Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 2, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com P11 NewsAmIndoerican www.indoamerican-news.com 2470 Dairy Ashford, Houston, TX 77077 • 713.789.NEWS (6397) • indoamericannews@yahoo.com Special CommunityReportsBriefsLocalPolitics South Asians in the News Published weekly from Houston, TX W E D D I N G S , S P E C I A L E V E N T S , T E N T E D E V E N T S , O U T D O O R C O U R T Y A R D 3 3 3 0 F M 1 4 6 3 | K a t y , T X 7 7 4 9 4 | 8 3 2 . 8 5 5 . 5 5 2 0 | p a l m r o y a l v i l l a . c o m JLF Houston On-Ground ISKCON and Hindus of Greater Houston Celebrate Shri Krishna Janmashtami Friday, September 2, 2022 | Vol. 41, No. 35 $1 P2This year, ISKCON of Houston, celebrated the auspicious occasion – Janmasthami (Lord Krishna’s Appearance Day) in a huge way, with midnight aarti (worship), inspiring kirtans, enlivening children’s costume contest coordinated by Hindus of Greater Houston. Photos by K R Theijas ‘Liger’: Belly FlopP11Jaipur Literature Festival returns with the 5th edition of JLF Houston. Vijay Deverkonda-Ananya Pande starrer is cringe-worthy of mammoth proportions.
Third: Varenya Meka, Group C: First: Raman Soni, Second: Urvi Sandhe, Third: Kenisha Sonagera, Special idea: Ansh & Vansh Sarda
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Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 2, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 2, 20222 COMMUNITY Huge Celebration of Shri Krishna Janmashtami by ISKCON, HGH
Houston: This year, ISKCON of Houston, celebrated the aus picious occasion – Janmasthami (Lord Krishna’s Appearance Day) in a huge way, with midnight aarti (worship), inspiring kirtans, enliv ening children’s costume contest (coordinated by Hindus of Greater Houston), dancing and classical performances by local talent and organized by the world-renowned Mrs. Yamuna Srinidhi. No festival is complete at ISKCON unless delicious prasadam feast is served and enjoyed by everyone. Janmashtami is celebrated worldwide by the devotees of Lord Krishna as the most impor tant festival in the Vaishnava cal endar. Janmashtami is observed by fasts and feasts, sacred chants and Houston, 77055 hws.temple@gmail.com glorification of His holy name in the form of musical mantra medi tation, kirtan. As Friday midnight drew closer, devotees were roused to their feet by the soul stirring and ecstatic kirtan and aarti to welcome Their Lordships in all Their beauty and splendor. In addition, there were aartis at 7 pm and 9 pm – followed by the grand and special Abhisek for Sri Radha and Krishna. His Grace Radha Krishna Dasa en lightened the crowd of over 500 with a special message. Over 5000 people attended the events with the devotee com munity to celebrate the biggest gathering for the year. Everyone was ready to celebrate the festi val since for the past two years, it was missing. All experienced a cultural revo lution of the heart as they milled about the various tents in cluding the most popular – Baby Krishna Abhisek and Jhulan. With fresh ateesmadhava,SriLordships,decoratingflowerstheirSriRadhaNiladevogottohaveveryspecial viewing, or darshan, of the dei ties.We hope to see you at our future celebrations so that you too could experience the joy and wonder that was felt that night. Please vis it us at www.iskconhouston.org to keep up to date on all the festivals that occur right here in the heart of Houston.ISKCON of Houston and festi val organizers send their gratitude to Hindus of Greater Houston, volunteers and all donors. Jai Shri Krishna! Hare Krishna! Costume contest winners were Group A: First : Ziva Dangre, Sec ond: Krishna Singhaniya, Third: Arna Jagwani, Group B: First: Ro han Soni, Second: Rasika Thakur,
• Facebook: @hwstemple FOR PUJA INFORMATION, CALL PANDIT BHAWANI SHANKAR SHASTRI 832-278-0100 Jai Mata Di, May Maa Bless Us All & Keep Us Healthy Wed., August 31, 6:30 PM - 7:30PM WORSHIPHINDUSOCIETY M ATA D I C HOWKI S ATURDAY, O CTOBER 1, 5 PM - 9 PM followed by prasad Fall Upcoming Events W EEKLY P RO GfollowedRAMSby prasadEvery SUNDAY, 11 AM - 1 PM G ANESH CHATURTHI RAM CHARIT MANAS October 22-23, Midnight - Midnight personal prayers and above all, the
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PART 1. Education costs (Tu ition Plus Boarding) in the US have been growing consistently at the rate of 6-7% for the past 25 years. That means that educa tion costs are doubling every 9-10 years…(Remember the Rule of 72). Parents need to be aware of this and plan for an education fund at the earliest to let the power of compounding help them put their kids through college.
A long-time resident of Houston, Ash is also a proud Uof H Alumni with a background in Computer Science. This expertise developed into an IT Security & Managed Services Business which he has successfully run for the last 13 years. Ash is a constant learner and teacher, expanding his busi ness expertise into Real Estate and lately into the remarkable area of Financial Education. This – Edu cating families about Finance and the correct vehicles for growth, protection, and Tax Benefit strate gies – is his absolute passion.
Salil Patil is an Electrical Engi neer by profession getting his MS & MBA from Lamar University. He currently works in Oil & Gas as a Senior Instrumentation Man ager. Given his technical skills and phenomenal number crunching abilities, he dove headfirst into the area of Financial Education when the opportunity presented itself and has now made it his Plan B in life. He is the passionate team lead of the FEFAF group.
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 2, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 2, 20224 FINANCE SONY832-766-6662KOHLIYOURREALESTATEAGENT
Financial Education: Planning for Kids’ Education Funding
Let is first understand the con cept of Financial Aid or Scholar ships. Financial Aid is of two types namely:Merit based aid: This aid is strictly based on Student Achieve ments such Exceptionalas Scores is SAT/ACT/ APAwardsexams and placements in con testsScholarship or Talent search re cipientsMerit based aid for State Univer sities is even more competitive and limited to between $2500 to $5000 per year. Less than 20% students are eligible for this aid and only 0.3% qualify for a full “ride”. Students stand a better chance of getting Merit based aid from Pri vate universities and this helps to offset some of the cost difference between a State and Private Uni versityNeed Based Aid: This aid is based on the Family’s income and assets which are supposed to be filled out on the FAFSA (Free application Federal Student Aid) or the CSS (College Scholarship Services) profile. Family income and assets (parent and children) are filled out on the FAFSA (State Universities) and CSS Profile (Private Universities) and an Ex pected family contribution (EFC) is calculated on the basis of that. The difference between the Cost of Attendance (COA) and the EFC determines the need-based aid that a student is eligible for. Need based Aid comes in the formGrants-of: Free money and hence mostSubsidizedWorkdesirableStudy Loan @ 6% an nual interest wherein, the interest DOES NOT accrue until 6 months afterUnsubsidizedGraduation Loan @ 6% an nual interest wherein, the interest starts accruing from Day 1 Parents should aim to reduce their EFC to a minimum by al locating assets to the Excludable Buckets like Retirement accounts, Qualified Annuities and IGIP based investments. It was reported in 2018 that around $2.6B of federal aid went unclaimed because parents “thought” they were making too much money to qualify for it. “Too much to qualify” is a relative con cept when you compare tuition costs from Texas to say NY or CA. Regardless of the income, FAFSA or CSS applications should be done for every year that the kid goes to college. Parents should sit down with their kids to lay down the expectations of how their edu cation will be funded and be a part of the college selection process to support the means to pay for it. In PART 2 we shall talk about the COA and the EFC components and ways to reduce EFC and better our chances of getting need based aid.To conclude, my team and I are here to educate you on topics per By AsH MAlHotrA, sAlil PAtil
taining to personal finance, show you how to avail of some of these financial vehicles, and help you position yourselves with these vehicles. We are FEFAF - Fami lies Educating Families About Fi nancial success. Let our fantastic team of Financial Mentors expand your vision! Send in your ques tions or comments to me at am finins@gmail.com or text me at 832.723.9555. Let’s talk and dis cuss your financial goals and fill in the gaps in your financial educa tion and planning.
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stAFFord: Year after year, Indra vadan Trivedi, the man belovedly known as Masterji by many in the community, has brought out plays based on famous Hindu figures and historical events from India’s glorious past. His sets have al ways been ablaze with brilliant costumes and an abundance of actors who spend weeks rehears ing their steps and lines in good humor and passion. This year Masterji tackled the story of 16th century Pratap Singh I; popularly known as Maharana Pratap who was a king of Me war from the Sisodia dynasty. He has been called the first Freedom Fighter and became a folk hero for his resistance against the expan sion of the Mughal Empire un der Akbar using guerrilla war fare, which was inspirational for later rebels including Shivaji. Masterji played Maharana Prat ap and was fierceful looking in his black chain-link costume and twirling black mustache. The second half of the evening was the enacting of the popular comedic Gujarati play “Jivram Bhatt” written in 1871 by Dalpatram. The play tells the story of Ji varam Bhatt – also played onstage by Masterji - , who suffers from nyctalo pia (night blindness) but does not want people to know about it. When he visits his father-in-law’s house, he causes consider able difficulty and confu sion while trying in vain to hide his disability. Both the dramas were pre sented at the Old Stafford Civic Center on Consti tution Ave. on Saturday, August 27 and coincided with Masterji’s 75th birthday. Several well-known supporters of the arts and Masterji’s plays were in attendance, including Subhash and Sarojini Gupta; Stafford City Councilman Ken Mathew; Vijay Pallod; Madan Mohan of Vadtal Dham; Jasmeeta Singh; Mukund Gandhi and candidate for 240th Judicial District Court Judge Sur endaran Pattel. A cast of over 40 people who have worked with Masterji for years acted in the two plays and gave background support. Jas meeta Singh emceed the program with narration of the drama scenes and other items of the show. Stu dents of Aditi Dance School and Dipti Dave of the Nrityam School of Dance performed the beautiful dances while Hemant Dave sang melodious hit songs of Mohamed Rafi and Mukesh.
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 2, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 2, 20228 COMMUNITY For Advertising in Indo-American News call Jawahar Malhotra @ 713-789-6397 Pradeep Sulhan, P.C. Certified Public Accountant Over 25 years of experience 14340 Torrey Chase Blvd. | Suite 110 | Houston, Texas 77014 281-583-2993 | 281-580-8700 office@pspccpa.com| pradeep@pspccpa.com Call Sid or Pradeep By JAwAHAr MAlHotrA ®All rights reserved. No material herein or portions thereof may be published without the written consent of the publisher. Deadline for advertising and articles is 4 pm on Monday of each week. Please include self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of all unsolicited material. Published at 7457 Harwin Drive, Suite 212, Houston, Texas 77036.Tel:713-789-6397, email: indoamericannews@yahoo.com, website: www. indoamerican-news.com Indo American News Founder: dr. K.l. sindwAni PuBlisHer: JAwAHAr MAlHotrA editor: PrAMod KulKArni CorresPondent: sAnCHAli BAsu Masterji’s Play Brings Maharana Pratap & Jivram Bhatt to Life
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Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 2, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 2, 202210 *Financial Adviser offering investment advisory services through Eagle Strategies LLC, A Registered Investment Adviser. Registered Representative offering securities through NYLIFE Securities LLC-Member FINRA/ SIPC, A Licensed insurance Agency. Agent with New York Life Insurance Company. 3200 Southwest Freeway, Suite 1900, Houston, TX 77027 (713) California961-4545Insurance License # 0F53803smru#1711530FinancialAdviser*: Eagle Strategies LLC Life Member MDRT Ph:Website:281-221-5061/713-499-7670Fax:832-201-5394www.jesalzpatel.comJesalPatelARPC,CLTC,LUTCF Have you planned for your future? People don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan
By sHuBHrA GuPtA readies himself for his big break, which will allow him and his men tor (Ronit Roy) to make India proud in the global arena. That was the nutshell. Break ing it open, the age-old themes of fierce-mother-loving-son twin ning with macho chest-thumping sporty patriotism is used to roll out a cringe-fest of mammoth pro portions. What do you want first: character upon character dissing the stutterer for, wait, stuttering (yes, that’s right), or the romantic interest who is all set to compete for the most vapid, vacuous fe male character (Ananya Panday) in recent times, or a mother who roars louder than her son? It bog gles the mind that filmmakers still think today’s audiences are will ing to swallow utter rubbish in the name of entertainment. Where do they live?
The annual festival will feature award-winning poet, translator, and art historian Roberto Tejada in conversation with celebrated Indian poet and author Arundhathi Subramaniam and Executive Director of Inprint Rich Levy for a session where the two celebrated poets will take au diences on a journey through their work in poetry and prose. At another session titled ‘Inter sections: Searching Equity’, Dalit activist Guru Prakash Paswan will be in conversation with political commentator and writer Sunanda Vashisht discussing the wounds of history and the processes of re storative justice. His co-authored book, Makers of Modern Dalit History, features the inspiring ac counts of individuals who battled the divisive, discriminatory force of caste - their forms of protest, ac tivism, social reform, and legacyin contemporary India. Mathematician and novelist Ma nil Suri will be in conversation with Pakistani-American writer Maya Kanwal to discuss his latest book, The Big Bang of Numbers: How to Build the Universe Us ing Only Math that embarks on a mathematical origin story span ning the universe. Every year, the festival brings together a diverse mix of the world’s greatest writers, thinkers, humanitarians, politicians, busi ness leaders and entertainers on one stage reaching out to a wide audience worldwide. Making the festival more accessible this year, each session will be live-streamed on the exclusive virtual platform of the festival.
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‘Liger’: Cringe-fest of Mammoth Proportions
Send us the correct answer before Sept. 6, 2022. Email us at indoamericannews@yahoo.com. Please send us your solved Sudoku for your name to be published. Place a number in the empty boxes in such a way that each row across, each column down and each 9-box square contains all of the numbers from one to nine.
So, first off, in case you were wondering, ‘Liger’ is what you get when a lion and a tiger mate. Got it? Not really? Never mind, here’s a ready reckoner of what to expect from the new Vijay De verakonda flick, directed by Puri Jagannadh, made in Hindi and Telugu. Ready? Here you go. A kickboxer (Vijay Deverakonda) adorned by a series of boxer shorts and a bronzed, muscled chest, has a couple of markers — a mother (Ramya Krishnanstill in her shouty‘Bahubali’ mode), and a stutter. The mom is a latter-day Mother India type, full of fire and brimstone. The speech impairment may make Liger a slow speaker, but there’s nothing wrong with his cross-breed stripes. He jabs and kicks, feints and lunges, as
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-- IE Cast: Vijay Deverakonda, Anan ya Panday, Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy, Chunkey Pandey Houston: Teamwork Arts, pro ducer of the iconic annual Jaipur Literature Festival and the inter national extensions of JLF, returns with the 5th edition of JLF Hous ton on-ground this year, in part nership with Asia Society Texas, Inprint, University of Houston, India House and Pondicheri res taurant. Scheduled to take place from September 9th–10th 2022, spanning a wide genre of litera ture, this edition of the festival will blend South Asia’s unique literary heritage with the culture, diversity, and energy of the Bayou City. Award-winning writer, poet and academic Chitra Banerjee Diva karuni will be in conversation with academic and writer Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan at a session that explores the intangibles of memory and the texture of lived life through writing. During the session, Divakaruni will give a peek into the many words, legacies and memories that have formed her writing practice. At another session, Ragini Srinivasan will be in conversation with authors Sonal Kohli and Naheed Phiroze Patel. Naheed Phiroze Patel’s lat est book, Mirror Made of Rain, is a devastating coming-of-age nov el about the wounds of inherited trauma. Sonal Kohli’s book, The House Next to the Factory, charts three decades of a ‘rising’ India. The panel will take audiences on a journey through the stories, memories and histories their work navigates.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing more pleasurable than a masala movie done right. But there’s nothing new or fresh about the ingredients that go into the making of this film: mixed mar tial arts, snarling boxers, toughas-nail trainers, and the hero who will pulp everyone single-hand edly has been around of years. for years. This excuse-for-a-plot is filled with all kinds of outlandish situations; the treatment is beyond pathetic. The insensitive pokingfun-at-the-guy who stutters is downright distasteful (at one time he’s called a ‘stammering buffoon’ in the English subtitle), and the creation of the leading lady is not just a sexist misfire, it is positively Neanderthal.
JLF Houston is Back and On-Ground
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Kumud Athavale, Ramana Vadrevu, Krishna R. Vud dagiri, Sanchali Basu, Yudhveer Singh Bagga, Prabha Barvalia, Smayan Umesh Poojary, Ramesh Shah, Rithish Raakesh, Vishwam Rathod, Arup Gupta, Padmanabhan Subbier, Arup Gupta, Kirit Suthar, Divyan sh Sharma
ENTERTAINMENThe
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