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FORTNIGHTLY Vol.25 No.12 (2)

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

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Eye on Wentworth Liberal candidate Dave Sharma

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EDITORIAL

PUBLISHER Pawan Luthra EDITOR Rajni Anand Luthra ASSISTANT EDITOR Neha Malude

Of leadership crises and challenges

MELBOURNE COORDINATOR Preeti Jabbal CONTRIBUTORS Aneeta Menon, Hamida Parkar, Natasha Jha Bhaskar, Mohan Dhall, Usha Ramanujam Arvind, Auntyji, Salma Shah, Shafeen Mustaq, Tarini Puri, Sandip Hor, Ritam Mitra ADVERTISING MANAGER Shriti Sinha 0410 578 146 ADVERTISING ASSISTANT Charuta Joshi 02 9279 2004

Indian Link is a monthly newspaper published in English. No material, including advertisements designed by Indian Link, may be reproduced in part or in whole without the written consent 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:

INDIAN LINK MEDIA GROUP Level 24/44 Market St, Sydney 2000 GPO Box 108, Sydney 2001 Ph: 02 9279-2004 Fax: 02 9279-2005 Email: info@indianlink.com.au

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

M

alcolm Turnbull, Scott Morrison, Bill Shorten, Gladys Berejiklan and now Michelle Guthrie, have all been in the news this past month with their management styles in focus, and found largely wanting.

While former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during his time in the leadership role could not define his style of management due to the many conflicting factors in his government, his successor current PM Scott Morrison is trying his best to show himself off as a regular bloke who plays footy, enjoys a beer and a sausage sizzle. His management style seems to be that of a boxer who will throw a ‘feint’ from the left glove but punch from the right glove. His recent positioning on the immigration debate seems to vindicate this. To appease the hard right in his party who want to reduce immigration as it puts pressure on urban infrastructure, his government

will stream new migrants to regional areas, which will also appease those who believe current migration levels need to be sustained at current numbers. The PM may well surprise a lot of sceptics of his management style as he is a good communicator who has a good grasp of policy and public pulse.

According to reports, these were the traits which Michelle Guthrie, the recently sacked head of the ABC, did not have.

Among other things, she has been called out for her management style, and for her inability to communicate effectively with her staff. From an Indian-Australian point of view, perhaps it could be asked, did Guthrie do enough to help the ABC crew led by well-respected journalist Phil Adams when it was denied visas, as apparent retaliation to an ABC story on Adani – this despite the fact she worked closely with Indian government representatives here during the Confluence Festival, of which ABC was a sponsor.

The Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten has not been able to ‘cut through’ either with his leadership style.

While the Coalition is busy changing leaders, the ALP has held on to their leader in spite of regular polls showing that he is just not making it. It is said

that stereotypes, shortcuts and shallow invective are effective in the short run, but they’re not useful, important or the best, and people can see through these. With less than eight months for an election to be called at the Federal level, it might be good for the public to know who he is, as at this stage it looks as though he will be taking over the Lodge after the next elections.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has had her leadership style questioned publicly with a spat between two of her senior colleagues, the Treasurer Dominic Perrottet and the Minister for Multiculturalism Ray Williams. With an attempt by the Treasurer to parachute himself in the electorate of Minister Williams, the very public spat has harmed the Premier with her inability to keep the battle behind closed doors. Her leadership during the post mortem of this will be interesting to observe.

Being a leader is never easy: all of your actions are under the microscope, looked at through the interpretive lens of all those franchised or disenfranchised by your decisions. But the opportunity to make a lasting difference is always at hand – just think of Gandhi, Churchill, Gates, Ma, Martin Luther King, Mandela, Lincoln.

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SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 5

CONTENTS 21

SPECIAL FEATURES COMMUNITY UIA walks from Sydney to Canberra to raise funds for drought relief

MUSIC Sam Evans gets Australia’s first ever PhD in tabla

21 28

WOMEN Stand up for DV victims

34

SPORT Australia awaits humbled India

41

FOOD Strawberries on our mind

43

28

41

COVER STORY

43

Meet Dave Sharma, Liberal candidate in the upcoming Wentworth by-elections

10

Celebrating with friends or family?

If you’re drinking, don’t drive.

Every police car is a random breath testing (RBT) unit. If caught driving while over the legal limit you will face a fine and may lose your licence. It’s not worth the risk.

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YOUR SAY MY FAVOURITE GANESHA

We compiled a piece in our September-1 2018 issue for the start of the 10-day Hindu festival dedicated to the elephant-headed god Ganesh. In this compilation, readers wrote in about their favourite depiction of Ganesh.

Antoinette Mullins wrote: I was on my first trip to Thailand in 2006, when I came across my favourite Ganesha statue on the deck of a little Thai restaurant on the island of Ko Pha Ngan. It was a hot sunny day, with the turquoise waters in the background and this graceful red statue stood out so much. I will never forget how beautiful it was.

Harshad Pandharipande wrote: God truly works in mysterious ways.

The day after I wrote my piece entitled Brown Ganesh, I spoke to my mother in India over the phone. She didn’t know I had written the piece, but she asked me if I remembered “that brown Ganesh idol we had some time ago”. I said I did, and she told me she and my dad had bought a similar idol for Ganeshotsav this year! I’ve attached a pic for you to see (above). This idol has a lot of resemblance with Brown Ganesh, but it is special for another reason. It has some tulsi (holy basil) seeds embedded in it and it also comes with a clay pot. For the immersion of the idol, one simply has to pour water over the idol. Made of clay, it disintegrates quickly and the seeds turn into a plant over time. It truly represents the circle of life, just like I had said about Brown Ganesh in my little piece. I would like to think Brown Ganesh has somehow found his way back into our lives.

Welcome back, Bappa!

Manoj Menon wrote: I come from Hyderabad where the Ganesh festival is celebrated with great pomp and enthusiasm. Every year the artists get creative with their idols. During this 10-day festival a favourite activity is visiting all the small and large installations across town and checking out the idols. There was competition between the associations about making up the best installation. As an entertainer, I got the opportunity during this time to perform with my local band at different venues. My all-time favourite Ganesh idol was one with a mobile phone. It was when the mobile was first introduced, and one of the artists decided to get a bit creative with that!

Ganesh was holding a Motorola phone, deep in conversation with somebody.

I would love to visit India sometime during Ganesh festival and bring back loads of Ganesh idol snaps. Maybe some day. Happy Ganesh Chaturthi.

SAY IT AGAIN 8 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

WORLD’S LARGEST STATUE

We ran an online story about the upcoming Sardar Patel statue in Ahmedabad, India, which will be the world’s largest, at 182m tall. Not for long though, as it will be surpassed by Mumbai’s Shivaji memorial in 2021 (212m). We asked readers if they are in support of this ‘tall’ trend Sivee Bhatia wrote: This would have looked good if other important issues were being handled with the same passion. And also, if we are keen on having more artistic stuff... we have a lot of archaeological heritage that needs to be saved from rotting.

Deepika Bharti wrote: Not at all. When I can’t see much happening on safety issues, water not safe to drink, public transport not safe to travel, roads and bridges not safe… and we can go on and on.

Aditya Narayan wrote: Roads, bridges, rail tracks, flood ravaged areas, drought ravaged areas, clean drinking water, electricity, clean food, toilets, houses, transportation, ambulances... All these can be done with the money being wasted on these statues. The work done there will be taller than these statues can ever be Sushma Putta wrote: Wasting tax payers’ money.... that’s what it is.

Karl, if you cannot get another gig on TV, nothing wrong in working at 7Eleven…

Twitter user XdulkarSydney, on reports that a move to Ch 7 could have saved Ch 9’s golden boy

Indian IT leader WIPRO: some highly impressive innovation and programs, and inclusion and diversity practices Linda Dessau AC, Governor of Victoria, currently touring India

www.indianlink.com.au

CAPTION CONTEST

ON THE AUSTRALIA INDIA YOUTH DIALOGUE (AIYD)

RITAM MITRA reported on the strategy launch for AIYD 2019 Karan Anand wrote: Really nicely written piece by Indian Link about the Australia India Youth Dialogue launch in Sydney Rajni Luthra wrote: Did not realise Australia India Youth Dialogue has such accomplished members: “In its now 200+ strong alumni community, 25% have the title CEO/Founder/Chair, eight are elected MPs and five are news anchors, while its alumni also boast two Walkley Awards, three Olympic golds and 240 one day internationals, and a collective 1.8 million Twitter followers.”

Glenn Hunt wrote: Do smart people like Ritam really see anti-globalisation as a threat to economic and cultural cooperation? Well, he won’t have to worry if the globalist elites have their way: it will be one big nicely homogenised corporate controlled world, a la 1984/Animal Farm. The backlash against globalism is more a reaction to a constitutional crisis than anything else and about protecting individual freedom, independence, national and selfsovereignty and cultural identity from the Orwellian corporate/bankster elite agenda of homogenisation and control. It’s frightening that many ‘Intellectuals’ don’t get that and are speaking out against it.

What’s the chitchat between Aishwaray Rai Bachchan and daughter Aradhya?

Gurpreet Kaur wrote: Mum to daughter, “No achievement is complete without the garland of your hug.” #CelebratingMotherhoodEveryday Geetika Sethi Arora wrote: I don’t want my daughter to follow in my footsteps. I want her to go further than I could have ever dreamt possible Leyla Singh wrote: You can have your trophy, Mum, but in my eyes you are my real-life trophy who I’m so proud to own Saba Nabi wrote: A mum will always be daughter’s first and last friend Nidhi Gupta wrote: Winning true love forever Sahdev Vani wrote: Jaado ki jhappi for mum... for being the best at everything Sunjeev Sharma wrote: No matter what you are giving me, I won’t let you go, mum Khyati Raval wrote: Queen of hearts with her princess Sabiha M Shaikh wrote: Miss World...with her little world Dhiraj Arora wrote: You are the best mum in the whole world!

Arix Bishnoi wrote: I won my real price ages ago when I saw you for the first time!

Taran Bedi wrote: You are my universe, Mom. Anuja Wani wrote: Cake with cherry on top!

Falguni Shah wrote: Mumma, I love you!

Anuja Wani wrote: Another gem in her crown!

Gurmeet Singh wrote: Good on you, Mum! You are my Number One! Sikander Rana wrote: Hum jeet gaye!

Raj Saneja wrote: Aishwarya to Aradhya: I just stole it from your grandfather’s collection. He has too many to notice.

Arix Bishnoi wrote: Let’s sell this and make a movie to relaunch dad again!

Kala Raghunath wrote: Beta, apko apna jeetna hoga…

WHERE IN INDIA?

UIA FOR DROUGHT RELIEF

We featured an online report about the United Indian Associations’ 400-km walk from Sydney to Canberra to raise $150,000 Betty Jager wrote: Your gift will be a blessing to the farmers, Namaste.

Bollygarchs (of India are) challenging the oligarchs (of Russia) for the title of the most obscenely rich of the global super-rich Peter Hartcher in SMH

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A new edition of our regular social media post proved a bit difficult for readers Saba Nabi wrote: Hampi, I think AShree AShree wrote: It’s called as Krishan’s butter ball at Mamallapuram Tamil Nadu.

Indian Link replied: That›s the right answer, Ashree!

How pretty is India’s newest airport! Sikkim’s Pakyong airport is a Himalayan beauty Conde Nast Traveller

So pleased to hear that Commander Tomy has been rescued.

International cooperation between Australia, India and France at its best Harinder Sidhu

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 9

COVER STORY On the campaign trail

Eye on Wentworth I want to help raise the tone of the debate in Canberra, says Dave Sharma, the Liberal candidate in the crucial Wentworth by-election

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

T

he stakes are high. A loss in the current by-election in the seat of Wentworth on 20 October can leave Prime Minister Scott Morrison with a tied House of Representatives. With the confidence of former Prime Ministers John Howard and Malcolm Turnbull, the Coalition selected Dave Sharma as their candidate for Wentworth.

The Indian-origin Dave Sharma, who has had a distinguished career in the diplomatic services, has big shoes to fill in the Sydney seat vacated by Malcolm Turnbull. He talks here on Indian Link Radio about his debut in politics, his vision for Australia, and about his own Indian heritage.

PAWAN LUTHRA: Dave Sharma, welcome to Indian Link Radio.

DAVE SHARMA: Good morning Pawan, it’s lovely to be here with you.

PL: Dave, I am keen to explore not only your political views but also a bit more about your Indian links. So let me start with something that touches both of these.

You’re a good Indian boy. You topped the state in the HSC and even went to medical school for a bit. But now you’re entering politics. Was politics always on your mind?

Also, why politics?

DS (laughs): That’s a good question, Pawan. You’re right, I am a good Indian boy. I’m a graduate of Law, I even studied Medicine for a year… as you know, all Indian parents want their children to go into one of those two professions.

But that said, politics is not in my family and I wasn’t necessarily expecting to get into politics. Where it’s come from for me, Pawan, is this: the past 20 years - serving

10 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

Australia overseas in places like Papua New Guinea, Washington DC and most recently as Ambassador for Israel - has given me a lot of great belief and passion in our country Australia, but also a sense that we need to do more to address some of the challenges we face. Attempting to get into politics in the seat of Wentworth is just about the next chapter of public service for me: helping to keep our country strong and secure, helping to keep our economy growing well, and helping to give opportunities for all Australians just like the opportunities I had (and my father had as well arriving in Australia as a migrant), making sure the country keeps delivering for all its people.

PL: So what are the challenges do you think Australia is facing at the moment?

DS: I think they’re twofold. Firstly the strategic environment around Australia is changing quite significantly: the centre of the global economic and strategic weight is shifting from a transatlantic axis to an Indo-pacific axis. That brings with it many opportunities for Australian trade, and I think we’ve done well in taking advantage of those. But it’s also bringing new uncertainties and new risks. You see that in the changing strategic balance of power in the region and growing assertiveness from some of the countries who are becoming more powerful and demanding a greater say in the affairs of the world and that creates challenges for us.

The second challenge, which I particularly became familiar with during my time in Israel, is that the economy is changing. The nature of goods and services that people produce and make countries prosperous is changing: they’re much more information rich and much less physically based, they depend upon a skilled workforce, and are quite knowledge intensive - and I do believe Australia needs to do more to position ourselves to capture some of those industries that are highly skilled and work in some of those industries, and remain a country that has high living

standards with a generous social safety net to look after everyone.

PL: Australia has seen 27 years of continuous economic growth, the only country in the world to do so. What else can we be doing on a more practical basis?

DS: You’re right, we’re about to enter our 28th year of uninterrupted economic expansion - the economic growth figures from the last financial year I think are 3.4% which is the highest in the OECD. I think there’s always a risk with that complacency comes with that continued success and we can take continued economic success for granted. The truth of it is that over the years Australia has become a successful and prosperous country because of people working hard, governments making difficult decisions and people tackling policy challenges rather than expecting the economy and the country to run on auto pilot. So I think we need to be looking at the next challenges. What we’ve achieved so far is great, but we always need to be mindful of what might be coming over the horizon.

In particular what I’d like to see is the commercialisation and research and development of Australian ideas. Australia has some great universities and some great research minds but we don’t have a very good track record in commercialising these ideas, turning them into commercial propositions and into business plans and business models. Israel does that particularly well. India does that quite

well as well and I think we need to learn lessons from countries like these that have a well-developed, innovative start up and entrepreneurial sectors PL: Dave, we’ll come to politics in a minute but since you touched on the international economic order, do you think Australia is doing enough to engage with India?

DS: No, I think we could always be doing more with India. I think it’s an incredibly important country in the Indo-pacific: it’s growing in size and in wealth, it’s becoming a more significant strategic actor and we have so much in common with India. There’s obviously a large and growing Indian population in Australia, we share the same language, the same love of cricket, and many of the same cultural and literary traditions. So I think it should be a natural relationship. It is in many ways a natural relationship but I don’t think we’ve invested as much in it as we should - there’s always a case to be doing more diplomatically, strategically and commercially with India.

PL: Dave, you gave me a segue into a number of issues with that, but I’ll come back to them in a while. I’d like to talk a bit about local issues first. Internal affairs in your own party at the moment are grabbing the headlines for all the wrong reasons – there’s back-stabbing, destabilising, bullying, the women are rebelling. Why should the people of Wentworth vote for you?

DS: Why I’m getting into politics Pawan,

I agree people in the public are unhappy about the news they see coming out of Canberra, the internal party games, the intrigues, the inside of politics www.indianlink.com.au

The Sharma family

is that I agree people in the public are unhappy about the news they see coming out of Canberra, the internal party games, the intrigues, the inside of politics. They’re wanting to see more of the government working for the people responding to their needs, delivering for them. And certainly talking to voters in Wentworth, they want to see a government addressing issues they’ve identified and challenged, and dealing with that. I believe the new leadership team in the government in Canberra has made a very good start. The new prime minister, the new treasurer, the new deputy prime minister, the other ministers, I do believe, are doing well in addressing the challenges and issues of priority and concern to Australians. And I want to be part of that; I want to help raise the tone of the debate in Canberra, get the government to focus more on the people, and get politics focused more on the people and less focused on politicians.

PL: In an article we did on you some time ago, when you were appointed as Australian Ambassador to Israel, you had said, “My appointment proves that Australia is a meritocracy and even the highest positions are available to all comers.” There is a lot of debate on quotas in politics at the moment. What are your views on the meritocracy vs quotas?

DS: Well it wouldn’t surprise you Pawan, to learn that I’m a big believer in meritocracy. I think my story you referred to there, to go from being a migrant in Australia to an ambassador for Australia within a single generation, is remarkable

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- and I think Australia is perhaps the only country in the world in which that sort of a journey would be possible. I think it’s one of the great strengths of Australia that we assess people on their merits and on the content of their character. We don’t need to assign them on the basis of labels or particular attributes. I’ve got three young daughters and I want them to have all the opportunities that I’ve had open to me, open to them as well. I certainly want them to be able to succeed in whatever their chosen profession is. But I’ve also always taught them that they should be assessing other people not on the basis of labels or the categories they belong to, but as individuals with their own strengths and weaknesses and with their own character, with their own integrity. That’s what I very much believe in. Now the Liberal Party does need to do better in terms of female representation, not only in the parliament but in the senior rankings of the party, and at the state and the federal level, I’m firmly of that view. But we’ve also always been a party - and Australia has always been a country - about assessing individuals on their merits and I think we need to keep that firmly in mind as well.

PL: So is there a solution to get more women into the Liberal Party?

DS: I don’t think quotas are the solution to that. I think we need to be looking at everything across the board, and to how we encourage more recruitment of women into the party, into the senior ranks of the membership, into the parliamentary wing of the party, and making sure they find it a

sure we balance the supply of migration with the demands a better way to match those welcoming place to be members. I think the solution needs to be a bottom up one.

PL: Right, so it’ll take time to evolve?

DS: Look, it will take time but I think that we do need to do better there, and I believe the prime minister and others very much recognise this challenge. It’s not going to be able to be fixed overnight, but we need to start moving in the right direction and I believe we are.

PL: Moving on to other things, it’s expected that there will be pressure mounted on from One Nation and others for an enquiry into population and immigration. What are your views on immigration and multiculturalism?

DS: My father was a migrant to Australia and Australia has been built upon the success of migration…

PL (interjecting): I believe your family was the only listing of ‘Sharma’ in the phone book in the 1960s…?

DS: My father tells me the story that when we first moved to Australia, yes, we were the only Sharmas listed in the White Pages of Sydney…

PL: … I understand that today, in certain areas of Sydney, there are more Singhs than Browns in the phone book.

DS (laughing): That doesn’t surprise me!

Look, I think every generation of newly arrived migrants to Australia has brought new skills and strength to the country - and strength to the fabric of our society - and have integrated well into Australia and certainly made a great contribution to Australia. I think the recent wave of Indian migration particularly since the ‘90s when it really started to happen has made an immense contribution to Australia. So I support Australia continuing to be a country which is welcoming to migrants. It does well in integrating migrants into the multicultural fabric of our society, and it has a non-discriminatory policy towards migration. I would say though that we must recognise that there has been some degree of public unease about the rate of Australia’s population growth in recent decades, a decade or so. But it’s not so much about the population growth, but about the pressures on things like >

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 11

COVER STORY

Left: Graduating from Cambridge Above: In Papua New Guinea

> infrastructure, roads, schools, housing, housing affordability. I think we need to find a way to make sure the migration is matched better to the needs of Australia.

We’ve been talking in recent days about making sure migrants go to the areas where they are most needed, where their skills are most needed. We know parts of regional Australia - states or cities aside from Sydney or Melbourne - are desperately looking for new workers and families and more skilled professionals to come there. We need to find a way to make sure we balance the supply of migration with the demands that Australia has, and find a better way to match those.

PL: But keep the supply as is?

DS: Look, I think that should always be assessed on a case by case basis. The immigration intake is anywhere from the 150,000 – 250,000 mark a year, and historically that’s been about where we have been. But I think we should always be looking to fine tune and adjust the skills mix, the mix of humanitarian intake versus the skilled migration intake and the family reunion intake. And we also need to be cognisant of Australia’s own population growth driven by the birth rate of Australian citizens and find a way to manage it. I think Australia will continue to be a successful migrant country but we need to make sure it’s not just about the numbers we take in, it’s about how we handle those people when they arrive - making sure they’ve got jobs and communities to go to, and that the infrastructure is there to support them.

PL: It’s going to be a difficult magic pudding to put together.

DS: Yes it will be. These things aren’t easy but Australia has been doing this well now for many decades. You always need to fine tune policies and make adjustments based on a range of factors and be prepared to

do so. You can’t get a range of policies and set them in stone. But I think we have been successful at this in the past and I’ve got no reason to doubt that we’ll continue to be successful.

PL: There have been some reports in the Australian Financial Review and the ABC about the role the media played in the political life of your predecessor Malcolm Turnbull. In fact he alluded to this himself. What are your thoughts on when the media, rather than being reporters, become players in the game itself?

DS: Pawan, I don’t think I want to comment on that too much. I am very focused on my own campaign in Wentworth which will be a very tough fight as you mentioned in the lead up.

The media in a free society like Australia or India plays an important role in the political debate and public discourse in the country. We’ve got a very free and vibrant media here in Australia and they’ll continue to play an important role. But ultimately, politics is about the consent of the governed - about the public and the voting public - and that’s certainly what I’m focused on in my campaign, convincing the people of Wentworth that I’m the best candidate to represent them.

PL: Dave, let’s talk a bit about your Indian links. Do you know your name Devanand brings to mind a Bollywood heartthrob of the 1950s?

DS: I do, that’s exactly who I was named after. My father named me after him. Dad was an aspiring film star in London in the ‘50s and ‘60s but his parents as good Indian parents told him to give up that sort of stuff, to focus instead on becoming a lawyer, which he truly did.

PL: So he understands the issues of changing careers to achieve your dreams.

DS: Yes he’s responsible for my name he’s a very big fan of Dev Anan

If people are frustrated (with the state of our politics at the moment), and I can understand they are, then, do something and become active – get involved 12 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

PL: Have you seen any of Dev Anand’s movies?

DS: I haven’t watched a movie in full but I’ve seen some clips on Youtube.

PL: Do you see a bit of yourself in him, you know, the tall gangliness, the dialogue delivery…?

DS: I’m not sure if I do. I wouldn’t be so immodest as to claim it. I’ll leave that to others.

PL: An Indian personality that has inspired you?

DS: To my mind, Gandhi is one of the most inspiring Indians, with his movement of non-violent resistance that he used to liberate India. Sunil Gavaskar, the cricketer, I know he’s not as well-known these days but he was a fabulous cricketer, a great role model for leadership. And then of course my father and his family as well who came to Trinidad and Tobago in the West Indies as migrants in the late 19th century and worked hard and saved and established a small business and sent my father, who is the youngest of nine children, off to London to receive a formal education. Their values of hard work and the importance they put on education, and on self-reliance, these are values that have very much informed my own approach to life.

PL: Read any books by Indian writers?

DS: I’m a big fan of VS Naipaul, a diaspora Indian. His book A House for Mr Biswas was about his own childhood and modelled loosely upon his father and his own frustrations as an aspiring Indian writer in Trinidad. I really enjoyed that book: it helped me understand my own father’s childhood in Trinidad and Tobago.

Other than him there’s Arundhati Roy... I think Indian authors are some of the best out there in the English language at the moment PL: Tendulkar or Bradman?

DS: Well I guess I’ve seen Tendulkar play, Bradman I’ve only ever seen on replays. If I have to choose the best batsman, I’d have to go for Brian Lara though, a Trinidadian and a West Indian. I did see him play, and I think he is one of the most fabulous cricketers of his generation, and certainly of the modern era.

PL: Priyanka Chopra and Nicole Kidman?

DS: I’m more familiar with the work of Nicole Kidman, but I wouldn’t pick favourites.

PL: Ever been to India?

DS: Yes but I haven’t spent long enough.

I’ve spent much more time in Trinidad and Tobago where most of my father’s family is. I am intending at some point to make a long trip to India and get to know the country much better than I do.

PL: What’s your favouring order at an Indian restaurant in Sydney? Your boss, the current PM, answered that question here on Indian Link Radio as ‘Sco-mo-sas’.

DS (laughing): Did he? I always like a Rogan Josh. I also like a chicken vindaloo, the spicy one. I love Indian flatbreads - naan, garlic naan, chapattis and rotis.

My oldest daughter Diana has got quite a taste for spicy food. So she’s signed up.

The younger two still need to have their tastebuds acclimatised. But they all enjoy dal. My dad makes them dal in the winter and they’ll always enjoy a cup. And of course they all like basmati rice.

PL: Introduce them to butter chicken that’s the easiest way to get them across the line.

DS: I agree butter chicken is the best introduction for children!

DS: Finally, Dave, your message for Indian Australians who may be having a very jaundiced view of Australian politics at the moment?

DS: I’d say to them that I can understand their jaundiced views. And to get involved would be my message to them. Play a part.

Indian Australians make a tremendous contribution to Australia and have over the last few decades. Increasingly, we should be seeing Indian Australians in public life and not just in the commercial sphere and as professionals. I would like to see more Indian Australians getting involved in public life. I was one of the first Indian Australian ambassadors, (like) Peter Varghese who is also a leading light in the Indian Australian community. But that’s the way we help improve politics in Australia. By people getting specifically involved. So if people are frustrated, and I can understand they are, then, you know, do something and become active. Join the Liberal political party, support your local member, put your views forward on issues.

That’s what politics is all about and what it should be about - improving the lives of people. We can only get better politics if we get better citizens involved.

www.indianlink.com.au

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SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 13

THE TEA M Carl Buhariwala

Grahak Cunningham

Saroja Srinivasan

Shafeen Mustaq

Sandeep Hor

Radhika Bhatia

Devna Luthra

Beheshta Wasseh

n e p

s e W

Sahibnoor Singh

e m Yesha Joshi

Sydney Srinivas

Neelam Vasudevan

Rajni Anand Luthra

Dhanya Samuel

Puneet Anand

LP Ayer

14 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

Niraj Pandya

Sukesh Thapliyal

Raweena Raval

Royston Rebello

Neha Malude

Tarini Puri

Aparna Ananthuni

Sai Narayan

Mohan Thite

Deepa Gopinath

Sunila Vig

Nanditha Suresh

Dilip Jadeja

Avi Chandiok

Virat Nehru

Farzana Ahmad

Uttam Mukherjee

Dipanjali Rao

Anup Kumar

Emie Roy

Darshak Mehta

Sukrit Sabhlok

Sagar Mehtrotra

Saroni Roy

Priyanka Tater

Petra O’Neill

Mital Parekh

s e ri

Jyoti Shankar

Mohan Dhall

Astha Singh

Rani Jahla

t

n i l el

r u o y g

o t s

Frankey Gerard Fernandes

i t r

u o d

Usha Ramanujam Arvind

Ritam Mitra

Kashif Harrison

Pawan Luthra

Charuta Joshi

Gaurav Masand

Simren Samrai

Vish Chilumkurti

Kalyani Wakhare

Raka Sarkhel

Nikita Kulkarni

Vinaya Rai

Komal Utsav Jagad

Preeti Jabbal

Dinesh

Kira SpucysTahar

Anubhuti Madan Singh

Auntyji

Minnal Khona

Hamida Parkar

Nisha Joseph

Aneeta Menon

Sudarshan Arvind

www.indianlink.com.au

COMMUNITY

Lifeline for new migrants A new community organisation is doing wonders in mentoring migrants towards professional excellence

BY RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA

S

enthil Chidambaranathan and Rakesh Gupta became acquainted when they both arrived in Adelaide in 2014, weeks apart.

Both had long-standing professional experience in India: Senthil brought with him 20-plus years of experience in banking, and Rakesh, similar in IT sales.

Yet both faced challenges in finding jobs in their field of expertise.

“We did get much advice from others, such as those in the settled community here, but no real guidance,” Senthil told Indian Link. “Take whatever jobs you can get, we were told, even cleaning jobs.”

The two men persisted however, fortunate that they could financially bide themselves till they found gainful long-term employment. In the meantime, as they supported each other as newbies in this country, a strong bond developed.

Today, Senthil is manager at a Commonwealth Bank branch, and Rakesh works for Telstra.

Moved by their early experiences, and humbled that they could make it in this country of their own accord, both decided they wanted to help new migrants settle into satisfying professional lives.

The platform they launched, Indian Professionals in Australia (IPA), has touched some 120 lives since its inception in 2015.

The IPA lists as its mission, to identify opportunities and mentoring of Indian migrants leading to sustainable professional excellence in Australia.

It does this by organising talk shows, workshops and mentor-mentee programs; through business seminars with leading employment consultants, and through networking sessions with well-placed

NATIONAL EDITION

professionals in a range of industries.

The forum was launched with seed money coming in from the founders and others on the executive committee, and members are charged a nominal annual fee.

Members are typically those that have two to five years’ residency.

Meetings are held at the city-based Multicultural Community Hall, a modern facility that boasts sizeable meeting rooms with LCD projectors, computers and a modern kitchen.

Most meetings are free of cost.

“We have guided new arrivals and students with the basics of resume writing, interview tips and personal presentation,”

Senthil described.

“At a recent seminar on interviews, I invited a walk-in,” Senthil recounted.

“They were a young couple, recently arrived, who I ran into on the street. She was in the IT industry. At our session she made some friends, and a few days later, someone alerted her to a suitable job advertisement. She called to say she had secured an interview, and could I give her some tips. I figured she was quite strong technically, and gave her advice on presentation and communication. Imagine my pleasure when she called again, this time to say she had got the job!”

IPA is now also reaching out to longtime settlers as they look to upskill or move into selfemployment, as well as those transitioning into retirement. As well, they no longer restrict themselves to Indians alone.

The topics for discussion have also diversified to include issues such as workplace communication, and building healthy relationships with colleagues; even how to buy a home, how to apply for a home loan, and how to buy a car/ used car.

In an upcoming event on 27 Oct, IPA will be looking at jobs of the All ears: Attendees at future, based on the a recent IPA seminar McKinsey report of

2017 entitled ‘Workforce transitions in a time of automation.’

A service such as IPA was clearly lacking in the Indian community, even though Indian associations abound in this city, like in every other Australian city.

“Of course we respect what the other community associations do,” Senthil said graciously. “But their stated purpose is different – it is usually social or cultural, and that is commendable in itself, such as bringing people of different religious or linguistic persuasions together, or a love of music or dance. But ours is by and large offering advice and guidance on professional development.”

He added, “We have a strong constitution, which clearly defines what we can or cannot do. Also, we have a strong ethical base: we take no sponsorships, except for our very large events. Another aspect unique to us is there is no command-and-line structure. Members who come up with projects, will see them through to execution.”

It is evident that IPA is motivated totally by philanthropy.

Organisations such as IPA are gradually coming up within the Indian diaspora globally as more and more aspirational Indians move outside the country. One such has opened up in Melbourne last year (Indian Professionals in Victoria).

“After Victoria, we are keen to expand into NSW and WA – interested people may contact us if they wish,” Rakesh told Indian Link.

Check out the website www.indianpro.org. au for more details. Contact IPA President Rakesh Gupta on info@indianpro.org.au

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 15

WORK

High In this column, we look at vocations in which members of our community are involved.

In this issue, Ramneek Dhillon tells us about her work with Virgin Australia My job title

Senior Cabin Crew at Virgin Australia

My educational Bachelors in Aviation, Tourism & Hospitality Management from Institute of Tourism and Future Management Trends (ITFT) Chandigarh, India

What my job entails

As a Cabin Crew team member, I am responsible for the safety, welfare and comfort of guests throughout the flight.

To become a cabin crew team member, I was required to complete a training course which includes learning all the safety and emergency procedures, which we then need to update every year.

What a typical day is like

The day starts off two hours prior to departure of the flight we are operating, with sign on and a pre-flight briefing.

Our flight manager will provide us with all relevant information about the flight, everyone’s working positions, and any special requirements. We are also quizzed on safety, emergency and first aid. The aircraft is then checked to make sure it is neat and tidy and we welcome guests on board and direct them to their seat. We then perform our safety briefing to our guests and check the cabin to make sure it is secure before the flight departs. Inflight service then commences once the seatbelt sign is switched off. When it’s finally time to land, the captain will then turn on the seatbelt signs and we secure the cabin

again. Once our guests have disembarked and we’ve performed all safety checks, we will then make our way to the crew room for sign off and this is where I usually check my roster too.

What is tough about my job

I think the hardest part is when I miss my family on trips away.

The positive aspects

Great workplace and rewarding career: Virgin Australia has a safe and collaborative working environment, where each and every employee is encouraged to reach their full potential. It provides you the opportunities to further spread your wings by offering you world class training and a promising career path.

Work life balance: There’s a good selection of roster bidding system to suit your lifestyle and flexibility, given our work hours are so varied.

Team work: I really enjoy working in such a diverse workforce, and have been able to learn a lot about different cultures since my time here.

Travel: I’ve always had a love of flying and of travel. I’ve travelled so much with this job and made fantastic memories! For instance, I’ve always wanted to travel to Hong Kong and this job made my dream come true. I fly frequently on that route now.

Lifelong learning opportunity: I love that

we’re constantly upgrading our skills; there are exams every six months to keep us current. We’re not only refreshing our skills but also learning about new developments in the industry, such as the new 777 (which I will be flying on to LA tomorrow!)

Advice to others who may want to enter the industry

Cabin crew are the face of the airline, so we are all expected to provide a highly polished and professional service, and always remain friendly, approachable and enthusiastic. Becoming a cabin crew team member will give you the

perfect opportunity to get away from the repetitiveness of a normal 9 to 5 job. If you have a passion for travel, dedication and commitment, then I say go for it! Every day will be different, you will learn fantastic customer service skills, become a team player and learn a lot about yourself too. For instance it amazes me that I’m able to speak comfortably with so many different people from different countries!

One of my favourite parts about the job is the feeling of pride when a passenger appreciates and recognises my hard work after a long day.

Ramneek spoke with Rajni Anand Luthra

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SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 17

HEALTH

National diabetes body reaches out to Indian community

“W

e have a diabetes diagnosis every five minutes in Australia,” shares Vania Khoury, Diabetes Educator from Diabetes Australia (DA), which runs the National Diabetes Service Scheme (NDSS) for the Australian Government.

“For every diagnosed case, we believe there is someone who has diabetes but doesn’t know. The prevalence in the Indian community is much higher than the Caucasian community, and rising, according to the International Diabetes Federation,” she adds.

Vania was addressing a Diabetes Education Workshop organised by Diabetes NSW & ACT, in partnership with Saheli/SEVA and Australian Hindi Indian Association (AHIA) for the Hindi-speaking community. Held at the Wentworthville Community Centre, it was an attempt to respond to the crucial need for diabetes education in Hindi, Tamil and Bengali speaking South Asian communities.

The purpose of the event was to share information around Type 2 diabetes, with an emphasis on prevention and timely diagnosis, plus reiterating the importance of careful management of diabetes as vital to positive outcomes.

Tilak Kalra played host and represented

AHIA, while Jayashree Arcot from the South Asian women’s network Saheli, played MC for the afternoon. AHIA initially started in 1994, targeting Hindi and Punjabi speaking Indians in NSW and now caters to all Indians with 500 members. The Saheli team works on connecting organisations such as DA to the community. “We facilitate such events and help with communication and organising,” she says. “We plan to connect with Tamil and Bengali speaking communities next year, these three were chosen because of their high numbers.

That doesn’t limit others from attending: since all programs will be run in English, anyone can attend.”

The experts for the event were all second generation Australians, carefully chosen because of their Indian background so they could connect with the audience. They shared simple, practical tips as well as exercise and diet to manage diabetes.

Dr Adarsh Gulati, General Physician, talked about the symptoms, medication, diet and other issues. The audience responded with questions enthusiastically. Anirudh Parthiban, Exercise Physiologist, got the energy in the room going simply by asking people to stand up and sit down on their seats repeatedly. He then followed this up with

teaching people simple exercises which could be incorporated as part of their daily routine. Dietician Deepali Vasani spoke about diet and nutrition from an Indian food perspective, since the community prefers their traditional diet and is not much into processed foods from the supermarket.

For additional information, Vania recommends the NDSS multicultural diabetes portal that has information in Hindi, English and over 20 other languages on diabetes, including factsheets and brochures on managing diabetes

and living well. They include: basics about diabetes, Type 1 diabetes, Type 2 diabetes, health and wellbeing, diabetes in pregnancy, and prevention. The website also provides health professionals with a broad range of translated diabetes resources from credible providers including Diabetes Australia, their state and territory agents, and non-government organisations. The portal was developed

by Diabetes Queensland as part of a National Development Program funded by Diabetes Australia.

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NATIONAL EDITION

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 19

STUDENTS

Clean drinking water for India

M

eet 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

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COMMUNITY

Walking the talk Local community association UIA hopes to raise $150,000 for drought relief on their Sydney to Canberra walk. RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA reports

A

s the drought continues in NSW and the stories of hardships come through on our media feeds, many of us have felt driven to do our bit for the farming community.

In their latest fund-raising activity, the United Indian Associations Inc (UIA) have embarked on a walk from Sydney to Canberra to raise funds for drought relief in NSW. Calling their initiative Our Farmers Our Pride, UIA set off from Parramatta on Saturday 22 Sept, and will arrive at Canberra on Monday 1 Oct. They hope to raise $150,000 for drought-stricken families.

Sreeni Pillamarri, President of UIA told Indian Link, “We will be visiting the communities along the way. We want not only to learn how they are faring, so that we can raise awareness about their difficulties to our own community, but also, we want to be able to tell our farmers, we are there for you.”

Only weeks ago, UIA had dedicated the proceeds of their annual flagship event -

which they called Mateship Fair this year - to the farmers, by donating to the farming charity Aussie Helpers. Brian Egan from the charity, a farmer himself, was handed the cheque on the occasion.

At a personal level, Sreeni claims to have been deeply affected by reports of farmer suicides, an issue that we are all too familiar with from our own home country.

“I was shocked to learn recently that Brian, who we welcomed at the UIA Mateship Fair not so long ago, is in hospital following a heart attack.”

Clearly, he sees the walk as a way of giving back to the wider community in which we live.

The 10-day trek will take Sreeni and his mates through Campbelltown, Picton, Bowral, Mittagong, Moss Vale, Goulburn and Collector at the NSW-ACT border.

At the end of it all, they will have walked some 400 kms.

Describing the logistics, he said, “There are five of us in the core group who will walk the entire trek. We will be joined on a daily basis by bump-in-bump-out participants. On the last day, so far we have

30-odd confirmed trekkers.”

A 6-seater caravan will accompany them, providing refreshments every 10 kms, and sleep facilities for the night.

“Driving the caravan is our team member Suvarna Raju, 65, who we’re calling the ‘ratha sarathi’ of the enterprise,” he laughed. (This is a reference to Krishna as the provider of spiritual nourishment to the battle-weary warriors).

Suvarna Raju, a great inspiration to the team, has offered to play mum as well, cooking all the meals for them.

Insurance and medical checks are all upto-date for all the padayatris (long-distance walkers,) Sreeni assured us. “We’ve also organised for a couple of GPs from Canberra to be available to us in case of need.”

The trekkers were flagged off by a bunch of supporters including the Lord Mayor of Parramatta Andrew Wilson, who turned up in his mayoral robes for the occasion.

“This is what we’re about in Parramatta – we support each other,” the mayor told a gathered crowd. “You fill us with pride for what you’re doing for our farmers.”

He also recounted the tale of how Sreeni

got him to donate to the cause despite the fact that the Council has already made a $25,000 donation. As he agreed to chip in with $150, Sreeni put the cultural imperative on him to add another dollar, to make it an auspicious number ending in 1.

Geoff Lee, Member for Parramatta, well-known to the UIA members, also commended the UIA for the initiative.

“You will enjoy the walk,” he said in encouragement to Sreeni and his fellowwalkers.

Damien Tudehope, Member for Epping, also had words of appreciation. “An important component of community living is to care for fellow human beings,” he said. “Your interactions with the families enroute will be as important as the dollars you collect.”

The trekkers will be received at the Canberra end by members of the Federation of Indian Associations of ACT (FINACT).

Mahatma Gandhi will be in their thoughts as they finish on 1 Oct, given that 2 Oct is Gandhi Jayanti (and also because the Father of the Nation took on many longdistance walks himself in his campaign for wide-reaching causes, inspiring others to join him enroute).

“It is also Gandhiji’s 150th birth anniversary this year, which is why we picked $150,000 as our target,” Sreeni revealed.

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT TO THE UIA BY DONATING TO: Account Name: UIA – Benevolent Account BSB: 032078 Account number: 792868 Bank: Westpac Reference: Supportfarmers If you want to join the walk, email teamuia.org.au

NATIONAL EDITION

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 21

WHAT’S ON FESTIVAL Raasleela with Parthiv Gohil Sat 29 Sept (6:00pm onwards) Gujarati Samaj of NSW presents independent artist, playback singer and live performer Parthiv Gohil in Raasleela at Blacktown Leisure Centre, Stanhope (cnr of Stanhope Pky & Sentry Dr, Stanhope Gardens).

Details Kiran Desai 0449 966 955.

Paada Yatra Sat 29 Sept (5:30pm-5:00pm) Annual walk from Sri Murugan Temple in Westmead to Sri Sai Mandir in Strathfield. Details 0433 972 160.

Kirtidan Gadhvi Gujarati Lok Dayro in Sydney Fri 5 Oct (7:00pm onwards) Gujarati Association of Australia presents Kirtidan Gadhvi Gujarati Lok Dayro at Whitlam Leisure Centre 90A Memorial Ave, Liverpool.

Details 0452 337 387.

Navratri Mela by Kirtidan Gadhvi Sat 6 Oct (5:00pm-10:00pm) Navratri Mela in Sydney with live performance of Kirtidan Gadhvi, an eminent name in the world of folk, at Castle Hill Showground, Castle Hill.

Various Food and variety stalls plus special dandia spot for kids. Details 02 9761 4567.

Saheli cCub presents “Pink Diwali”, a family event in support of breast cancer, at Lilys Restaurant & Function Centre, Hackney St, Seven Hills.

Details Poornima 0435 007 581.

Navratri Garba Sat 13 Oct (6.30pm onwards) Gujarati Brahman Samaj of NSW presents Navratri Garba at Blacktown Leisure Centre Stanhope, (cnr Sentry Drive and Stanhope Parkway), Stanhope Gardens.

Details 0413 806 425.

Durga Puja 2018 Sat 13 - Sun 14 Oct (Oct 13 at 10:00am to Oct 14 at 8:00pm) BPA Australia Inc hosts Durga Puja 2018 at James Cook Boys Technology High School, 800 Princes Hwy, Kogarah.

Details 02 9587 1770.

Navratri Garba Dandiya 2018 Sat 13 Oct (6:30pm – 11:00pm) Navratri Cultural Group under the auspices of Shri Shiva Mandir of Minto presents action packed Garba and Dandiya Raas. Venue Menai High School, 40 Gerald Rd, Illawong.

This is Sydney’s one and only true “family friendly” Navratri function, organised by a “broad community group for the broad community.

Details 02 9543 7000 Pink Diwali Sat 20 Oct (6:30pm – 11:30pm)

22 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

Pacific Hills Christian School, Hall 9 Quarry Rd, Dural. For more details please contact 0410 734 123 SPIRITUAL

COMMUNITY India Club: Grand Diwali Celebration Sat 20 Oct (6:15pm – 10:45pm) India Club Sydney celebrate Diwali with extra zeal, lively entertainment and superb food. Venue Cherrybrook Community and Cultural Centre, 31 Shepherds Ln, Cherrybrook. Details Shubha Kumar 0402 257 588.

Deepavali Milan 2018 Sat 3 Nov Mark the tenth anniversary of Deepavali Milan at RSL Club Hornsby with good food, Bollywood dances, raffles, doodies packs. All balance proceeds to War Widows of India. Details Col. Virender Sahni 0416 965 764

Safal 2018 Wed 5-Thurs 6 Oct (6:00pm9:00pm) Australian South Asian Forum in association with The City of Ryde presents Safal 2018, a festival of films, art and literature at next Gen Ryde 504a Victoria Road, Ryde.

Details 0425 377 572.

Bangla Utshob 2018 Sun 30 Sept (11.00am-11.00pm) Bangla Utshob Association presents live music and dance by legendary Bengali singers, performers, eye catching fireworks and laser show, children amusements and kite flying.

Belmore Sports Ground, Belmore South. Details 0416 784 471.

Chinmaya Mission’s Annual Retreat Sat 29 – Sun 30 Sept Chinmaya Mission presents its annual family retreat ‘A Reality Check’ at Bundila Scouts Training Centre, Winston Hills.

Details Chinmaya Sannidhi 02 8850 7400, 0416 482 149.

2018’s Biggest Kirtan & Sangeet Nite Sat 20 and Sun 21 Oct (7:30pm - 12:00am) Siya Ram Cultural Society of Australia is organising the biggest kirtan and sangeet nite of 2018 at Bonnyrigg Sports Club 610 Elizabeth Drive Bonnyrigg. Details Avi 0434 196 420.

YOGA

SPIRITUAL Hinglish Stand-up Comedy Varun Thakur & Kunal Kamra Sun 14 Oct (6:30pm-9:30pm) Fortune World Tours presents stand-up comedians Varun Thakur and Kunal Kamra at Bowman Hall Blacktown, Campbell Street, Blacktown. Details 0430 042 041.

STAGE

Navratri 2018 Sat 13 Oct (6:30 pm onwards) Garba and Dandiya night with proceeds to Variety ISKCON, New Gokula Farm and Spunks (Super Parents of Unique Non Neurotypical Kids Support) Group. Held at Newcastle Basketball, 27 Young Road, Newcastle. Details 0432 324 465.

play based on a mystical land of love and trust. Durga Auditorium, Rose Cres, Regents Park. Details 0423 041 111.

Parthiv Gohil show Sat 30 Sept (3.30pm onwards) Gujarati Samaj of NSW presents independent artist, playback singer and live performer Parthiv Gohil in a Bollywood concert at Blacktown Leisure Centre, Stanhope (cnr of Stanhope Pky & Sentry Drive, Stanhope Gardens). Details Kiran Desai 0449 966 955.

Women’s financial literacy Tue 9 Oct Aei4eia, an organisation for people and sustainability in association with State Bank of India, marks Diwali with an event titled Sampoorna: The Brown Beauties of NSW Revisited, including a free seminar on Financial Literacy of Indian Migrant Women and an art exhibition titled Maya: Indian Women Through Indian Art. Venue SBI (Sydney), Australia Square, Suite 2, Level 31, 264 George St Sydney.

Details www.aei4eia.com.au

MISC Blacktown Diwali Mela Sun 14 Oct (11:00am-7:30pm) Fun filled Diwali at Blacktown Showground, Richmond Road, Blacktown. Lots of entertainment and plenty of food.

Details 1300 338 368.

Bengali production Konjush Sun 30 Sept (6:30pm-8:30pm) Shokher Theatre presents Konjush, adapted from Moliere’s The Miser, at Brian Brown Theatre and Function Centre, Rickard Road and Chapel Road, Bankstown.

Details 0412 366 093.

ENTERTAINMENT

LAASYA by Ruchi Sanghi Dance Company Sat 6 Oct (6.00pm onwards) Saaya Touching Lives Inc and Australian Telangana State Association jointly organise a dance spectacular by the students of Ruchi Sanghi Dance Company at Pacific Hills Christian School, 9-15 Quarry Road, Dural.

Proceeds go towards people with disabilities nurtured by TAD (Sydney), Harman Foundation (Sydney) and a charity organisation supporting disabilities services in India.

Details 0402 335 054

Tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Sat 6 Oct (7:00pm onwards) A tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan by Rizwan-Muazzam at Orion Function Centre 155 Beamish St, Campsie.

Details 0402 931 000.

Majestic Brindavan: A stage production by G.O.D Sat 6 Oct (5.00pm onwards) Kids of the Sydney Gopa Kuteeram, Global Organisation for Divinity, present a

Yoga for beginners Wed 1 Sept to Sat 8 Dec Sat (7.00am-9.00am) Ryde East Public School (Entry via Badajoz Rd.) 12 Twin Road, North Ryde.

Sat (10.00am-12.00noon) Banksia Hall, 2 Lane Street, Wentworthville.

Sat (5.00pm-7.00pm) Quakers Hill High School, Performance Space 70 Lalor Road, Quakers Hill.

Sun (7.00am-9.00am) Epping Community Centre 9 Oxford Street Epping. Details 0412 202 182.

Bollywood-Arabic fusion Fri 28 Sept (9:00pm-4:00am) 50B Worldwide presents the Punjabi rap star Bohemia live in concert at The Club 33 Bayswater Rd, Potts Point.

Details 0411 537 183

Indar Nair, golden voice of Fiji Fri 12 Oct (7:00pm – 11:00pm) Sangam Cultural Entertainment Sydney presents Indar Nair live with Ami Surti & Shraddha Tiwari. A night filled with music by Indar Nair, a wellknown golden voice of Australia and Fiji. Venue 2 Lane St, Wentworthville.

Details 0406 452 150.

Tribute to the Great Composers Sat 20 Oct (6:30pm onwards) Events Entertainment presents a musical Tribute to the Great Composers, at

Book launch Sat 29 Sept (4.00pm onwards) Paul Sharrad and Meeta Chatterjee’s book Of Indian Origin: Writings From Australia will be launched at Gleebooks. The book is a collection of writings by Indian heritage writers such as Meena Abdullah, Suneeta Peres da Costa, Sudesh Mishra, Michelle Cahill, Christopher Cyrill, Ashish Kaul, Rashmi Patel and Sumedha Iyer. Details www. gleebooks.com.au UNSW’s Gandhi Jayanti ceremony and panel discussion Tues 2 Oct (10.30am onwards) UNSW presents its annual Gandhi Jayanti ceremony at Library Lawn, Library Walk (C21), Gate 11, Botany Street Kensington. Following this a panel discussion will be held on the topic ‘Relevance of Gandhi’s Principals in Australia’s Multicultural Society’ in partnership with the Australia India Youth Dialogue, at UNSW’s Tyree Room, John Niland Scientia Building (G19), Library Walk, Gate 11, Botany Street Kensington.

By invite only.

To add your event email media@indianlink.com.au

www.indianlink.com.au

Diwali Art Competition n g i s s ’ De K N I L N A I d r D a IN C i l a !

S D iw I ZE

R s: P e i r N o te g s WI r a a c e O y T W p to 7 u 2 K ids

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WIN book vouchers valued at $75 and $50 in both categories.

PLUS Winning entry will be used 2 COLOUR IN OR PAINT THE ABOVE MANDALA. Photocopy it if you need to. Send in your work, along with your name, age, address and phone 2 Last date for submission 10 October 2018 For more details, ring the Indian Link office on 02 9290 1855 or email media@indianlink.com.au

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 23

INDIAN NEWS An endangered marmoset, a miniature breed of monkey, gets a vaccination at the state zoological park in Gauhati, India, 13 Sept. 13, 2018. Photo: AP

district of Doda have been closed as a precautionary measure.

Traffic on the Jammu-Srinagar highway was restored after it was suspended due to heavy rains along the Ramban sector on 23 September.

2

Eight washed away in Heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh in late September claimed eight lives and hundreds, including school students, were stranded in the state as incessant rainfall for the third straight day triggered landslides and snapped over 200 road links.

The Chandigarh-Manali highway beyond Mandi town and the Pathankot-Chamba highway were hit. Manali, Chamba and Dalhousie towns were cut off from rest of the state.

Three people were washed away near Manali when their vehicle fell into the swollen Beas river.

Elsewhere, two people were washed away in the Parbati river in the Manikaran valley while one girl died near Bajaura.

Both incidents occurred in Kullu, one of the worst affected districts by flashfloods.

A man was drowned in a swollen rivulet near Palampur town in Kangra district, while another was killed when a factory building was washed away in a rivulet in Una district.

In Chamba district, around 1,000 school students have been moved to safer places in the holy area of Chamba. They had gathered for the 23rd District Primary School Sports Tournament.

After three consecutive days of incessant rains, over 200 roads in the state’s interiors remained closed to traffic, stranding travellers and commuters.

While the picturesque tourist town Dalhousie recorded the highest rainfall at 180 mm, it was 120 mm in Manali and Kangra each and 108 mm in Palampur.

Shimla saw 23 mm of rain.

The highway that connects Manali with Leh in Jammu and Kashmir has been closed for traffic owing to heavy snow since 22 Sept, an official said.

There are chances of moderate to heavy rainfall in the state continues as this goes to press.

As a precaution, the government has announced closure of all educational institutions in Chamba, Kullu, Sirmaur, Kangra, Kullu and Hamirpur districts till 25 Sept.

Authorities said excess water was discharged from the Pandoh diversion dam, located 112 km upstream of Pong dam, as a

24 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

precaution.

The dam is located on the Beas river in Mandi district. It diverts excess monsoon water towards the Pong dam. Otherwise, it diverts water towards the Satluj which feeds the Gobind Sagar reservoir of the Bhakra dam.

The water levels in the Bhakra dam’s Gobind Sagar reservoir and the Pong dam reservoir stood at 1,655 feet and 1,385 feet respectively, an official told IANS. Official data showed the maximum storage capacity for the Bhakra dam is 1,702 feet and 1,393 feet for the Pong dam reservoir.

Officials said more rains could aggravate the flood-like situation in Punjab and Haryana. All the major rivers of Himachal Pradeh - the Satluj, Beas and Yamuna - enter Punjab and Haryana.

The Cabinet was informed that 120 persons were rescued from Koksar in Lahaul-Spiti district. They included 12 Sikkim tourists.

Thirty-three were rescued from Phojal in Kullu. A majority of them were rescued by the Indian Air Force, an official statement said.

schools, colleges closed

Authorities in Punjab have issued a red alert in several districts following heavy rainfall in the state and the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh over the last three days, in view of the threat of flooding of rivers.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on 25 September ordered closure of all schools and colleges.

The Chief Minister reviewed the “floodlike situation triggered in the state due to incessant rains” in an emergency meeting here.

“The Army has been asked to remain on alert to help the state deal with any eventuality arising out of the situation,” a state government spokesman said.

“Deputy Commissioners have been asked to identify hot-spots with clear evacuation and relief plans to be ready beforehand.

Equipment to drain out flood waters has been kept handy. Apart from these, boats in catchment areas of three rivers - Satluj, Ravi and Beas - have been arranged to rescue the affected people,” the spokesman added.

With the standing paddy and cotton crop

being damaged due to rainfall in the last three days, the Chief Minister announced a special ‘girdawari’ for assessing crop damage.

The Chief Minister asked ministers and legislators to extensively tour their respective areas to assess the ground situation and tie-up with the concerned departments for immediate mitigation of the hardships being faced by the people.

He also directed the Food and Civil Supplies and Animal Husbandry ministers to appoint nodal officers for distribution of food packets to the affected people and dry fodder for animals.

The Chief Minister also asked the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) to seek assistance from the Army, Border Security Force (BSF), NDRF and other paramilitary forces, if needed.

Expressing concern over the possible outbreak of water-borne diseases including diarrhoea, jaundice and conjunctivitis, the Chief Minister asked the health department to take preventive measures by organising special medical check-up camps and arranging sufficient stock of medicines.

Taking part in the deliberations, Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) Chairman D.K. Sharma said that the situation at the Bhakra reservoir was in control so far and they were regularly monitoring the water level at Pong Dam. The water level at the Ranjit Sagar Dam, which feeds the river Ravi, was 526.65 m against the maximum level of 527.91 m.

rescued

Thirty people, including women and children were rescued in Jammu and Kashmir during a flash flood in Kathua district, police said on 24 September.

These people were marooned in different parts of the district following heavy rains.

They were rescued after a night-long operation in Billawar, Nagri, Jakhole and Chabbe Chak among others.

The rescue was carried out by the state police and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams.

Incessant rains led to swollen streams and rivers in the Jammu region, but with the improvement in weather, authorities are expecting the water level to recede.

All educational institutions in the hilly

The 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD), the External Affairs Ministry-organised conclave of the Indian diaspora, to be held in Varanasi from January 21 to 23, 2019, will be a bigger affair than all the past editions with a couple more programmes being added.

Speaking at the launch of the official website for the event, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said that in addition to attending the three-day PBD in Varanasi, the participants will also be taken to Allahabad where the Kumbh Mela will be going on then and then brought to New Delhi for the Republic Day celebrations.

Giving details of the programme, Sushma Swaraj said that on 21 January, a Youth PBD will be held where Himanshu Gulati, an Indian-origin member of parliament of Norway will be the chief guest and Kanwaleet Singh Bakshi, an Indian-origin member of parliament of New Zealand will be the guest of honour.

On 22 January, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the main event with Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Jugnauth, who is also of Indian-origin, attending as the chief guest.

The event will conclude on January 23 with a valedictory session that will be addressed by President Ram Nath Kovind.

During the session, the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman will be conferred on 30 Indianorigin individuals for their exceptional and meritorious contributions in their chosen fields or professions.

“On 24 January, we will take the participants to Prayagraj (as Allahabad is also known) for the Kumbh Mela, which has been inscribed on the Unesco’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,” Sushma Swaraj said.

Following this, the participants will be brought to New Delhi by special trains to take part in the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

After being an annual event for 13 consecutive years starting in 2003 at the initiative of then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, PBD was turned into a biannual affair after the 2015 edition in Gandhinagar.

After the 2017 edition held in Bengaluru, the External Affairs Ministry has now roped in Uttar Pradesh as the partner state with Varanasi as the host city.

Giving the rationale behind turning PBD into a biannual affair, Sushma Swaraj said that after the 2015 edition, she realised that PBD was not yielding much in terms of results as an annual affair.

“So, I suggested to the Prime Minister that it should be held every two years with the intervening year being used to hold meetings with groups of diaspora members on various issues and he agreed,” she said.

Though the earlier editions were three-day affairs ending on 9 January, the day Mahatma Gandhi returned from South Africa, on January 9, 2019, PBD will be observed in Indian missions across the world.

With the launch of the website, registration for PBD 2019 has started effective from September 15 and will continue till

www.indianlink.com.au

Heavy rains in India’s Himachal Pradesh state have caused floods and landslides with most of the roads remaining closed for regular traffic.

Neighbouring Punjab state remains on high flood alert. Photo: AP

November 15 when the process will close.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for External Affairs V.K. Singh said that more participation is expected in the Varanasi event than the last one in Bengaluru.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was also present, recalled his participation in the mini PBD held in Mauritius in 2012 and said that with the 2019 PBD being held in Varanasi, many participants will be able to trace their roots back in India.

Many of the people of Indian origin in Mauritius are descendants of people taken from eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar during the time of the British Raj to work as indentured labour on the sugarcane plantations on the Indian Ocean island nation.

Boeing setting up electronics, avionics facility in Bengaluru

Global aerospace major Boeing is setting up an electronics manufacturing and avionics Assembly facility in this tech hub at an investment of Rs 1,152 crore.

“We have allotted 36 acres of land for Boeing India to set up the facility in the state-run Aerospace Park at Devanahalli near the airport in north Bengaluru,” a senior official of the state Industry Department told IANS. Boeing India President Pratyush Kumar met state Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy at the state secretariat to discuss the project.

“As part of Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centre in India, the facility will create about 2,600 direct jobs when set up and commissioned,” said the official.

Though the US-based aircraft maker’s investment proposal was cleared by the previous Congress government in December 2017, approvals and formalities got delayed due to the state Assembly elections and formation of the new coalition government by the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) and the Congress in May. The facility will be Boeing’s second-largest after its engineering and technology centre at Seattle in Washington district on the US west coast.

“The state cabinet approved the Boeing’s proposal early this month for land allotment and other statutory clearances,” added the official.

Boeing’s India arm plans to commence the project work in the next three months and complete first phase by 2019.

Karnataka Udyog Mitra Managing Director B.K. Shivakumar had told IANS earlier that Boeing would also be making aircraft components and subsystems at the new facility for civil and military versions.

The aerospace behemoth has presence in this tech hub with a global research and development centre since a decade.

Facebook global community leaders Adhunika Prakash, who founded non-profit Breastfeeding Support for Indian Moms in Pune, has been selected among five global leaders for $1 million award each

by Facebook as part of its Community Leadership Programme.

Apart from Prakash, Chetana Misra who founded Mompreneurs India and Tamanna Dhamija who created Baby Destination were awarded $50,000 in fellowship

NATIONAL EDITION

each, as the social media giant selected community leaders in residence, fellows and youth participants from over 6,000 applicants across the world, Facebook said in a statement.

Selected for Facebook’s in-residence award, Breastfeeding Support for Indian Moms is a peer-to-peer support group primarily for breastfeeding parents. The group has more than 80,000 people from across the country.

Adhunika aims to work with hospitals in India to help train and support parents, particularly in rural areas.

Mumbai-based Mompreneurs India is a community of like-minded women, allowing them to network, share knowledge and contacts, and benefit from partnerships to start a business and take it online.

New Delhi-based Baby Destination helps mothers exchange information and support one another.

“While speaking with the community leaders, we discovered that lack of training, support and funds are common obstacles to having the kind of positive impact on their communities that these leaders envision,” said Facebook.

The three leaders are among 115 people who have been selected into the programme as community leaders in residence, fellows and youth participant to work for community resilience or issues, civic engagement health and wellness parenting education.

“At select points over the next year, the participants will spend time at Facebook’s headquarters in Menlo Park (California), working with the team to help develop their community initiatives,” Facebook noted.

Launched in February this year, the programme is designed to enable extraordinary leaders advance their initiatives and build stronger communities through the social networking giant’s family of apps and services.

Stranded navy commander rescued from Indian Ocean

Four days after he was seriously injured and stranded in a boat race, Commander Abhilash Tomy of the Indian Navy was rescued on 24 September.

Commander Tomy was picked up by a French fishing vessel Osiris, which had responded to an SOS from a massive joint operation launched by Indian and Australian authorities since the past three days.

“Bravo! Osiris and all involved! They have Tomy onboard and he is conscious and talking,” said the Golden Globe Race-2018 in a message.

The naval sailor-cum-sportsperson participating in the GGR-2018, was caught in a huge storm on 21 September, 5,020 km from Cape Comorin, India and 3,500 km from Perth, Australia, in the Indian Ocean.

His boat, SV Thuriya, had overturned while he was virtually left paralysed with severe back injuries but managed to relay messages to various authorities from his satphone.

The rescue mission was coordinated with the help of the Australian Navy. French fishing vessel Osiris picked up Abhilash Tomy took him to the closest island I’lle Amsterdam, and as this goes to press, INS Satpura was on its way there to take him to Mauritius for treatment.

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharamann posted regular updates on her Twitter

account, as did Australia’s High Commissioner to India Harinder Sidhu on Australia’s involvement.

Ease of Living best in Andhra, Odisha, MP

Andhra Pradesh topped the chart in terms of ease of living followed by Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, according to the “Ease of Living Index” released by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA).

“The Ease of Living Index is a transformative initiative of the Ministry to help the cities assess their liveability vis-à-vis national and global benchmarks,” Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri said.

The Minister awarded the three states as the best performing states at the National Dissemination Workshop on Ease of Living Index 2018 in New Delhi.

“The index will encourage all cities to move towards an ‘outcome-based’ approach to urban planning and management and promote healthy competition among cities,” he said and added that the exercise will lead to sustainable urbanisation.

The decision to rank 116 cities, all smart cities and million-plus cities, based on the liveability parameters was taken in June 2017 and implementation of the assessment began in January 2018.

Puri said the framework comprised four pillars, namely institutional, social, economic and physical, which were further broken down into 78 indicators across 15 categories.

In a total score of 100, the “physical” pillar (infrastructure) had the highest weightage of 45, while institutional (governance) and social were weighted 25

each, and economy was weighted five.

“Another highlight of the Ease of Living assessment standards is its close linkage with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Of the 17 SDG goals, eight goals are directly linked to India’s ease of living assessment framework with SDG 11,” he said.

SDG 11 is aimed at making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and is measured through a set of 30 indicators.

Gujarat forms 64 teams to look for sick lions in Gir

The Gujarat Forest Department has set up as many as 64 teams to scan the vast Gir forests to identify sick and weak lions and move them to rescue centres in view of the recent deaths of 11 big cats in the region.

A central government team of wildlife experts has also flown in to Gujarat to find out the reasons for the sudden deaths in a short span.

As many as 11 carcasses were found from the Dalkhania and Jasadhar range in the protected Gir sanctuary between 11 and 19 September.

Gujarat forest officials claimed the lions were killed in territorial war and infighting.

Later, they added that some of the big cats died due to infection.

More than 270 personnel are currently deployed in the forests.

According to the latest census in 2015, the Gir forest region has 523 lions, 109 of which were male and 201 female, besides 140 cubs and 73 sub-adults. There were 411 beasts in the 2010 survey and 359 in the 2005 census.

IANS

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 25

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SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 27

MUSIC

Drumming to his own beat Sam Evans has just been awarded Australia’s first PhD in tabla

BY USHA R ARVIND

W

hen Sam Evans first encountered the tabla in India, he claims it blew him away.

“I always played drum kits as a child, and at about 18, I began to study the drumming traditions of other cultures,” he told Indian Link. “I travelled to Europe and Africa, and when I spent six months in India I found the tabla.

It had much greater repertoire, a greater level of complexity compared to other traditions. It was far more sophisticated and played in such a musical way. It was wildly different from anything I’d played before.”

Today, as a contemporary musician and musicologist, Sam Evans has just been awarded a PhD by Monash University for his innovative performance research on the tabla.

Completed with the prestigious Sir James McNeil Scholarship, it is the first performance-based doctorate in

28 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

Australia on an Indian instrument.

“Traditionally, PhD research was a purely written pursuit, but now doctorates can include significant performance components,” Evans said.

“The performance aspect is perfect for music PhDs – the final outcome is writing as well as composition and performance at the doctorate level.”

For Evans, who has always been fascinated by the world of percussion, this achievement marks yet another milestone in an unusual odyssey that crisscrossed many continents, ultimately finding true purpose in India.

A regular international performer of traditional Indian music and contemporary world genres, the composer, educator and researcher has ever since been working tirelessly to showcase Indian musical instruments on the Australian stage.

To this end, he established the Melbourne Tabla School, which now boasts of numerous accomplished students from a range of ethnic backgrounds.

“As an Australian tabla player, much of my work has centred on integrating

the tabla in the musical culture here in Australia,” the Melbourne based artiste, who teaches at numerous educational institutions, stated.

“I wanted my PhD research to reflect that. In doing so, my research considered the role of the tabla in contemporary intercultural music. It looked at the musical conventions present in world music and devised ways in which the tabla could be integrated within those conventions.

That required the creation of a new repertoire for the tabla that included musical elements that are not accounted for in the traditional repertoire, such as harmonic function.

As performance-based research the final portfolio produced CD recordings and musical scores that document the practical application of the theoretical components contained in the thesis,” he explained.

The performance component has been released as a CD titled The Tabla Project and is available via iTunes and Bandcamp. Displaying skill and expertise, the album demonstrates the variety of ways in which the tabla can be incorporated into contemporary music ensembles that include Eastern and Western instruments.

Evans enthused, “It’s an exciting time, where we are moving beyond theory only. You can now do a Bachelors or a Masters or a PhD on how to play music rather than just theorising.”

Renowned for cross-cultural collaborations, he has effortlessly combined rustic and modern influences to create a distinctive musical approach.

Over the past decade, Evans has divided his time between Australia and India, performing concerts as soloist and accompanist.

It helps also that he felt drawn to Indian culture from early on. “I was vegetarian, I loved Indian mythology – there were lots of things that attracted me to India.”

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Given he does his bols so well, has he picked up the language as well?

“My Bengali was not bad – I learnt it to an ok level, I’d say, enough to get by. And then I tried Hindi, and could not pick it up at all. It’s been one of my regrets, not gaining fluency in Bengali.

I should have stuck to it and not gone towards Hindi!”

Besides live shows on Indian and Australian television, national and international radio as well as at international jazz and world music festivals, Evans also lectures on Indian and world music at Monash University where he co-founded and directs the highly successful Monash World of Music Orchestra.

His forays in the international scene have been largely possible through generous funding grants from the Australia Council for the Arts, the Ian Potter Foundation and Monash University, including the prestigious Sir James McNeil Scholarship.

In true guru shishya parampara, Evans has dedicated his life to passing on the rich legacy he imbibed from Pandit Anindo Chatterjee.

At first in India, he learnt from anyone who would teach him as a beginner, and then with some experience under

NATIONAL EDITION

his belt, he reached out to Pt Anindo.

“When I first saw him play, I thought the sound was incredible, the speed was amazing, and the depth of knowledge simply astounding,” he recalled.

He has since inspired many youngsters to learn the tabla. Tapping into Melbourne’s vibrant cultural scene, he wants Australians, young and old, to share his passion.

Back in 2011, Evans was instrumental in tabla being included as part of the VCE curriculum. “Now young tabla players perform traditional tabla for the final high school exams, which contributes to their university entrance score,” he pointed out. “It’s the only Indian instrument in the VCE course of study alongside other western instruments. About ten students have been through it and almost all have got high distinctions so it ranks really well.

One student actually stood second in the state in music.”

He has big hopes for this to pick up.

Not only is he thinking of past students as assessors, but hopes to see the instrument at the school level in other states as well.

Perceiving himself as a conduit between eastern and western musical frameworks,

Evans has successfully combined his skills as both performer and educator to establish a pathway for musicians playing Indian instruments, such as the tabla and the sitar, to earn performance degrees at university level in Australia. “It’s great to see Indian instruments accepted in our formal education systems these days, it’s now becoming representative of the society we live in,” he explained. His goal is now to set up a South Asian orchestra.

In fact, Evans has been fascinated by the rich diversity of Indian culture, with its deep grounding in performing arts.

Evans believes there is a bright future for students of Indian music in Australia as the landscape undergoes a radical shift.

Meanwhile, the Melbourne Tabla School will celebrate a unique milestone of its own shortly, as it completes a decade of existence.

Today the school has a presence in different

suburbs, and boasts some 60 students.

“About 60% have a South Asian heritage and others are western musicians,” Evans revealed. “It presents a beautiful picture of who we are in contemporary Victoria, really.”

What about girl students? “Of course we are reaching out to the girls. There’s always been a minimum 25-30% participation by women, and one year it was up to 40%. It’s much higher than that in India. They learn just the same as the men really, so there’s no reason why they shouldn’t take up the tabla.

In fact, of the handful of my students who are currently performing at the professional level, two are women.”

As he prepares his students for the big day at the Abbotsford Convent, Evans could not be prouder. He will also perform at the upcoming Diwali Festival at Federation Square.

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 29

BOOKS

Food as Identity Nalini Naidu’s recipes are a loving tribute to a Fiji Indian legacy

N

alini Naidu’s Annapurna: Gastronomic Delights from My Fiji Indian Childhood is a trip down memory lane for anyone with a link to Fiji.

The e-book is a light read, but loaded with opportunities to fondly recall the Fiji Indian experience from a culinary perspective. Nalini provides recipes as well and those who are familiar with sub-continental cooking - the source of Fiji Indian cuisine - will be struck by the key differences between the two cuisines.

While both evolved separately, one can’t help but notice the crucial differences in the two cuisines - while recipes from India can have a lengthy list of ingredients - the Fiji Indian recipes tend to have to have fewer constituents. Not that that affects the flavour or depth of complexity and taste in Fiji Indian dishes.

But stories tie one to a time and place,

and as one reads Nalini’s recipes, one is reminded of one’s childhood in Fiji. From the piquancy of the tej patta frying in ghee with other spices for a goat curry, to the anticipation of Diwali because one knew that there would be barfis and larki mitthai to indulge in, Nalini’s work is a loving tribute to a Fiji Indian legacy.

It is clear from her book that there is a generations-long affection for good food. Recipes passed from relatives and friends, and incorporated into what is uniquely Fiji Indian cuisine finds its way into the pages. And when reviewing the recipes, one realises that though most Fiji Indians cooked food using these same

ingredients, the same dish tasted quite different in each household. This is not a point made by Nalini - although one is quite confident that with her love of cooking, Nalini would most likely have a wonderful “hand” and that all her dishes would taste delicious.

Readers are encouraged to not just try the recipes in this book if they haven’t already done so, but also to ponder the complex history of the Fiji Indian people.

Their food is unique in the sense that it arose from a particular socio-political climate and history. People of Indian origin, taken from their homeland - whether by free will or coercion, came together in an island called Fiji and under extreme

conditions of the girmitiya past, allowed their cuisine to evolve and flourish.

Together with their island brothers, they co-created what is distinctly a Fijian experience.

The foods and recipes outlined in Nalini’s work carry the richness of this experience. One hopes that Nalini can follow her first act with a second - where she discusses the cooking rites, rituals, festivals and practices of all her nanis, kakis, fuas and aunties - as they lovingly pounded the masala or ground garlic on the sil. These are the stories of Fiji Indians - brought to life through the food they prepared.

Salma Shah

क्या आप अपने पिरवार को ऑस्ट्रेिलया बुला रहे हैं? उन्हें अपने 600 वीज़ा के िलए स्वास्थ्य बीमा प्राप्त कराऐं और तुरंत वीजा पुिष्ट पत्र प्राप्त करें।

134 135

30 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

एक से अिधक भाषा बोलने वाले हमारे सलाहकारों से आज ही बात करें।

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SCHOOL

There is no such thing as a lazy child If the child is engaged, he will be a motivated learner

BY MOHAN DHALL

C

hildren are not lazy. Parents and teachers often complain about a child not ‘doing homework’ or ‘tidying their room’ and assert that this is because the child is lazy. When you ask the parent or teacher why a child should want to do their homework, the reply is invariably because it matters.

Really? To whom does it matter?

If you ask an adult why they go to the gym or go for a walk they will usually reply that they want to, or they will articulate a goal they have. This goal may be to get fit, lose weight or be healthy. In their answer lies the motivator.

When a child is not motivated to do what an adult wants them to do, the child is not lazy. They are in fact as normal as an adult who does not want to mow the lawn, clean the toilet or repaint an aging doorframe.

That an adult will do what they do not particularly want to do provides insight into an adult’s maturity, the capacity to understand trade-offs and the relationship between effort and reward (where the reward is personally valued). To learn these things takes time, self-understanding and experience.

If we treat a child as lazy, we devalue their intelligence. In the “lazy”

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characterisation we are questioning their authenticity. It is lazy to call children lazy because it takes effort to ‘unpack’ what motivates people to act or behave in a particular way. It takes effort to foster a love of effort.

Where to begin?

The beginning point must be to make things that are valued by parents and teachers be appealing enough to be desired by the child.

Intrinsic motivation, or wanting to act on one’s own volition, is always preferable to extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is evidenced when a person undertakes effort because they personally value the result of that effort. It can be seen when a child is absorbed in reading and does not want to stop. A reading child is not a lazy child, but rather a learning child.

Making a child want to act, put in effort or do something, must be premised on making that effort or action intrinsically valued. This can be done by making even routine things enjoyable, fun, humorous and together. A child is more likely to do homework when a parent is working beside them. A child is more likely to tidy their

room when a parent is tidying beside them.

An adolescent is more likely to pack the dishwasher when the parent is cleaning the benchtops.

Command and control approaches can compel action but are never as connecting or as fondly memorable.

Extrinsic motivators come in various forms from parents: rewards and punishment, threats, star charts and so forth. I do not place much utility in this approach as a starting point - for everything is premised on the reward being desired and the punishment or consequence being a thing the child wants to avoid. Reward and punishment approaches tend to be shortterm, tiring and externalise motivation.

They rarely lead to lasting change or growth and can in fact create demotivated children.

Motivating action

To motivate action, start by extinguishing the idea that children are lazy. If we begin with this then a child’s inactivity must stem from something else – a lack of relevance, a low priority, an incapacity to see value, a sense of being asked to do something others desire.

If teachers or parents value homework then they should make it meaningful, interesting, engaging and relevant

Own what you value

Since few children generally want to tidy their room or empty the bins, parents need to articulate what parents value (‘a clean room’) without assuming a child will also value this. Parents taking ownership of their need for tidiness is more authentic than asking a child, “Don’t you like a clean and tidy space?” When adults say things like this they are hoping the child will absorb or imbibe the parent’s love of order and sterility. In fact, it can have the reverse effect - causing distance, resentment, a feeling of not being good enough, a ‘goslow’ or inaction.

Homework and “laziness”

If teachers or parents value homework then they should make it meaningful, interesting, engaging and relevant. If schools value homework, then teachers should follow it up. Otherwise it becomes a meaningless extracurricular impost on families. Homework should not be given to outsource learning or to impress parents.

Activity values action

Motivating action does not only occur in the realm of cleaning and studying.

Children can be run with in parks, can play sports/games with parents, can do activities that encourage physical health and dexterity. Laziness can sometimes be seen when parents go to a park but do not get involved with any physical activity with their child.

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 31

SUSTAINABILITY

Is there blood on your clothes?

There are some very high costs behind cheap clothes BY SHAFEEN MUSTAQ

T

here is a documentary on Netflix called The True Cost that has left me a little shook.

The documentary is about the clothes we wear, the people who make them, and the impact the industry is having on our world.

While I have known this because of coverage of garment factory collapses, protests for fair working conditions and the amount of clothes in landfill - the breadth of the collective damage this is doing to our planet, our fellow humans and our own sense of worth, has escaped me till now.

The price of clothing has been decreasing for decades, while the human

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and environmental costs have grown dramatically. We jump for joy as we run to the sales, but forget that the process to make these cheap clothes comes at a cost.

Our Earth is a finite resource that we do not respect, take care of and cost accordingly.

Our fellow humans’ efforts are not ‘cheap labour’ and should be costed accordingly.

Our footprint from buying clothes almost every day or week is collectively leaving tonnes of material in landfill that will be there for 200 years.

Filmed in countries all over the world, from the brightest runways to the darkest slums, the documentary invites us on an eye opening journey around the world and into the lives of the many people and places behind our clothes.

The documentary makes you think about who really pays the price for our clothing. The workers? The planet? Us? Or all of the above?

What is the true cost of your chosen skin?

I have decided that I will: • Stop buying anything new My wardrobe is colossal and I need to acknowledge it.

• Evaluate what I have Go through my clothes, shoes, bags and jewellery to compartmentalise my wardrobe more thoughtfully so that I can be creative with what I have by styling and restyling pieces and thereby avoiding the temptation to buy more.

• Use sites like Gumtree and places like

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fashion markets Find people to give or sell my old or outgrown clothes to they will actually wear it rather than it end up in landfill.

• Buy ethical If I must buy, I will focus on ethical quality long lasting pieces over price.

• Reflect on my style Focus on what suits me rather than fashion ‘trends’ I will outgrow or won’t suit me.

• I promise to ask myself ‘what is the true cost’ of every item I pick up.

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FIRST PERSON

Of unspoken friendships, and fruits on the train How I found comfort on long and tedious daily commutes

BY TARINI PURI

A

s the date draws near for temporary closure of the train line from Epping to Chatswood to make way for the Metro, my heart is starting to sink.

As a resident of Epping travelling to the City every day for work, I am directly impacted. My reasons for resenting the suspension of my usual travel route, however, are less to do with the inconvenience which is bound to ensue, and more sentimental.

It was while scanning through all the information provided for commuters to consider alternatives, when I realised that more than the train line, it’s my regular co-passengers that I am going to miss more. They are familiar strangers - people who are an intrinsic part of my journey every day, and not having them around would probably make the journey more tedious than it already is.

Travelling with a four-year-old is never easy. Certainly not early morning, when she is charged up for all activities scheduled for her day ahead. And definitely not in the late afternoon, when she is tired and cranky! Thankfully for me, during both these journeys, I have come to be surrounded by some familiar

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co-passengers, whose presence is not just comforting, but on more than one occasion, has been a blessing over the past few months.

They are the ones who always board our usual compartment in the train. And we end up together, day after day. They probably follow the same schedule, or prefer to travel in that part of the train for some reason. There is an unspoken camaraderie between us all, which is both inexplicable and endearing – and will be sorely missed.

Like the lady in the electric blue coat.

We first saw her one afternoon when my daughter was having a meltdown at the platform while waiting for the train.

The middle-aged Fiji Indian woman gave me a knowing smile of probably having endured many such tantrums. I smiled too. She is probably at a senior post, because I frequently see her issuing instructions on the phone, or participating in long conference calls. But I have never asked, and really, it doesn’t matter. We now talk about how our day was, and my daughter loves it when ‘her blue coat aunty’ manages to pull out a sweet treat for her from her bag.

And that Asian girl and her mother who board the train in the afternoon from Chatswood. I once saw them in the morning around my usual spot at Epping station, the mother looking hassled like me – getting her daughter to wear her jumper, feeding her breakfast while balancing a couple of heavy bags

on her shoulders. I smiled inwardly, seeing almost a reflection of ourselves in the duo. That afternoon, they boarded our compartment again. This is when we smiled and got talking. The girls, it turned out, are the exact same age. My daughter offered her a portion of the afternoon fruit snack she was devouring, and a friendship started. A few weeks on, she refuses to open her snack box till her friend has boarded the train so that they can share from each other’s tiffins, while the mothers catch up on pre-school notes about their daughters.

Or that aged Australian lady who is always busy with a puzzle - word games, soduko, crosswords - she seems to excel at all. We became friends on a hot day when my daughter dozed off in my lap, and there was nothing more I could do than turn my head. The lady was sitting next to me and the word puzzle she was trying to solve on her phone caught my attention. I helped her out with one word.

That led to a few sentences of talking.

After three weeks of seeing each other nearly every day, I now know where she works, lives and that she has two

beautiful granddaughters. The puzzles help keep her brain active, she says. And have been refreshing mine too.

Even that Indian lady from Mumbai who always used to board the train panting – she usually ran from her office to the platform, and would then get ready to sprint again from Epping station to her child’s school by running to the train’s doors. In the middle, we’d catch up over our common Indian roots, how she was looking forward to her in-laws visiting, what was for dinner that night, and how she retorted when her manager pulled her up unfairly.

Not to forget the two men – one a banker, and another working with a consultancy. They have kids the same age as my daughter, and we usually exchange notes on swimming lessons and new restaurants to try around our area.

It’s not a nice feeling to know that I’ll probably not see them ever again after 30 September. I am not entirely sure how much I want our friendships to grow. But I will definitely take down their phone numbers on the next trip. If only just to enquire how their journeys are going.

We talk about how our day was, and my daughter loves it when ‘her blue coat aunty’ manages to pull out a sweet treat for her from her bag SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 35

WOMEN

It’s time to stand up, not stand by BY ANEETA MENON

O

ur community cares about violence and abuse. They rarely need to be prodded to care about the 37 women in Australia who have been killed by violence this year, nor the overwhelming majority of Australian women who have experienced physical, sexual, emotional or financial violence from either their partner or a person known to them. They “Like” and Share posts and articles about genderbased violence, and they support initiatives which work to combat the impact violence has on the people who endure it. These people, it can be fairly said, do not sound like passive bystanders who enable violent abusers.

Except, many of them are.

Increasingly, people in our community are grappling with a heighted awareness of domestic abuse and violence, and the nuanced ways it presents, yet remain fundamentally unsure or unwilling to respond to it. This has resulted in a frustrating sociocultural atmosphere which continues to permit abusers and discredit victims.

What is a bystander?

In the context of bullying and violence, bystanders are the people who either witness the problem happen or hear it about it afterwards. Often assuming a passive role, bystanders tend to think of themselves as neutral entities in the ‘drama’ of others. This is rarely the case. Whilst some bystanders encourage or incite abuse by openly goading and supporting abusers, the vast majority are passive bystanders. The Centre for Education’s “Eye on Bullying” program explains, “Most bystanders passively accept bullying by watching and doing nothing. Often without realising it, these bystanders also contribute to the problem.”

How come people don’t speak up?

Most commonly, people come to know about abuse impacting those in their immediate lives either from first-hand experience (rare, as most family abuse takes place behind closed doors) or through the disclosure of someone who has experienced this abuse.

Largely, we are inclined to believe our friends and families when they disclose abuse to us, however the question of ‘what really happened’ and the notion that ‘there are two sides to every story’ often permeates silently in the room.

Additionally, there is the stereotype of the ‘crazy-ex girlfriend” trope, which disproportionately demonises women.

Oftentimes after the dissolution of an

36 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

abusive relationship, men are freer to circulate stories about the women with whom they were involved, whereas women are bound by family violence interventions, other legal orders or, grimly, they have been silenced by death.

When stakes are this high, it is understandable that the instinct is to distance one’s self from the situation.

Research shows that the most common reason passive bystanders do not intervene are: • They think, “It’s none of my business.”

• They fear retribution or becoming another victim.

• They feel powerless to stop the abuser and don’t know what to do.

• They don’t want to draw attention to themselves.

In subcontinental culture, the pressure to remain silent and removed is immensely greater. The impetus is greatly on the victim to bear the abuse, often as a familial duty, rather than to speak out and seek support. Attitudes are changing in this regard, and more and more women are leaving abusive relationships, however the preference for silence endures.

Why is this a problem?

Passive bystanders prop up abusers by providing them with the acceptance they crave. Many abusers display narcissistic tendencies and seeking approval from peers is paramount. Passive bystanders provide this very thing by condoning their behaviour and allowing it to continue. As the victim incurs abuse, passive bystanders give social acceptance to the abusers. Everything from actively continuing relationships without a word to more discreet connections, such as maintaining “Facebook friendships” all send the message to abusers that their behaviour is fine, and they are fine to go on with their lives as though nothing is amiss.

It is this silence which leaves the abuser free to continue the abuse.

What can you do instead of standing by?

Speaking up is hard. Confronting friends and relatives is hard. It is even harder if they are your elders, or people with more social and economic power than you. It can be daunting, often because abusers either are outwardly intimidating or so charismatic and lovely that it would seem

preposterous that they could be abusive.

However, to create a society that is safer for everyone, we must stand up to abuse.

You can do this by: • Cutting off ties with the abuser, even connections on social media, whilst seemingly fickle, inversely affetcs the abuser’s sense of self and community acceptance. Saying, “I will be involved with this person no more” sends a strong message that you believe their actions are intolerable and sends an equally strong message of support to the victim.

• Ask yourself, “Do I take the courageous step of saying something when my loved ones are suffering?” “Do I even talk about any of this stuff at all?”

• Believe victims and follow through.

Offer support, educate yourself on ways to provide support and encourage victims to seek assistance if they are in danger. Check in on them again later.

Passive bystanders have great power, in their masses, to intervene in situations and call out behaviour before it escalates. And as the old adage goes, with great power comes great responsibility.

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NATIONAL EDITION

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 37

TRAVEL 5

Six iconic Aussie trains Exploring Australia by rail is a unique experience if you have the time BY SANDIP HOR

T

he celebrated travel writer Paul Theroux once said, “I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.”

I’m sure every train aficionado will relate.

In Australia, trains made an advent only in the mid-19th century. Today the country boasts some of the world’s greatest journeys on wheels that are filled with luxury, heritage, scenic splendour, romanticism and even adventure.

1 The Ghan

A national treasure, The Ghan has enthralled travellers since its inaugural journey in 1929. It continues to be a top choice for savvy travellers seeking authentic Australian adventure with all the comforts and luxury that come with travelling by rail. Covering a distance of nearly 3000 km, the trans-continental journey between Darwin and Adelaide in either direction weaves through the spectacular outback following the footsteps of pioneering Afghan cameleers. Guests travel in style with the choice of Platinum or Gold Class, both of which offer an all-inclusive package comprising of on-train accommodation in well decorated individual cabins with ensuite, premium lounge facilities, all meals and beverages both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, and immersive off-train excursions to showcase the very best the heart of the continent has to offer. This

38 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

includes exploring the scenic Katherine Gorge, city of Alice Springs, opal mining settlement of Coober Pedy, and outback towns of Marla and Manguri, depending on direction of travel.

2 Indian Pacific

Another Aussie icon, the Indian Pacific connects Sydney and Perth via Adelaide, each way covering a distance of 4352 km in 65 hours. Offering similar classes of all-inclusive travel packages like The Ghan, Indian Pacific guests explore the vast beauty of the spectacular coast-to-coast landscape between the Indian and Pacific Oceans in most impressive way. Off-train excursions include outback experiences at Rawlina and Cook, and exploration of cities like Kalgoorlie, Adelaide and Broken Hill, the birthplace of Australia’s industry giant BHP which started its journey there as Broken Hill Proprietary Company. A memorable experience of the voyage is crossing the famous Nullarbor Plain, the name Nullarbor being Latin for ‘no trees’.

The 478-km stretch through a dry, desertlike, tree-less, rocky terrain features the world’s longest length of straight railway track.

3 The Overland

This bi-weekly 800-km journey in each direction provides a scenic way to travel between Melbourne and Adelaide, passing through picturesque Aussie townships of Murray Bridge, Bordertown, Nhill, Dimboola, Horsham, Stawell, Ararat and Geelong in 10.5 hours. As the journey is during the day, only seating options are available: the Red Premium category includes all meals and non-alcoholic beverages.

4 Spirit of Queensland

Travelling 1681 km between Brisbane and Cairns in 24 hours, five times a week, the Spirit of Queensland, a pride of Queensland Rail, redefines the modern train travel experience with a comfortable and convenient way to access spectacular Aussie holiday destinations in sunny Queensland like the Great Barrier Reef, the Whitsundays, Townsville and Cairns and everywhere in between. All passengers enjoy the nostalgia of long-distance rail travel while unwinding in leather Premium Economy seats or indulging in the ample space of innovative RailBed - a conveniently spacious seat by day, lie-flat bed by night.

RailBed guests can enjoy all-inclusive meals prepared using seasonal Queensland produce and served directly at the seats.

5 Puffing Billy

Australia’s premier preserved steam train, Puffing Billy takes holiday makers through the magnificent Dandenong Ranges, located only one hour east of Melbourne, the same way it did its original mountain track from Belgrave to Gembrook. Many visitors from around the world enjoy travelling aboard

Puffing Billy as a stand-alone experience or sometimes as part of a Melbourne day tour to relax and breathe in the fresh air whilst the train makes its way through the temperate rainforest brushing past lush fern gullies and Mountain Ash trees.

6 West Coast Wilderness Railway

Claimed as the world’s steepest steam railway, this railway started its journey in 1896 as a lifeblood of a copper mine in remote Queenstown in Tasmania.

Its construction in a rugged terrain was conquered by using an inventive rack and pinion track technique that’s still in use. Unfortunately after 67 years of successful freight runs between the mine and foreshore at Strahan, located around 40 km away, miners abandoned its operation. The whistle toot was heard again in 2014, when the journey was resumed on the same route as West Coast Wilderness Railway, a touristy venture, to bring alive history and to offer guests a deep immersion into a unique cooltemperate nature, only accessible by this extraordinary rail odyssey.

MORE INFORMATION The Ghan, Indian Pacific and the Overland are operated by the Great Southern Railway (www.greatsouthernrail.com.au) Spirit of Queensland is operated by Queensland Rail (www. queenslandrailtravel.com.au) For Puffing Billy and West Coast Wilderness Railway, check respectively www. puffingbilly.com.au and www.wcwr.com.au

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SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 39

ADVERTORIAL

Merchants of Bollywood The international smash hit returns to Australian stages after a triumphant world tour

T

he glamour and glitter that is Bollywood returns to the Australian stages in 2018 following its worldwide success and rave reviews.

The Merchants of Bollywood features a cast of more than 30 performers direct from Film City Mumbai – the home of Bollywood Cinema. This dazzling performance features songs from Bollywood blockbusters; 2,500 glittering hand-crafted costumes, and an astonishing 5,000 pieces of jewellery!

A fictional story, yet based on real life, The Merchants of Bollywood will reveal to the Western audience the workings of cinema and the part it plays in the heart and soul of Indian society in an extraordinary evening

40 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

of music and dance, at the heart of which lies a heartfelt story of a young girl, her grandfather and their love of dance.

Since launching The Merchants of Bollywood fifteen years ago, the show has had worldwide success playing to more than 2 million patrons, 4 sold out London shows followed by sell-out performances in the US, Europe and South East Asia.

Finally The Merchants of Bollywood returns to Australia, and are very excited to present in all major capital cities the glitz, glamour, sheer spectacle, song, dance and romance that we know as ‘Bollywood’. Bangles and beads, swirling colours in costumes and sets, and high-energy music, will excite the senses in this lavish new production

that is bigger, bolder, brighter and features all the smash hit songs from the biggest Bollywood The Times, London, wrote about the show: “Their energy is electrifying, their movements suffused with a rush of joy and yet ruthlessly precise and the frenetic flow of onstage activity is almost nonstop. It’s a high octane pleasure!”

A theatrical dance spectacular, The Merchants of Bollywood charts the enchanting history of the world’s largest and most prolific film industry, and a dynasty of stars that have lit its way over generations. It transcends time and is a touching tribute to the Bollywood greats of yesterday and the box-office hits of

today, complimented by the outstanding music arrangements by Salim-Sulaiman.

The Merchants of Bollywood has captured the essence of India, its rich and diverse culture and its people, in a world of technicolour brilliance acclaimed by patrons and reviewers alike.

The London Metro said, “Taut and buff bodies glisten…dazzle, shimmer and sparkle…the choreography and visual appeal is as slick and sexy as any MTV promo” The Birmingham Post called it an “uplifting show….a real dazzler” The Manchester Evening News declared it the “most exhilarating musical seen this year”.

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SPORT

Tick tock: Oz awaits humbled India There will be only one tour on Virat Kohli’s mind, as he ponders what could have been in England Opening up BY RITAM MITRA

A

s Virat Kohli looks back on his latest tour of England, he may well feel at least some degree of satisfaction - after all, having scored more than a third of his team’s runs in the Test series and putting behind himself at last his tortured past in English conditions, he has won the right to do so. Yet Kohli will be rueful too. It was, despite his personal successes, overwhelmingly a tour of “what ifs”. What if India had managed to seize the key moments in the series? What if their team selections had been more astute?

What if injuries hadn’t cruelled his swing spearhead and lead spinner?

Ultimately, the 4-1 scoreline flattered England, but that will give India little comfort; as Indian fans become increasingly restless with the team’s performance outside the subcontinent, so too will they begin demanding results rather than mere competition. With a tour of Australia looming large on the horizon - one which, particularly given the current state of the Australian team, has the potential to be a watershed moment for Indian cricket - the kinks need to be ironed out, fast.

NATIONAL EDITION

Despite its woes in England, India’s batting line-up is unlikely to change materially by the time the first ball is sent down in Adelaide in December. Pujara must bat at 3, Kohli at 4, and Rahane at 5, with either Pandya or Vihari at 6. Each must bat without feeling the pressure of being dropped: an Indian Test batsman certainly does not need any more weight on his shoulders.

However, at the very pointy end of the order, matters are less certain. It is one of those strange but fantastic quirks of Test match cricket that, over the course of the exhilarating highs and crushing lows of a long Test series, a team’s entire make-up can be turned quite dramatically on its head.

Rahul, who began the series batting at 3 but was eventually pushed up the order, is suddenly the most assured of all opening candidates, having notched up a stunning second-innings century at The Oval, and with excellent credentials against Australia at home and abroad.

Meanwhile, Vijay, who was by some distance India’s best batsman in the 2014 England tour - was discarded after just two Tests. Dhawan, who was himself dropped after the first Test, also continues to flatter to deceive in overseas Tests. Either will feel hard done by to miss out, but three cannot fit into two.

Keeping the faith

India’s main problem in Australia will be deciding who sits out between Kumar (who returns from injury), Bumrah, Sharma and Shami. Of course, India could play four quicks, but this would mean sacrificing lower-order runs, a critical commodity on the unforgiving Australian pitches. Three seamers and Pandya, too is an option - but Pandya’s tale is one of feast or famine, and India may instead opt for a more modest but reliable meal in a pure batsman.

For a change, India’s spinners do not pick themselves. Ashwin’s performance in England - like his performances in Australia - left much to be desired, particularly being comprehensively out-bowled in favourable conditions at the Ageas Bowl by England’s Moeen Ali. Jadeja’s record in Australia, too, is miserable.

This could mean giving left arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav - who mystified the touring Australians in the previous edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy - a more extended run in the side.

A problem of plenty

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The modern-day wicketkeeper must not just keep - he must score runs quickly during the good times, knuckle down and stymie batting collapses during the bad, and mix aggression with steadiness when batting with the tail. It is a role that the English keepers Bairstow and Buttler played with precision over the English summer.

If there was a singular point of failure in the touring Indian side - and it is perhaps unfair to pick one - it was the performance of the team’s replacement wicketkeepers in each of the five Tests.

Dinesh Karthik was nothing short of abysmal at Edgbaston and Lords, scoring 21 runs in 4 innings including two ducks.

Pant, though a precocious talent, barely fared better, scoring 43 runs in his first 4 innings before a barnstorming century in the dead rubber offered a glimpse into a bright future.

Once he recovers from injury, Wriddhiman Saha can be quietly confident of adding to his 3 Tests down under.

At a glance, India’s fast bowling stocks have never looked healthier. It is safe to say - although impossible to prove - that never in history have four Indian seamers bowled faster than each of the opposition seamers, as was the case in Trent Bridge.

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 43

44 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

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FOOD

Two punnets please Doing our bit to contain the impact on primary producers

BY RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA

D

oubtless God could have made a better berry (than the strawberry), but doubtless God never did.

Doubtless William Butler - aka Dr Boteler, eccentric English physician of the late 1500s - loved his strawberries.

And doubtless William Butler would have been pained to the core at the recent news from Australia about his favourite fruit.

As the call-out gains momentum for us all to go out and buy more strawberries to help salvage the multimillion dollar industry, this column is dedicated to the fruit of the hour.

There’s plenty you can do with strawberries – make them into puddings, pies, soufflés, cakes and shortcakes, not to mention preserves and jams. But the recipes provided here use them fresh – the best way to consume strawberries.

SIMPLY STRAWBERRIES Put strawberries, washed and hulled, in a large bowl. Have two smaller bowls beside it, one with sour cream (or crème freche or cream cheese) and the other with brown sugar. Let guests dip a strawberry first in the cream, and then in the sugar. Yum.

Wash and hull strawberries and slice thickly. In a large bowl, marinate strawberries in Amaretto liqueur for about 4 hours. Serve over ice cream and sprinkle with slivered almonds.

For an unusual variation of the above, replace cream with good quality balsamic vinegar, and brown sugar with powdered (confectioners’) sugar.

Different, but delicious.

ALL-TIME FAVOURITES

Combine strawberries with blueberries. Sprinkle castor sugar over and let sit for five minutes to bring the juices out. Serve with double cream and chocolate dip on the side.

Combine thick creamy yoghurt with honey and freshly grated nutmeg. Put strawberries in individual bowls. Pour yoghurt mixture over. Top with toasted flaked almonds.

Cut up strawberries and sprinkle brown sugar over. Set aside for five minutes to bring the flavours out. Then sprinkle some lemon juice and orange liqueur over (use fresh orange juice for kids). Throw in some fresh mint leaves.

Thickly slice strawberries and sprinkle a little sugar over. Add a splash of Grand Marnier and serve as is or with a pound cake.

Combine caster sugar, water, lime juice and thin slices of fresh ginger in a saucepan. Simmer until the mixture reduces by half. Cool and pour over sliced, hulled strawberries. Allow to

NATIONAL EDITION

stand in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Spoon into serving glasses and top with vanilla yoghurt.

Chocolate-coated strawberries Put 250 gms cooking chocolate into a mixing bowl. Bring to a boil ½ cup thickened cream. Pour on to the chocolates and mix till smooth. Leave aside 3-4 minutes to harden. Wash strawberries but leave the caps on.

Dip the thin ends of the strawberries into the chocolate mixture. Arrange on a platter and refrigerate.

Stuffed strawberries Beat 1 tub cream cheese, ½ cup castor sugar and 1 tsp almond extract until smooth. Spoon cream cheese mixture into a pastry bag and chill for an hour.

Slit strawberries from tip to stem end leaving the base intact. Pipe cream cheese mixture into strawberries. Chill until ready to serve.

STRAWBERRY DRINKS Strawberry Daiquiri Although there are many versions, here’s a simple recipe. Mix in a blender 40ml White Rum, 20ml Strawberry liqueur, 3-4 strawberries (depending on their size), 50ml lemon juice, and a cup of crushed ice.

Agua Fresca Combine 4 cups sliced strawberries with 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Mash strawberries with a masher.

Mix, cover with cling film and refrigerate about 4 hours to macerate. Then blend until smooth. Pour through strainer and discard pulp. Add 7 cups of chilled water. This should give you 8 serves.

Smoothie Put one cup of milk (your choice of regular, soy, almond), 4 strawberries (halved) and two scoops of vanilla ice cream in a blender and blend till smooth. (Add honey to sweeten if needed).

STRAWBERRIES IN SALAD Strawberry salsa Finely dice 1 Lebanese cucumber, 1 red onion, and about half each red and yellow capsicums. Dress with 1 tbsp finely chopped coriander and 3 tbsp rice wine vinegar. Mix well and refrigerate for an hour. Just before serving, add in 250 gms strawberries, diced.

With cheese and nuts Mix in strawberries with goat’s cheese and walnuts; use a dressing of choice and serve on a bed of your favourite greens.

Spinach salad with strawberries Make a honey dressing by shaking together in a small jar 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar, 2 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tbsp honey, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, salt and pepper. Combine 1 cup thickly sliced strawberries with 1 tbsp sliced almonds and 1 small red onion, diced.

Toss baby spinach leaves with honey dressing and arrange on a platter.

Spoon strawberry mixture on top.

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 45

MATRIMONIALS SEEKING GROOMS Sister based in Sydney seeks suitable match for 39-year-old/5’5’’ Never married Punjabi Khatri girl. Doctor by profession, vegetarian. Settled in India, but willing to move overseas. Currently in Sydney (on holidays). Caste no bar.

Email: guruji2111@gmail.com, Mobile: +61 424 386 040 Seeking professionally qualified settled match for Sydney based, never married Australian citizen, Hindu, Punjabi Khatri 45-year-old, 5’3” slim, fair, attractive girl. She is a postgraduate and is working on a good position in a government organisation.

Please send details with photo to Indsyd2016@gmail.com.

Seeking a match for Australian citizen, Sydney-based Sikh girl born in 1991, 170cm, qualified chartered accountant, working for Australia’s leading bank.

Parents highly educated and well settled in Sydney. Please respond to hs52216a@gmail.com

SEEKING BRIDES Seeking 25-30-yr-old Hindu/Punjabi girl from Australia for our 31 year old Specialist Doctor son 5’9”, born and brought up in Sydney.

Please respond gupta_rsr@hotmail. com or call 0414 282 510.Match for boy aged 26, Telugu Brahmin family.

Master’s degree IT, 5’10”. Working in Sydney, parents well educated and settled in Sydney. Seeking Indian girl brought up in Australia aged 22-25 degree, qualified, fair, slim and at least 5’3”, working, able to drive. Call 0425 224 614 or email umarajaj.matrimony@ gmail.com Seeking professionally qualified settled match for Sydney based, never married Australian Citizen, Hindu, Punjabi Khatri 44, 6’, athletic built boy. He is project manager with engineering background and is working in a private organisation.

Please send details with photo - Indsyd2016@gmail.com.

Professional match for North Indian boy, 33, 5’11”, Chartered Accountant, Australian citizen & working as a Manager with an MNC bank in Sydney. Family settled in Sydney for 25 years. Girl should be Hindu, 25 to 31, Australian citizen, and Sydney based. Please send photos & details to: sanjdeep6@gmail.com.

A 43-year-old, issueless divorcee, 5’5”, PR holder, non-smoker, non-drinker, spiritual, Bihari, Hindu, Srivastava Kayastha working in one of the biggest IT companies of world, seeks an Indian girl willing to relocate to Sydney. Caste, language, state no bar. Ph 0415 063 532 Australian citizen, university educated Indian man, early 50s, working in a government organisation. Contact 0406 688 262, email tamavu@hotmail.com.au

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ENTERTAINMENT

cineTALK A MOVING BIOPIC, ASTUTELY TOLD

MANTO

STARRING: Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Rasika Duggal, Tahir Raj Bhasin, Tilottama Shome, Divya Dutta, Rishi Kapoor DIRECTOR: Nandita Das

HHHHH

Director Nandita Das’ Manto is a poignant and hard-hitting biopic about the controversial Indo-Pakistani Urdu short-story writer Sadat Hassan Manto.

It is her tribute to Manto, albeit one she renders with honesty as she presents the celebrated writer with all his failings and greatness.

The film opens in Mumbai where a young and raring-to-go Manto is slowly but surely making his presence felt in the Indian film industry. With the

Partition breaking out, circumstances compel Manto to move to Pakistan, and his life changes.

The film portrays how circumstances can break a straightforward and talented man who depicted the society through his unapologetic writing.

The director succeeds in allowing the audience to be privy to the life of this author who lives in Lahore but has his heart belonging to Mumbai.

The narrative flows smoothly and the origination of some of his short stories like “Toba Tek Singh”, “Khol Do” and “Thanda Gosht” are successfully depicted.

Like every character-driven film, this film too moves at a slow pace, but manages to keep you engrossed. The drama is in the inner turmoil within

the character. You can feel Manto’s frustrations as he feels incapacitated when in Lahore, and this is enhanced by the circumstances and times he lives in.

The film touches your heart especially in the scene where he says, referring to Mumbai, “My father is buried there, my mother is buried there, and my son Arif too is buried there, but I can’t call that place my country.”

The dialogues strike the right chord and are mostly Manto’s own words.

They are poetic and hard-hitting. An anguished Manto lashes out at the judge when accused of obscenity in his writings. “My stories mirror the society.

If you don’t like the mirror, what can I do?”

Nawazuddin Siddiqui plays Manto with ease in an author-backed role.

The character of Manto - a fragile man with a strong voice which he expresses through his writings - is palpable. Manto is every inch the person who spoke his mind through his writings, without fear.

The humane side of the writer comes across strongly too, as he is loaded with shortcomings.

Rasika Duggal as Safia, his wife, is earnest and real. She essays her character effortlessly with restraint and conviction. Unfortunately, her performance is restricted by the sketchy script that limits her character.

Tahir Raj Bhasin as Manto’s close friend, actor Shyam delivers a strong performance and leaves an indelible impact.

In cameos, Divya Dutta as one of the characters of Manto’s short stories, Rishi Kapoor as a Parsi producer, Ila Arun as Jaddan Bai and the actors who play Toba Tek Singh and Ashok Kumar, deliver power-packed performances.

The film will appeal to people who love history and are well-versed with Manto’s writings. The film enables you to travel back in time as cinematographer Kartik Vyas’s lens captures and recreates the era replete with sepia tones to perfection. The atmospheric lighting further adds to the authenticity.

The mellifluous and mournful score

by Zakir Hussain imparts an interesting dimension to the narrative.

Overall, Manto, rooted in history, is a treat to watch.

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LOVE IS ALL VERY WELL, BUT…

MANMARZIYAAN

STARRING: Abhishek Bachchan, Tapsee Pannu, Vicky Kushal DIRECTOR: Anurag Kashyap

HHHHH

Imagine if Mani Ratnam had sex in mind for Moun Ragam. Yes, the same story that Sanjay Leela Bhansali made into Huma Dil Chuke Sanam about a marriage of inconvenience, where the kind patient husband desists from consummating the marriage until the wife comes out of her earlier relationship.

Imagine if the wife can’t come out of her stuporous obsession with her first love because, hell, the sex with Vicky (Kaushal) is too good.

The girlfriend-wife is played by Tapsee Pannu who seems to get more confident with every film. Her Rumi is no walkover for sure. Nor is it someone you would want as your wife… or your son’s wife.

She is an unabashed epicurean, and the fact that she can play this superannoying selfish woman without making us cringe is in equal measures a triumph of writing (Kannika Dhillon) and performing.

Take the sequence where Tapsee’s Rumi rides a mo’bike to her future husband’s home and tells him, sorry, she can’t marry him. But hey, she can talk to him on Facebook. And off she rides.

Outrageously self-absorbed Tapsee plays Kangana’s small-town harridan from Tanu Weds Manu multiplied by 10. She is vixenish yet spontaneous, arrogant in her selfishness and yet not unlikeable. Tapsee brings out all the contradictions in her character. She spares us none of Rumi’s churlishness.

By the time she heads to Kashmir for her honeymoon with her husband on the

rebound, you wish someone would slap this unapologetic self-server hard.

Fate does that. The trouble with a pleasure-seeker like Rumi is, she is given a lot of leeway by the people around her.

Her Punjabi joint family consternation at her sickeningly self-gratifying behaviour with Vicky, comes through in spurts of hurt and indignation.

Not that Rumi cares. She is arguably the most annoyingly self-absorbed romantic heroine seen on screen. Vicky Kaushal as her cheesy DJ lover has worked hard on looking his part. The hair, the clothes, the body language - all exude a sense of self-limiting rebellion.

It is never very clear whether the passion between Vicky and Rumi is all about sex, or something more.

While Tapsee and Vicky give bust to their robust parts, it is Abhishek Bachchan, whose quiet character creates a space in the heart of the plot and lodges itself in the library of the luminous by respecting the character’s need to remain noble without seeming over-sweetened or simply stupid.

Manmarziyan takes the traditional love triangle to a new level of expression, articulating an idiom that cannot entirely avoid tedium. After Rumi marries Robbie the narrative runs out of steam. There are repetitive scenes in the secondhalf which could do with some serious pruning. In spite of its flawed flow due to its extended length, Manmarziyan is a winsome romantic tale which dares to ask a very basic question from diehard romantics: love is all very well, but what else?

Subhash K Jha

A GORGEOUS QUIRK-TALE OF MIRTH AND SCARES STREE

STARRING Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Aparshakti Khurrana DIRECTOR Amar Kaushik

HHHHH

A new language in the horror genre burgeons as we watch this quirky cocktail of mysterious goings-on in a minuscule town somewhere in Madhya Pradesh.

First off, the narrative acquires its judiciously-harnessed strength from the lazy serpentine locations. The congested claustrophobic gullies and lanes of Chanderi lend themselves effectively to the plot that quite literally loses it.

This is a film where supernatural beliefs are dragged to the extremes of self-parody and then dragged back up, gasping for breath. It’s a delicious voluptuous mishmash of terror and titillation all titivated in loads of guffaws.

To sustain the mood of mirth during times of terror is not easy.

Stree manages to do this, though. It also squeezes in a piercing message on gender dignity and women’s empowerment, proclaiming the ill treatment of women to be the rootcause of all evil perpetrated by ghoulish feminine spirits wandering aimlessly in the night.

NATIONAL EDITION

The writing in this case is clearly and literally on the wall, as every home in the spooked town has a message ‘Stree Kal Aana’ painted on the raw brick wall.

Well, Kal or not, this Stree rides the train of mystery with bloody-thirsty bravado.

Many passages play for anti-climactic scares. And these get annoying when repeated. Even when the dead-ends to the frights are too frequent, the film never ceases to be fun. Barring Shraddha Kapoor who is listless pale and wan (and not necessarily because the script demands her to be these) the entire cast gets the spirit of spooked satire dead right.

While Aparshakti Khurrana has shaped into one of the strongest supporting actors of contemporary Bollywood, what appealed the most to me was this self-effacing actor’s accent.

So North Indian in its wackiness, I was left decoding his words long after Khurrana finished uttering them. Pankaj Tripathi as a local scholar-exorcist with a penchant for alcohol and caller tunes that remind us of beautiful ghosts from Raj Khosla’s cinema, has the film’s best lines. Tripathy chews on them for all the meat they’ve got and spits them out with loving care.

As for Rajkummar Rao, he takes ownership of the film and its peculiar flavour of fear and fun, instilling

the two elements simultaneously in several scenes. I dare any other actor to have so much fun with fear. Watch him and Atul Shrivastava in the sequence where ‘Deddy’ tells son to not go to prostitutes for ‘Frandship’, but opt for self-help instead. It is priceless.

Stree moves in mysterious ways through a labyrinth of lip-smacking interludes, some razor-sharp, others blunt to the point of blandness. Even when the momentum of the eerie gets overly airy, there is still enough steam in the storytelling to keep us interested, if not enthralled, to the end.

And when all fails, there is always Rajkummar Rao, an actor we can depend on to rescue even the most inept scene from doom. Luckily Stree for all its audacious dips and curves, through mofussil anxieties, never

stumbles too hard to fall fright on its face. And watch out for the final twist in the tale. You will agree this quirktale, shot with vinegary vibrancy by cinematographer Amalendu Chaudhary, is no mock-tale.

Subhash K Jha

SEPTEMBER (2) 2018 49

ENTERTAINMENT

The BUZZ UP-TO-DATE NEWS ON WHAT’S HOT AND HAPPENING IN BOLLYWOOD

IRRFAN KHAN

MEANWHILE, IN BANGLADESH….

SHOULD THE GOVERNMENT BACK ‘VILLAGE ROCKSTARS’ IN OSCAR RACE?

N

oted Assamese actor Adil Hussain has urged the government to release Rs 5 crore for the promotion of Rima Das’ Assamese film Village Rockstars ahead of the Oscars, where it will represent India in the Best Foreign Language film category.

The Film Federation of India (FFI) made the announcement of the selection of the film for the Oscars recently.

But its selection committee chairman S.V. Rajendra Singh Babu, a veteran film producer, said there is an acute lack of funds to carry out the required promotional processes effectively, which is why many Indian movies haven’t made it to the final round, barring three, Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001).

Adil said he was “flummoxed” by the statement and took to Twitter to blast the government.

“After selecting ‘Village Rockstars’, jury says there’s acute lack of funds to promote film at Oscars,” tweeted the actor, who starred in the 2017 Norwegian film What Will People Say which went on to become Norway’s official entry to the Oscars this year.

Adil drew the attention of the Assam government, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, his office and of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to the matter, hoping they “will immediately release Rs 5 crore for the promotion of Village Rockstars, since all other countries have already started their campaigns in the US”.

As Rajendra Singh Babu rightly pointed out, “It is impossible for independent and small producers to promote their film all by themselves. It is important that they receive funds to do so. It is important we follow these processes to reach all the Academy members and critics.”

Adil’s tweets got much reaction.

Actor Annup Sonii expressed disappointment, and wrote: “For the smallest achievement they have big funds but for this... ‘Acute lack of funds’. Eventually it will come down

50 SEPTEMBER (2) 2018

to the filmmaker asking for favours or donations... Sad... Very sad.”

Actress Renuka Shahane questioned: “Why don’t we from the film fraternity join hands and create a fundraiser for our Oscar entry? Let’s not depend on the government. It is important that we support this gem of a film onwards to the Oscars.”

When a Twitter user pointed out that “filthy rich, big stars and producers” from the industry “can afford your Oscar thingy”, Renuka retorted: “What do you mean ‘Our Oscar thingy’? It should be a matter of pride for the entire country that a young girl with no background or training in filmmaking makes an incredible film like ‘Village Rockstars’ that compels the jury to select it for the Oscars. Let’s not be myopic.”

But other users commented that the taxpayers’ money should not be used for Oscars.

“Is it some kind of national service?

Why should we care about an American award? Why can’t the film industry fund these expenses?” the user questioned.

To which, Adil wrote: “Government can use taxpayers’ money to promote India’s image as a supporter of high quality art.

That’s what all civilised governments do! ‘Village Rockstars’ is an independent film. It’s not a mainstream run-of-the-mill film.

Set in Das’ own village of Chhaygaon in Assam, Village Rockstars is the story of “poor but amazing children” who live a fun-filled life.

The film won the Best Feature film Award at the 65th National Film Awards.

As for Das, she is hoping for the best as far as funds are concerned to put her film on the Oscars map.

“Village Rockstars is a film about dreams and hope. It has transcended so many barriers right from the time of its inception and I am hopeful that this time too, it will.”

Here’s hoping the Village Rockstars get their chance to be rockstars at the global village stage.

Indian actor Irrfan Khan-starrer Doob - No Bed of Roses, which was once banned in Bangladesh, has been chosen as the country’s official entry for the Academy Awards 2019.

Doob stars Irrfan - also its co-producer - as a successful filmmaker facing a midlife crisis when he has a tryst with his daughter’s childhood friend, causing a national scandal.

The India-Bangladesh bilingual co-production, written and directed

by Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, features Rokeya Prachi as Irrfan’s wife, while Nusrat Imrose Tisha plays the daughter and Indian actress Parno Mittra plays her childhood friend.

In a statement about the film, Farooki had said he took inspiration from a real-life incident “which shook the very foundation of Bangladesh’s judgmental Muslim society” and “how women struggle in our society and find strength in despair”.

The film walked on a path full of thorns as it was banned in Bangladesh on the grounds that it might be based on revered real-life author and filmmaker Ahmed, who divorced his wife of 27 years and married an actress 33 years his junior.

The ban was eventually lifted and the film released in October 2017 in Bangladesh, France, India and Australia.

Irrfan, who is currently undergoing treatment for neuroendocrine tumour in London, is thrilled that the Bangladesh Oscar Committee has chosen Doob to represent the country at the Academy Awards.

Bangladesh has yet to secure an Oscar nomination, though it has been sending entries to the foreign-language category since 2002.

The 91st Academy Awards will be held on February 24, 2019.

REMEMBER THE KAANTA LAGA GIRL?

She shot to fame some fifteen years ago with the controversial song Kaanta laga, and the poor girl has been struggling to shake off the ‘one-hit wonder’ tag ever since.

But talk to dancer-actress Shefali Jariwala, and she’ll only say that her life after Kaanta Laga (2002) has been nothing short of a fairy tale.

“For a girl coming from a simple middle class family, earning so much recognition after the first stint is like finding Prince Charming. I love every bit of it.”

Back then, a lot of people criticised her for her bold dance steps. She feels the audience is much more open today.

“People are more accepting towards bold content. But there will always be some people who will find things vulgar. We can’t change that. We live in a free country and one has the right to freedom of expression,” she said.

She is back with more bold content,

this time a bold comedy web series titled Baby Come Naa. “When Baby Come Naa was offered to me, I found the script so mindblowing that I had to gather the courage to perform or it would have been completely my loss,” she said.

“Besides the script, the whole set-up was terrific,” she said.

Directed by Farhad Samji, it also features actors like Shreyas Talpade, Kiku Sharda and Chunky Pandey.

Talking about her role and the series, she said, “It’s a story about how Adi (Shreyas) tricks his girlfriend (Shefali).

She is a simple daddy’s girl who is in love with Adi.” It has been a while since the audience saw Shefali, who had featured in the 2004 film Mujhse Shaadi Karogi.

“Yes, it has been a while. Stage shows have kept me very busy. Dancing has always been my comfort zone. But after a point, it got monotonous. I felt the need to grow as an artiste.”

Television audiences also got to see her alongside her husband Parag Tyagi in the celebrity dance-based show Nach Baliye.

Will Shef get her much-needed break now? We’ll have to wait and see.

AAMIR’S NO THUG HERE, THANK YOU

So Aamir Khan has given us a glimpse of what he looks like in the upcoming Thugs of Hindostan. If you haven’t seen it yet, he rides a donkey, sports curly brown hair and wears a hat, for his role as the wily Firangi in the Yash Raj Films project.

And yet, he’s no thug, he’ll tell you, even if the film is called what it is.

Introducing his character, he said people won’t find a more honest person on earth than him, and that honesty is the second name of his character.

The film, directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya, promises to be the biggest visual spectacle on the big screen with jaw-dropping action sequences and an epic war on the seas.

The makers have pulled off an incredible casting coup by bringing together Amitabh Bachchan - who plays the role of the fierce warrior Khudabaksh - and Aamir on screen for the first time.

It also stars Katrina Kaif as performer and Suraiyya and Fatima Sana Shaikh as the daredevil Zafira.

It will light up Diwali with its release on 8 November.

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AYUSHMANN LEARNS MULTIPLE DIALECTS

Actor Ayushmann Khurrana, who will next be seen in Amit Ravindernath Sharma’s Badhaai Ho, learnt three different dialects for the family comedy.

While the actor picks up languages and accents easily, he also rehearsed with a special diction trainer and the film’s writer Akshat Ghildial on the sets, apart from spending time with friends from Punjab and Haryana. In the film, he plays a character whose family belongs to Meerut, and he needed a bit of that flavour in his dialogue delivery as well.

Ayushman said in a statement, “I consider myself as a linguist and I love learning accents from different parts of the country. Having travelled across the lengths and breadth of the nation, I love grasping different dialects.”

The actor, who is from Chandigarh, said, “My parents stay in Panchkula which is in Haryana. So, I have closely interacted with both Punjabis and Haryanvis. But, having an accent coach or a writer who is from the same place is really helpful. Since Akshat is from Meerut and Shantanu (co-writer Shantanu Srivastava) is from Haryana, both of them made it quite easy for me and helped me with the accents.”

Ghildial said, “Ayushmann picked up the accents and dialect really well. And it was a great experience working with him.”

As we divulged last issue, the film is about a young adult whose 50-year-old parents become pregnant late in life. It releases on 19 Oct.

RIP, KALPANA LAJMI

Filmmaker and screenwriter Kalpana Lajmi, niece of the legendary Guru Dutt and acclaimed for making womenoriented films like Rudaali, Ek Pal, Daman and Chingaari, died in Mumbai on 24 Sept following a multiple organ failure. She was 64.

Lajmi breathed her last at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital, where she was admitted in the intensive care unit six days before due to kidneyrelated issues.

President Ram Nath Kovind and Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal paid condolences, as did a slew of well-known names like Hansal Mehta, Nandita Das, Soni Razdan and Raveena Tandon from the film industry.

“Sorry to hear of the passing of Kalpana Lajmi, a filmmaker of rare sensitivity. The repertoire of her work, from depicting strong and resilient women to cinematic renditions of Assamese life, was remarkable.

Condolences to her family and wellwishers,” read a post from the official President of India Twitter handle.

Her contribution to Indian cinema will be remembered forever, said Sonowal.

Lajmi’s cremation took place the following day at the Oshiwara crematorium. Mahesh Bhatt, Soni Razdan, Shabana Azmi and Shyam Benegal were among those who were present.

Soni, who was her close friend, said,

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“Our dear beloved friend Kalpana Lajmi has gone to a better place. RIP my darling Kalpana. I shall miss you so terribly.”

Lajmi had been undergoing dialysis for a couple of years, and true to her indomitable spirit, had said in an interview last year, “My kidneys have failed, but I haven’t.”

She had forayed into filmdom as an assistant director under renowned filmmaker Shyam Benegal, following which she made her directorial debut with a documentary film D.G. Movie Pioneer based on Bengali filmmaker Dhiren Ganguly in 1978.

Her feature film debut came with Ek Pal. She also directed the TV serial Lohit Kinaare (1988) for Doordarshan and 26 episodes of a serial Dawn, on the freedom movement of India.

Lajmi’s last film as a director was Chingaari, based on the novel The Prostitute and the Postman by the late Bhupen Hazarika, her long-time companion.

She also penned a book, Bhupen Hazarika: As I Knew Him. It was launched on 8 September by Benegal and Lajmi’s mother, painter Lalita Lajmi.

The filmmaker, who was hospitalised at that time too, could not attend the event as her doctors had refused to allow her a long commute.

Known for fearless filmmaking with women in strong roles, Lajmi’s 1993 Dimple Kapadia-starrer Rudaali was even chosen as India’s official entry to the 66th Academy Awards.

Actress Raveena Tandon, who played the lead role as a battered wife in Daman, mourned Lajmi’s demise.

“You will be missed Kalpanaji. Was not your time to go... But may your heart now be at peace. Those days while shooting ‘Daman’ will be a treasured memory. Om Shanti.”

Actor Viveck Vaswani was shattered at the news of the death of his friend and colleague, while Nandita recounted how she had promised to meet Lajmi in the coming week after the release of her film Manto.

“No greater pain than losing one’s child, so my deepest condolences to Lalitaji,” Nandita wrote.

Lyricist and censor board chief Prasoon Joshi described Lajmi as “a seeker looking for more questions than just answers”. Actor Ranvir Shorey remembered her as “a warm and affectionate human being who made a huge contribution to socially relevant cinema in India”.

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BACKCHAT

ASK AUNTYJI Never go without earrings DEAR AUNTYJI Both my husband and I have very good jobs and are reasonably comfortable.

I work in corporate Australia and I love clothes, so I tend to make an effort to look my best every day. I work hard, and I feel if I look polished, this will impact my confidence. Auntyji, it’s true that I tend to spend a fair bit of money on clothes, but I never spend beyond our means. Now I call my husband our finance minister because he is fairly fiscally prudent and I love that about him. He has just booked us a two-week holiday in New York for Christmas, and has said that we should curb our spending so we could shop there. But I saw a beautiful pair of very expensive antique turquoise earrings and on a whim, I put it on lay-by. They are beautiful and I can’t wait to get them. Auntyji, I feel guilty, because I did not tell this to Andy. I am slightly shamed by my behaviour. What to do? Should I tell him?

AUNTYJI SAYS You besharam, lying to your husband like that! But tell me, kaise hain

ye beautiful earrings? They must be exquisite - especially if they are antique turquoise. But what to do. Aap ne jhoot bola hai - even if it’s lying by omission. So, if you want trust in the relationship, Andy ko batana padega.

Imagine if he did this to you. Imagine if, aap ke peeth ke peeche, he went and bought a new set of golf clubs or a new set of wheels for the car and didn’t tell you? Would this bother you?

If it did, then you need to think deeply about what you have done. But if he is your minister of finance and he decided that he wanted a new set of golf clubs and he could afford it, then I don’t see why you would have an issue with this. Which means that by the same token, you should be allowed to buy what you want - seeing that you are also financially responsible. But, you feel a sense of shame, my little kabootri, because you weren’t honest with the pati dev. Jaa kar batao unko aap ne kya paap kiya hai. Then go and feed some gulab jamuns to the gareeb to get some redemption. Jug jug jiyo, meri pari.

Bollywood baby DEAR AUNTYJI Recently I’ve developed a new habit and I wanted to share this with you, because I know you will appreciate this too. So I was generally reading up on Bollywood gossip shossip on the internet, and I came across some pictures of Taimur Ali Khan! Now Auntyji, I don’t know how I missed all this, but he is so so beautiful!

He is the most adorable baby I have ever seen in my life and now, every single day, I log online just to see if there are new pictures of him. I could stare at him for hours - he is a bundle of cuteness!

Have you seen his pictures? Kitna pyara baccha hai, nah? I am even thinking of making up a gift package and sending it to Kareena and Saif. I am besotted by this little bubba. Would you be able to get me their address so I could send him some love from Australia?

AUNTYJI SAYS Ya allah, mujhe sabar de in zaalim logon se. My na-akl paapin, my kaali mirchi, kuch to sharam kar. Thousands of miles away is the Chota Nawab, minding his own business, being loved by his Ma and Pa and from the other

side of the duniya, kisi ki kaali nazar ne un ko lomari ki khayalat se dekha.

Don’t you have work to do, or a hobby, or other people pareshan karne ke liye?

Leave our Chota Nawab alone, because everyone knows that evil eyes exist, and if you keep staring at our Chota Nawab, he will likely fall sick. Is that what you want - for India’s darling Taimur to fall sick? How will you feel then? Granted, Taimur bahut hi pyara baby hai. And with all the best of the Kapoors and Pataudis coursing through his veins, he was destined to be a celestial darling. But, you need to find something else to occupy your kaali nazren. Go find a hobby, or jaa kar volunteer kar hospital me. This fascination of yours is disturbing. And no, koi zaroorat nahi hai care package send karne ki. In fact, go and donate some gifts and money to poor children and that will bring you redemption. Hum abhi bata dete hain, if our little Taimur, our beautiful khajoor, our kohinoor, our sartaj gets sick, it will be on you and your kaali nazar. I hope baat samajh me aa gayi hai aap ko.

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