Indo-American News: September 30, 2022

BAPS Donates $75K to Susan G. Komen Foundation via 2022 Walk-Run

Stafford: Over 2,100 partici pants came together at the pictur esque Sugar Land Town Square earlier this year, on April 24, to join In the Joy of Others: WalkRun 2022 that was organized by BAPS Charities. These enthusi astic participants were part of an even larger movement of walkers and runners at similar walkath ons organized in over 74 cities throughout the USA.

These events helped raise funds for national beneficiary Susan G.

Komen’s vital mission to save lives and invest in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer. In addition, the walkathon in the Greater Houston area also supported local beneficiaries, Be hind the Badge Charities and Stafford MSD Education Founda tion.

This past Friday, September 23, BAPS Charities hosted an engage ment at the BAPS Shri Swamina rayan Mandir in Stafford to recog nize the impactful and important

work of Susan G. Komen and other local beneficiaries. BAPS Charites presented a check for $75,000 to the Susan G. Komen foundation. The event was attended by over one hundred and fifty volunteers, contributors, beneficiary repre sentatives, and friends of BAPS Charities.

Dr. Purvi Desai shared on behalf of volunteers, “As a physician, I know all too well the devastation advanced breast cancer brings to not only the patient but to her

entire network of friends and fam ily.” She lauded Susan G. Komen to spearhead advances in cancer treatments and educate the com munity on early detection through annual exams and screening.

Sarah Rosales, VP of Corporate Partnerships for Susan G. Komen, shared personal narratives of breast cancer patients facing challenging circumstances with resolve and de termination. She noted that longstanding partnership is making an impact and thanked volunteers for

showing love and commitment through the incredible donation.

Mayor Cecil Willis Jr., from the City of Stafford, who was also in attendance noted, “We are glad to have BAPS Charities in our community. It is always great to see all the activities they carryout throughout the year.” The event concluded with dinner and con tinuing conversations amongst at tendees on the shared ethos of the “Spirit of Service” that inspires all to give back to their communities.

FCCRS Holds First Gala that Raises >$130K for Children’s Cancer Research & Support

Houston: It was a magical eve ning of Foundation for Childhood Cancer Research & Support’s first Gala with like-minded individu als who engaged in a meaningful conversation. It was an evening of toasting to a fantastic organiza tion, a chance to support a great cause, and a forum for building long-lasting relationships.

Over 300 people attended the first gala of the FCCRS. The foundation gives funds for much needed research to help find a cure for cancer as well as supporting families while they go through the difficult journey of cancer therapy.

FCCRS will donate $25,000 to Texas Children for CART Cell re search for brain Cancer and solid tumors.

Our 300 attendees were excited to have George Foreman (profes sional boxer, entrepreneur, min ister, author). The guest speaker was Dr. Sonbha Navai who is cur rently involved in pediatric cancer research at Texas Children’s Hos pital.

A beautiful dance performance proved to be emotional and mov ing. Featured dancer and chore ographer Sajid Jamal came from India to instruct the dancers. His participation proved invaluable.

Local children and adults partic ipated in the vibrant musical pro duction “Harmony & Happiness” produced by Keka Kar, president of Virtuosi of Performing Arts. The choreography was done by Sajid Jamal and Souvik Chakraborty.

The performance by the talented Sajid and Ranabir Saha, from New York, was exceptional.

Speeches were given by FCCRS

President Dr. Biswajit Kar; Dr. Adan Rios Oncologist,, Profes sor of Hematology and Oncology, McGovern School of Medicine, Houston who introduced George Foreman and Executive director of FCCRS, Capt. Satyajit Kar.

The Guest of Honor was George Foreman the American boxer who was twice world heavyweight champion (1973–74, 1994–95). He described his journey from the

Fifth Ward in Houston to winning the Gold Medal at the 1968 Mexi co City Olympics and later beating Joe Frazier for the Heavyweight Champion Title in 1973. He lost it in 1974 to Muhammad Ali but regained it in 1976 by beating Joe Frazier again. Foreman donated $20K for the fundraiser.

Keynote Speaker Dr. Shoba Na vai, Assistant Professor, Pediat ric Oncology at Texas Children’s Hospital and the Baylor College of Medicine spoke about treat ment for childhood cancers and how newer drugs are not coming on the market soon enough.

Event Chair Mr. Bobby Singh with group of volunteers Alpa Shah, Sheela Rao, Jasmeeta Singh started the fundraising drive while Ashok Rao kept the accounts. At the end of the evening, a total of $132,000 was raised. Dinner was served afterwards by Daawat Ca tering who also served the appetiz ers before curtain call.

Other highlights of the show was the induction of Dr. Sachin

Agarwal Oncologist, to the board, who made a heartwarming appeal for support to FCCRS. In addition, and as always, key donors to FC CRS, Satish Agarwal and his wife, the Bhutada family and Banke Bi hari family attended the fundraiser to show encouragement and soli darity to the cause.

The fundraiser gave its appre ciation to its many volunteers, including DJ and emcee Gor don Deltenre of PRP Entertain ment; High School students from Katy ISD, Fort bend ISD, Char ity League; event photography by Farhana Tropa; videography by Vijay Prajapati.

CGI Hosts Delegation from Indian Oil & Gas

Houston: The Consultate Gen eral of India hosted a dinner re ception for an Indian oil and gas industry delegation on Tuesday, September 27.

The delegation was in Houston to make a presentation on E&P Opportunities in India before a Houston Investors Meet on Sep tember 28-29. The delegation was led by Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas and included representatives of Directorate General of Hydro carbons (DGH), ONGC, Oil India, and Gail India.

Beneficiary recognition event, Stafford, Texas, 23 September 2022. Photo Credit: BAPS Charities

In the Joy of Others: Walk-Run 2022, Sugar Land, Texas, 24 April 2022. Photo Credit: BAPS Charities

Lto R: Chief guest George Foreman, FCCRS President Biswajit Kar, Keka Kar with volunteers Alpa Shah, Sheela Rao, Jasmeeta Singh and others.

At the Consulate reception, the delegation met with representa

tives of IACCGH and other busi ness leaders, and senior executives in the Houston oil industry and academia.

Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 30, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 30, 20222 COMMUNITY Pankaj Jain, Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas

IAPAC Holds Reception for Judges Lina Hidalgo and KP George

By JawaHar MalHotra, Pranav rao

Houston: In its continuing ef forts to educate the South Asian community about the political process in the Greater Houston area, the Indo American PAC held another reception on Thursday, September 22 evening for Har ris County Commissioners Court Judge Lina Hidalgo and for KP George, her equivalent in Ft Bend County. Both are Democrats run ning for re-election in November. The reception was held at India House after refreshments and drew about 60 people. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner regrettably was not able to attend due to a prior commitment.

Hidalgo spoke about her back ground as an immigrant who was born in Columbia, raised during the drug wars and left with her family leaving to seek safety in the US. She talked with admiration about KP George saying “immi grants come to the US for oppor tunity. People who oppose immi gration miss this point”.

Hidalgo talked about her goals for the county. She wants to invest in early childhood education and has made responding to climate change a key priority. She sup ports a strong public transit sys tem, wants to invest in broadband infrastructure and reduce home lessness by 20 percent. She even

wants to make the ballot available in Indian languages.

Referring to her Republican op ponent who accuses her of defund ing the police, Hidalgo responded that her goal is to “invest in poli cies that are just and work”. She said her opponent denied that Trump lost the 2020 election and wants to purge voter rolls while Republican County officials did not want to certify the elections.

Hidalgo stressed the need to keep stable individuals in office and keep government accountable. In that regard, she refuses to take contributions from people who do business with the County. On the subject of guns, she wants com mon sense gun reform at the state level and start a gun violence in terruption program on the county level; youth programs to prevent gun crimes, a gun buyback pro

gram; systems put in place to confiscate guns from perpetrators of domestic violence and to stop NRG stadium from holding gun shows.

KP George began by emphasiz ing that Fort Bend was the third fastest growing county in Texas, 13th in the US and most ethni cally diverse in the US. He spoke about his biggest achievement in establishing and expanding the Ft Bend Office of Emergency Management the need for which was illustrated by the experi ence of, and lack of, emergency

Job Posting

directions during Hurricane Har vey. It is a state-of-the-art building opened on June 3, and has made Fort Bend a regional leader in emergency management.

George emphasized that he was the first person of any color to be

come FB county judge and before him, people didn’t know what a county judge was. He said he has invested in youth internship pro gram in FB and wants to empower young people to get politically involved. He also announced that last Tuesday, $18 million was ap proved to make law enforcement pay more competitive.

He spoke about Ft Bend’s vac cination efforts, rent assistance, relief funds for small businesses during COVID and that the big gest problem during pandemic was Greg Abbott. George said that his strong immigrant background gives him the resiliency to preserve through criticism. He added that it was important to speak out about injustice and racism when asked what Indo-American’s should do to get more involved in politics.

Job ID 10019378

Job Description:

KTRK-TV, the ABC/Disney TV-owned station located in Houston, TX is looking for a full-time Multimedia Graphic Designer to join the Art De partment. Candidates should be extremely creative and cool under pres sure. Tight deadlines are the norm.

Serious candidates should be proficient in the Adobe Creative Suite and expert users in Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects. Knowledge in non-linear editing programs such as Adobe Premiere is also required, and 3D software knowledge is a plus.

Candidates need a complete understanding of social media and how to creatively reach that audience. Qualified candidates must have 3-5 years of graphic experience in a business environment and be creative selfstarters.

Responsibilities:

• Create graphics that appear on television, digital and social media, print, and out-of-home advertising

• Help manage the station’s social media accounts by creating and pub lishing content daily

• Creation of materials in support of all departments

• Ensure that ABC13’s branding and design standards are consistent across all materials

Basic Qualifications:

• 3 years of graphic design experience (This is not an entry-level graphic designer position)

• Portfolio of completed graphic designs and creative projects

• An ability to manage multiple projects and meet deadlines

• Creative thinker with attention to detail

• Strong knowledge and understanding of current trends in digital media/ social media

Required Qualifications:

Proficient in Adobe Creative Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Ef fects)

• Proficient and comfortable creating and publishing content on social media (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram)

• Must submit portfolio or link to portfolio upon applying

Required Education:

• High School Diploma

Preferred Education:

• Bachelor’s degree in graphic design or a related fine arts field

Interested Candidates:

• Apply online at disneycareers.com

• Req. ID: 10019378

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

Date posted Sep. 22, 2022

IAPAC members with Gene Wu (far left), Judges Lina Hidalgo and KP George (center).

Capacity

for

Annual 2022 Scholarship Fundraiser

Houston: The American Society of Indian Engineers and Architects hosted its Scholarship Fundraiser event in-person on Thursday, Sep tember 22 at the Hyatt Regency West Houston. With support from the event sponsor, corporate spon sors and attendees the ASIE’s is continuing its tradition of the An nual Scholarship program, started in 1998. This year’s fundraiser helped raise funds for scholarships to be awarded during the ASIE’s Annual Holiday event, set for No vember.

The evening started with a net working hour that allowed at tendees to meet and network prior to the main event. ASIE’s 2022 President Raghu Veturi kicked-off the event with a welcome speech

to a bustling room of over 250 attendees from the engineering and architectural community of Houston. Over 40 firms, including several major ones with a local, re gional, national, and international presence, were in attendance for the evening.

The President’s speech was fol lowed by dinner. While guests continued to enjoy their meals, ASIE Vice President Vishakha Kaushik welcomed and introduced the guest speaker of the night, Car ol Ellinger Haddock, P.E., Director of Houston Public Works . Had dock shared an overview of Hous ton Public Works and her vision for “ CREATING A RESILIENT HOUSTON”.

ASIE’s Secretary Aravind Nim

ma closed the event recogniz ing the volunteers from the ASIE Board of Directors and Executive Committee who put in lots of be hind the scenes effort to make this event happen and the corporate sponsors who have provided spon sorships for a great cause to help local engineering and architectural students of Indian origin.

Every year ASIE awards schol arships to several students pur suing degrees in Engineering or Architecture. In 2021, ASIE awarded $20,500 towards the ASIE Scholarship Program to 18 well-deserving students. ASIE is

in their future endeavors. ASIE appreciates the scholarship donors for their encouragement, generos ity and continuous support.

The American Society of Indian Engineers and Architects (ASIE) is a networking platform for en gineers and architects of Indian origin. For the past 28 years, the non-profit organization has been helping the members to network with peers and experts, promoting volunteering opportunities and organizing professional events for improving technical and leader ship skills and to gain professional development hours.

very proud of all the Scholarship Winners and wishes them the best

ASIE Board with Houston Public Works Director (L to R: Raj Tanwani, Daya Dayananda, Raghu Veturi, Atri Sen, Tej Kour, Vishakha Kaushik, Apoorv Kumar, Aravind Nimma, Varenya Mehta, Karthik Balasubramaniam, Alok Shah

Houston Public Works Director Carol Haddock presenting at ASIE Scholarship Fundraiser Event

ASIE President Raghu Veturi

By Jyoti KulKarni

Houston: On Sept. 24, the Indo-Amer ican Association hosted Ustad Shujaat Khan’s “While My Sitar Gently Sings”, accompanied on tabla by Gourisankar and Nitin Mitta at the Stafford Performing Arts Center.

Shujaat Husain Khan is one of the great est North Indian musicians and sitar player of his generation. He belongs to the Im dadkhani gharana.

Shujaat started the concert with a beauti ful rendition of Raag Yaman. All through the performances, it was wonderful to lis ten to the musical dialog with his tabla ac companists. His gentle delivery of poetic verses made the evening enchanting to the audience.

Born in Calcutta, Shujaat Khan is the son of legendary sitar player Ustad Vilayat Khan. Shujaat Khan’s musical career began at the age of three when he began practicing on a specially made small sitar. By the age of six, he was recognized as a child prodigy and began formal performances. He is mar ried to Parveen Khan and their son Azaan is a music composer. His memorable appear ances include performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Royce Hall in Los Angeles and Congress Hall in Berlin.

IAA, a leading cultural arts organization, each year presents a season of cross-cultur al performances in the disciplines of music, dance, and drama in top venues in Houston. IAA enjoys a strong base of season patrons. Join today by becoming a patron at a level of your choice! Visit iaahouston.org.

2022 Mahatma Gandhi Week Speech Contest Participants Share Values

Houston: 2022 Mahatma Gan dhi Week Speech Contest was held at Arya Samaj Greater Houston on Saturday, September 24, 2022. In the picture you see participants, judges, and organizers.

Many know him as Mahatma and as Father of India. But the world knows him as an apostle of peace and non-violence. Anyone who ever wanted to know more about Gandhi ji and his values should have listened to the mesmerizing speeches delivered by children.

The event was held at Arya Samaj Greater Houston on Saturday Sep tember 24th during 17th annual Mahatma Gandhi Week Speech Contest 2022 as part of celebration of 153rd Gandhi Jayanti, birth an niversary of Mahatma Gandhi, as ‘1000 Lights for Peace’.

On this special occasion the topic for the Elementary school children was “How do I practice peace?” and for Middle School/ High School children was “How can I make the world a better place?”

Please do mark your calendar to come to Arya Samaj Greater Houston on Sunday, October 2, 2022, from 5 PM to 6.30 PM to listen to the inspiring winning speeches. 1000 Lights for Peace program consists of International Multicultural dance and music show dedicated to peace, and an award ceremony for the winners

of Mahatma Gandhi Week – 2022 Poster, iTribute, Essay and Speech Contests. For more information, please visit www.egmh.org

On September 24th, children came in early much before the 8:30 am time to register, for the Speech Contest held at Arya Sa maj Greater Houston. They came brimming with confidence, ready and eager to share their thoughts on the above topics.

The Elementary school children shared their thoughts from events such as ‘Russia / Ukraine war’ to ‘experiments and differences on lying vs not lying.’ A young

kid talked about getting her feet stomped but keeping calm and training her mind not to be violent, in retaliation. They talked about learning the techniques of medita tion and chanting Aum. The com mon theme was ‘Peace comes from within.’ Ishana Gautam was the winner in this category.

The Middle/High School chil dren not only shared their thoughts on the topic but came with solu tions. They articulated their solu tions for issues causing lack of peace such as pollution and bul lying. How their efforts and small acts such as giving compliments

to others and collecting trash and recycled items from the neighbor hood would be their contribution to making the world a better place.

Khushi Kawedia was the winner in this category.Some of the no table comments were: ‘Don’t need

money or influence to make world better,’ and ‘We don’t know our own planet entirely so money be ing spent to explore other planets should be utilized in first exploring our beautiful earth.’ Others talked about trees being cut and prevent ing forests being destroyed. Edu cating children, giving more time towards charity, putting smiles on their faces. They shared their real ization of not being able to change the world alone, however, they all can play a small role in making a substantial change.

The esteemed judges Robin Bulkley, Geeta Kadakia, Nitin Gulati, and Anuradha Nigam were amazed by the speakers, their con tent, delivery and not to mention their confidence. Our gratitude to the following volunteers, Karam Gupta, MC and coordinator of the contest, Jasmine Pirani, Time keeper, G.V. Krishnan, Video and photography, Rita Kothari, snacks, Rajan Chawla, and parents of the participants, for a successful event.

Last but not the least, many thanks to Arya Samaj Greater

Indian Film Festival to Honor Film Director Satyajit Ray

Houston: The Indian Film Fes tival of Houston (IFFH) has sev eral surprises in store, according to Sutapa Ghosh, Founder and Executive Director of the city’s annual cultural event. Celebrating its fourteenth anniversary, it will highlight the seventy-fifth year of India’s Independence. Called Aza di Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the country remembers the long struggle for freedom.

On August 15, 1947, the dream became a reality. Despite many struggles, and challenges, India has risen to become a modern na tion, as well as one of the largest democracies in the world, and its economy continues to grow.

Indian talents such as Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore who was a poet, philosopher, com poser, and painter became bet ter known around the globe. This year, the festival will honor anoth er multi-talented Indian, Satyajit Ray in the hundredth year of his birth. He is credited with bringing Indian Cinema to the world. The first film that he directed, Pather Panchali, won worldwide acclaim and awards. Throughout his ca reer, he was feted from Berlin to Cannes, San Francisco to Tokyo,

Acapulco to Auckland, and many places in between. Ray is general ly acknowledged to be one of the greatest filmmakers in the world. He often composed the score and wrote the lyrics in addition to writ ing the screenplays.

Houston audiences are in for a treat. On Saturday, October 15, 2022, they will see two of Ray’s feature films: Charulata (The Lonely Wife), and Shatranj Ke Khilari (The Chess Players). As in past years, the venue is the Asia Society Texas Center. Moodafar

uka will provide the music, while the Veranda Restaurant will serve food.

Special plans are in effect for the IFFH fifteenth anniversary. The date of the festival will move to February (23, 24, 25) starting in 2023. The three-day event will feature shorts, documentaries, and feature films. In addition, there will be entertainment, awards cer emony and a sit-down dinner.

Join us as we celebrate the world of Indian films. For more informa tion, visit https://iffhinc.org

Orientation for 40 Enthusiastic Students

Indo American News

Founder: dr. K.l. sindwani

PuBlisHer: JawaHar MalHotra

editor: PraMod KulKarni

CorresPondent: sanCHali Basu

TCC Taped Ball Spring Pro Tournament 2022: CSK Win, HCF Runners Up

Houston: Cypress Super Kings (CSK) won the TCC Profes sional division championship by dominating the playoffs. Houston Cricket Fighters (HCF) ended up as finalists after losing to CSK by 14 runs in a closely fought game. CSK lost the toss and was asked to bat first by HCF.

The openers Aravinthkumar Ga nesan (27) and Madhusudhan (12) got CSK off to a rapid start racing to 36 within the 4th over. Ashwin Ravi (24) anchored the innings with yet another masterful middle order batting display. A brilliant cameo from Sriram Sureshku mar (24), solid support from Vijai Prakash (13) and excellent selfless running from the lower order bats man helped CSK reach a defend able score of 126.

After a quick start from the HCF opening batsman, the CSK bowl ers simplified their game plan and stuck to a tight line and length to pull back the run rate below 6. This created a lot of pressure on the HCF batters leading to fall of wickets. Abhishek Ravi bowled an opening spell of 4 overs on the trot testing the batsman constantly and removed both the openers. The experienced Sriram Sureshkumar bowled tidily with an economy under 5 and picked up the crucial wicket of Mayur Patel to end up as the finals MVP. Saravanakumar Selvaraj, who was the pick of the bowlers on finals day, showed his class and guile to get HCF’s top batsman and prized scalp of Amit

Rathod and another to finish with a brace of wickets. Karthik Bh upathy – CSK’s very own “game changer” played an instrumental

thanks to a brilliant running catch at long on by Aravinthkumar and dismissed Srini Pathala to break HCF’s resistance. Ashwin Ravi,

also the TCC taped ball Spring 2022 Professional division MVP of the season, bowled aggressively through the middle and later pow erplay overs to deliver the title to CSK by getting rid of 2 quick wickets of back to back deliveries in the 11th over to give CSK the upper hand in the defense of 126. There was excellent comraderie between the two teams and the game was contested in a healthy manner.

The game was followed by a well organized presentation ceremony organized by Jagadish Biradar. Dinesh Kasiwal of Team Gladiators was thanked for voluntary work on scheduling. Adithya Balasubrama nian, the captain of CSK received the winner’s trophy and the run ners up trophy was collected by Amit Rathod, counterpart from HCF. Sriram Sureshkumar picked up the award for MVP of the finals and Ashwin Ravi took home the coveted Player of the Series award (351 runs and 14 wickets).

Other tournament awards were presented to Suyash Rai (best batsman with 266 runs), Omar Bangash (best bowler with 18 wickets), Saurabh Merai (best keeper with 35 catches), Chitrang Khatri (best all-rounder with 220 runs and 12 wickets), and special century award for Sadesh Chan dana and special hat-trick award for Robin Varghese and Sagar Puri. Online scorecard: https:// cricclubs.com/3T/viewScorecard. do?matchId=1190&clubId=8675

part in getting 2 important wick ets and bowled the difficult overs in the back end of the game. He got rid of the explosive Sunil Patel

‘Dhoka’: Enough to Drive You Around the Bend

By sHuBHra GuPta

Cast: R Madhavan, Khushali Kumar, Aparshakti Khurana, Dar shan Kumar

Director: Kookie Gulati

Rating: Half star

A ‘Lashkar-trained’ terrorist hid ing out in a Mumbai highrise finds himself in alarmingly close quar ters with a woman who doesn’t seem to be all there. Is she really delusional, or is it an act? Is her husband as straight-forward as he

appears to be? And what is the po liceman on the job trying to hide?

The film wants you to ask these questions, as it goes about cutting back and forth from the flat from where the fugitive is making de mands of money and a getaway vehicle, and the posse of cops down below, with a battery of TV reporters noisily standing by.

But within minutes of the open ing, you are driven towards a com pletely different set of questions: why would a woman who sudden

ly sees a stranger with a gun show no signs of being scared? She sa shays around, being flirty. Why is the terrorist so ready to fall for her? He makes puppy eyes back at her. What are those strange white pills hidden behind the toilet cis tern she is on? Who is that woman her husband is seen cosying with?

And finally, why has this film been made? Who has it been made for? It’s enough to drive anyone around the bend. -- Indian Ex press

‘Jahaan Char Yaar’: Swara Bhaskar’s Light-hearted Caper

Cast: Swara Bhaskar, Shikha Talsania, Meher Vij, Pooja Chopra, Girish Kulkarni, Manish Chadhari

Director: Kamal Pandey

Rating: 2.5 stars

Four women whooping it up in Goa, dumping deadening domes ticity, kicking their heels up: a one-line premise becomes quite a lark in ‘Jahaan Chaar Yaar’.

Shivangi (Bhaskar) is a much put-upon wife/ daughter-in-law/ sister-in-law who washes, cooks and cleans day in and day out. Neha (Shikha Talsania) is aware of her randy husband’s bit on the side but keeps ignoring it, hoping that one day he will reform. Saki na (Pooja Chopra) is tired of being the wronged party in the constant refrain of why-doesn’t-she-pro duce-babies put up by her po-faced mother-in-law. And Mansi (Meher Vij) is the fairy who helps spirit them away to faraway Goa, there to cut loose and frolic, and relive their fun-filled bachpan-ke-din.

What I liked was the way the plot builds in a few cheeky sur prises. And while the popping up of random characters is not as smoothly knit in as it could have, we are left wondering where it all is heading towards. A quick, illicit getaway for the four pals (haww, what if their grouchy spouses and in-laws find out) turns into a lighthearted caper which includes mur der, a bunch of kooky cops, and some intrigue..

The film does best when it is be ing silly, and the women, led from the front by Bhaskar, jump into it willingly. When they are having

fun (a blond, beefy type shows up to flash his wares), we are too: good to see actors look like real women with regular clothes and hurriedly done hair, actual waists

spilling over their saris, not pneu matic dolls flaunting their wash board abs, skin made flawless by make-up. Even when they are forced into clunky, forced situa tions, which tends to happen in the kind of comic capers this one is aiming for, we believe in them.

It’s when they start being lectured by a cop who thinks he knows everything (Girish Kulkarni, hilarious) that you roll your eyes. Why? Why should the man, and not the female cop who is alongside, tell the petri fied friends that men and women are equals, and to not be scared about coming clean to their fami lies about their little escapade? Why a lecture at all? Why should they be learning moral science les sons? Why not just keep having fun? -- Shubhra Gupta, IE

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.

Send us the correct answer before October 3, 2022. Email us at indoamericannews@yahoo.com. Please send us your solved Sudoku for your name to be published.

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