June 22, 2012

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Friday, June 22 2012 | Vol. 31, No. 25

Indo American erican News

www.indoamerican-news.com Published weekly from Houston, TX

7457 Harwin Dr, Suite 262, Houston, TX 77036 713.789.NEWS (6397) • Fax: 713.789.6399 • indoamericannews@yahoo.com

Gilani Out, Shahabuddin In as Pak PM ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari on early hours of Thursday nominated Makhdoom Shahabuddin for the post of prime minister, while, Raja Pervez Ashraf will be a covering candidate, DawnNews reported.

Partnered & Syndicated with Times of India, Sulekha.com, Google, Yahoo & Bing

Rise and Fall of Rajat Gupta

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Two white-collar criminals received justice last week – Allen Stanford of Stanford International Bank and Rajat Gupta of McKinsey & Co and Goldman Sachs. One’s actions are easy to understand, the other’s extremely hard.

Mr Stanford, a Ponzi schemer who stole $2bn of his eager depositors’ money, is easy: if he is not a psychopath, he certainly behaved like one for two decades. Mr Gupta, convicted of fraud and conspiracy for leaking price-sensitive titbits about Goldman to Raj Rajaratnam, the criminally corrupt hedge fund manager who was his confidant and friend, is the puzzle. FT

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Annual Blood Drive at Sikh Center in Memory of Those Slain during June ‘84

HOUSTON: A blood drive was held at the Sikh Center of the Gulf Coast Area on 8819 Prairie St. on Sunday, June 3. This annual blood drive is made in memory of those who lost their lives in what has come to be known in the Sikh community as the 3rd Sikh Holocaust of June 1984. “This blood drive has been going on for the last 10 to 15 years,” explained Harjit Singh Galhotra, the Secretary of the Sikh National Center, “to remember those who not only perished in the Indian Army’s attack on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in June 1984 but all the thousands who subsequently died in the senseless bloodletting that followed after Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s assassination later on October 31, 1984.” The blood drive has become an annual tradition among the Sikh community to commemorate the infamous “Operation Blue Star” of June 1984 when Indian Armed Forces entered Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Harmandir Sahib (The Golden Temple) with tanks and guns. Thirty four men and women

Harjit Galhotra donating blood in the annual blood drive at the Sikh Center on June 3 .

volunteered for the drive and 25 were selected for whole blood donations with the remaining 9 being deferred for various reasons. Among those who donated was Bhai Rajinderpal Singh, a wellknown tabla player who has currently taken up as a resident musician at the Sikh Center. For the last several years a sec-

ond annual Blood Drive has been added in December at the Sikh Center. Blood collections are performed by the Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center (www.giveblood.org) which encourages the donations in order to replenish the Houston Blood Bank that services area hospitals.

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This India is Really Little - and Just South of Dallas

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA INDIA, Texas: Most people in the Lonestar State have heard of Paris, Texas (think the 1984 Cannes Film Festival award winning movie of the same name by Sam Shephard, starring Harry Dean Stanton, Dean Stockwell, Hunter Carson and Nastassja Kinski) or most certainly Palestine (pronounced PEH-LES-TEEN), Texas, both about 100 miles north and south of Dallas. But few if any have heard of India, Texas. Or for that matter Delhi, Texas or even Madras, Texas

Indo American News (ISSN 887-5936) is published weekly every Friday (for a subscription of $40 per year) by IndoAmerican News Inc., 7457 Harwin Dr., Suite 262, Houston, TX 77036, tel: 713-789-6397, fax:713-789-6399, email: indoamericannews@yahoo.com. Periodical postage paid at Houston, Texas. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to Indo American News,7457 Harwin Dr., Suite 262, Houston, TX 77036

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

One wonders about what motivated someone to name these places after some very old but booming, bustling metropolises of the Indian Subcontinent. Could there have been an Indian person or family there when these places were settled back 80 to 100 years ago? Or was there another connection? Or was it just random? In the case of India, Texas, it is just a mere dot on the map three miles east of Ferris and Interstate 45 on FM 780. If it weren’t for the CONTINUED ON PAGE

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June 22, 2012

Char Dham Hindu Temple and

Houston Durga Bari Society Celebrate

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Chariot Pulling of Deities by Devotees Hindustani Devotional Vocal Concert by maestro from the Mewati Gharana, Pandit Suman Ghosh, accompanied on the Tabla by Pandit Shantilal Shah Classical Indian Dance by Guru Supradipta Datta and Group Classical Indian Dance on Rabindra Sangeet Bhajans For Information Contact: Dr. Bishnupada Goswami, Chief Priest (832)367-6646 Partha Mohanty (832)326-4274 INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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June 22, 2012

Southwestern National Bank Scholarship 2012 $1,000 Awards

Southwestern National Bank Scholarship Program is funded by Southwestern National Bank to recognize and assist outstanding high school graduates to reduce financial burdens for college. Southwestern National Bank Scholars are selected on the basis of their financial need, academic achievement, and community involvement. Each year a total of $5,000.00 will be awarded to five selected scholars. Each scholar will be awarded a total of $1,000.00. Eligibility 1. Demonstrates financial need for college tuition, book & supplies and expenses 2. U.S. high school graduating seniors 3. Has a minimum GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale (un-weighted) 4. Will enroll in an accredited U.S. college full-time for the entire academic year 2012/2013 Documents Required (To be considered, all of the following documents must be submitted) 1. A completed Southwestern National Bank Scholarship Application Form 2. An official high school transcript 3. Two letters of recommendation from the teachers, counselors, and/or other advisors 4. A two-page typed essay stating why you should be awarded a scholarship. Please include: • Financial need for this scholarship for educational purposes • Personal and academic achievements. Give specific examples • Academic plans and career goals. Give specific examples • Past and current involvement, as well as future plans, towards making a difference in your community 5. Copies of the most recent document(s) demonstrating the financial need (Family’s 1040 Income Tax Return Form, qualification for School Free/Reduced Lunch Program, etc) Application Process & Award Announcement 1. Please send your application package to Southwestern National Bank, Attention Scholarship Program-Jennifer Zhou, 6901 Corporate Drive, Houston, Texas 77036 2. Applications and all supporting documents must be received by June 30, 2012 for application to be considered 3. Interview may be part of the application process for all semi-finalists 4. Scholar for the 2012 Scholarship program will be announced by mail before end of July, 2012.

Southwestern National Bank Scholarship 2012

Application Form

Applications and all supporting documents must be received by June 30, 2012 for application to be considered. APPLICANT Name

Last

First

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Financial Documents included

□ 1040 Tax Return

Please check your household income:

Your e-mail High School Address HS Phone Number Planned Major Field of Study

□ Male □ Female Date of Birth Home Tel

□ Free/Reduced Lunch Program □ Others: Number of people in your household

□ Below $15,000 □ $15,001-$30,000 □ $30,001-$50,000 □ Above $50,000 REFERENCES (Relatives who do not live with you or your school teachers) Name

Relationship

Phone Number

Address

I certify that the information contained in this application is true. Applicant's Signature _____________________________________ Date _______________________________________

For scholarship application and information, please contact scholarship coordinator by E-mail at Jennifer.zhou@swnbk.com or call: 713-272-5004. Contact person: Yuda Fan or Jennifer zhou INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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June 22, 2012

This India is Really Little - and Just South of Dallas

CONTINUED FROM PAGE

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road signs proclaiming the town just ahead, you’d probably miss it. It was settled by A. J. Moyers in 1853 as Morgan until the post office began operation in 1892 and the name was changed to India. The post office remained open till 1904. One of the first cotton gins constructed in Ellis County was located in the community and operated as late as 1970. In 1890 India had a population of 150. The population was 84 during most of the first half of the twentieth century and was reportedly twelve from 1977 to 2000, according to the History of Ellis County, Texas. Now it has several small ranches and some developers are building subdivisions in nearby Bristol and Walnut Springs. “With its proximity to Dallas, the community has now grown to about 50, with several old homes and mobile homes down one lane,” said Stephanie, a local resident who lives with her grandmother and studies in Navarro Community College, Navarro (just down I-45) but works part-time in Dallas. “There’s a lot more cows than people here!” she added with a chuckle. “But don’t go down that street,” she added, pointing to the blacktop road, mentioning some unsavory types lived there. Across the state, 18 miles east of Lockhart is Delhi, Texas (pronounced DELL HIGH) in Caldwell County at the intersection of FM 713 and Highway 304. A sign over the well-tended cemetery reads “Delhi – 1881” About 100 miles to the west near La Grange is the little ghost town of Madras, Texas with no other visible signs than a cemetery and a community building. It was first settled in the early 1830s and Thomas J. Dozier opened a store and post office in

Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

1887 using the name Madras. It had a population of 100 in 1910 and dwindled to 40 in 1940. The post office closed in 1925. But India, Texas is still a community – just barely - and a chance to get your name under the road sign is just too inviting to pass up!

Visit Our Website Daily for News Updates

www.indoamerican-news.com INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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“Byaah Hamari Bahoo Ka” Serial Launched on Sony Entertainment

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Sony Entertainment Television has launched a new show, “Byaah Hamari Bahoo Ka (BHBK)”. It airs every weeknight, Monday – Friday at 8PM EST. The daughter-in-law of the Vaishnav family, Rajnibala, is very affectionate and caring wife. However, destiny has something else in store for her. In spite of her being the respectful, loving, and “perfect” daughterin-law, a twist of events leads the family to make a decision of getting their daughter-inlaw married! Watch Byaah Hamari Bahoo Ka every weeknight, Monday – Friday at 8PM. The writer of Byaah Hamari Bahoo Ka, Aatish Kapadia says, “Usually, a title gives away the concept of the show, but this one’s unique. It makes the viewers question it and builds curiosity.” Producer JD Majethia added, “This is a unique show with fresh content, characters and great performances. It’s a show of ‘today’ which will also attract the youth along with the family audiences.” Jaideep Janakiram, SVP International Business-Head of North America stated, “”BHBK” has a story line which is very unique and entertaining. I’m sure this heart-

warming love story will appeal to, and excite audiences across the nation with situations and events that take place and further consolidate our lead position in the fiction lineup.” About Sony Entertainment Television Asia: Since its launch on the Indian subcontinent in 1995, Sony Entertainment Television (SET) has enjoyed rapid success, leading to the establishment of European, North American and African feeds known as SET Asia. SET and SET Asia are now available in over 150 countries. The channels offer their viewers a distinctive blend of entertainment programs twenty four hours a day, including, soap operas, dramas, sitcoms, concerts, movies, and game shows. Besides SET Asia, SET also has three other leading channels: MAX, India’s #1 premier movies and special events channel, SAB, the only dedicated comedy channel and Aath, the only dedicated Bengali Movie channel. For further information log on to www. setasia.tv

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June 22, 2012

‘Klose to My Heart ‘: Live Concert by Sonu Nigam

BY RACHANA SRIVASTAVA DALLAS: Sony Nigam’s live concert successfully took place on 16th June, at the Curtis Well Center in Dallas. The organizers of the show in America , South Africa and Canada are Rakesh Kaushal(Rocky) of Balaji entertainment and his partner Darshan Mehta. The man who presented it in Dallas is Manu Mehta from Mehta Productions. Very much like Manu Mehta’s concerts in the past, this concert too started on time, at 8 pm. Junita Gandi and Nikita gave it a flying start with their melodious songs, which were much acclaimed by the audience. Sonu Nigam sang all kinds of songs. It included the new ones and the oldies. He paid tribute to Late Jagjit Singh and Late Mehndi Hasan. The tribute brought tears to the audience eyes. The jam packed hall saw people swinging and enjoying along with sonu nigaam ‘s each song. People gave Sonu Nigam a standing ovation, when he sang the song from Agneepath, ‘Abhi Mujhme Kahin’. When he sang his all time hit song, ‘Bijuria’ people could not stop themselves from dancing. Sonu Nigam inherited this talent from his father. This seems absu-

lutely true when you hear his father, Agam Kumar Nigam sing.He too sang really well . The legacy of music goes on and is definitely passed onto Sonu Nigam’s son

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Nevaan. After the interval Nevaan took poeple by surprise by his melodious singing and despite of his fever he sang beautifully ‘ Mujhme Kahin’ and ‘why This Kolaveri Di’ . The programs was hosted by Kundra Seth. The sound system , the light and every other required details for a concert were very well taken care of. Over 5000 people attended the concert. Manu Mehta thanked all the sponsors and viewers of this successful concert and acknowledged that it would have never been possible without their support. He also thanked Shri Balaji entertainment, Sonu Nigam, and his entire team of “Klose to my Heart” concert. People from other states also turned up to be a part of this great concert.

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Laughter Challenge Brings Boisterous Comedy to “Life OK” New Season to introduce fresh talent this July NEW YORK: In the words of one of the greatest comedians of all time, Charlie Chaplin, “A day without laughter is a day wasted.” Life OK, formerly Star One, hopes to add a little more laughter to the world by introducing their latest show, Laughter Challenge. Life OK is an entertainment channel that turns up the volume on the things that really matter, through its unique and fresh new approach to quality TV programming. Laughter Challenge, the newest addition to the channel, will bring the element of comedy to the channel in a way that has not been seen before. Laughter Challenge is the firstof-its kind stand-up comedy show, in which comedians and performers get the chance to showcase their comedy skills to judges and audiences around the world. The show will feature amateur and upand-coming talent that will compete to be the new comedy king. The winner will join the ranks of reputable comedians such as: Kapil Sharma, Raju Shrivastav, Sunil Pal, and Suresh Albela. The show featured Shekhar Suman, a distinguished TV personality and Navjot Singh Siddhu, a famous cricketer and cricket commentator, as the judges in past seasons. Hosts for the show this season will be Kritika Kamra and Ridhi Dogra. Watch this season, as fresh

channels in eight languages, including STAR Plus, Life OK, STAR Gold, Channel [V], STAR Jalsha, STAR Pravah, STAR World, STAR Movies, STAR Utsav; along with the joint venture channels Asianet, Asianet Plus, Vijay TV, Suvarna, ABP News, ESPN and STAR Sports. STAR India also manages a portfolio of business ventures including DTH operator Tata Sky; Content Aggregator MediaPro; News Channel operator MCCS; Film Production and Distribution Business Fox STAR Studios India and STAR CJ Home Shopping. STAR US: News Corp Star US LLC is one of the largest distribution network and leading choice for South Asian channels available in Hindi in the U.S. The channel portfolio in the U.S. includes Star India Plus, Star India Gold, Life OK and ABP News available through both satellite and cable platforms. News Corp Star US LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary of News Corporation.

new talent is introduced from all over India, Pakistan, and the entire globe. Laughter Challenge will make its debut on Life OK this coming July, and will air on Saturdays and Sundays at 10pm ET. Tune in to Life OK to fill your day with a little more laughter. About STAR: “STAR India, the leading Media and Entertainment conglomerate, has the highest reach amongst the country’s broadcasters, beaming to over 400 million people, every week across India and over 65 countries across the globe. Its portfolio includes 33

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Investing in Indian Real Estate Has Never Been Better, Reveals Great India Realty

Great India Realty Company is bringing Indian Real Estate to your doorsteps. A wide range of well researched, world class residential and commercial properties in Chennai, Gurgaon, Greater Noida, Chandigarh-Mohali and Ludhiana from $60,000 to $2,000,000 by prominent Indian developers like Ansal API, Ireo, Omaxe, Bestech are being offered at presentations in New York City (Four Points by Sheraton, Long Island City on Sunday, 6/24 from 1pm – 4pm), Virginia Beach (Westin Town Center on 6/26 from 6pm – 8pm), Silicon Valley (Hilton Santa Clara on Saturday, 6/30 from 1pm – 4pm), Yuba City (Hampton Inn on Sunsweet Blvd on Sunday, 7/1 from 1pm – 4pm) and Washington DC (Holiday Inn Arlington at Ballston on 7/4 from 1pm – 4pm). “Relative insulation from multiple crises in the West, an excellent exchange rate that has made Indian properties 30% cheaper for NRIs in the last 9 months and the ability to repatriate sales proceeds out of India, make this the best time to buy Indian Real Estate before the market picks up and the exchange rate drops around Diwali (the traditional festive season in India)”, says Kapil Goyal, a director for Great India Realty Company, who is a Chartered Accountant (UK), a CPA (Virginia) &

a Realtor with 2 decades of experience on 3 continents. Great India Realty is involved in development, advisory services, investments and brokerage in India and the U.S. and has been offering world class, confidential and ethical service to HNIs and retail investors since 2006. “The stricter under-writing standards used by banks in India, the unfortunate but immense cushioning effect that black money provides in Indian Real Estate and constant migration to large cities for employment and access to infrastructure make it a compelling asset class to invest in”, opines Lt Col (Retired) R C Goyal, another director, and a veteran of the Indian industry. With it’s credo “Ethics is our Ethos” Great India Re-

alty Company has been striving to establish ethical practices in India akin to Western standards. Apart from offering special event only deals on dream properties, these presentations are aimed at providing information on the latest developments in Indian Real Estate and associated aspects like home loans, innovative financing options such as Subvention, wherein you pay a small amount upfront and make no further payments till completion of the project, taxation, banking, remittances to India and repatriation from India. The events should be an excellent forum to get first hand professional advice in groups or one on one sessions.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

TRAVEL

June 22, 2012

In Accra, Tandoor Restaurant Pulls in the Expats Looking for a Hearty Meal

BY JAWAHAR MALHOTRA ACCRA, Ghana: This city hums with activity all throughout the day, never mind the hot sun and the oppressive humidity from the Atlantic Ocean which hugs its southern edge at Labadi Beach. If you’re stuck in a mile-long traffic jam along the Akasanoma Road, wilting in the heat of the taxi with many missing parts (“Driver, can you pass the crank to roll down the windows?”), you witness the stream of human kiosks walking between the lanes, hawking everything that you could imagine, and maybe even need, like a pack of twelve rolls of toilet paper. They walk with their precious items balanced on their head – chilled water in plastic bags, fried plantain chips, books, toys – or bundled over their arms – belts, all-in-one screwdrivers, tire airpumps, maps, cheap jewelry, watches – a driver’s eye view of all the Chinese goods that have captured the West African market for cheap wares, including Chinese motorcycles that sell for Ghana Cedi 600 ($300). Further up the Akasanoma becomes Ring Road, going past Independence Avenue and the United Nations Headquarters compound and with a turn at the roundabout, becomes Oxford Street as it continues into the trendy Osu district

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Tandoor restaurant is located across from the Avis Car Rental off Labone Ave. in Accra, Ghana Photos: Jawahar Malhotra

which features restaurants and the blocks down, the Heritage Indian first KFC restaurant in the country, Restaurant is closed till 6pm as is a three story modern building with the Kohinoor restaurant further on Col. Sanders smiling down from the Ring Road East. But the Tandoor restaurant just the side. The human kiosks walk BOBBY along the edges of the road, hawk- happens to not believe in after832-692-3056 United er’s stalls on each side and traffic noon siestas and we find it, a short taxi ride away (GHS 4, about crawls to a trickle. AUTO • HOME Beneath a billboard for Vidya $2.50), past the Cantonment and NO CREDIT CHECK & BEST RATES Result-Based Ayurvedic Therapy Hospital. The generaBookstore, a group of Sikhs ar- the Police tor in the front courtyard gue a point, but they are the and rare Shoulder for Back, Neck Pain tells the Liabilities from of power failures, but inside Indian face in this cityavailable of 2.4 mil- in story Now Houston lion, along with the occasional through an open archway adorned with embroidered mirrorwork, the Sindhi woman shopping at the to Also Therapies Alleviate ceilings are draped with Rajastsupermarket and the Muslim In2030 Bingle Road # B Houston, Texas 77055 Arthritis Slip Disc Joint Pains Migraine Sinusitis Obesity Frozen Shoulder Depression Insomnia Diabetes hani stamped cotton sheets andavailableFax:713-465-2801 dian lady who came to inquire at Now in Houston E-mail:UnitedAInsurance@hotmail.com Psoriasis Eczema Hypertension etc. CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 the Global Mama boutique. Three To schedule an appointment please contact:

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TRAVEL

12 June 22, 2012

In Accra, Tandoor Pulls in the Expats Looking for a Hearty Meal

CONTINUED FROM PAGE

11

The restaurant atmosphere is casual and the long tables and benches cater to big groups of European expats.

The entrance archway from the front courtyard features embroidered mirrorwork. glasses, two earrings in one ear few months. It is definitely a chaland a short black beard makes his lenging and interesting place,” he round face appear fuller. He is ca- added tossing in some upsetting sual, in a brown tee-shirt and com- anecdotes. Nik grew up in the fortable jeans and runs between restaurant business, as his father the diners and the kitchen making owned one for 18 years until it was sure the orders are okay. sold. So he was determined to start Nik is one of the few Indians in his own two years ago, in the front Accra. “We’re probably 5,000 In- courtyard of the house his famdians here,” he says with a slight ily lives in, behind and upstairs. Ghanaian inflection. “I am third Though the place was filling up, generation but I went to India for “we make most of our money cathe first time earlier this year for a tering parties, mostly to European

Nik Khunchnadani opened the restaurant two years ago, but grew up in the restaurant business that his father Harry had.

long wooden benches line each side of long tables in a dimly lit large room. At the bar off to one side, across from the tandoor where a Ghanaian woman rolls out rotis from

pods of dough, Nik Khubchandani takes a puff of his cigarette and surveys the early evening crowd of European expats that is slowly trickling in. His black longish hair is combed back past his rimless

The Hindu Youth Awards and Fundraiser, hosted by the Hindus of Greater Houston, has been postponed to Sunday, July 15th, 2012 at the India House at 5:30pm. Please join us for a memorable night to recognize our youth, encourage their involvement in our community, and hear their inspiring stories!

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Ghanaians do most of the cooking, including rolling and making the rotis and naans in the tandoor.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

expats,” Nik explained. Just then, the elder Khubchandani walks in the door, in a grey tee shirt and jeans. With a grey goatee, Harry has an easy going way about him and a strain of an American accent. “Our family moved here from Hyderabad, Sindh in 1946 and we’ve been here ever since,” he explained. “After the restaurant was sold, I just took off (he has been single for a while) for the US and moved around the country, working occasionally. I loved it and stayed in Austin for a while but really liked Jacksonville, Florida.” But an undiagnosed heart condition cut the existentialist lifestyle back “and now they,” Harry motioned to Nik and his daughter who was just passing through to the family’s entrance, “won’t let me go anywhere anymore!” he lamented. “But, I’m really proud of my son and what he has been able to do with this restaurant.” Which is no mild statement as numerous dishes beckoned from the multi-page menu. Our choices included the perennial favorite saag-paneer competing with rogan-josh and a Goan chicken dish, served with naan and drowned with large Kingfisher beers. Their taste was authentic and the meats were succulent and fragrant. For my younger son, who had been in the Peace Corps for two years, the meal brought back memories of home. All told, it was about GHS 57 ($33) and we were pleasantly full. Back out on Labone Ave, the evening was fast setting – Accra is just 5 degrees north of the equator and the sun sets almost like clockwork at 6:30 – and small lights lit up the bricked in courtyards of the homes and the Avis rental car branch that operates out of one. We hailed another taxi with missing parts and haggled over a price to the Paloma Hotel.

COMMUNITY

A.V.N Reddy (left), Dr Swaroopa Reddy, Manju Medi and Harinath Medi.

years. Now, he runs his real estate business under the name Medi Realty Group. Medi, who has always assumed leadership roles and responsibilities, has actively served the community in Houston, in his various positions. He was the founding trustee of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce, President of South Asian Chamber of Commerce, and also Chairman of South Asian Chamber of Commerce from 2002 to 2004. Medi was a board member of the India culture Center (ICC), then the vice-president and president in 2005 and 2006. He

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Harinath Medi with family and friends

is one among the group of leaders who spearheaded, (in its formative stage), the India House project and became one of the first 10 India House Council members with a donation. He is currently the co-convenor for the forthcoming NATA convention to be organized from June 29 - July 1, in Houston. Medi is also the current President of Osmania University Alumni Association of America. He is collecting donations from fellow Osmanians in America for his alma mater Osmania University, which is close to his heart. He has undertaken a few projects including a computer center , seminar hall, and scholarships with more coming up in the future. He will continue to work towards hostels for Osmania University, campus restoration, and renovation of labs and class rooms. Medi is grateful to Houston, Houstonians, and the Houston Indian Community for all their confidence in him, their support, and affection.

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SUGAR LAND: Family and friends of Harinath Medi threw a surprise party for him at Madras Pavalion, Sugar Land on Sunday, June 10, 2012, to celebrate his 70th birthday. Over 70 people attended the party. A V N Reddy, the current president of North American Telugu Association (NATA) and his wife, Dr Swaroopa Reddy, friends of the Medis organized it and a relative, the Hindi pandit Arun Prakash , and Rajan of Madras Pavalion, provided musical entertainment. Madras Pavalion’s food added further flavored the occasion. Friends of Medi felicitated him and he thanked the guests for their participation, and good wishes. Harinath Medi, a Houstonion for over 38 years, was originally a structural engineer, who switched gears to real estate sales for 28

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June 22, 2012

2012

14 June 22, 2012

INDIA

NRI Professionals: Neither Entirely Comfortable in the U.S. Nor in India

BY ASHISH KUMAR SEN NEW DELHI (Outlook): Shikha Bhatnagar moved to India in 2008 with the intention of making it home for at least two years. Armed with years of experience in the development world, including internships with NGOs in India, she was excited about the future. She accepted a job running the Pune operations of an education organisation. That’s when her India dream started to unravel. The rampant unprofessionalism and nepotism at the workplace quickly got to her. An American woman raised to speak her mind, Shikha found that her Indian colleagues did not appreciate her bluntness or her opinions. The “yes people” in the office were promoted while she was sidelined. “It verged on workplace bullying in some respects, especially for those of us who spoke out the most,” she says. “It was frustrating being there.” Within eight months, she had chucked up her job and was plotting her return to America. “India wasn’t new for me, I knew some of the challenges of working in that environment,” says Shikha, who is now associate director of the South Asia Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington. “What was very frustrating was the complete lack of professionalism.” Shikha isn’t in a club of one. Many Indian Americans who

packed their bags and brief stint in India. headed east to pursue The absence of an aptheir Indian dreams are propriate work-life balreturning back to the US ance, unreliable domestic frustrated by their expehelps and non-existent riences. The reasons are day-care facilities for many, varying between toddlers are other irritants a combination of a slowoften cited by those reing Indian economy, an turning from India. Chilunprofessional work endren’s education, too, is vironment, exasperating an important factor in the bureaucracy, the all-perdecision to return to the vading pollution, chaotic US. traffic and the astronomiAs general manager for cal cost of living. Tata Services in Mumbai, Rajesh Kumar (not Kapil Sharma had the his real name) moved to perfect job. Eventually, Mumbai in 2007 as the school admission for his CIO of a family-owned son was one of the reasons business. “We thought he decided to pack up and moving to India would leave the city to which he be a good cultural expeand his family moved in rience for the kids,” he 2008. “We were not sure says. After two decades if we could afford the top in the US, he had deschools in Mumbai for cided it was time to take our children—such as the the plunge. But in MumAmerican School,” says bai, he found himself a Kapil. In 2010, he and his stranger in the city he had Raghu Mamadgi tried home Hyderabad out in 2008. young family returned was back in the US by 2011. “Living is cheaper in grown up in. The astro- He to Washington where he the US,” he feels. nomical apartment rents currently serves as sealarmed him. The beach, nior general manager for of the US economy, but signs of a used by locals as a toilet, disgusted slowdown and high rates of infla- Tata Sons (North America). As an him. And the two-hour commute to tion are deterring those thinking American living in India, Kapil work exhausted him. “We thought about making India home. “The found the double taxation—being we were getting a good allowance, rupee has depreciated considerably taxed by the US and Indian authorbut the cost of living in Mumbai is and foreign investors are not going ities—cumbersome and stressful. out of this world,” he says. to invest. It’s a grim picture,” says He had to hire both US-based and India’s economy continues to an Indian American banker who India-based accountants to file his grow at a pace that dwarfs the rates recently returned to the US after a family’s taxes.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

Those who stay on in India often have the luxury of extravagant mnc salaries-and-benefits packages. They are also shielded from some of the daily irritants faced by those in less fortunate circumstances. Others remain in India for emotional reasons. “For many people who move back, family is a big factor,” says Rajesh. “To them, these daily frustrations may not matter as much.” In 2010, Ankur Jain, a resident of Hoboken, New Jersey, took a sabbatical from his job as a management consultant to test the waters in Delhi, where his family lives. Two months later, he too was back in the US, disappointed by the lack of appropriate job opportunities. “Those two months made me more realistic,” says Ankur. Similarly, Raghu Mamadgi, a Boston-based software developer who came to the US in 2002 to do his masters, returned to Hyderabad in ’08 so that he could be near his parents. He was back in the US by 2011. Mamadgi has mixed feelings about India. “You are a citizen there and don’t have to deal with all the visa paperwork. That’s a huge advantage,” he admits. On the other hand, he was struck by how expensive India had become. “I am so happy here because I feel everything is cheap in America,” he says with a laugh. “I live a more comfortable life now compared to life in India.”

COMMUNITY

June 22, 2012

15

House Ethics Panel Reopens Complaint on SC Governor Nikki Haley COLUMBIA, SC:(Indiawest): The House Ethics Committee May 30 officially reopened an ethics complaint that accuses South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley of illegally lobbying for two previous employers before she became governor. The 6-0 vote comes four weeks after the panel dismissed all charges regarding her jobs as a fundraiser for a hospital and consultant for an engineering firm while she was a representative for Lexington County. Questions about the process prompted further discussion. “It’s a shame that South Carolina’s political system is once again failing the people and that politics are trumping the law,” said Haley spokesman Rob Godfrey. “The governor will do what she has done time and again throughout this process, before and after the claims were dismissed: be open and honest about her work as a legislator.” He declined to say whether that included testifying before the committee. The dismissal May 2 on a 5-1, party-line vote came immediately after the panel unanimously found probable cause that a violation existed — a vote that opened the complaint to the public. Prior to that, the committee was barred from even acknowledging it existed. The back-to-back votes prompted an appeal from long-time GOP

not an employer. She contends she worked for the hospital’s nonprofit, not the hospital itself. But even if she did, Bowers insisted, what she did could not be considered lobbying because the definition under state law in that scenario only covers agency regulations. He said foundation employees were paid by the hospital only so they would be covered by the state retirement system as a public employee. “This may sound like lawyerspeak, but it’s not. Words matter

File photo of Gov. Nikki Haley. (Getty Images)

activist John Rainey, who filed the complaint, and a resolution from Rep. James Smith, D-Columbia, that the panel reconsider its dismissal. The committee took up the resolution two weeks ago and decided to ask Haley for documents to back up her defense — insisting that did not reopen the case. Attorney Butch Bowers May 30 reiterated Haley’s arguments that she did not lobby for Lexington Medical Center or Wilbur Smith Associates. Bowers repeatedly noted three affidavits Haley’s office turned in from officials representing those businesses. Robert Ferrell, vice president

of Wilbur Smith’s successor firm CDM Smith, said Haley was hired to bring in private-sector and county business, not state work. Fred Johnston, chairman of the hospital foundation, said the foundation is separate from the hospital, no foundation employee did lobbying work, and that Haley received no bonuses for donations. Haley has never denied asking lobbyists to donate to the foundation, contending there’s nothing wrong with that, since she didn’t work on commission. Haley’s defense includes that her work on the hospital’s open heart center application was for her constituents,

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

and rules matter,” Bowers said. “Rules are being made up as we go. ... We know what the definition of lobbying is. She couldn’t have lobbied as a matter of law.” In a statement, Rainey applauded the committee’s decision to “fully and transparently resolve this matter.” He also noted he looked forward to offering public testimony. Rainey’s complaint was initially a lawsuit, which a circuit court judge dismissed in March, calling it a non-judicial matter.

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June 22, 2012

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

17

18 June 22, 2012

Courting Disaster

In one of the Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes strips, Calvin says, “You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood” — the right mood being “last-minute panic”. This seems to be the mantra of the All India Tennis Association (AITA), which waited till the eleventh hour to announce a team for the doubles for the London Olympics, the deadline for which is June 21. No sooner did it announce the names, Mahesh Bhupathi refused to partner Leander Paes and so did Rohan Bopanna. Before we could get a hang of what’s going on in the tennis circuit, sports minister Ajay Maken served an off the court ace, tweeting that India should send two teams. It seems that the AITA has an uncanny knack of being a good sport when it comes to leaving people red in the face. First, it overlooked the bad blood between the two feuding tennis veterans and announced the team. This does not seem like serving an ace with Bhupathi calling Paes a “back-stabber”. To counter that the AITA delivers a bit of patriotism. It is not quite love all. Putting two and two together, the AITA has stood by its decision to pair Paes with Bhupathi, insisting that teaming the former with a junior player would be “most inappropriate”. The controversy seems far from over with this announcement. But then who’s complaining? We loved this controversy especially when it took our time off cricket and the Indian Premier League. With just a day left for the nomination, our advice to the Olympics team is that the best way to play a doubles match is the Mamatadi way. Despite differences, she has stood by the UPA government through thick and thin. The UPA was thick-skinned and Banerjee’s arguments thin. Game, set and match — but we are not sure to whom.

Engagement is the Keyword

From a foreign investors’ darling to a slowing economy prone to risky policy flip-flops, the turnaround of India’s image has been as rapid as the sizzling growth it had once peaked between 2004 and 2008. On Monday, Fitch Ratings, a U.S. credit rating group, joined some of its global peers in launching a scathing attack on India’s economic management — or the lack of it. The road ahead is clear to all — push infrastructure investment and ride the multiplier; open employment-intensive sectors; welcome global capital where domestic risk isn’t able to or willing to go; open the defence sector to private Indian capital. But before that, the Congress needs to learn one word and use it thrice over: engagement. All told, it’s time politicians worked together to sell and serve economic growth as a priority, rather than on who will occupy India’s most sought-after address at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Hindustan Times

EDITORIAL

Getting to Bhojpur via Wasseypur BY AMITAVA SANYAL It seems there is a lot about Middle India that we can learn from its matrimonial ads. One of the most popular characteristics it seems to crave for in partners — ‘traditional yet modern’ — is reflected in its choice of music. It partly explains the popularity of television shows such as Coke Studio and of the rash of re-recordings of old classics that seems to be breaking out in most large vernacular music industries. At such a time, composer Sneha Khanwalkar is making her mark in a rather radical corner of the market. She was the one sent out by director Dibakar Banerjee to find out a song for Oye Lucky! Lucky Oye! (‘Tu raja ki raj dulari’) from the gut of Haryana. She not only found it, but sampled enough sounds on her trips to lend an air of authenticity to the rest of the plain-speaking film’s score. In recent weeks, she has surprised us on MTV Sound Trippin’ by picking up local voices and sounds from regions as farflung as Ludhiana and Majuli island, and mixing them into striking ‘modern’ compositions. In an era of DJ mixes, she has been able to keep her ear closer to the ground than have most of her peers. Her latest work is for The Gangs of Wasseypur, Anurag Kashyap’s film in two parts, for which she has shared the composing credits with Piyush Mishra, who has left his inimitable sarcastic kick in some of the songs’ lyrics, too. Now even after a lot of vapourware clouding the film’s music release, the CDs were not available in Delhi music shops till the middle of the week. But that didn’t prove to be a barrier, as the songs — all 14 of them from the first part of the film — had been released on the internet more than a week ago. I shopped on Flyte, Flipkart’s mp3 store (bit.ly/wasseypur), though you can also go to gaana.com or other such websites. The music, which has been fetched up from the bowels of Bihar and Jharkhand, is a testament to the incredible churn the Bhojpuri film and music industry has gone through. It is reflected

The music, which has been fetched up from the bowels of Bihar and Jharkhand, is a testament to the incredible churn the Bhojpuri film and music industry has gone through. in the rise of Manoj Tiwari, one of the most popular singers in the language who has sung the album’s first song, the rollicking, dholak-boosted, heavy-bass-lined ‘Jiya hai Bihar ka lala’. On Twitter, writer Naresh Fernandes (@tajmahalfoxtrot) recently pointed to a remarkable paper — ‘Music mania in small-town Bihar’ — published in Economic and Political Weekly. In it, researcher Ratnakar Tripathy gives us a rare view the spread of the Bhojpuri/ Maithili/Magahi music industry. He puts down the moment Tiwari became a star as a Budhwa Mangal concert held in Varanasi in 1988. The year before, Anoop Jalota had offended the concert’s audience by inviting them to match an intricate taan. This year, he was booed off stage and there was a roar to bring back Tiwari, who had sung earlier. So the vernacular took over a stage that had been given to semi-classi-

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cal fare. In the decades since, Bhojpuri music has grown several folds. Estimates are difficult, but Tripathy’s research says the CD/VCD industry alone could be worth R5001,000 crore today; and then there’s the larger live concerts market. To their credit, Khanwalkar and Mishra have acknowledged the richness of such a thriving industry and not given them a Bollywood makeover. They have kept the earthiness and storytelling tease in the voices of singers such as Manish Tipu and Bhupesh Singh, and Gaya’s Ranjeet Baal Party. Even some of the typical drum-andcymbal instrumentation has been maintained in places. The film’s team seems to have curated the songs and then provided a texture or highlighted some portions with western sounds and rhythms. For example, the live version of ‘Womaniya’, with its playful language benders, comes off all raw in the voices of Khusboo Raaj and Rekha Jha. (As happens so often with tunes in the piracy-ridden Hindi heartland, the melody is mostly borrowed from the popular Laxmikant-Pyarelal song from Karz, ‘Mere umar ke naujawano’.) But in the regular version, there are layers of beats and sounds added to pace the song while keeping the voices intact. Vedesh Sokoo and team’s ‘Hunter’, on the other hand, is a laid-back reggae beat that has, somehow, been doused in Bhojpuri sensibility with the lyrics and some of the instruments. It’s East going over to the west of West. Not all the songs are by Bhojpur locals. Composers Khanwalkar, Mishra and Amit Trivedi have sung some other numbers. Usri Banerjee has provided a rare polished voice on ‘Manmauji’, which reminds us of flirtatious numbers from the early talkies. (Disclosure: Banerjee is a sister-in-law to me.) But the overall feel is unmistakably Bihari. It’s as if the composers are standing in the middle of Bhojpur and shouting: “This, too, can be Bollywood.” Hindustan Tumes

COMMUNITY

Vikram Gandhi’s Documentary ‘Kumaré’

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NEW YORK (NYT): IN his early 20s Vikram Gandhi, a fledgling IndianAmerican filmmaker from New Jersey, decided to make a documentary about the yoga industry in the United States, focusing on its offshoot, the guru. Then he decided to become one himself. The result was “Kumaré,” named for Gandhi’s alter ego, a yoga teacher from Aali’kash, a fictional place in the shadow of the Himalayas, who carries a trident and imparts his wisdom on some unsuspecting spiritual seekers in Arizona. The lesson, to those willing to listen closely: The only guru you need is the one inside you. Gandhi said the inevitable comparisons of “Kumaré,” his first fulllength movie (which opens June 20 in New York), with Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” didn’t bother him. Gandhi, now 33 and a resident of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said he had already begun his transformation before that film came out — and besides, his documentary is 100 percent unscripted. In a recent interview, for which he traded his character’s flowing attire for an untucked white shirt and jeans (he kept the beard), Gandhi spoke about his spiritual path and pretending to be what he was not. These are excerpts from their conversation. Q. How did what began as a yoga documentary become “Kumaré”? A. I was meeting tons of different spiritual leaders and teachers, and I’d be saying: “This person is just making something up. Why does everyone else think this is legitimate?” What I saw made me think: “What if I pretended to be one of these people? Wouldn’t that show something about the nature of why people are grasping onto things, especially if I’m going to be saying that what I’m teaching is not real and it’s kind of nonsense?” Q. How did you progress? A. I made up a name. My middle name is Kumar, so I put an “é” at the end. Q. What about the yoga poses? A. Anyone nowadays who thinks that they know what authentic yoga asanas are is full of it. India has a lot of scriptures, but it doesn’t have tons of diagrams of all these scorpion poses. Q. What was Kumaré’s appeal? A. Kumaré is not based on a char-

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acter in India; he’s based on a character in mythology. And even though people saw this man who looked like he was from another planet, he was super relatable — because he’s just me. You imagine this man to be talking on a much higher level, but in fact Kumaré was the simple straight man in every scene. No great wisdom. He was always saying, “You have the answer.” Q. Did you ever break character? A. There’s a smile that Kumaré has and a laugh like some old Indian people I’ve seen who laugh without making a sound. It was like the masked laughter on top of my own laughter. I told people that the translation of my name, Kumaré, meant “divine child.” I’m a child trapped inside this big man who has a trident and a picnic basket. Q. After gaining the trust of these people, did you feel responsible for hurt feelings once you revealed yourself?

A. I was prepared mentally for everything. I already knew that there was no movie without the unveiling. I needed to display the mechanism of the guru and the mechanism of faith. And then laying all the cards on the table and telling them: “You’re making changes in your life, and you don’t need me because I don’t know anything about you. I don’t know anything at all.” Q. Has Kumaré appeared again since the movie? A. I went to New York Fashion Week [as Kumaré]. Of course everyone at Lincoln Center was going, “I’m sorry, what is this? [Circles hand and points at imaginary clothing.] This is amazing.” And I’m barefoot, carrying a trident. The next thing you know, someone has put a picture of me on the front of The Hindustan Times entertainment section with a caption that says, “Swami steals the show at New York Fashion Week.”

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Anita Desai: A Booker Prize Finalist BY SOWMYA NANDAKUMAR Novelist Anita Mazumdar Desai was born in Mussoorie, India, on June 24 1937, to a German mother, Toni Nime and a Bengali businessman, D.N. Mazumdar. Growing up, she spoke German at home and four languages outside home, Bengali, Hindi, Urdu and English. German was her first language but she started learning to read and write English in school at the age of seven. Since then it became the language of her short stories and novels. Desai read the classic, Wuthering Heights, at the age of nine and apparently recollects that as being a story that strongly moved her always. Desai got her education in Delhi at the Queen Mary’s Higher Secondary School and Miranda House, Delhi University. In 1957 she received her B.A in English literature. She started writing short stories regularly. In 1958 she married Ashvin Desai, a businessman - the director of a computer software company and author of the book: Between Eternities: Ideas on Life and The Cosmos. In 1963 Desai published her first novel, Cry The Peacock. This is the story of rebellious woman who kills her husband to liberate herself. This was followed by Voices of The City in 1965, a story about the very different lives of three siblings living in Kolkata. Fire on The Mountain, focusing on the complex life and experiences of three women, was published in 1977. It won the Sahitya Akademi Award (National Academy of Letters Award) and the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize in 1978. Desai is known for writing on women centric issues and themes. She is reputed for being able to portray with sensitivity and finesse, the personality, characteristics and emotions of her female characters. Many of her characters belong to the anglicized Indian bourgeoisie and often, their marriages and marital problems are in the forefront of these stories. These characters try to deal with the monotonies of their lives by resorting to some form of escapism. In Fire on the Mountain, one of the characters retreats in to a private world of isolation; In Where Shall We Go This Summer, published in 1977, the character Sita, is pregnant with her fifth child and takes shelter from her marriage in her deceased father’s magical island. Clear Light of Day (1980) told the story of siblings, Bimala and Tara, woven in with Delhi’s history, the partition and its many consequences. This book was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Desai won the Guardian Award for Children's Fiction for the novel The Village by the Sea (1982). From the mid-1980s Desai started to look at social issues and problems

Anita Desai (left) in conversation with her Booker Prize winning daughter Kiran Desai.

in society. Her novels, characters and situations reflect Indian society and politics. In 1984 Desai wrote In Custody, (also short listed for the Booker Prize) revolving around the many life disappointments of the three central characters. In 1993, In Custody, was directed by Ismail Merchant, with a screenplay by Shahrukh Husain, and produced by Merchant Ivory Productions. Starring Shashi Kapoor, Shabana Azmi and Om Puri, the film won the 1994 President of India Gold Medal for Best Picture and Stars. In 1988, Desai’s German lineage came through in her writing when she wrote Baumgartner’s Bombay, the story of a retired Jewish businessman who escaped the Nazis in his youth, to India, and stays there in poverty, taking care of stray cats. In 1993 Desai became member of the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and taught creative writing. She also won the Neil Gunn Prize, (named after the prolific Scottish novelist and dramatist, Neil Gunn) for International Literature from the Scottish Arts council. In 1995, she wrote Journey to Ithaca, which explores a pilgrimage to India through the perspectives of three people, two young Europeans, Mateo and Sophie, and Mother, a mysterious woman. In 1999, Desai wrote Fasting, Feasting, which contrasts American and Indian cultures, and gender roles. The story is about Arun, who studies in Massachusetts, and his sister Uma who lives back home in India, with their parents, in a small city. Uma attempts to leave home and get married. This raises pandemonium! This novel was a finalist for the Booker Prize in 1999. She won the Alberto Moravia Prize for Literature in 2000 and Benson Medal of Royal Society of Literature in 2003. In 2004, Desai’s In the Zigzag Way, was set very differently from her usual terrain of story telling. This story set in Mexico, explores identities. Her latest book was The Artist of Disappearance, which came in 2011.

Since the 1950s Desai has lived in New Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay, and other Indian cities. She has held several prestigious positions in acclaimed literary institutions. She has been member of the Advisory Board for English of the National Academy of Letters in Delhi and a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in London. She has taught at Girton College and Smith College in England, and at Mount Holyoke College in the United States. Desai and her husband Ashvin have have four children, Rahul, Tani, Arjun and Kiran. Kiran Desai, following in the footsteps of her mother is a Booker Prize winning novelist.

Anita Desai was the recipient of the Neil Gunn Prize for International Literature, from the Scottish Arts Council.

To read a conversation between Anita and Kirna Desai, mother and daughter, visit http://www.guardian.co.uk/ books/2011/nov/11/kiran-desai-anita-desai-in-conversation

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

ENTERTAINMENT

Ferrari ki Sawaari: Endearing Flick

Direction: Rajesh Mapuskar Actors: Boman Irani, Sharman Joshi, Ritwik Sahore BY SARIT RAY Rustam Deboo (Sharman Joshi) is a man you might meet on the streets of Mumbai. He’s the modest Parsi with neatly side-parted hair and round glasses who wears the sudreh-kusti, rides a scooter to work and lives in an old house with an ageing father (Bomxan Irani as Deboo). He barely manages to make ends meet on the salary of a head clerk at the RTO, yet is honest to a fault — when he runs a red light without getting caught, he finds a cop and insists on paying a fine. It’s the sort of thing only a Parsi would do. The one extraordinary thing in their otherwise ho-hum life is Rustam’s son Kayo’s (Ritwik Sahore) talent for cricket. Of course, there are a million parents in this country who believe their boy is the next Sachin Tendulkar. The difference is that, within the premise 100% of Ferrari Ki Sawaari, Kayo is the VEGETARIAN next Sachin Tendulkar who can send a ball scurrying off to the boundary at will. But Ferrari… isn’t really another cricket movie (and thank God for that). At its heart, it is an underdog story, with an Everyman up against

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huge odds; the kind of movie that we have come to expect from a Rajkumar Hirani-Vidhu Vinod Chopra script. In both the Munnabhai films, a common, illiterate gangster overreaches himself, first by questioning a rigid medical system and then by fighting corruption and injustice with Gandhigiri; Rancho in 3 Idiots is an unlikely engineering student up against an education system based on rotelearning. In first-time director Rajesh Mapuskar’s Ferrari… (Mapuskar was associate director to Hirani on Lage Raho Munnabhai and 3 Idiots), Rustam fights financial constraints and the politics of cricket selections to fulfil his son’s dream of playing at London’s Lord’s Cricket Ground. That’s where the Ferrari comes in. The pressing need for money leads Rustam to take a reckless step and ‘borrow’ Sachin Tendulkar’s big red machine. A comedy of errors ensues, involving the wedding of a politician’s son, a hunt GRAND for the missing car, OPENING OF has a and Grandfather Deboo, who SAGAR backstory of his own that, let’s just say, also concernsINDIAN cricket. The second halfCUISINE! of the movie largely devotes itself to resolving this plot and does so entertainingly, with wit, INDO humour CHINESE and pathos. There is even a symbolic deus ex machina, with a

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Himangini Singh Yadu Wins the Asia Pacific 2012 Title

god that comes riding on a bullock cart. Some stock characters exist purely for comic effect (the politician’s idiot son, Tendulkars’domestic help and a bumbling security guard), but the central characters are well fleshed out. Sharman, one of the most underrated actors in Bollywood, is extremely convincing as the scrupulous Rustam (it’s astounding that in his 13 years in the industry, this is his first ‘lead’ role). Boman Irani excels as the cynical grandfather (of course, he has a natural advantage in playing MUMBAI: After 12 years of wait, finally another Indian beauty made us a Parsi) and has some of the best lines feel proud. Indore girl Himangini Singh Yadu crowned the Miss India Asia in the movie — at one point, he calls Pacific. Himangini is the first girl to win the title in 12 years. the whole Lord’s affair a “recession The beauty pageant was held in Busan, South Korea on Saturday. “This is a scheme” by the West to make money. dream come true! All the hard work, time and effort that my mentors have put The Hirani-Chopra influence, how- in with me has paid off,” said Himangini after winning the title. ever, pervades the film — a morally She was selected by Sushmita Sen’s organization I Am She, an organization upright, large-hearted protagonist; started in 2010, which sends its winner to Miss Universe, Miss World and Miss an old, brooding father (not entirely Asia Pacific pageants. “I am extremely thankful to the entire I AM She team unlike the carrom-playing Parsi dad and Sushmita Sen... I couldn`t have done it without them! I am extremely from Munnabhai), even a magic- thrilled at making them and India proud,” Himangini said. realism song sequence. Himangini Singh Yadu was the first candidate from ‘I Am She’ to win the Yet, judged on its own, Ferrari title. Sushmita, founder of the organization, is delighted over the victory. “We works as a fiFRIENDLY lm.JAIN It’s a story of reach- did it! The entire team is extremely happy and very proud of Himangini for ing for your ITEMS dreams, of endearing winning the international title... She has so beautifully represented India and father-son relationships, and of moral won us back that sweet taste of victory,” said the former Miss Universe. Modlessons that aren’t preachy. It’s a el-turned-actress Dia Mirza was the last Indian to win the Miss Asia Pacific GRAND formula that rarely fails — the sort title in 2000. Himangini Singh Yadu has done her graduation in computer MUMBAI movie that makes for JAIN OPENING OFInstitute of Professional Studies. of feel-good application from Indore`s International She 100% STYLE FRIENDLY VEGETARIAN SAGAR perfect Sunday viewing with the LOCAL won Miss Indore in 2006 and walked the ramp at various fashion ITEMS shows. wholeFOOD family. HT INDIAN Bollywood Mantra CUISINE!

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22 June 22, 2012

Stuffed Baked Eggplant in Tomato Yogurt Gravy

Ingredients: 5 small oval shaped Eggplants 1 Tomato (chopped) 1 pinch Asafoetida 1/4 Tsp Turmeric Powder 1/4th Tsp Garam Masala 1/2 Tsp Coriander Powder 1 Tsp Mango Powder 2 Tsp Salt (or to taste) 1 Tsp Red Chilli Powder(or to taste) 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil 2 Tbsp Yogurt (Curd) 1/4 cup Water

Method: 1. Preheat your conventional oven (350 Degree) or Toaster Oven (425 Degrees). I used toaster oven coz of smaller quantity. 1. Wash and remove the stem of the eggplants. 2. Slit the eggplant vertically and horizontally (making a cross). 3. Except Asafoetida, Mix all the dry spices together in a small bowl. Using a small spoon or by hands, fill in the spices into the eggplant. 4.Arrange the eggplant on a baking

sheet and bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. 5.Meanwhile, let’s prepare the gravy. 6. Heat oil in a pan. Add Asafoetida to the hot oil. 7. Add the chopped tomatoes to it and mix. Cook them until tender stirring in between. 8. Now lets switch off the gas. Let it cool off for 2 min. 9. Now take a chopped and add these sauted tomatoes to the chopper and grind it to a gravy. 10. Put it back in the pan and turn the gas flame back on. 11. Add yogurt to the tomato gravy and mix well. Add 1/4 cup of Water now and let it come to a boil. 12. By now your eggplants are probably done. Take them out of oven and carefully take each eggplant and put it slowly in the gravy pan. 13. Cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes on a medium low flame or until gravy becomes thick. You can make the consistency of gravy per your choice. Serve Hot with Chappatis or Paranthas.

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Chocolate Cinnamon Cake

Ingredients Butter – ½ cup Water – 1 cup Vegetable oil – ½ cup Cocoa powder – 5 tbsps[I used Hershey’s] Plain flour – 1 ½ cups Wholewheat flour – ½ cup Sugar – 1 ¾ cups Salt – ½ tsp Buttermilk – ½ cup ( I didnt have buttermilk so i used 1/2 cup of milk and 1/4th tsp Vinegar added to it. Keep it for 5 min) Baking soda – 1 tsp Eggs – 2,lightly beaten Cinnamon – 1 ½ tsps Vanilla extract – 1 tsp Method 1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 2. Grease a large regular pan or bundt pan with cooking spray. 3. Put butter, water, oil, and cocoa in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. 4. Meanwhile, whisk together both flours, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. 5. Pour the chocolate mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and mix well. 6. Then, add the buttermilk and baking soda. 7. Mix together the eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla in a small bowl, and add to the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan. 8. Bake it for 25-30 min. Mine took around 28 min. 9. Let it cool completely before you cut. Both Recipes by Vaishali Sharma Visit www.zestyflavors.com or visit https://www. facebook.com/pages/Zestyflavors-Adding-Zest-toyour-Cooking/145518712165348 Also “Like” Zestyflavors on Facebook

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

OPINION INDIA

June 22, 2012

As Grain Piles Up, India’s Poor Still Go Hungry

BY VIKAS BAJAJ RANWAN, India (NYT): In this north Indian village, workers recently dismantled stacks of burned and mildewed rice while flies swarmed nearby over spoiled wheat. Local residents said the rice crop had been sitting along the side of a highway for several years and was now being sent to a distillery to be turned into liquor. Just 180 miles to the south, in a slum on the outskirts of New Delhi, Leela Devi struggled to feed her family of four on meager portions of flatbread and potatoes, which she said were all she could afford on her disability pension and the irregular wages of her day-laborer husband. Her family is among the estimated 250 million Indians who do not get enough to eat. Such is the paradox of plenty in India’s food system. Spurred by agricultural innovation and generous farm subsidies, India now grows so much food that it has a bigger grain stockpile than any country except China, and it exports some of it to countries like Saudi Arabia and Australia. Yet one-fifth of its people are malnourished — double the rate of other developing countries like Vietnam and China — because of pervasive corruption, mismanagement and waste in the programs that are supposed to distribute food to the poor. “The reason we are facing this problem is our refusal to distribute the grain that we buy from farmers to the people who need it,” said Biraj Patniak, who advises India’s Supreme Court on food issues. “The only place that this grain deserves to be is in the stomachs of the people who are hungry.” After years of neglect, the nation’s failed food policies have now become a subject of intense debate in New Delhi, with lawmakers, advocates for the poor, economists and the news media increasingly calling for an overhaul. The populist national government is considering legislation that would pour billions of additional dollars into the system and double the number of people served to two-thirds of the population. The proposed law would also allow the poor to buy more rice and wheat at lower prices. Proponents say the new law, if written and executed well, could help ensure that nobody goes hungry in India, the world’s second-most populous country behind China. But critics say that without fundamental system reforms, the extra money will only deepen the nation’s budget deficit and further enrich the officials who routinely steal food from various levels of the distribution chain. India’s food policy has two central goals: to provide farmers with higher and more consistent prices for their crops than they would get from the open market, and to sell food grains to the poor at lower prices than they would pay at private stores. The federal government buys grain and stores it. Each state can take a certain amount of grain from these stocks based on how many of its

Sacks of wheat are loaded into trucks in Jagraon. India’s food production has increased almost 50 percent in the last two decades Photo: Manpreet Romana

residents are poor. The states deliver the grain to subsidized shops and decide which families get the ration cards that allow them to buy cheap wheat and rice there. The sprawling system costs the government 750 billion rupees ($13.6 billion) a year, almost 1 percent of India’s gross domestic product. Yet 21 percent of the country’s 1.2 billion people remain undernourished, a proportion that has changed little in the last two decades despite an almost 50 percent increase in food production, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, a research group in Washington. The new food security law could more than double the government’s outlays to 2 trillion rupees a year, according to some estimates. Much of the extra money would go to buy more grain, even though the government already has a tremendous stockpile of wheat and rice — 71 million tons as of early May, up 20 percent from a year earlier. “India is paying the price of an unexpected success — our production of rice and wheat has surged and procurement has been better than ever,” said Kaushik Basu, the chief economic adviser to India’s Finance Ministry and a professor at Cornell University. “This success is showing up some of the gaps in our policy.” The biggest gap is the inefficient, corrupt system used to get the food to those who need it. Just 41.4 percent of the grain picked up by the states from federal warehouses reaches Indian homes, according to a recent World Bank study. Critics say officials all along the chain, from warehouse managers to shopkeepers, steal food and sell it to traders, pocketing tidy, illicit profits. Poor Indians who have ration cards often complain about both the quality and quantity of grain available at government stores, called fair price shops. Other families do not even have ration cards

23

would buy and store only enough grain to insure against bad harvests. And the poor would get more choices, said Ashok Gulati, chairman of the government’s Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices. “Why only wheat and rice? If he wants to have eggs, or fruits, or some vegetables, he should be given that option,” Gulati said. “You need to augment his income. Then, the distribution, you leave it to the private sector.” But most officials say they are worried that if India switched to food stamps, men would trade them for liquor or tobacco, depriving their families of enough to eat. “It has to improve, I have no doubt about it,” said K. V. Thomas, India’s minister for food, consumer affairs and public distribution. “But this is the only system that can work in our country.” Officials say Parliament is likely to vote on a new food policy at the end of the year. In the meantime, the government is working on temporary solutions to its grain storage problems, putting up new silos and exporting more rice. Still, much of it is likely to keep sitting on the side of the road here in Punjab. “It’s painful to watch,” said Gurdeep Singh, a farmer from near Ranwan who recently sold his wheat harvest to the government. “The government is big and powerful. It should be able to put up a shed to store this crop.”

because of the procedures — and often, bribes — required to get them. Some are denied because they cannot document their residence or income. And critics say more people would qualify if the income cutoff were raised; in New Delhi, it is 2,000 rupees ($36) a month, regardless of family size, a sum that many poor families spend on rent alone. Ms. Devi, who lives in the Jagdamba Camp slum in south Delhi, said she was denied a ration card four years ago. She said her family’s steadiest income is a disability pension of 1,000 rupees a month she gets because of burns suffered in an accident a few years ago. While her husband sometimes earns up to 3,000 rupees a month as a laborer, she says she should be entitled to subsidized grain since they must often get by on 2,000 rupees or less. “Sometimes, we just have to sit and wait,” she said. “My motherin-law gets subsidized food and she gives me some when she can.” Indian officials say they are addressing the system’s problems. Some states, like Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh, have made big improvements by using technology to track food and have made it easier for almost all households to get ration cards. Other states, like Bihar, have experimented with food stamps. Reformers argue that India should move toward giving the poor cash or food stamps as the United States, Mexico and other countries have done. That would reduce corruption and misman- Sacks of rice stored in the open in Ranwan, India, have agement because the government rotted and suffered other damage.

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24 June 22, 2012 Indian Presidential Elections

Isolated Mamata Learns a Bitter Lesson

BY RAJ KANWAR IAN INDIA CORRESPONDENT A twenty four-hour slot is too short a time depending upon what one is doing. An air journey from New Delhi to Houston would easily take 22 to 24 hours, if there are two stopovers en route and again depending upon what Airline one takes. In politics, 24 hours are too long a period during which even governments could get toppled. India’s mercurial and temperamental Mamata Banerjee learnt this bitter lesson at her great cost and much ignominy Friday last week when her best laid out plan to derail the candidature of Pranab Mukherjee as the 13th President of India was miscarried. Her co-star in this farce of a drama was another equally temperamental but wily Uttar Pradesh chieftain Mulayam Singh Yadav. The two had suddenly developed an unexpected bonhomie and had addressed a joint press conference on Thursday at which the duo contemptuously rejected the choice of both the Congress presidential candidates Pranab Mukherjee and Hamid Ansari. Instead they announced their own three names, APJ Abdul Kalam, former speaker Somnath Chatterjee and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The name of Manmohan Singh had been mischievously added to express their no confidence in the Prime Minister and just to spite the Congress’ face. The echo of the duo’s war cry against the UPA was still reverberating when Mulayam Singh made a complete about-turn on Friday and announced his unambiguous and unconditional support to the Congress presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee. This somersault took Mamata by total surprise and left her literally speechless; the only statement she made was that the “game is not yet over”. If this shock was not enough, Mulayam’s bête noire Mayawati too followed suit and declared her support to Pranab Mukherjee. Thus this public support by the two Uttar Pradesh adversaries within an hour of the formal announcement of the candidature of Mukherjee took most political observers by surprise and gave a winning edge to the veteran Congress politician. In other words, Mukherjee’s election as the President became certain. Mainstream newspapers the following morning came out with first lead stories like “President Pranab, almost there” (The Indian Express), “Isolated in Capital’s power corridors, Mamata….” (Sunday Hindustan Times). It is almost certain the Left too would extend its support to Mukherjee, since it has no other option and if only to cock a snook at Mamata’s Trinamool Congress. If the initial dithering by Congress in selecting its presidential candidate was inexplicable, the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) reached the nadir of indecisiveness by not being able to take any decision whatsoever on the choice of their presidential candidate; it could not even decide if it was at all going to challenge Pranab Mukherjee. BJP, as a party, appeared to be a house divided and its top leaders spoke in many voices. They met for long hours on Saturday but failed to take any decision, leaving the final say to a larger meeting of NDA constituents. It was the same story the following day on Sunday; it was announced thatAdvani would then consult with the NDA chief ministers. But the writing on the wall was clear with NDA’s two leading partners, JD (U) of Nitish Kumar (the ruling party in Bihar) and the Punjab’s ruling party Shrimoni Akali Dal had openly voiced their support to Mukherjee and did not want NDA to put up any candidate. Another longtime NDA partner, Bal Thackery’s Shiv Sena did not even bother to attend the meeting. There was no

INDIA U.S. Court Acts in New York Hindu Temple Row

NEW YORK (SI) :A US court has told a Long Island pharmacist to stay away from the elderly president of a Kali temple here after allegations of embezzlement led to an attack on the latter. The court has issued a temporary order of protection against pharmacist Suman Saha following his alleged assault on the president of New York Kali Mandir Hindu Temple, Ajoy Nayak. The 72-year-old Nayak is a left-leg amputee. According to court documents, Saha was arraigned in Nassau county criminal court Monday before Judge Douglas LeRose where the temporary order of protection was issued. The order prohibits Saha from having any contact with Nayak and requires him to return June 14 to Nassau County district court in front of Judge Sharon Gianelli. Nayak alleged he was physically attacked May 13 in a locked room by Saha and several fellow officials of the temple. This was allegedly done to cover up Nayak’s discovery of inappropriate financial dealings by the temple’s previous president, Kumar Sankar Mandal. Nayak said in a statement: “I have spent the early part of my tenure as president of New York Kali Mandir trying to clarify our financial position and ensure a successful and secure resource for our Hindu community. “It is shocking and disheartening that members of our religious community would not only misappropriate the funds of our temple, but then resort to thuggery and violence in order to try to cover it up. “This is a sad time for our community, but I urge members to come together in peace and harmony and demonstrate that these behaviours are not demonstrative of our beliefs and culture and will not be tolerated by our community.”

Rahul Bhattacharya Wins Prestigious Ondaatje Literary Prize for Fiction Pranab Mukherjee & Sonia Gandhi

further news from BJP till the time of writing on Monday afternoon. It was a time of reckoning for Mamata; she is certainly street-smart in her own West Bengal and could easily hold her own there, but she found herself out of depth in the larger battlefield of real politicking where fights are no-hold barred and no quarter given or even asked. It is a moot point whether Mulayam stabbed Mamata in the back or was it a comeuppance for the Bengali ‘tigress’ who was all bent upon betraying Congress, with which it is a major coalition partner in the Central government. Mamata, in fact, is very much piqued at the blatant refusal of Pranab Mukherjee to help her and the impoverished state of West Bengal with the huge financial package amounting to as much as Rs. 100,000 crore. In other words, Mamata had set much in store on the munificence of Mukherjee and his natural love for West Bengal and had felt certain that the financial package or at least much of it would be given. However, Mukherjee could not, in all fairness, oblige Mamata even if he had wanted; it would have been too much of a risk as also discriminatory vis-à-vis other states. Thus it goes to Mukherjee’s credit that he did not succumb to the high pressure tactics and emotional blackmail exerted on him by her. “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. True to her reputation as unforgiving and ruthless, Mamata planned to extract an immediate revenge. It was quite easy to entice Mulayam Singh to her side, and the two obviously hatched a devious plan to outwit the Congress. But in this game of one-upmanship, Sonia Gandhi turned out to be much smarter and was able to pull Mulayam away from Mamata within few hours of their joint media conference. This has virtually isolated Mamata and has left her high and dry. As per the current calculations, Pranab Mukherjee will have the support of over 51% of the total votes in the President’s Electoral College. This is without counting upon the votes of some partners in the BJP-led NDA and parties such as Jayalalitha’s AIDMK and Naveen Patnaik’s BJD in Orissa. There is every probability that BJP may eventually decide not even to put up a candidate against Mukherjee for the simple reason that it does not have the numbers in its favor and instead ask Congress and UPA to support its candidate for the post of vice president. In fact, this ‘give and take’ will be an ideal example of bipartisan politics and a happy development.

LONDON (Indiawest): Author Rahul Bhattacharya became the first Indian writer May 29 to win the prestigious Ondaatje Prize for his book, “The Sly Company of People Who Care,” a novel about an Indian journalist’s adventures. The 10,000-pound award is given by the Royal Society of Literature annually to a work of fiction, non-fiction or poetry which evokes the “spirit of a place,” and which is written by someone who is a citizen or resident of the Commonwealth or Ireland. Bhattacharya’s book was described by judge Michele Roberts as “one of the most exhilarating novels I have read for years.”

Rahul Bhattacharya

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Rajat Gupta to Appeal After Conviction of Conspiracy and Securities Fraud BY PETER LATHAM, AZAM AHMED NEW YORK (NYT): Rajat K. Gupta, the retired head of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company and a former Goldman Sachs board member, was found guilty on Friday of conspiracy and securities fraud for leaking boardroom secrets to a billionaire hedge fund manager. The case, which caps a wave of successful insider trading prosecutions over the last three years, is a significant victory for the government, which has penetrated some of Wall Street’s most vaunted hedge funds and reached into America’s most prestigious corporate boardrooms. Mr. Gupta is one of the 66 Wall Street traders and corporate executives charged with insider trading crimes by Preet Bharara, the United States attorney in Manhattan, since 2009. Of those, 60 have either pleaded guilty or been found guilty. Juries have convicted all seven defendants who have gone to trial. After a monthlong trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan, a jury took only two days to reach a verdict. It found Mr. Gupta guilty of leaking confidential information about Goldman to his former friend and business associate, Mr. Rajaratnam, on three different occasions in 2008. He was also convicted on a conspiracy charge. The jury found Mr. Gupta not guilty of two charges of tipping Mr. Rajaratnam, including an allegation that he divulged secret news about Procter & Gamble, where he also served on the board. “Having fallen from respected insider to convicted inside trader, Mr. Gupta has now exchanged the lofty boardroom for the prospect of a lowly jail cell,” Mr. Bharara

true, but at the end of the said in a statement. day the evidence was just After the verdict was overwhelming.” read in the courtroom, Prosecutors built their Mr. Gupta, 63, remained case around phone restoic. Just behind him, his cords, trading logs, inwife, Anita, buried her stant messages and ehead in her hands. His mails. Mr. Gupta would four daughters, who had participate in Goldman squeezed into the front board calls, and afterrow of the spectators’ ward quickly call Mr. Ragallery each day during jaratnam, the founder of the trial, loudly sobbed the Galleon Group. Mr. and consoled one anothRajaratnam would then er. Several jurors cried as trade shares in Goldman. they left the courtroom. The government also Gary P. Naftalis, a lawpresented three telephone yer for Mr. Gupta, said conversations between that his client would apMr. Rajaratnam and Galpeal the verdict. “This is leon colleagues that were only Round 1,” he said. secretly recorded by the Judge Jed S. Rakoff, F.B.I. On those calls, Mr. who presided over the Rajaratnam boasted that case, set Mr. Gupta free he had a source inside on bail until his Oct. 18 Goldman. sentencing. He faces a “I heard yesterday maximum sentence of 25 from somebody who’s years in prison, but will probably serve less time. Rajat K. Gupta leaving the federal court in Manhattan on the board of Goldman Sachs that they are going Mr. Rajaratnam is serv- after his guilty verdict on Friday. to lose $2 per share,” Mr. ing an 11-year jail term. Rajaratnam said on one “Having lived a lifetime of honMr. Gupta, a native of Kolkata, India, was orphaned as esty and integrity, he didn’t turn call, in October 2008. “McKinsey’s core business a teenager. After earning an engi- into a criminal in the seventh deneering degree, he moved to the cade of an otherwise praiseworthy principle is to guard the confidenUnited States to attend Harvard life,” said Mr. Naftalis, articulating tial and private information of its clients,” said a former McKinsey Business School on a scholarship. one of Mr. Gupta’s defenses. Yet the government, which was executive, who spoke on the conHe joined McKinsey in the early 1970s and in 1994 was elected represented by federal prosecutors dition of anonymity. “It is mindReed Brodsky and Richard C. Tar- blowing that the guy who ran the global head. In 2007, Mr. Gupta retired from lowe, countered with evidence that firm for so many years could be McKinsey and became a highly Mr. Gupta brazenly divulged con- going to jail for violating that prinsought director at public compa- fidential board discussions at both ciple.” Mr. Gupta met Mr. Rajaratnam nies, joining the boards of Gold- Goldman and Procter & Gamble. “Here’s a man who came to this around 2007. Back then, Mr. Raman, Procter & Gamble and the parent company of American Air- country and was a wonderful ex- jaratnam was at his peak, a billines. In recent years, Mr. Gupta ample of the American dream,” lionaire hedge fund manager with had also devoted his time to hu- said the jury’s foreman, Richard a superior investment record. For manitarian causes, raising millions Lepkowski, an executive for a non- Mr. Gupta, who wanted to raise of dollars to combat AIDS, tuber- profit organization. “We wanted to his profile in the lucrative world of believe that the allegations weren’t money management, Mr. Rajaratculosis and malaria.

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nam was a top-notch connection. “Rajaratnam offered Gupta many benefits,” said the prosecutor, Mr. Tarlowe, in his summation. “What was good for Rajaratnam and Galleon was good for Gupta.” Together, the men helped start a private equity firm focused on India. Mr. Gupta invested at least $13 million in Galleon hedge funds and took on a fund-raising role at the firm. During a telephone conversation between Mr. Rajaratnam and Anil Kumar, a former McKinsey executive who has pleaded guilty to insider trading, the two gossiped about Mr. Gupta’s ambitions to make more money, focusing on his job at Kohlberg Kravis. “I think he wants to be in that circle,” said Mr. Rajaratnam, in August 2008. “That’s a billionaire circle, right?” Mr. Gupta’s friends adamantly dispute the notion that he was driven by material gain. At the trial, his private banker at JPMorgan Chase pegged his family’s net worth at $130 million, in addition to his home in Westport, Conn., a waterfront mansion once owned by the retail executive J. C. Penney. “I don’t know who came up with this business that Rajat had billionaire envy,” said Anil Sood, a childhood friend from India who now lives in Virginia. “He has always been quite content with his wealth.” But one of the jurors, Ronnie Sesso, a youth advocate at the Administration for Children’s Services in Manhattan, had a different view. “What did Mr. Gupta get by giving Raj this information?” said Ms. Sesso. “A need for greed.”

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INDIA

June 22, 2012

Congress Veteran Pranab Mukerjee Set to Become India’s Next President

BY MAHENDRA VED NEW DELHI (New Strait Times): Mukherjee, 77, India’s multitasking finance minister and a Congress veteran is set to be the next president. A contest is on the cards, but he has the numbers and cross-party goodwill. Even the communists opposed to his economic policies may support him. The opposition National Democratic Alliance (NDA), divided on the wisdom to oppose him, may still put up a fight, given the current unpopularity of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and to keep its allies together, with an eye on the 2014 parliamentary poll. Mukherjee leaves midway the task of reviving Asia’s third largest economy that has, in the last few months, been battered by policy gridlock, inflation and sluggish investment. After surviving the 2007-08 global slowdown at a high rate, growth has skidded to a nine-year low of 5.3 per cent. Criticism from investors and financial institutions, the pace of reforms and the economy’s opening up to global competition have together marred the reputation Mukherjee has enjoyed through four decades as minister and seven annual budgets. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may continue this task, possibly temporarily. He was finance

minister during India’s mood. The national par1991 crisis, initiating ties, Congress and opreforms that unleashed position Bharatiya Janata two decades of faster Party (BJP) have been growth. virtually sidelined. Mukherjee’s elevation Winners of state-level boosts the fledgling imelections since last year, age of the ruling United they flexed muscles to Progressive Alliance the chagrin of the bigger (UPA) and of the UPAparties. Thus it was that II government that has Mamata had a brief pobeen embroiled in scams litical cohabitation with and is accused of poMulayam Singh Yadav, litical mismanagement. the Uttar Pradesh boss. Ironically, his departure For two days, the weakens it; he cannot be Mulayam-Mamata duo easily replaced. held centre stage. Mamta As the government’s heard out UPA chief Sonia principal troubleshooter, Gandhi’s preference for Mukherjee chairs 25 Mukherjee or the current Groups of Ministers vice-president, Hamid (GOMs) that substitute Ansari, then quickly met the cabinet, go into and Yadav and emerged, decides on most matters alone, with three new that impact on the econnames. omy, politics and secuA shocked Congress rity. That work will now Pranab Mukherjee has been an erstwhile “jack of all took a full day to react have to be divided. to Mamata’s audacious trades” loyalist for the Congress party. Never a mass leader, demand that Manmohan package, she has campaigned voMukherjee, however, himself be fielded. She has been a political firefighter. A ciferously against him. also proposed former speaker Defying the son-of-the-soil sen- Somnath Chatterjee, her commupersuasive negotiator, he has everyone’s respect -- enough to be timent, her Trinamool Congress, nist foe. That was his turn to be although a UPA constituent, is set shocked. called dada or elder brother. One person who has not ad- to oppose Mukherjee, or abstain, Former president APJ Abdul Kadressed him thus in years is Mama- to retain its foothold in the alli- lam today told the Bharatiya Janata ta Banerjee, chief minister of his ance. Party that his conscience doesn’t The run-up to the July 19 elec- allow him to contest for the post home state, West Bengal. Angry at Mukherjee not sanctioning a Rs20 tion has been acrimonious, what of President of India, leaving the billion (RM1.14 billion) bailout with the current anti-government party and Mamata Banerjee in a

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

lurch. The BJP on Monday made several efforts to persuade Kalam to contest for the top post, Sudheendra Kulkarni was sent as a emissary to him, later Advani called him up to convince him. On Friday before UPA announced its presidential candidate, Kalam had said that he will take reight decision at right time. “It is a good idea, will take right decision at right time,” APJ Abdul Kalam told reporters on his name being suggested for President. TV news channels report, Kalam is being pressurised by several political parties to contest polls. After being snubbed by the UPA, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee is still keen on Kalam’s name for presidential poll. After UPA announced its decision to back Pranab, Mamata Banerjee said the game is not over yet. She even launched a facebook page seeking support to back Kalam. “I have said. I won’t say anything more. In my life, I do what I say and if someone thinks the game is over, it’s not that”, she told reporters. Mamata is expected to formally announce party’s candidate for presidential polls. Mamata has issued specific diktat to ensure no cross-voting. A formal announcement will be made on Monday evening.

June 22, 2012

Campaign for End to Disparity in Public Urinals for Women BY JIM YARDLEY on housing, water or MUMBAI, India — Men sanitation — all big and women here in India’s problems in the city — largest city, a congested, before deciding on the humanity-soaked metropoRight to Pee. lis of roughly 20 million Ms. Sheikh and other residents, would seem advocates saw an opbound by at least one comportunity to raise awaremon misery: far too many ness among women. people sharing far too few Women now constitute toilets. almost half the city’s But there is a difference work force, yet many of — unlike men, women ofthem work in jobs with ten have to pay to urinate. no access to a toilet. In So for months, social advarious parts of the city, vocates like Minu Gandhi including slums, activhave canvassed the city, ists have gone door to arguing that this dispardoor, collecting more ity amounts to blatant disthan 50,000 signatures crimination and asking supporting their dewomen to start demanding mands that the local a right most of them had government stop chargnever contemplated: the ing women to urinate, A lack of public toilets is a public health problem, but also a gender issue. Right to Pee. build more toilets, keep “We all feel this is a bathem clean, provide capital, with 1,534 public toilets tendant, Mr. Ansari said he did sic civic right,” Ms. Gandhi said, for men and 132 for women.) not charge anyone in the neigh- sanitary napkins and a trash can, “a human right.” Almost always, a male attendant borhood — only outsiders — yet and hire female attendants. India has long had a sanita- oversees these toilets, collecting even as he spoke, a local woman The toilet fees might be considtion problem. Recent census data fees. Petty corruption is rampant walked up, wordlessly placed a ered nominal, ranging from 2 to found that more than half of Indian in India, and public toilets are no 2 rupee coin on the counter and 5 rupees (about 4 to 9 cents). Yet households lacked a toilet, a rate exception: Men must pay to use stepped into the women’s side of in India, the poverty line is so low that has actually worsened in the a toilet but can use urinals free the small building. that the government recently depast decade despite India’s grow- (based on the premise that urinals, Mr. Ansari said the city gov- fined the urban poor as those living wealth, as slums and other usually just a wall and a drainage ernment provided no money for ing on less than 29 rupees a day. substandard housing have prolif- trench, do not need water). But maintenance and that he collected “It’s expensive for me,” Shuberated in growing cities. Yet what women are regularly charged to about 1,200 rupees, or $22, ev- hangi Gamre said of the cost to is unique about the so-called Right urinate, despite regulations saying ery day in toilet usage fees, from visit the toilet. She lives in Shivaji to Pee campaign — whose catchy they should not be. which he paid for electricity, water Nagar and earns about $27 a title was coined by the Mumbai month working in a tiny drugstore. “Even if you say you are only and cleaning. media and which now appears to urinating, they say, ‘How do we “Do you really think what “It cuts into our food money. How be on the verge of achieving some know?’ ” said Yagna Parmar, an- they are saying is true?” Usha can we afford everything?” of its goals — is the argument that other social activist involved in Deshmukh, one of the Right to Perhaps the months of canvassthe bathroom in India is governed the campaign. “So they ask for Pee advocates, derisively asked ing and campaigning will pay off. by a double standard. money.” later. “They are cheating. They are Last week, social advocates met Like men, women in villages ofwith city officials who told them At the northern rim of the city, eating all the money.” ten must urinate outdoors, in fields. inside a slum known as Shivaji Separately, a miniscandal erupt- of new plans to build hundreds of But unlike them, they sometimes Nagar, at least 350,000 people — ed in New Delhi last week when public toilets for women across endure taunting and even sexual perhaps twice that many by some it was disclosed that the country’s the city. Some local legislators assault. Many rural women relieve estimates — live pressed together Planning Commission had spent are now vowing to build toilets themselves in small groups, before beside one of the city’s largest roughly $54,000 to refurbish its for women in every one of their dawn, to protect against harass- dumps. The exact number of pub- toilets. Reflecting the sensitivity districts. Nothing is official yet, ment. lic toilets is unclear but, by one es- in India over the issue, at least one and promises often do not become In Mumbai, formerly known as timate, the ratio is no better than 1 critic argued that the money could reality in Indian politics. But the Bombay, millions of people de- toilet for every 300 people. Wom- have been better spent on public activists feel momentum is now in pend on public toilets, which are en must adapt their daily routines: toilets. their favor. usually in dark and filthy buildings Many visit the bathroom early in “Of course it’s a good feeling,” The campaign began last year that operate as male-controlled the morning to avoid lines and when a coalition of social advo- said Supriya Sonar, a member outposts. The municipal govern- leering. They avoid drinking much cates gathered from around the of the campaign, saying that the ment provides 5,993 public toi- water. And they carry change. state of Maharashtra, which in- Right to Pee group is now lobbylets for men, compared with only On a recent broiling morning, cludes Mumbai. Organizers in ing for women to be hired in the 3,536 for women. Men have an Mohammad Nasibul Ansari sat at each city chose different issues, proposed projects. “Our actual additional 2,466 urinals. (A 2009 the counter in front of a decrepit including domestic violence and work starts now.” study found an even greater im- public toilet, gripping 10 rupee equal access to water. The MumSruthi Gottipati contributed rebalance in New Delhi, the national notes in his hand. A salaried at- bai group considered campaigns porting.

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French Diplomat Accused of Incest, Spousal Abuse BANGALORE: Pascal Mazurier, a French diplomat, was held by the police here on Thursday evening on charges of raping his three-and-half-yearold daughter. A deputy head of chancery in the Consulate of France here, the 39-year-old diplomat was let off on Friday under the Consulate’s custody.

French diplomat Pascal Mazurier was taken by Bangalore Police.

Mazuerie was detained on the basis of a complaint filed on Thursday by his wife, Suja Jones Mazurier (37), a native of Kerala. Mrs. Mazurier’s complaint was accompanied by a medical report from the Collaborative Child Response Unit (CCRU) of the Baptist Hospital here. The police, however, refused to register an FIR against the diplomat and demanded “clinching evidence” that the act was committed by him, alleged Geetha Menon, lawyer representing the victim. Finally on Friday noon, the FIR was registered under Section 376 of the IPC at the High Grounds police station. Subsequent tests conducted on the child at the State-run Bowring Hospital on Friday afternoon confirmed sexual abuse. However, forensic experts at the hospital said that it might be difficult to link the rape to the father since too much time had elapsed. Ms. Mazurier alleged that she herself had been a “victim of severe domestic violence”. The couple have three children, a seven-year-old boy, the alleged victim, and a 20-monthold toddler.

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INDIA

June 22, 2012

UP to Close Malls Early Due to Power Cuts

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labour department has threatened strict action against commercial establishments flouting the order. However, malls in Noida have already begun mulling alternatives to keep business ticking, even if means incurring extra costs. “A clear picture will emerge only after we receive the order. But evenings are peak hours in malls and we could use alternative sources of energy like gensets,” said Vikas Tyagi, GM of Shopprix Mall in Noida’s sector 62. “We will harness power through diesel-run generators,” said Arch-

ana Browne, VP (Sales and Marketing), GIP Mall in sector 37 of Noida. “Visitors’ interests are of primary importance to us and we will not let them return dissatisfied,” she added. “This is an impractical order. In this heat, people venture out only in the evenings,” said Shantanu Srivastava, manager of Phoenix Mall in Lucknow. The order will be reviewed after a fortnight by when monsoon is likely to reach UP, providing some relief on the power front. Average per-day demand in the state soared to 12,000mw in June, 1,000 mw more than the previous peak demand. Official sources said the order could be withdrawn if the rains arrive anytime over the next 15 days. The district administration of Gautam Budh Nagar is yet to receive the order, but is aware of it. “We did not receive the orders today as it is a Sunday. We are aware such an order has been passed and we expect to receive it on Monday. We will pass it on to malls and owners of commercial establishments immediately,” said Atal Kumar, assistant labour commissioner, Gautam Budh Nagar.

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PAKISTAN

June 22, 2012

Gilani Out, PPP Picks New PM on Friday

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Mr Gilani was the second longest serving prime minister with 1,494 days in power after Liaquat Ali Khan (1,524 days).

ISLAMABAD (Dawn): The National Assembly would elect the new prime minister on June 22, DawnNews reported. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Syed Khurshid Shah on Wednesday told reporters that a session of the National Assembly would be convened on Friday at 5:30 pm to elect the prime minister. Shah said nomination papers for premiership could be submitted on Thursday. Media reports have been speculating on three possible picks, all members of the outgoing Cabinet. Ahmed Mukhtar, minister for water and power, and textiles minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin, appear to have emerged as the front

runners. After the verdict, PPP secretary general Jahangir Badar and leader Qamar Zaman Kaira had said that the party had authorised President Zardari to take a decision after consulting the coalition partners. Speaking to Dawn, a coalition party leader who attended Tuesday’s meeting at the Presidency in the aftermath of the Supreme Court verdict disqualifying Yousuf Raza Gilani claimed that no specific name had been discussed for the next prime minister, except for those which had already been in circulation in the media since the announcement of the court’s verdict. The meeting did take notice of speculations about various names,

including outgoing ministers Mukhtar (water and power), Shahabuddin (textiles), Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah (religious affairs) and Kaira (information and broadcasting), but no decision had been taken, one of the participants of the meeting told Dawn. The ongoing political crisis in the country is the result of Tuesday’s verdict of the Supreme Court which disqualified Gilani from holding a seat in the parliament from the date of his conviction in the contempt of court case (April 26). The verdict on the petitions against the NA Speaker Fehmida Mirza’s ruling also sent the government packing.

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Pak General: Nuke vs. India in 8 Seconds LONDON (Guardian): Pakistan could launch a nuclear strike on India within eight seconds, claimed an army general in Islamabad whose warning is described in the latest volume of Alastair Campbell’s diaries. The general asked Tony Blair’s former communications director to remind India of Pakistan’s nuclear capability amid fears in Islamabad that Delhi was “determined to take them out”. Britain became so concerned about Pakistan’s threat that Blair’s senior foreign policy adviser, Sir David Manning, later warned in a paper that Pakistan was prepared to “go nuclear”. The warnings are relayed by Campbell in a section in his latest diaries, “The Burden of Power”. The diaries start on the day of the 9/11 attacks and end with Campbell’s decision to stand down in August 2003 after the Iraq war. The nuclear warnings came during a visit by Blair to the subcontinent after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. Campbell was told about the eight-second threat over a dinner in Islamabad on October 5, 2001 hosted by Pervez Musharraf, then Pakistan’s president. Campbell writes: “At dinner I

was between two five-star generals who spent most of the time listing atrocities for which they held the Indians responsible, killing their own people and trying to blame ‘freedom fighters’. They were pretty convinced that one day there would be a nuclear war because India, despite its vast pop-

ulation and despite being seven times bigger, was unstable and determined to take them out. “When the time came to leave, the livelier of the two generals asked me to remind the Indians: ‘It takes us eight seconds to get the missiles over,’ then flashed a huge toothy grin.”

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Pak Police Told to Diet or Quit ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani police commander has ordered tens of thousands of pot-bellied officers to diet or quit frontline duties, officials said Monday. Habibur Rehman, police chief (Inspector General) in the country’s most populous province Punjab, has ordered 175,000 personnel not to allow their waistlines to exceed 38 inches, spokeswoman Nabila Ghazanfar told AFP. “I’m on a diet and if I can do it, why can’t you?” she quoted Rehman as telling officials last month in the province. At least 50 per cent of Punjab police are overweight, Ghazanfar said. A local daily said the number of overweight officers in the city of Rawalpindi stood at more than 77 per cent, adding that “policemen appear to be losing the battle of

the bulge”. Police said officers had been given until June 30 to shape up and those deemed too fat from July 1 would not be given jobs in the field. “Police officials are joining gyms, jogging and doing other exercise, including a lot of running to become thin and slim,” Ghazanfar said. Overweight officers are ineffective and “cannot chase bandits, robbers and other criminals properly”, she added, blaming the problem on under-staffing. The country is ranked 165 of 194 on the Forbes list of fattest countries, with 22.2 per cent of the population considered overweight. Local reports have put the figure at 25 per cent.

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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

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June 22, 2012

Perera’s Hat-trick Helps Sri Lanka Beat Pak in 4th ODI

Sri Lanka 243 for 8 (Sangakkara 97, Jayawardene 40, Hafeez 2-37, Tanvir 2-43) beat Pakistan 199 (Ali 81, Misbah 57, Perera 4-42) by 44 runs BY ABHISHEK PUROHIT COLOMBO (ESPN Cricinfo): Pakistan have been abysmal chasers in recent years in ODI cricket. Three hours of accumulation offered hope that tonight wouldn’t end in another failed pursuit. And then, as if all the accumulation had stretched their patience too taut, the dam broke. From 166 for 2 chasing 244, Pakistan disintegrated to 179 for 9. In less than four overs. Thisara Perera followed up his 6 for 44 in the second ODI with a hat-trick. Pakistan registered six ducks, and their 15th defeat in 18 chases of 240-plus in the last three years. In the end, the match was decided in the two batting Powerplays, with Sri Lanka surging in both. A cramping Azhar Ali, who became the first player to carry his bat in ODIs in more than a decade, and Misbah-ul-Haq had put on 113 for the third wicket, leaving Pakistan with 78 to get from 76 deliveries. In the 37th over, the second of the batting Powerplay, Misbah refused a tight single with Ali having run more than half way up the pitch. The effort required to get back worsened Ali’s cramp, making it harder for him to accelerate, like Kumar Sangakkara had earlier after a similar slow fifty. Three balls later, Misbah departed for an efficient 57, with Nuwan Kulasekara taking a sharp low catch at mid-off off Lasith Malinga’s bowling. Umar Gul had put down a much easier chance at longon off Sangakkara, who went on to add 62 off 48. Malinga stepped it up after Misbah’s departure, pegging Umar Akmal back with three successive sharp bouncers. Akmal drove at and edged his fourth, off Kulasekara, to the wicketkeeper. The fight had gone out of Pakistan. Younis Khan, held back till No. 6, edged a rising Perera delivery to the keeper. Shahid Afridi either explodes or implodes. He did the latter, punching his first ball to extra cover. Sarfraz Ahmed

Till Sangakkara was obliged Perera with put down in the 31st the hat-trick, guidover, Sri Lanka had ing him to slip. The been tied down, first by persevering Ali was Pakistan’s fast bowlers, reduced to a spectaand then by their spintor, all his hard work ners. Sangakkara and undone in minutes Dilshan did add 55 for of chaos. the second wicket, but Like Sri Lanka, they were hard-earned Pakistan hadn’t runs, and Dilshan’s defound run-scoring parture immediately afeasy in the first half ter the first drinks break of their chase, but meant Sri Lanka had Ali and Misbah kept to continue with their the visitors going, cautious approach. The taking their team to absence of scoring op100 four overs earportunities consumed lier than Sri Lanka Dinesh Chandimal as had. well, after which the exPakistan’s top orpected rain came down der continued its to force a 70-minute wobbly ways when break. Mohammad Hafeez Pakistan’s spinners collected his fifth continued with the runduck in his last 12 squeeze after the rain international ininterruption. The next nings, pulling his few overs were quiet, fifth delivery from but Sangakkara and Malinga to long leg. Mahela Jayawardene Kulasekara kept Ali took complete charge in and Asad Shafiq the batting Powerplay, under pressure with which went for 49. Gul, a probing opening who was feeling some spell of five overs pain in his right index for just 16 runs. finger, was to suffer Still, like Sangakthe most. He had given kara and Tillakarajust 16 off his first five tne Dilshan had overs; he disappeared for Sri Lanka, Ali for 26 in two overs in and Shafiq ensured the batting Powerplay. Pakistan weren’t Sangakkara stepped out bogged down comto launch the first ball of pletely. It was the Gul’s second spell for a left-arm spinner Sastraight six. When Gul jeewa Weerakoon, overdid the bouncer in bowling for the first the next over, Sangaktime in international kara pulled him for six cricket in his second ODI, who got In 38 ODIs, Thisara Perera has been Man of the Match five more over fine leg. Sangakkara dominatthe breakthrough times. ed the 110-run fourthwith his 10th delivbut Pakistan had fallen apart in the ery, trapping Shafiq in front on 25 field too after being disciplined for wicket partnership with Jayawarwith a slider. The combination of more than three-fifths of Sri Lan- dene, who played some innovative Ali and Misbah was never going ka’s innings. Gul dropped Sangak- strokes. He was quick to lap-sweep to blaze away, but it made sure the kara off Afridi, when on 35 off 82 and sweep the spinners, and even asking-rate stayed below six, and deliveries. Then came the batting reverse-pulled Saeed Ajmal for under control, finding the bound- Powerplay. Sangakkara carted 62 four over point. Pakistan managed ary just when required. Little did off his last 48 deliveries, and Sri to dismiss the duo in the 44th and they know of the pandemonium Lanka reached the kind of total 45th overs to limit the damage, that was to ensue. Pakistan have struggled to chase but most of it had already been inflicted. Pakistan’s self-destruction Not remotely on the same scale, in recent years. later sealed the issue.

INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2012 • WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM

SPORTS

Saina Beats Xuerei for Indonesia Open Title

JAKARTA: India’s badminton star Saina Nehwal on Sunday said staying relaxed in crunch situations helped her win two titles in as many weeks and she is not thinking about the London Olympics yet.

Saina Nehwal is getting ready for the London Olympics with wins in Thailand and Indonesia.

Saina beat the formidable Li Xuerui of China 13-21, 22-20, 21-19 to win her third Indonesia Open title in four years. The World No.5 had won the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold event in Bangkok last Sunday “It has been a long two weeks and I just can’t believe that I have won two titles in this period. I have not yet started thinking about the Olympics but the victories have come at a very crucial time,” Saina told IANS after getting over the line against the reigning All England and Asian Champion. “The main reason I’ve done well in the last tournaments is that I’ve stayed relaxed and played the pressure points well,” Saina said. Saina lost the first game in 15 minutes and was two match points down after conceding six straight points in the second from leading 18-14. The 22year-old said he was relaxed even while was at the brink of defeat and staying patient on her opponent’s match points enabled her to level the match

June 22, 2012

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