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PUBLISHER

Pawan Luthra

EDITOR

Rajni Anand Luthra

SOCIAL MEDIA

Suruchi Sehgal

MELBOURNE COORDINATOR

Preeti Jabbal

CONTRIBUTORS

Janani Karthik, Suruchi Sehgal, Usha Ramanujam Arvind, Jyoti Shankar, Sydney Srinivas, Tarini Puri, Quaid Najim, Minal Khona, Sunil Gautam

ADVERTISING MANAGER

Shriti Sinha 0410 578 146

ADVERTISING ASSISTANT

Charuta Joshi 02 9279 2004

Indian Link is a fortnightly 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

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GPO Box 108, Sydney 2001

Ph: 02 9279-2004

Fax: 02 9279-2005

Email: info@indianlink.com.au

Festive times

BY PAWAN LUTHRA

Having just finished with the multiple events to mark a very special Gandhi Jayanti this year – the Mahatma’s sesquicentenary - you could say we are well and truly into our long-drawn festive season. The Garbas have been on full-swing (in more ways than one!), Durga Puja is upon us, the Diwali feels are gradually coming on, and the Sikh community is gearing up for its own milestone 550th anniversary.

With 700,000 of us Indian Australians, the celebrations - both religious and festive - now cater to all age groups, cut across regional divides, and vary in style and size. While the Garba events can bring together 600010,000 people over the course of a few nights, multiple smaller events are held across the community for revellers to meet on more intimate settings.

What has been wonderful to observe in recent celebrations, is the joining in of the younger members of the community. Whereas once these events

were the domain of the ‘uncles and aunties’ alone, now they are buzzing with youngsters not shy of bringing out their best traditional attire, ready to celebrate their cultural heritage.

Many of these are youthful New Australians who have high affiliation and connection with the country of their birth India, and express this in many more ways than the old guard did.

On the other side of the spectrum ie the mainstream, there is similar change and increasing inclusivity, such as a broader awareness about Diwali for instance.

Kudos for this can be shared by many, not in the least our state governments who have facilitated these celebrations on the mainstage, such as NSW’s lighting up of the Sydney Opera House or Victoria’s mega Diwali at Fed Square. For the first time this year, the 550th birthday anniversary of Sikh faith founder Guru Nanak Dev Ji will be marked across Melbourne thanks to a Victorian Government initiative, in which major monuments will be lit up on 12 November in the faith’s saffron colour, including Bolte Bridge, the Arts Centre, Melbourne Museum and AAMI Stadium. (This comes on top of a $200,000 grant to the Sikh community to organise a

range of events throughout October and November this year).

Credit also must be given to the many community organisations who year after year put in much effort towards their melas and big events, oftentimes their enthusiasm and zeal outweighing the resources at hand to pull these off. These large-scale events have now begun to attract mainstream Australians, some who may just be passing through, others who may have heard about a fun day out and made an effort to be there. As always at Diwali, we’re putting the idea out to bring an Australian friend along to your favourite Diwali event, or have the family next door join you for your family’s Diwali celebrations.

In another welcome trend, Diwali is gradually making an appearance at work too, thanks to the extended reach of the working Indian Australian across various services and corporates.

It’s a heartening experience seeing such acceptance of diversity. With acceptance comes understanding, and with understanding, respect. With the Indian Australian community growing at an estimated 3 to 5% a year, this can only help make settlement in the new country a lot easier for new migrants, students and sojourning professionals.

YOUR SAY

GANDHI AT MY SCHOOL

SHIKHA CHANDRA and RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA wrote about Darcy Road Public School’s annual Hindi Diwas celebration with special reference to its Gandhi anniversary events.

Mahesh Lodha wrote: I arrived in Sydney just a week back and picked your magazine up from a local Indian store. Your article Gandhi at my school is very timely and a tribute to the Apostle of Truth and Non-violence. Back in India as a Secretary of "Gandhi 150 West Bengal Committee" I have been conducting interactive quizzes on Gandhi in schools with the idea of spreading the Mahatma's philosophies among our children. I will be very happy to conduct the same here, if any opportunity arises. This may be a very positive program/ activity on the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi.

On another note, the middle section Ganesha in 108 ways I found to be quite captivating.

A RELATIONSHIP OF PROMISE

PAWAN LUTHRA interviewed the outgoing High Commissioner of India to Australia, Dr Ajay Gondane.

Sheba Nandkeolyar wrote: Good insights into Dr Gondane’s humble, warm and strategic personality.

Ajeet Khullar wrote: Too many associations in the Indian community? No, he says, I welcome the diversity and the dynamism and the opportunity for leadership! I suppose that is one way of looking at it… spoken like a diplomat.

CALLING ALL FAUJIS

We featured a piece on the launch of the alumni association of India’s National Defence Academy in Australia.

Surender Anand wrote: I am looking to get connected with the National Defence Academy Alumni Association (Australian Chapter). I am an ex colonel of the Indian Army, having graduated from the 25th NDA course commissioned in Ordnance on 2 Aug 1964. I moved to Launceston Australia in 1994 and started the Bombay Café Indian restaurant. I live a retired life in Adelaide today as an Australian citizen.

SAY IT AGAIN

Everybody wants to know whether Gandhi is relevant whereas we need to ask are we deserving of his legacy.

Tushar Arun Gandhi, the Mahatma’s grandson

WHERE IN INDIA

We asked you to name the site of these ancient monuments. Readers Gurmeet Kalsi and Anurag Lall identified it correctly as Orchha Fort Complex, dating back to the 16th century and built by the Bundela Rajputs in Madhya Pradesh.

Ramesh V Morkhandikar wrote: Will appreciate more such quizzes which enhance the awareness of Indian culture.

WHERE IN OZ

We love this weird and wonderful architecture!

Reader Charmi Kapadia Shah correctly identified it as a vineyard in Devil’s Corner, Tasmania.

I am delighted to send my best wishes to everyone marking Navaratri, a significant festival for Hindus celebrating the victory of good over evil. As your communities come together on this special occasion, I hope you will be uplifted by its spirit of joy and energy, and by the fellowship of your family and friends.

Scott Morrison, Prime Minister of Australia

INSTA-HAPPY

Send us a photo or Instagram one of Indian Link in your daily life. We’ll pick one to feature in this column.

Abeer Sharma, 4, takes a copy of Indian Link to his kindy so that all his friends can colour in for Diwali Art Competition.

WHO WORE IT BETTER?

CAPTION CONTEST

What’s Shilpa Shetty thinking here?

Ian Hendry wrote: Forgot the yellow wigs…

Jasveen Kaur Gosal wrote: What else can we match, I think I have everything covered.

Neetasha Sharma wrote: I paid a hefty sum to my designer for the outfits, I hope the pappz are clicking the best shots… smile!

Raka Mitra wrote: Should have gotten a few more metres of this fabric for the curtains...such a great sale.

Arix Bishnoi wrote: I better get 100K likes for this pic... You know how hard it is to find matching clothes for your husband and kid.

Shibani Dali wrote: Could this picture be any more yellower!

Poonam Mehra wrote: Glowing gloriously in yellow colour of glory and Ganesha’s blessings

Ryzara Harricharan wrote: Through all our positive experiences and moments and trials, negativity, tribulations, life's challenges, sacrifices, tension, issues, concerns, problems, and loss and grief, I still believe in and stand with God.

Vandana D'souza wrote: My family’s Bhakti colour is yellow!

Aarti Ag wrote: Ganpati Bappa blessed not only me and my family, but the whole world with peace and love, so everyone can smile like this.

Sunny Singh wrote: Feel good to have Ganpati Bappa in our home Sneha Shah wrote: Removal of obstacles and lord of success, may Lord Ganesha bestow his blessings on my family and all else this Ganesh Chaturthi.

Siddesh Jukar wrote: Hum sab pehene yellow, Bappa sab ke dukh lello.

Preety Sharma wrote: Feeling blessed with beautiful family

Vinay Pawar Khandelwal wrote: We are yellow yellow, beautiful fellow.

Rachna Gupta wrote: The family that prays together, stays together.

Deepak Shah wrote: Green and Gold! Australian!

Renu Sharma wrote: Twinning and winning

Shyam Khatri wrote: Bappa, aglesaal please IPL jita dena

Neha Mani Mishra wrote: Stop the click-click, let’s go and dive in the modaks already!!

Kavita Panchal Mistry wrote: Bappa ek hi taake me se sab ke kapde silaye hai, thodi kadki chalu hai… bhool chuk maaf Bappa

Arora Vijay wrote: Bappa, my only wish is to win the IPL cup this year

Sarita Ram Menon wrote: Gosh, ek modak khaliya... mera waist line ka kya hoga... kal se double yoga

Vinayak Muralidharan wrote: Tum dil ki dhadkan mein, rehto ho rehto ho!

Aarti Mehra wrote: Fabric thoda kam padh gaya, Raj Kundra ka kurta nahin ban paya poora. I hope kisi ko pata na chale isliye this big smile

Whenever we eat at our local Indian hawker store the owner hands our toddler an oversized papadum which Tobi happily stuffs in his mouth. Owner watches with delight while softly cooing “fat, fat baby!” It’s actually the most uncomplicated, joyous human transaction I’ve ever seen Stephen Dziedzic, ABC journalist based in Singapore

I've experienced mental health issues for as long as I can remember. Earlier this year, I attempted suicide. It's something we need to talk about openly and honestly. Help is available: @beyondblue@ LifelineAust

Tarang Chawla, writer, gender equality and mental health advocate

Stepping into Gandhi’s world

An exhibition of rare photographs kickstarts the Mahatma’s sesquicentennial in Sydney

It was a wonderful occasion to take some pictures with the birthday boy. Although there was no cake - it would have been hard to get one to fit 150 candles - the life-size cut-out proved mightily popular with the selfie seekers.

Mahatma Gandhi’s sesquicentennial was marked with a number of events in Sydney, one of the more popular ones being an exhibition of some rare photographs at Western Sydney University.

The world’s most famous Indian was portrayed here in some 100 original images, captured in the backdrop of the historic Dandi Yatra, the non-cooperation movement, Bardoli Peasants Satyagraha, and other pivotal moments from the freedom struggle.

Also on display was a young MK Gandhi as a law student in 1890, Gandhi attending to sanitary work, Gandhi walking with his grandson Kanu Gandhi on Juhu beach in 1937, Gandhi with Charlie Chaplin and Gandhi with Subhash Chandra Bose among others.

Each and every picture came with its own detailed caption, making it all an immersive and informative experience.

Gandhi’s world was well and truly brought back to us.

The exhibition was installed by the Gandhi Peace Centre Australia. Ronnie D'Souza, Honorary Director, told Indian Link, “We have been conducting this photo exhibition during Gandhi Jayanti for almost 18 years. Gandhi's life and works can be told in countless ways. This photo exhibition is one way of narrating his life

story to the masses.”

He revealed that the photos were collected from the archives of the National Gandhi Museum, New Delhi. The photo descriptions were curated by the volunteers of Gandhi Peace Centre Australia with support from Mala Mehta, Dhaval Gelani and Consulate General of India, Sydney, Manish Gupta.

The Gandhi Peace Centre Australia was founded by Ronnie D'Souza in 2002. Ever since its inception, the volunteers of this organisation have been addressing community issues like domestic violence and unemployment via seminars and counselling sessions. (Check out their activities on their Facebook page.)

Organised by an eclectic group from the community led by dynamic Parramatta Councillor Sameer Pandey, the exhibition was part of a series of events held for the first time in Western Sydney.

“It’s been a wonderfully collaborative initiative, with Council efforts backed by government, private enterprise, community stakeholders and interested members of the public,” Councillor Pandey told Indian Link. “I think Gandhi deserves such a multi-thronged effort, don’t you?”

The vintage photographs had the attendees quite engrossed. Peter Mushenko, who attended the exhibition, told Indian Link.

"I work for the Salvation Army and have a quote of Gandhi at the bottom of my email:

‘The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing, would suffice to solve most of the world's problems.’ I’ve always wanted to know more about Gandhi as a person. It’s been great in this exhibition to read about his life and the historic facts, which I didn't know. All the photographs are very inspiring.”

His favourite, he revealed, was one which showed the Mahatma campaigning against untouchability.

“It’s thought-provoking. No one is above or below anyone else; everyone deserves respect and has to be treated with the same human dignity.”

Reena, a Gandhi Centre volunteer, said, “I have followed Gandhian principles in my own life. This exhibition has insightful information on many of his principles. The photographs are truly amazing.”

A great way to kickstart the Mahatma’s sesquicentennial – a refresher into his remarkable life and work.

Janani Karthik

Two men, one mission

An intriguing relationship unravelled in letters

BY JANANI KARTHIK

Gandhi and Tagore. We’ve uttered these two names together so many times in the same breath, you’d think they were cut from the same cloth.

And so it came as a bit of a surprise to learn that they rarely agreed on anything. Other than, of course, that they wanted India to be rid of the British.

A recent theatre production brought to life the strange relationship between the two men, fraught with disagreements but nurtured with much mutual respect.

The Bangalore Little Theatre (BLT) was in Sydney last week to stage a play called The Prophet and the Poet at the Parramatta South campus of Western Sydney University. The play, or more precisely docu-theatre, was based on the conversations shared between Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore in their private letters during the freedom struggle. The two leaders had frank discussions on many issues in their letters exchanged over 25 years.

In the two-hour staging, it is the conversations between the two men that takes centre stage, rather than portrayals of the protagonists themselves.

Even the sets were minimal, emphasising only on the intriguing exchanges that took place between1915 and 1941.

The two men, both fascinating personalities, disagreed on everything that they discussed, but had genuine love and respect for each other despite their differences. This delicate balance was beautifully showcased throughout this dialogue-heavy play, based on archival research by Prof. Sabyasachi Bhattacharya,

former Vice-Chancellor of Visva Bharati University, West Bengal.

The play got off the mark with slideshows of original letters written by the two men. In these long-winded notes, they debated various political issues on which they professed differing standpoints: on Hindi as national language (a debate that continues nearly a century later!); Tagore's criticism about Gandhi's non-cooperation movement, Swaraj and Gandhi's absence at the Round Table Conference; Gandhi's visit to Shantiniketan; Tagore's concern on Gandhi's frequent fasting.

Their last letters in 1940 were particularly interesting.

While actor Minti Jain narrated the play, actors Naveen Tater and Karan Singh discussed the letters of Gandhi and Tagore. These three actors of Bangalore Little Theatre could win any international memory competition -effortlessly delivering innumerable pages of intricate dialogue,

stunning with their extraordinary memory power. They later admitted to hours of rigorous practice!

Bangalore Little Theatre is one of India's oldest theatre groups, which has produced over 200 plays in 50 years. It is known for its creative and quality productions, training workshops and outreach programs.

About The Prophet and the Poet, actor Naveen Tater told Indian Link,“This play has been performed 105 times, 35 times by BLT alone.”

He revealed that having worked in this thought-provoking play has been a great learning experience for him personally.

“The actual correspondence in the letters is interspersed with imaginary dialogues but based on historic details,” he described. “These are not full letters. These are just excerpts of the actual letters. Actually they wrote long letters to each other, both being voracious writers. Their

language was such that we had to relearn a lot of English! There were so many words we don't use today, so much of grammar we don't utilise. It is a grammar that's forgotten. We had to learn enunciations for this play. A lot of our own language went through development when we rehearsed for this.”

The learning had not been restricted to language alone, Naveen offered. “You know, every stagingof this play is different - we end up discovering something new! Perhaps this is what they intended. After every performance, we learn new things and we keep revising the content."

Though the play is set in the preindependence era, the messages that the leaders conveyed via their letters are relevant even now.

“They would probably be relevant 500 years from now,” Naveen laughed. “The crux of the whole thing that these two contemporary leaders shared, would be the same. That is their greatness. They were not born great, as they had their own share of struggles. What is interesting is that they do not agree with each other on almost anything except for the fact that India needs independence. Despite the dissent, they have love and respect for each other and that's a very delicate balance which today the world has lost. That is the message that this play brings. Dissent can sometimes be an engine for growth. You can only thrive with dissent. If you suppress dissent, then there is no thriving.”

A great message for today’s highly polarised world.

For me personally, the play was revealing in many ways. So far, I’ve known Gandhi through his books. But here in this play,

I was seeing another Gandhi: a Gandhi through the eyes of a peer, an opponent, a true friend - Tagore.

It was Tagore, laying bare before us, a Gandhi we could never have known.

The team from Bangalore Little Theatre

Keeping Gandhi’s light alight

Kids steal the show yet again at UNSW’s annual Gandhi Jayanti ceremony

The most influential figure in humanity. That’s how Laurie Pearcey, Pro Vice Chancellor of UNSW, chose to describe Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.

He was speaking at the Gandhi Jayanti ceremony at the university’s Library Lawn, where a Gandhi bust takes pride of place.

“Gandhi came to us at a difficult time, when division and intolerance threatened to undermine our special relationship,” he said, referring to the Indian students’ crisis of 2009-2010. “With this symbol of peace, nonviolence and inclusivity we rose above the noise to come together.”

Together with the Consul General of India Manish Gupta, he paid a floral homage to the Mahatma by garlanding his statue.

In his own reflection, Consul General Gupta spoke of the continuing resonance of Gandhi’s philosophy, such as sustainable living - a pet passion of the Mahatma many decades ago.

Perhaps the most stirring moment of this annual ceremony is the re-enactment by kids of Gandhi’s famous Dandi March. Students from IABBV Hindi School Thornleigh and Darcy Road Public School Wentworthville followed Aryan Ghelani, a young dhoti-clad, lathi-wielding Gandhi as he speed-walked across the Library Lawn. Spectators were encouraged to join, just like supporters did in 1930, taking the 24-day 400-km walk with Gandhi from Ahmedabad to the coastal village of Dandi.

At their destination, as Gandhi scooped up a handful of salt with his bare hands, the course of the freedom struggle took a decisive turn.

The Mahatma was also remembered on the occasion via his favourite hymns and prayers Raghupati Raghava (Usha Sridhar and Padma) and Lead Kindly Light (Heather Lee Cunio). The little ones paid their own

tribute with Vaishnava Jan To and Sabarmati Ke Sant.

The young students have played a starring role in this event for many years now: perhaps it is time their older counterparts took up the baton for a bit. The university’s 1200-strong Indian student community is yet to make a mark at this event honouring the Father of their nation.

A small subset of them, however, did rock up this year: nineteen Indian international students were formally acknowledged as scholarship winners.

Also awarded on the occasion were the winners of the essay-writing competition organised by the Consulate General of India, on the topic “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Contestants writing in the English and Tamil languages, in various age categories, were felicitated.

Later, writer Roanna Gonsalves joined Neville Roach, who had led the morning

ceremony, and peace educator Margaret Hepworth in a panel discussion on Gandhi.

Neville Roach spoke about how “Un Gandhian” we have become in contemporary times, in terms of how we treat our Indigenous peoples, asylum seekers and our neighbours in the Pacific; our propensity to follow our ‘friends’ into war, and our unwillingness to fund public institutions such as schools and governments.

“We have a lot to learn from Gandhi,” he concluded.

Margaret Hepworth of The Gandhi Experiment, a former teacher who now delivers ‘life developing’ programs based on Gandhian principles, urged people to look within, as a way of creating change. If we can create change within, we can effect change in the outside world, she noted. Her work involves teaching young people strategies to do just that.

How can we keep Gandhi’s light shining,

Roanna asked.

Pick one thing and fight for it, Neville suggested, describing his own unhappiness - and ultimate resignation - as immigration advisor to the government in 2002.

Margaret Hepworth offered a two-step process. “Consider what you’re good at, and then consider what the world needs right now that you can help with. Combine the two and you’ll come up with the one idea that will give you a sense of purpose.”

Speak up for what is not right, Roanna urged, alluding to her own into-the-street activism such as with Aboriginal rights. A thoughtful exercise, it prevailed on us all to seek out the Gandhi within us.

Gandhi’s light will keep shining, literally, over the next few days and nights at UNSW, as the Library Towers light up in the colours of the Indian flag, and host an image of the Mahatma for all to see.

Rajni Anand Luthra

Gandhiji at Parramatta

Jubilee Park is a perfect spot for a community celebration of Gandhi Jayanti

When the life-size Gandhi statue arrived in Parramatta’s Jubilee Park in November 2018, presented by the Indian government and unveiled by President Ram Nath Kovind, it was quite clear that the spot would become a meeting ground for Indianorigin Sydney-siders as they marked national milestones.

By happy coincidence, the first celebration of Gandhi’s birth anniversary at Jubilee Park, has itself been a milestone occasion - the sesquicentenary of India’s most beloved icon.

The evening of 2 October saw an enthusiastic crowd at this spot, gathered to celebrate the International Day of Non-Violence, as the birth anniversary of Gandhi is now called. (Weeknight? No big deal!) Organised by the City of Parramatta, the evening was a pleasant mix of addresses, performances and felicitations.

Gandhiji was felicitated with flower garlands galore, before musical tributes followed in the form of his favourite hymns. Gayatri Bharat’s melodious bhajans in different Indian languages reverberated with the Gandhian ideology, and included Kabir’s dohas and the ever-popular Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram and Vaishnav Jan Toh to which the crowds joined in.

As if in thanks to their singing, they were rewarded with handmade laddoos, in a wonderful hark back to the national day events in India where this sweetmeat was an essential part of the celebrations. On this occasion, they were made with warmth and love by the seniors from AASHA Foundation.

An equal obeisance to our karma bhoomi came in the form of the cleansing and welcome dance performed by the Jannawi Dance Clan, in what has become an endearing inclusion in many Indian events at Parramatta.

The new Lord Mayor City of Parramatta Councillor Bob Dwyer, spoke about the relevance of Gandhi’s philosophies. “In times of complex global challenges, Gandhi’s philosophy of non-violence remains an inspiration,” he said.

He acknowledged the Gandhi statue as a gift from the Government of India as a symbol of enduring friendship between Australia and India. Mentioning that there are 27000 residents of Indian ancestry in Parramatta, he

joked that in the future, we would see more Indians playing for Australian cricket so we can beat Indian team more regularly.

He was joined on stage by Consul General of India Manish Gupta, Leader of Opposition and Member for Strathfield Jodi McKay MP, Parramatta Councillor Sameer Pandey who was instrumental in getting this event off the ground, and others.

The Consul General in his address expressed his gratitude to the dignitaries and talked about reflecting on Gandhi’s beliefs, thoughts and philosophies. “The freedom of India was about social and economic emancipation of the masses,” he said. “Gandhi’s karamsthal may have been India, but he belonged to all of humanity. His message of sustainable development resonates in the context of the larger world.”

Quoting Gandhi in his closing sentence, he reminded us of a simple way in which we can continue with Gandhi’s legacy: Be the change you want to see in the world.

Gandhi’s legacy was also highlighted in a brief history lesson presented by the youngest members of our community. The kids of IABBV Hindi School reenacted the Dandi Salt March shouting slogans of Vande Mataram. Students of Darcy Road Public School presented a medley of patriotic songs and Gandhi’s favourite bhajans.

Jodi McKay, Leader of the Opposition told Indian Link, to remember what Gandhi stood for: peace, humility, non-violence, tolerance. These are worthy messages for us to live by.”

New migrants Ambarish and Urvi mentioned another worthy Gandhi message that they have been living by: during their recent move here they have been reminded often of Gandhiji’s “swavalambi” (selfdependence) ideology.

The event also included a Mahatma Gandhi Exhibition in the Harry Todd Band Hall. The Gandhi Peace Centre Australia had organised an ‘Arts for Peace’ competition inviting members of the multicultural community in various age groups to creatively express andshare their works on harmony and peace. The contest saw 75 participants from Australia and the selected works were displayed for public viewing. The winners were felicitated by Bob Dwyer and Manish Gupta. No Indian celebration can be complete without dance, and this time round, Kanan Shah’s Nartan Institute of Performing Arts, Sumati Nagpal’s Swastik Dance Academy and Nabanita Banerjee’s Kiyara Dance Academy did the honours.

The youth band Rubaru from the University of Sydney, growing in popularity with its recent appearances, was an absolute hit with the crowd.The evening ended on a pleasant note with Dipankar Chaudhary’s melodious rendition of Gandhi’s favourite songs.

We’re hoping this inaugural Gandhi Jayanti event at Jubilee Park becomes an annual affair.

Suruchi Sehgal

Pink saris for bowel cancer screening

The health crusaders at Pink Sari Inc continue their campaign for bowel cancer screening in the South Asian community

BY USHA RAMANUJAM

ARVIND

Through innovative community events and social media campaigns, Pink Sari Inc. has fired the imagination of the South Asian population in NSW. In doing so, it has successfully raised awareness of breast and bowel cancers and improved screening rates, which are at a historic low.

Dismantling the myths surrounding cancer, Pink Sari’s latest community offering - Tiffin and Tea at Thornleighbrought together men and women of all age groups for a candid conversation on gut microbiomes, dysbiosis and bowel cancer.

Having taken the “yuck” factor out of bowel screening with the launch of Your Bowel Matters earlier this year, Pink Sari Inc has taken on an exciting new challenge - to empower South Asian families to be proactive about their health and embed positive lifestyle choices.

A panel of change-makers including entrepreneur and founder of Chai Walli Uppma Virdi and celebrity chef and owner of Abhi’s and Aki’s restaurants Kumar

Mahadevan joined dietician Priya Iyer and gastroenterologist Dr Viraj Kariyawasam as they helped the audience navigate the exciting realm of gut health. Unlocking the mystery of healthy living, the experts recommended simple strategies such as choosing wholegrains, increasing intake of fresh vegetables and fruit, incorporating exercise and avoiding unnecessary antibiotics.

Obesity, diet high in processed foods and low in fibre, drinking and smoking, are all known to increase the risk of bowel cancer. Otherwise known as colorectal cancer, it is the second most deadly cancer in Australia, with people 50-74 being most at risk. While there are

few warning signs, rectal bleeding, change in bowel habits and unexplained tiredness could be symptoms to watch out for. Inflammatory diseases such as Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis are also risk factors.

“Thankfully almost 90% of bowel cancer cases can be treated successfully if detected early. And more importantly, the pain and discomfort of the traumatic journey can be avoided,” explained Dr Kariyawasam, who has a special interest in cancer screening with emphasis on prevention and early detection.

“There is a 98% survival rate for Stage I patients. In contrast, the prognosis for Stage IV sufferers is a bleak 13%,” he added.

Through National Bowel Cancer Screening Program (NBCSP), eligible Australians between 50 and 74 years receive a free kit every two years for a faecal occult test.

“Unlike other cancers which have no pre-screening, the bowel cancer test is simple, easy and can be done in the privacy of your home. When you receive a kit in the mail, please act on it straight away. Don’t put in the drawer or worse in the bin. Please take a moment. It could save your life,” urged Shantha Viswanathan, Pink Sari Inc president, while demonstrating how to use the kit.

“A simple screening test could have saved me a lot of painful procedures,” regretted Bowel Matters ambassador and survivor Karthikeyan Krishnan.

A mystery box, jigsaw competition and Bollywood dance lesson by Darshini made it an immersive experience. The passion and commitment of Bowel Matters team comprising Anoop Johar, Aparna Tijoriwala (MC), Kashmira Sachania, Manju Sri Pathma, Rugmini Venkatraman, Viji Dhayanathan, Shantha Viswanathan and of course Jesusa Helaratne (MHCS) was truly infectious.

BOWEL CANCER SYMPTOMS

Symptoms of bowel cancer include:

l change in bowel habit with diarrhoea, constipation or the feeling of incomplete emptying

l thin bowel movements

l blood in the stools

l abdominal pain, bloating or cramping

l anal or rectal pain

l a lump in the anus or rectum

l weight loss

l fatigue

l unexplained anaemia.

Source: Cancer Council www.cancer.org.au

SCREENING FOR BOWEL CANCER

Screening, using a non-invasive test for blood in the faeces that can be done at home, is recommended for all Australians aged 50 to 74. Known as the faecal occult blood test (FOBT), the test is only for lowrisk people with no symptoms of bowel cancer. The FOBT is not for people with a family history of bowel cancer. In this case, you may need screening colonoscopies.

Currently, the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, using FOBT, is offered free to people turning 50, 54, 58, 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, 72, or 74 years of age. By 2020, all Australians aged 50 to 74 will be offered the test free every two years.

For further information call 1800 118 868 or visit cancerscreening.gov.au.

Source: Cancer Council www.cancer.org.au

For information on National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, call 1800 118 or visit Pink Sari’s Facebook page for event photos & healthy recipes

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Young Indians bag

$50,000pa scholarships

USyd takes in first batch of students under prestigious new $500,000 scholarship program

BY RAJNI ANAND LUTHRA

Nineteen young students from India have started at the University of Sydney this semester as recipients of a prestigious new scholarship program specially designed for Indian students.

These include Madhullikaa Singh from Bombay and Aryan Bhatia from Delhi, who have received $200,000 each for their Bachelors’ degree programs.

The Sydney Scholars India Scholarship scheme, worth $500,000 per annum in total, was announced this year, and includes ten $20,000 per annum grants and fifteen $10,000 grants besides the two major grants of $50,000 per annum.

The first cohort of the scholars program was welcomed to the University in an induction ceremony recently.

“I was overwhelmed at how bright and clever, articulate and visionary these students are,” Vice-Principal of External Relations at the University of Sydney, Tania Rhodes-Taylor told Indian Link. “We are really proud to have them here at the University of Sydney.”

The students, undergraduate as well as postgraduate, went through a rigorous selection process before winning the scholarships.

Not only did they have to demonstrate a strong academic record to meet the university’s entry requirements, they also had to write a paper on their ‘big idea’ that will improve Indian society.

Aryan Bhatia, a Bachelor of Engineering Honours student, wrote his paper on reducing crop wastage, one of the more pressing agriculture problems in India. His ‘big idea’ is to create an app that farmers can use to notify buyers as soon as harvest takes place. 40% of India’s crop is currently wasted as it does not get to the storage facilities in time. Having grown up on a farm, Aryan is passionate about making the agriculture sector more efficient.

For Madhullikaa Singh, the passion lies in changing social attitudes. Her wellestablished Instagram blog Talk the Taboo played a starring role in her submission, showing the teenager’s efforts in sparking conversations about topics such as mental health, LGBTQI rights, sexual assault and menstruation.

“The idea of social media is to connect,” Madhullikaa told Indian Link, “but that’s not possible if you’re putting out carefully chosen pics of yourself. I focus on people in my life who lead far from perfect lives - and may even be vulnerable because of the experiences

they’ve had thanks to toxic masculinity, eating disorder, slut shaming, depression - but are still so inspiring. They’re dealing

with their issues even though they may be challenging, and talking about it is healing. It’s neither victimising nor

romanticising their issues, instead it is empowering. From the audience’s perspective, this process helps create adults who are well-informed, aware and have empathy. In fact, it’s been a process of growth for me as well.”

Madhullikaa, a Bachelor of Arts and Advanced Studies student, is hoping her blog grows to reach an intercultural and international audience here in Australia.

“The University of Sydney has been producing leaders for more than 160 years and we are proud to be continuing that tradition with this new scholarship scheme,” Rhodes-Taylor said. “We are delighted that we have the opportunity to help educate the next generation of leaders from India. This scholarship scheme gives really bright students, who are passionate about giving back to India, the opportunity to develop their global horizons.”

“We were astounded by the quality of responses we got,” she revealed. “Some 200 applications came in, and 144 of these qualified. From these, 19 were finally selected. If we had the sums, we would have taken on more, but we wanted to make the value of the scholarships meaningful and truly transformational.”

Of the 70,000 students currently enrolled at the university, 41% are overseas students, Rhodes-Taylor revealed, adding that there are 140 countries represented at the campus. India makes up the second largest source of students.

Madhullikaa Singh and Aryan Bhatia with USyd’s Tania Rhodes-Taylor

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Gandhi Solar Park, peace garden inaugurated at UN Leaders from around the world joined hands in the spirit of Gandhian universality to inaugurate a solar facility and roof garden at the UN headquarters and a garden with trees from across the US dedicated to the Mahatma on his 150th birth year.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Prime Ministers Narendra Modi, Sheikh Hasina of Bangladesh, Andre Holness of Jamaica, Jacinda Arden of New Zealand and Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore placed their hands on a glass globe to inaugurate them remotely during an event convened by India entitled ‘Leadership Matters: Relevance of Mahatma Gandhi in the Contemporary World.’

Coloured lights throbbed in the globe as the solar array came online, catching the sun's last rays of the day and a video of the park lit up.

The Gandhi Solar Park costing $1 million and having an output of 50 kilowatts of electricity is located on the roof of the Conference Building at the headquarters and is a gift from India to the UN to provide it clean energy.

India also donated the Gandhi Peace Garden made up of 150 trees located at a university campus in Old Westbury as another environmental gift.

Marking the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi, the two gifts symbolise India's commitment to the environment by producing clean power and capturing carbon emissions in the trees.

Accepting the gifts, Guterres said, "I commend those who have decided to pay tribute to Gandhi's legacy by marking this anniversary with a project connected to one of the Sustainable Development Goals - a fitting way to honour this most actionoriented leader."

He thanked India for supporting the elimination of single-use plastic at the UN by providing reusable bags and kits, and for installing solar panels and a green roof on top of the Conference Building.

How WhatsApp was extensively abused during India elections

Despite WhatsApp's efforts to reduce the spread of fake news by limiting the number of forwards to five, the platform was extensively abused to spread unfounded rumours and create misinformation campaigns during recent elections in India and Brazil, a study has revealed.

Facebook-owned WhatsApp particularly failed in blocking the propagation of misinformation campaigns through public groups, said the study conducted by researchers from Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.

In the study, the researchers wanted to find out how effective WhatsApp's efforts were in countering the spread of misinformation circulating on the platform.

They analysed the data around the Election Day, 60 days before and 15 after, in three countries - India, Brazil and Indonesia.

"Our results suggest that the current efforts deployed by WhatsApp can offer significant delays on the information spread, but they are ineffective in blocking the propagation of misinformation campaigns through public groups when the content has a high viral nature," the authors wrote in a paper published on pre-print repository arXiv.org.

The research pointed out that WhatsApp allows the connection among like-minded individuals through chat groups which have a limit of 256 users and can be private or public.

While in the case of private groups, new members must be added by a member who assumes the role of group administrator, for public groups, the access is by invitation links that could be shared to anyone or be available on the Web.

As chat groups on WhatsApp are mostly private, harder to monitor than Facebook or Twitter discussions.

The researchers joined several WhatsApp public groups and analysed messages posted on these platforms.

Their analysis showed that while most of

the images (80 per cent) last no more than two days, there are images in Brazil and in India that continued to appear even after two months of the first appearance.

And even if the 80 per cent images last no more than two days in WhatsApp that can be already enough to infect half of users in public groups, leaving 20 per cent of messages with a time span sufficient to be viral.

"Our results show that a content can spread quite fast through the network structure of public groups in WhatsApp, reaching later the private groups and individual users," the study said.

In the run up to the Lok Sabha elections, held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19, WhatsApp introduced several measures to prevent the spread of misinformation on its platform.

Besides limiting the number of messages one can forward at a time, the instant messaging platform also added a label that highlights when a user receives a message that has been forwarded to them. It also launched campaigns to educate people on the dangers of fake news.

According to WhatsApp, 9 in 10 messages on the platform are sent between two people and the average group has less than 10 people.

The company had said it will continue to look for ways to help address these challenges through its product and partnership with civil society.

Taj under full moon to attract many more visitors

Come the next full moon in October, many more Taj Mahal lovers will be able to view the iconic 17th century monument to eternal love from a spot across the Yamuna river that has been newly developed by the authorities.

The new spot in the city's Mehtab Bagh for viewing the Taj after sunset was formally inaugurated recently.

The Agra Development Authority (ADA), in cooperation with the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), has developed a couple of vantage points across the river

Indian and Finnish Foreign Affairs Ministers S. Jaishankar and Pekka Haavisto respectively, unveil a statue of Gandhiji at Helsinki.

at the rear of the Taj Mahal from where tourists can witness the beauty of the majestic monument under moonlight. The movement of the visitors will be without hassles as these spots are beyond the restricted 500-metre security perimeter around the Taj Mahal.

Infrastructure facilities are being developed under the Pro-Poor Tourism Policy in the area that includes six villages, Humayun's mosque and the GyarahSeedhi monuments. A new bridge built over Yamuna - Ambedkar Setu - has made transport easy and convenient.

ADA Vice Chairperson Shubhra Saxena said: "A special bench, replica of Diana Bench in the Taj Mahal, has been specially provided for people to take photographs."

A committee will soon take a decision on the ticket rates to be charged from visitors.

More such vantage points are expected to be developed along the river to attract tourists.

However, River Connect Campaign member DevashishBhattacharya said, "Before tourists are attracted to these new spots, it would be necessary to clean up the Yamuna and fill it with water."

Pandit Ravi Shankar's memorabilia found in Mumbai scrap shop

Ausaja, a film archivist and poster collector, has hit the goldmine in a local scrap shop of Mahim, Mumbai. He has discovered a tattered suitcase that belonged to Pandit Ravi Shankar and his son Shubho, which contains original musical notes, handwritten letters, rare photographs, old press clippings, autographed brochures, and even a poem written and signed by legendary filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak.

"I am a film archivist and a poster collector and I keep going to places where this antique material or junk material is sold in the hope I might find something on cinema,” Ausaja told IANS.“I am a cinema archivist so when someone called me saying they have some material on Pandit Ravi Shankar, I was not really interested because he has done very few films. Still, I asked if there were any posters. They said there were photographs. I thought I'd get photographs of him composing for Shatranj Ke Khiladi or maybe Gulzar's Meera or so many rare films he did," Ausaja added. He said that when he reached the scrap shop there was no material pertaining to cinema.

"There were perhaps one or two files with names of Bengali and Punjabi films written, and some notations. Then I realised these are actual notations written by him in the file. These are music notations in his handwriting. That was surprising. I thought it was precious and needs to be preserved," Ausaja said.

He added that there were beautiful illustrations and signatures in Bengali as well as in English.

"There are a lot of brochures - some

Photo: AP

pertaining to his concert in Russia, so (these are) in Russian language. So in his own handwriting, (outlining) where it happened and on what date," he said.

Some press clippings were found too.

"He went to Czechoslovakia, China and all those countries so (there are) press clipping in those languages which appeared on him. So there are two three files of the press clipping from 1954-'55," he added.

Ausaja also found some pictures of Pandit Ravi Shankar's wife Annapurna Devi.

"There are a lot of photographs. I found Annapurna Devi's photographs, which is impossible to find now because she became a recluse and never got publicized anywhere," he said.

A poem written on a Viennese hotel's letterhead and signed by legendary filmmaker Ritwik Ghatak was also found in the suitcase.

"Another startling discovery in the whole suitcase was a handwritten poem by Ritwik Ghatak. It has his signature," he said.

Ravi Shankar was 92 when he succumbed to respiratory problems in 2012.

'KashmirOnomics' to speed up economic growth in JK, Ladakh

In a bid to create avenues for economic growth in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh regions, prominent civil society members have come together for the 'KashmirOnomics' initiative, which is a think tank to help chart an economic roadmap for the development of the newly formed Union Territories.

The initiative aims to bring together economists and representatives from the industries, social groups as well as the government to deliberate various elements and strategies for the durable economic growth of the entire region.

The exercise will eventually culminate in the formulation of a set of recommendations which will outline the key focus areas and action points to kickstart the region's economic development. The recommendations will be vetted by groups of experts at various meetings and conferences.

Siddharth Zarabi, an Indian journalist, said, "The Centre and the UT governments are focused on the entire gamut of issues in the region and are committed to ensure clean governance and rapid economic development in the region. This requires multiple initiatives that provide an impetus to sustainable and scalable growth of the region.The talented and hard-working people of the two Union Territories need greater opportunities that can only come through an economic roadmap based on stability, safety and security."

Co-founder Pranshu Sikka said, "It is essential to find a way for the new Union Territories to flourish. We believe that the economy of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh has multiple monetisation avenues, each of which can be harnessed to give much-needed impetus to economic growth.

"Like any other opportunity, this one comes with its own set of challenges and we are confident that they will be addressed by the government with the active participation and involvement of all groups of society."

The think tank is also inviting inputs - in the form of insights, ideas and analysisfrom various stakeholders to contribute to the initiative.

In a first, northeast to introduce seaplanes to boost tourism

In an ambitious initiative to boost tourism, the state-run Airport Authority of India (AAI) will introduce water aerodrome or seaplanes in three locations in Assam for the first time, a top AAI official said.

"After a countrywide study, it was decided to introduce water aerodrome or seaplanes in three locations in Assam. To boost tourism and connectivity, three river fronts were selected in Assam to introduce the water based ferry for the first time in India," AAI Regional Executive Director Sanjeev Jindal told IANS.

He said, "At the end of next year or by early 2021, the water aerodrome or seaplane services would be launched in Brahmaputra river and Umrangso reservoir. The three locations selected for the seaplanes include Guwahati, Umrangso (in Dima Hasao district) and the famous Kaziranga National Park."

"Three jetties would be built in three locations at a cost of Rs 50 crores. Some other small works have to be done before launching the new ferrying mode," he added.

"An area of open water that can be used by seaplanes or amphibious planes for landing and take-off is called a water aerodrome. They could be connected to the terminal building on land where the pilot

can choose to dock like a ship."

"The water aerodrome or seaplanes services were planned to be introduced under the UDAN (UdeDeshKaAamNaagrik) scheme, announced by the government earlier.

"UDAN is under the regional connectivity scheme that aims at regional airport development with the objective of 'let the common citizens of the country fly' by making air travel affordable and widespread, to boost inclusive national economic development."

For the first time in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had used a seaplane in Ahmedabad in December 2017.

Another senior AAI official said that budget airline SpiceJet had conducted seaplane operations in Ahmedabad and Mumbai on a trial basis.

"The Union government had earlier planned to launch water aerodrome or seaplane services in six or seven sites. These are Guwahati river front, Umrangso reservoir and Kaziranga National Park (all in Assam), Nagarjuna Sagar (Andhra Pradesh-Telangana), Sabarmati river front (Gujarat), Shatrunjay Dam, Statue of Unity (SardarSarovar Dam) (both in Gujarat).

Meanwhile, the AAI has undertaken projects worth Rs 3,500 crores for the expansion and upgradation of airports in the northeastern states, where 13 airports are currently operational.

The AAI has allocated Rs 1,250 crore for Guwahati airport, Rs 650 crore for Imphal (Manipur), Rs 500 crore for Agartala (Tripura), Rs 650 crore for a greenfield airport at Hollongi in Arunachal Pradesh, Rs 450 crore for the Lengpui Airport in Mizoram and other airports in the region.

Jindal said that from the tourism point of view, there is a huge scope for developing

air connectivity between the northeastern region and neighbouring countries including China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Myanmar and Bangladesh.

"Under the Regional Connectivity Schemes, air connectivity would be developed among the northeastern states. Helicopter services would also be extended in several areas of the region," he said.

According to the official, there are 10-12 airports in the northeastern states which were in use many years ago. Now, these airports or airstrips can be upgraded to operate smaller aircraft.

"Aviation industry is the fastest growing industry across the world. India has the third largest aviation market in the world," the AAI Regional Executive Director pointed out.

He said that after Guwahati airport, Agartala and Imphal airports are being upgraded to international standards.

Kerala tops Niti Aayog's school education quality index

The government policy think-tank Niti Aayogon 30 Sept launched the school education quality index wherein states, including Kerala, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Assam have been ranked as the best-performing among large states, each achieving an overall performance score above 60 per cent, while Uttar Pradesh figures last in the ranking.

As per the report, Kerala has the highest overall performance score of 76.6 per cent, while Uttar Pradesh came last among the large states, with an overall performance score of 36.4 per cent.

Among 20 large states in the country, 18 have improved their overall performance between 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 in what is referred to in the report as "incremental performance".

Haryana, Assam and Uttar Pradesh showed the most improvement in their performance in 2016-17, in comparison to the base year of 2015-16.

The School Education Quality Index assesses states on the basis of learning outcomes, access, equity, infrastructure and facilities, using survey data, self-reported data from states and third-party verification. Tamil Nadu was the top performer in access and equity outcomes, while Karnataka led in learning outcomes. Haryana had the best infrastructure and facilities.

The index is aimed at evaluating the performance of states and Union Territories (UTs) in the school education sector.

Among the UTs, Chandigarh has the highest overall performance score of 82.9 per cent, while Lakshadweep ranks last, with an overall performance score of 31.9 per cent. Delhi was reported to have performed better on governance processes aiding the outcomes category.

Among the smaller states category, Manipur emerged as the best performer. West Bengal refused to participate in the evaluation process and has not been included in the rankings.

The school education quality index, developed through a collaborative process including key stakeholders the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, the World Bank and sector experts, consists of 30 critical indicators that assess the delivery of quality education. IANS

Ramdayal Shrivastava, an 85 year old freedom fighter pays tribute to Mahatma Gandhi at Bhopal.

Photo: AP

A tender look

Katy Fizgerald’s exhibition of photos from India

BY JYOTI SHANKAR

Indefatigable - a term to describe a person who persists tirelessly. This is the word that comes to mind when I hear of yet another effort on the part of Katy Fitzgerald to raise funds for her work supporting Tender Heart. Based in Bhatola, a village two hours from Delhi, this NGO founded by Renu Bali, runs classes for local children, including a special needs unit for children with disabilities. It also supports women’s empowerment by running courses for local women to learn handicrafts in order to earn a living.

Raising funds through crowdfunding, organising trivia nights, asking her friends and family for donations and selling her photographs, has been an ongoing activity for Sydney-based Katy, since her association with this Indian non-profit. Never disheartened, she starts again soon after each trip, with yet another idea to make a difference to the lives of the kids at Tender Heart. This time round, it was an exhibition of photos she took on various trips to India, that helped her raise funds.

The photo exhibition at Gallery 371 at Marrickville was well received and Katy will soon be heading back to Bhatola. The funds raised will provide art materials to run

workshops for the kids and take them on excursions to art galleries and museums in Delhi, an opportunity seldom available for them.

The photo exhibition drew a lot of people through the three days it was open.

“I feel really grateful for that,” Katy told

look at India

India raises funds for Haryana NGO Tender Heart

than that.”

The colour, spontaneity and vibrancy of the lives of Indian people, from Nainital in the north to Mahabalipuram in the south, have been captured over five trips made to India.

A die-hard Indophile, Katy is ever surprised by what she describes as the “ingenuity in the way they do things” to get so much more out of life.

On past trips, Katy has conducted writing, art and photography workshops and taken children on many excursions to Delhi. With an aim to making sure her time at the school is well spent, Katy plans her trips well in advance with a loose idea in mind. “You can’t really plan for India,” she laughed.

“Things have a way of ultimately falling into place though,” she added sagely, now with a better understanding of how things work in India.

Downplaying all the hard work put around organising her photo exhibition, Katy said, “I feel things just happen around India for me. It is never a chore.” It is this that keeps her going.

Indian Link later.

Describing her works, she explained, “There is so much about India that I love but I wanted to capture the quirky, light-hearted side of India. People often talk to me about all the poverty in India and I don’t want to gloss over that, but India is so much more

The exhibition raised more funds than her expectations and this makes her happy as well as humbled.

“If the kids at Bhatola did not have Tender Heart, they would have very diminished lives,” she said of the difference the school has made for the kids. Learn more about Tender Heart at www.tenderheartngo.org

WHAT’S ON

DANDIYA

Dandiya Night

Sat 5 Oct (5.30pm onwards)

Venue: Beatrice Taylor Hall Hornsby

Details 0423 516 105

Navratri Cultural Group

Sat 5 Oct (6.30pm - 11.00am)

Menai High School, 40 Gerald Rd, Illawong. Details 02 9792 1422

Navratri Garba

Sat 5 Oct (6.30pmm - 11.00pm)

Gujarati Brahman Samaj of NSW Inc presents Navratri Garba featuring community singers and musicians.

Venue: Blacktown Leisure Centre, Cnr Sentry Drive and Stanhope Parkway, Stanhope Gardens.

Details 0432 885 765

FESTIVAL

BANSW’s Durga Puja Festival

4 - 6 Oct (11.00am - 9.00pm) The Bengali Association of NSW presents

Durga Puja Festival at Concord High School, 3 Stanley St Concord. Details 0430 196 211 or 0400 868 868

Uttaran Western Sydney

Sat 5 Oct (9.00am - 10.30pm)

Durga Utsav at Cumberland High School, 183 Pennant Hills Rd, Carlingford. (Entry via Barker St into Dunmore Ave).

Details www.uttaran-westernsydney.org

41 & 48 Gam Kadva Patidar

Samaj Sydney

Sun 6 Oct (4.00pm onwards) Diwali

celebrations at Mountain View Adventist College, Doonside Road, Doonside. Details 0411 349 112

Durga Navami

Mon 7 Oct (10.00am onwards until late) Sydney Kali Temple presents Durga Navami including Sindur

Khela at West Pennant Hills Valley Community Hall, 42 Hill Rd, West Pennant Hills. Details 0411 049 547

Deepavali

Sun 13 Oct (10.00am onwards)

Hindu Council of Australia presents Deepavali mela at Rouse Hill Town Centre. Details 0402 676 548

Deepavali at Martin Place

Wed 16 Oct (12 noon - 2.00pm)

Cultural program, merchandise stalls, food stalls.

Details www.hinducouncil.com.au

Little India Street Fair

Sat 19 Oct (12.30pm - 10.00pm)

CIA celebrates Diwali with a street fair on Wigram St, Harris Park.

Details 0423 894 531

AHIA Diwali

Sat 19 Oct (7.00pm onwards)

Australian Hindi Indians Association

Inc presents its annual Diwali gathering at The Sapphire Room, Croatian Club, 921 Punchbowl Rd, Punchbowl. As AHIA marks its silver jubilee this year, the theme for the evening is: Silver.

Details 0411 967 374

Kids’ Diwali

Sun 27 Oct (10.00am - 4.00pm)

BAPS organises a Kids’ Diwali event including rides, games, cultural shows, food stalls, exhibition. Venue: Grand Pavillion, Rosehill Gardens, James Ruse Drive, Rosehill.

Details 02 9760 2277

Hindu New Year & Annakut

Festival (Festival of Gratitude)

Mon 28 Oct (11.00am - 5.00pm)

BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir, Sydney presents Annakut at Rosehill Gardens, James Ruse Drive, Rosehill.

Details 02 9760 2277

CLASSICAL

Pallavi Arangam

Sat 5 Oct (2.00pm - 6.30pm)

Karpahavalli presents Pallavi Arangam, a tribute to the Pallavi masters of the past. Venue: Dundas Community Centre.

Details www.karpahavalli.org

Kuchupidi Narthanam

Canberra’s Sadhanalaya School of Arts tours NSW, Vic and QLD with its showcase of the South Indian classical dance style Kuchipudi. The production features Kuchipudi exponent Smt Vanaja Dasika, niece of the legendary Padmabhushan Vempati Chinna Satyam.

5 Oct 7:30pm: Albury Entertainment Centre, Albury (NSW)

6 Oct 7:00pm: Federation University Post Office Box Theatre, Ballarat (VIC)

7 Oct 7:00pm: Engine Room, Bendigo (VIC)

8 Oct 7:00pm: Byron Theatre, Byron Bay (NSW)

9 Oct 7:00pm: Walter Reid Cultural

Centre, Rockhampton (QLD)

11 Oct 7:30pm: BankstownArts

Centre, Sydney

12 Oct 4:00pm: Mittagong

Playhouse, Mittagong (NSW)

Details 0425 101 120

Abhijnana Shakunthalam

Sat 12 Oct (6.30pm onwards) To celebrate Diwali this year, charity organisation Vision 2020 has organised a grand ballet based on the great Indian poet Kalidasa’s immortal drama Abhijnana Shakunthalam. Exclusively choreographed by Sydney’s renowned artist Hamsa Venkat and presented by Samskriti School of Dance, it will be a rich cultural experience for all age groups. Venue: Performing Arts Centre, Pacific Hills Christian School, 9-15 Quarry Road, Dural. Fresh food and free parking available. This year Vision 2020 is supporting a unique organisation REHOBOTH (Shelter) Paraniputhur in rural Tamil Nadu, which has been providing shelter and rehabilitation facilities to destitute women with mental health issues.

Details www.Vision2020.org.au

Krishnaarpanam

Sun 20 Oct (5:0pm - 8:00 pm)

Marking its 10th anniversary,

performing arts organisation

Silambam Sydney, presents Bharatanatyam production

Krishnaarpanam, based on the lilas (playful pastimes) of Lord Shri Krishna. Venue: UNSW Sydney, Entry Gate 14, Barker St Kensington. Details www.arunagandhi.com/ silambamsydney

ENTERTAINMENT

Shah Rukh Khan tour: Temptation Reloaded

Mon 7 Oct Allphones Arena, Sydney Olympic Park. Details www.temptationreloaded.com.au

Stand Up Comedy

Fri Oct 11 (8.30pm onwards) Aisi

Taisi Democracy: The Azaadi Tour features Varun Grover, Rahul Ram and Sanjay Rajora.

Venue: Bowman Hall, Main Street, Blacktown. Details 0430 842 841

KK Live in Concert

Fri 11 Oct (7.30pm onwards)

Diamond Showroom, Blacktown Workers, 55 Campbell St, Blacktown.

Details 0406 997 339

Yograj Singh Sat 12 Oct (7.00pm onwards)

Actor and entertainer Yograj Singh at Parravilla Function Centre.

Details 0451 485 661

CLUB / ENTERTAINMENT

Bollywood Jugalbandi

Fri 11 Oct (9:00 pm onwards)

Featuring Anish, Cyrus and Sandeep at Home The Venue, 1-5 Wheat Road, #101, Darling Harbour.

Details 02 9266 0600

Bollywood Bhangra Diwali Night

Fri 11 Oct (9:00pm onwards) The Ivy, 330 George St, Sydney.

Details 02 9240 3000

Diwali Cruise Party

Fri 11 Oct (8:30pm onwards) Star City Casino Wharf, Pirrama Road, Pyrmont. Details 0412 739 020

Diwali Rooftop Party - Bhangra and Bollywood

Sat 19 Oct (9:00pm onwards) Home

The Venue, 1-5 Wheat Road, #101, Darling Harbour.

Details 02 9266 0600

COMMUNITY

Shagna Di Raat

Sun 13 Oct (1.00pm onwards) Pre

Karva Chauth event at Glenwood Community Centre, 77 Glenwood Park Drive, Glenwood. /

Details 0433 961 500

Karwa Chauth Bazaar

Wed 16 Oct (5.00pm - 9.00pm)

Bowman Hall, 35 Campbell St

Blacktown. Details 1300 338 368

Karwa Chauth Mela

Thu 17 Oct (4:30pm - 9:30pm)

Bowman Hall, 35 Campbell St Blacktown. Pooja 4.30pm - 6.30pm.

Details 1300 338 368

Punjabi Mela: Himmat Sandhu & Labh Heera

Fri 18 Oct (6:00pm - 11:00pm)

Bowman Hall, 35 Campbell St Blacktown. Details 0404 724 923

STAGE

Tasty Theatre Bites: In a Nutshell

Fri 27-Sun 29 Sept Lane Cove

Theatre Company presents 10-minute play showcase: In a Nutshell. Venue: The Performance Space @ St Aidan's, 1 Christina St, Longueville. Details (02) 9427 2666

Taj Mahal: A Timeless Love Story

Sat 26 Oct Swastik Productions presents Taj Mahal in dance, Riverside Theatre Parramatta. Details www.tajmahalsydney.com

SPIRITUAL

Chinmaya Mission Sydney’s Family Camp

12-13 Oct Swami Shrikarananda presents an enlightening weekend away for the whole family. Sessions include: The Marvels and Mysteries of the Mahabharata (for adults) Finding the Warrior Within (Kids in Years 7 – 12)

Dream Big Little Warriors (Kids Years K – 6)

Venue: 6 Baden Powell Cres, Winston Hills. Details 0408 445 941

550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev: Divine Steps Festival Sun 10 Nov (10.00am - 4.00pm)

Sikh Youth Australia together with Sikh Sangat and Sikh organisations of Sydney, present the Divine Steps Festival, an event celebrating Guru Nanak Dev Ji's 550th Birth Anniversary and his universal message.

The Divine Steps Festival looks to share and celebrate the essence of Guru Nanak Dev Ji by bringing together Sikhs and other faith groups in a spiritual festival honouring his life and Universal message. The Festival will feature:

• Divine Music Concert of spiritual music and performances from Sikh (Dya Singh World Music group) and other faith traditions.

• Langar (free vegetarian food and drinks)

• A showcase of the history of Guru Nanak Dev Ji and the Sikh faith

• Free health checks (courtesy of Culture Care)

• Jumping castle and entertainment for the whole family

• Fundraising for selected charities – raffles, silent auction

• Sponsored charity udahasi walks Details 0401 055 271 or Facebook/DivineStepsFestival

The rights of Mother Earth

BY SYDNEY SRINIVAS

Seetha suffered considerably due to Rama’s over-adherence to dharma (righteousness), but stoically, she did not give voice to her torment. It was left for her to prove that she was pure. This she did to an astonishing degree by undergoing an Agni Pariksha (trial by fire). Still Rama yielded to pressure and banished her to a forest. There is no doubt though, that Seetha felt that Rama’s actions were unjustified. This formed a highlight of the evening of dance, music and words titled Bhoomi, Woman and Earth, organised as Sydney Sacred Music Festival. Produced and directed by Arjunan Puveendran and Indu Balachandran in late September, the event was staged in the outdoors at the Old Government House in Parramatta Park in Sydney.

Brightly dressed, Kersherka Sivakumaran in the item Dhumavathi, portrayed Seetha’s anguish using all the idioms of Bharathanatya, her movements spanning the entire stage. She knelt and wept, the anger burning in her face, as she gesticulated at an absent Rama: Idu en karma mao, idu un dhar mamo? Is this my karma or your dharma?

Arjunan’s majestic vocal rendering of “Ramanai enna prananathanai” in Reethigoula raga heightened our experience. The violin accompaniment by Bhairavi Raman was especially noteworthy. Dance, music and lyrics all converged in this item as if they were made for each other. It was certainly effective in inducing a concern for Seetha and a blemish for

Rama in the audience.

It is commendable indeed that this soulstirring number was a creation of local Sydney-based artists, in terms of concept, lyrics as well as choreography. It was composed by Arjun while the lyrics were provided by Poorvaja and Nirmaleswara Kurukkal; choreography was by Kersherka herself.

In the number Chinnamasta, dancers Poorvaja Nirmaleswaran and Seran Sribalan depicted the destruction we impose upon our mother earth through our actions. One saw both hope and despair in the ending. This was an item which relied entirely upon dancing alone, with no words accompanying, and was composed by Seran, Poorvaja and Indu. Indu provided a

good backdrop on the veena.

Kali, a Thillana was again a local composition in raga Keeravani. Enacted by Kersherka and Poorvaja, this consisted of picturesque poses and brisk movement.

In Kamala, writer Shankari Chandran read a passage from her writing, drawing upon her life in Sri Lanka before she moved to Australia. She spoke of creating beautiful rangoli patterns outside her house every day, to beautify the earth. Invariably as the day went on, the rangoli was destroyed by ants passing through or people stepping over, but she was back again the next day, doing the same all over again. As she read, the audience got to see live rangoli patterns created in real time, live on stage, by participants Uma Sekhar and Abi Sivaraman.

An interesting cameo, but one that, in my opinion, distracted somewhat from the powerful prose that was being presented.

Traditional Ragam, Tanam Pallavi was chosen in the item Bhairavi along with the words being read out in English to convey how we have interacted with the seashore, forests, plains, mountains and desert, and returned to earth a waste land of lost streams. Though laudable, the connection between the music and the reading was difficult to establish.

As well, the program included pure musical renderings which by themselves were enjoyable. Bhairavi brought out a pleasing Ranjani and Indu, an appealing Begada. Branavan Jeyarasa provided good mridangam support for many of the items.

Essentially, ten pieces depicting Dasha Maha Vidyas, the ten different forms of the ultimate Goddess, were presented during the evening. These included consciousness, creation, protection, anguish, beauty, fear, self-destruction, sound, time and stillness.

As such, the connection to the upcoming Navaratri was unmistakable. The underlying theme of the destruction of Mother Earth was also in sync with the worldwide climate action being undertaken by youth participants the world over at that very time.

It is amazing that the young dancers and musicians, some of them born and raised here, are capable of composing art to bring out something they would like to tell us desperately, this time a concern for Bhoomi. It was a welcome feature when we note that most of our dances are but based on mythological themes.

There’s anger and despair - as well as hope - as yet another call goes out for protecting our earth

Gandhi at my home

Meet a Mumbai memorabilia collector who has enough Gandhi curios to fill an entire museum

Back in 1969, the year of Gandhiji’s birth centenary, scores of countries rose to pay tribute to the Apostle of Non-Violence by way of stamps, coins, currency notes, artefacts, books and commemorative articles.

Kishore Jhunjhunwalla, a Mumbai-based businessman, began collecting these items. What began as a curiosity for Mohandas K. Gandhi, five decades ago, soon became a passion and then a haunting obsession. It has resulted into what is the world’s largest private collection of memorabilia related to India’s best-known citizen.

Today, at the age of 76, Jhunjhunwalla has nearly 1,000 stamps dedicated to Gandhiji from around the world.

The stamps however were just the beginning of a life-long passion.

As he studied the stamps in different shapes, sizes and colours, it ignited a passion for other collectibles from the Mahatma’s life.

Soon Jhunjhunwalla's accumulation not only soared in quantity, but sheer variety and quality - priceless by any measure - literally piling up in his apartment in Walkeshwar Road in the posh south Mumbai.

"Yes, I 'invested' a little to acquire some items, but mostly ordinary folks simply walked in and gifted me many Gandhijirelated items as they had no clue what to do with them," chuckles Jhunjhunwalla.

He adds, "I have everything from A-to-Z concerning or related, directly or indirectly, to Gandhi, many touched or felt by him, from everywhere on the planet. This collection is extensive enough to set up large and independent thematic museums in each continent."

He unhesitatingly displays a few of his "owner's pride, others’ envy" samples: Gandhiji's ashes, barely 100 gm, stored in an urn; a 1946 palm-print of Gandhiji taken in Kolkata with a quote in his own writing on it; original self-corrected copies of his speeches, sermons and writings; over 50 hand-penned letters on now-ageing paper, including the oldest dated in 1904 from South Africa and the last to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1948, barely 12 days before his martyrdom; Gujarat's oldest newspaper dated July 3, 1892 announcing his return from England as a Barrister, and an issue of Time Magazine when it nominated him 'Man Of The Year' (1930).

There is a staggering variety of colourful postal stamps, currency notes, flags, gold, silver, platinum and other metallic coins from virtually every country in the world, gramophone records in Gandhiji's voice and autographed items.

Plus a huge collection of newspapermagazine clippings which could be converted into a book, and rare black-and-white

pictures of Gandhiji with historical figures like Pandit Nehru, SardarVallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad, Rabindranath Tagore, Dr Rajendra Prasad, Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Indira Gandhi, and foreign luminaries like King George VI, Lord Louis Mountbatten, then British PM Clement Attlee, Charlie Chaplin, Albert Einstein, and other national and global celebrities.

"There are trivia matchboxes with his pictures, paintings, portraits, sketches, wedding cards replacing the family deity with Gandhiji's image, New Year or festival greeting cards, door locks, a cigarette case, a torch, ceramic pickle jars, bottles, tablecrockery items, leather items, statuettes, busts, buttons, playing cards, and whatnot... You must understand these items indicate

how deep Gandhiji penetrated into the hearts of the common masses," he points out.

As the obsession possessed him, Jhunjhunwalla undertook extensive tours all over India, South Africa and England, walked the Dandi March route and scoured other places to further fuel his collections and came back hugely rewarded.

And now, Jhunjhunwalla is eagerly looking forward to further enriching his collection with the Gandhi sesquicentenary when the world will flood him with more accolades.

Not one to sit back on the laurels of his overawing collection, Jhunjhunwalla has launched a one-man marathon effort to find out and catalogue each and every place on the planet named after Gandhiji. He has found more than 100 just in Mumbai alone!

"It will be a cumbersome but extremely rewarding effort and I want to complete it as early as possible," he stresses.

For over two decades now, he is a practical recluse from his supportive family and their traditional business of manufacturing rubber products.

However, though the spirit is strong, Jhunjhunwalla's body is now showing signs of reluctance to keep pace with his expanding collectibles and so he wants to ensure it has a

safe future.

"So far, it has come to light only in three private exhibitions, from Oct. 2, it will be displayed in a big way at the National Gallery Of Modern Art, and later at the Nehru Science Centre here. I am willing to take it to any country in the world which is ready to host an exhibition," he said.

Among the options he is toying with are: develop a permanent museum if he can get a grant of around 25,000 sq. feet constructed area, which is practically impossible in urban centres like Mumbai.

Other plans include to "segregate the collection country-wise" and hand it over to the respective governments worldwide, or consider if some world-class museum is willing to take it over.

"Over the decades, I have realised that Indians have little or no value for their rich past and such magnificent collections, and it has remained my one-man effort so far," Jhunjhunwalla rued.

Apart from Gandhiji, he has a big, exclusive collection of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, but he says "We shall speak about that at an appropriate time..!"

Quaid Najmi

"There are matchboxes with his pictures, wedding cards replacing the family deity with Gandhiji's image, New Year and festival greeting cards, door locks, a cigarette case, a torch, buttons, playing cards...

You must understand these items indicate how deepGandhiji penetrated into the hearts of the common masses" Kishore Jhunjhunwalla

A 1946 palm-print of Gandhi taken in Kolkata.

An urn containing 100 gms of Gandhi's ashes.

Keeping the chulha burning

BY Tarini Puri

"Those who haven’t tasted food cooked on a chulha, cannot imagine its flavour and health benefits,” says Dr Madhvi Mohindra who is known as the ‘desi girl’ in her social circle, and not for nothing.

After all, Mohindra is keeping alive the Indian traditional style of cooking food on a chulha in the backyard of her Parklea home and regularly dishes out delicacies like dum biryani, sarson ka saag, kali dal and kadhi, a part from a variety of non-vegetarian preparations. Her chulha cooked aloo-baingan, aloo tamatar, baingan bharta and tea are also much sought after. In today’s era of slow cookers and air friers, the Sydney socialite still derives the most satisfaction of cooking on the chulha, a small earthen or brick stove that she

has developed from scratch, with the help of her foodie husband Vikram. They use it extensively when entertaining guests, especially on cold wintery weekends. Invariably, people can’t stop raving about the unmatched flavour.

Madhvi fires up the chulha with wood and charcoal, but the media professionalcum counsellor really wishes she could use ‘uplas’ - cakes of cow-dung that have been the traditional Indian fuel and continue to be used even now in rural areas.

Also, she sticks to desi ghee and mustard oil while cooking, in order to keep the flavours authentic, as well as the food healthy.

Divulging her reasons for still seeking out the chulha over modern styles of cooking, Mohindra says the idea was ingrained into her in her childhood - having lived in parts of Punjab and Haryana courtesy her father’s transferrable job.

“I remember the cook used to prepare food in a clay pot on the chulha, and on days that it rained, and the gas stove had to be used, we didn’t enjoy the meals at all,” she recalls.

So, after marriage, when they moved into their own home in Gurugram, the couple decided to put a chulha on the roof. “Nobody believed I would be able

to make it work, but I started dishing out lip-smacking non-vegetarian dinners on summer nights. We hosted a lot of gettogethers,” she shares.

The couple moved to the Fiji Islands in 2001 and then to Adelaide in Australia in 2009. “I developed a passion for cooking in all these years, picking up different styles and techniques of cooking. Even in Adelaide, I used bricks for a make-shift chulha, and would sometimes fire it up in the evenings,” she says.

The chulha she uses now has been perfected over several weeks, and after plenty of hits and misses.

Since she needed a raised structure, she first experimented with a pulley on which she put a marble slab over bricks and riverside mud soaked in water. It worked, but failed soon as cracks developed in the mud. She did a bit of research, visited a few barbeque and tandoor retailers for ideas and tried again with hard mud this time, even going to the countryside to bring home some cow-dung for binding.

She finally managed to put a chulha together that works a bit more lastingly. It was constructed with ash from restaurants for insulation, a layer of wet mud, and plenty of grass and backyard mud for the actual chulha resting on bricks.

Despite all the effort, it only works for a couple of times and then needs to be rebuilt. “It’s not cost-effective at all, and the cooking time is very long. The other problem is of the smoke that it causes – it gets into everything – from the rooms to the eyes to even the clothes. So usually it’s just me doing most of the cooking and the repeated stirring, that too a day before the party to avoid causing any inconvenience to the guests,” she admits.

Well, Madhvi is not letting the fire die out, so to speak. She dreams of starting a nukkad snack centre in her backyard after retirement, selling wood-fired samosas with kulhads of tea. But that’s for another day!

Foodie couple are trying to keep alive desi-style of cooking, in their backyard

Riva is a beautifully reinvigorated building with extensive renovations completed on all apartments. Rising 12 levels, Riva offers the largest apartments in the area, being approximately 20% larger than those in neighbouring buildings and features a vast range of layouts including studios, dual key and split level apartments with dual aspects and multiple balconies.

Set in a premium riverfront location with direct access to the Parramatta Ferry Terminal, and just 600m from the train station and future light rail stop.

Built by Australia’s largest apartment developer, Meriton gives you peace of mind that your home will be a long-lasting investment.

New Australians: Kashif Harrison, Manan Sehgal (both left) Kirti and Krunal Patel with family (top right)

Getting into the T20 spirit: The Tater family take in the Aus V SL game at North Sydney

Talking women’s cricket with Cricket Australia and MultiConnexions

cineTALK

lurking in the corners of every locker room scene, though his role in the field is not clearly shown.

WORKS IN FITS AND STARTS

THE ZOYA FACTOR

STARRING: Sonam K. Ahuja, Dulquer Salmaan

DIRECTOR: Abhishek Sharma

H H

A rom-com centred on cricket would seem like a winning pitch. Sonam K. Ahuja's latest is less ambitious about pushing an unconventional theme than her last, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Lagaa, which makes this film more boxoffice friendly and far more obvious in what it sets out to narrate.

The Zoya Factor largely retains the core of Anuja Chauhan's chick lit bestseller of the same name, and also the book's overall feel-good, fairytale vibes. The fairly predictable chain of events that sets up the screenplay (by Neha Rakesh Sharma and Pradhuman Singh) is garnished with a non-stop flow of situational laughs. Some of these work; many don't.

Cricket fanaticism and blind

superstition are cocktailed in a bid to create a funny film meant to make us laugh at ourselves as a nation. The Men in Blue at a World Cup forms the backbone of the narrative but, credibly, despite that fact the film avoids the trap of jingoism.

Sonam is Zoya Solanki, born on the day India won their first cricket World Cup in 1983. She hates cricket but, being a junior copywriter at an ad-agency, finds herself handling a commercial that features players of the Indian team. Sparks fly between Zoya and the team captain Nikhil Khoda (Dulquer Salmaan), even as the story takes a freak turn.

A chain of events convinces some of the players, as well as the cricketing board, that Zoya is a lucky mascot for Team India, that her presence at the squad's breakfast table on matchday could ensure victory. While the rationalist Nikhil refuses to believe such claptrap, the news spreads. Soon, Zoya is India's

new cricketing messiah.

The drama that ensues is used to carry forward the story. It banks mostly on jest, and, at a predictable point of the second half, is used to set up familiar strains of misunderstanding between hero and heroine for essential melodrama. The film hinges on a quirky premise, but its narrative is too lazy to let the comic quotient resonate.

Rather, you could find random humour in the way the players have been imagined. Many of them - at least in terms of physical appearance - could seem like spin-offs of real cricketing stars. The clean-pate, strapping opening batsman with a pronounced twirl on the moustache fits the Shikhar Dhawan prototype. There is a fast bowler with long hair, too - he could be Ishant Sharma, take away a foot and half, maybe, by way of height.

Captain Nikhil Khoda is a batsmanwicketkeeper (Dhoni, anyone?) There is the mandatory Sikh player you spot

Director Abhishek Sharma takes care while setting up the cricketing milieu. The stadium action scenes are well edited (Utsav Bhagat). So what if good cricketing action, going by this film, is only about hitting sixes, the overall impact on the screen should seem engaging to the larger audience. Abhishek Sharma is no stranger to comedies. Although his last release was the nuclear-test drama Parmanu, he has directed comedies such as the Tere Bin Laden series and The Shaukeens in the past. In The Zoya Factor, the comic idiom is far less boisterous than those efforts naturally, owing to the film's more sophisticated theme.

In any comedy, the fun factor primarily banks on its lead player. In turn, being funny on screen is all about timing. The not-so-funny, awful truth about this film is Sonam does not always get it right. She tends to overact in many comic scenes - especially the ones that demand her to project Zoya as a ditzy, out-of-depth PYT. This affects the overall humour quotient, because almost everything that happens in this film is about Zoya. She is there in almost every frame.

Which brings us to the real winner of the show. Say hello to Dulquer Salmaan, Bollywood's latest exciting import from the South. Malayalam icon Mammootty's son cuts a dapper picture, as the captain of the Men in Blue as well as a loverboy. Here is a star son who seems to have imbibed the right genes. Dulquer Salmaan is quite likely to carry forward his illustrious dad's legacy with aplomb. Vinayak

Chakravorty

comrades in arms, played by Vineet Kumar Singh and Shobhita Dhulipala) run around with guns far more sophisticated than the series.

The problem here is one of narrative cramps. The writing suffers from a sense of self-importance that the direction fails to justify. Not one incident in the plot is unpredictable.

The script scoops up the HashmiDhulipala-Vineet Kumar trio and sets up a road to perdition that

BARD TO WORSE

involves Pakistani terrorists with peculiar accents that need more urgent decoding than those cryptic messages from across the border that are supposed makeor break Indian intelligence.

BARD OF BLOOD (NETFLIX)

STARRING: Emraan Hashmi, Shobhita

Dhulipala, Vineet Kumar Singh

DIRECTOR: Ribhu Sengupta

HH

Terrorism is a terrible tragedy. Reducing terrorism to a formula-forthrills situation is a worse tragedy. Lately we have seen many laments on

global terrorism in the movies and on the OTT platform. Some like the recent The Family Man blended the personal and global crises in a palatable fusion. Bard Of Blood is, how do I put this politely, a mess. A self-important posturing piece on holier-than-thou patriotism filled with anxious jingoism that reminded me of the bogus selfrighteousness of the Sean Penn fiasco epic film The Last Face where good-

looking actors ran around in starched fatigues trying to save Africa.

Bard Of Blood is even more ambitious than Penn's film. It wants to save the world when it can't save even its own edified ambitions from sinking into a sanctimonious abyss. The actors are partly to blame. While Hashmi tries to remain calm and grapples manfully with militancy and Shakespeare, his other two

HEARTBREAKING FOR ALL THE WRONG REASONS

PAL PAL DIL KE PAAS

STARRING: Karan Deol, Sahher

Bambba

DIRECTOR: Sunny Deol

HHH

There is much that's beautiful in Sunny Deol's debut film for his son, the handsome and earnest Karan Deol. Scenic Manali, for one. The cinematographers Himman Dhameja and Ragul Dharuman love the landscape. The camera captures the natural unspoilt beauty of Manali and Himachal Pradesh as the relationship between Karan (Deol) a local adventure-sports guide and a visiting tourist Saher (Sahher Bammba) develops.

Their relationships grows. The narrative doesn't. The first half, though marked by some excellent shots of the couple climbing down valleys, wading through crystal waters and going up rocky mountains, is struck by a chronic case of inertia.

Nothing happens. Except that we see the young couple bicker and flirt. Oh yes, somewhere in the midst of this meet-cute boredom Saher bursts into the classic Kishore Kumar song Pal pal dil ke paas. It is the only reference

to the film's title. Come to think of it, the film could have been titled Pal Pal Hill Ke Paas, because that's where the plot remains, unmoved, unmoving, till midpoint when in a cloudburst of characters, the screen is flooded with screaming shouting grandmas, aunts, nephews, nieces, not to forget a hammy rich spoilt suitor (Akaash Ahuja) who can't take rejection. Makes you grateful that the hero is an orphan. Karan Deol is quite sincere in playing the orphaned mountaineer. His love for rugged sports is well utilised by director Sunny Deol in the first half. The second half sees young Karan partying and fighting.

And in a rage-filled climax he bashes up not only the villain but his entire family. No dhai kilo ka haath, this. But he plans to get there.

Karan's co-star Sahher is spunky and bright, the way Amrita Singh was in Sunny Deol's debut film Betaab. In fact Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas quite often recollects Betaab. But what worked 36 years ago - warring families, jealous suitors, etc- is just not the right launch stuff for a promising newcomer today.

Sunny Deol's writers (Jaspinder Singh Bath and Ravi Shankaran) try to update the mothballed material with

references to WhatsApp messages and viral videos. But the effort seems halfhearted and the film remains trapped in a time warp, singing a song that lovers stopped humming ages ago.

To their credit the young newcomers seem to believe in the material offered to them in the name of love. They try to make a credible couple. Some of the supporting cast specially Sachin Khedekar as Saher's beleaguered

Ms Dhulipala plays the expert in decoding messages. I wonder if she would be able to decipher why we needed one more long-drawn series wagging its itching fingers at global terrorists who are not going to watch the series anyway. Isn't there something intrinsically perverted in trying to convert the converted?

To its credit Bard Of Blood stages some of its action sequences skilfully in rugged toasted-brown environment. Balochistan looks ripe for revenge. Is that a good thing or Bard?

Subhash K Jha

father and Meghna Malik as a scheming politician, are excellent. But where-oh-where is the heart in this heartbreakingly bare plot? There is so much that Sunny Deol could have done to ensure a smooth debut for his son. Instead, he ensnares the film in cliches, and finally leaves us with an over-long film that is gasping for breath after having run itself frantically into a corner.

The BUZZ ENTERTAINMENT

U P-TO-DATE NEWS ON WHAT’S HOT AND HAPPENING IN BOLLYWOOD

WAITING IN THE WINGS

Varun Dhawan and Tiger Shroff are two budding stars, one of a kind. Together, they could be the last of the industry kids whose primary ambition is superstardom.

What sets apart these two spirited youngsters from a host of others of their generation is that, looking at their overall filmography, you realise that both are agreed upon the fact that in commercial cinema, it is the hysteria that ultimately counts. When it comes to audience expectation, both these young actors raise expectation of the good old paisa vasool entertainer. What's more, although both actors have delivered a fair amount of boxoffice hits, they are still to be serious contenders to the throne yet.

At a time when many say the days of superstars are over - that the numbers game is all but goneVarun and Tiger seek to defy that contention with a good dose of old-school glamour.

Varun Dhawan: Salman + Govinda + Gen-Now Spunk

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that he is the son of the phenomenal David Dhawan, but Varun Dhawan's on-screen image in his mainstream entertainers has always constantly reminded of a mix of Salman Khan's happy-go-lucky charmer and Govinda's funnyman prankster. Varun has consciously lent that mix his own originality, with ample new-generation spunk. Yet, Varun has managed to impress with a couple of performances of depth too, such as Badlapur and October. These roles are perhaps an announcement to rivals, fans and critics alike: in an era when content is fast dominating every other aspect of mainstream Bollywood cinema, Varun Dhawan is ready for the complex scripts too. For everything else, being the old-school entertainer of Judwaa 2 works just fine for him for now. He needn't experiment with misplaced ambitions as Kalank, and he will be on cruise mode.

RANI RETURNS WITH 'MARDAANI 2'

Tiger Shroff: Fight, Dance & Be Macho

He is a dream as long as he dances or fights. The trouble starts the moment he utters his lines and tries to emote. Tiger Shroff's career is over five years old now. He has become a better dancer and a more invincible fighter. The trouble is there seems not much movement in the emoting aspect.

Look at the bright side. Despite revealing limited histrionic talent, Tiger's fan base has only grown with every new release. Clearly, the young audience likes him - which should be enough for now. Many industry watchers see a lot of Akshay Kumar's early years in Tiger, owing to his dancing and stunt skills. In his early years, Akshay, too, was often written off because of his dialogue delivery and awkwardness before the camera. Today, Akshay has scaled the heights, as a superstar survivor who is counted among the industry's most restrained actors. There's a lesson over there for Tiger, if he must emerge beyond being a traditional commercial star and survive a rapidly changing Bollywood.

Vinayak Chakravorty

Actress Rani Mukerji is getting those fists ready for the second instalment of the Mardaani franchise, in which she plays a kick-ass police officer fighting the baddies.

Rani is set to reprise the role of the fearless and committed Superintendent of Police, Shivani Shivaji Roy in Mardaani 2.

Director Gopi Puthran said, "Rani as Shivani will be seen in a massive showdown with a 21-year-old villain who is an embodiment of pure evil. He is a dangerous criminal who targets women." The film marks the directorial debut of Puthran, who was the writer of the first Mardaani film.

Rani noted that it was an auspicious time to launch the film, given the Navratri festival is on. “As we all know,

VIKRAM SETH FOR BBC ONE

Acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair has commenced work for the screen adaptation of the Vikram Seth classic A Suitable Boy in Lucknow. The film features Tabu, Ishaan Khatter and newcomer Tanya Maniktala. Tanya will play the central role of Lata, in the project adapted by Andrew Davies.

The creative forces behind the showNair, Seth, and Davies - got together in Mumbai recently to start rehearsals and read through scripts alongside the cast.

"The talent in the room sizzledVikram Seth, author of the masterpiece that I have loved since the day it was written; Andrew Davies, the great craftsman of distillation of epic stories into screenplays; cutting-edge actors,

first-timers and legends from across the subcontinent, all coming together to make a human, funny, political, sexy chronicle of India," Nair said.

A Suitable Boy tells the story of spirited university student Lata in 1951 at the same time as the country is carving out its own identity as an independent nation and is about to go to the polls for its first democratic general election.

It is a tale charting the fortunes of four large families and exploring India and its rich and varied culture at a crucial point in its history.

The six-part BBC One drama will be shot on locations across India. Produced by Lookout Point, it is slated to launch next year.

Navratri stands for the victory and battle of good over evil across India. Maa Durga took on the forces of evil and defeated it, and Mardaani 2 will see a woman stand up against evil, against crimes committed against women and take a bold and brave stand."

She added, “I’m thrilled that the "first key communication of Mardaani 2 is happening during Durga Puja that celebrates woman power in its truest and bravest form."

Mardaani 2 was shot extensively in Jaipur and Kota in Rajasthan.

WHEN TIGER PERFORMED PARKOUR ON TOP OF 100 HOUSES

Bollywood's action hero Tiger Shroff jumped on top of about 100 houses in for an action sequence that was shot

VARUN DHAWAN

TIGER SHROFF

in Italy for the soon-to-be-released film War.

Director Siddharth Anand said recently, "There is no one better than Tiger in parkour in India and we wanted to exploit his outstanding skill and showcase it spectacularly in our film. The action sequences in War have been designed to give audiences an adrenaline rush."

Parkour is a training discipline using movement that developed from military obstacle course training. It includes running, freerunning, climbing, swinging, vaulting, jumping, plyometrics, rolling, quadrupedal movement and other movements as deemed most suitable for the situation.

Tiger performed parkour over 100 houses shot in Matera in southern Italy for the film, which also stars Hrithik Roshan.

"Matera, uniquely, has houses that have been built next to each other. These houses are separated by small bylanes. The proximity of these houses makes it an incredible spot to perform parkour and Tiger was thrilled with our location choice. He flew in 4 days before the shoot and practiced three days straight jumping from one rooftop

WHO WORE IT BETTER?

KANGANA RANAUT OR KATY PERRY

IN ABODI?

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to another and got used to the terrain of Matera," the director revealed.

HAPPY 90TH, LATA MANGESHKAR

Singer Meena Mangeshkar Khadikar, sister of melody queen Lata Mangeshkar, released her Hindi book, Didi Aur Main, on the first day of Navaratri, a day after the legendary singer turned 90. The narrative traces the memories and love between the two sisters, and one finds rare moments and anecdotes weaved into the storyline. Amitabh Bachchan has written the foreword for the book.

FIVE HITS, ONE MONTH: B'WOOD EARNS RECORD BREAKING RS 700 CR

Mission Mangal, Batla House, Saaho, Chhichhore and Dream Girl have helped Bollywood to mint Rs700 crore just within a month.

Since Independence Day on August 15, there have been five films released over four Fridays that turned out to be successes.

Akshay Kumar-starrer Mission Mangal, which saw women power in the form of Vidya Balan, Taapsee

Pannu, Nithya Menen and Kirti Kulhari, and John Abraham's Batla House released on the Independence Day. Saaho, which brought back the Bahubali star Prabhas on the big screen, hit the theatres in the end of August.

Chhichhore was to clash with Saaho at the box office on August 30, but it was averted. Starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Shraddha Kapoor, it opened well at the multiplexes, managing a domestic business of Rs 7.32 crore on its opening day on September 6.

The Ayushmann Khurrana-starrer Dream Girl arrived a week later and soon entered the Rs 100 crore club. Collection-wise Jagan Shakti's Mission Mangal went past the Rs 200 crore mark, Nikkhil Advani's Batla House stopped just a few lakh short of the Rs 100 crore mark. Saaho may have flopped down south but in the Hindi version, it has accumulated around Rs 50 crore. Nitesh Tiwari's Chhichhore is aiming for the Rs 150 crore club, reports moneycontrol.com.

However, The Zoya Factor, Pal Pal Dil Ke Paas and Prassthanam failed to impress the audience when they released on September 20, not even managing a combined lifetime collection of Rs 20 crore between them.

ON TWITTER THIS WEEK

Match the stars to their tweets: Sonakshi Sinha, Akshay Kumar, Rishi Kapoor

Back home... after 11 months 11 days. Thank you all.

Dear jaage hue trolls. I don't even remember the Pythagoras theorem, Merchant of Venice, Periodic Table, Chronology of the Mughal Dynasty, aur kya kya yaad nahi woh bhi yaad nahi. Agar aapke paas koi kaam nahi aur itna time hai toh please yeh sab pebhi memes banaona. I love memes

Kaun hogi kis ki patni, aur kiski bhabhi hogi kis ki Biwi! Ek entertaining kahaanilaaraha#Housefull4

For more caption entries, see YOUR SAY Page 09

RANI MUKERJI

SONAKSHI SINHA

MATRIMONIALS

SEEKING GROOMS

Beautiful, highly educated girl with very good family background, soft spoken, career-oriented 33-year-old vegetarian Brahmin, working, well settled in Sydney, seeking an educated match, teetotaller with good family background. Prefer Australian citizen or PR. Please contact rajsyd83@gmail.com

Seeking a suitable match for our 25-yearold daughter, working as a junior doctor in NSW. Boys from a similar academic background or qualified professionals based in Australia are preferable. Please contact ajaygupta101@hotmail.com or +919329666301

Seeking professionally qualified settled match for Sydney based, never married Aus citizen, Hindu Punjabi Khatri, 46, 5'3" slim, fair,attractive girl. Girl is postgraduate and is working on a good position in government organisation. Please send details with photo to Indsyd2016@gmail.com.

Seeking groom for my niece, beautiful, 30, 5’ 5”, fair, pleasing personality, Management Consultant in Ernst and Young, Singapore, caste no bar. Only child in family, both parents are doctors. Seeking responses from ‘never married’ only. Please contact lalitm67@gmail.com, phone: 0411 058 064

SEEKING BRIDES

Seeking professionally qualified settled match for Sydney based, never married

Aus citizen, Hindu Punjabi Khatri, 45, 6', and athletic built man. He is project manager with engineering background and is working in a private organisation. Please send details with photo to Indsyd2016@gmail.com.

Seeking match for educated man, well settled with own home in Sydney, working with NSW state government, divorced, 5’9", 39 years, Australian citizen. I am looking for suitable match from Sydney who wants to settle-down with easy life (can enjoy work-life balance). Interest invited from Student Visa Holder/PR/ Citizen/Divorcee/Single.

Contact: 0490 970 281 or SMS/ WhatsApp basic details or send biodata to patelbrij1980@gmail.com

Seeking match for educated, divorced, 5’9', 1975 born Sikh man, self-employed, on bridging visa with full work rights. Looking for PR/citizen match from Australia. Phone: 0422 812 939 or email: jas_ghai01@hotmail.com

Seeking match for 34, 6' Tamil Hindu man, IT professional, working for a top organisation in Sydney. Possess PR Visa. Girl should be Hindu preferably citizen/PR. Please send profile to aravind7778@gmail.com

Match for Aggarwal man, 34 6’1", never married, has a financially adopted child, Ph.d in Nephrology working as Medical Scientist in LA, USA. Father retired GM from Reliance Industries India.Sister well settled in Sydney with her family. Can relocate to Australia if needed. Caste no bar. Ph:+61423104499

October 2019

BY MINAL KHONA

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

ARIES

March 21 - April 19

A good month for those born in late March or the first half of April as promotions, advancement and financial gains are indicated. You might meet someone special at work or a social occasion. A new job offer or help with money comes your way. Hold out for what you really want in a relationship. Fill the void by concentrating on work. Avoid too much drinking this month. All business dealings will be successful this month. Promote yourself and your business.

TAURUS

April 20 - May 20

A half-hearted relationship is not what you want, so you will end it especially if it is an extramarital affair. A business venture might fail but you could meet someone special. Good news about your financial situation is expected along with backing for an idea at work. Your teeth might need attention and a health condition will not be serious. A new line of work is predicted. An opportunity that leads to a very successful future comes your way.

VIRGO Aug 23 - Sep 22

A busy month for Leos but make sure you don’t take on more than you can handle. Keep doing your best and wait for things to pan out. Travel for business or social reasons is successful and you will have a good time. Work brings money too whether at a job or self-employed. You might feel run down. Change physicians if you are not sure of the diagnosis. Good luck comes through your connections and your past efforts at work.

SAGITTARIUS

Nov 22 - Dec 21

TAROT

GEMINI

May 21 - June 20

A good month for Geminis as this card indicates the start of all things good –new ideas, a new romance and even creative endeavours. You will soon acquire something you longed for. A profitable trip is foretold. Work is on a good track with recognition and opportunities coming your way. Someone in the family could get engaged or married. Health – physical, mental and spiritual – is excellent. If you have new ideas, act on them as they will be successful.

LIBRA

Sep 23 - Oct 22

You can expect partial success but more is foretold. A reunion is in the offing. A short trip for work is on the anvil but a plan for a longer trip will get cancelled. Business may be slow right now but it will pick up. Those who have been ill will recover but women should have their reproductive organ tests up to date. Luck is on your side in all financial negotiations. Help will be available should you seek it.

CAPRICORN

Dec 22 - Jan 19

Matters you thought were past, resurface to test your problem solving skills. Simply by redirecting your energies you turn a negative situation into a positive one. Travel plans get postponed as you take a break and rest at home. Desire for change at work is intense enough for you to manifest it. Loss of income is predicted. Success comes from your ability to main control over chaos. Don’t be afraid to face your fears, divine help is yours for the asking.

AQUARIUS

Jan 20 - Feb 18

You are in a stage where you are laying the foundation for the future and things are in progress. If single you attract a new romance; if already in a relationship, it will get better. Your boredom at work ends as you are compensated for previous efforts or new orders come your way. Don’t let any oncoming changes throw you off balance. Ill health could besiege you by way of loss of appetite or being out in the sun too long.

A person with a Piscean temperament might influence you. There is a feeling of dread in a situation that is important to you right now. Beware of deception in all areas. Conflicts at work are predicted which require emotional control. A clandestine love affair too could be on the anvil but be careful, you could be in for a major disappointment. Lots of unforeseen changes and unexpected occurrences lead you to a state of acceptance. Change makes you stronger and happier.

An old flame could re-enter your life but nothing comes of it. You seek completion of certain projects or phases and moving to the next. Lonely spells will end as you transition into a new lifestyle. Travel for work is predicted. Paperwork connected with the home or insurance will be successful. At work, results are slow but you get a lot accomplished and rewarded for it. Your love life and finances improve. The future looks good but don’t try to force a resolution in any situation.

CANCER

June 21 - July 20

The focus is on a situation or a pause in progress which causes anxiety and makes you reevaluate your life. Romantic affairs take a turn for the better. You feel dissatisfied with your business affairs or financial state but good news about a financial gain is on the way. Extreme anxiety or nervous exhaustion plagues you and you need to have it looked at. You have what it takes to succeed; help will arrive to get you there.

SCORPIO

Oct 23 - Nov 21

A Taurean could influence your behaviour this month. Unexpected developments in your personal relationships are foretold and you won’t be able to walk away from a painful situation. Travel plans might fall through. Keep cool with people who oppose you. An unpleasant circumstance at work will end and things get resolved. Problems with muscles or teeth need looking into. Money matters remain unresolved despite your best efforts to sort them out. Your current situation is temporary; things will get better.

PISCES

Feb 19 - March 20

Unforeseen problems, conflicts and setbacks make you depressed this month. Be prepared for an internal struggle on a decision you have taken. Others who promise and fail to deliver will cause disappointment. A recurring illness might cause problems and you might have to learn to live with it. Money is enough but you are not fully secure. A negative situation will end and you will be able to handle any crisis by yourself. Avoid clashes with colleagues at work.

Learning the local lingo

When you take those questions from Aussie etiquette a little too literally

BY SUNIL GAUTAM

When you step out of your country, regardless of your background, it’s quite natural to feel a bit lonely. Yes, there are fellow-Indians all around you. Dabur Amla hair oil is available. Mukesh and Rafi nights are held regularly. But it’s hard to belong to a place unless the locals show a sign of acceptance. Now, this piece is not about the deeper issues of migration so please keep xenophobia out of the picture. Instead, let us look at some expressions in Australia that are used without a care by most people, but have a completely different effect on a FOB desi.

How are you?

The first time I heard this question, my heart melted and my eyes grew moist. It was my second day in Australia and no one so far had bothered to check how I was feeling about leaving my Sheela Mausi behind. When I heard the question, I took a quick five seconds to prepare my answer: “Well ...”, I began.

Well, I had to stop there, because the lady questioner offered me her hand, which I promptly accepted, until she made it clear that it was money she was after - she was actually the check-out girl at Woollies.

Here I was, thinking this kind salesperson wants to know all about me, but she seemed more concerned with how I was going to pay for my nostalgia-curing Patak’s curry paste. Worse, she was already handling someone’s tinnea-removing cream!

Sadder than before, I slunk back home and made a hash of the dinner that night.

Now I know that “How are you” actually means “I have asked you a question but don’t bother answering ‘cos I ain’t listening”. I am very well now.

How are you today?

Now this is a little more focussed but equally inspiring question. My first encounter with this one was a bit of deja vu: how does this person know I was sick yesterday? How

insightful! Is my nose still leaking?

Just as I had finished counting the number of tissues used so that I can give an accurate answer, the questioner was bending to take a closer look at my car as well.

So he is interested in my car too, I thought warmly.

Hang on, I wanted to say, today I may be fine, but wait till you hear about my night last night.

But by then, he had already given me a parking ticket and moved on to enquire about someone else’s health. Another heart-breaker.

Now I know that “How are you today” actually means “I have no interest in your past life and as a matter of fact, not in your current life either”.

So, I will be fine tomorrow as well.

See you around

To the friend-starved me, this random question was just the assurance I needed. So, I landed at the newsagent’s again the next day. His “How are you today” told me that he certainly remembered yesterday. Giving him a warm “It’s good to be back again, my old friend” smile, I settled down in a corner just like back home to chat the day away. But today he seemed quite different, showing no signs of familiarity.

“I bought a newspaper yesterday,” I tried to jog his memory.

“So what do you want to buy today?” he

promptly asked. And seeing me walking towards the exit, yelled, “See you around mate”.

If looks could singe, he would be toast. But I wouldn’t do that to someone who was once almost a friend.

Now I know that “See you around” actually means “I won’t mind looking at your face again if you happen to accidentally drop in next year”.

Take care

Another one that made me reach for the tissue box. It was as if this wonderful lady had seen right through to my tormented soul and wanted to soothe me. This was as heartfelt as “Apna khyaal rakhna”. And she said it with so much concern that I wanted to hug her and say “I will, my dear, you be good too.”

As I turned to express my emotions, I found myself looking straight into her bottom because she was picking up another bouquet for the next customer. I used that as a perfect escape and ran out before she could see a grown man cry into his tulips.

Now I know that “Take care” actually means “I don’t want you dead, so stay alive and bring your business back to me again some time”.

Can I help you?

If words could look like a rescue boat in stormy seas, you can’t find a better sentence

than this. My angel was a confident looking man who seemed to have a solution to all my problems. But after pulling me out of a queue at the bank, he started shaking all over and called his supervisor who called his manager and together they decided that I actually belonged back in the queue. After trying to slice them with my key card, I trudged back in line and overheard the same hotshot planning someone else’s ruin with the same words.

Now I know that “May I help you” actually means “I promise you nothing but your time is mine now”.

You okay?

Here is something that gives the kind of hope only a medical expert can provide. But in reality it’s just another spectator who saw you slip and land on your bottom with a thud. Unable to pick you up and unwilling to try, he merely asks, “You okay, mate?” That said, he bravely marches on, content in the knowledge that he showed compassion towards a fellow human being. As I stare at my outstretched hand that found no takers, I also contemplate whistling furiously to catch his attention. But knowing that may not be the right way to express pain, I decide against it.

Now I know when someone asks “You okay?” and you are in too much pain to answer, they’ll assume you’re doing fine and move on.

I am ok, you are ok.

How’re you going?

At first I thought that is a really stupid question. I mean I was obviously walking. Now, I may have a funny walk but no one has the right to watch me walk and still wonder how I am going to the shops.

A friend was less lucky: he faced this question from the customs official at the airport.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “If Manjit comes to pick me up then it’s fine otherwise I’ll take a cab.”

Needless to say the officer suddenly found other passengers more interesting.

Now I know “How’re you going” is not a transport-related question.

In that case, I am going all right.

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