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STOCKS • FINANCE • SOUTH ASIAN MARKETS • TECHNOLOGY

Singh is King of Concert Extravaganzas Across U.S.

By Manasi Gokhale Bavadekar HOUSTON: The year 2010 has been a year of extravagant and dazzling concerts in Houston and across America. And when we think of music shows and concerts, one of the first names that comes to a Houstonian’s mind is Rajender Singh and his Star Promotions. Star Promotions is among the prominent event management companies in North America.

Founded in 1995, the company’s office is located on Southwest Freeway near Hillcroft.

Born and raised in Ganganagar in Rajasthan, Rajender was actively involved in politics and is well-respected amongst the politicians and bureaucrats across India. He is also well connected with top celebrities in India, which gives him the edge to bring well known stars to the US. In India, Rajender had organized several concerts for charity purposes including concerts featuring Gurudas Mann and Milan Singh, among others.

He came to Houston in 1993 and estabRajender Singh of Star Promotions lished Star Promotions within a couple of years.

Overall, Rajender has over 20 years of experience in the field of entertainment and show business.

He has also organized over 60 major local shows and five I n t e r n a - Rajender Singh with Asha Bhosle after her last concert in Houston earlier this year. tional tours human emotions,” said promoted Rajinder. worldwide.

His next scheduled Over the years, he has organized many successful shows with audience ranging from concert is the Inspiration5000 to 15,000+ in capacity, including the Rock Live in Concert feaUnforgettable Tour in 2008 (which featured turing the super-hit music the Bachchan family, Madhuri Dixit, among director trio of Shankar, others), the South Asian Carnival in 2009 Ehsaan and Loy. It prom(which featured superstars like Saif Ali Khan ises to be an exciting and and Shahrukh Khan) and the Rahul & I concert explosive event with some in 2010 (which featured the legendary singer of Bollywood’s best singers accompanying them.

Asha Bhosle and Sudesh Bhosle).

To top it off, he is also the author of the best The concert is scheduled seller in India ‘Vatan Se Door’(Away from the for August 6 at the Berry Motherland). The book is a narration about his Center. The capacity of travels and experiences over the years across the venue is 7,000 and the the globe. In an exclusive interview with concert is expected to be IAN, Rajender said that he believes in doing sold out.

Shankar Mahadevan is a business with grace, honesty and that it is a multi-award winning (inlearning process.

“One always learns something from the cluding a National Film past experiences. I am happy and very satis- Award) music composers fied with what I have achieved because I am and one of the most talliving my passion, but I’ve realized that the ented singers in India. He show business is very stressful and tough for is an accomplished musi-

cian in Bollywood as well as Tamil cinema.

His co-composers Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa have completed training in Western as well as Indian classical music and are accomplished musicians in their own right.

The trio will be accompanied by the renowned singers Mahalakshmi Iyer, Richa Sharma and Shafqat Amaanat Ali Khan. Mahalakshmi Iyer has sung for all the biggest hits including Dhoom 2, Bunty Aur Bubli, Salaam Namaste, Fanaa, Ta Ra Rum Pum, Don and Jhoom Barabar Jhoom. She has also sung the Academy Award winning song “Jai Ho” for A.R. Rahman in the film Slumdog Millionaire.

Richa Sharma is best known today in the film industry for her voice full of energy and spirit.

Richa claims to fame with the song “Mahi Ve” from film Kaante. Shafqat Amanat Ali is a Pakistani classical singer belonging to Patiala Gharana. He was also the lead vocalist of the popular Pakistani pop band “Fuzön”. He shot to prominence with the song “Tere Naina” for the top-grossing Bollywood film “My Name Is Khan”.

The concert will have a good combination

of enthralling music along with top-quality vocalists singing chartbusters. They are coming to perform in 12 cities in the U.S. and the Houston concert is the final destination. The main thing to be noted about the concert is the reasonable ticket prices that start from $30.

The concert is going to be an excellent treat for people who love and appreciate great music. Although Shankar Mahadevan has been a visitor here in Houston previously in 1996, this is his first tour here for a concert. The group for this concert includes 25 musicians and 25 dancers.

As a special promotion, for the VVIP ticket holders, there is an excellent opportunity to meet all the stars one day before the show and take pictures with them.

There are a lot more concerts to come later in the year, but Rajender doesn’t want to reveal the details till everything has been finalized.

But knowing his flair for promotions, you can be sure that the Inspiration Tour will be a rocking concert. With a twinkle in his eyes, Rajender hinted that the concerts to follow will surely be fun-filled extravaganzas through the end of the year.

world markets

Wednesday, june 02, 2010 dow jones

10249.54 • 225.52 • 2.25%

nasdaq

1879.59 • 44.55 • 2.43%

bombay

16,741.84 • 169.81 • 0.10%

colombo asi

4,300.49 • 41.59 • 0.98%

dhaka GI

5056.55 • -10.85 • 0.21%

Karachi 100

9,499.06 • 204.88 • 2.20%

nepal NEPSE

Gold 46.98 $1,223.30 Ind. rupee

480.48 • 0.50 • 0.10%

per oz.

Silver $18.32

per oz.

Platinum

$1554.00 per oz.

85.45

Pak. rupee

69.50

taka

113.62

S.L rupee

Brent $74.31 Spot 2.96% Spot Bid Prices Bloomberg.com

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, june 04 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

75.30

Nepal rupee

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Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

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Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

India Could Be Next Big Destination for Gay Tourists

NEW DELHI: When Bryan Herb steps into stores on his trips to India, he says, shopkeepers almost always ask whether he is looking for a souvenir for the woman in his life. A ring for his girlfriend, perhaps? What about a beautiful pink scarf for his wife?

“Every single time this happens, I toy with the idea of saying, ‘I have a boyfriend, not a girlfriend.”’ said Mr. Herb, co-owner of Chicago-based Zoom Vacations, which caters to gay tourists. “But I don’t.”Homosexuality has long been a hidden facet of Indian life and, until recently, an illegal one.

But change is afoot. A Delhi High Court ruling last year decriminalized same-sex intercourse, and sensitivity toward gay people and bisexuals is growing in major cities like Mumbai and New Delhi. The Hindustan Times, one of the country’s largest Englishlanguage newspapers, recently began a campaign called, “It is time to open our minds,” encouraging Indians to rethink social issues, including equal rights for gay people.

Now, businesses are beginning to recognize a new and possibly lucrative niche market. Stores aimed at a gay clientele are opening, and same-sex parties and clubs that had been required to stay underground are increasingly making their presence felt.

The customer base is potentially huge: surveys by Forbes India in conjunction with Out Now Consulting, a marketing firm, estimate that 4 percent of Indian adults, or about 30 million people, identify themselves as gay, bisexual or transgender.

Vijay Thakur, president of the Indian Association of Tour Operators, said 12 or 13 new businesses had sprung up in the past year to cater to gay vacationers both from India and abroad. “The general feeling in the industry is that this development can only lead to increased profitability,” he said. “India could well be the next big destination for gay tourism.”

Mr. Herb, 37, said that he had clients who refused to vacation in countries with strong anti-gay laws, and that the court ruling sent a message that India was now more welcoming. “More businesses in India that have long wanted to court the gay market see this as a green light to start going after it proactively,” he said.India’s neighbor to the north, Nepal, has started to sell itself as an international gay tourist destination after that country’s Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in December 2007 and directed its government to formulate laws accordingly. This year, India’s only openly gay person of royal lineage, Manvendra Singh Gohil, 44, plans to wed at a Hindu temple in Kathmandu, the Nepalese capital.

While legalizing same-sex nuptials in India may be a long way off, some tour operators say places like Goa and Kerala could easily be marketed as honeymoon spots for gay couples, as the states are already known for their beach party towns.“Gay men have long been bypassing India for countries like Thailand and even Indonesia,” said Sanjay Malhotra, a fashion designer who started his company, IndjaPink, in November 2008. It was

Sanjay Malhotra’s travel agency, IndjaPink, caters to a gay clientele.

the first travel agency in India to focus exclusively on gay men.

Mr. Malhotra said he felt it was a shame that gay Indian couples could not explore and enjoy their own country as openly as they could in other parts of the globe. He decided to form IndjaPink to give gay men a safe way to travel in India without having to hide who they were.

One of the biggest challenges in designing itineraries for gay travelers, Mr. Malhotra said, has been heightening the sensitivity of the hospitality industry. For example, despite being informed that a group of tourists is gay, the front desk staff at some hotels often seems determined to put samesex couples in rooms with separate single beds.A big part of IndjaPink’s business, Mr. Malhotra said, involves speaking to drivers, housekeepers, doormen and bartenders to ensure hassle-free holidays for his clients.

“It’s important that the staff not speak in hushed tones behind a guest’s

back if he’s sharing a private moment with his partner or not stare at the couple in the rearview mirror if they’re holding hands in a taxi,” Mr. Malhotra said.

Sometimes, though, getting the message across can be difficult.

“When I’ve had meetings with drivers and asked them if they’re comfortable being around gay people, I’ve had them turn around and tell me, ‘Yes, yes, sir, we’re all gay here too. Very happy and gay.”’

Outright harassment has never been a major problem for gay foreigners.

As Mr. Herb said, “A lot of people in smaller villages have no idea that we are a gay group.”

But until the decriminalization, Mr. Malhotra said, gay Indians were the targets of corrupt policemen who used the threat of arrest to harass them or extort money.“The gay issue doesn’t come up as long as you maintain your straight face,” he said. “But as soon as you show a bit of your gay side, you get a lot of unwanted attention, especially in smaller towns and off-beat tourist destinations.”Gay travelers, both Indian and foreign, still find it hard to interact with the local gay community or learn more about being gay in India, because many people and events remain underground. But guides like IndjaPink are making it possible for tourists to go to same-sex parties and clubs to which they could not gain access otherwise.

The challenge to the gay sex law was brought by the Naz Foundation, which works to raise awareness of H.I.V. and AIDS. The statute, which

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defined homosexual acts as “carnal intercourse against the order of nature,” called for a 10-year prison sentence for violations.In overturning the 148-year-old colonial law, the Delhi High Court said the measure was an “antithesis of the right to equality.”

The Supreme Court started to review the ruling in April, and observers are divided on whether it will be upheld. If it is, that could open new lines of business aimed at same-sex couples, like home loans and insurance.Azaad Bazaar, a gift shop for gay people in Mumbai, opened last year, carrying items like mugs with rainbow motifs and shirts that say “Ban 377” — a reference to the penal code section on gay sex. Azaad means “free” in Hindi.The two women behind the shop began their business in 2006, but for several years only sold small items at parties, and masks and flags at gay pride marches. New Delhi and several other cities in India have held gay pride parades for several years, though many participants hide their identities by wearing elaborate masks and costumes.

Before the ruling, Mr. Malhotra said, it felt as if there were a sword hanging over his head, and he never knew when it might strike. Few people were interested in knowing more about his business model or his clientele. But now, hotels and travel desks are much more open to hearing about their needs, he said, and he is less worried about being the target of the police or of being maligned in public.

“It has brought a sense of legitimacy,” he said. NYT

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Honda to Launch Superbike in India

MUMBAI: After witnessing a buoyed response for the premium class superbikes it has been selling since the past one year, Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India (HMSI), the Indian subsidiary of Japanese auto giant Honda Motor Corporation, will launch yet another superbike by the end of this year.

The company will launch the 2010 VFR 1200F in India by December, roughly a year after it was launched internationally.

This bike would also be the costliest bike from Honda and could carry a price tag of close to Rs 16.5 lakh, although company officials haven’t confirmed it yet.

The bike will be brought to India as a completely imported unit from Japan, which will effectively double its price due to the high import duty structure of around 110 per cent. The VFR 1200F costs around $15,999 (Rs 7.51 lakh) in the United States, the largest superbike market in the world.

The VFR 1200F is classified as a twin-seater sports bike by the company, which has an engine that is bigger and more powerful than India’s largest selling compact car, Maruti Alto. The bike sports a 1237cc, liquid cooled V-4 engine which generates a maximum power of 172 bhp.

“Looking at the increasing need for superbikes in the country, we will launch the VFR 1200F by the end of this year. It will be too early to speak about the volumes for the bike at the moment,” said a HMSI executive.

HMSI, the country’s fourth largest two-wheeler manufacturer which is more popular in the automatic scooter segment, has been selling the superbikes CBR 1000 RR Fireblade and the CB 1000R in the country since the middle of last year. It has so far sold more than 100 units of the two models, which are priced at 13.36 lakh and 10.21 lakh, respectively, ex-showroom.

Although the introduction of such bikes do not translate into large volumes due to their high price tags (enough for buying four compact cars) the launch is aimed at pushing and enhancing the company’s brand image in the competitive domestic two-wheeler market which is dominated by Hero Honda and Bajaj Auto.

Honda’s other two Japanese counterparts —Suzuki and Yamaha — have also introduced costly motorcycles in the country recently, which are also garnering a robust response.

Both Yamaha, which sells three superbikes, and Suzuki, which sells two superbikes currently, are interested in

having more such products.

The companies are also desperately seeking to make inroads into the market with performance and commuter motorcycles and gearless scooters.

The launch of superbikes have helped both companies in improving the overall brand image while reporting impressive double0digit growth in sales every month.

In addition, iconic companies like Italian bike maker Ducati and US-based Harley Davidson have also witnessed an equally robust demand from the local market.

Other companies are also lining up to make a foray in India such as Austria-based KTM Power Sports AG and Japan-based Kawasaki. Both companies are expected to launch their range by the end of this year or by the first half of next year.

The superbike market here is small in size compared to some of the international markets such as the US, UK, Germany, China and Japan. But spiralling aspiration of the buying class, aided by an equally robust buying power, has led companies to believe that India is one of the fastest growing markets for such lifestyle products.

The market size for superbikes in 2008 in India, when Yamaha launched its products, stood at 180 units per annum. However, it quickly rose to 500 units last year. Experts say that with growing booking numbers, the market could well touch 1,000 units over the next couple of years.

Indian Gold at an All-Time High of Rs 19,050 NEW DELHI: Gold prices zoomed to an all-time high of Rs 19,050 per ten grams in the national capital today on skyrocketing global rates amid the ongoing marriage season in India.

In international markets, gold prices surged for the seventh straight day as the European debt crisis increased demand for the precious metal as a safe haven.

Bullion in the Asian region gained as much as 0.5 per cent to USD 1,222.47 an ounce, its highest level since May 19, as the euro extended its 2.4 per cent decline against the

US dollar last week.

“The steep rise in gold prices comes at a time when the Indian markets are passing through a bullish mood on hectic buying by jewellers and retailers for the ongoing marriage season,” said All-India Sarafa (Bullion) Bazaar Association President Sheel Chand Jain.

“The only trigger for domestic gold prices touching a new high is rupee depreciation,” said Kochi-based commodity brokerage firm JRG Wealth Vice-President and Research Head Harish G.-IE

Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

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Issuance of Passports to Be Faster to Reach You in 3 Days NEW DELHI: Foreign Minister S M Krishna is going to inaugurate four Passport Seva Kendras, as part of the Passport Seva Project, in Karnataka on Friday. From now

the external affairs ministry was blamed by a parliamentary panel for failing to meet the deadline for the project, which was to be launched in July last year.

on, regular passports will be issued in three days and tatkal ones the same day.

According to Government sources, across the country there will 77 such centers by the end of this financial year, which will issue tatkal passports to applicants within hours.

Currently, issuance of passports takes 45 days. The Passport Seva Project aims to issue passports in three days. Earlier this month,

The Passport Seva Project, based on a public-private partnership model, is a Rs. 1,000 crore project, which was given to TCS in October 2008.

The verification list will be forwarded to the district police chief, soon after the application is submitted, according to the new system. After that it will be segregated station wise and will be forwarded to the respective police stations on the same day.-SI

ICICI Bank Eyes No.1 Indian Bank Position MUMBAI: ICICI Bank, which will see its presence in western India grow with the acquisition of Bank of Rajasthan, has said no to foreign takeovers as it wants to focus on becoming India’s top bank in terms of profitability and productivity.

“No overseas (acquisition). We are not looking at any prospect (abroad). Internally, our growth strategy is quite India-linked. We are doing just one prospect (deal).

I think it is too early to talk of any

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other prospect,” ICICI Bank CEO and Managing Director Chanda Kochhar said when asked which domestic or overseas deals were on its radar.

Asked if the latest deal would help her achieve the dream of putting ICICI ahead of number one State Bank of India, she said, “The number one position could be in many ways like productivity, efficiency and profitability.

“We are the number one in many of these parameters.-IE

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Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

Worldwide Mobile User Base to Touch Five Billion During 2010 HYDERABAD: The number of mobile phone subscribers will touch a staggering 5 billion worldwide this year from 2.2 billion in 2006, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

“The information and communications technology landscape has changed in extraordinary and unexpected ways since March 2006 when the last edition of the World Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC) was held in Doha,” ITU secretary-general Hamadoun Toure said at the inauguration of the fifth edition of the WTDC here today.

The meet is being held for the first time in the country at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre.

The drastic decline in fixed-line users by 36 million since 2006 has been compensated for by the growth of mobile subscribers during the period, Mr. Toure said.

“The best news is that almost all of this growth has been in the developing world where mobile users grew 270 per cent in four years since the beginning of 2006. Of the 2.5 billion new mobile subscribers added during the period globally, 2 billion were from the developing countries,” Mr. Toure said.

Likewise, of the 777 million new Internet users worldwide, 600 million are from the developing world, Mr. Toure noted.

“We have also seen social media skyrocket. When we met last time

in Doha, no one had ever sent a Tweet and Facebook was a small closed site for students. Today, 50 million Tweets are sent every day and Facebook has 400 million users,” the ITU secretary—general said.He, however, noted that their job is not finished yet.

While about two—thirds people in the developed world now have access to the Internet, four—fifths of those in developing world don’t.

ITU’s Telecom Development Bureau director Sami al Basheer said the number of mobile broadband users now stood at 670 million compared to just 71 million four years ago.

Similarly, fixed broadband users also doubled from 212 million to 527 million during the period.

Mr. Toure added that by extending access to broadband, countries would quickly accelerate their progress towards meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

“Broadband can help us achieve universal primary education, improve maternal health and thereby reduce child mortality, ensure environmental sustainability and manage and mitigate climate change. To help world leaders see the ways that broadband can accelerate the achievement of MDGs, ITU and Unesco launched the Broadband Commission for Digital Development on May 10,” Mr. Toure said.The commission would submit its recommendations for broadband development at the MDG Summit in September, he added.- Hindu

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15th Century Rajagopuram Collapses A crack that developed in Sri Kalahasteeswaraswamy temple tower 25 years ago was not attended to TIRUPATI: The elegant-looking Srikalahasteeswaraswamy rajagopuram is now a heap of rubble. A thin crack that developed 25 years

unscathed.

The authorities concerned, despite their inertia during the last 25 years in taking up repairs to the tower,

Endowments, made a bee-line to the scene to take stock of the situation and arrange for restoration work.

Earthmovers have been pressed into service to remove the debris.

Sources said that barring damage to four or five nearby houses, including a portion of the State Bank of India branch, there are no reports of destruction.

Endowments Commissioner J.S.V. Prasad denied that there was complacency on the part of the department and asserted that a new raThe deep vertical fissures that developed on the main tower (rajagopuram) of jagopuram would be put Sri Kalahasteeswaraswamy temple in Srikalahasti. (At Right) Locals gather to in place by December, take a look at the collapsed tower. Photo: KV Poornachandra Kumar 2011. He said a comago eventually worsened into a deep were quick to see imminent danger mittee of engineers, sthapathis and vertical fissure right on its face and when a team of experts from IIT- officials would soon land at the site ended up in the collapse of the exqui- Chennai warned that a strong wind to work out the modalities of erecting site gopuram on Wednesday night. was enough to bring down the dilapi- the new tower.

The irony is that the magnificent dated structure.

Since the main entry to the shrine 15th century tower, built by VijayanaThey declared an area of 150 ft radi- remains blocked following the colgara King Sri Krishnadevaraya in us around the precarious structure as a lapse of the tower, authorities have commemoration of his visit to the ‘danger zone’and shifted all residents opened the western gopuram doors shrine after triumphing over his ri- and shop-keepers to safer places. This for pilgrims. vals, collapsed even as the emperor’s move averted what would have been Opposition parties, especially the 500th coronation ceremony is being a major disaster, given the flurry of BJP, held a dharna here wearing black celebrated by the governments of activity that normally goes on around badges in protest against the “callous Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka with the site. attitude” of the authorities towards pomp.

A day after the 136-ft tall tower the 500-year-old heritage structure.

A bronze statue of Krishnade- caved in, two Andhra Pradesh MinThey demanded the sacking of all varaya recently unveiled in front isters, the Tirupati MP, the Srikala- the officials concerned in the chain of the gopuram, however, stands hasti MLA, and the Commissioner of command.

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South Asia News of the Diaspora

“We’ll Fight Terror Root and Branch”: PM Singh

By Smita Gupta “We will fight against the NEW DELHI: Prime scourge of communalism Minister Manmohan and political extremism. We Singh promised the nawill fight terrorism root and tion on Tuesday that his branch. We will ensure that government would not this great, liberal and plural flinch from frontally batnation of ours is not weaktling Maoist violence, ened by hatred and bigotry,” communalism and terhe said. rorism, while releasing If the structure of the rethe United Progressive port is any indication, the Alliance (UPA)’s annual UPA clearly puts education, report card, marking the health and child rights at the end of its first year in its top of its list of priorities, second tenure. with the first chapter entitled The Prime Minister’s “Enabling Human Developopening remarks set the ment,” dealing with these tone for the release of the subjects.

107-page Report to the Official sources told The People 2009-10, which Hindu that the Prime Miniskept the message of so- Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson ter, whose early years were cial inclusion in sharp Sonia Gandhi releasing the ‘Report to the People’ on spent in a village, is very focus, as it stressed the completion of one year of the second term of the conscious of the transforthe UPA’s progress to UPA government in New Delhi mative role that education a rights-based goverplayed in his own life. It the grassroots, while firmly enforcing nance, while sending is for this reason that this out the assurance that the economy the writ of the State,” Dr. Singh told government, much more than its prewould grow at 8.5% in the current an audience consisting of Congress decessors, has made a huge outlay for president Sonia Gandhi, senior party scholarships for SCs, STs, OBCs and financial year.

“In dealing with Naxalism, we will functionaries and members of the minorities, these sources added.

Topping the priorities in the secpursue a policy that genuinely seeks Union Council of Ministers at 7, Race to address developmental concerns at Course residence. tion on “Social Inclusion” are the proposed Food Security Act and the empowerment of women, through reservation of seats in legislatures and local bodies as well as through “inter-sectoral convergence of all pro-women/ women-centric programmes cutting across minis tries/departments, states and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).”

Obama is Committed to India

WASHINGTON: The US is deeply committed to the rise of India as a global power, a top diplomat said on Tuesday and hinted that it is favourably inclined to support the country’s place in the UN Security Council.

Setting the tone for the first Cabinet-level Indo-US strategic dialogue, the under secretary of state for political affairs, BillBurns, who returned from his third trip India last week, said: “The simple truth is that India’s strength and progress on the world stage is deeply in the strategic interest of the United States.”

BurnshintedthatUSisfavourably inclined to support the country’s place in the UN Security Council, even as it stopped short of making a public endorsement of it.

Addressing the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) - a Washington-based think-tank - Burns said soon to be the world’s most populous country and already the world’s largest democracy, India is now the world’s second-fastestgrowing economy and a central player in the G-20.

“India plays an increasingly significant role in Asia and on a wide range of global challenges,” Burns said in his address to the think-tank on rise of India.

Looking forward to the new strategic dialogue that secretary of state Hillary Clinton will launch with

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, june 04 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

the minister of external affairs S M Krishna on Thursday the first highlevel dialogue of its kind between the two countries, Burns said like the previous two presidents, Bill Clinton and George W Bush, the current US president, Barack Obama, has laid strong and consistent emphasis on the enormous stake that the United States has in India’s emergence as a global power.

“When he invited Prime Minister Singh to the White House last year for the first state visit of the new administration, the president called the US-Indian relationship one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century,” he said.

In a new National Security Strategy released last week, the president underscored that that expanding partnership with India will remain one of his highest priorities, he asserted.

As two of the world’s leading democracies, India and the US can help build a new global commons, an international system in which other democracies can flourish, human dignity is advanced, poverty is reduced, trade is expanded, environment is preserved, violent extremists are marginalised, the spread of weapons of mass destruction is curbed, and new frontiers in science and technology are explored.

“That is the moment and that is the promise that lies before us,” Burns said.

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OPINION

Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

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Forget about Incredible India, Can We Hope for a Clean India?

By Deepti Menon “Are you on the side of those who make India hang her head in shame or those who raise her head in pride,” asks Aamir Khan in an ‘Incredible India’ advertisement. I am as big a patriot as is the next person, but sometimes, queries buzz about inside my head querulously. Is there any harm in talking about those aspects of our country that could be wished away!

Do you need that big gob of spit that just misses your big toe on your way to an important appointment?

Or that red-flecked liquid spewed out so casually in a traffic snarl?

What could be worse than that giant phlegm-filled hawk that begins from deep inside a champion ‘spitter’, making you wince and shut your eyes and ears in anticipation of the actual event? And those artistic red squiggles on pristine walls, winding staircases, and ironically, below signs which scream “Please do not spit here!”

What about the male members of the human species with undoubtedly canine habits, when they sight a vacant wall, and proceed to let loose in public? The movie Three Idiots has a funny yet effective way of dealing with this, where the culprit receives a gentle jolt, just enough to bring him to his senses, yet does no permanent harm! Pedestrians are often caught between the devil and the deep blue

sea; is it safer to sink into excreta, or step off the pavement and be hit by a bus! Tread on mush or turn into mush, as it were!

The tagline of Lays Chips (no one can eat just one!) rings true as one perceives bright wrappers forming

Shiv Sagar

part of the vast garbage dump that our roads have turned into. Plastic bottles, cans, fruit peels and groundnut shells turn the picture murkier! On one memorable suburban train ride from Guindy to Chetpet in Chennai, I walked in confidently to a deserted

corner in the ladies’compartment, only to be assailed by a stench that made my insides churn. Someone had let her child squat on the floor and left the evidence behind! ‘Incredible India’, anyone?

On occasion, people do clean up the beaches, a laudable task indeed! But more important is to drill the idea into heads that littering is damnable! If there were no litter, there would be no need to clean up either! And no bubble gum under bus seats or used sanitary pads clogging up public toilets!

Keeping one’s home clean is all very good, but throwing one’s trash into the neighbour’s compound is unforgiveable!

Historians, filmmakers and teachers turn blue in the face, trying to inculcate in people respect for ‘India’s vast cultural heritage’! Yet modern Lotharios go down in history, using sharp implements to etch their names on age-old structures. Thus ‘Rahul loves Sunita’ hits the eye, as you walk in with reverence, and are forced to imbibe history with modern romance. I say, increase the entrance fees to our valuable monuments! Art is meant for the

common man, not for the man who is ‘common’ in behaviour! The money earned could help maintain the monument to ensure that history does not become the dead past!

The arterial Anna Salai in Chennai came alive when the walls along the sidewalks were adorned with paintings — from Ravi Varmas and pastoral scenes to flora and fauna.

Unfortunately, down came the rain, and washed everything clean! The mammoth effort went down the drain literally, along with loads of money and artistic labour. Now more paint is being brought in, and hopefully the masterpieces will be made waterproof! The concept of turning Mount Road into a Manhattan, or linking the various canals to create a Venice in Chennai will be appreciable if only concrete foundations are laid down to crystallise the same!

For the crimes mentioned earlier (for they are no less), stringent fines should be levied, and a talking-to by a stern policeman or a night behind bars, for those who cannot afford to pay.

Couldn’t we make a start in our own backyard? The earlier our minds turn clean, the faster our habits will follow suit! Which brings to mind a quote that went something like this; I saw a stone on the road and wondered why someone did not shift it, till I realised that I was also someone!

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Most Well-Off Central Delhi is Most Unsafe for Women NEW DELHI: India’s most economically and socially well-off districts are among the most insecure places for women to live, reveals a study released on Wednesday.

One such district is the Capital’s business hub Central Delhi rated ‘best’ on the Well Being Index (WBI) and ‘worst’ on the Female Security Index (FSI) in India, in a first such comparison over a majority of districts in India.Some prosperous urban centres such as Mumbai and Chandigarh have high well-being rating but fare poorly on the FSI. The study by Tata Strategic Management Group derives its rankings by superimposing economists Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen’s well-being definition on National Sample Survey’s expenditure date on health, education, transport and food for the year 2006-07. For FSI, gender ratio and crime against women data has been considered. “Some of the most welloff parts of India (Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Western Uttar Pradesh) have

the worst ratings in terms of the female security index,” the study said.

These states also have the most skewed sex ratio. The study indicated poverty has nothing to do with gender discrimination.The states rated worst or bad on WBI such as Orissa, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh have very good FSI rating.“Discrimination against women is a trend more visible in rich northern Indian states,” said Raju Bhinge, chief executive of the group, in the study.

Identifying a clear divide on female safety, the study said most of northern Indian states have worst FSI ranking whereas peninsular India and parts of eastern India have been rated as one of the best. However, Delhi has also been rated as one of the most insecure cities for women in India with seven of its nine districts rated as ‘worst’ on FSI. The district-level WBI index indicates huge disparity among districts within a state even though northern Indian states are better than the rest of India, the study said.

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Why Are Hindu Honor Killings Rising in India?

By Madhur Singh For four weeks now, a morbid murder story has been playing out in the Indian media. Nirupama Pathak, 22, a New Delhi–based journalist, was allegedly murdered by her own mother.

Her crime? She had wanted to marry a fellow journalist who belongs to a lower caste — and she was pregnant.

On a trip home to make a final effort to convince her family, Nirupama texted her boyfriend that she was being held captive, locked up in a bathroom.

On April 29, she was found dead. The family claimed Nirupama had killed herself, and lodged a case against her boyfriend for rape and abetting suicide. But when the postmortem results revealed Nirupama had been asphyxiated, the police arrested her mother, Sudha Pathak.

Meanwhile, it has thrust the issue of honor killings to the center of public debate. Though Western readers associate the term more with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan than with 21st century India, honor killings are shockingly frequent in villages in the northern and northwestern parts of the country. Mostly, these cases are confined to the inside pages of newspapers, but the Nirupama case — in urban, educated, middle-class India — has hit the front pages.

Activists say dozens of people, both women and men, are killed for "honor" every year, falling victim to the deeply entrenched caste system.

The majority of these killings take place in the agrarian states of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, where land ownership and caste go hand in hand. "The upper

castes fiercely guard their hold over land and power in the community," says Ranbir Singh, a Haryana-based sociologist currently a consultant with the Haryana Institute of Rural Development.

Perceived caste transgressions are severely punished. In a recent case Nirupama Pathak who was allegedly killed for “honor”

in a Haryana village, an 18-year-old Dalit girl and her father were allegedly burned alive by upper-caste Jat men following an argument over a dog. Women, since they have property rights, are a threat if not kept under a vicelike grip. Young men are forced to purchase brides from other states. The statistics on honor killings are also the worst there: groups called khaps run kangaroo courts that routinely issue fatwa-like orders for the execution of those who have offended caste boundaries.

The situation is aggravated by modernity, as more and more young people want to marry for love. Khaps violently oppose both marriages between upper-caste women and lowercaste men and those within sub-castes and villages deemed to share kinship ties. The khap itself, long a locus of

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, june 04 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

power for the land-owning Jat community, is being rendered irrelevant by economic change, increasingly egalitarian democratic politics and population movement.

A month before Nirupama's death, a court in Haryana sentenced five people to death for killing a couple belonging to the same village and gotra, or caste-based clan (village elders had deemed them brother and sister). Manoj Banwala, 23, and Babli, 19, of Karoran village in Haryana, had married against the wishes of the bride's family on April 7, 2007. Urged on by the khap, the village had turned against Banwala's family, forcing the couple to flee to a nearby city, where they were killed two months later on order from the khap.

Astonishingly, prominent politicians from both the ruling Congress party and the opposition have come out in support of the khaps' demand.

With city and village elections due shortly, political parties see this as an easy ploy to lure votes, caste being a handy instrument of statecraft. Even as the Nirupama case was burning, the government announced that caste data would be collected as part of the census — the first time since 1931 — to get exact caste statistics, ostensibly to implement meaningful, action plans for underprivileged castes. But the move has many opponents, who believe it will only perpetuate a political culture that takes advantage of caste divisions. - Time Magazine

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Healthyway Immigration Announces Rs 1 Crore in College Scholarships CHANDIGARH: Healthyway Immigration Consultant Pvt. Ltd., a leading Immigration Consultancy with its base at Chandigarh, will bring to life dreams of students across North India. Amit Kakkar, MD, Healthyway Immigration Consultant Pvt Ltd today announced a Mega Scholarship Scheme at a Press Conference held here, today. Healthyway Immigration will be giving out scholarships worth Rs 1 crore to 160 students spread across Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and even New Delhi.

The scholarships will be given

tests at Jallandhar, Ludhiana, Ferozpur, Chandigarh, Ganganagar, Delhi, Karnal, Dehradoon, Solan and Shimla. Students qualifying these aptitude tests will become eligible for the scholarship prizes.

As the Mega First Prize, Healthyway Immigration will award 10 students 100% tuition fee for a full year!!

As the Second Prize, 20 students will be awarded 75% of a full year’s tuition fee. As the Third prize, 30 students will get 50% of their tuition fee and 100 students will get a one-way air ticket and refund of Embassy Fee as the fourth prize.

same direction. This is the first time such a huge scholarship programme is being organized in North India by a Chandigarh based Immigration Consultancy, and we are extremely happy to give this opportunity to the students of North India. The scholarships will give students an opportunity to fulfill their dreams of studying abroad irrespective of their financial status. We will continue to do further such events in the future as well.”

The scholarship program is supported by Coca Cola India, Idea Cellular Services and AIESEC. Healthyway Immigration Consul-

Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

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tant Pvt. Ltd. is a leading Immigration Consultancy with its base at Chandigarh. The ISO 9001 : 2008 Certified firm, with overseas offices in UK, Canada & Australia, offers a plethora of services to people who wish to study, work or settle abroad.

Established in 2001, Healthyway has a panel of specialized and dedicated immigration professionals with extensive expertise in the field, that are constantly abreast with the latest in Immigration legislations.

Healthyway is a Government of India Approved Company and an Authorized Education Consultant for 114 colleges and universities worldwide.

Healthyway aims to assist people in exploring Educational, Recreational and Permanent Residency opportunities throughout the world. It is the consultancy which initiated the One Way Free Air Ticket or Complete Embassy Fee Refund offer after the individual gets Visa. Healthyway is one of North India’s largest Immigration Consultation firms, serving a nationwide client base.-FE

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Indian Students and the Strangulating State Regulations New Delhi is trying to regulate innovation out of the educational system.

By Barun S. Mitra Indian students waited eagerly last week for the results of entrance exams to the most sought-after engineering schools, among them the famed Indian Institutes of Technology. More than 450,000 students competed for some 9,500 seats in what is perhaps the most competitive exam in the world.

This year’s success stories included a home-schooled 14-year-boy in Delhi and poor students from rural areas in Bihar state. They are even more remarkable because they triumphed over the state’s strangulating embrace of the education sector.

With one of the youngest workforces in the world, India’s economic potential is widely acknowledged. But the transition to a knowledge-intensive economy requires more skilled and competent employees. Barely 5% to 7% of the current workforce has had any formal training in a skill, and 70% may not even have completed primary schooling. According to estimates, only 10% to 15% of graduates are employable, and just 12% of the 18-24 age group enroll for any posthigh-school courses. Although 135 million children are enrolled at the primary level today, about 15 million are in college, and only 2.3 million will graduate this year.

India’s biggest challenge is not

IIT Mumbai

unemployment, but unemployability.

A study by McKinsey and the National Association of Software and Services Companies a few years ago found that barely 25% of engineering graduates are employable. Last year, another survey by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the World Bank reported that 64% of the employers were not satisfied with the skills of the engineering graduates. According to biotech industry sources, barely half of the 200,000 post graduates in science are employable.

New Delhi is making the situation even worse with its new Right to Edu-

tion, which would create multiple new layers of bureaucracy.

New Delhi’s policies are highly flawed, starting with the assumption that the private sector will not build schools and invest in education. Yet surveys have found that 40% to 50% of children from the slums of Delhi attend private informal schools. In a country where 35% of the people are still officially illiterate, setting up schools is completely tied up under a license and permit raj. It requires 30-35 types of permissions to set up a school even in Delhi.

Secondly, the government wants to attract investment. But education is one area where for profit activity has been completely prohibited. For instance, hardly any of the thousands of coaching institutes preparing students for admission to engineering and medical colleges would meet

$10,000 to $50,000, whereas deemed university status would set you back $1-2 million.

To overcome the scarcity of skilled workers, Indian companies are already investing in education in a big way. Major companies have undertaken steps to engage with faculty at many colleges and universities to help them understand the needs of the industry, and adapt their curriculum. Companies are spending huge resources to train the recruits.

In 2008, Infosys spent $5,000 on retraining each of the thousands it hired.

Wipro spends about 1% of its annual revenues on retraining thousands of fresh graduates it recruits.

The natural solution is for companies, business chambers and even universities to define a base set of skills they are looking for among firsttime employees. They could create

IIT Kanpur

cation Act, which came into effect on April 1. The Act requires the government to educate children for free until age 14. The government estimates this mandate requires additional 1.2 million trained teachers in the next five years, tens of thousands of new schools, and by 2020, another 700 universities and 35,000 new colleges. Foreign investment will be encouraged at the margins. The government is also engaged in creating a new national regulator for higher educathe regulatory requirements and standards set by the government to qualify as a school.

Thirdly, the regulatory environment has created a system of patronage to favored organizations seeking to enter higher education. In the past year, senior officials at regulatory bodies in both the technical and medical education have been accused of corruption.

While they maintain their innocence, the Central Bureau of Investigation is said to be investigating more than 100 people across the country. Yet, rather than deregulate, the present effort centralizes control even further.

Each year hundreds of organizations apply for permission to start technical institutes, but many seem to have no scruples about bribing the authorities to acquire the necessary clearances. In one instance, a college in Uttar Pradesh had an address where nothing stood except farmland. Just last month, out of 150 self-financing engineering colleges inspected in Tamil Nadu, 67 were asked to improve their faculty and strengthen physical infrastructure before they can admit any students this session. It is not uncommon to find engineering colleges rotating faculty, equipment, and students to hide the real situation when inspectors call.

Last year, a local Kolkata newspaper estimated the various rates of bribes to a technical education authority. To start a technical or professional institute, the rate ranged from

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, june 04 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

an independent body to design and conduct the test periodically among job seekers. It could be organized on the lines similar to the independent standardized tests which are widely accepted by all major colleges across the United States. Given the scale of private education initiatives in India, if there are such independent assessments linked to employment, a whole host of service providers will grow to prepare the students accordingly.

Young Indians are seeking relevant education in unprecedented numbers, as the hordes of students taking the IIT entrance exams and enrolling in private coaching schools demonstrate. From the “education reform” initiated by the government, though, one cannot help escape the feeling that the government is merely looking to expand bureaucratic control and increase the scope of political patronage.

Education is not primarily about any particular content or skill set, but about the continuous capacity to seek new knowledge and acquire new skills. Education can empower only in an environment of freedom, where students can choose from a range of educational providers offering a diverse package of knowledge and skills. India will enjoy demographic dividends only when education becomes free from the clutches of the state, and the youth are able to leverage their education in the competitive economic environment.-WSJ

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Bollywood’s Newest Buddy

Priyanka Chopra has tweeted about it. Amitabh Bachchan has blogged about it. AR Rahman and Lara Dutta are getting used to it.

Since its launch two months ago, two million people have purchased Apple iPad, the computer tablet on which you can send e-mails, browse the net, watch movies and even read the newspaper.

As it is still to debut in India, Bollywood stars are buying the iPad abroad or, better still, getting it as a gift. After sister Shweta Nanda presented one to Abhishek Bachchan, dad Amitabh blogged, “He (Abhishek) has spent the entire day sorting out the gadget. Now, I have pestered the daughter to get me my b’day gift in advance.”

On May 27, Priyanka tweeted, “Finally opened my iPad.” By next day her tweet was: “Me n my iPad.. we’re inseparable.” Deepika Padukone and Neil Nitin Mukesh were gifted iPads by producer Pradeep Sarkar after wrapping up his film Lafangey Parindey. “I was thinking of buying it but I got it as a gift,” Deepika said. The first actor to announce her ownership of the tablet, Mallika Sherawat, tweeted on April 4: “Just got an iPad! :) I love it!” Earlier this week Manyata Dutt thanked hubby Sanjay Dutt on Twitter, writing, “Got my iPad. Thanks Muna for gifting me one.”

Last week, when AR Rahman landed in New York for his concert, his entourage headed straight to an Apple store to get not one, but eight iPads.

GOSSIP

Farah Snubs SRK for Salman

Filmmaker Farah Khan and Shah Rukh Khan were known to be the best of buddies not very long time ago. But the friendship seems to have gone awry as the director has reportedly signed SRK's arch rival Salman for Om Shanti Om's sequel. On a dance reality tv show where the filmmaker and the actor make an appearance, the equation between them was for all to see.

On the show, Salman joked about him being the first choice for Farah's directorial ventures, Farah then assured Salman to be in the sequels of both the film.

We assume it was a joke, but who knows, Farah's statement might have some truth.

ENTERTAINMENT

Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

WHAT’S BUZZING IN BOLLYWOOD

Sania Unhappy Over Movie on Her Marriage MUMBAI: An upcoming Bollywood film has supposedly angered Sania Mirza. The tennis star is reportedly very unhappy with the producers of “Hyderabadi Damaad”, a film which is based on the real life controversy surrounding the marriage of Sania Mirza with cricketer Shoaib Malik. It will also discuss the story of Sania’s engagement with Sohrab Mirza.

What has angered the Indian tennis icon is the fact that the producers did not even bother to inform her before starting work on the project.

Sania Mirza has however made it clear that she is not happy about the project. She has gone on board saying that she will want the director and everyone associated with the film to make a clear announcement that “Hyderabadi Damaad” is not based on her real life events.

Fathers Should Spend More Quality Time with Kids: SRK

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Is Aamir the Next Crorepati Host?

Rumours of Aamir Khan being offered the next season of Kaun Banega Crorepati gained momentum because the usually forthright Aamir, who makes it a point to clarify rumours, has chosen to let this one ride.

There are many who said Aamir was being offered the highest price for a television anchor; there are others who said that the superstar has turned down the show because he is busy with Peepli Live. However, even as rumours kept flying, there was a rejoinder of sorts from the television circuit that said — Aamir hadn’t been approached at all. Obviously the truth lies in between the two versions.

Nikhila: A 30 Year Old Playing Ranbir’s Mom

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who is a doting father to his children Aryaan & Suhana, feels parents should spend more quality time with their kids.

"Each time I am away from home for long I make sure that on return

I have spent enough time and catch up with my children. I am sure a lot of fathers today go through this guilt as they may have missed seeing their child grow," said the actor-producer who recently shot for a toothpaste commercial where he plays a loving

father. "In most cases, fathers never realize this as they have been busy with work, office meetings, deals and catching up with friends that they tend to miss out on smaller but important moments of their child's growing years."

Shiney Ahuja Dumped by Co-Stars Rape accused Shiney Ahujaresume his Bollywood career but he finds no actress to star opposite him.

Recently, actress Vaishali Desaiwalked out of Shiney starred film, ‘Shunya’ following the dirty accusation in his behavior. At first, she agreed to act in the film because the role of the lead actor was offered to Adhyayan Suman but when the role went to Shiney, she expressed her opinion and said no to the project.

Shiney wanted to make a fresh start but looking at his dirty manner no actress in Bollywood are keen to associate with him.

Last year, he was charged with dirty accusation of raping his

housemaid. ‘Shunya’ will be produced by Pooja Bedi’s niece Bobby Bedi.Vaishali was keen to associate with the project but when she came to know that instead of Adhyayan, Shiney will enact the role, she bade adieu to the venture.

A source close to her reveals, "She comes from a very conservative background and doesn't want to be associated with Shiney. She reasoned that she wouldn't be comfortable working with him. She thought it would be a bad move for her to be cast opposite him."

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, june 04 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

She is just three years older, but first-time actress Nikhila Trikha is the chosen one to play Ranbir Kapoor's mother in the high-voltage political drama Raajneeti.

"I was very clear that the facial resemblance has to be very strong.

I wanted Ranbir, Arjun Rampal to look like brothers, which they do, and I wanted the actress playing Ranbir's mother to look like him," said Prakash Jha, the film's director. Ranbir, 27, is extremely particular about who plays his mom on screen. In Raajneeti, the choice was narrowed down even further since Jha wanted the actress playing Ranbir's mother to resemble him physically.

After considering several unusual actresses for the part of his mother including Raveena Tandon, who thought she wasn't old enough to play Ranbir's mother, and Mrinal Kulkarni, Jha zeroed in on 30year-old Nikhila. Ranbir apparently gave his nod the minute he saw the unknown actress who has to play a very young woman required to take over a political dynasty and later, her US-based son Ranbir's mother in this dynastic saga.

Known to work with seasoned and saleable actresses, how did Jha offer such a complex role to an inexperienced actress?

"When Nikhila auditioned for the part, I instinctively knew she was right for the part although she has had no acting experience. In fact, Ranbir who's younger than her was far more experienced. But he never let her feel like a newcomer," said Jha.

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Who Was Really Behind India’s Terrorist Derailment?

By Sumon K. Chakrabarti NEW DELHI: After several decisive attacks that have killed scores of police and other security forces in the past six months, the leadership of India’s increasingly bold Maoist rebels has been caught off guard by what it says was an unauthorized act of terrorism by an allied group.

Indian intelligence officials now believe that a tribal militia associated with the Maoists was behind the May 28 train derailment that killed 148 people. A spokesman for the insurgency, organized as the Communist Party of India (Maoist), told TIME it was “an act of terrible indiscretion.”

The episode is one of the worst ever to strike the Indian railway system. The clips that fasten the railway track together were removed at a point about 150 km west of Kolkata, in the Jhargram area of West Midnapore, a Maoist stronghold in the state of West Bengal. As the Mumbai-bound Gyaneshwari Express moved over the sabotaged track, it derailed. Almost immediately afterward, a transport train passing on the parallel track crashed into the derailed passenger train, leaving 148 people dead.

Within hours, the state police chief blamed the attack on Maoist guerrillas who are waging an armed uprising against the Indian state in the name of the rural poor. The alleged act of sabotage fell on the first day of a “black week” called by the Maoists to condemn what they describe as “atrocities against villages” and to stop the government’s armed offensive against them. West Midnapore has already been a theater of that conflict. Just a few kilometers away from the railway disaster, the Maoist guerrillas raided an Indian paramilitary camp in February, killing 24 policemen.

But now intelligence officials in both Kolkata and New Delhi tell TIME that, working closely with investigators, they are in posses-

A railway crane lifts a mangled compartment of the derailed train in Sardiha, near the West Midnapore district in the state of West Bengal, about 95 miles (150 km) west of Kolkata, on Saturday, May 29.

sion of “substantial evidence, including tapped telephone conversations” linking the attack not to the central Maoist organization but to two leaders of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), a tribal militia formed in West Midnapore protesting against alleged police atrocities. The group has been locked in an intense and often violent political fight against the state government over the acquisition of farmland for new industrial projects.

Intelligence officials say two leaders of the PCPA — Umakanto Mahato and Bapi Mahato — carried out the attack along with 15 to 20 other militia members.

This has put the Maoists on the defensive.

India Posts 8.6% Economic Growth, A 2-Year High MUMBAI, India (AP) — A rebound in manufacturing and recovering farm output drove India’s quarterly economic growth to 8.6 percent, the best in two years as the country returns to precrisis levels of expansion.

Growth for the financial year ended March 31 was 7.4 percent, beating a government forecast of 7.2 percent, officials said Monday.

The acceleration is likely to add to pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates to contain inflation.

Manufacturing surged an unsustainable 16.3 percent, up from 0.6 percent a year earlier and

its strongest performance in at least two years.

“It’s a sign of India moving on to a higher growth trajectory,” said D. K. Joshi, chief economist at Crisil, an Indian research and ratings agency.

Still, rain and Europe loom as uncertainties for India. Farmers in India hope the 2009 drought will not be repeated. And Europe, India’s most important export market, could drag on India, especially if its debt crisis undermines global growth.

India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has said the nation needs to grow 10 percent a year to eradicate chronic poverty.-NYT

The Maoists’ organization is separate from the PCPA, but it has used the group’s strong popular base among the tribal population to spread its influence in the region. Soon after the derailment, the Maoists issued a statement denying involvement. “It is not the Maoist policy to attack civilians,” said a Maoist spokesperson who goes by the alias Akash, who spoke to TIME from an undisclosed location in eastern India. “Please read our party documents carefully. We are not behind the railway attack. And we will soon hold a public court to punish the guilty.” Another Maoist spokesperson from the region, Sunil, told TIME they would “guard trains passing through the area” to prove their

innocence.

Even a senior intelligence official in charge of anti-Maoist operations says it looks “very unlikely” that the Maoist leadership ordered the attack. Trains have been a frequent target of other acknowledged attacks by the Maoist insurgents. But in most of those cases, the Maoists have targeted nonpassenger trains or disrupted service by blowing up tracks well ahead of an oncoming train. “It’s their policy not to cause any inconvenience to the masses,” the intelligence official says. “The CPI-Maoist politburo will never accept this.”

Asit Mahato, a spokesman for the PCPA, denies responsibility, countering that flip-flops by the police indicate that “they are trying to hide something. Something which might be harmful to the government. They have blamed Bapi Mahato, but he is not even a member of the PCPA. Please ask the police to provide proof that he is a PCPA member.”

The denials by the Maoists, who usually take responsibility for their attacks, and the PCPA may be a sign of something more disturbing: a rift between the leaders and their supporters on the ground. Clearly, the Maoists cannot afford to lose support. The Maoists, also known as Naxalites (after the village of Naxal, where they trace their beginnings), have an estimated 20,000 armed guerrillas and have established pockets of resistance in forested and rural areas in at least 10 of the 28 Indian states. They are under increasing pressure, though, as more than 50,000 police and paramilitary troops have been deployed over the past year to fight them. In response, Maoist attacks have gotten more frequent and deadlier. If this episode is any indication, they could also get much more dangerous for the ordinary Indians the Maoists claim to represent.- TM

India in Pictures

THIRD EYE: A Trinamool Congress supporter during the victory celebrations at party chief Mamata Banerjee’s house at Kalighat, Kolkata. Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, and Defence Minister A.K.Antony during release of the ‘Report to the People.’

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GRADUATION CEREMONY: Newly raised recruits of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) dancing during the passing out parade ceremony in Humhama, outskirts of Srinagar. Photo: Nissar Ahmad

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By Vijay Nagaswami Many women believe that men don’t bond; they just spend time with each other. Nothing could be further from the truth. Men have always bonded, ever since their hunter-gatherer days, when they realised that there was safety in togetherness and that hunting in packs was easier and yielded more consistent results. Put differently, men bonded with each other for survival — their own as well as that of the family and tribe. Women, on the other hand, did not really, strictly speaking, need other women for their survival, as they could play the nurturing role and care for their families even without too much support from other women.

However, being emotionally finely tuned and sensitive, they realised that there was much to gain from bonding with other women — sharing responsibilities, wisdom and so forth. At the risk of oversimplifying a complex situation, it would not be imprudent to say that men bonded because they had to and women did so because they wanted to.

Over the millennia, the bonding process of the human male has changed substantially, with one fundamental exception: Men continue to bond over something. A shared interest, a shared activity, a shared past, a shared something or the other. Women need a shared interest or activity, if at all, just to get them together, but subsequent interactions are not necessarily based on this interest or activity. Men, on the other hand, need an activity or interest to bond over: a round of golf, a game of cricket, a pubcrawl, a drink at a bar, watching a Formula 1 race and so on. You’ll rarely catch men bonding over a long telephone call, a walk, shopping for clothes, over a cup of coffee at each others’ homes and so on. It’s almost as if the activity is needed to legitimise the bond.

Restrained intensity Still waters, as the saying goes, run deep,

opinion

Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

Bond. Male Bond ...

Bonding over music....

as do men’s bonds with each other. Men do love their male friends with an intensity that is rarely displayed, save for an occasional hearty backslap or a surprisingly thoughtful birthday gift. When male friends meet, the intensity of the handshake or backslap determines how happy they are to see each other, although in contemporary times, verbal expressions are not uncommon. Traditionally, in Indian cinema and literature, the depth of the bond between men friends has always been depicted around the phenomenon of sacrifice. The protagonist’s best friend is often seen sacrificing something — usually the love of his life, and sometimes his life itself — to prove the depth of his love for his friend, although it is far less frequent for women

friends to be portrayed doing this for each other (women are depicted as sacrificing only for their men). However, in real life, sacrifice is rarely a central motif in the male bond.

Contemporary urban male friends invariably have deeper relationships with friends they have known over decades, typically those from school or college. The principal reason for this is that they have grown together with such friends and have little reason to pretend or project an image to them, and therefore do not fear being judged by them. It is not uncommon to see bachelor ‘best’ friends spending a lot of time with each other in ‘chilling’ activities, getting drunk and in general, collecting memories for the future. Invariably when old school or col-

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lege friends meet, once they get past the stage of nostalgic reminiscence, they find themselves being able to start from where they left off, reflective of the depth of the male bond. Often, such old friendships last lifetimes, giving all the protagonists great comfort, joy and companionship. And through this period, not one sacrifice is asked for or provided.

Lasting the distance Deep friendships between men can weather many storms, sometimes even more than those between women. For one thing, the expectations men have of each other are much less demanding and the slack they are prepared to cut for each other is much more. But this does not make the bond tenuous in the least. Men are, in fact, far more tolerant of their friends’ irrationalities than they are of those of their wife and children and I have known this phenomenon to cause serious marital disharmony. Also, they seem to tolerate each others’ boundary violations better, sometimes to incomprehensible extents. One reason for this is that men are able to relate to each others’ foibles with greater empathy and when they forgive or tolerate a friend’s imperfections, they are actually vicariously forgiving and tolerating their own. However, they may not give their women friends the same leeway.

There is no basis to the popular belief that when a man loves another man, a homoerotic element must be present, unless one or both men are gay. In fact, it is the absence of a sexual substrate that actually gives the male bond all the characteristics described earlier. The quality of male friendships is slowly showing subtle changes, at least in metropolitan India. Even if they’re still activity-centred, they are becoming more communicative, expressive and articulate.

To me, this says that the urban Indian man seems to finally feel more and more legitimate about the male bond. And that can’t be a bad thing at all!-Hindu

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Indo American News

Straight Up

Food Talk

End of Regional Indian Cuisine?

By Vir Sanghvi The folks at McCain, best known for frozen French fries (about which I have written before) sent me a packet of their newest product.

When I saw the package I was a little surprised. While McCain has an admirable record of innovation (alu tikkis as well as frozen hash browns) the new product had nothing at all to do with McCain’s traditional potato-based lines. It was a frozen idli.

The concept of an instant idli is not alien to us. But most times, all we get is the idli batter in some kind of packet. We still have to shape and steam the idlis ourselves. I have seen frozen idlis abroad but by the time you have defrosted them, the texture is shot to hell.

The McCain frozen idli is different. You take the packet out of the freezer, put a frozen idli in water for 30 seconds and then heat it in the microwave for two-anda-half minutes. By the time you open the microwave door, the idli has puffed up and seems identical to the sort of dish you are served at Woodlands or Sagar.

Of course, when it comes to idlis, appearances are not everything.

Taste and texture are more important. So, it was with a degree of skepticism, that I put the idli into my mouth. While it was hardly the equivalent of an idli freshly made at home by a skilled cook, it was still perfectly acceptable.

I served a couple of idlis (with chutney) without mentioning that they were frozen. The people who ate them assumed that they had been procured from a nearby restaurant. Nobody thought they tasted odd and somebody even remarked how much better they were than the terrible idlis from our canteen. I can see the McCain idli catching on just as the alu tikkis and the hash browns have.

In fact, each time I go to the market I am astonished by the kinds of pre-packaged foods that are now available in India (or at least in the big cities). There are, of course, the global dishes that are now sold in our country.

But there are also many dishes that are packaged specially for the

Indian market. You get most kinds of Indian food in frozen form and you also get the ready-to-eat (no refrigeration required) Kitchens Of India packages which allow you

to serve excellent Butter Chicken and the like at home. The Dal Bukhara is such a favourite that many NRI friends and relatives of mine take back dozens of packets.

Then, there are the refrigerated foods that are almost ready to eat. Each time I go to Defence Colony market I am astonished to find more and more (artisanal rather than industrial) foods that are nearly ready to serve.

You can buy every kind of kebab, chop or cutlet there. All you need to do, in most cases, is pop them into the microwave or fry them on the tawa for a few minutes.

If even this minimal effort in the kitchen is too much for you, there are other options. Every morning, when I open my newspapers and fight through the ads that have taken over Page 1 to find the real front page or struggle to hold the paper given that the advertiserfunded so-called Page 1 is only a third of the normal size and therefore impossible to grip, I am further annoyed by the rubbishy leaflets and flyers that tumble out of the paper.

Most times, these flyers have been inserted by the newspaper vendor and consist of menus for takeaway restaurants. Takeaway food is not a new concept (some kind of waiters-on-wheels operation exists in most Indian cities) and most of us have ordered takeout at home at some point. But takeaway from restaurants always costs a lot because restaurant prices take into account rents, air-conditioning, waiters’ salaries, cost of cutlery and crockery etc. So effectively, when you order takeout, you are paying for restaurant facilities that you do not enjoy.

All over the world, there now exist takeaway restaurants which consist of no more than a kitchen and a counter (and just possibly a few tables) which survive on sending out meals at prices that are between a third to two-thirds cheaper than restaurant meals. That trend has now arrived in India. Consequently, it is possible to order takeout every

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night in most Indian cities without going bankrupt.

Both these trends – packaged food and the takeaway boom – mean that young people no longer need to worry too much about cooking when they come home. You can either phone for food and be sure that it will be at your doorstep in half-an-hour. Or you can spend only ten minutes in the kitchen and turn out an elaborate meal that includes Dum Pukht biryani, Dal Bukhara and Chicken Tikka. - Hindustan Times.

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strai g h t up f oo d ta l k

Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

Spicy Rava Dosa Mix rava, maida, and rice flour in water to make slightly watery batter mix.

Add all the other ingredients except oil, to the above batter.

Keep this batter in room temperature for atleast 20 minutes before making dosas.

Ingredients: 1 cup rava 1 cup maida 1/2 cup rice flour 1 teaspoon mustard 2 teaspoons cumin seeds 1 teaspoon black pepper 10 cashews Handful of diced small onions 3 green chillies chopped fine 4 tablespoons of oil • bunch of curry leaves • salt as per requirement Making the Batter 1. Take a medium sized vessel for the preparation of batter.

2. Add equal amounts of rava and maida to the vessel. ie if 1 cup of rava is taken , add same amount of maida also.

3. Add 3 teaspoons of rice flour to the mixture. This is added to make the dosa crispy. (This step is optional).

4. Now add water to the mixture in the vessel. Add water in the ratio of 1 : 3.

5. Stir the mixture well. See to that the batter is not thick. It should flow.Also there should not be any lumps.

Adding to the flavor Now keep a frying pan over the stove. Heat the pan in mild flame. Add 4 teaspoons of oil to it.

Add 1 teaspoon of mustard , 2 teaspoon of cumin seed, 1 teaspoon of black pepper to the oil when it is hot. Also add a handful of curry leaves to the oil.

Add a handful of cut onions and 3 cut green chillies to it.

When onion has turned golden brown , pour the entire stuff into the batter prepared earlier.

You may also add cashews in this step. We are almost done.

Heat the tava or dosa pan in mild flame. Rub the pan thoroughly with few drops of oil using a piece of cloth. Add the batter to the tava in a circular shape using a small cup and make dosas. The dosa will not be a perfect circle and will have pores. Well that is rava dosa.

Apply some oil or ghee around it to help loosen it. When the dosa is golden yellow brown , turn it the other side. Have this dosa with sugar or honey or chutney ,pachadi or sambar.

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S trai g h t up f oo d ta l k

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Get Your Mouth Around This: World’s Biggest Hamburger Try getting your mouth around this. The humble burger on a weighing scale measures 590 juicy pounds. Barbecue master Ted Reader created the 590-pound behemoth burger in downtown Toronto, using enough meat to make 2,360 quarter pounders. Reader spent six hours sizzling up the 300-plus pound beef patty, which was then tucked into a 105-pound bun and topped with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, onions, pickles and barbecue sauce.

By Jennifer Lawinski A Canadian chef tried to set a new world record earlier this month by grilling up what he hopes is the world’s largest hamburger, the Toronto Sun reported.

Barbecue master Ted Reader created the 590-pound behemoth burger in downtown Toronto, using enough meat to make 2,360 quarter pounders.

Reader spent six hours sizzling up the 300-plus pound beef patty, which was then tucked into a 105-pound bun and topped with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, red onions, pickles and barbecue sauce, the Sun reported.

“I’m amazed that we got it out of the grill and onto the bun,” Reader told the paper. “That was the whole trickiness to it, but it held together, it’s edible, it’s delicious.”

Reader told the Sun he didn’t care if he actually broke the Guinness World Record for burgers of unusual size.

“Whether they say ‘yea’ or they say ‘nay’, I don’t care.

We built it, now we’re going to serve it,” he said. “We tried to do all the checks and balances and make sure we followed the rules. Let’s hope they go, ‘Yea’.”

The standing “world’s largest burger” weighs in at a measly 185.8 pounds.

The burger was auctioned off, raising $8,500 Canadian to benefit Camp Bucko, an Ontario-based camp for children with burn injuries, the Sun reported. Slashfood / Photo: Mike McColl / WENN

Quick & Easy Indian Cooking

By Marissa McClellan Before I spent a year living with an Indian roommate, I had always though of Indian food as something you only ate in a restaurant. I was intimidated by the spices, the toasting and grinding, and the general foreignness of it. However living with Madhu for 11 months made me far more comfortable with Indian food, and when he moved out, I decided that I needed to get an Indian cookbook to continue my education.

Standing in the aisles of the bookstore, I settled on this volume, Quick & Easy Indian Cooking, by the first lady of Indian cookbooks, Madhur Jaffrey. I’ve found this book to be totally accessible and written in a voice that invites you to continue reading, even after you’ve studied the recipe you’re planning for that moment. Everything I’ve made has turned out well and has been so delicious that I was momentarily stunned that I had produced it in my own kitchen. If

you want to explore Indian cooking, this book is a great starting place. Cookbook Review • Slashfood

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Babulbhai

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india

Indo American News • Friday, June 04 , 2010

In Kollywood, It’s the Season of the Tri-Lingual Film

By S. Aishwarya This year has been significant for Kollywood filmmakers in more ways than one. Apart from successfully experimenting with some nevertried-before genres, they also laid emphasis on making multi-lingual films.

A bunch of films were made in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi and released simultaneously. Producers redefined the boundaries and realised that markets are not all about Chennai and tier-two and three-tier cities in the State.

The trend is only expected to gather momentum further as four movies, to be released one after another in quick succession, will draw the attention of Tamil, Telugu and Hindi film lovers alike.

The much-talked-about among them is Mani Ratnam's Raavanan (Raavan in Hindi) that will be dubbed into Telugu. The film, which will see a simultaneous release in Bollywood, Kollywood and Tollywood, is expected to be a big draw, given the mythological storyline it is based on.

Following Raavanan will be Ram Gopal Varma's Rakthacharithra, a movie primarily made in Hindi, with Suriya and Vivek Oberoi as lead actors. The film, to be dubbed in Tamil and Telugu, is being promoted across the three States. A.R. Murugadoss, who made Ghajini a box-office hit in both Tamil and Hindi, is coming up with a tri-lingual film ‘Ezhaam Arivu' with Suriya in the lead.

Last month, the promotional initiatives of Vivek Oberoi's action-thriller Prince created buzz. Media interactions with the actor were organised in several places of the State, including Tiruchi and Madurai. Though the film bombed at the box-office, it took Bollywood actors to the screens of smaller cities.

G. Dhananjayan, film chronicler and Chief

Executive Officer, Moser Baer Entertainment, says success of such across-the-state releases depends entirely on the cast and storyline.

“Raavan is an economically smart project.

Mani Ratnam has chosen appropriate cast for Tamil and Hindi versions and shot it simultaneously to shrink the budget,” he explains. While projects such as Raavan might work, Prince, he said, was “failed concept.” With Vivek Oberoi being entirely new to the Tamil audience, introducing him through an action-thriller did not help, despite the wide-spread publicity drive.

“Rakthacharithra will succeed if it appeals to the sentiments to Tamil audience. Suriya is a key marketing factor for the film,” he said.

While the Tamil film industry is strengthening its ties with Bollywood, sources say that the connection with Telugu film industry has been there since the early years of cinema. The first talkie in the state ‘Kalidas,' was a Tamil-Telugu film and since then, many films were remade into both languages. “The industries are integrated with common producers and actors,” Mr. Dhananjayan said.

‘Editor' Mohan, a producer popular for his Tamil-Telugu remakes and dubbed releases, says simultaneous releases in more than one language have become a regular affair as they are economically viable.

“Remaking a film after the release will be a gamble. If the film fails to do well in one language, its value goes down,” he explains.

Story and the popularity of the actors are key aspects for success of remade films, says Mohan, who was the first to dub a Malayalam film into Tamil.

As a Tamil and Telugu distributor puts it, “Tamil films have been the source of inspiration for many Bollywood movies. Even the recent films such as Housefull and Kambakth

Top: A Promotional Still of Raavan with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan Right: A poster of Raavan starring Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Vikram

Ishq were loosely based on Tamil subjects.

Creativity is high mainly in Tamil cinema. So it is not surprising to see Tamil filmmakers rolling out their films in Hindi markets and succeeding in their attempts.” Hindu

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E N T E R T AIN M E N T

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Asia in Search of Its Own JK Rowling

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Publishers and authors are looking for that little bit of magic that could see Asia produce the next JK Rowling.

The British writer's best-selling series about boy wizard Harry Potter found millions of readers in Asia, but no Asian author of children's books has made a similar breakthrough in the West.

With more than half the world's population, high literacy rates, increasingly affluent consumers and a rich storytelling tradition, Asia is a growth market, a publishing festival in Singapore heard this month.

But western authors continue to dominate bestseller lists in the region, and Asian writers often have to get recognised first in the United States or Europe before being appreciated back home.

"I have a feeling that the time now is quite ripe for Asian books to start moving," said Indian writer Anushka Ravishankar, who attended the Asian Festival of Children's Content in Singapore.

"People are opening up more to multicultural experiences. It's taken longer to work the other way, but it will," she told AFP, referring to the prospect of a breakout Asian children's author who

will make it big worldwide.

Asian writers have made it to international bestseller lists include India's Arundhati Roy who wrote The God of Small Things, and Japan's Haruki Murakami, author

of Kafka on The Shore, but the region has yet to produce a worldfamous children's author.

The Harry Potter books published by Bloomsbury have been made into six movies, with distribution in over 200 territories and translations in 67 languages, according to Rowling's website.

The world media market, which includes books, was estimated by market research agency Datamonitor at 755 billion US dollars in 2009. Asia's share of the global

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media market is about a quarter of this, according to organisers of the Singapore publishing festival.

Trade magazine Publisher's Weekly sees Asia as a growth market for children's books, driven largely by China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, due to its increasing production of original titles and translations.

"The huge Asian presence at the Bologna Book Fair every year attests to the region's burgeoning children's segment and its appetite for deals, imports or exports," it said in a 2009 report, citing the world's largest children's bookfair.

Ravishankar, dubbed in reviews as “the Asian Dr Seuss” for her “nonsense verse” writing style, said cross-translations have to be stepped up to promote Asian works and enlarge the market.

"We just don’t have enough. We should probably be doing more translations from other languages into English and vice-versa. It’s a matter of reaching that critical mass and then things will start moving,” she said.

"We also need more stories about today's world and the problems that children face," said the English-language author, whose works have dealt with modern themes like conservation.

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INDIA

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Children’s Mythology in which Bheem Hits A Sixer

By Sreevatsa Nevatia Jai Damani, at 5, has a well-deserved reputation for precocity. But even so, his mother, Suchita, was surprised when, at admission time at a Mumbai school, his answer to the innocuous question “Have you

ever been to the beach?” took a sharp mythological turn. The kindergartener described in detail not just the time he had seen idols of Ganesha being immersed in the sea, he also regaled his audience mythological lore, revealing with great assurance,

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“Ganesha goes inside the water to be reunited with his mother Parvati”.

Suchita remembers asking herself, “How does he know this stuff?”

Once home, the DVD rack helped untangle the mystery. The 5-year-old had picked up most of his information from My Friend Ganesha, the part-animated, part-live action film that proved so popular that the producers released a third instalment earlier this year. “These films have a moral and children obviously catch on to that,” says Suchita.

Chandrika Behl can vouch for that.

Her 4-year-old, Samaira, didn’t just devour the Ramayana DVD (produced by Indo-Japanese firm Nippon Ramayana), but deeply enjoys temple visits and wards off nocturnal monsters by insisting on a bedtime story with a god as protagonist. Divine omnipresence has a distinctly materialist spin. Not just temple god and a celluloid action hero, Hanuman is also a birthday party theme, his gada given away to tiny tots as return presents. And bookstores are increasingly cluttered with tomes and comics that retell the epics for a contemporary audience.

Kiddie TV channels, meanwhile, are forsaking dubbed Japanese samurai thrillers for stories spun around Indian mythological characters. The gods, it seems, have never been so much in vogue.

The task of leading the mythology brigade charge has fallen on the unlikely but broad shoulders of Bheem, rather than the heroic Arjuna or Karna. In earlier TV avatars, he was just a hot-headed, brawny prince, but for the animated show Chhota Bheem, he has been made younger, pulled out of his dusty kingdom Hastinapur and thrown into the fictional village of Dholakpur, where he joins a motley crew of do-gooders to combat evil in T-20 cricket encounters and other such bravado-inspiring events. Last year, Turner Entertainment’s Pogo Channel, which airs Chhota Bheem,

was the most watched Indian kids’ channel whenever the show was on.

Vishnu Athreya, Hong Kong-based director of programmes at Turner Entertainments Networks Asia, says, “Chhota Bheem combines moral values with great storytelling. What you get as a consequence is India’s first animated character hero.”

But the focus, he goes on to elaborate, “is on storytelling and not religion”. This decoupling of the mythological from religiosity marks a significant shift from the 1980s when grandmothers, grandchildren in tow, would take off their slippers and sit in cross-legged devotion before TV sets to watch serialised epics by the

Ramanand Sagar factory. Now, they can watch Hanuman, almost always a cartoon, and on occasion a young mischief-monger, who can, with the help of animation, dodge bullets Matrix-like and fight monsters made of non-biodegradable waste.

Without that entertainment element, believes Avantika Madan, she would find it hard to get her three-year-old son Arhan to eat—and become, or so goes her daily spiel at mealtimes, “as strong as Chhota Bheem”. Avantika, who at one time conducted mythology-based storytelling classes for children, says, “The earlier lot of epic serials on TV weren’t able to compete with Power Rangers and other such stunt-friendly superheroes. We need these new fastpaced cartoons so that mythology is not left far behind.” Apart from TV and DVDs, Avantika recommends the new breed of strikingly illustrated mythological picture books compared to which, she says, “Amar Chitra

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Top: A promotional still from Chhota Bheem Bottom: Chandrika Behl reading with her daughter Samaira

Katha definitely loses out”.

A great many of today’s adults who grew up on “ACK” would be disappointed by such a casual dismissal of the comic series. Indeed, so would their creator, Anant Pai, who still vividly recalls what made him put pen to paper and draw almost every known Hindu mythological story. “It was February 1967,” says the octogenarian, “and I was walking down Delhi’s Ajmal Khan Road. In a shop window, I saw a little TV, and there was a quiz contest on. The five students participating all answered a question about Greek mythology, but not one of them knew what Rama’s mother was called. I knew something had to be done.”

Pai did fulfil his mission, modern comic book creators acknowledge, but for many he is yesterday’s mythological storyteller. They yearn to break away from the shackles of linear storytelling, indeed from the shadow of Pai himself. Karan Vir Arora, editor-in-chief of Vimanika Comics, says, “We wouldn’t even exist without ACK. But let’s face it, the artwork lacked imagination, the stories were a retelling of the scriptures. To appeal to the youth, you need a much larger canvas.” - Outlook

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India

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Gujarat Woman to Deliver Triplets for Daughter

By Vijaysinh Parmar RAJKOT: Shobhana Chavda (47) is all set to give her daughter a unique gift. She lent her womb for her daughter Bhavika (26). And, soon Chavda will give birth to her daughter’s children — not one but triplets.

The surrogacy is being facilitated by Dr Purnima Nadkarni of Surat.

Bhavika married Saurabh Kathvadia (28) six years ago. Before marriage, Saurabh, a businessman, knew she would not be able to conceive. He said, "When we fell in love and got married I knew that Bhavika was born without a uterus.

Initially, we considered adoption. But when we came to know of surrogacy two years ago,

we approached Dr Purnima, who helped us."

After they had taken the decision, the couple started screening for surrogate mothers, but they all came at a price.

"While we were at it, my mother-in-law told us she wanted to become Bhavika’s surrogate.

We were surprised and happy at the same time," he said.

Chavda, a mother of four herself, said, "I consider it to be the biggest gift I could give to my daughter." Bhavika is at a loss for words.

"What can I say? I have no words to describe what my mother is doing for me."

Dr Nadkarni, who runs an infertility clinic in Surat, said it is rare for a mother to offer her womb to her daughter and bear triplets.- TNN

Death at First Site Tired of your facebook ID? Now you get a chance to kill it by committing ‘virtual suicide’, a trend becoming popular online. Seppukoo.com, a website created by an Italian art group, as a counter to Facebook, plays on the Japanese tradition of ‘honourable suicide’.

Currently over 100 Facebook users, several of whom are Indians, commit virtual suicide every nine hours on Seppukoo.

Once a user opts for this, Seppukoo hacks into Facebook and deactivates the user’s account. At the same time the user can write ‘Last Words’ on his Seppukoo Memorial Page where friends and family can also leave comments. Users of the site gain points by encouraging former Facebook friends to fol-

low suit.

An official statement on the site explains that Seppukoo “subverts social networking by disconnecting people” from each other and “transforming the individual suicide experience into an exciting ‘social’ experience.” Despite its increasing popularity, many are not impressed. “This is rubbish.

Why would I want to commit ‘suicide’, even virtually? The whole idea is just absurd,” says Raashi, a networking addict.

However, Abhinav R, a student says, “I recommend this to my friends who are addicted to Facebook. They need to see life beyond social networking.”

- Agencies

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Ajmal Shahazad May Debut for England vs. Bangladesh LONDON (Cricinfo): Ajmal Shahzad could be in line to make his Test debut against Bangladesh at Old Trafford on Friday, following the foot injury to Tim Bresnan that ruled him out of the reckoning and created a fast-bowling vacancy in the side that won the first Test at Lord’s by eight wickets on Monday.

Shahzad faces competition from Ryan Sidebottom, who was called into the squad following the announcement of Bresnan’s stress fracture on Tuesday, but having toured Bangladesh without being given an opportunity to play in either of the Tests at Dhaka or Chittagong, Shahzad is hopeful that this time he’ll get his chance to impress.

“I’m ready to go, if the nod is given to me. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” Shahzad told reporters at Old Trafford. “I hadn’t been involved with the England circuit at all, apart from with the performance programme in South Africa, so it was a big hit for me [to be picked to go to Bangladesh last winter] - and I really enjoyed it out there.

“It was difficult conditions and made me wake up and think ‘not all wickets are going to be bouncy, quick - and it’s not always going to swing and seam’. You have to put some hard graft in and work at other areas of your game. I’ve learned a lot from being there and in the West Indies. I’ve got stronger shoulders from carrying drinks - but I’ve learned a lot ‘up here’.”

If he does get to play, Shahzad is aware

that all the focus will be on his colleague, Steven Finn, who ripped through Bangladesh with nine wickets at Lord’s, and seems sure to be promoted to take the new ball alongside James Anderson.

“Finny’s come on the scene and performed superbly well,” said Shahzad.

“Obviously, with his extra height, he’s got something to offer that Andy [Flower] likes. I’ve seen the boys progress, and what it takes at international level. So I know what I need to do. I think the only way I can really do that is Ajmal Shahzad toured Bangladesh in March but is still out there on the waiting for his Test debut. pitch.”

With the notable exception of Finn, Flower was critical of the performance of England’s bowlers at Lord’s, but seeing as many of the squad went into the match straight off the back of their successful World Twenty20 campaign in the Caribbean, a bit of five-day rustiness was inevitable.

“We have just come off the back of a one-day competition so it will always be difficult to adjust,” said Shahzad.

“There has

not been a lot of red ball practice, but we saw Jimmy [Anderson] coming into a rhythm at the end of the first innings at Lord’s and Finny [Steven Finn] burst on to the scene and did very well. Bresnan had a bit of trouble but when he comes back from his injury he will be better for the experience.”

One of Shahzad’s early challenges could well be to keep Tamim Iqbal under control, after he lit up Lord’s with a thrilling 94-ball hundred during Bangladesh’s second innings. Shahzad has previous in that regard, having bagged Tamim for a first-over duck during his ODI debut at Chittagong in March, but is under no illusions about the task that could await him.

“I like the way he plays, and I would prefer someone to play like that rather than block against me,” he said. “It was nice to sit at home and watch him play. If I get the nod hopefully I can get him out early doors.”

Tamim, for his part, credited his coach, Jamie Siddons, for giving him the licence and the confidence to bat in his own unfettered style.

“When I started playing Test cricket I was in two minds whether to go slow or go fast - and originally I decided to go slow,” he said.

“It was not working for me. My first 10 Tests were not good - I think I only got two fifties. The coaches said to play like I do in the ODIs and enjoy my batting - ‘We will not say anything to you’. I know the way I bat sometimes looks fantastic, and sometimes looks ugly, but I am happy with the way I play my natural game.”

Sri Lanka Wallops Zimbabwe in Tri-Nation 1-Day Series

BULAWAYO: Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan cracked an unbeaten 60 to lead Sri Lanka to a comprehensive nine-wicket victory over Zimbabwe in a rain-curtailed one-dayer in the tri-nation series here on Tuesday.

Chasing 119 for a win from 26 overs, Dilshan took the inexperienced Zimbabwe bowlers to the cleaners with his 45-ball innings which contained seven fours and a six.

He was given able support by his opening partner Upul Tharanga (37-ball 40) as Sri Lanka romped home with 10.4 overs to spare at the Queens Sports Club here.

Earlier, off-spinner Suraj Randiv led a disciplined Sri Lankan bowling charge with three scalps to skittle Zimbabwe out for 118 in 24.5 overs after Dilshan inserted the home side.

The match was reduced to a 26-over affair after the start was delayed by more than four hours due to rain.

Tharanga and Dilshan, who stitched an 86run opening stand, almost clinched the issue for Sri Lanka, but the opening combo came to

an end when wicketbabwe had beaten keeper Brendan TayIndia on Friday lor found Tharanga in the tournament short of the crease in opener.

11th over. Tharanga Earlier, Randiv, cracked six fours who gave away 23 during his breezy inruns for the three nings. wickets, received Dinesh Chandigood support from mal (10 not out) Dilhara Fernando then paired up with (two for 26), AjanDilshan to complete tha Mendis (two the formalities as for 21) and Jeevan Sri Lanka reached Mendis (two for 119 for one in 15.2 12). overs.

Opener HamTuesday’s win ilton Masakadza Captain’s knock:Sri Lankan skipper Tillakaratne means that all the Dilshan led from the front as he put the Zimba- waged a lone batthree teams are on bwean bowlers to the sword. tle for Zimbabwe two points with a vicas his 62 off 69 tory each from two balls helped the host cross the 100-run mark matches. before being all out in 24.5 overs.

Sri Lanka had lost to India on Sunday. ZimMasakadza, who cracked four fours and a

six, was the only batsman to negotiate the disciplined Sri Lankan bowling.

Zimbabwe was off to a rather slow start as the first five overs yielded only 18 runs.

The host suffered an early blow when opener Taylor (2) was removed by paceman Fernando in the second over.

Greg Lamb (10) then joined Masakadza but spinner Ajantha Mendis struck just when the duo was trying to stitch a partnership. Lamb edged a turning delivery to square leg, where Jeevan Mendis ran backwards to take the catch.

Masakadza then found the company of Craig Ervine and the duo added 36 runs for the thirdwicket, although the latter’s contribution was only seven.

After Ervine fell prey to Ajantha Mendis, who scalped his second wicket, Charles Coventry contributed a run-a-ball 11 before Randiv removed him in the 16th over. From thereon, Sri Lankan bowlers took control of the match by taking advantage of the moisture on the pitch. — PTI

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Every Sunday satsang assembly accompanied by Santo with inspirational BAPS 281-765-BAPS (2277) talks & devotional bhajans from 4:30pm - 6:30pm followed by arati and mahaprasad. 281-765-BAPS (2277), www.houston.baps.org

Durga Bari Society Temple hours: Monday - Saturday: 9am- 11am and 4pm to 7pm; Sandhya Aarti 6.30pm. Sunday 9am- 7 pm. www.houstondurgabari.org, Champak 832-347-4003 Sadhu. • 13944 Schiller Road.

Hare Krishna Dham

Daily Darshan & Arati Times: 4.30am, 7am, 8.30am, 12noon, 4.30pm, 7pm, 9pm. See darshan live on www.iskconhouston.org. Sunday Festival: 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Located at 1320 West 34th St, Houston, TX 77018.

Hindu Worship Society Temple

Priest – “Bhibhdutt Mishra Ji”. Open for Darshan all days, except Thursday, from 8am -10am & 5pm - 8pm. Sunday 11:30am to 1:30pm – Regular Puja, Religious discourses and Prasad. Website www.hwst.org

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e n tert a i n me n t

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M.I.A: Music with a Political Message On the Grammy Awards in 2009, Maya Arulpragasam, also known as M.I.A., performed her biggest hit, “Paper Planes,” a rap song that infuses rebellious, defiant lyrics with the sounds of her native Sri Lanka, a riff lifted from the Clash, the bang-bang of a gun and the ka-ching of a cash register. Maya, as she is called, was nine months pregnant (to the day), and while she was onstage rapping about “some some some I some I murder, some I some I let go” — in a black skintight, body-stocking dress, she began to experience contractions. As the pain hit, Maya was performing with the male titans of rap (Jay-Z, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, T.I.). In contrast to, say, Bono or John Lennon, with their peacenik messages, Maya taps into her rage at the persecution of Tamils in Sri Lanka to espouse violence.

Although her publicist had a wheelchair ready and a midwife on call, Maya, who has a deep and instinctive affinity for the provocative, knew that this Grammy moment was not to be missed. It had everything: artistic credibility, high drama, a massive audience. The baby would just have to wait.

Three days later, her son, Ikhyd (pronounced I-kid) Edgar Arular Bronf­man, was born. His father is Maya’s fiancé, Ben Bronfman, son of the Warner Music Group chief executive and Seagram’s heir Edgar Bronfman Jr. Maya is surprisingly petite and ladylike, with beautiful almond-shaped dark brown eyes and full lips that she painted a deep red the day we met. Maya has a unique tomboy-meets-ghettofabulous-meets-exotic-princess look that, like her music, manages to combine sexy elements “A month after the Grammys, all this stuff was happening in Sri Lanka” — the Tamil insurgency was being defeated amid reports of thousands of civilian casualties — “and I started speaking up against it. And then, within a month, I found out my house was being bugged, my phones were being tapped and my e-mails were being hacked into. I was getting death threats, like ‘hope your baby dies.’

The biggest Sinhalese community is in Santa Monica, people who are sworn enemies of the Tamils, which is me.” Maya says. “Jimmy Iovine, who runs Interscope, my record company, said, ‘Pick your battles carefully — don’t put your life at risk,’ but at the end of the day, I don’t see how you can shut up and just enjoy success when other people who don’t have the fame or the luxury to rent security guards are suffering.

What the hell do they do? They just die.”

Maya’s political fervor stems from her upbringing. Although she was born in London, her family moved back to Sri Lanka when she was 6 months old, to a country torn by fighting between the Tamil Hindu minority and the Sinhalese Buddhist majority. In the ’70s, her father, Arular, helped found the Tamil militant group EROS (Eelam Revolutionary Organization of Students), trained with the P.L.O. in Lebanon

and spearheaded a movement to create an independent Tamil state in the north and east of the country. EROS was eventually overwhelmed by a stronger and more vicious militant group, the Tamil Tigers. In their struggle for political control, the Tigers not only went after government troops and Sinhalese civilians but also their own people, including Tamil women and children. “The Tigers ruled the people under them with an iron fist,”Ahilan Kadirgamar at Sri

this conflict. The Tigers were killing people, and the government was killing people. It was a brutal war, and M.I.A. had a role in putting the Tigers on the map. She doesn’t seem to know the complexity of what these groups do.”

But many of her fans didn’t listen too closely to her lyrics, concentrating instead on the beat, the newness of the sound and her own multiculti, many-layered appeal. She was an instant indie darling (although “Arular” sold only 190,000

Lanka Democracy Forum told me. “They used mafia­like tactics, and they would forcefully recruit child soldiers. Maya’s father was never with the Tigers. He stayed away.”

In 1983, when she was 8, Maya, her mother and her two siblings moved to London. Her father stayed in Sri Lanka. Throughout her music career, which began in 2004, and especially around the time of the Grammys, Maya has used the spotlight to call attention to Tamil grievances. She named her first album “Arular,” after her father. Even though her father was not a Tiger, she also used tigers on her Web site and her album artwork and she favored tiger-striped clothing.

This was not an accident. By the time her first album came out, the Tamil cause was mostly synonymous with the cause of the Tamil Tigers.

Maya, committed to the cause, allied herself with the group despite its consistent use of terror tactics, which included systematic massacres of Sinhalese villagers. (In turn, government forces were known to retaliate against Tamil villages and were accused of supporting death squads.)

In the press, Maya was labeled a terrorist sympathizer by some; others charged her with being unsophisticated about the politics of Sri Lanka.

“People in exile tend to be more nationalistic,” Kadirgamar said. “And Maya took a very simplistic explanation of the problems between Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese government and the Tamils.

It’s very unfair when you condemn one side of

copies in the United States). Her songs were creative and abrasive in an intoxicating way, and it didn’t hurt that Maya was absolutely great looking. She quickly became a style icon.

“Maya had all the pieces of the puzzle,” Jimmy Iovine, chairman of Interscope Records, told me. “When I met her, I thought, Who wouldn’t want to sign her? Her politics didn’t matter to me. The whole game is about waiting for that moment to move popular culture. Maya can move the needle. I want to go where she’s going to take me.”

Iovine may have instinctively realized that in fusing style, music and controversy, Maya evoked Madonna. While Madonna has always been more interested in writing melodious, catchy pop songs and less interested in niche hipster credibility than Maya, they share a gift for grand self-invention. Like Madonna, Maya is not a trained musician but instead a brilliant editor, able to pick and choose and bend the talents of others to fit her goals. They share an enormous appetite and a discerning eye for the intertwined worlds of fashion, art and music.

Maya is compelled by a violent separatist movement and the politics of resistance. Her allegiances have fueled her music and her rhetoric. In January 2009, while the civil war in Sri Lanka was raging, Maya repeatedly referred to the situation as a “genocide.”

Her rhetoric rankles Sri Lankan experts and human rights organizations, who are engaged

51

in the difficult task of helping to forge a viable model for national unity after decades of bitter fighting. “Maya is a talented artist,” Kadirgamar told me, echoing the sentiments of others, “but she only made the situation worse. What happened in Sri Lanka was not a genocide. To not be honest about that or the Tigers does more damage than good. When Maya does a polarizing interview, it doesn’t help the cause of justice.”

What Maya wants is nearly impossible to achieve: she wants to balance outrageous political statements with a luxe lifestyle; to be supersuccessful yet remain controversial; for style to merge with substance.

She also recorded a song, “O Saya,” with A. R. Rahman, a composer and perhaps the most powerful producer in India, that ended up on the “Slumdog Millionaire” soundtrack. “O Saya” was nominated for an Academy Award, and in 2009, she was to perform on the awards show.

“It was after Ikhyd was born,” Maya recalled, “and they told me they’d wheel in a bed and let me perform the song in bed.” She paused. She declined their offer when she found out that the televised song would be edited down to a minute. “It was too little time.”

After leaving Sri Lanka in 1983, her mother moved Maya and her brother and sister to Phipps Bridge Estate, a housing project, or council flat, in South London. It was rough. “We lived in a notoriously racist area called Mitcham,” Maya said. “It’s where all the skinheads lived. I was shot at for being a Tamil in Sri Lanka, and then, everyone was calling me a Paki in London, and I’m not even Pakistani. My mom sat me down and said, ‘When they call you that, tell them to sod off.’ ” When Maya arrived, she knew only two words in English, she says: “Michael” and “Jackson.” She learned English from the radio, television and newspapers. Her mother, Maya claims, got a job as a seamstress, hand-sewing on medals for the royal family. “She worked for the queen for 25 years,” Maya said. “And now, they’ve taken my mom’s U.S. visa away.

A 65-year-old woman is counted as a terrorist, and America supports that.”

When she was a child, Maya sat under the table while her mother sewed and caught fabric scraps as they fell. Her father remained in Sri Lanka (whenever they saw each other, he was introduced to Maya as her uncle, so that the children wouldn’t inadvertently reveal his identity). Maya claims that she has not seen him in years.

Even though she had a record out, Maya had never performed. “In 2004, I went onstage for the first time,” she said. “They put a mike in my hand and pushed me out the door into the crowd. I did the three songs I had recorded and got out. It was the worst day of my life.” But it didn’t stop her: she has always been focused.

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