Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com P2 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 Hindu Youth Awards Jaipur Literary Festival Houston Returns In Person, Features Local Authors Friday, September 16, 2022 | Vol. 41, No. 37 $1 P2Authors featured at the 2022 in-person edition of the Jaipur Literary Festival in Houston included Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (left), Varsha Bajaj, Manil Suri with Anita Jaisinghani (photo on Page 2). IACAN 2022 Gala P7 Indian American Cancer Network (IACAN) hosted the “You can with IACAN” Gala 2022 on September 10. 75 youth were recognized for their service to the community at the Meenakshi Temple auditorium in Pearland.
Author Varsha Bajaj’s recent book, Thirst, is a poignant take on class, wealth and equity around the disparity of water in the sub urbs of Mumbai, India. In conver sation with writer and civic leader Andrea White, Bajaj discussed the asymmetrical patterns of resource access in a parched world. It was a session spanning continents, look ing at the repercussions of climate change and the misuse of water.
The Consulate General of India, Houston office provided steadfast support throughout. Finally, hearti est gratitude to Hindus of Greater Houston Patrons, sponsors, Board of Directors, Advisors and all the 42 Organization Leaders who nominated the Youth and made the event a grand success. Thank you, Houston Community, for your un stinted support and participation.
11th Annual HYA Honors 75 Hindu Youth as Part of 75th Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav
disciple of the 19th-century In dian mystic Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda’s path breaking speech at the World’s Parliament of Religions in 1893 introduced Hinduism to America.
LEFT: Group photo of the 75 award winners at the 11th Annual Hindu Youth Awards function held at the Meenakshi Temple in ABOVE:Pearland.75 sweets prepared as part of India’s 75th Independence Day -- Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav.
Houston: With bated breath, the literati of Houston awaited the in-person return of JLF Houston, September 9-10 with events at the Asia Society and India House.
The closing ceremony of JLF Houston was held at India House.
The mission of India House is to unite cultures, create bridges, and help the community by bringing in resources, education, services,
This year, JLF celebrated the unique culture, diversity, and en ergy of the Bayou City- on-ground in partnership with Asia Soci ety Texas, Inprint, University of Houston, India House and Pondi cheriTherestaurant.Houstonedition featured au thor Manil Suri, whose latest book is The Big Bang of Numbers Houston’s Chitra Banerjee Di vakaruni spoke about The Writer’s Life with Rice University profes sor Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan
The mission of Inprint is to in
is an ode to India’s rich culinary history. Chef Anita Jaisinghanifounder of the famed Pondicheri restaurant in Houston - paid hom age to the wisdom and techniques of Indian cooking at a session that evoked food, memory and a platter of cuisines. She was in conversa tion with Festival Producer Sanjoy KTheRoy.festival also featured a ses sion of Music and Remembrance with academic, historian, writer and classical singer Dr. Reba Som. Dr. Som took the audience on a melodic journey through Viveka nanda’s life and also spoke of one of his most cherished disciples, Margaret Noble, known to the world as Sister Nivedita. A chief
Jaipur Literary Festival Houston Returns In Person, Features Local Authors
Pearland: It was an outstanding and origi nal idea of the Past President of Hindus of Greater Houston, (HGH), Partha Krish naswamy, who sug gested to celebrate 75 Hindu youth this year, on the 75th year of In dia’s Independence. 75 youth were recognized for their service to the Community. This year Hindu Youth awards was held at the beauti ful Auditorium of Sri Meenakshi Temple in Pearland, Texas.
This unique event idea revital ized the enthusiasm of the Board of Directors to accomplish this humongous task with incred ible coordination. Each one of our Board members actively and right earnestly gave their time and full support. Yes, as always HGH fam ily is very fortunate to deliver their best.The Keynote speech by Partha S Ghosh’s strategist, thinker, and motivational speaker was so apt
for the occasion talking about Ve danta philosophy, how those tenets can drive better leaders and what traits a leader should have for the future.Most powerful and impactful speeches by the youth leaders Naisargi Jaiswal, President, Hindu Students Council and Somansh Agarwal, HGH Board member. These speeches were interspersed with beautiful cultural program by the youth of Houston through their schools.
The entrance to JLF Houston at Asia Society featured a large illustration of a Rajastani belle (left). Above: Sujoy Roy, producer of JLF Houston, introduced Houston Chef Anita Jaisinghani and her cookbook Masala. and Indian culture to Houstonians. The community-support programs include bi-monthly free food dis tribution through which we serve 400 families every month, a char ity volunteer clinic every Saturday treating about 350 individuals each year, free family law & im migration law consultations and free relationship coaching to indi viduals and Pondicherifamilies.Restaurant offers the complexities of Indian cuisine with leanings toward the ancient body of wisdom of Ayurveda, the magic of spices & the goodness of fresh, local Award-winningingredients.chefAnita Jais inghani’s cookbook Masala: Reci pes from India, the Land of Spices,
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 20222 COMMUNITY
spire readers and writers in Hous ton and beyond. Since the orga nization’s inception, Inprint has provided more than $4 million in fellowships and prizes to emerg ingTheauthors.University of Houston is the largest public research university in Houston and the third largest university in Texas, offering un dergraduate, graduate and doctor al programs. UH is recognized as an R1 institution by the Carnegie Foundation for its high level of research activity, and is home to a Phi Beta Kappa chapter
The event culminated with de licious food by Indian Summers and assortment of 75 different sweets gracefully presented by Decor One with each sweet repre senting 75 sweet years of indepen dence. (1947-2022). The City of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, in recognition of this special day sent Proclamation with his decla ration on September 10th, 2022. He designated the day as “Youth recognition of Selfless Service to the Community Day”.
-- Thara Narasimhan President & the Board Members, Hindus of Greater Houston
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 2022 3
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 20224 COMMUNITY SONY832-766-6662KOHLIYOURREALESTATEAGENT
Indo-American Cancer Network (IACAN) Fundraiser 2022: You Can with IACAN
Houston: After a gap of four years, the Indian American Can cer Network (IACAN) hosted the “You can with IACAN” Gala 2022 on September 10th at the Sugar creek Country Club in Sugarland, Texas. For those unfamiliar with IACAN, this 501c (3) nonprofit organization has been providing culturally tailored services to peo ple of South Asian origin locally, nationally, and internationally for more than a decade. All services and programs provided by IA CAN are geared towards cancer prevention and creating a support ive environment for those affected by cancer (for more details, please visitThewww.iacannetwork.org).themeofthisyear’s gala was “Support,” and the goal of the gala was to raise funds for IA CAN’s initiatives that include pre ventive cancer screening, marrow drive, survivors and caregivers’ activities, mind-body healing yoga program, and South Asian cancer health research. The evening be gan with the traditional lighting of the lamps by the founding board members of IACAN. It was fol lowed by celebrating 75 years of India’s independence through the rendition of the US national an them led by Niyati Jain (Clements High school choir team) and the Indian national anthem led by Dr. Shamik Bose and Mrs. Vaishnavi Bakhta. Dr. Monalisa Chandra, IACAN president, delivered the welcome speech, which was fol lowed by an interactive keynote address by Dr. Marina George,
guests, honorees, and IACAN’s founding members and advisory board members, and media part ners. To know more about IACAN programs and services or to avail cancer-related support services, please contact 713-370-3489, email info@iacannetwork.org, or visit www.iacannetwork.org
Dr. Lorenzo Cohen presented with Lifetime Service Award
Keynote speaker Dr. Marina George.
The event was further energized by the very skillful host, Ms. Poo ja Lodhia. IACAN would like to thank everyone who contributed to IACAN’s success and the success of the gala, including all speak ers, donors, sponsors, musicians,
Center, was awarded the Lifetime Service Award for his contribution to cancer prevention research and education.IACAN also recognized the cancer survivors and their caregiv ers and bone marrow donors. Mr. Yusuf Khan, a first-year medical student at UT Health Science Cen ter in San Antonio was awarded the Youth Leadership Award for his advocacy in enabling the pas sage of the H.B. 780 bill into law, which will increase bone marrow registration across Texas. At the gala, IACAN was recognized for outstanding community service by Honorable Members of U.S. Congress, Congressman Troy Ne hls and Congressman Raja Krish namoorthy.
The gala attendees were enter tained by an exemplary presenta tion of “Jugalbandi” (or musical duet) of Hindustani Classical mu sic and Carnatic classical music by Dr. Shamik Bose, Mrs. Vaishnavi Bakhta, Mr. Nishaad Kanhere, and Mr. Abhishek Iyer, which was fol lowed by laughter yoga by Rev erend Stephen Findley. The char ity auction hosted by Dr. Subodh Bhuchar raised a significant amount of money for the different IACAN initiatives.
Vice President, Inpatient Medical Operations at the UT MD Ander son Cancer Center, wherein she emphasized the practice of think ing out of the ordinary to realize and address the needs of cancer patients.TheSpecial Guest of the eve ning was Dr. Stephen J Spann, the Founding Dean of the Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine and Vice-President of Medical Affairs at the University of Houston. In his address, Dr. Spann emphasized the importance of “hope” and “compassion” in the healing and treatment of can cer patients. Dr. Lorenzo Cohen, Richard E. Hayes Distinguished Professor in Clinical Cancer Pre vention, UT MD Anderson Cancer
Team IACAN
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 2022 5
Earlier in the evening, Nisha Da hiya put up a gritty fight but lost to Japan’s junior world champion Ami Ishii in the women’s 68kg semifinal. Nishi will fight for the bronze medal on Thursday.
launched into an explosive move and bagged two more points to ex pand her lead to 4-0. It showed that Vinesh could perhaps score at will. She deliberately slowed down the tempo again before rolling over Malmgren to take lead 6-0. It was a tactically sound bout from Vinesh, not giving her opponent manyVineshchances.scored two more from a takedown to wrap up the win and let out a sigh of relief, finally breaking into her trademark smile. For someone who had lost the joy of wrestling and contemplated giv
her locked in a double ankle hold right when the buzzer went off.
Ishii took the lead within the first 20 seconds and held on to lead at the interval. The hooter came as a saving grace for Nisha, who was in a real spot of bother as Ishii had
Ishii clinched two points from a takedown to lead 5-4 and shut out Nishi thereon. The Indian coaches tried to spur her on by yelling “50 seconds reh gaye...30 seconds reh gaye...niklega! (50 seconds to go...30 seconds to go...you will find the opening)” but it was not meant to be as Nishi failed to break Ishii’s defence. -- ESPN
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 20226 For Advertising in Indo-Amricacan News 713-789-6397MalhotraJawaharcall:at Vinesh Phogat: First Indian Woman to Win Two World Championship Medals SPORTS Chemical Engineers: Req. BS Chemical Engineering w/3 years specialty chemical mfg. experience Batch Process Req. 3 yrs. Chemical batch process exp. Process Tech Certification not required. Analytical Chemist: Req. BS Chemistry, w/3 years basic knowledge, exp w/ analytical equip. (GC, GC/ MS, HPLC, FTIR, AA) Bench Top Chemist: Req. BS Chemistry w/3 years exp. bench formulations & analytical techniques w/3 yrs. specialty chemical mfg. exp. Email resume to: baycityapply@chemicalsinc.com Great pay and benefits. EOE/AAP IS NOW HIRING IN BAY CITY ChemicalOperators:Operators:Engineers:BatchProcessAnalyticalChemist:BenchTopChemist:
Belgrade: Vinesh Phogat saved her best for last as she conjured a superb all-round display to beat Sweden’s Joana Malmgren in repechage and win bronze at the Wrestling World Championships in Belgrade on Wednesday.
The Indian looked the aggressor
There was a bit of an injury scare as Vinesh seemed to have hurt her knee, but she shrugged it off. She played the waiting game and put up a solid defence.
Early in the second half, Vinesh got a verbal warning from the referee for being too passive and that spurred on the Indian: she
Nisha earned two more points for exposure early into the second period and Ishii bagged one for a reversal as the Indian continued to lead 4-3. Nisha had led the bout for four minutes but the last two belonged to the Japanese wrestler.
The bronze was a boost after she began her campaign with a shock loss to Mongolia’s Khulan Batkhuyag. In her first bout, she barely put up a fight as Batkhuyag won 7-0. Vinesh would later thank Batkhuyag as the Mongolian made it to the final, which meant Vinesh still had a shot at a bronze medal viaInrepechage.herfirst repechage bout, Vinesh beat Kazakhstan’s Zhuldyz Eshimova, a bronze winner at the 2022 Senior Asian Champion ships, in all of 74 seconds. She’d bagged her first points with a take down move and then wrapped up the contest 20 seconds later by pinning her Kazakh opponent to theVineshmat.
from the get-go as she notched up an early 2-0 lead and took control of the bout. Malmgren, the 2021 Junior World Champion, was un able to clear out her left arm from Vinesh’s grasp and the Indian dug in hard to scalp the takedown.
ing up the sport, the bronze means a lot. Last month, she had won her third consecutive Commonwealth Games gold medal but the field at Worlds is much stronger.
Vinesh, who won bronze in 2019, became the first Indian woman to win two medals at Wrestling World Championships.
then got a lucky break as Azerbaijan’s Leyla Gurbanova pulled out of their second-round repechage match owing to injury. It cleared the path for Vinesh, who was now within sniffing distance of a second Worlds medal.
Houston: Resource generation efforts spearheaded by the Alli ance for Disaster Relief, a collab oration of more than 35 plus com munity organizations in Houston, Texas, USA; to help flood-bat tered Pakistan; has raised more than $1million in just three hours during a fundraising event.
organization Helping Hand for Relief and Development gave pre sentation on the Alliance Relief operations managed by HHRD in Pakistan.Fundraising activity was man aged by prominent community leaders Sajjad Burki, Dr Yaqoob Sheikh, Former International Test Cricketer Jalal Uddin, Atif Khan, and others. Bina Sheikh, Mahmood & Naheed Ahmed, Dr. Hina, Faraz Hamza, and many Volunteers of PSA-UH & Com munity were very instrumental in organizing the event.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner; Congresspersons Sheila Jackson Lee & AL Green; Con sul General of Pakistan in Hous ton Abrar Hashmi; Chief Patron AFDR Syed Javaid Anwar; along with senior elected officials from Fort Bend & Harris County, and several community leaders were in attendance & all donated gen erously.Addressing the fundraising event, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson said that after a visit to the flood-affected areas of Paki stan, the Biden administration was briefed about the ground situation in Pakistan, as a result of which the Biden administration is ex pected to authorize an additional 20 million dollars on top of the earlier $30 million for the flood victims in Pakistan.
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Girl Scout Gold Winner
sugar land: Ambassador Girl Scout Anjuli Perubhatla of New Territory (Brazos Valley Com munity-Troop 28083) completed her Girl Scout Gold Award - the highest achievement a Girl Scout can earn, symbolizing outstand ing accomplishments in the areas of leadership, community service andHeradvocacy.TakeAction Project was creating four Traveling Trunks that included science experiments, instructional videos, and physics and magnetism lessons. Not only did Anjuli earn her Gold Award in the last week of July, she also per formed her Carnatic Vocal Arange tram on July 30th, 2022 at the Shri Krishna Vrundavan in Houston
Alliance for Disaster Relief Raises $1 Million for Pak Flood Victims
Anjuli graduated from Austin High School in 2022. She is the daughter of Raj and Namratha Pe rubhatla.
On this occasion, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Con gressman AL Green said that we are standing with the Pakistanis in
Prominent Oil Businessman Syed Javaid Anwar, who is recipi ent of Hilal-e- Imtiaz Pakistan, do nated $200,000 and also addressed the event and appealed to the pros perous Pakistani Americans to help the needy fellow citizens in mother land.On this occasion Alliance coor dinator Muhammad Saeed Sheikh welcomed the guests and paid trib ute to alliance members for their efforts to help in organizing a fundraising event successfully.
iLyas Choudry, one of the Di rectors of the well-known charity
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this difficult time, which demand the international community to come forward to help Pakistan in thisDuringdisaster.their address to a gener ous community of Houston at the fundraising dinner, Houston May or Sylvester Turner, senior gov ernment officials, and other com munity leaders also paid tribute to Syed Javaid Anwar, Muhammad Saeed Sheikh, and other leaders for their efforts and all organizing Committee of Alliance for Disaster Relief collaborative with its motto of Blessings in Unity.
cricket franchise officially going global, Abu Dhabi T10 will also provide us an opportunity to im prove and promote cricket in the USA and that’s the whole idea be hind appointing Madhukar as the CEO. He has a proven track re cord of helping brands and sports franchises establish and grow their brand value and we are delighted to have him onboard with us. The Morrisville SAMP Army’s philos ophy and vision are aligned with our own franchise’s philosophy as we look to build a strong base for cricket at all levels through a culture that encourages players to improve their cricket skills and fit ness.”Onhis appointment, Madhukar Shree, CEO of the Morrisville SAMP Army said, “I am excited with the fact that Morrisville SAMP Army will compete in this year’s Abu Dhabi T10, which is one of the most exciting cricket competitions across the globe. Having worked with cricket and non cricket franchises and events across the globe over a number of years now, I hope my under standing and expertise will help the SAMP Army cricket franchise grow and reach new heights. I be
The Abu Dhabi T10 will kick off from the 23rd of November 2022 and will be a two-week long tour nament that will see international cricket stars compete in a short and exciting 10 over format. The Morrisville SAMP Army will be participating in the Abu Dhabi T10 and will help highlight the growing quality of cricket in the USA.
USA SAMP Army to Acquire Abu Dhabi T10 Franchise
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 20228 CRICKET 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 ®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
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lieve our franchise joining the Abu Dhabi T10 will make the tournament’s competition even more fierce and exciting for the fans to Morrisvillewatch.”SAMP Army also announced the signing of four players for their franchise in the Abu Dhabi T10. The signing includes top international play ers David Miller, Anrich Nortje, Moeen Ali and Shimron Het myer.Expressing his excitement to join Morrisville SAMP Army, Miller said, “I am delighted to join the Morrisville SAMP Army in the Abu Dhabi T10. Entertain ing fans and scoring big runs is my agenda here in the tournament and I am looking forward to driving the team towards greater heights.” Speaking on the occasion, Mad hukar Shree, CEO of the Mor risville SAMP Army said, “I am delighted that we have been able to sign on some of the best in the business. David Miller is a destruc tive batter and I am sure he is keen on bettering his reputation. Moeen Ali, Anrich Nortje and Shimron Hetmyer are all world-class in dividuals who can turn a game around at the drop of a hat. We are looking forward to the team coming together and playing some great cricket and providing some great moments for the fans.”
Morrisville, nC: USA’ SAMP Army will acquire a franchise in Abu Dhabi T10. Identified as ‘Morrisville SAMP Army’ from North Carolina, be comes the eighth franchisee to compete in the exciting cricket league.SAMP Army franchise repre sents unity on and off the field and indomitable passion for cricket. The owner of the Mor risville SAMP Army, Ritesh Patel, is a well-established USA based entrepreneur who has over 20-years of experience in business growth, consulting and management. He owns several franchise hotels, an indoor Urban Air, a C-Store, an Indoor Cricket and multi-sport complex as well as the SAMP Army Cricket Sports Franchise that participates in com petitive tournaments across the USA. The tenacious owner has a strong interest in cricket and en joys promoting the skills of crick eters.Ritesh Patel with great delight expressed his thoughts on the Morrisville SAMP Army becom ing a part of the Abu Dhabi T10 as he said, “It is an extremely excit ing time for our franchise as the Abu Dhabi T10 is a unique and a highly competitive competition which brings together elite players from across the globe. It gives us the perfect opportunity to compete against the elites of cricket and test ourselvesMorrisvilleout.”SAMP Army also announced the appointment of Madhukar Shree as the CEO of the franchise. He is been in the sports industries for a long, having worked with various international sporting events and franchises.
editor: PraMod KulKarni
Speaking on the occasion, Ritesh said, “With the SAMP Army
PuBlisHer: JawaHar MalHotra
which include one tunnel and 320 bridges.Forthe project, 1,833.92 hectares of land has been acquired and jobs given to 799 eligible land givers. Employment has also been provided through contractors to 14,069 locals while more than 500 lakh man-days of employment have been generated so far.
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 2022 9INDIA
structed approach roads for the project in this region which has transformed lives of many villag ers by providing them with crucial roadThisconnectivity.hasprovided road connec tivity to 73 villages of far-flung areas benefiting around 1.5 lakh people.Earlier, the area was accessible only by foot or boats while now it has motorable roads for four wheelers. Now Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana roads are tak ing off from these approach roads. Hence, immediate benefits of project execution are reaching the localMorepopulation.than205 km long ap proach roads were constructed
Ambitious Kashmir Rail Link Bringing Economic Prosperity to the Region
By arun KuMar das
The project has generated vari ous activities in the area under cor porate social responsibility which include nine ambulances provided in Ramban district, 15 motorised wheelchairs, free medical camps held in Banihal, Ramban and Rea si. -- Swarajya
The ambitious Kashmir rail link project has been undertaken by the Indian Railways for construc tion of a broad-gauge railway line through the Himalayas, with the aim of connecting the Kashmir re gion with the rest of the country.
The project has brought in em ployment, prosperity and connec tivity to the people. The backward districts of Reasi and Ramban have especially benefited from the project. Hinterlands hitherto inaccessible now have road con nectivity.Medical, educational, market and business activities have be come easily reachable for the people. The cost of construction of the 111 km long Katra-Ban ihal section so far has been Rs 30,672.34 crore.
The budget allocation to the project has increased manifold since 2014, enabling speedy con struction activity.
ment of the northernmost alpine region of the Constructioncountry.ofthe first three phases of the project has been completed and the line is in op erational use for running of trains between Baramulla-Banihal in Kashmir Valley and Jammu-Ud hampur-Katra in Jammu region.
Arun Kumar Das is a senior journalist covering railways.
There are several iconic bridges and tunnels coming up in this sec tion. Most of the rail track is slated to be in tunnels or bridges in this section.
Indian Railways has also con
The all-weather, comfortable, convenient and cost-effective mass transportation system will be the catalyst for the overall develop
srinagar: Udhampur-SrinagarBaramulla Rail Link, a national project, has brought in employ ment, prosperity and connectivity to the people with more than 500 lakh man-days of employment generated so far.
Work on the intervening 111 ki lometre Katra-Banihal section, the most arduous and treacherous por tion due to its geology and exten sive riverine system replete with deep gorges, is ongoing.
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 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
‘Brahmastra’: Razzle, Dazzle, but No Entertainment
Shiva (Ranbir Kapoor) is a mod ern-day deejay, getting thousands upon thousands of Durga pooja devotees to dance to his tunes, as the film opens. Everything is big, and it becomes bigger and bigger, as the film goes on. The pandal is huge, and as the camera pulls back, the extent of its staggering size becomes apparent. The screen is drenched in colour, song and dance. And then comes the meet ing of eyes-and-heart of our hero and his love, Isha (Alia Bhatt), and… our heart doesn’t skip a beat, even as the beats around the two get more and more frenetic.
Last Week’s Solution
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Send us the correct answer before Sept. 20, 2022. Email us at indoamericannews@yahoo.com. Please send us your solved Sudoku for your name to be published.
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And oh those on-the-nose product placements, which includes Mac laptops and Jio cellphones. Re ally?Shiva is meant to be an orphan whose origins are tied to the ‘as traverse’ that Mukerji has created.
By sHuBHra guPta pori’ element to Shiva’s dialogues to start with, and where does it go? Why do his BFFs disappear with out giving us a reason? If the bad guys have super powers, why do they use man-made machine guns?
One of the better portions involves Shiva being put through his paces by the elder Guru (Amitabh Bach chan), as he (Shiva) plays, literally, with fire, and the screen lights up. Ranbir Kapoor is, always light on his feet. The luminous Alia Bhatt does some lighting up of her own. He says: ‘jal gayi tum mere pyaar mein’ (hard to translate this, but the closest would be ‘you’re burn ing with love for me’), and she says : ‘kabki’ (long back), and you smile past the cheesiness of the exchange, remembering their reallife romance which should have seeped into their reels but doesn’t.
Solution Next Week
must learn to control and unleash.
Shiva has a strange connection with fire (agni): will he be able to save the world from the maraud ers, led by the hot-eyed, red-lipped Junoon (Mouni Roy, who marches through the film in flowy black robes, glint-eyed and growly) and her two henchmen?
Part fantasy, part mythological, part action-adventure, part desi su perhero saga, there’s a lot going on in ‘Brahmastra Part One-Shiva’, Ayan Mukerji’s long-in-the-mak ing mega tentpole which is meant to be a trilogy. It has been in the news for all kinds of reasons, but mostly because it is meant not just to entertain us, but to pull Bolly wood out of the doldrums it is in right now. On the first count, at least, it flubs massively.
Kumud Athavale, Ramana Vadrevu, Krishna R. Vud dagiri, Sanchali Basu, Yudhveer Singh Bagga, Prabha Barvalia, Sai Lakshmi Subramanian, Murti Kamphy Patel, Priya Pathak
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.
Here’s how the promise, held out by this much-anticipated Dharma production, stacked up. Never-seen-before-special effects. No disputing that claim. I can only think of SS Rajamouli’s ‘Baa hubali’ which can compare. One of Bollywood’s most winsome couples, both on and off screen, Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt. Bookended by the surprise pres ence of Shah Rukh Khan and the one and only Amitabh Bachchan, and a middle lifted by the affable Nagarjuna. Could anything be bet ter? Turns out, it could have, and should have, but it isn’t.
Why does some of the humour ap pear forced? Questions, questions.
A character asks Shiva, ‘yeh sab kya ho raha hai tumhare saath’ ( what is going on with you’?). Re place ‘humaare’ with ‘tumhaare’, for the right question -- IE
Once upon a time, the weapon of all weapons, the Brahmastra was divided into three for safe-keep ing, and its custodians charged with keeping the universe in place. But along comes an ambitious be ing who wants it all, and who un leashes his dark forces upon our world. The target is, naturally, our hero Shiva and Isha, another name for his faithful Parvati, and a small subsect of people (Brahmansh) quietly residing in the high reach es of the Himalayas, as defenders of the faith, and warriors armed with weapons with primal powers.
And that truly is the problem with the film, which is meant to be the most expensive Bollywood has produced. Despite all those non-stop computer graphics, the opulence of the sets, the starry ar ray, the film’s commitment to its razzle dazzle, we never really buy into it completely. I had to work hard to fall into it, and I kept fall ing out of it. Straight up you can see why: the film gets imprisoned in clunky writing which leads to confused patches, and its uneasy tone switches, which never lets the film settle. Why is there a
There are enough bones here for our own Marvel universe, suffused with the gods and goddesses bor rowed from our vibrant, rich my thologies, and the very special hu mans with super powers that they
In his cameo, Shah Rukh Khan (his name, we are told pointedly, is Mohan Bhargav, in a nod to his ‘Swades’ character?) brings some of his goofy charm to the table. But, ultimately, nothing is new enough, and these cardboard char acters can’t make us care, as they run for their lives in a climax that goes on for so long that it becomes exhausting.Filmssostuffed with special ef fects need to maintain a balance between parts which are meant to astonish us with their wares, and the parts which allow it to slow down and breathe. The VFX is non-stop (at one point, a troll-like army appears, and disappears), the blaring music keeps wanting to bludgeon us into submission, and we are left yearning for magic.
Indo-AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, sePTemBer 16, 2022 • www.IndoAmerIcAn-news.com September 16, 202212
