves and Jayasinha, such terms are reclaimed and recuperated to make a political statement against hegemonic cultures and hate-groups that use them to essentialise, discriminate against, and terrorise subcontinental brown folk in white settler nations.

Notwithstanding the fact that the prefix in question is one of those enduring inventions of the British Empire that no self-respecting subcontinental would own without a thousand caveats attached, “curry” seems to be the lowest-common denominator that unites these disparate peoples who have had their histories defined by European colonisation.

Christopher Columbus might have set the action in motion in 1492 when he sallied forth to find the shortest sea-route to the Indies in search of the famed spices that Europe coveted, but really, it is the Brits who can rightfully claim to be the progenitors of the ubiquitous dish called the “curry”.

The Wikipedia entry for it traces the word as far back as the 1390s to the French (“cury” from “cuire”, meaning to cook), thence to a mid-17th century Portuguese cookbook, with the “first” English curry recipe recorded in 1747. An entire body of academic scholarship on the subject interprets the meaning of curry as domesticating imperialism, codifying race and transnationalising identity.

The eventual spread and sprawl of Anglophone colonisation took the nowpopular creation to all corners of the world. Wherever the English went, taking with them slaves, soldiers, indentured labourers, bureaucrats, factotums, cooks, clerks, coolies and other cogs in the wheels of Empire, so did the curry. Curry might well

say, like that T-shirt, “We are here because you were there!”

Thus in lands far away from the Indies, in the Caribbean, East and South Africa, Fiji, Guyana, the Maldives, Mauritius and Suriname, sprang up a cuisine created with local ingredients that was the closest approximation of loved and remembered foods from “back home”.

Curry then attaches both to the food and the identity of the people from which it is assumed to have originated, attaining the power of stereotype to achieve its full effect. Like the English language, the capaciousness of the culinary genre grants admission to variegated arrivants, even as the putative “custodians” of the recipes, the peoples from the Indies, are rendered unwelcome in Anglophone collectives. These migrated flocks are forever deemed to be speaking in accents, munching away at their curry, leading to that seemingly curious and innocuous, yet politically offensive and proprietorial, question: “Where are you really from?”

A potent metaphor

Still, it appears that these flotsam and jetsam of Empire’s enterprise are not content with the mulligatawny soups and kedgerees that the British brought back home to ye olde England. Subcontinentals and South Asians stubbornly insist on their “own” versions of rasams and khichuris (cousin to the Egyptian koshari). Therefore, it follows they must possess the secret magic ingredient that will lead to a truly original curry.

Paradoxically, “foreign” innovations are treated with suspicion, by the descendants of both the colonisers and the colonised, leading to that dreaded quest for the authentic experience on all quarters.

It is this totalising affect and effect of curry that Naben Ruthnum, a Torontonian of Mauritian descent, cavils against in his recent book Curry: Eating, reading and race. Ruthnum contends that in migrantbased, multicultural states and colonialsettler nations, subcontinental/South Asian minorities like him partake of the meaning of curry, in food and in literature, as “the defining elements” of their identity (albeit unwillingly and ambivalently).

Curry becomes a way of being contained and corralled by their own communities holding on to the fragile, frayed thread of belonging to that mythically-originary Indies, as well as creatively hybridising the changing face of a dish that has always absorbed influences.

Ruthnum is interested in the historically specific self-identifications of subcontinental

diasporas. They devour, in equal amounts of delight, disbelief and disaffection, both the recipes and the curry-novels that narrativise migration journeys.

His book is divided into three sections: the executing and eating of; the reading and reflecting about, and the racialising and erasing of identity via the curry. In the first two sections, he makes a convincingly cheeky case against the insistence on the purity of curry-making and charges a polemic against the way curry-novels constantly transmute into conversations about “experience, alienation, authenticity, and belonging”.

Matters get really interesting in the third section, when Ruthnum delves deep into why curry continues to provide such a potent metaphor for South Asians, forcing a kind of subcontinental solidarity on brown bodies. Such idyllic camaraderie and commensality, however, is not borne out by the entrenched divisions of subcontinental caste, class, gender and arrival stories.

For those not-in-the-know of subcontinental stratarchies at your local curry house, it may not matter whether it is paneer, chicken, mutton, beef or fish that goes into your tikka-masala. But to the initiated and adept, it is the hermeneutics of différence unto death that determines their eating practices and politics.

Tracing his own ancestry to a V. Ruthnum who arrived in Mauritius in 1886, and having discussed his own contemporary alienation of trying to find comradeship in the “colonial gangbang” of a creolised island nation, Ruthnum concludes:

Just as curry doesn’t exactly exist, neither does the diasporic South Asian. If we are attempting to build solidarity out of a shared history, it will never quite mesh, hold true, unless our great-grandparents happened to be from the same time and place… Members of Team Diaspora may have skin of the same general tone, but each has a family history that is likely completely distinct.

What Exactly is a Curry? asks Camellia Punjabi in 50 Great Curries of India where the word might mean different things in different regional subcontinental contexts: “kari”, “kadhi”, “kaari”. Mridula Bajlekar’s Curry: fire and spice includes recipes from South East Asia in its remit, while Lizzie Collingham’s Curry: A Tale of Cooks and Conquerers concludes that popular dishes now known as curries are the result of a prolonged history of invasion and fusion of food traditions from Persia to Portugal in the subcontinent.

Notwithstanding the indeterminacy and obduracy of the curry to resist definition, discussions around its “roots” continue

Tarneit residents protesting at the stairs of Parliament

unabated. From unflinching purists to unabashed adulterers, everyone has a position (missionary or otherwise) on the curry; the only constant being that each narrative is tied to identity and its (ab)uses. Even among proponents of un-curry, the attempt to establish bona fide credentials remains an overwhelming ambition.

In fact, the more specialised a curry is, the greater appears to be the need of practitioners and purveyors to pin down its ancestry. In the subcontinent, this might take the shape of venerating culinary traditions like the Bengali, the Kashmiri or the Saraswat. Regional subcontinental particularities like the Awadhi, the Mapila and the Parsi are but testament to the enormous trade and traffic in cultures and influences through the millennia.

Curries at a remove from the subcontinent have the constant burden placed on them to prove their authenticity, an expectation that sits piously and provocatively on migrant bodies that have swum valiantly onto unknown shores. The buss up shut roti, the bunny chow, the litti chokha give any curry a run for its money, and triumphantly declare their independence against the republic of curry.

Currying on…

Landing in Sydney in 2008 after an 18-hour flight from Edmonton, where I had lived for a decade, I was taken aback by my alarming lack of diasporic angst as the plane almost touched the red-tiled roofs of St Peter’s. Perhaps I was also lulled into a familiar/ familial tropical torpor by the scent of the freesias and frangipani that greeted me everywhere.

Nestled in a tiny apartment atop Kantipur Nepali grocery store in Marrickville, I was still half a decade away from its gentrification and burgeoning foodie scene. Instead, my neighbours were a fruit shop run by two hierarchical but loquacious Greek brothers and an unbelievably clean butchery. I was charmed by the Australian language, which left nothing to the imagination as to what might transpire inside those premises: the butchery!

Nine months on, walking about in this not-yet-not-quite-hip inner-west neighbourhood, I would pass numerous verandahs where grizzled, old Greek men sat playing board games while a tiny, bearded goat munched on grass growing in the cracks between cemented front lawns. I hazarded the guess that, true to old country values, these were being fattened for Easter on the tenderest green tidbits. I also discovered that the butchery would sell you a full baby goat: I only had to convince three of my friends to go in for shares.

When I enjoined upon the laconic butcher to give each one of us a leg, the grim, unsmiling character said, without missing a beat on his cleaver: “Goat not have four legs. Cow have four legs.” Somehow that seemed wildly funny on that dazzling day as the four of us stood across from the Uniting Church and hugged our blood-soaked packages to take home and bestow the meat with our own unique benefaction.

The deal was that we would invite each other to taste our culinary creations. Among all possible renditions, roast leg of goat, goat ragout, goat chops, goat cutlets, goat shashlik and goat dumplings, it fell to me of course to make the goat curry. Moi, who bristled indignantly whenever anyone asked me what the best place to “eat Indian” was in town: hell, I’d been here only less than a year! Moreover, in a city of such culinary finesse and fusion, where every Shazza, Dazza and Bazza had access to cuisine from Vietnam to Vanuatu, Bangladesh to Beirut, China to Cyprus, why on earth was it assumed that I, fresh off the flight, would know, or even want to know, the best place to “eat Indian”?

There was a promiscuity of palate and uppity savoir faire in Sydney that I have come to love, but somehow that would get eclipsed in the quotidian query that presumed that when South Asians went out, we would consume only our own, never the “other”, that our tongues were not urbane enough for the pronunciation of, or experimentation with, other “global” foods, and that the connoisseurship afforded to

aficionados who could differentiate between which wines to pair with “Indian” was not available to us.

In this field of alimentary refinement, South Asians could only ever be native informants, never enlightened anthropologists or even pretentious gourmands. Ten years on, the question never fails to arrive: the push and pull of authenticity laid square at my door to conjure the “most genuine” Indian food possible, a parallel to those other historically amnesiac questions encountered with unfailing regularity, with inimitable rising inflections: “You really speak good English?” and “Will you stay on in ’stralia?”

These connections between being called a smelly curry muncher and pigeonholed as the genuine article or authority on “curry” cut deep, but paradoxically they are also a reminder, as Ruthnum puts it, “that there are domestic, comforting aspects to exoticism”.

They are a frequent intimation of one’s provisional and privileged place in a settler nation, as well as an incantation that we might know something about that most adaptive, bastardised and chameleon-like dish of Empire, the curry, even as we wag our typhoid-yellow index fingers and wiggle our collective subcontinental heads and insist that it just does not exist.

So to go back to that day, when it came down to being objectified as a true blue, genuine cook of goat curry, I had no objections. These were my Australian friends, South Asian and non-South Asian, the ones who had taken me deep into their hearts and homes, and if curry was what they wanted, curry is what I would make them. I invoked my ancient culinary karma and sacred gastronomic inheritance to embark on the journey of the goat via my friend Iman’s Egyptian recipe that called for only onions, garlic and black peppercorns. No mustard oil, no cinnamon or cloves, no turmeric and chili, no cumin and coriander powder, or ginger and garam masala.

After all, she, no mean cook herself, had declared with supreme discernment once, when I had painstakingly made Egyptian mahshi from a recipe, that they tasted

absolutely Indian, that anything I made would taste Indian. It is a fact of life I have come to embrace as well, as I go about adding green chillies to my penne pasta and soy sauce to my cauliflower curries. A right royal subcontinental flip to the Descartian dualism: cogito, ergo sum upturned into, “I am, therefore I curry!”

At 0.37 seconds in the trailer for the Netflix documentary series, Ugly Delicious, David Chang, the renowned Momofuku chef leading a crusade against purity and piety in food, has a memorable line that all authenti-siasts should adopt as their motto: “It’s when you eat a dish that reminds you of a dish cooked by your mom.”

I may improvise, with the right pinch of remembrance and matricidal rejection thrown in, curry is an invention and an inventory of arrival that also asserts its adulthood against that long-lost mother country, tongue and palate.

Ruthnum would agree that authenticity talk is uniquely boring and absorbing: the more you try to establish provenance, the more pedantic it becomes, but the conversation around it can be endlessly entertaining. As Helen Rosner, roving food correspondent at The New Yorker concludes, “the great cooks, in Chang’s view, are those who don’t just deploy an ingredient or a technique but feel it, deeply, adopting the food and its history as a fundamental part of who they are.”

This then is ultimately what is at the heart of the insistence on curry: the owning and the disavowing of it at the same time, in all its racialized legacies and imperial flavours, in all the ways that it searches for a genesis story and all the wonderful wanton ways in which it leads you astray in the detours of history.

Curry as social bonding, curry as story telling, curry as sloganeering, curry as stand-up comedy, curry as the personal, curry as the politics, curry as imagined community — keep calm and long live the curry! This article was originally published on theconversation.com.

Arnav Sati

Photo: Dhanya Samuel

Fair or faulty?

BY NATASHA JHA BHASKAR

The Lower House (Lok Sabha) of India’s Parliament has passed a Bill that proposes to allow registered non-resident Indian voters to use proxies to cast votes on their behalf in Indian elections. Introduced in the Lok Sabha last December and passed recently, it now needs the approval of the upper house Rajya Sabha.

What is proxy voting?

You can vote in an Indian election in three ways - in person, by post and through a proxy. Under proxy voting, a registered elector can delegate his voting power to a representative. This was introduced in 2003 for elections to the lower house (Lok Sabha) and State Assemblies, but on a limited scale. Only a “classified service voter” belonging to the armed forces or a paramilitary force is allowed to nominate a proxy to cast vote on his behalf in his absence, as long as the proxy, too, is a registered voter in the same constituency.

How will the mechanism for proxy voting work?

Although the contours or the mechanics of proxy voting are not yet clear, any implementation mechanism for such a move has to be carefully crafted. Proxy vote in essence goes against the very concept of a secret ballot as one has to disclose his or her preference to another individual, who in turn has to vote on his or her behalf. There is no guarantee that the proxy will vote for the candidate preferred by the overseas voter, thereby vitiating the object of free and fair elections. It is still not clear who can qualify as a proxy. A relative, a friend, who? How does the Election Commission plan to ensure that the proxy votes as per the wish of an overseas voter? Clearly, there is much that needs to be ironed out.

Out of the 30 million NRIs in 208

countries, the Election Commission has no estimate of how many of these qualify as voters. One major reason for low registration is that the NRIs have to be physically present at a polling station under present rules. Of the 24,348 NRIs who’ve registered, 23,556 are from Kerala, and the remaining 4% or 792 are divided between the remaining 35 states and Union territories. There are 13 states/ UTs, including Karnataka where not even a single NRI has registered to vote. In Punjab, which has attracted the second highest number, 364 registrations have come in. All other states have low numbers. Geographical distance and the high cost of travel prevent NRIs from effectively participating in elections in India. Unofficial data with Election Commission shows that only 10,000 to 12,000 overseas voters have exercised their franchise because they do not want to spend foreign currency to come to India and vote.

Why is proxy voting debatable?

The government believes that there will be several positives of proxy voting. States like Kerala, Gujarat, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh will attract overseas voters. The fact that most Indians settled abroad are strongly connected to their roots and plugged to state politics regardless of their present residence, should help political parties in consolidating the diaspora base.

The implementation of it all, however, has its own challenges. Some opposition political parties believe that it could never be guaranteed that the proxy voter would vote as per the wishes of the actual voter. Proxy voting suffers from the inherent problem of ‘trust deficiency’, and violates the principles of ‘secrecy of voting’ and ‘free and fair elections’.

Bribery and inducements of voters are strictly kept in check in elections. These are impossible to implement abroad. There can be no guarantee of NRI voters exercising their vote in a free and fair manner, as there can be no check on coercion or inducements by employers and supervisors. A majority of foreign migrants

are poor workers often at the mercy of their employers who even take their passports into custody.

Again, Indian embassies and high commissions are short on human resources. The regular elections in India will further add to their workload.

The smaller regional parties will be at a disadvantage, as they have no support base or financial clout to lure the diaspora crowd.

What does this mean for NRIs in Australia?

For over 700,000 strong Indian diaspora in Australia, proxy voting can be an opportunity to keep themselves plugged in to the home country’s politics - national and state.

And yet, it is also paradoxical that the government which plans to give proxy voting rights to NRIs, has found them ineligible to file Right to Information applications.

How to register as an overseas voter

The first step in this process is to get registered as a voter. The application for this purpose can be filed in prescribed form in person before the concerned Electoral Registration Officer of the constituency within which one’s residence in India falls, or sent by post, or filed online on the website of Chief Electoral Officer of the concerned state, or website of Election Commission of India (eci. nic.in) with all relevant documents. Once enrolled, you can cast your vote in India during Assembly or Parliamentary elections at the respective polling station after showing your valid Indian passport.

And with the proxy voting option to be available soon, can also nominate a proxy.

Having a voter ID also serves as general identity, address, and age proof for other purposes such as buying a mobile phone SIM card or applying for any relevant documents.

Other examples of overseas voting

Many countries allow expatriates to

vote, with different rules. For instance, a British citizen living abroad can either travel back to the UK to vote in person, or vote by post, or nominate a proxy to do so. American expatriates can vote for federal office candidates in primary and general elections, irrespective of how long they have been living abroad. Once registered, an overseas Amercian voter will receive a ballot paper by email, fax, or download, depending on the US state.

Modi’s constituency?

Nationalism resonates with the NRI audience. There are about 10 million NRIs in the countries that PM Modi has visited since Nov 2014. With winning margins going down with every election, this number is significant for the BJP.

Modi is the only campaigner in this constituency of goodwill. Given his demonstrated power to influence the masses with his fiery rhetoric, proxy voting rights to NRIs can turn out to be a big poll bonanza for BJP and allies in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Analysis

Eminent German political scientists

Dieter Nohlen and Florian Grotz argue that “the notion of external voting … goes against one of the classic requirements… namely the residency inside the state territory.” The fundamental right to equality is the prime argument. How can we give special privilege of distance voting to some people who have migrated abroad, when there are many times more domestic migrants who also seek to have a voting right at their homes? It is patently discriminatory. If a person from Bihar moves to Delhi or Mumbai in search of a job or education, he loses his right to choose his legislator in his village, but if he moves to London, he will be entitled to special privilege.

Remember that the right to vote is not a fundamental right whereas the right to equality is.

Clearly, this is a tricky issue that needs deeper analysis and finer details. Proxy voting may be an advantage that has to be exercised with caution and diligence.

India may soon pass a bill to introduce proxy voting for the diaspora, but there are many issues to be ironed out before it comes into practice

IFFM

MASALA & MUSINGS

dance

Festival Melbourne 2018

performances

BY PREETI JABBAL

Although last year, the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) was high on celeb quotient with the likes of Aishwarya Rai and Karan Johar, this year, it was more about offbeat themes and ‘thinking stars’. Festival guests Vicky Kaushal, Richa Chadha, Ali Fazal and Mrunal Thakur may not yet be household names, like the A-listers of Bollywood, but their talent has gained them much respect from a discerning audience. A new wave in Indian cinema is bringing to the fore a legion of talent that is less about Shakespearean strutting and more about natural, believable portrayals.

Riding that wave is Kaushal, who took home the IFFM 2018 Best Supporting Performance Award for his role as Sanjay Dutt’s friend Kamli in the latest Bollywood blockbuster Sanju. He wooed both critics and audiences with his roles in Masaan, Raazi, Love Per Square Foot, Zubaan and Raman Raghav

When asked what he thought of being the poster boy of this new wave in Indian cinema, Kaushal said, “When I started I didn’t know what type of labels I’d be tagged with. My aim in life is to give 100% to my present; if I do that my future will be better than what I want it to be.”

“My job is to be completely honest to the characters between ‘action’ and ‘cut’. Apart from that I am just Vicky Kaushal,” said the actor at the IFFM launch and press conference. Chadha, who won the Best Supporting Performance for her role in Indo-American film Love Sonia agrees, “My quest was never to be the number

one superstar, but to be an actor who has a long, successful and glorious career, someone who can look back at her filmography and be proud. I am happy to represent the offbeat change from detour age cinema.”

The actor, who’s acted in films such as Oye Lucky Lucky Oye, Fukrey, Gangs of Wasseypur and Masaan, praised the presence of women in media today. “When people question, object to or raise their voice against a zoomed-in shot of their midriff or breasts, it promotes a positive body image.”

Her partner Ali Fazal was also present as a judge for the short film competition. Chadha said one of the reasons she came to Melbourne was to spend some quality time with him. During her last visit she enjoyed dancing in nightclubs and gay bars to live bands. “I cannot party like this in India for fear of being recognised or videographed,” Chadha said.

Everyone loves Melbourne

The love for liveable Melbourne was a common theme among the celebrities from India. Director Rajkumar Hirani and writer Abhijat Joshi professed to have lost their hearts to the city, its rising cityscapes and breathtaking views.

It was Rani Mukerji, however, who stole the show. The actor who was here to hoist the Indian flag at Federation Square articulated her affection not just for the city but also for its ‘really handsome Premier’.

Daniel Andrews, the Victorian Premier, had just finished announcing plans to establish a $3 million Indian Cinema Attraction Fund to enable more filmmakers to explore Victoria as a shooting location when he was left at a loss for words by Rani. Andrews blushed as the actor took his hand, ushered him to the stage, cupped his chin and serenaded him with her own version of the famous Bollywood song >

From celebrity selfies and panel discussions to

competitions and movie screenings, Indian Film

was less about stars and more about stellar

Richa Chadha

All photos: Ravinder Singh Jabbal

Premier Andrews with Rani Mukerji

Mrunal Thakur

Rajkumar Hirani and Abhijat Joshi

Malaika Arora with Richa Chadha

Taran Adarsh

Rani Mukerji

> Tum paas aye as thousands of onlookers cheered.

Although a picture of elegance in her soft chiffon sari with just a stole to keep her warm in the chill, Rani seemed unfazed. And why wouldn’t she? The quintessential drape is associated with the Bollywood song-and-dance routine where Indian actresses brave freezing conditions to sashay down snow-capped mountains or run around trees, while the heroes are snug and toasty in their trendy woollens. “I wore this to remind you of all those Bollywood films,” said the actor to the crowd.

About inclusion and diversity

Freida Pinto of Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire fame, who’s also starred in several American and British productions including Rise of the Planet of the Apes and Michael Winterbottom’s Trishna, accepted her IFFM Diversity Award. “Diversity or diverse roles is not something I do alone or can ever do alone. It is because of the writers, team members, agents, managers and filmmakers. Most importantly, it is the stories past and contemporary that inspire people to make films and make those

characters come to life. That’s what makes stories diverse,” she said.

This year, the IFFM theme of inclusion was celebrated by sharing the work of the two winners of the BMW Short Film Competition at the Red Carpet Awards Night held at Palais Theatre in St Kilda.

Jeyachandra Hashmi’s winning entry from India was titled To Let, based on prejudices one comes across when renting a place. Kauthar Aboualam was the Australian winner with her short film Found, based on Islamophobia and the risk to Islamic women wearing scarfs, which according to her is statistically 79.6% more frequent today.

Awards and awardees

Actor Manoj Bajpai was the surprise entry as he snuck in to claim the Best Actor award for his role in Gali Guleiyan (In the shadows), an intense, enthralling psychological thriller. The Dipesh Jain film also found special mention under the Best Indie Film category.

Love Sonia, which was screened on the opening night, won the Best Indie Film award. Tabrez Noorani and David Wormack’s dark and confronting drama

on international sex trafficking created quite a buzz and provoked both thought and debate among film enthusiasts. Also very well received was Mahanati, Nag Ashwin’s Telugu biographical film based on the life of South Indian actress Savitri. Actor Keerthi Suresh who played the lead accepted the IFFM Equality in Cinema award for the romantic tragedy. Interestingly, actor Sanjay Dutt who was to attend the festival was allegedly refused a visa due to his previous conviction, much to the disappointment of his fans and the director of his biopic, Rajkumar Hirani. But Sanju took the coveted IFFM Best Film award while Hirani accepted the Best Director. Ranbir Kapoor deservedly took the title of IFFM Vanguard in the lead role, but couldn’t be present because he was shooting overseas.

Mukerji, who snapped up the Best Actress award for Hichki had her fans wrapped around her little finger as she spoke, sang and happily posed for selfies with them.

Despite another style faux pas at the awards night with unflattering, super straight hair extensions and a middle parting, she came, smiled, flirted and

conquered – especially at the Q&A session with Rajeev Masand where she invited children to sit with her. She also made a point to congratulate and hug IFFM real life heroes Ryka Gulati and Alle Sayers who were acknowledged for their bravery and courage.

During the awards function, IFFM jury members Simi Garewal, Sue Maslin, Jill Bilcock, Nikkhil Advani and Geoffrey Wright were invited to introduce the artists. They praised the calibre, diversity, creativity and talent that made their task of choosing the best tough.

Caroline Pitcher, CEO of Film Victoria, said, “Cinema is not just entertainment. It can provide opportunities, education and understanding and can often address issues that can change attitudes, moral values and behaviour. It can be a medium for social change.”

Festival Director Mitu Bhowmick Lange was described as a powerhouse and Garewal thanked her team for working tirelessly to make the festival a roaring success.

With the Telstra Bollywood Dance Competition for Talent, discussion panels and a variety of movies, there was something for everyone.

Tabrez Nurani and Freida Pinto

Ali Fazal

IFFM WHEN SANJU CAME TO MELBOURNE

Film-maker Rajkumar Hirani talks to PREETI JABBAL about his latest blockbuster, the ‘whitewashing’ rumours, and why we need more film festivals

He is known as Indian cinema’s most bankable director, a master craftsman and a creator with an intuitive Midas touch. It’s no wonder Rajkumar Hirani (of 3 Idiots, PK, Munnabhai MBBS and Sanju fame) won the IFFM 2018 Best Film and Best Director award. He talks to Indian Link about his latest offering Sanju, the controversial buzz surrounding it and of course, its reception at the festival.

Preeti Jabbal (PJ): Sanju has raised all sorts of interesting questions about the character and the interpretation. Have you achieved what you set out to achieve?

Raju Hirani (RH): When every film ends you always feel you could have done more. In hindsight, you wish that you could have done something differently, but finally it boils down to making choices due to limitations of time or restriction of budget. In Sanju, we talked about media using the guise of ‘our sources’ or sutron ke anusaar to get away with allegations and character assassinations. We focussed on the dreaded question mark that almost always goes unnoticed.

PJ: But the media is mum about the whole thing…

RH: It is hard when you turn the mirror around and they have to face it. I won’t make a sweeping statement and say everyone in the media is unethical, but the sad reality is that negativity sells and that’s what some people focus on to create news. After the release of Sanju the word ‘whitewash’ was thrown out there by some in the media and it stuck. We have been accused of whitewashing Sanjay Dutt’s story. But we clearly showed

that he did drugs, he confessed to sleeping with over 300 women, he cheated with his best friend’s girlfriend and that he went to jail. So where is the whitewashing?

PJ: But people loved the film. And you even managed to reach out to the visually challenged. Did you have any role in achieving this?

RH: Yes of course they couldn’t have done it without my involvement. Saksham, the organisation behind this, had trialled something similar with my film PK but for DVD. This time, they managed to make it possible for the visually challenged to enjoy the movie in the cinema halls. You download an app, link it to the audio of the theatre and use your headphones. Plus, you get a visual description of the scenes. Like any new initiative, it will grow with time.

PJ: Coming now to Oz, do you think the Victorian government’s $3 million fund for Indian cinema will attract more artists?

RH: Melbourne is a fantastic city to shoot. It has a distinct character. And apart from the CBD there are some wonderful locations, like the Great Ocean Road. But there’s no denying that it’s expensive. I tried shooting here once but it was too costly an affair. The fund is a great initiative, but it’s not clear as to how they are going to distribute the $3 million. Usually, we get tax rebates when we shoot abroad. They offer free locations to shoot or reduce the taxes by 25% because the country attracts tourism. It’s a win-win.

PJ: Film festivals: what’s your opinion?

RH: The more, the merrier! Festivals

are a great platform for films that aren’t commercially appealing or don’t boast of big stars. They are a great way to reach film lovers. I find that if movies get a good review in a festival, they get a better release. What Mitu Bhowmick Lange does with the Indian Film Festival in Melbourne is amazing. It may be easy to curate films, but bringing guests out from India is tough. I know how much effort she must be putting in to convince people to come here. We were here a few years ago when it was a much smaller event, now it is getting bigger and better.

PJ: What will it take for Bollywood to make a sizeable impact on the western world?

RH: I don’t think we should worry about that. People who are exposed to a certain milieu and culture make cinema. It’s not necessary that it will travel across the world and honestly, there is no harm if it doesn’t.

We make films for India. Americans, for example, have little exposure to India whereas we in India have more exposure to America. Generally, they tend to see the poverty and so movies like Slumdog Millionaire work. Maybe they are not yet able to associate with us.

PJ: Actors like Vicky Kaushal are becoming poster boys for a new wave of

Indian cinema. What are your thoughts?

RH: It’s not surprising. In fact, it reflects the intelligence of the audience. Back in the ‘80s, there was one (basic) formula on which multiple films were made. Sure there were great films too, like Ardh Satya, but they had limited audiences. Over the years, filmmakers have become bolder in their experiments, and people have become accepting of different genres of films. They like watching commercial cinema but they are also interested in contemporary movies or films that are based on out-of-the-box subjects.

PJ: On the personal front, what is your stabilising influence in this rapidly changing world?

RH: Not being judgemental or cynical helps, as our view of the world is completely made up of what we fill in our heads. The more we judge and are cynical, the more these stories will bother us, so it is important to remain sane.

PJ: Do you ever fear disappointing your fans, critics or even yourself?

RH: Yes. Whenever you make a film you want it to be accepted, you want your work to be loved, you want people to find resonance. With that expectation comes fear, but it is a good fear as it makes you strive for more.

IFFM

WHO WORE WHAT

Who sparkled and who shone? Did we gush or did we moan?

Let’s hear the verdict from the fashion cops at IFFM Awards Night 2018

THEY GOT IT

Little Freida Peep..er..Pinto

exuded vintage vibes in her gorgeous Elie Saab gown. There’s a lot going on there, but Freida, ever the picture of elegance, managed to pull it off. And unlike Rani Mukerji, who chose to freeze to death in her beautiful but sheer sari, Freida layered the number with extra tulle. Full points, Freida.

Fashion siren Malaika Arora brought her A-game on the red carpet at IIFM in a House of Kotwara outfit. The soft mint and cream lehenga, with a sexy choli paired with statement oxidised silver necklace from Apala by Sumit, dewy makeup and a soft bun ticked all the boxes.

Richa Chadha, darling of the masses, looked quite chic in a sparkling navy gown by Namrata Joshipura. The muted makeup with smoky eyes and soft curls went perfectly with the bold colour of the dress and took the focus away from the tuck shop arms. A mention for the Label Sreya Samanta dress sari, though, that she wore on the opening night. Such a spunky yet gorgeous outfit and no one could have pulled it off better than her.

Talented Actor Vicky Kaushal filled his tall frame snugly in a well cut, long achkan style jacket with white bottoms and it was love per square foot for all the fans in the audience.

We fell in deep for this dark maroon, soft silk Sabyasachi number with a delicate gold border and hand embroidered blouse carried off beautifully by festival director Mitu Bhowmick Lange. Super woman sure knows how to rock her sarees.

THEY DIDN’T

Best Actress Rani Mukerji was also nominated for fashion’s best in a trademark black Sabyasachi anarkali, paired with a grey and gold dupatta. An overzealous straightener let her down, though, as did the hohum smoky eyes. Elegant, sure, but spectacular? Nah. Sachin of the Sachin-Jigar duo chose to go monochrome. The funky jacket that shone on stage didn’t quite cut it, nor did his performance, by the way. She loves her white – we know that from the time she hit the screen in the ‘70s but this fur meets furls failed to flatter our generally elegant yesteryear actress and talk show host Simi Garewal. The fresh botox looked furious not fashionable.

Preeti Jabbal

Sachin Rani Mukerji with Mitu Bhowmick

Malaika Arora

Richa Chadha

Simi Garewal

Vicky Kaushal

Freida Pinto

SANT RAJINDER SINGH JI MAHARAJ, HEAD OF SCIENCE OF SPIRITUALITY, INAUGURATES SPECTACULAR NEW NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS, THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUALITY MEDITATION CENTER, IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS SUBURB

Over the last three decades, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj has impacted the lives of millions of people throughout the world with his message of personal transformation through meditation on the inner Light and Sound. As witness to his global influence, thousands of people from different countries gathered in Lisle, IL on Saturday, July 28, for the inauguration of the new National Headquarters for the Science of Spirituality.

Accompanied by a delegation of dignitaries from local cities, the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj cut the ribbon to inaugurate the iconic building. The organization’s new home embodies love, grace, and universality, bringing together design elements from the East and the West, just as the spiritual Master’s message brings together people from all walks of life.

The ribbon-cutting took place in front of the reflecting pool where a threeton sculpture named “The Meditator” embodies the Science of Spirituality logo and represents a person in meditation. The gently rippling pool in which it sits echoes the inner stillness and peace a person experiences in meditation. In the middle of the main building, the circular, gold-colored main hall rises up from the tinted, curved glass arms that surround it, evoking two hands cupped in prayer and reaching to the heavens for divine inspiration and love..

Perhaps one of the most interesting features of the building is a separate golden circular structure designed as a meditation sanctuary. It sits on a floor that was poured separately so that sound or vibration cannot travel from any other part of the building. The sanctuary is only for meditation. With its transitional lighting and serene atmosphere, the sanctuary will serve the community as a place to sit in silence and discover the peace and joy embedded within.

The architect, Gensler, is widely recogni zed as the world’s largest and leading collaborative architectural design

firm, while the general contractor, Skender, has been the builder of choice for many of the world’s leading brands. The Science of Spirituality Meditation Center, built in accordance with green standards, represents one of Gensler’s and Skender’s most recent iconic successes

The inauguration program, featuring a panel of honored guests as speakers, took place on the stage of the main hall immediately following the ribbon-cutting. Speaking first, Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj expressed his appreciation to the guests, after which he outlined the main purposes of the Meditation Center.

He said, “We have a wisdom awaiting us deep within. Instead of only logging onto the Internet, we can take some time daily to log into our own inner essence to lead to a wisdom to enrich our lives. We can discover how to enter our personal sanctuary through meditation, leading to inner and outer peace and lasting joy. Meditation can help us uncover our spiritual side and discover the wonders within.”

U.S. Congressman Bill Foster, from the 11th District of Illinois, commented on how the Science of Spirituality has brought together people from all backgrounds. “I cannot tell you how proud I am to look out at the wonderful diversity in this audience and think how it reflects the diversity of these communities, of the state of Illinois, the United States and all of humanity. Thank you for representing them.”

Kathryn Kruger, PhD read a welcome letter from U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, Illinois: “There’s an old saying: travel light, live light, spread the light, be the light. The Science of Spirituality has been the light in Lisle, Illinois for years, and today, with the inauguration of its new meditation center, that light shines a little bit brighter. Thank you for all you do and all you will continue to do in this community. Your work matters and makes a meaningful difference in all the lives you touch.”

Marina Faz-Huppert, the Chicago Director for U.S. Senator Tammy

Duckworth, Illinois, read the Senator’s congratulatory letter, in which she said, “I am particularly appreciative of the Center’s mission to support people from all walks of life in coming together to encourage peace. our efforts are vital in uniting people all over the world and emphasizing the values of kindness, goodness, and harmony.”

U.S. Representative Grace Meng from New York, after mentioning the organi ation’s affiliation with the United Nations as an NGO and praising its commitment to enriching the lives of those it serves, wrote: “I commend Science of Spirituality for its unwavering dedication to supporting its community and beyond.”

All the thanks and appreciation are a testament to the tireless efforts of Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj whose vision for humanity is both individual and global. It is one in which all people can realize the true value of their deepest self. Through meditation we deepen our commitment to serving the world with love and compassion. Through meditation we realize that all life forms

are vital and valuable members of one family of God.

When the Meditation Center opens its doors to the public in September, not only will the community find a sanctuary of peace where they can spend time in meditation, but they will also be able to register for a variety of classes, programs, and events. These, as with all Science of Spirituality programs, are free. From vegetarian cooking classes, to learning how to meditate or participating in retreats, the Meditation Center will offer the community a full schedule of activities. All are welcome.

As you enter the doors of this meditation center, May you be illumined with golden light, May you discover your sanctuary of inner peace, and May you bask in the spiritual sunshine within

For more information see: www.sos.org www.sos.org/aus/australia

Phone Australia +61 431 718 888 USA 0011 1 (630) 955 1200

Speakers at inaugration 2018 - Inauguration of the new Science of Spirituality National Headquarters, Lisle, Illinois. L to R: Wheaton Mayor, Michael Gresk; Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj’s wife, Mata Rita Ji; Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj; U.S. Congressman, Bill Foster; and Village of Lisle Mayor Chris Pecak

SOS Centre - Science of Spirituality Meditation Centre, National Headquarters, Lisle, Illinois

Breaking down borders ARTS

BY APARNA ANANTHUNI

On 17 August, 1947, the border between the newly independent states of India and Pakistan was officially created. Drawn up by British lawyer Cyril Radcliffe (hence the name The Radcliffe Line), it was the product of inexperience (Radcliffe had never been to India before), ignorance (he was consulting out of date maps), and indifference to the possible human cost of such a hurried, ill-considered slicing up of an ancient, vast and complex polity.

This turned out, as we know, to be cataclysmic: the largest migration in human history and at least one million lives lost in the bloody conflict that accompanied it.

That a physical, legal and political border exists between the nation-states of India and Pakistan today is fact. But does it have any other existence? Where does it reappear, and where does it dissolve?

One space that it arguably disintegrates is in the South Asian diaspora. It is this ‘third space’ relationship that is explored by contemporary artists Anindita Banerjee and Wardah Alam in their joint exhibition, Sarhad, recently on display at KINGS Artist-Run in Melbourne. In it, Ray and Alam, both immigrant artists, explore the “fragile, transitory and melting” nature of the Indo-Pakistani border in the Australian South Asian diaspora.

The artists have spent 15 months working together, exploring the role contemporary art can play in, as Banerjee phrased it, “dissolving borders and creating connections”. “We went through a whole process, starting with the question of whether it [the border] exists,” she said.

While recognising the fraught, tangled nature of the relationship between the two nations, the artists offer us works that find and embrace commonalities and confluences. In the video work Instant Jalebi, for example, we see each artist making their favourite sweet from home:

the jalebi. But the jalebi is more than just a symbol of shared culture; as Alam explained at a panel discussion of the exhibition, it is also a metaphor for the endless political debates that rage around that connection.

They began the project thinking about using performance and prayer rather than the motifs of food, costume and colour that emerged. “But we found we wanted to avoid the religious theme,” Alam said. Instead, they preferred to use visual metaphors and symbols.

Religion is of course a vexed and bruised issue. As Dr Zahid Shahab Ahmed, research fellow at Deakin University said at the panel, “Religion is central to both countries.” Australia, on the other hand, he said, is “a very individualistic society”. But he also pointed out that Indians and Pakistanis face “common challenges” in Australia: being ‘other’, the outsiders. “We connect better in Australia,” he said.

Dance artist Joshinder Chaggar brought

a unique perspective to the panel as an Indian who migrated to Australia as a child, lived and worked in Karachi, and has now returned to Australia. Working in the arts in Karachi, she said the environment was “always welcoming, always safe”, and Indian and Pakistani artists were always excited to meet and work together. However, while she has “no border in her”, she believes “that for the majority of people [in Australia], the border is real”, particularly in her own Sikh community. This, she believes, is due to generational suspicion, lack of curiosity and lack of exposure to cosmopolitan, multi-faith spaces.

This brings us back to Banerjee and Alam’s project of using art to question and destabilise the very idea and existence of the border here in Australia. And art itself is another space altogether – perhaps even a ‘fourth space’ within the ‘third space’ of diaspora, and a space with its own ethos; in fact, Banerjee and Alam

have experienced criticism of their work as being an ‘artificial’ representation of the state of relations between their nations.

Nonetheless, Sarhad is a potent embodiment of what it means to reach across a divide, and it comes down to two women and two artists taking that journey together. In my favourite work, the video work What Is It That Make Us Different, the two women, dressed in the grey-beige of army uniforms (Banerjee in a sari, Alam in kameez/salwar), simply sit across from one another and stare. Eventually, though, they can’t keep straight faces, eyes crinkling, mouths twitching into laughter.

Banerjee said this started as a serious exercise, to try and tap into the importance of the issue they were exploring. The ‘serious staring game’, however, failed. “We sat there staring at each other trying to be serious, and we just started laughing…thinking what is the difference between us really?”

Two Melbourne artists bring to the forefront their Indian and Pakistani heritage in their work, only to find the differences dissolve in the diaspora

Anindita and Wardah spent 15 months working together, exploring the role contemporary art can play in “dissolving borders and creating connections”

Single channel video

SEPTEMBER 2018 BY MINAL KHONA

Minal Khona has been reading tarot cards for the last two decades. She uses her intuition and connect with the cards mostly to help people.

ARIES

March 21 - April 19

Action happens in the realm of the mind this month for Arians. You will be given the solutions for any problems that come your way – your mind will do the solving. You might feel restricted in a relationship but are actually in a protective space. You might abandon a project. Watch your health and be careful or you could have an accident around the house. Any oppressive situations or circumstances will dissolve as you nd your way out of them.

LEO

July 21 - Aug 22

Conditions are taking shape and you experience satisfaction on the work front. An unexpected clash with someone important due to a nancial matter could take place. New elements enter your life that make the future look more hopeful. A pet or family member might need medical attention. You could also inherit some money. Correct what is wrong in your life – at work or at home – by taking the right step. Let go of behaviour patterns that no longer serve you.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov 22 - Dec 21

TAROT

TAURUS

April 20 - May 20

Un nished business or stagnant conditions must be cleared away before you make any progress spiritually or in your work. Your relationship could hit rock bottom but the worst is over. Pray, let go and let God take it where it has to. Watch for illness as you or a family member could be hospitalised. Disputes at work could even lead to a dismissal so keep a low pro le. Stay away from negative thoughts. Your success comes from nancial gains.

VIRGO

Aug 23 - Sep 22

There is renewed business activity and nancial security. A powerful love affair could sweep you off your feet. Several short trips are indicated. A prosperous phase at work is imminent – through a promotion. Spiritually, you are in a relaxed frame of mind as you are willing to let the universe direct your life. You will have luck on your side in love and money matters. A good time for new projects and any assistance you seek will be given.

CAPRICORN

Dec 22 - Jan 19

Career opportunities come your way this month, as do potential investments. New elements at work can help but you still feel unsettled. Guard against accidents at home and be careful of what you eat; you could get sick. Money is in abundance from multiple sources but don’t lend any. Un nished business causes anxiety. New work or educational resources lead to success. There are answers available but stop thinking about problems – that is the only solution. Defer instant grati cation for the moment.

GEMINI

May 21 - June 20

You can expect ups and downs, con icts of interest and unexpected developments in work or your personal life. A lover from the past returns but you don’t know whether to reconnect or not. Financial responsibilities increase due to living expenses or incomplete repairs. Mood swings due to work or personal issues are indicated. A problematic cycle ends and a new one commences, causing a change for the better. Letting things take their own course leads to good fortune.

LIBRA

Sep 23 - Oct 22

An idea manifests or the space for things to grow is created. This happens because of a destined change that has come about. Old habits give way to a new lifestyle, caused by health or relationship issues. Travel plans get delayed. A relationship could end but feelings remain. A loss of income is also indicated. The future causes anxiety but look inward and pray as a new direction comes forth. What you thought was a lost cause will ourish again.

AQUARIUS

Jan 20 - Feb 18

Things might seem to go wrong and leave you confused. But an unpleasant event becomes a lucky break. A depressed, life-is-at-a-dead-end kind of feeling overwhelms you but the best option is to wait it out. If a relationship is on the rocks, it will tide over the bad times because of a strong bond. Material concerns occupy you more than the metaphysical and that is okay. Don’t take any rash decisions and risks. Play it safe on all fronts.

You share similarities with another air sign; a Gemini in uence leads to focus on communication, mental absorption, the arts and beginning new projects. Your love life is at an impasse and the give and take is missing. Your health improves on all counts, and nancial transactions will lead to prosperity. Everything going wrong in your life will get sorted out and friends will help out. Past hurts come to an end. A reunion or reconciliation is on the cards.

CANCER

June 21 - July 20

A long term condition could change suddenly for you this month. You will focus on living arrangements, love affairs and impending decisions. You could meet someone with whom you establish a rapport and feel very deeply for. You might even want to move in with this person. Things could stall due to an unexpected illness or an uncomfortable occurrence. Problems related to nance will get resolved positively. Tensions will dissipate and events will work out in your favour.

SCORPIO

Oct 23 - Nov 21

A lover could cause disappointment; and accepting a relationship that goes against all that you believe in won’t make you happy. Restlessness due to delays cause frustration which seeps into your work as well. Suppression of what worries you can cause constipation. An outgrown friendship or emotional attachment to a situation is going to end. You success comes through your ability to use the metaphysical elements in your daily life. If someone has to return, they will on their own.

PISCES

Feb 19 - March 20

Exams, travel, meetings, new experiences dominate this month. You could be on the horns of a dilemma regarding a new job or love. The home front keeps you busy but watch out for faulty appliances. Money through commissions, trade or an unexpected source is indicated. If you are in a confrontation with someone, stick to your ground and don’t give in. What looks like a loss will actually be the opposite. Fate brings serendipity so depend on the universe.

ASK AUNTYJI

Bole chudiyaan, bole kangana Kya khubsoorati hi sab kuch hai?

DEAR AUNTYJI

I need your advice desperately. Ours was an arranged marriage. Neel’s family is old school, almost princely and very well off. I fell in love with Neel almost immediately after the shaadi, and I like to think we had three happy years together. Our honeymoon was in Switzerland, Maldives and Oslo, and I received many gifts from the family. Neel is handsome and charming. I knew how his family lived and was looking forward to a good life.

Now my family was not as well off, but we were very comfortable. In any case, teen saal baad, Neel decides that he doesn’t want to be married anymore, saying there are a lot of differences. I don’t know what differences he means, but he says that all we seemed to do was go on holidays, and he is more social minded about helping poor people.

I was desperately unhappy when the shaadi ended: I wanted my life back. But what broke my heart was that Neel asked for some jewellery back, saying that it belonged to his family. Auntyji, those family jewels were given to me as a wedding gift, why should I give them back? They rightfully belong to me. Neel

calls me at least once a month to ask if he can take them back, but I tell him he should have stayed married. It’s been a year since we separated. What do you think, Auntyji?

AUNTYJI SAYS

Thodi si bhi maryada nahin hai aap mein? The family heirlooms are probably generations old, and if I know the way of these nawabs and thakurs, they pass jewels down to bahus

You turned out to be a lousy bahuinstead of serving the state and helping the less fortunate, you wanted to live a glamorous life like a desi Kardashian. And I would think that Neel’s family - having old money - would be more inclined towards social pursuits that included philanthropy, a foreign concept to you. Hence the barbadi of the shaadi Baat rahi gahenon ki, they do not belong to you. They belong to Neel’s family - and you’re not part of it anymore. I recommend that you give back what does not belong to you. And maybe start doing some social work? Maybe the marriage can be salvaged. That might be a start to nally acknowledging that you have been a sel sh little thing.

MATRIMONIALS

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Suitable alliance from well-educated, Australia/New Zealand employed person for professionally quali ed Aus citizen Hindu Naidu girl 163cm, 37 years old, divorcee, no children, currently working New Zealand. Parents well educated, settled in Melbourne. Please email ravihappy16@gmail.com with biodata and photos.

Sydney-based well settled Hindu Brahmin, beautiful, slim girl, 1985 born, 5’2” working in reputed hospital as a doctor, seeking alliance from quali ed Indian Hindu boy with good family background, settled in Australia. Please respond sydaus25@gmail.com

SEEKING BRIDES

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DEAR AUNTYJI

I am happily married, but I am a little concerned about my wife’s behaviour. I love my bride of one year, lekin uski ek baat gives me much trouble. She likes to say that I am very handsome, and that I look like Hrithik Roshan. Even other people have told me this. Auntyji, I don’t care about looks. I have many other good attributes - I am a good person, I read, I help my friends and I always try hard not to say unkind things about others. But Jiya never talks about that - she only tells me, at least once in the morning and once at night, that I am super handsome. Am I an object? I am a man with many qualities. Why is she only focussing on my khubsoorati?

AUNTYJI SAYS

Arre mera chikna shonu monu, kyon apna man kharaab kar rahe ho with wifey’s compliments? Shukar karo ki you are such a hunk, such a hero, ki your wife is besotted. Ok, so ye such hai ki your wife is a super cial person, who

only sees the skin deep beauty of the god that you are, but you have only been married for a year. Enjoy this while you can, because who knows how long this will last? What if she gets used to you and starts picking on other things? Like the fact that you might be lazy, or that you don’t acknowledge and appreciate that she is complimentary of your physical traits? Your other option is to ask her which of your qualities she likes the most. If she only lists your mardangi, ok, then there might be a problem. We will know she has a major crush on Hrithik Roshan - and who can blame her. He is, after all, a god. You can also nudge her towards a more nuanced appreciation of your traits by being more explicit and grateful when she highlights other features. Perhaps it’s your reaction she seeks. Maybe you puff up and walk around like a hero looking for a villain each time she says you look beautiful. Maybe it’s time to look at your own behaviour to see why your begum chooses to compliment your badshah jaisi surat.

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