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Warm greetings for Ganesh Chaturthi and Id-Ul-Fitr to all our Asian Voice readers

For reports see pages 27 and 28

VOL 40. ISSUE 17

FIRST & FOREMOST ASIAN WEEKLY IN EUROPE

VOICE

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side

Visa misery leads to curry crisis Britain and it's ever changing immigration rules are a sheer joke.

The changing rules are now affecting specific skilled areas such as chefs for Indian restaurants. It is certainly unwise to expect all chefs of European background to be Gordon Ramsayshowing Indian culinary expertise despite of being European. But disabling Indian chefs from overseas to take up jobs in Indian curry industry is an absolute disaster.

Above all expecting them to earn close to ?

30,000/annum and speak fluent English to secure the job- if at all, is like asking for the moon!

It was years ago, Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP had tried to explain that one cannot replace Indian chefs with East

Madhu's founder Sanjay Anand

Europeans in order to cut down on the number of non European immigrants.

On 14th June 2011, Mr Vaz in a debate raised the same questions. He emphasised that the job of a Pakistani, Indian or Bangladeshi chef cannot be replaced by other nationals. Language of a certain kitchen is particular to a nationality. Their skill is very particular to their abilities.

Continued on page 26

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All the paid subscribers of Asian Voice will get a free copy of the “Medical TourismDestination India” magazine with this week’s issue

27th August to 2nd September 2011

Anna Hazare sticks to Aug 30 deadline for Jan Lokpal Bill

Anna Hazare who is on fast for a strong Lokpal bill stuck to his August 30 deadline for the passage of Jan Lokpal Bill and asked his supporters to intensify the protest by gheraoing the houses of Parliamentarians if government failed to do so.

Anna whose fast entered the eighth day felt that government was betraying all along the civil society on the issue of a strong Lokpal Bill.

"Now, 25-30 people are sitting on dharnas in front of MPs' residences. If the government does not pass the bill by August 30, we have to intensify the protest.

Protesters in thousands should gherao the residences of MPs then," he said.

Alleging that a few

people in the government were "betraying" them, he said, "They betrayed us during the meetings of Joint Committee (on Lokpal bill).

"I feel there are only 5-6 people in the government who are running the country and if such people, who

do not have a social or national perspective, run the nation, then what will happen to this country...This is something to worry about," Anna said.

"Even if Lokpal comes and if such traitors run the country, what will happen.

This is the question which

is bothering me," the 73year-old Gandhian said.

He said he was watching for the past four months after the government set up the Joint Committee for drafting Lokpal bill. "Even there some people in the government were traitors, they tried to betray us," he said.

The remarks came amidst indications from both government and Team Anna about willingness to have talks on the issue with the civil society members demanding nomination of an official representative for the purpose. They have suggested that government either withdraw the official bill or amend it by including provisions of the Jan Lokpal Bill.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

one to one Keith Vaz MP with

Councillor Julian Bell, Leader, Ealing Council Originally from Sheffield I’ve lived in Ealing for 26 years. I first came to Ealing after I met my wife Hermia during my final year at Bath University where I read Politics and Economics.

I’ve been interested in politics since I was a teenager, but became actively involved in 1992. I first worked for the Labour Party in 1994 and have run numerous election campaigns. I was elected as a councillor in Ealing in 2002 and am now serving my third term.

In addition to being Leader of the Council I work part time for the MP for Ealing Southall, Virendra Sharma. I also currently serve on the Mayor’s London Health Improvement Board Outside of work, my life is focused on my family. I have four daughters and the eldest, Angelica, will be familiar to many people as a presenter on TV and radio. I’m also passionate about sport, especially cricket and football being a proud Sheffield United fan and staunch England supporter.

1) What inspired you to begin your career in this field?

The 1992 general election defeat for Labour inspired me to begin an active career in politics.

Neil Kinnock had inspired me as a young student and so the day after the election defeat I delivered a letter of support and a membership application form to his Ealing home and vowed

to give my all to the Labour cause.

2) What are your proudest achievements?

Helping elect a Labour government in 1997, 2001 and 2005, and against the odds a Labour Council in Ealing in 2010. I am proud of our first year in office as a Council where we have, despite huge government cuts to our budget, protected front-

line services to the most vulnerable.

3) Please tell us about your current position?

I am the Leader of Ealing Council. Ealing is the third largest Borough in London and the fourth most diverse Borough in the country with a large mainly Punjabi Asian population. It has been a huge honour and privilege to serve local people as the Council leader since May

2010.

4) What has been the biggest obstacle in your career?

At 31 I suffered from ME or chronic fatigue syndrome. I was unable to work for four years and as a young father with four daughters found this an incredibly challenging time. The support my family and I received from the NHS and the Welfare State then cemented my

Food For Thought

University of Toronto Department of Nutritional Sciences and St. Michael’s Hospital Risk Factor Modification Centre have announced that consumption of two ounces of nuts per day, instead of carbohydrates, can help control diabetes.

Subjects in this study on a no-carb/nut only diet reduced their blood sugar levels, and their LDL cholesterol (or “bad cholesterol”) was also signifi-

cantly reduced. " T h o s e receiving the full dose of nuts reduced their HbA1c [the long-term marker of glycaemic control] by two-thirds of what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recognizes as being clinically meaningful for therapeutic agents. Furthermore, neither in the current study nor in previous reports has nut consumption been associated with weight gain. If anything, nuts appear to be well suited as part of weight-reducing diets," Dr. Jenkins said.

It’s also interesting to note that coffee and the herb Ginkgo Biloba have beneficial effects in rela-

E

LAW

Janmashtami Mahotsav

by Mira Performing Arts

Nikhil Gor Mira Performing Arts performed a drama in front of more than 150 devotees on 22nd August 2011 to celebrate Janmashtami Mohatsav at the International Siddhashram Shakti centre in Harrow.

It was inspiring and gave highlights on the life of Lord Krishna through the drama called "Gramya Satsang" performed by Mira Salat, Nikhil Parmar, Sweta Patelm Shivangi Patel, Nishant Salat, and Sagar Patel.

Silver Star is a local charity which promotes diabetes awareness and tests for diabetes. They run a Mobile Diabetes Unit

(MDU), which can visit your organisation or place of work. Contact Silver Star on 0845 094 9933 or email health@silverstaruk.org.

SOC IE

Contact Mr. Mitesh Patel, Solicitor No Win No Fee

tion to diabetes; a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine concluded that drinking one cup of coffee every day decreased the risk of diabetes by seven percent.

The data was gathered from several studies that involved over 500,000 people.

Ginkgo Biloba has been used as a traditional remedy in Japan and China for hundreds of years, and we now know it contains a potent antioxidant, which can be used to treat high blood sugar and also diabetic retinopathy, as it helps to improve blood flow to the eyes.

Anyone undertaking a new diet should consult their GP and get advice from medical professionals, as every individuals needs are different.

cant contribution to local government nationally and also to ensure that Ealing is a great place to live and that delivers excellent Council services in spite of the government cuts, protecting the most vulnerable including children, the disabled and the elderly.

9) If you were Prime Minister, what one thing would you change?

Government economic policy. David Cameron is lashed to the mast stubbornly refusing to accept that his policy of paying off the structural deficit in four years through swinging cuts is choking off any chance of economic recovery. We need an economic policy that will stimulate growth and jobs and that includes building many more affordable homes.

10) If you were marooned on a desert island, who would you like to spend your time with and why?

Amartya Sen – Philosopher and Nobel Prize winner in Economic Sciences. He is best known for his work on the causes of famine.

The New Statesman listed him as one of the world’s 50 most influential people who matter. Asked how he relaxed, he said, “I read a lot and like arguing with people.” Sounds like my kind of person.

I’ve read many of his books and we’d have a great time on the desert island.

0800 118899 Email: mpatel@levenes.co.uk Website: www.levenes.co.uk Ashley House, 235-239 High Road, Wood Green, London N22 8HF

TY

TH

On their way to developing type 2 diabetes, many people have what is called prediabetes, which is where the blood sugar level is elevated but not quite high enough to be diagnosed as diabetic.

However, even in these early stages of development, the “side effects” of diabetes – such as circulatory and nervous damage- may have already begun to take hold.

Here are a few recent findings on what specific foods can help control diabetes and reduce the risk of developing diabetes.

In an article entitled “Nuts as a Replacement for Carbohydrates in the Diabetic Diet” (published by the journal Diabetes Care) Dr. David Jenkins and the team of researchers at the

political beliefs for life.

5) Who has been the biggest influence on your career to date?

I have been influenced by many excellent politicians I’ve had the privilege to work with – Lord Chris Smith former Secretary of State for Culture, Media & Sport and MP for Islington South; John McDonnell MP for Hayes & Harlington, Steve Pound MP for Ealing North; the late Piara Khabra MP and Virendra Sharma MP both of Ealing Southall.

6) What is the best thing about your current role?

Being in a position to make decisions that will positively improve the Borough of Ealing and the lives of ordinary people and also having the privilege of meeting so many good people who do such fantastic work in the community often with little recognition or benefit to themselves.

7) And the worst?

Before the riots I would have said the agony of being forced to make decisions to pass on the Tory led government’s cuts. I regularly have to make decisions that if I had a choice I would never make. The worst thing however was seeing the mindless criminals burning, looting and destroying the Borough I love and killing one brave resident who tried to stand up to them.

8) What are your long term goals?

I want to make a signifi-

Personal Injury

SOLICITORS

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

COMMENT

Anna Hazare roadshow carries reassuring message Anna Hazare's fast in Delhi's Ramlila ground has galvanized much of India. His campaign against corruption has concentrated minds in the public space, even accepting that some in the crowd have their eye on the main chance, which is to say, they aspire to celebrity status.

Mr Hazare is endowed with strengths all his own. He won his spurs as a rural activist. His work for rural uplift has elicited most admiration from the beneficiaries of his endeavours.

Now Mr Hazare operates on a larger national stage. His calls to banish corruption resonate nationally, for this has long become a national scourge. Corruption has to be tackled firmly and effectively, he proclaims. Easier said than done – which is no reason to allow things to remain as they are. Moral cleansing requires effort: more, it requires that the labour be channelled through the right institutional framework, where goals are realistic, not utopian.

Piling bodies upon bodies in supervisory roles merely multiplies the weeds of a choking bureaucracy. Perfection should be eschewed for practicality. Mr Hazare has achieved a great deal, The way out of the impasse is constructive dialogue with the authorities in the proper spirit. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has invited him for talks, this surely a worthy first-step to a

win-win solution. This is pursuit of the public good. Better late than never.

What Indians can draw comfort from is that Mr Hazare's agitation has been peaceful at a time when so much of the world is convulsed by violence and disorder. That says something for the maturity and wisdom of India's political culture as a whole. No-one would wish to witness a re-enactment of China's Tienanmen Square massacre in the middle of the Indian capital.

There is much to be gained when public figures reason together. Their conversations build mutual trust, the process also involving the silent participation of India's masses. There has been deepening cynicism among the people about politics and politicians. The latter are mostly seen as self-seeking, greedy and corrupt.

If this perception is not suitably addressed the cost to the India's well-being could indeed be telling. This is something no thinking Indian would wish. A creative and visible political process augurs well for the future of the country.

India has much to gain from the Hazare-Singh talks. With imagination, flexibility and good will, their efforts should guarantee success.

Which will be an occasion for national rejoicing.

We wish them well.

Well played, England England were awarded the International Cricket Council mace as cricket's top Test nation following their fourth demolition of India at the Oval: 4 nil in a 4-match series tells its own tale.

Bedraggled India were put to the sword. The team lacked bottle, too many individuals came up short on skill and character. Of the selectors and administrators back home the less said the better. The disillusionment of fans runs deep and the sport may be permanently scarred by the terrible ordeal of the past few weeks. Indian cricket's deconstruction having been completed, it is now time to put a new regime in place for the game's rehabilitation. Otherwise cricket in India will go the way of the Caribbean.

Whatever India's problems, England's triumph is richly deserved. They provided poor copy during the recent World Cup – which may have deceived their opponents into believing that they had only appear at Lord's or the Oval for victory to be assured. England left nothing to chance. They beavered away improving their individual skills and team drills. They thrashed India silly time and again; they were a welloiled, well-groomed machine ready for the kill.

No white shark in the deepest waters of the Pacific have sharper teeth. England left blubbery India in shreds.

Captain Andrew Strauss may be a genial soul, but he plays as hard as any good professional in the game's history. His batsmen, bowlers and fieldsmen stuck to their task with enthusiasm, their success assured by opponents who, like rabbits, were caught in the headlights.

Names such Alastair Cook, Ian Bell, Kevin Pietersen, Eoin Morgan, James Anderson, Stuart Broad (Man of the Series), Tim Bresnan, Chris Tremlett, Graeme Swann and Matt Prior are destined to ring in every sporting household in the land. They are heroes, when heroes are most needed by a society wracked by self-doubt.

They should put back the smile to every English face.

Having vanquished India, England will surely aim higher and conquer the world. They have a capable leader, an equally capable coach and a dedicated set of administrators. They are likely to occupy their pedestal for a long time. Good luck and happy hunting.

Libya: Being economical with the truth Screaming newspaper headlines proclaimed the Libyan conflict was over bar the shouting, that the country's hyped Transitional Council aided by generous infusions of Nato oxygen had triumphed over the evil regime of Colonel Mummer Gaddafi, that the dictator was in flight, that his son and heir apparent Islam was in custody, readied for the rough justice of the Hague-based International Criminal Court.

These lines were repeated ad nauseam by the television networks, from Al Jazeera to the BBC and their compeers in the US and Continental Europe. The morning after the night before came amended scripts that things were not quite what they seemed; in short that initial reports were brazenly economical with the truth. Keen to co-ordinate their blitz with Nato's aerial bombardment in the interest of the West's latest crusade, its toxic media – as toxic as its banks, alas – got ahead of themselves by inventing facts.

Islam Gaddafi is alive and well, having pressed the flesh of a BBC reporter and assured him that his father, too, was in the land of the living. The Libyan capital Tripoli, which was supposed to be in rebel hands, was being fought over, and Islam Gaddafi showed little sign that defeat was staring the regime in the face. It was still all too play for, with the projected Nato peace not as yet in place. Covert Nato special forces on the ground are, however, doing their

best to tilt the balance of power their way. There is much flatulent rhetoric in London and Washington on the need to bring democracy to the Libyan people. This presumably will be bartered for Libyan oil. A former deputy speaker of the Belgian parliament told a television interviewer that what the international community were witnessing was the second partition of Africa, with predators scrambling for the continent's riches, whether it be oil, diamonds, gold, copper or the rare earths.

Place this in the unfolding context of developments in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and the like and you have a combustible mix. The West has supported Arab autocracies for decades, just as it has in Pakistan and myriad other places across the globe. The Cold War may be over but we appear to be light years away from any peace dividend. The world is dangerously unstable. Coupled with the West's adventures in Libya, it is mired in Afghanistan, event as it has left the ruin of Iraq a monument to folly. As bad is the deepening economic crisis that has hobbled America and Europe. Both appear rudderless. Political leaders there talk a good line but they know not where their nations are going. The future looks bleak indeed. The more things change the more they remain the same, is a French saying. Its wisdom is unassailable.

www.abplgroup.com

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Thought for the Week If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thought your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster; And treat those two impostors just the same

-Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936)

“Our London” CIIr Navin Shah AM London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow

Peace and calm on our streets Following tragic events that unfolded a couple of weeks ago on London’s streets, I would like to praise the police officers and fire-fighters who were, together with our communities, put in danger when looters and rioters targeted areas of Brent like Kilburn, Harlesden, Kingsbury and Wembley. Harrow’s streets remained relatively calm.

Along with my party, my colleagues and my constituents, I wholeheartedly condemn the criminality evoked across the capital and in some parts of London and Country.

The looting that took place is inexcusable. The victims were hard-working businessmen and women who owned small, independent shops and with one smash of the window everything they had worked for was taken away.

Visiting the shopping districts like Kingsbury, Ealing Road, Harlesden, South Harrow, Harrow Town Centre etc. and talking to the shopkeepers it was clear the enormity of the damage to the fabric of the local facilities and financial losses incurred by the shopkeepers from the mindless acts of destruction. People and businesses felt threatened and vulnerable and nobody should be made to feel that way in their own properties. The entire community has also been left with the feeling of terror and insecurity.

I have always marvelled at the strong community relations in Brent and Harrow – this sad occasion being no exception to it. I’ve been reassured by the police response in Brent and Harrow where relative calm was restored quickly and efficiently. This is indicative of the strength of our community, which is overwhelmingly law abiding, peaceful and harmonious. I am in regular contact with both Borough Commanders of Police in Brent and Harrow, Leaders of Brent and Harrow Councils and have been comforted by their partnership approach, professionalism and foresight during this difficult time. From my conversations with com-

munity leaders in both Boroughs it’s also reassuring to see their positive attitude and their commitment to keep our areas safe.

In light of the recent events London’s Mayor has appealed to his friends in Government not to cut the policing budget. This is too little too late. I also see a sense of hypocrisy on part of the Mayor because as we all know the Mayor himself is making savage cut backs in London’s police numbers including depleting local Safer Neighbourhood teams by slashing numbers of sergeants by half. I implore the Mayor not to cut police numbers. Losing 1800 officers over the next three years would be detrimental at this time when Londoners need to feel safe and protected.

Given the large number of small shops and businesses located in Brent and Harrow, addressing issues of repairing the damage suffered by small shopkeepers is fundamentally critical. Many small shopkeepers have virtually nowhere to go and need immediate short & long term support and strategy.

There is need to ‘put London back in business’ as stated by Ken Livingstone. To this end five measures have been put forward by Ken to help London’s small businesses.

These include a proposal that the business rates relief, Tax and VAT payment announced for those businesses most badly affected should also be applied to all shops and premises in the affected neighbourhoods who have suffered direct or indirect impact. On the matters related to reconstruction/refurbishment of the damaged shops the government announcement for easing planning rules to help businesses put extra security measures are appropriate but there needs to be provision of fast tracking planning to help rebuilding efforts which are missing in the government’s strategy.

Important that together we can promptly get on with the business of putting London back in business.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Bhaktivedanta Manor celebrates Janmashtami and launch of Ahimsa dairy foundation The world’s largest Hindu festival outside of India at Bhaktivedanta Manor, near Watford, attracted more than 60,000 pilgrims on 21st and 22nd August. This year celebrated the launch of the Ahimsa Dairy Foundation, which sells milk from cows that will be retired when their milking days are over and uses bulls to work the land.

Ahimsa means nonviolence and the not-forprofit company has just begun distributing slaughter-free, organic milk in the London area in time to celebrate the birthday of Krishna, who was the guardian of cows. The tradition of worshipping Krishna is synonymous with protecting cows.

The Foundation has a herd in Kent, but takes its inspiration for cow protection from the Manor’s farm, which supplies the temple with milk and dairy products from its Meuse Rhine Issel and Dairy Short-horn cows.

No cow, calf or bull is ever killed and all are allowed to live out their natural lives.

Ahimsa Slaughter-free Milk costs £2:25 a litre and there is a 15p additional charge for doorstep delivery. It is available by subscription at:

www.ahimsamilk.org As pilgrims entered the huge festival site, they passed through the new farm complex which has been recognised as a blueprint for compassionate and sustainable farming which will change the way people think about how their food is produced.

“I have noticed people are beginning to care more about what they consume and how it got to their plate,” said the farm manager Stuart Coyle, “The belief in the old adage ‘you are what you eat’ shows the change in people’s awareness that they are beginning to care more how food and drink is produced,”

When talking about the Janmashtami festival, The President of Bhaktivedanta Manor Srutidharma Das said: “It is a festival of peace in what are troubled times.

Krishna protected cows as sacred animals and we are delighted to be celebrating the cow at this year’s festival. Ahimsa is a very important belief in Hinduism and the cow symbolises peace and prosperity in society.

When the relationship between humans and cattle is correct everything in the world is in harmony.”

The festival featured hundreds of children with their faces painted blue, many carrying flutes and

wearing peacock feathers in their hair, dressing like Lord Krishna as part of the festive spirit.

Another highlight included a flowered walkway through the spiritual gardens and woodland.

Visitors will journey through the life and pastimes of Lord Krishna climaxing with a glimpse of the spectacular deity of Krishna decorated with thousands of flowers.

The entire festival is managed and run by 1500 volunteers from the community who gather every evening after work for a month prior to the event and put in countless hours of hard work for the occasion.

appear at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on last Monday.

The 28-year-old is the fifth man to be charged over the killings.

Four other men - Ian Beckford, 30, from Quinton; Joshua Donald, 26, of Kelsall Croft, Ladywood; Adam King, 23, of no fixed address and a 17-year-old who cannot be named for legal reasons, have been charged with murder. A 33-yearold arrested by police on Friday was released on

his caste were ‘different creatures’, while he was told his position at the firm was ‘compromised’, reported by Daily Mail.

She also claimed that her workload increased and secretarial support was reduced ‘as a punishment’, and she was paid less than colleagues.

The couple married at a Gurdwara, or Sikh temple, in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, three years ago, when a colleague raised a toast to ‘Jat girls going down the drain’.

When the couple had their first child, the firm did not send flowers, although this was standard practice. Mr Begraj, who worked as a practice manager for the firm for seven years, was sacked last year. His wife resigned in January.

from the account by forging his wife's signature on third-person consent forms seven times without her knowledge.

Leicester Mercury reported that Delyth Crisp, for Nargra, said the offence was committed purely out of pride.

Mrs Crisp said Nargra and his wife were now going through a separation.

He will be sentenced at Leicester Crown Court on September 23, and was granted unconditional bail.

Non Profit Organisation secures profit for major and small business Minority Supplier Development UK (MSDUK), based in Leicester, has announced a reception at the House of Commons in the first week of September to show their services for small businesses that have harvested profit due to the help offered.

Mayank Shah, Director, MSDUK (pictured) told a local daily, “This event is a great way for ethnic minority businesses to get in front of the Government.

Besides Ministers and other dignitaries, Senior Managers from Barclays, IBM and ExxonMobil are going to attend the event."

According to Mr. Shah, in past five years they have had 34 major and 325 ethnic minority firms on their book. One of their client is overwhelmed with the 60 percent of growth of their business in last year.

Boy, 7, gives witness for a stabbed Asian Haroon Jahan, Shazad Ali and Abdul Musavir

police bail on Saturday.

Three other males - aged 17, 23, and 32 - have also been arrested and bailed

pending further inquiries.

Nine men have so far been arrested by police investigating the killings.

Caste discriminations in UK leading to unfair dismissal in jobs?

An Indian couple who met at a legal firm have become the first in Britain to claim ‘caste’ discrimination, saying they were forced from their jobs following their marriage.

An employment tribunal was told that solicitor Amardeep Begraj, 33, was from a higher caste than her husband Vijay, 32, the practice manager. He belonged to the Dalits, formerly known as the Untouchables because of the nature of their work in roles such as cleaning, pest control or scavenging, and the lowest class of people according to the ancient Indian caste system.

Mrs Begraj has told the tribunal that a senior colleague allegedly warned her against marrying Mr Begraj because people of

Forgery for honour?

A man allegedly stole thousands of pounds from his wife's savings account because he was too ashamed to admit he had lost his job.

Kulwant Singh Nargra (46), of Rushey Mead, pleaded guilty at the city magistrates' court to dishonestly obtaining ￡16,930 from his wife's account between November 1 last year and March 1 this year.

Steven Kennell, prosecuting, said Nargra, of Peebles Way, had obtained money

Fifth man charged over car deaths in Birmingham riot A 28-year-old man has been charged over the deaths of three men killed during recent rioting in Birmingham.

Haroon Jahan, 21, and Shazad Ali, 30, and Abdul Musavir, 31, died after being hit by a car on Dudley Road, in Winson Green on 10 August. Liam Young, from Winson Green, was detained on Saturday on suspicion of murder and charged on Sunday with perverting the course of justice.

He was remanded to

Leicester Voice

Amardeep and Vijay Begraj

Last year the couple briefed a committee of the House of Lords, which swayed them to insert the clause in the legislation recognising caste discrimination. A subsequent newspaper story led to the couple’s car windscreen being smashed.

The tribunal will also rule on whether they were

discriminated against on grounds of religion or race. Mr Begraj is claiming wrongful dismissal and his wife is claiming unfair constructive dismissal.

The firm’s management allegedly are said to consider the couple’s claims outrageous.

The tribunal continues.

A seven-year-old witness in a murder trial described seeing a stabbed man "on the floor because he was dead". The youngster allegedly gave evidence via a video link at Leicester Crown Court last week. The boy – who was six at the time – said he saw Sharn Devon Farrell (27) plunge a knife into the heart of a chip shop owner after an argument, according to Leicester Mercury.

Jagjit Singh (43), a married father, suffered the fatal injury outside his business, Seasalt, in Saffron Lane, Leicester,

on the evening of November 1 last year.

The child said Farrell – who was looking after him that evening – went home to get a "big knife" and returned to the shop.

He said: "He stabbed him and that's why he was on the floor dead. I saw the knife in his back pocket.”

The court heard that at the police station, on being told Mr Singh had died and that he was being charged with murder, Farrell appeared shocked, held his head in his hands and sobbed.

The trial continues.

Avoid dangerous counterfeit cigarettes Trading standards officials at Leicestershire County Council has sent a message to public to report anyone they see selling cigarettes containing high levelled chemicals and rolling tobacco. The department warned the people, selling illegally imported cigarettes face a maxi-

mum fine of 10,000 and imprisonment also.

An anonymous trader said such illegal tobacco sales hits their dual profit by selling tobacco as well as other products like chewing gums, confectionary and news papers etc. to the same consumers.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

The international calling card with no hidden charges

Calls to mobiles in India for 1p per minute

Pick one up from your local corner store or ø shop Cards expire 90 days after last use. You can find them in thousands of corner shops. Go to o2.co.uk/callingcard for terms and latest call rates.

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UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Women on late marriages: Choice or Obligation?

By Spriha Srivastava

London celebrates Janmashtami Londoners celebrated the auspicious festival of Janmashtami in a very grand manner. The festival was celebrated by various groups in different parts of UK. But before going into details of some events in London, let me first talk a bit about the festival itself.

Janmashtami, is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Krishna, an avatar of the god Vishnu. The festival always falls within midAugust to midSeptember in the Gregorian calendar..

Rasa lila, dramatic enactments of the life of Krishna, are a special feature in regions of Mathura and Vrindavan, and regions following Vaishnavism in Manipur.

While the Rasa lila recreates the flirtatious aspects of Krishna’s youthful days, the Dahi Handi celebrate God’s playful and mischievous side, where teams of young men form human pyramids to reach a highhanging pot of butter and break it. This tradition, also known as uriadi, is a major event in Tamil Nadu on Gokulashtami.

In London, thousands of devotees attended a two-day Janmashtami festival, celebrating the birth of Lord Krishna, at the

Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford town. This is believed to be the world’s largest Hindu festival outside India with up to 72,000 people taking part.

Run by about 1500 volunteers from the community, the event also included a flowered walkway through the spiritual gardens and woodland. The site was donated to the Hare Krishna movement by former Beatle George Harrison in 1973.

Chanting of mantras and Hare Krishna calls echoed in the air as many gathered to pray to their favourite god.

Mani Singh, a 25 year old Indian attended the event. He said he was totally amazed by the atmosphere. “It was just so wonderful. Being brought up in London, I have missed out on a lot of Indian festivals and Janmashtami is special

for us since at home we pray to Lord Krishna.

And so, coming to an event like this was totally a dream come true. The atmosphere was so beautiful and colourful and people seemed to be enjoying a lot.”

The temple administration also set up a live broadcast of the event on their website so that those who can’t make it can still be part of the event.

One of the devotees who couldn’t attend the event but followed it online said, “I was just praying hard for the Lokpal bill to be passed.

I couldn’t attend the event but watched it live on the website and felt so happy to be a part of this.”

The festival was also celebrated at the Shri Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple in Tividale in West Midlands.

pied Paris under the code name of Madeleine. She

was eventually shot in Dachau Concentration camp and posthumously awarded the George Cross for her bravery.

Noor’s paternal grandfather was from the Punjab.

Her father, Hazrat Inayat Khan, was a Sufi preacher who took Sufism to the west.

Babul Supriyo in London Famous bollywood singer Babul Supriyo is making a visit to London next month for a Live Concert at the Harrow Leisure Centre.

The concert is part of a two day event celebrating the ‘Spirit of Bengal.’

Asian values have always been a matter of discussion, always a talking point on moral standards that have been the benchmark of social conduct, but changing trends have raised a few eyebrows.

Now what trend am I talking about? In social gatherings where you see a multitude of match-making aunties and uncles trying to hitch a girl to a boy and vice versa, it is not unusual to hear someone in the senior fraternity saying: "you are of a mar-

riageable age, so why don't we find you some one nice!" The question is what is a marriageable age and what precisely is nice?

The Economist opines that Asian women are now marrying as late as 30-44 and some are not marrying at all. This is not a standard observation. In the west, where cohabitation is often prioritised over a legally binding marriage, there is less talk of the notionally 'marriageable age'.

Continued page 9

What do women say?

Concert for Noor Inayat Khan The Noor Inayat Khan Memorial Trust is hosting a sufi tribute concert for the WWII heroine later this week at Rudolf Steiner House in London. The concert features American dancer Felicia Sharaifa Norton and Indian sufi singer Madan Gopal Singh.

The concert is expected to raise funds for a Noor Inayat Khan memorial to be built in Gordon Square.

Noor Inayat Khan was born to an Indian father, Hazrat Inayat Khan and an American mother, Ora Ray Baker. She was a descendant of Tipu Sultan. She became a secret agent in the Second World War and was infiltrated into occu-

By Rupanjana Dutta In these straitened economic times, the only business which has perhaps been least affected is the arranged wedding!

While we can say that there are increasing questions regarding the declining popularity of marriages among Asian women. The Economist in its issue of August 20th contributed almost 4 pages to an analysis what of the factors that could lead to late marriages or no marriages among Asian women.

Organised by Sambad Pratidin as its First year of KKN Probash Parboni 2011, the event will also feature talented singers such as Usha Uthup, Srikanto Acharya, Sraboni Sen, Srilekha Mitra, ChandraBindoo among

others.

The event will also have a fair called “Kolkata Bazaar”, entry to which is complimentary. Tickets can be purchased at http://www.stubmatic.com /panchamukhee/event/67 64

Let us know what you think.

Email Spriha at spriha@abplgroup.com

Asian Voice asked some of the British Indian/Indian women about their opinion on being single, arranged marriages and if they think marriages are hindrance to careers.

Debasree G h o s h , C o p y w r i t e r, 28, Engaged: Had I been still single, I may have consented to the modern version of an arranged marriage, where the family merely suggests a prospective spouse and leaves the rest to the couple, as long as it didn’t come with any pressure of making a decision or overt familial involvement. However, a great number among my peers are marrying in their late twenties or early thirties; an age that would have been considered very late even thirty years ago. It’s a result of women being able to find their own identity through means other than marriage and motherhood. An educated, financially independent woman with a strong support network of family and friends is much less likely to devote her life to the cause of finding a husband.

I have a partner I love and have chosen to marry. This is entirely my own choice.

However, I would have happily been a single woman had I not have not found the man of my dreams. I find that compared to the men, it’s the women of modern India that are more reluctant to tow the parental pressure line and settle for a man they don’t love or a life they didn’t choose.

Good on them, I say!

V i n a y a Ganesan, Lawyer, 25, Committed: Since I have s t a r t e d working, I always felt the need for a companion as strongly as the need to prove myself in my professional life. So, if I had not met my partner, it is quite highly likely that I would have said ‘yes’ to

arranged marriage.

For the urban young Indian woman today marriage is no more the only way she can be taken care of when she crosses early twenties.

She is not just financially independent but she is as driven as anybody else to progress in her professional life.

Personally, at 24 I took up an opportunity to live and work abroad for 2 years because I was single and free to take it up without any familial complications.

Given a choice I would not have agreed to be single. For me satisfaction in my professional life needs to go hand in hand with satisfaction on the personal front. I cannot tip one for another and finding the right balance is very important.

Tanya Kaur, Strategy Developer, 30, Single: I don’t think the conventional notion of “arranged marriages” exists anymore. But, this does not mean that Indian parents are totally detached from the process but instead they are using “introductions”, whereby parents use extended family and community ties to identify potential suitors for their children. As such, it can be a good way for those seeking to get married to meet potential partners and I am open to using introductions through my parents and extended family.

I personally do not agree that British Indian women perceive marriage as being a hindrance to their lifestyle and career. I think that British Indian women are not getting married or postponing marriage to later years as they are more becoming more selective about choosing a partner. They want to ensure that their partners will support their ambitions and share the

same values as them.

I will most definitely get married in the near future and would never chose to remain single. I recognise that my career is only one element of my life but it will never be the main priority for me. Over the years, I have learnt to balance all aspects of my life and to recognise what I value the most and that is my family life. I personally think it would be very difficult for any woman, no matter how successful she may be - to remain happy being single all her life.

Suman Chowdhury, PRO, 28, Single: I would definitely like to have a love marriage because I would like to know the person and his habits and see if we are compatibile. I believe in case of arranged marriages the meetings are much more formal. I would not at all like to stay single all my life.

I think today’s women, who are financially independent, are delaying marriages because they are looking for someone who match their sensibilities, since financial security is the least of concern.

Mrinalini Iyer, Sales Manager, 34, Single: My perception is that a percentage of Indian women delaying marriage is increasing as preference is to first become financially stable and settle in their careers given demand of a marital life. However I am not clear what percentage of overall single women this contributes to. However marriage is not a priority for me but I am not really making a choice with one way or the other.

7

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

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Dee Katwa

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Midland Voice Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or dhiren.katwa@abplgroup.com

William and Kate meet bereaved families The citizens of Birmingham fell silent and were united in grief as the three men killed during the riots in the city were laid to rest. Also, how the junior Royals paid a glowing tribute to the city’s diverse communities, but in the absence of the voices that truly represent them.

More than 25,000 mourners bowed their heads as a mark of tribute to murder victims Haroon Jahan and brothers Shahzad Ali and Abdul Musavir last Thursday.

Thousands comforted each other at the emotional open-air service in Summerfield Park in Winson Green.

Hundreds more lined the streets outside and held a vigil at the petrol station on Dudley Road where the trio were killed while defending businesses from senseless rioters.

Among dignitaries were Wajid Shamsul Hasan, the Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK. He said: “I came here on behalf of the people of Pakistan, to pass on our condolences at the deaths of the three boys who gave their lives to protect us all.”

Community leader Shaykh Muhammed Al Yaqoubi called for a national day to be held to forever mark the men’s sacrifices. He added: “We can be sad and sorry when such innocent lives are lost for no cause. But when the cause for which they sacrificed is so great, it shows to us that these men opened up a new way for Muslims in the UK. Writers write with ink on pages to advocate Islam. But these three martyrs wrote with their blood on the annals of history.”

Although the Duke and Duchess of

Cambridge, William and Kate, were unable to attend the funeral, they made a special effort to visit Birmingham the day after, on Friday. They visited the Summerfield C o m m u n i t y Centre in Winson Green, near the spot where William and Kate tour community centre in Birmingham with West Midlands’ Lord Lieutenant, Paul Sabapathy Haroon, Shahzad and Musavir were media.

Not even spokeswoman, which killed. They chatted to Birmingham-based then made sense. The local residents and busiSangat TV, the fledgling Lord Lieutenant for the ness people and also met Asian TV channel which West Midlands is Paul local dignitaries and was praised by The Sabapathy CBE, Her emergency services staff.

Guardian for “putting Majesty’s representative Upon arrival, they were the big broadcasters to in the region, and the few greeted by Ajay and shame” in their remarkAsian ‘dignitaries’ who Monika Bhatia whose able reporting of the were invited – Amrick business, Machan local riots.

Singh Ubhi, Dr Sarinder Express, was affected by Asian Voice asked Sahota and Paul Nischal the riots. Indian-born Mr Clarence House’s press – are his friends. No surBhatia, 52, told William office why ethnic media prises then, and no wonhow the rioters had were not invited. A der the Royal Household caused £20,000 worth of failed to inform ethnic spokeswoman described damage and taken more the visit as “an exception media outlets in the city, than £15,000 worth of to the rule” and because or at least Sangat TV, by stock. of “security implicarelying on their local selfSoon after the Royal tions” only a few selected glorifying representative. visit, I got a phonecall people and organisations At a sombre and from straight-talking were invited, that too at poignant period such as equalities campaigner Jas the “last minute”. this, it’s embarrassing, Sansi, Birmingham’s However, the helpful shameful too, to observe tallest photographer, spokeswoman added: “I that such a respected who asked if I knew, or think it is a really good ambassador is taking had been invited to the point,” admitting, “in advantage of his position photocall. I told him I future we should think it and situation to invite was aware, that only through more thoroughhis friends. Rather, he because I sit on the ly.” should be introducing Board of a local TV news When asked on what true, ordinary achievers channel, but was not ground the selected few and deservers who, perinvited.

Asian ‘pillars of the comhaps, because they Following some remain naive at PR, are munity’ were invited. research, it emerged that missing out on the plau“We rely on the local selected local media were dits and garlands that knowledge of the Lord invited, but not ethnic they so deserve. Agree?

Lieutenant,” said the

New Committee The Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Midlands Student Society marked its second anniversary at its Photo: Brian Berry AGM last Wednesday.

Having served his year as Chair of CMSS, Rizwan Dhanani handed over to Caroline Slaney, pictured.

Victoria Hundelby is the new vice chair and Owen Campbell is honorary secretary. Atul Lad is one of six members.

To find out more visit www.cipfa.org.uk/regions/mid

Ugandan Convention A Ugandan Convention, the first-ever in the UK, will take place in London this Saturday (Aug 27). The one-day festival will feature exhibitors, a fashion show, speeches, live bands, networking and much more. To find out more visit www.ugandanconventionuk.org

Property ladder pessimism More than half of young adults who don’t own their own homes believe they will never be able to afford to buy a house, according to a new poll. The survey of 700 people by Post Office Mortgages found 53% of 25 to 34year-olds were pessimistic about their chances of ever buying.

In-store curry success Asda is hoping to introduce more in-store curry counters run by local Indian restaurants following the success of its first such counter at Asda Small Heath in Birmingham. It opened in April. Since, three more have opened in the Midlands and dozens more are planned, including several in London.

Hospital is warned Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital has been issued a notice by the Primary Care Trust to improve care for stroke patients.

News in Brief Florence marks her Century Congratulations to Florence Mandefield of Sparkbrook in Birmingham who has just celebrated her 100th birthday. A surprise party was thrown in her honour by her family and staff on Ward 9 at Heartlands Hospital, where she was being treated after a fall. Photo: Florence with nurse Michelle Clarke.

Chance to appear on TV Are you good at saving money and being careful with your cash? Can you make your pennies stretch?

Channel Four are looking for Britain’s most frugal people for a new documentary. If you have innovative ways to save money, ring 020 7017 1642.

Appeal to scrap NI Former trade minister and CBI director-general Lord Digby Jones is to use a speech in Coventry next month to call for the scrapping of National Insurance “a tax on jobs” in a bid to stimulate job creation.

Lord Jones, pictured, will make the appeal when he speaks at the 10th Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce Economic Conference on September 16.

Red alert for drivers British motorists are driving through red lights at the rate of 278 a minute, a survey has showed. Drivers in the West Midlands appeared to jump the lights the most, with 19% admitting passing through red signals in the last month, according to a poll of 2,020 adults

by Direct Line.

Man, 33, found dead Sukhvinder Singh Aujla, aged 33, a machine operator from Castle Street, Hill Top in West Bromwich, was found dead in his bed by his wife Mandeep last Saturday, an inquest heard. Black Country Coroner Robin Balmain said the death was not thought to be suspicious and adjourned the inquest for reports.

Sailing through life A teenage cancer sufferer from Birmingham got the chance of a lifetime to sail on a yacht with record-breaker Dame Ellen MacArthur.

Muhammed Mahmood, pictured, aka Wasim, 14, of Aston, took part in a fourday yacht adventure off the Isle of Wight with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust, which aims to inspire young people’s cancer recovery through sailing.

1 in 5 uni students unhappy Almost a fifth of Midland students are unhappy with the quality of their university course, a major survey has revealed. Topping the regional poll of happy students was Keele University, with a 90% approval rating, followed by the University of Warwick with 88%, and Birmingham and Coventry Universities at 85%.

The National Student Survey questioned about 265,000 final-year students on every aspect of their university experience.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Future of rehabilitation centre in doldrum?

Farah Damji, the socialite daughter of a millionaire property tycoon, has allegedly boasted that she has established a “heroes centre” which will help former soldiers and servicemen who have ended up in prison.

Her “social enterprise” company has persuaded Jonathan Aitken, the former Tory minister who was convicted of perjury, to chair an MPs’ group meeting in the House of Commons next month. She has told people that the company is backed by Colin Moses, a respected former chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association.

Ken Clarke, the justice secretary, has apparently earmarked millions of pounds for projects to rehabilitate offenders.

But the reputation of the government policy could be damaged by Damji’s association with it. The Sunday Times has established that her heroes centre does not exactly exist, and she used a different name when she registered her company and that at least one eminent person allegedly supporting her denies any such backing.

This weekend Moses said he was alarmed to discover she had claimed he was advising her and believed he had been misled. Aitken said he had agreed to chair the meeting but knew nothing about Damji’s company.

Damji, 44, pictured, has criminal convictions for fraud and dishonesty in America and Britain.

After her release from jail she registered Kazuri Properties in March using the name Farah Dan. It is part of the Kazuri Group, which she claims aims to rehabilitate former prisoners.

She has allegedly teamed up with Tim Dingle, a former headmaster who was banned from teaching for two years after using the school’s computer system to flirt with women, reports The Sunday Times.

This weekend the Ministry of Justice confirmed it had been approached by Kazuri. When told of her background, a spokesman said: “The law clearly states that anyone convicted of fraud would be ineligible to tender for government work of this sort.”

Until Damji was approached by The Sunday Times on Friday, Kazuri’s website apparently claimed its heroes centre was based in the village of Borstal near Rochester, Kent.

When challenged last week, Damji allegedly admitted the centre was not actually based at the school and that it had not yet been set up, as reported by the daily.

Asked whether someone with her record for fraud and dishonesty should be involved in taxpayer-funded schemes, she told the daily: “I believe my experience of the criminal justice system can be put to good use to help society understand what life is like for prisoners trying to resettle ... I have paid my debt to society.”

UK-India Food and Drink Conference and BuyerSeller Meet +44 (0) 7722 4903 22 E

E A unique event is happening in the Midlands between the 30th August and the 1st of September 2011.

The Midlands which has been a focal region in the UK with regards to food and drink processing also houses food and drink distribution centres for major retailers and cash and carry’s. Ethnic foods have risen in popularity over the years and the region caters to a variety of food sourced from all over the world. India is a major source for Ethnic foods and is currently sought after by most countries looking to source Ethnic foods and also as a market for their products. The UK and specifically the Midlands have a very close relationship with India.

The Indo British Trade Council which is based in Leicester has organised the Food and Drink conference to showcase the food and drink capabilities of the UK and build bi-lateral links with India. The three day event will address the complex-

Continued from page 6

suitable.

Though dating web portals like Shaadi.com in India are overwhelmed with women and men interested in marriage or dating - family involvement in arranged marriages to suit family standards - makes the process of finding a groom or bride cumbersome and limiting on choice.

Mamta Saha, a noted psychologist from Thinkspa London said, "Indian women find marriage as a threatening to their career. This is evident from the data and my experience with female clients. First generation of Indian parents have given their daughters access to great education and grooming all whilst these girls see their mother playing the 'dutiful housewife role'.

After such grooming and prepping for the professional world the majority

B

ity of sourcing, meeting international legislation, food innovation, new business models, distribution channels, meeting quality, cost, delivery and sustainability criteria. This event will bring together industry professionals and academia to disseminate some of the latest food and 22 perspectives in the +44 (0) 7722 4903 drink area and discuss future E B challenges. It will provide a platform for creating trade partnerships within the Food and Drink sector. As a part of the event, ‘Asian Voice’ is hosting a buyer-seller meet which will bring together food and drink companies to consider market opportunities in both countries.

and will include regulation, law, quality and buyer requirements. Perween Warsi, founder and CEO of S&A Foods, who is giving the after-dinner talk on the 30th, said “The platform for creating long term trading links for SMEs is of paramount importance especially amongst smaller SMEs who cannot afford a full time dedicated export resource. This will help them to grow and explore new markets”. The second day has a theme of ‘Doing business in India’ and will have a keynote by the Agriculture Minister of Jammu & Kashmir, followed by high profile speakers from India talking about market entry, brand building and the food and drink sector in India.

This event is supported

by UKTI in the Midlands, the Consulate General of India, major supermarkets, food processors and the Confederation of Indian Industry. Due to the overwhelming support of major stakeholders in the Food and Drink sector and a line up of eminent speakers, this event is truly unique and should not be missed. For further details on how to attend, please visit www.ibtc.org.uk or alternatively, contact, Mr. Baljit Singh on baljit@ibtc.org.uk, or Samir Dani on samir@ibtc.org.uk.

+44 (0) 7722 4903 22

Women on late marriages..

But within Indian communities, this is rarely considered to be an option. If you cannot find a suitable partner, the whole family will join forces to get you hitched.

Nevertheless that delayed marriages among Indians are put down to 3 factors: l Marriage for Indian women often leads to leaving a full- time job and prioritising family over personal ambition.

Women who have worked hard to achieve their goal feel resentful at the prospect of surrendering everything for marital satisfaction of the partner.

Also, whereas research show that men do 3 hours of household work, the ratio for women is 30 hours on average, besides their regular 40 hours ay office. l With divorce laws being too stringent and with the social taboo associated with divorces amongst Asians, they often think marriage is a sort of bond that they can't escape, if things go wrong. l It is also believed, that Indian women are far too educated nowadays to find a suitable groom with matching capabilities. That leads to waiting longer to find someone

9

of females want to continue their journey of development and profess i o n a l growth. Unfortunately, they feel committing to the institute of marriage will dilute their passion and pull them away from their priorities of career excellence and the freedom it brings.

As a psychologist I would say, stay true to yourself and when in doubt think about your human values and what drives you. If you want to steer clear of marriage do not allow yourself to be carrying the guilt, anxiety and expectations of others that may drive you into this institution. If you want to get married and have kids do not be in denial about the difficulties attached to having kids at a later age. If you are comfortable with what is to come, let your intuition drive you."

The keynote on the first day of the conference will be given by the Minister (Economic) of the Indian High Commission in London, followed by a day of high profile talks by prominent speakers covering aspects of the food and drink sector in the UK and the Midlands. The talks will cover specific topics for the food and drink industry

Cons nsulate General of India

City Sikhs Network hosts a gala evening to celebrate success The City Sikhs Network (CSN) organised an on 17th August 2011 in conjunction with Barclays Corporate. “Sikhs, the City, and Success” included a panel discussion with a number of leading lights from the UK, and it focused on how it was possible to become successful in British society without compromising one’s personal identity or faith.

The leading speakers included Richard Barnes (Deputy Mayor of London), Dr Surinder HundalDirector at Principles for Responsible Investment, Sukhi Wahiwala, CEO of Wahiwala Groups and Krish Raval (director of Faith in Leadership).

While Richard Barnes in his humorous story telling ways attributed the success of Sikhs in their principles, Krish spoke about leadership. Dr Hundal spoke about her journey to success and Sukhi spoke about his enlightenment when unwell and his self discovery and his potentials.

Param Singh, CSN director, said “There are approximately 15,000 Sikhs working in the City of London, and recognition of Sikh success in the City is long overdue. We

Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes, Dr Surinder Hundal, Sukhi Wahiwala, Krish Raval and others

have a strong presence in perhaps the most important corporate powerhouse in the world, and we as a community have retained our unique identity. This event will give people the opportunity to see that being financially successful and being spiritual are not mutually-exclusive.”

Jasvir Singh, also a CSN director, added “The riots in England over the last few days have disturbed the social fabric of the nation. However, the British Sikh community has emerged strongly from this, with many people coming together to protect towns such as Southall and Birmingham from looting. The question of how faith can assist in successfully overcoming adversity is not looked at very often, and hopefully this event will give an insight into the mindset of success.”

Sarah Boddey, European Head of Diversity at Barclays Wealth, said “Barclays Wealth is delighted to be sponsoring this City Sikhs Network event. We have a vibrant and growing Cultural Awareness Network here at Barclays Wealth and are delighted to partner with organisations such as CSN on events that encourage education, learning and appreciation of different faiths, cultures and beliefs and the rich diversity they can bring to organisations.”

Launched in October 2010, CSN is dedicated to inspiring individuals to be the best that they can be, and although it is an organisation based within the Sikh community, its resources and events are open to all people regardless of race, religion and gender so as to reflect the teachings of the Sikh gurus.

YOUR VOICE

10

Anarchy in the global economy The recent riots in London reminded me of similar behaviour by markets since President Nixon declared on 15th August 1971 that the US Dollar would no longer be convertible into gold following the huge fiscal deficit then caused by the Vietnam War and run on the U S Currency.

Since then the management of foreign exchange rates has been similar to riots, looting and stealing as much as you can, hidden under the camouflage of complexity.

Give more to those who have has been the ethos. The Police, the Press, the Politicians and the Big Business continue to support this anarchy by scratching each other’s back.

Paper money was created, printed and multiplied without any sense of proportion or relevance to the underlying economic strength of the country or countries involved. On powerful computer screens foreign exchange rates move in milliseconds to 4 decimal points in case of major currencies such as the US Dollar, Euro or Yen. Yet these same currencies can go up and down by 25% while Bretton Woods’ 1944 idea was that no currency should fluctuate more than 2.5%. Gold was then $35 to the ounce. Now it is $1790 to the ounce. The forecast is $2,500 by end of this year. Surely time has come for the global economy to have one global currency again linked to gold.

International trade is the true wealth creator: it has been hijacked by international finance. The latter has now degenerated in financial engineering and leveraging in the ratio of $260 of paper money for $1 of real money or real GDP. Nagindas Khajuria FCCA Via Email

Politics of Independence

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Broken society

Utter Annihilation

‘Sanskar’ and riot

The Harrow Council for Justice welcomes the government’s move to expand the use of the family intervention project model, which was adopted under the previous government. It seeks to help families who face a combination of problems such as mental illness, unemployment and poverty, usually by allocating a single social worker to gain an overview of the problems facing the family.

Though it is highly desirable that the state policies and practices address the intrinsic relationship between the ‘cause and effect’ in tackling social problems but given the state of the ‘broken society’ at present, any short-term measures to deal with the ‘effects’ can only be good.

But for a long lasting social cohesion and stability we can not afford to keep chasing the ‘effects’ while not effectively addressing the ‘cause’. Therefore, to mend the ‘broken society’, it is crucial for the decision-makers to rigorously work towards achieving both the economic stability and the social stability.

It is nice to hear that Mr Cameron wanted a “family test” applied to all domestic policy, and that “If it hurts families, if it undermines commitment, if it tramples over the values that keep people together, or stops families from being together, then we shouldn’t do it”.

Why not to apply the ‘family test’ to the adverse long-term effects of some recent policies like the changes in the housing benefits or the cut in the Early Intervention Grant (by 11% in 2011) which is used to provide support for the families with multiple problems through local authorities. For example, in the London Borough of Harrow this grant for 2011-12 is 714,404 less than its baseline allocation in 2010-11.

England has toppled the top team and claimed the much coveted number one spot in cricket. It battered India in all three tests played so far by scoring huge number of runs. While Indian bowlers helplessly looked on, one England batsman scored nearly three centuries. That is, one person scored more than the whole India team did! This is ridiculous.

So far India’s performance has been nothing but shabby and if England wins this last test, it will be a series whitewash for the hosts and a complete washout for the visitors.

Cricket is the only game at which India excels against others in the world.

But the team was reduced to the level of new and upcoming countries. It is a shame as this has happened at a time when Indians all over the world are celebrating the 64th anniversary of India’s independence by paying tributes to the progress our motherland has made and how it now stands in growth and financial stability alongside its former masters.

Indian cricketers, along with its film stars, enjoy the status of demi-gods with considerable fame and fortune bestowed upon them. Perhaps all the money and gifts the team members received after wining the world cup have made the players too complacent and lethargic to run after the ball. Team India, you cannot rest on these laurels.

Everybody has been worried as to why the riots happened. I as a Hindu parent from India of two British born children, teenagers have been my preoccupation ever since I come here age ten in the 70’s. On arriving I was puzzled to hear of someone called a teenager, a child in British culture, who rebels against parents and teachers unheard of in India then. I deduced I was not going to integrate as I spoke only in Gujarati at home, a language with inbuilt deference to any elder.

English language does not posses this.

Secondly the western preoccupation with material gain gives rise to greed and competition. Education which is meant to improve and build an individuals character or sanskars, is instead provided mainly as a means to further material gain by getting a job.

Sanskars allows one to suffer poverty or illness with strength and spend a healthy and wealthy life wisely for the good of all. Also promoting equality and fulfilment in careers for girls has robbed children of mothers, lead to a breakdown of families with unwanted fathers, the state having to step in, the very basic unit of a society broken.

The Labour leader Ed Miliband only married on becoming leader. This sort of culture has to go for the the next generation. My adult children do not speak Gujarati to me while I still speak it with my parents and I can see the differences in respect shown. To all the Indian parents I suggest teach their children their mother language at least. Both socialism and capitalism are the opposite sides of the same material coin, one spreads wealth the other allows accumulation but without sanskars- what we saw is the tip of an iceberg.

Jaiya Shah Chairman Harrow Council for Justice

Why Hinduism cannot be declared as state religion and India declared as a Hindu nation, while ensuring freedom of worship to Non Hindus? Globally, religion of majority is religion of any nation, but Hinduism which is religion of majority in India is buried under secularism. Hinduism is considered as sin, Hindus are marginalised and Hindu bashing is rampant.

Hindustan stands fractured whereby Hindu is shunned in Christian dominated Northeast and Muslim dominated Kashmir.

Braggart Congress, is cowed by separatists in Kashmir, retired truck driver and a sadhu too-at home. I wish India, including Kashmir, all northeastern states, communities, castes and classes would become one nation. India must don iron curtain and exterminate home grown and imported terrorists.

Patriotism of all Indians must be focussed on Hindustan. National interest must not be subordinated to USA or Pakistan but towards basic needs, ambitions and aspirations of Indians.

As reverence to Gandhiji and Sardar Vallabh-bhai Patel, we must harness patriotism of giants like Ramdev ji, Anna ji, Modi ji and Subramaniam Swami to create strong India. Save agricultural lands; stop forced land acquisition. Use desert technology to create SEZ in Rajasthan.

I have just been to Scotland which proved to be an ultimate trip to the nature.

Scotland has got so much to offer. There was so much greenery, water and natural beauty that it can just not be put into words. There are so many lakes, locks, hills, shopping attractions as well as friendly people. I went for a 3 days trip but didn’t realise that even 7 days trip wouldn’t be able to cover what Scotland has got to offer.

This is an ideal season to visit Scotland.

Me, my wife and our friends were speechless while seeing these beautiful scenes both from the coach as well as from the points themselves.

I was bit concerned about the company we were going to get during the trip, but it was great. The co-tourists, the tour manager and the driver were so friendly that we felt like a big family going together. It was funny to have the white driver saying “Jay Shree Krishna” to everyone.

Everyone wanted others to taste the food they brought along. The whole trip was quite remarkable. This is the right season and I would personally recommend AV readers for a Scotland Trip to refresh themselves. Trust me; it’s worth it.

Ramesh Jhalla Via Email

Devang Bhatt, Harrow

Trip to Scotland

Dinesh Sheth Newbury Park, Ilford

Chicken has come home to roost If we play with fire, it is only a question of time before we get burnt. China has at best turned a blind eye and at worse armed the terrorists being trained in the Pakistan.

Western politicians are no match to their Chinese counterparts when it comes to guile, cunningness and foresight.

China is also buying conglomerates with interest in oil, minerals and utilities, a fool proof investment to provide her with raw materials and keep her coffers filled with Western currency. Do we know that many of our electricity and water utilities are owned by China? Soon they will be buying our ports and airports from the cash starved Spanish entrepreneurs who control our airports? Do we care who owns our wealth creating institutions?

China has increased her landmass by a quarter since 1947 when it became a united country under Communist dictatorship. Xingjian, the western-most Chinese province is mainly dominated by Uighers Muslims of Turkish ethnicity who resent Chinese rule. The recent uprising, terrorist attacks by militants trained and armed in Pakistani were responsible for these atrocities. But China is not India, a subdued nation living in fear with appeasement policy. China will not hesitate to ethnically cleanse Xingjian the way it did much larger and more populous but peaceful and tolerant Tibet. This is a golden opportunity for India to influence China, make it realise that it is playing with fire by supporting a terrorist nation like Pakistan.

Bhupendra M Gandhi Via Email

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‘Smile Pinky’ too gets the Oscar Boyle says Mumbai dwarfed the statuette

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Cricket crazy Indians for the first time was seen so euphoric on Monday morning, as they expected a couple of Oscars. British Indians in the UK, Dharavi slums, the shanty township of Mumbai, a village in Uttar Pradesh and almost the entire Bollywood waited in expectation, glued to their TV sets. They burst into celebrations as one by one, their heroes, the actors of the British Indian film and the music maestro, A R Rahman bagged the top awards in the world of entertainment.

British actress Kate Winslett also won the Oscar after having missed it almost five times earlier.

‘Smile Pinki’, a short documentary on a cleft-lipped Indian girl in Uttar Pradesh directed

by American director Megan Mylan, won the Oscar for the Best Documentary (Short).

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Imitating is a vice After riots, this country is putting its pieces back together. It is very interesting to see that David Cameron absolutely leaped out of his holidays to come back to London in order to control the Libyan issues.

But during riots whether it was the Mayor or our PM took good 48 hours to react. I am surprised at this slow reaction. They probably have no idea how much we have lost as a community. I live in Tottenham. I have seen my neighbouring shops smashed- for lucozade, cococola, cigarettes, beer. I was in Asda the other day- and I saw three youngsters debating to buy alcohol free beer. I believe this whole limitations over drinking, smoking or the urge to go down that way- are reasons enough to push somebody to do wrong.

Our country- as free as it is, the problem lies with the fact that parents have immense faith in their children. They think those children will learn from their mistakes. But they fail to realise some mistakes can never be forgiven! Think of Fahim Wahil Alam. He is an LSE graduate, Oxford pass out. What on Earth came on him, that he threw a brick at the police car? Well it is understood that people often behave irrationally as a mob, but if you are conscience are in its place, wherever you are- you cannot commit something wrong just because others are doing that. We need to inculcate individual identity and sense of right and wrong in youngsters. Imitating peers is dangerous!

Anand Singh London

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Health Watch

Jayesh A Patel Wimbledon

!

EDUCATION

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

11

GCSE results : Rise of aspiration and rejection Anjana Kapuria August 2011 witnessed the two extreme gestures of british youth. After the repentance of riots now came the moment of pride along A level results.

After the protest for cuts and fee hike along with the recent masked rioters this is a better picture to represent the true face of British youth as said by school minister after the A level results.

The British youth patted their back with the high in A grades in A level.

This come with a pleasant surprise watching growing taste towards higher education there are more scrambling to get a vacant place in the University of one's choice. Limited places and Prina Shah increase in tuition fee may predict some Arathi Menon more anxiety before the next session structure for the starts. higher education in the UK. In the interUcas head Mary Curnock-Cook has est of the students who are at the heart said that this year is statistically “the of the system are also likely to see some most competitive year in history” for more reforms in fees and funding university applications. Sept 2012 will arrangements for their higher educastart with a new fee amount all across tions. Inflating grades and revised modthe UK which would be nearly thrice of ules complimented one another to find a what pupil used to pay by now . The way out of the maze created by the govshadow education secretary states that it ernment. Now is universities' turn to let was a time to raise the status of the nonthe budding talent bloom in their high university route. facilitated campuses under well skilled Whereas apprentutors to meet the demand of higher eduticeship, sixth cation. form and alternaMr Willetts, Minister of State for tive routes are Universities and Science stressed the offering extra importance of traditional A-levels subyears of applied jects for University admissions. He told knowledge in low the daily telegraph that the subjects such cost to meet as dance and media studies should not young Britons' be recognised as core academic subcareer dreams. jects.There is a remarkable increase in The all chaos choosing science and maths in A level could be set in a over the last five years told by the temporary period Andrew Hall Chief executive of exam of initiating new Rekha and Priya Rogers awarding body AQA. places and fee

avoid the costs associated However, the Institute of with higher education, Engineering and Technology but they actually repre(IET) is urging young people sent an opportunity to receiving their GCSE results place apprentices far to consider a variety of routes ahead of new graduates. into well paid professional As well as the chance to careers, including apprenticestudy for a degree as part ships as an excellent path towards being an engineer. of their programme, Gareth James, Head of apprentices also receive Education at the IET said, Olivia and Hannah Singh hands-on industry experi“Many school-leavers may be ence and earn employabetter off considering apprenticeships. bility skills, such as team working, which Not only do they represent good allmany employers say university graduates round training for those wanting to still lack.”

Asians in A-levels and their predicaments One of those celebrating their grades, Krishna Patel, 18 said, “I am very excited about the university experience” as he will go for engineering at the University of Manchester. Despite Scoring A* in Physics, Chemistry, and Maths was unable to secure a place in Four universities apparently he decided to take a year break to earn more work experience and focus his wants in future and later got a place in the University of Manchester but Prina Shah, despite scoring four A* faced rejection from Oxford, Nottingham and Kings College london decided to change her track to study anthropology from Durham University. These are the effects of 40.000 available places for 220,000 youngsters chasing them.

Thousands of students with straight had received no offers and will wait for clearing.

Issy Brooks-Ward, achieved three

A* determined to study English has taken a job at a pub near her home and will reapply next year after receiving rejections for this year.

Six sets of twins at Brighton College, East Sussex, got similar As and A in same subjects also. The pairs who have never been apart for more than a week at a time now going to different universities. Rekha and Priya Rogers, are going to study law in Oxford university and medicine in Kings College London respectively.

Maintaining the tradition for years Swaminarayan School shares the pride and joy amongst all the students, parents and teachers after achieving the 83 percents of As, A and B this year. Mr. Manani, Head of senior School congratulated Navneeth Jayan, for scoring four As, Navneeth is going to Imperial College to study Electronics and Electrical Engineering.

If you have secured 4 A* in A levels, you can write to us with your photograph and some details to aveditorial@abplgroup.com and we will publish it FREE in Asian Voice. Offer valid till end of September 2011

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MEDIA WATCH

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Scrutator’s James Lamont's report in the Financial Times (August 19) on social activist Anna Hazare's release from Delhi's Tihar jail to start a two-week hunger strike against the Indian Government's alleged complicity in corruption was sound on facts and context. Mr Lamont writes: “Although officially released the same day that he was arrested, Mr Hazare had refused to leave Delhi's Tihar jail demanding to negotiate new terms for his protest and proceed with his fast.....Mr Hazare has won concessions from local police to stage his public fast for 15 days in the middle of Ramlila Anna Hazare addressing the crowd ground, an open space in the product has quadrupled since middle of New Delhi used for large protests and festivals.”

1991. Per capita income has Mr Hazare told his supporters: “The fight is far from over, it more than doubled....The savhas just begun.” ings rate has leapt from 23 per cent of GDP to 34 per cent. The Mr Lamont again: “In an address to parliament on investment similarly has piled Wednesday [August 17], Manmohan Singh, the prime minison 10 percentage points to 37 ter, warned that Mr Hazare's movement was a threat to per cent. The composition of the democracy. He called Mr Hazare's promotion of tougher economy is transformed. action as 'totally misconceived'......Many others have critiDependence on agriculture has cised Mr Hazare's use of the hunger strike. They say this was given way for services, which an appropriate weapon against a colonial power, but not an now represent 58 per cent of GDP.” elected government.”

For all these accomplishIt may be recalled the government had involved Mr ments, some of Mr Lamont's Hazare in anti-corruption legislation, but senior ministers sources in India's business frawere taking a tougher stance with what they perceived as his ternity see signs of the endgame: meddling in parliamentary affairs. “Mr Singh has suggested the telecoms and that a foreign hand is seeking to destabilise India and derail Commonwealth Games scams, it from its high economic growth. Some Congress party leadthe Anna Hazare agitation, a dysfunctional parliament were ers understood Mr Singh's reference to foreign influence as symptoms of Mr Singh's slackenthe US.” ing grip, they said. Even the See also Patrick French (The Daily Telegraph August 18) Indian economy, they predicted and Peter Pagnamenta (The Times August 18)

American cheek Earlier in the week, India's foreign ministry had responded testily to a statement by US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland's remarks that the US expected India “to exercise appropriate democratic restraint ” in handling the anti-

throw democratically elected governments in all corners of the world, from Latin America to the liberal secular Mossadegh regime in Iran in 1953 (with close British cooperation) is history that one ignores at one' s peril.

Ms Nuland has explained that her remarks were misunderstood in India. There is much that is toxic in American and British (and Nato) foreign policy. As toxic as their bank debts, many would say, in Europe and the US most of all.

Endgame game

Victoria Nuland

corruption agitation. India rejected the statement as “needless” and pointed out that its constitution guaranteed freedom of thought and expression. For a long time supporter of military autocracies in Pakistan and Hosni Mubarak's Egypt, the US statement on the democratic propriety in India is cheek indeed. The way past American governments have helped over-

James Lamont's previous report on Manmohan Singh's current travails (Financial Times August 15) suggested that the endgame loomed for the Indian premier. “Mr Singh, a globally respected former finance minister and central bank governor, has a near impregnable record on the economy. His ministers still regard the 79-year-old as a trump card to win over an increasingly ambitious electorate. He takes credit for India's transformation, triggered by a liberalising budget he delivered [as finance minister] under the premiership of Narasimha Rao. “ The statistics are headturning. India's gross domestic

gloomily, was set to hit the buffers. Mr Lamont's prophets of doom complained of rising labour costs in India and a reductional in the differentials with the US, the assumption being that coolie wages were India's best to remain globally competitive. Mr Lamont's piece would have been more balanced with a take from the Indian Government's principal economic adviser, Professor Kaushik Basu, who is on a two-year leave of absence from the Ivy League Cornell University, where he occupies the economics chair.

He might have received counter-factual inputs on things as they are and not as they are purported to be.

Voices of optimism Y.G. Reddy, the respected former governor of the Reserve Bank of India, whose handling

Y.G. Reddy

of India's fiscal policies through the turbulence of the 2008 global economic meltdown elicited praise from US Economics Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, told The Hindu newspaper (August 15) that there was unlikely to be any major impact on the Indian economy from the current financial crisis in Europe and the United States.

“Though there will be some spill-over effect on our economy, it won't be that grave as our growth is primarily driven by domestic consumption. While the 2008 crisis was a revelation for everyone, the present crisis arising from the US government downgrade by rating agency Standard & Poor and the lingering debt crisis in the Eurozone economies, is a realisation of the fact that the fundamental problems there are still not rectified,” said Mr Reddy.

He forecast 8 per cent growth for India in the present financial year, but stressed the need for urgent fine tuning in the country's economy. He said: “If there is excess liquidity in the US system, we will have a fair chance of getting more capital inflows. But if a serious slowdown kicks in, there could be volatility in the fund inflows.”

Meanwhile, K.V. Kamath, the architect of the ICICI Bank's ascendancy in India, perceived the corrective mechanisms of democracy at work in the country, recognised that “the economic development in the past decade was at an unmatched pace, but (that) improvement in the next decade will be at a greater pace than before and bring greater prosperity.”

Mr Kamath, an engineering graduate, turned to banking as an IIM student in Ahmedabad.

He has taken over as CEO of Infosys, the Bangalore-based IT giant.

A Hindustan Times report (August 14) says that India's exports from its services sector had increased almost seven-fold in the last nine years from $20 billion in 2002-03 to $138 in 2010-11. If this growth rate is sustained, said a top official of the Export Promotion Council in Coimbatore, “exports can touch the level of merchandise exports in the coming years.”

Meanwhile, the number of telephone users in India has risen to 885.99 million at the end of June this year. With this, the overall tele-density (number of telephone connections per

K.V. Kamath

100 people) in In India rose to 73.97 in June from 73.11 in the previous month, according to data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

ONGC stakes “India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is in talks with BG, Eni and Shell to sell stakes in deep-water developments in the country's resource-rich eastern coast, as it seeks to replicate the the lucrative $7.2 billion deal struck between BP and Reliance Industries,” write James Fontenella Khan and James Lamont in Financial Times (August 8).

The Economist (August 13) took up the story of the deal struck between Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and BP. Technical glitches had developed in the exploitation of the former's flagship KG-DG block in the Bay of Bengal, hence the decision to team up with BP, which has paid $7.2 billion for a 30 per cent stake in RIL oilfields. “The British giant is accident-prone but not stupid,” said The Economist.

Another Indian success story is Larsen & Toubro, which has received three overseas orders worth $889 million. The first order from Abu Dhabi Gas Industries is a pipeline project worth $189 million; the second order, to build towers, bridges and pipelines, from a UAE-based oil and gas firm, is valued at $450 million, while the third contract worth $250 million is from Thailand-based PTTEP International (Hindustan Times August 6).

Infrastructure development A recent study by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS, August 10), has said that, while investments in India's infrastructure would propel the country into the world's top economic league, the implementation of the public-private partnership was likely to create bottlenecks.

“RICS research across five continents has revealed that India will emerge as the leading spender on infrastructure development including urban infrastructure over the next 25 years. The global spends on infrastructure during this period is pegged at $50 trillion as countries seek to project their respective economies into positions of global leadership,” said the report.

India's Minister of Urban Development Kamal Nath said the country's greatest infrastructure challenges lay in smaller cities and towns due to a capacity building deficit.

He advocated a remodelling of public-private partnership to enable sustainable infrastructure development, access to capital markets, capacity building, reform content and an ability to meet timelines.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Political Sketchbook Alpesh Patel’s

Of Political Power As we watch with horror as the Independent Government of India locks up Freedom Fighters of the struggle for Independence using the same legislative excuses the British, you may want to compare the difference between Britain and India and political power.

So how do you lobby in Britain, without going to jail? Well here are some rules: MP’s are generally powerless within Parliament or amongst civil servants. They only have some weight outside Parliament if they are writing to say your bank! The reason is, as they can promise the earth and hide behind phrases like ‘if I were in government...’ and if they are in government then it becomes...’if I were PM...’

Moreover, they can ask for information, but laws and regulations are in place that their influence can’t do much other than maybe speed up a lazy civil servant who may not have taken your case seriously. As we saw with the Byers situation – MPs get into trouble for overstating their power and influence.

Use a group eg the NCGO. If MPs think there is only one person, then nothing will get done. If they think an entire community may be up in arms, then that’s different.

Headache: Cross-lobby between say the Tory councillor who can bug the Labour MP etc Fear of numbers: Petition – get a load of signatures. Maybe even a Facebook and Twitter page on the issue.

Greed: Let the MP know who have written to his Party leadership, whips office, and Party Chairman to keep them informed about how effective and helpful the MP is going to be on this issue.

Publicise: Find from www.parliament.uk which select committee is taking evidence on

the issue concerned and submit your evidence to that select committee. Find out the All Party Parliamentary Groups considering the issue and write to all their MP members so you build a coalition.

Be specific, to the point and don’t sound crazy. Ie don’t let them discredit you or mark you as irrelevant. Maybe get a professional to write the letter. And make it clear what you are asking for. Do not show anger. Do not rant.

Provide chronologies, key persons involved and their titles and contact details on a separate sheet – make their life easier.

Local media: your issue is unlikely to be of interest nationally – even if you think it is, but the local papers are equally scary to an MP – after all they are elected by constituents who read that local paper. And local papers are more likely to cover your story.

Facebook and Twitter campaign and keep a log which can be used to show support to your MP of the cause. Again numbers matter.

Why do these things not work in India?

Why in India if you are going to publicise the same issues could you find yourself in prison?

Well I think you already know the answer to that question. Perhaps it is time we used the above tactics in Britain to have the British Parliament raise issues of Indian corruption in the British Parliament – after all if we can involve ourselves in the Arab Spring and Libya and Tunisia and Egypt, then surely we can in the young immature democracy of India, the former responsibility of Britain. After all the British were concerned these Indians would not be able to run their own affairs. Perhaps some patronising help may embarrass them?

Sadly, I think the skin of an Indian elephant is impenetrably thick.

13

Large increase in migrant workers but UK unemployment rises The number of jobs occupied by people born outside the UK grew by almost 300,000 over the three months to June, while the number of UKborn people in employment fell by 50,000, new figures reveal.

The increase in foreign-born workers highlights a stark “lack of skills” among UK citizens, meaning that employers are having to import

labour from other countries, observers warned.

The worse-thanexpected official job market figures showed that UK unemployment rose by 38,000 to 2.49 million. It means 7.9 per cent of people are now out of work .

George Osborne, the Chancellor, admitted the figures were disappointing but said jobs were still being created in the UK economy.

The figures, from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), showed the number of people with jobs who were born outside of Britain was 4.15 million, an increase of 289,000 on last year.

Labour described the figures as “very worrying” and accused the Coalition of being “complacent” about getting people back to work.

City Hindus Network organises networking dinner in Central London The City Hindu Network (CHN) organised a private networking dinner for its members on Thursday 18 August 2011 and was attended by the guest speaker Cyrus Moore, author and one of the top telecoms analysts in the country.

The evening started with some canopes and drinks at Bombay Palace in Central London. After CHN Chairman Pratik Dattani’s introduction, Cyrus spoke about his city life and did a short a book reading from his bestselling “City of Thieves,” a book about a fresh, young outsider,

who stumbles almost by accident into a high powered banking job.

Cyrus Moore is the writing name of Cyrus Mewawalla, who was born in 1966 in Farnborough.

After studying in Tokyo and London, he graduated from Cambridge University in 1988 with a degree in Economics.

In 2002, after 14 years in the City, he left corporate banking to start a small research house with the objective of providing truly independent investment research.

In 2006, Bloomberg ranked him

the number one telecom analyst in the UK. Followed by his short and interesting talk on city lives, the guests enjoyed a traditional Indian vegetarian dinner.

Pratik Dattani, Chairman of CHN said, “This was the third soldout such networking dinner we have hosted in 2011. Cyrus Moore was an insightful and engaging speaker, and we are proud that the CHN is able to attract such a high calibre of people to provide the best networking opportunities for our members on a consistent basis.”

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Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Q & A: Visa to India Where can I submit a postal application? If I submit it from outside London – where does it go?

Postal applications must be sent to our centralised processing centre located at 1-3, Canalside, Uxbridge Road, Hayes, Middlesex, UB4 0JN. ( # - ' !$ !

Even if you address your postal application from outside London – your envelope will still be delivered to this address only.

What is the process followed for postal applications once they are received?

The minimum processing time for a postal application is 10-15 working days. Once such applications are received, they are opened and scrutinised by our agents. If your application is lacking in required information, photo specifications are incorrect or there is any reason that prevents us from processing the application – your documents and passports will be returned back to you with a sheet stating the reason. You would then be required to rectify the error and re-post your documents back to the visa centre. Upon receipt of a complete application and required documents, the application is forwarded to the respective Mission for processing.

Can I send my application directly to the High Commission? Where does it go if I have done so?

All applications should be submitted at the specified visa application centres. If you have already dispatched your application to the High Commission of India (London) – your application will be redelivered to our India Visa Application Centre 1-3, Canalside, Uxbridge Road, Hayes, Middlesex, UB4 0JN. But please keep in mind that there will be a delay in the processing of your documents until they reach the Visa Centre from the High Commission.

I get a message of ‘No Record Found’ on my postal application. What is the processing timelines?

Postal applications must be scrutinised before we can begin to process them. In case there are further details required to have been submitted by you or for example, the photographs given were not up to the specification – your application will be posted back to you. In this case, since we are unable to enter your details through our system, there will not be a record to track. In such cases, you can address your concern to info.inuk@vfshelpline.com. It is always strongly advised to ensure that you have read all requirements for an application before it is dispatched through the post.

Where can I get the correct specifications of photographs?

Each Visa Application Centre (except for Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester) have in-house photo booths that will provide you with the required 50x50 size photographs for your application. The cost is £4 for a set of 2. "

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Celebrating 115th Anniversary of the National Poet Jhaverchand Meghani

By Jyotsna Shah Purvi Shah Jhaverchand Meghani was a noted poet, litterateur, social reformer and freedom fighter from Gujarat.

He was born in Chotila, Saurashtra.

Mahatma Gandhi spontaneously gave him the title of Raashtreeya Shaayar (National Poet). Besides this he received many awards like Ranjitram Suvaranachandrak and Mahida Paaritoshik in literature. He wrote more than 100 books.

He was born to the Kalidas Meghani and Dholibhai family. Kalidas was in the police department of the then Kathiawad Agency, and Dholiibai was from a business background.

Jhaverchand always loved to describe himself as a child of the mountain, a reference to the hilly Chotila.

His father had a job that took the family to faroff outposts in different parts of Saurashtra,at

term at Junagadh and then at Bhavnagar. In 1916, he took his Bachelors degree with English and Sanksrit and became a teacher in Bhavnagar while preparing for his post-graduation.

But within a year he gave up studies and went to Calcutta to join Jivanlal's aluminium company, spending three years, starting on a junior post and climbing to that of a Manager. During this period he went with his boss on a visit to England too.

The boss was so impressed that he wanted to post Jhaverchand to London permanently, but the young man had different ideas.

His stay in Calcutta, far from his beloved homeland of Kathiawad, became unbearable, impelling him to write on September 18,1921 a letter home, giving notice The very place where he took birth in of his coming back. police quarter, Chotila His action did not please his employers and colleagues; they wonDatha, Chamardi, Lakha dered if it was possible in Padar, Paliyad, Bagasara, Gujarat to earn a livelihood Rajkot. It was at this time, by writing. But the call of while living on mountains the inner voice was so irreand rivers, he developed a sistible that he headed back taste for folk literature and for Bagasara. folk culture.

Poet Umashankar A renowned folklorist Joshi,who was a fan and a and a pioneering friend of Meghani, has researcher in the field of noted that by that time the folk-literature, he carried young may had hardly any out exhaustive exploration literary achievements to his of the folk-literature of credit.There were one or Saurashtra for many years two poems, penned perby wandering on foot, ridhaps in 1916 or 1918, but ing horses and camels, and these did not show any travelling abroad on ships. signs of what his voice was Meghani has noted that dictating. In 1918 he comhis childhood memories posed his first song “ had firmly imprinted in his Diwado jhakho bale.” psyche, boy Jhaverchand He had a poetic bend of had relished the culture fermind too and would vour and flavour of it all,and attempt writing poetry. His it left a life-long impression interest in the work of on him.

Gandhiji too was aroused In his very popular in this period only. He was novel “Sorath tara vaheta one of the first to act for pani”, the charater of abolition of untouchability Dilere Dil white policeman by accepting an invitation is actually the description to break bread the of Shooter Sahib, a brave, untouchables. He also strict and highly discistarted propagating the plined senior police officer.

Swadeshi commodities, At age of 2, when he such as the bathing soap went to Rajkot with his etc. Meghani's years in family. They lived in a small Calcutta exposed him to two room police quarter the rich Bengali culture, to and his father used to draw the poetry and prose of a meagre salary of 15 Tagore, to the Bengali rupees for a family of ten. stage,and the He went to a primary Brahmosamaj discourses; school in Rajkot and to a all these helped nourish his high school in Wadhwan cultural moorings.

Camp and Amreli and after It brought him back, matriculation in 1912 went but he himself has noted on to join college, first for a that in 1922,"I was direc-

tionless." He persuaded Samatbhai Gadhvi to recite stories to Meghani, giving a direction to his creative urge.

In 1922 Poet Meghani got married to Damayantiben.

Around 1923-27 Mr Amrutlal Sheth had started a journal from Ranpur, called Saurashtra to which Meghani sent two or three pieces. Sheth recognised the potential in him and invited him to join his paper in the same year. His book publication began with Kurbanini Kathao, and that of his folk-literature with Saurashtra Ni Rasdhar. He wrote almost continuously and got fed up of journalism in 1926, and went away to stay at Bhavnagar. In 1928,he got the prestigious Ranjitram Gold Medal for his research work in folk literature. In 1930, his poetry took a nationalist colour and his poem, were addressed to Gandhi as he prepared to leave for the Round Table. Chhello Katoro Jher No Aa Pi Jajo Bapu, earned him the recognition as poet of the Nation. During the freedom fight, he composed 15

mark for himself not only in literature but also in journalism. Meghani took retirement from the journal in 1945,devoting time to writing only. He wrote Ravindraveena, providing Gujarati with Tagore's poetry and gave the worldfamous Manasai Na Diva, based on the experiences of Ravishankar Maharaj, Sarvoday leader,in reforming the Patanwadia dacoits.

He chaired the section of literature in Gujarati Sahitya Parishad conference in 1946 at Rajkot.

While he was in jail, he composed his Koi No Ladakvayo was based on an old English poemSomebody's Darling, and the Gujarati version turned out to be far superior to the original written

by Mrs.Mary Lacoste. He completed “Sorath Santvani” in 1947, In the same vein,what he sang 65 years ago in the Dhandhuka court, a song titled Viday- farewell, was far more evocative and stirring than the original urdu, Hambhi Ghar Reh Sakate The. It is so hauntingly beautiful and true sounding, especially on the eve of the Independence Day that one might think it would be made a compulsory reciting on all such occasions, when we,as a people,tend to under-estimate what all sacrifices were needed in attaining independence.

When he was writing “Kalchakra” novel in 1947, he got a massive heart attack and passed away. At that time Sardar Vallabhai said for him that

When he was an editor of “He was a brave freedom “Janmabhumi” newspaper he fighter, the guts were in had started a column “Kalam his voice and words, he aney kitab” to inspire every left this world only when comman man towards literature.

songs in praise of nation, which awakened and provoked patriotism to the extend that even government was afraid. He was therefore arrested and sent to jail for two years, but was released after serving nine months.

He made a distinctive

he sensed that we have got our freedom.”

Due to his popularity his grandson Shri Pinaki Nanakbhai Meghani was inspired to publish the collection of 111 folksongs on poet’s 115th birth anniversary.

(For more information please see http://jhaverchandmeghani.com/)

Asian Voice, Gujarat Samachar and Sangam Women's Association will pay tribute to Rashtriya Shaayar (National Poet) Jhaverchand Meghani, on his 115th birth anniversary at Sangam Women's Association, 210 Burnt Oak Broadway, Edgware, London HA8 0AP, on Sunday 28th August 3pm for 3:30pm. If you wish to attend the event please let us know by Thursday 25th August at kamal.rao@abplgroup.com.

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

15

f ashionista

by Shree For more stories visit www.scribbledesk.com

Short Story by Neha Garg

Be a Fashionista, Be You! If you have any questions or a story or a new style to share with us, please write to Shree at aveditorial@abplgroup.com

Binky Saves the Day and I am sure the FaerieFolk will help.

We can make you a beautiful dress in no time.'

The Queen looked impressed.

'But there is still the matter of the material, Binky,' said Sir Hops-A-Lot, 'Where are we going to get the cloth for the dress?'

'Leave that to me,' said Binky mysteriously. 'I will be back in an hour.'

An hour later the Palace's doorbell rang. Sir Hops-A-Lot opened it to find at least 15 people standing outside. Faeries, Pixies, Brownies and leading them all was Binky, the spider.

He walked into the Queen's chambers and bowed low.

'We have all the materials ready, O Queen and the folk of FaerieRealm have come to help,' he said.

The Queen beamed.

'Begin then, dear Binky,' she said.

So the folk of FaerieRealm set to work. They used Binky's spider thread to stitch together rose petals from faerie Twinkle's rose bushes to make the skirt. The top they made out of sunflower petals taken from Mr. Brownie's garden. They threaded together dew drops to make a beautiful necklace and made shoes out of clover leaves using rose thorns for heels.

When it was ready, Binky laid it out for the Queen to see.

The Queen was overwhelmed.

'Oh thank you everyone,' she said.

'This is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen. As a reward, I invite you all to A Grand Feast tomorrow and Binky, I appoint you my personal tailor.'

Binky beamed. The faeriefolk jumped for joy. A feast! What fun!

That night, at the Grand Witch's ball, the Faerie Queen was the best dressed of all and she had Binky and the lovely faeriefolk to thank.

The Faerie Queen was in a fine fine fix.

She had a party to go to and it was Sunday. All the shops in FaerieRealm were closed and all the tailors had gone to a tailoring conference in the neighbouring land.

The Queen sat on her throne, with her head in her hands, sad as can be, when her prime minister, Sir Hops-A-Lot bunny happened to hop in.

'Why, your majesty, are you so sad?' he asked.

'It's the Grand Witch's annual ball today, Sir Hops-A-Lot and I dont have a new dress,' said the Queen.

Hearing this, Sir HopsA-Lot started thinking. The Queen must have what she wants. But where would the material come from? And who would stitch it?

'Ahem ...' came a voice.

Sir Hops-A-Lot looked up. The Queen looked up but no one was to be seen.

'Who's there?' demanded Sir HopsA-Lot. 'It is I, Sir Hops-A-Lot, Binky the spider,' said the voice.

The Queen looked up to see a spider on a silken thread hanging upside down from the ceiling.

'Aah Binky, don’t scare us like that,' said the Queen with a smile.

'Pardon me, my Queen,' said Binky, still hanging upside down, 'But I couldn't help overhearing. I believe I can help.'

Sir Hops-A-Lot scoffed.

The Queen held up a hand to silence him.

'Go on Binky, I am listening,' she said.

'Well, you see how I weave my web, your majesty?' said Binky, 'My spider thread is as strong as any silk thread. I can use that stitch you a thread. I have years of experience weaving my web Kokilaben Patel, Managing Editor of Gujarat Samachar with the King’s Kitchen Founder and Director Manubhai Ramji with wife Kantaben, son Dipak and daughter Hema during the inauguration of their new 7000 sq ft- Show room at Park Royal- Acton Lane.

The inauguration puja was held by Nandaji, Director of Bhavans and Acharya Kausalendra Prasadji from Swaminarayan Sanstha, Kalupur, Ahmedabad.

Husband jailed after trying to sell house secretly A man tried to sell his family home without his ex wife knowing and take 45,000 profit, a court heard. Gurjeet Sandhu, 39, owned the property with his former wife Ratishae Dosanjh Sandhu, 41, but told lawyers she had moved to India reported The Daily Telegraph. He allegedly planned to sell the house in East London for 225,650 but was caught when Mrs Sandhu found a letter about the imminent completion. Sandhu now of Slough, Berkshire admitted fraud and was jailed for 12 months. The house was later sold with Mrs Sandhu receiving 12,000 while Sandhu received nothing.

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The Pursuit of Perfection My love of magazines is well-known, fashion magazines in particular.

Not that I own every item of lust ever featured in such magazines you understand...far from it.

But I love the shiny pages, the glossy pictures, the often excellent writing and the general dreamlike life they represent. Now, I’m not saying that dream-like is perfect or something one should unfailingly aspire to.

Hands up if you have ever flipped through the pages of a fashion magazine or watched a runway show and thought to yourself that a certain model was too skinny? The lace corset passing for workwear not work-appropriate at all?

Or the pushing fifty actress’s forehead too smooth to be true?

Now, we all know that fashion has nothing to do with being realistic.

Some would go as far as to say that it’s the appeal of the unattainable that makes the business of fashion and beauty bloom. And we are happy to take our dose of unreal impracticality, provided it comes with a healthy serving of mile-long tanned legs, eyelashes that could dry clothes and women in multicoloured kaftans pouting in the middle of a desert.

But does it always, absolutely always have to be such b***** (pardon my French) pretentious photoshopped nonsense?

I sympathise with the intense drive to use the magic of computers to create a photo that is perfect. But whatever happened to the art of just taking an awesome picture? Must we always be forced to see colour-corrected, warm-filtered, retouched, pasteattached, bust-enhanced, shrunken-bottomed images? The models that get contracts to have their photos in Harper’s or Marie Claire or other

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such magazines, are as a rule, so beautiful in reallife that they are lightyears ahead in the genetic lottery than any old average girl off the street.

What then is the pressing need to retouch them to the point of un-recognisability?

The economy is in the toilet. And the toilet is on fire. Hi-fashion, hi-aspiration magazines like Vogue are becoming increasingly obsolete for the sort of woman who used to read it regularly: AKA people who like outfits in general but who aren’t eating-breathingsleeping fashion. I mean, for God’s sake, I cannot count how many times I have seen some form of a feature called “Steal of the Month” and the steal is a ￡150 shirt that I will allegedly recover the cost of million times over by wearing it for the rest of my life. No, I won’t! And at ￡180, the only thing that is being stolen is my cash and my sense of reality.

A photoshopped supermodel standing like a triangle in a Marrakech hotel wearing a ￡2,000 bikini is one thing.

Ridiculous, but forgivable and admittedly, entrancingly beautiful.

But, that doesn’t prepare you even slightly for what is currently the most talked-about issue doing the rounds of fashion blogs. That of a VogueFrance photo-spread of a model dressed in slashedto-the-waist gold lamé and spike heels, slumped on leopard-skin cushions

Radha Abw

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with a come-hither look in her eyes. Another picture shows her before a mirror in full war-paint, smearing red lipstick on her lips with her finger.

The poses of an adult model clearly intended to be highly provocative.

Only, in this case, the model is a ten-year-old child.

Ten-year-old!

Admittedly, the girl in question, Thylane Blondeau, is exquisite, and it’s not the admiration of her beauty that I have a problem with; it’s the context in which she’s been photographed.

With child beauty pageants that way too many parents seem to be okay with, the launch of lingerie lines (!) for sevenyear-old girls, do we really think this is okay?

Ten-year-old girls should not be made up to look like objects of desire. That is wrong in any country, language or perception. I would love to see a picture of Thylane Blondeau running in a cornfield wearing a cotton sundress, but stick her in gold lamé and that is beyond my comfort zone. I would just like to suggest that fash-mags, especially Vogue, would be welladvised to sometimes feature normal women.

Supermodels sure...I love those goddesses, but can we please not forget about and be relevant for women of colour, women of cellulite, women of 15k annual salaries and above all, women of legal age.

This is a 9x9 grid, 3x3 (boxes) Sudoku puzzle.

Make sure that each and every row, column and region/box contains the number 1 to 9 once.

Clue: Start with the boxes with just one missing number!

Disclaimer: This puzzle is created solely by Radha abw with the help of a pen and paper, understanding the basics of the subject at hand, and any resemblance to a similar puzzle is purely unintended and coincidental.

16

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Asian Voice Saturday 27th August 2011

Genelia D’Souza’s bravado nearly ends in accident

Shruti Haasan re-enters ‘3’ Actress Amala Paul exited as the heroine of debutant director Aishwarya Dhanush’s upcoming film ‘3’ and Shruti Haasan has stepped into her role. She would be paired against Dhanush.

Ironically, Aishwarya’s original choice as heroine of the film was Shruti; as she was busy with

her prior commitments, she couldn’t be signed up and instead of her, Amala Paul was chosen. Aishwarya had in fact gone on record stating that she penned the script with Shruti in mind.

‘3’ is already being looked at as a ‘major film’ as it brings together the son-in-law of superstar Rajinikanth.

Rajini celebrates his rebirth on Aug 18

Rajinikanth has completed 36 years in the film industry, for it was on August 18th, 1975, his first film “Apoorva Ragangal” hit the screens. His rise has no doubt been phenomenal since then. Rajini style is a very important factor that pushed him to the star status which eventually landed him at the top spot and earned him the enviable and undisputed title

Superstar. Born as Sivaji Rao Gaikwad on December 12th, 1950, he was christened as Rajinikanth by his mentor and guru, director K Balachander for “Apoorva Ragangal.”

Though his birthday falls on December 12th, Rajini also celebrates August 18th as a birthday because he feels it is a rebirth for him.

Prithviraj turns producer

John Abraham’s ‘muscle power’ is an open secret. But not many know that Genelia D’Souza, his co-star in “Force,” has also gone all out to match his bravado. Genelia was to shoot an action sequence for the film, in which she had to sprint as fast as she could to save herself from the goons on her trail. In a bid to dodge the assailants, she was to enter a deserted building and jump off from the second floor, as per the shoot’s requirement.

And apparently, Genelia’s excitement knew no bounds and it slipped her mind that the first part of the shot was supposed to end when she reached the second floor. Her jump was to be canned later, with all the security measures in place. But the actor was all set to leap from the edge of the floor, little aware of the fact that the safety harnesses were not in place yet.

But thanks to the alert crew, Genelia was saved from the potentially dangerous jump at the very last minute. Insiders from the unit said that since this was her first full-on action scene ever, she was very eager to do it, and in the moment, she completely forgot to stop.

Of course, once she was rescued and realised what she was about to do, Genelia couldn’t stop thanking the crew enough for protecting her. When contacted, Force producer Vipul Shah confirms, “Yes, it could have proved fatal, but our crew members were extremely alert. This was Genelia’s first stunt and so, I think she was very excited about it.”

Katrina Kaif annoyed by loose talks Katrina Kaif is miffed. According to a recent report, the actor and Anushka Sharma got into a catfight over sharing a make-up man. The news of the supposed ‘power struggle’ has “saddened” the “Mere Brother Ki Dulhan” actor. To add to her woes came another report, which suggested that she angered Kareena Kapoor by doing a dance number in the Salman Khan-starrer “Bodyguard,” where Kareena plays the lead.

“Baby (Alvira, Salman’s sister) is a dear friend. She asked me to do just one ‘mukhda’ (opening stanza of the song). It’s not even a full song,” says an agitated Katrina, adding, “Kareena is a huge star and a wonderful actor. I can guarantee you that this report is not true. Alvira is the producer. Everyone was happy about the song and Kareena was probably even part of that discussion about me doing a dance number.”

Calling both the reports “distasteful,” she says, “These rumours that make us look like children in a playground, are so disheartening.

We are not like that in real life.”

So why doesn’t she put such rumours to rest by commenting on them?

“Just because someone is poking me, doesn’t mean I have to respond. Such reports are a sign of foolishness,” she says.

Visibly distraught, the actor says, “Despite being in the industry for so many years, I have never asked for recognition. When I see people stooping down to that level, it’s upsetting. Give me a little bit of respect. I have worked here for very long.”

So does she have no issues with Anushka?

“She is a lovely girl and is just starting out. I have seen her twice in my life. We all are grown-ups. I don’t need to answer these questions and get into this ridiculousness. I’m better behaved than that.”

Wanted: A Hollywood hottie for Aamir Khan

Defying those who thought that marriage would slow down Prithviraj, the actor has been busy filming for his forthcoming projects.

Prithviraj is currently shooting for Ranjith's “Indian Rupee,” which will see him play the role of a young real estate agent who tries to make some quick money, but ends up in a financial cri-

sis. This is the third time the actor-director duo is teaming up after the hits of “Nandanam” and “ T h i r a k a t h a . ” Interestingly, Prithviraj is also producing the movie with Santhosh Sivan and Shaji Natesan. Prithviraj will next be seen on screen in the romantic comedy “Teja Bhai and Family,” due for release on August 26.

The latest rumour on the “Dhoom 3” front is that producer and director have decided to cast a Hollywood actress to play Aamir's love interest.

The stars they are actually looking forward to do their film are Oscar winner Natalie Portman, Spanish superstar Penelope Cruz and Eva Longoria of “Desperate Housewives” fame. A source said, "The names you mention are definitely in the list. Yashraj has never worked with an international star in any of its films. One safe and effective way of going global would be the casting of a Hollywood hottie." The role will involve sporting swimwear and a passionate kissing scene with Aamir; the parts that Katrina had problems with and thus failed to land the dream role.

David Dhawan's son joins Bollywood Karan Johar has started shooting for his next directorial venture “Student Of the Year” and it coincides with the birtdhay of director David Dhawan, whose son Varun is making his debut with the movie. It was not planned but simply coincidence that David Dhawan's son embarks on his acting career on his father's birthday. Karan had to make a concession and let David drop in to meet his son."

The buzz is that the three debutantes Varun, Alia and Siddharth Malhotra would be doing a high school party gig, a la Shah Rukh Khan, Kajol and Rani Mukerji in Karan's directorial debut “Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.”

Salman Khan is all in one for perfect blockbuster If you think the last three Salman Khan films “Wanted,” “Dabangg” and “Ready” had too many common elements, there's good reason for it. Salman has obviously deciphered the recipe for a perfect blockbuster, which he is now incorporating in every upcoming film. This extends to his latest film “Bodyguard” too. The trailers may seem like a frame-toframe remake of the original Malayalam film, but Salman has added some of his signature spice to the screenplay.

Says director Siddique, "Salman's image is very different from that of Dileep's who was the original protagonist in the Malayalam film. Dilip has a very boy-nextdoor image, but Salman obviously is anything but that.

In fact, he was a little apprehensive of my ways since I belong to the South; he was very vocal about certain things he wanted in the film."

Apparently, the actor had discussions at length with the director on how to tweak the character to suit his image. Adds Siddique, "He has contributed to action sequences and even the songs. He used to sit with me on the sets to decide the look of the scenes. He has good cinematic sense, so inputs were quite helpful." So, would it be right to say he ghost-directed the film? "When you work with a superstar like him, you have to make certain changes. In fact, I am someone who tries to work around what the actor is comfortable with. I think it reflects in the film." Well, there is no denying that it's a formula that has proved profitable for the superstar in the past. And though they say too much of a good thing may not always work, with Salman Khan you can never say never.

Ajay Devgn, Akshay Kumar patch up for more action Akshay Kumar and Ajay Devgn, who were never the best of friends since their first film “Suhaag” in 1994, have now decided to give their strained relationship another chance. The two biggest action heroes of present day Bollywood have decided to come together for Rohit Shetty's next action flick that will go on floors late next year. The news of the patchup has shocked the entire industry because from the very get-go, when Akshay and Ajay worked together in Sandesh Kohli's 1994 film, they were never able to see eye-to-eye.

Tensions between Akshay and Ajay escalated to a new high when Ajay announced that his next project would tentatively be titled ‘Son Of Sardar,’ which incidentally was already registered under Akshay's banner Hari Om Entertainment. However, the same subject of dispute ended up being the platform on which Akshay and Ajay made peace.

"Akshay explained to Ajay that he could not part with the title as he had already finished scripting the film and it would be going on floors very soon. That is when Akshay proposed that they should do a film together. Ajay loved the idea and they immediately got down to planning the project. They decided to co-produce the film under both their banners. Ajay also spoke to his close friend Rohit Shetty to direct the venture," explained the source.

Kareena Kapoor woos the bodyguards Kareena Kapoor in an event to promote her forthcoming film “Bodyguard” will felicitate the real life bodyguards of all the stars. While Salman Khan brought his own bodyguard Shera into the limelight to launch the first look for the film, Kareena has not just taken a cue from her leading man but also gone a step ahead. She was seen with the bodyguards of all the Bollywood A-listers at an event. The actress will introduce the people who keep the stars safe in their day-to-day lives and thank them for their services. In the film, Salman plays Kareena's bodyguard who follows her everywhere, including her college classroom.

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

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Dippy wants to get rid of RK? The much publicised tattoo on Deepika Padukone’s neck is annoying her now. Despite having maintained earlier that she will never do away with it, Dippy apparently is having second thoughts. Deepika has always politely answered whenever she has been asked about her tattoo.

Even in a recent chat show, she has specified that she will never remove it and it didn’t bother her current beau Siddhartha Mallya. But constant media attention has taken a toll on her resolve and she wants to get rid of it.

Raveena to romance with younger man There is good news for all Raveena Tandon fans. The actress, who made a comeback after five years with 'Bbuddah... Hoga Terra Baap', has been signed to play the lead role in 'Shobhana 7 Nights', where she plays the character of a battered wife who finds solace in a younger man. Film will be directed by Sudipto Chattopadhyaya, Raveena plays a married 40-something columnist-author who is abused by her husband and finds solace in a young man who is one of the many strugglers in Bollywood. The boy becomes Raveena's toy boy as he is trying to make ends meet.

Raveena's first reaction was to turn down the role since the character was a bit bold and she hasn't attempted a lovemaking or kissing scene before. But she agreed to take up the challenging role later.

Asin – Mukesh Bhatt war The Asin and Mukesh Bhatt on a war and it doesn't seem like its going to end anytime soon.

After Bhatt spoke out saying the actress' future in Bollywood is bleak, a string of reports had emerged suggesting that Bhatt was bitter over Asin turning him down for a film. But, according to Bhatt, these stories are Asin's PR machinery plants, and that neither did he, nor will he, ever approach her for a film. "I never offered Asin a film, and I don't intend to," he says. "We don't work with 'stars'. If you look at our films, Bipasha Basu, Kangna Ranaut and Jacqueline Fernandez were all newcomers when they worked with us. So there's no question of working with Asin," he says.

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Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Eros International signs global distribution deals

Dear Financial Voice Reader, ‘Keep calm and carry on’ say the notices around the UK. It’s good advice for the markets too. You might add ‘move on, nothing to see here’ too. As I said on the BBC, ‘the madness of crowds whether in the financial markets or on the streets of London is not necessarily rational’.

And when the stock market is being irrational, then the advice of the world’s richest man is useful, ‘be greedy when others are fearful’. But how do you know stock price falls are irrational and which stocks are the best value one? For me when I look at Barclays Bank and it is still where it was in terms of share price as in 1997, yet has just announced bumper profits – then I know that is irrational fear. It helped that a friend who worked for the FSA, the UK’s financial regulatory body, had also calculated that the amount of capital the bank has set to one side in case of contingencies, means its share price is lower than it should be.

Or take the stock I mention more than any other – Apple – now the world’s largest company. It has more available cash than the United States. If it wanted to borrow money – it would be more highly rated than the United States Government. It made last quarter $7 billion in profit. That’s one dollar for every person on the planet. It converts one quarter of all sales into profit.

That is a mighty large profit margin. And for years people say, ‘but would you buy at this price?’

Or take Tata Motors – last set of profits coming in at pounds 1 billion. On my monthly visits to India I see more and more Land Rovers and Jaguars. Come on people, do I need to spell out the obviousness of that purchase?

Or take the fact that if the stock market takes even 2 years to get to where it was 4 months ago then you will have a 25% return. You aren’t getting a 25% return in house prices in that period. But let’s say you got an 80% mortgage on a 500k property ie put down 100k.

And let’s say it went up over two years 5%. After interest charges – you are not left with a 25% gain on your 100k.

I spell these things out because very often the simple things in investment work the best, but we have a tendency to complicate, not to believe our eyes and ears and to rely too little on simple observation.

The best investments are those which lie at extremes making them easy picks – but like the economist who sees a $100 bill on the sidewalk, we say, ‘no if it were there someone would have picked it up already’.

So it is with Apple, Barclays, Tata Motors, and the stock market as a whole. Now be aware – I have holdings in all these stocks, but I don’t care enough to write about them to try to boost their price – were it so that my mentioning them could have that effect.

Alpesh Patel (alpesh.patel@tradermind.com) www.alpeshblog.com

US company to buy edible oil maker Geepee

Eros International plc ('Eros') for Indian filmed entertainment has signed distribution tie-ups with broadcasters and distributors in Myanmar, Japan and Romania.

“We are continuing to expand our presence across the globe and access these new and exciting markets. Our ability to dub and subtitle Eros content into foreign languages, allows us to directly appeal to both local audiences as well as the local Indian community.”

Kumar Ahuja, Senior VP, Business Development, Eros International plc said regarding exploration of new territories.

The 100-film deal that Eros signed with Family TV, the leading TV channel of Myanmar, makes it the

first company to launch Bollywood films in this market and allows the channel to showcase blockbuster movies from Eros.

Some of these blockbusters include Dabangg, Kambakkht Ishq, Anjaana Anjaani along with classics like Zanjeer, Mother India, S h o l a y , S h a r a b i among others.

Eros has also partnered with Atrium Productions KFT, a local distributor in Japan for the theatrical release of Endhiran - one of the biggest Rajnikanth blockbuster and highest grosser.

With this, fans of Rajnikanth in Japan will be getting a chance to watch their favourite star on big screen. Eros also plans to

launch the movie on TV and Home video platform in the near future.

Additionally, Eros has become the first Indian studio to launch a series of Bollywood films in the Romanian DVD market. The 30-movie package for this geographic market will have Romanian subtitles. Among the package are blockbusters such as: Housefull, Anjaana Anjaani, Dabbang, Yuvraaj, Love Aaj Kal, Veer, Om Shanti Om, Namaste London, Cheeni Kum, No Problem, Kambakht Ishq, Devdas, Lage Raho and Munna Bhai.

Eros operates in five continents and over 50 countries with offices throughout India, the

Global retailers reviving plans to enter India Global retailers are reviving plans to enter India.

The list of international retailers looking at India as a priority market for business expansion include the American luxury store chain Saks Fifth Avenue, South Korea's Lotte, Thailand's Central Group and Myer of Australia.

Even Spanish retailer El Corte Ingles, which is the world's fourth largest department store chain, send their strategic consultants to explore the local market. India's relatively robust domestic economy and fresh moves to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in general retail have galvanized their interest despite bruised consumer sentiments worldwide. A Saks team, including representatives of its Dubai franchise Style Avenue Middle East, has been traveling to India holding discussions to rejig the entry plans. Six years ago, Saks had booked space at DLF mall in Delhi as well as at UB City in Bangalore. That

did not take off and India entry went to the back burner. Still awaiting FDI, Saks may route investment decisions through the Dubai partner which brought Damas stores to India in the past.

Thai retail and real estate major Central Group has been furiously at work to break into the Indian market. Central, a

family-owned conglomerate, controls a big pie of Thailand's retail industry besides having interests in mall development and in hospitality business. It has had talks with Bharti Realty as it looked entering the country as a mall developer in the past. The group owns flagship department store chains under Central, Robinson and Zen brands but would prefer to come with FDI.

As a prelude, Central wants to license its smaller formats in electronics retailing called PowerBuy and book store chain B2S. In July, a committee of secretaries cleared a proposal to allow foreign direct investment in multibrand retail, marking an important step towards opening up India's $700 billion retail market to global investors. It, however, needs the Cabinet approval. The world's top three multi-brand retailers Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco have entered India but are waiting for FDI to make the big moves. "India has been one of the happening economies both from the retail and consumer perspective. Several international players have been holding back their plans due to government regulations. But recent statements about opening up the sector have raised the hopes of most foreign retailers," said Pinaki Ranjan Mishra, who heads the retail and consumer practice at Ernst & Young.

Standard & Poor's president Deven Sharma to step down

US food processing giant Archers Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is set to acquire the Rs 6.50-billion edible oil maker Geepee Agri Private, said sources.

The move is part of the $61-billion Illinois-based company's strategy to bulk up production and secure grain procurement in times of rocketing food inflation.

Noida-based Geepee Agri is majority owned by Thailand's GP Group, a business conglomerate of India origin, and Rabo Private Equity. It has two plants at Kota in

Rajasthan and Akola in Maharshtra. Geepee operates Parampara brand in the local edible oil market.

Rabo owned 26% stake in the firm with 200 tonne soyabean and palm oil refining capacity per day.

ADM has existing plants at Latur and Nagpur through recent acquisitions, and the latest buyout will see it almost doubling the crushing and refining capacities.

Geepee Agri CEO Maneesh Mansingka could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

The ratings a g e n c y Standard and Poor's said that its president, D e v e n Sharma, who has become the public face of the firm in the wake of its historic downgrade on the United States' long-term debt rating, will step down and leave the company by the end of the year.

The decision by Sharma to resign comes as the ratings agency is under pressure from several fronts, including an inquiry by the Justice Department into its rat-

ings of subprime mortgage securities and a push by activist investors to break up its parent company, McGraw-Hill.

Sharma will be replaced by Douglas Peterson, a top executive at Citigroup, the company said.

The management change had been in the works for months and was unrelated to either the Justice Department's inquiry or to the emergence of the activist investors, Jana Partners and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, according to people briefed on the matter.

His replacement, Peterson, 53, is currently

the chief operating officer of Citibank, the banking unit of Citigroup.

"We are pleased to welcome Doug to the important role of president of Standard & Poor's as it continues to build on the enhancements of recent years and accelerates global growth," Harold McGraw III, McGrawHill's chief executive, said in a statement.

The ratings agency's decision to downgrade the United States' long-term credit rating to AA (PLUS) from AAA on Aug. 5 set off a storm of controversy, including criticism by President Barack Obama.

United Kingdom, USA, UAE, Singapore, Australia, Fiji and the Isle of Man. It was established in 1977 with a vision to become the gateway for Indian content worldwide and Hollywood content in India, It has over three decades of market experience in creating a global platform for Indian cinema, it acquires, co-produces and distributes quality Indian film content, worldwide, across multiple formats. In 2006, Eros became the first Indian media company to obtain a listing on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange.

In October 2010, Eros International listed its Indian subsidiary Eros International Media on the BSE & NSE in India.

Narayana Murthy logs out of Infosys

After more than three decades of his association with Infosys, its chief mentor and chairman, N R Narayana Murthy, on Friday logged out of the IT bellwether he co-founded, amid accolades from his colleagues, friends and family.

Having been the most visible face of India's second largest information technology company, Mr Murthy will now assume the role of its Chairman Emeritus.

Bidding goodbye to the company that he co-founded in Pune with six others in 1981, Mr Murthy arrived at the conference hall in the company's headquarters in Electronics City with his family for the farewell function.

Though technically he is set to retire on Saturday, the farewell was organised on Friday as the company is closed for the weekend.

Mr Murthy said, “I do not believe in any legacy. The past is dead and gone. I am also not going to be nostalgic as I see a wonderful set of young people who will take the company forward, from a $6 billion company to $60 billion or even to $600 billion.”

In the half-hour speech, he advised young Infoscions to work hard, lead by example, shun ego and take sound decisions.

Earlier, Kris Gopalakrishnan and K V Kamat, who are set to take over as Co-Chairmen, and S D Shibulal, new Chief Executive Officer, recalled their association with Mr Murthy.

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

19

A PROPERTY FOR YOU AND MONEY FOR FREE Suresh Vagjiani Managing Director Sow & Reap A Property Investment & Financing company.

This week we will be looking at a couple of techniques investors have been using to invest in property without putting any money in what so ever.

One was a method known as the day one remortgage. It was legal above board, could be conducted by any one, but very few people in the market knew about it including those who have been veterans in the industry.

This method was taught by some property clubs for an expensive fee as well as them getting kick backs from the mortgage broker, solicitors and property seller on top of their fee charged. This was used pre credit crunch times.

This is how it worked, a purchaser finds a property which is undervalued, say they are picking it up for £75,000 and it is worth £100,000. They apply to a mortgage company for 85% of the property value as a REMORTGAGE. This is as opposed to a mortgage, a mortgage is used on purchase and a remortgage is done only when the property has been purchased.

So to do a remortgage before purchasing property is odd, but it will become clear as we go one.

A remortgage is applied for by the purchaser. What happens in a remortgage is an application goes off, it gets checked for credit worthiness and then a valuation is instructed. At no time do they check the applicant actually owns the property.

Th ere fore the valuer go es in with the assu mption the cl ie nt owns the prope rty, the propert y is value d at £100,000. The valuation is used to issue an o ffer at £85,000.

The mortgage companies at that time did not insist on proof of income, so this criteria was dispensed with. Based on simply the valuation and the credit score the offer would be issued.

Once you have a remortgage offer it is typically valid for 6 months. In order to get the funds to purchase you then approach a bridging company. These are companies which lend money for short periods of time at high rates of interest. Once they have seen the mortgage offer they will agree to lend, typically the rate was 1 % as they can see an exit route is already in place.

On this basis they would lend £75,000 plus costs knowing they will get their money returned within 24 hrs via the remortgage offer in place.

They send the money to purchase and then the solicitor uses the money from the bridging company to purchase the property at £75,000. It is then refinanced at £85,000 with the mortgage company the next day allowing you to pocket the difference which will come to around £7,000.

This was known as a day one remortgage. This was done by lenders who did not have a minimum period for how long someone has owned the property before they would remortgage it so it could even technically be 1 second the property has been owned before the remortgage funds are taken down. Because of this many completions could have been lined up simultaneously so the same funds are used to keep purchasing and remortgaging to save on bridging fees.

Th e d yn amics d escribed above wou ld be shroud ed an d over complicated so that th e co mpanies promoting this service were able to ‘justify’ the ir fees.

This method worked because of this main point which is the seller did not need to be aware of the structure nor did the agent.

This meant the property was negotiated in the normal fashion - no outside party was aware this property was financed with no money down.

This was pre credit crunch. Currently the new no money down system is this: the property is negotiated at a lower amount but the contract is sent at the higher amount. So taking the same figures the purchase price is £75,000 but the contract price is £100,000.

The seller has to agree to this, and agree to use your chosen solicitor, for this to happen the agent needs to understand and agree to explain this.

You go through the normal process and apply for a mortgage, this is

given at £75,000 for the purchase.

The way you get your deposit is this: a bridging company lends you the deposit on the basis the seller signs a second charge on his own property in favour of the bridging company.

The bridging company lends you the deposit by transferring it to the buyers solictor and calls is an ‘equity release’ this means it is money given to the purchaser by releasing it from property they already own. So in the above example it will be £25,000 together with the mortgage offer of £75,000 this will make the full purchase price. So this amount goes from the buyer’s solicitor to the seller’s solicitor who then has to transfer £25,000 back to the bridging company as there is a charge on the property in favour of the bridging company which needs to be satisfied before money can be dispersed to the seller.

This is the met hod now be ing used. The pro blem is by the time yo u have convinc ed the se ller an d the ag ent t o use th is me thod which will n ot be e asy, you may lose the de al.

Most people are very paranoid when transacting properties, to convince them to increase the contract price to above the purchase price and to get them to use a solicitor chosen by you means you may blow the deal up. And if you do not, why would a seller agree to be selling in this way?

Perhaps the property cannot be sold conventionally.

In summary we have used the first method to transact without using funds but the second involves too many variables for it to be viable.

Although it is still being sold at many property courses….

We provide a turnkey solution. Contact us now: Specialists in: l Property Sourcing l Mortgages l Commercial Finance l India Properties

UK Sales 0207 313 4595 India Sales 0203 384 5323 Westbourne House, 14-16 Westbourne Grove, London, W2 5RH

Tips of the Week l Cheap properties, big discount, generally attract cheap tenants l Examine the tax implication BEFORE you start purchasing property

20

Financial voice

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Amit Patel has over 15 years experience in the field of Leadership and Human Resource Management

maria@abplgroup.com

Maria Fernandes

Family values A major reform of the rules relating to the family route is underway with consultation paper which sets out areas of reform.

The areas included: • Plans to introduce a more objective way of identifying whether a relationship is genuine.

The plan of the government when introducing rules in this area are interested in adopting rules that are currently being applied in Denmark. Currently in Denmark applicants for a marriage visa must have visited Denmark at least twice and the sponsor must have resided legally in Denmark for at least 15 years. Where applicants are Danish citizens or have resided in Denmark for 28 years they will not need to meet this requirement.

• Introduction of a new minimum income threshold for sponsors.

Again the experience in a number of countries has been considered. In Denmark for example there is a specific threshold that a sponsor cannot have claimed benefits in the 3 years prior to the marriage application being made and must post a bond (currently

around £12,000) against any future claim on public funds. The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) have been asked to advised on a new minimum income threshold with the view expressed that the level should be higher than that of the safety net of Income Support which is currently how the Courts interpret the maintenance requirements. The plan is to take account only of income and cash savings of a UK based sponsor but there are plans to discard taking into account potential earnings and the plans are definitely on the horizon to review whether support from third parties will be allowed other than in compelling and compassionate circumstances.

In terms of accommodation issues, local authorities will be requested to provide a housing certificate to meet the requirements of adequate accommodation.

• Extending the English requirements to spouses Currently spouses can meet the settlement requirements with an ESOL qualification. The plan is to introduce more

stringent English tests to require spouses to demonstrate that they can understand everyday English.

Some of the other changes being considered are as follows: • Consideration whether medical insurance should be a requirement • Ending the Right of Appeal for visitors visas • A complete review of the Article 8 requirements Whilst these proposals are under consultation it is an opportunity to respond to this paper.

The paper has been framed in a way to suggest that the reason for these changes are in order to prevent sham marriages.

However this excuse is being used in order to bring into effect a number of changes to go far wider than dealing with sham marriages.

Maria Fernandes has been in practice exclusively in immigration for the past 25 years.

Fernandes Vaz is based at 87 Wembley Hill Road Wembley in Wembley and can be contacted by telephone on 02087330123, by email on info@fernandesvaz.com.

South Harrow traders form association A new traders association - South Harrow Traders Association (SHTA) - was inaugurated on 4th Aug, 2011 at the Harrow Council meeting.

The association’s first mission after agreeing to a constitution will be to survey all local businesses to identify the key issues that they face. The survey results will then be reviewed, validated and prioritised for action. The inaugural meeting of the SHTA will take place in September, time and venue will be decided later.

Shahram Irvani who was elected chair of SHTA said, “As a trader in South Harrow, I’m delighted to be appointed Chair of the new Traders’ Association.

Many of the businesses in the area are established over many years and are committed to the formation of the association, to improve and regenerate the locality for business people and residents alike.

The association will provide a strong voice to the traders and will work with local residents, police and Harrow Council to ensure that South Harrow’s shopping centre is not adversely affected in the current financial decline and that it continues to serve the local community.

“Harrow Council has been extremely supportive and I’m looking forward to working alongside them to make South Harrow vibrant.”

Cllr Thaya Idaikkader said, “I’m happy to have supported emergence of this important initiative in my ward. Local shopping areas such as South Harrow are important and the traders should receive full support so that they can survive the recession. Health of local economy generated through local shopping centres is essential for local vitality and I will give all the help I can to this Association for it to flourish.”

Navin Shah, Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow who attended the launch said, “Local district centres play an important role in the economic health and vitality of the areas. I have no doubt that the new association will act as a strong

voice for South Harrow Traders as well as an important new force to promote better facilities for local shoppers and make South Harrow a pleasant area to shop and visit. Traders have my full support and I will be happy to take up issues both at Council and London Assembly level.”

The office-bearers of the association are: Shahram Irvani, co-owner of Alexandra Park Estate Agents of 500 Northolt Road, South Harrow, Chair, Ramanathan Thayarapan of Karveri Foods, Vice Chair; Jay Unadkat, Secretary and K Krishnamohan (Hair and Beauty Products) Treasurer.

Committee members are: Mir Akbar Akbari, A Durai, N K Wilson, Sivarajah Sathasivami, Ajay Kotak, Rupesh Valji and Thillainathan Kumarathas.

Enjoy It? Are You Serious?

In life, there are very few emotions which can compare with the rush or thrill of winning. The feeling is addictive for once we have savoured that first win we want more and more. And for some inexplicable reason, our brains even tell us that because we have won once, doing it again is easier. I remember hearing a talk by Alpesh Patel about trading on the stock market. He spoke about winning and said that one of the mistakes many people make is when they are constantly losing they seem to think that they are ‘due’ a win.

But it does not matter how many times you toss a coin, the odds of it landing heads or tails is always the same. Yet bizarrely our brains tell us otherwise. This is the addiction for the winning feeling!

So why am I talking about winning and losing? Many of you (if not all) will be aware of the

thrashing suffered by the Indian cricket team in the recent test series. While I don’t really want to reflect on the possible explanations for their epic failure, I do want to pick up on something that the captain, MS Dhoni said in a recent interview. When asked what he would be saying to team after being defeated by such a huge margin, he replied that he would tell them not to become weighed down by the pressure or wallow in the defeat, but rather, in the next game they should go out and just try to enjoy themselves.

Surely he should have been admonishing them for their abject performance and rousing them to at least put up a fight.

The last thing one would expect a leader to say to their defeated team is to enjoy themselves. Having been subjected to films such as Rocky, we have this stereotype that the only way to overcome

Mobilife.com can help save money on mobile bills A new site called Hyperlink http:// www.mobilife.com will help you save money on your mobile bills.

Mobilife.com will show you the best deal for you from the millions of combinations of handsets, tariffs and add-ons such as cash back deals and free gifts available on the UK market and all you have to do it click to get the handset you want at the tariff that’s right for you. The company has already saved one heavy data user £612.24 a year on his contract!

In past it was a big hassle to check out different websites, work out what you spend on texts, calls to landlines, calls to other mobiles and data and then spend ages negotiating with people in the call centres or in the mobile shops to get the deal you want. In fact, so many of us don’t have the time to do all this that 70% of contract phone users in the UK are on the wrong tariff, wasting an amazing £3bn a year paying for minutes and texts they don’t even need!

You can use the site in two ways to save money: Either choose the phone you want or the amount you want to spend per month, then use the easy ‘sliders’ to estimate how many minutes, texts and data you need to get a recommendation that’s

right for you. Or, if you view or manage your bills online, you can use Mobilife’s real-time bill analyser to get a really personal recommendation. All you do is give Mobilife your account name and login and it will look at your last three months bills and recommends the best contract based on how much voice, text and data you have actually used. The data is updated every day, so you know that you will always be getting a recommendation based on the very latest deals available.

Mobilife is one of the only mobile price recommendation sites approved by the communications watchdog, Ofcom, so you know that you can trust it with your login details and that the recommendations you get are completely impartial.

By Amit Patel

defeat is to develop a singular determination (very similar to becoming really angry at your protagonist), grit your teeth and work through the pain barrier until you win.

Imagine if after being beaten to a pulp, Rocky sits on his stool and says, ‘I may have lost, but boy I enjoyed that!’

So what was Dhoni thinking? Perhaps he realises that people perform best when they are enjoying themselves.

When we are winning we never feel fatigue, we never doubt our ability and we fear nothing. It’s not described as ‘feeling on top of the world’ for nothing. Sometimes, when everything is going against you and nothing seems to working for you, the best peace of advice is to tell people – ‘winning and losing comes and goes, in between just try and enjoy what you are doing’.

India set for record gold imports Notwithstanding skyrocketing gold prices, its imports are likely to cross the 1,000-tonne mark this year on robust investment demand, say analysts.

Since the US sovereign debt downgrade and the new threats emanating from Eurozone economies, gold has rallied 14% this month alone, as investors shunned stocks and flocked to the yellow metal as a safe haven.

The last time gold rose over 14% in a month was in 1999. In the domestic market, gold scaled a new high of over Rs 28,150 per 10 gm in futures market, while in global markets it hit a record $1,877 an ounce last Friday. In the domestic market, on that day gold rose as much as Rs 1,310, the highest ever single day gain, they said.

"With rising prices, investment demand is likely to grow, especially in the gold ETFs (exchange traded funds) and coins, in expectation of better returns," brokerage firm Maya Iron Ores Vice-Chairman Praveen Kumar said. The country's total gold ETFs investment has reached 15 tonne, which is expected to double in a year, Kumar said. However, the jewellery demand is likely to decline due to rise in recycled gold in the market, he said.

India, the largest consumer of the yellow metal, has imported 553 tonnes during the first six months of this year, WGC said.

FINANCIAL VOICE

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

21

Foreign Exchange Rajesh Agrawal is the Chairman & CEO of RationalFX, Currency Specialists.

For any further information call 020 7220 8181 or e-mail info@rationalfx.com

Is the UK the only Economy Showing signs of recovery?

The UK still seems to be struggling with the recent figures that have been released as growth for the economy seems to be slowing. The UK did have some good data out in the form of CPI MoM and YoY, RPI stayed at 5%, and Average Earnings came in better than expected. This along with Mervyn King stating that the elevated inflation reflects from the VAT hike, past energy and import rises, helped the Sterling gain ground against all the majors.

The negative news was In the form of Jobless Claims, which jumped at the highest level in 2 years, Retails sales came in worse than expected and hawks Martin Wheel and Spencer Dale, ditched the prospect of an interest rate hike cause the pound to tumble.

However despite the fall, Sterling managed to recover as more worries regarding the debt concerns in Euro and a potential double dip recession in the US spread into the markets.

Early last week, we saw European Industrial Production with despite coming in lower, had little impact in the markets.

There are still talks in the Market that the SNB (Swiss National Bank), may act again

to curb the recent strengths of the Swiss Franc. This was seen as being the catalyst for most of the Euro movement along with USD weakness. German GDP QoQ and YoY came out on Tuesday with worse than expected results, while EU GDP QoQ and YoY showed a worse performance than Q1. The slowdown economy growth of the both raises the fears not only for the EU economies but also for the global growth. Euro dropped on the back of the figure finding support in the afternoon due to dollar weakness. EU core CPI dropped from previous on Wednesday, which was good news for the recent economy growth concern. This data showed that pressures on the Euro are considerably relieved.

After the quiet Thursday, we had German PPI YoY and MoM, which came out better than previous and better than its expectation. This helped Euro boost to as high as 1.45 level for the weekend. Given the recent EU economy growth concern, it undoubtedly increased investors’ confidence in the regional area.

We began the week in the US with two pieces of negative data,

Weekly Currencies As of Tuesday 23rd August 2011 @ 3 pm GBP - INR = 75.25 USD - INR = 45.63

UK

y m o on

Ec

EUR - INR = 65.93 GBP - USD = 1.65 GBP - EUR = 1.14 EUR - USD = 1.45 GBP - AED = 6.06 GBP - CAD = 1.63 GBP - NZD = 1.98 GBP - AUD = 1.58

coming in the form of New York State manufacturing and TIC flows. This saw the greenback fall as risk appetite entered the market with equity markets gaining after its recent falls.

Industrial production did however see a slight rise which saw the greenback move higher against its major counterparts, which in fairness was the only bright light in a week of negative data. Midweek saw a mixer data firstly coming in the form of US CPI, where we saw an increase

of 0.3% to stand at 0.5%.

Following on from CPI was the Philly Fed which tracked US manufacturing, this saw a massive drop coming in at -30.7 from an expected 4.2%. Added with a rise in initial jobless claims and US investment bank... Morgan Stanley cutting its forecast for global growth from 4.5% to 3.8%, global stock markets plummeted with investors ploughing into the safe havens such as the US dollar and gold.

GBP - ZAR = 11.90 GBP - HUF = 311.18

www.rationalfx.com Information provided by RationalFX. None of the information on this page constitutes, nor should be construed as financial advice. The exchange rates used are the commercial foreign exchange rates provided by RationalFX. For a live quote or to find out more about how RationalFX can help you, call us on 0207 220 8181.

22

PakISTan-BagLadeSh-SrI Lanka

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Now, Pakistani following Anna’s footsteps IN focus Islamabad: Taking a cue from Anna Hazare, a 68year-old Pakistani businessman is set to go on hunger strike in Islamabad from Sep 12 to declare war on endemic corruption in his country.

Expressing his admiration for Hazare, Jehangeeer Akhtar complained that corruption was a far more serious disease in Pakistan.

Activist Akhtar wants the Pakistan parliament to pass an anti-corruption law - like what India is now planning.

'I demand that an anticorruption bill be presented in the National Assembly,' said Akhtar, who has closely followed the anti-corruption war in India.

He said the Pakistani bill should be on the lines of what gets passed in India's parliament.

'Corruption in Pakistan is more than in India... bahut zyada (much more),' Akhtar said

Jehangeeer Akhtar

in a telephonic interview from Islamabad where he runs a photography business.

It is not the first time Akhtar will be taking up cudgels for a cause.

'I once sat on a hunger strike for 22 days for the sake of traders in Islamabad,' he recalled. It was about tenants being forcibly vacated.

On another occasion, he went on hunger strike for eight days.

Stating that his family does not interfere in his decisions, Akhtar said he was 'very determined' to stage the hunger strike.

Apart from corruption, another issue he wants to highlight during his

hunger strike is Pakistan's soaring defence budget because of 'the mindset that the stability of Pakistan is endangered due to India'.

'A group of politicians propagate such mindset.

The politicians are answerable ... on which front are we in danger?'

Pakistan has hiked defence allocation to Rs.495 billion in a total budget of Rs.2,504 billion (around $30 billion) for 2011-12.

'Is it not true that we started the 1965 war and lost East Pakistan in 1971 due to our follies?,' he asked.

That's not all.

He also wants every district in Pakistan to be provided with infrastructure for education from primary to the intermediate levels with hostels.

Akhtar says he is for a stronger Lokpal Bill for India -- a demand being made by Hazare and his team.

Army not running Pakistan’s foreign policy: Hina Rabbani Khar Islamabad: Claiming that the army does not run Pakistan's foreign policy, foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar has said the military's intentions towards India have been "overrated" and there is a need to break away from this perception.

"We sometimes overrate the role of the military and overrate their intentions especially when it comes to India... Let's not be burdened by our history. Let's move forward. I think Pakistan has learnt its lessons," said 34-yearold Khar, the youngest and first woman foreign minister of the country.

Khar made the remarks during an interview with Newsweek magazine's

Sharif for fresh polls in Pakistan Islamabad: Pakistan's former premier Nawaz Sharif called for fresh parliamentary elections to be held immediately in Pakistan, saying this was the only option to solve the country's problems.

Sharif said the government has disappointed the people and a fresh mandate is necessary now.

This is the first time that Sharif has called for fresh polls, though other leaders of his PML-N party have often said that the country's problems, including corruption and the perceived inefficiency of the Pakistan People's Party-led government, can only be resolved through mid-term elections.

The two-time premier and PML-N president told Geo News channel that he had advised President Asif Ali Zardari four months ago to hold fresh elections.

Pakistan edition when she was asked about the role of the Pakistan Army and the ISI's historical ties with militant groups, especially those fighting in Jammu and Kashmir.

She contended that Pakistan's foreign policy was not dictated by the army, which was one of the institutions "taken on board" while making decisions on key issues.

"The army does not run our foreign policy," she said. "They (the army) are important stakeholders and not an outside force, so we should stop viewing them as such. After all the institutions are taken on board, a view emerges, and that is the government's view, which is Pakistan's view," she said.

Referring to her visit to New Delhi last month for talks with her Indian counterpart S M Krishna, Khar said: "The dialogue process with India should be uninterrupted and uninterruptible, and the environment we found there was exceptionally healthy. That to me was the biggest confidencebuilding measure."

'Indian public kah rahi hai tho hona chahiye (Indians are asking, so it should happen).'

He wants the Indian government to listen to the voice of Indians.

After seeing pictures of large numbers of Indians across the country rally in support of Hazare, Akhtar is convinced that the Gandhian has emerged as a hero.

According to him, there is widespread anger in Pakistan against corruption. A Transparency International Pakistan official said corruption was the root cause of poverty, illiteracy, terrorism, shortage of electricity, and poor governance in Pakistan.

Burney’s plans Meanwhile, Pakistani human rights and civil rights activist Ansar Burney has announced plans to kick off a massive Anna Hazare-style anticorruption campaign in Pakistan after Eid.

Attack on British Council in Kabul kills 10 Kabul: At least 10 people were killed from two suicide attacks on a British compound in Kabul and the ensuing gunbattle between insurgents and security troops last week. Interior Ministry spokesman Sediq Sediqqi says at least two policemen were also wounded in the attack, which came as Afghans mark Independence Day from Britain in 1919. Sediqqi says one suicide bomber first detonated a car laden with explosives outside the British Council in the western part of Kabul. A second bomber penetrated inside the complex and set off an explosives vest. The blasts set off a five-hour-long gunbattle between Afghan security forces and insurgents.

LeT continues to plot attacks against India: US Washington: Warning that LeT has the ability to “severely disrupt already delicate” regional relations, the US has said the Pakistan-based terror outfit responsible for the 2008 Mumbai attacks remained active in Kashmir and continued to target India along with groups like JeM and HuM. The US State Department, in its annual report on terrorism, voiced concern over continued presence of terrorist safe havens inside Pakistan.

“Despite international condemnation for its November 2008 attacks in Mumbai, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) continued to plan regional operations from within Pakistan. While the Government of Pakistan has banned LeT, the United States continued to urge further action against this group and its front organisations,” the State Department said.

“The potential for WMD trafficking and proliferation remained of concern in Pakistan due to the porous borders and the difficult security situation.

Export Control and Related Border Security Assistance (EXBS) has enabled Pakistani officials to gain expertise in properly classifying items of proliferation concern and learn about export licensing best practices,” it said.

The report also said that several outlawed Pakistan-based terror groups remained active in Kashmir and continued to target India and plan attacks on it. Prominent among these terror groups are Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaishe-Mohammed (JeM) and Harkat ul-Mujahideen (HuM), which are having hundreds of armed supporters in Kashmir.

LeT, designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation in 2001, is

one of the largest and most proficient of the traditionally Kashmir-focused militant groups. “It has the ability to severely disrupt already delicate regional relation,” the report said.

Fewer terror victims in India: US report India experienced lesser number of deaths due to extremism last year, but still it remains one of the most terrorism-afflicted nations in the world, a US report said. “The loss of nearly 1,900 lives (civilian, security forces, and terrorists) still made India one of the world's most terrorism-afflicted countries.

“Sustained violence in Kashmir over a six-month period and attempted infiltrations from Pakistan across the LoC remained serious concerns for the Indian government,” the annual State Department Country Report on Terrorism for 2010 stated.

40 killed in Pakistan mosque bombing

Islamabad: At least 40 people were killed and 85 wounded in a suicide attack on a mosque in northwest Pakistan, a government official said. Local administrator Fazal Khan says there’s some evidence it was a suicide attack. Some 300 people were at the mosque for prayers when the bomb exploded in Ghundi village of the Khyber region. No group claimed responsibility for the bombing, but the Taliban and other insurgents have attacked scores of targets in the area, which lies along the Afghan border.

Boy forgets to feed dog, beaten to death Islamabad: A Pakistani woman clubbed to death her 12-year-old servant for not serving a meal to her dog.

Sadia Asif, a resident of Val'ncia Town, beat Taqi Usman to death after he failed to serve food to her pet.

She had asked Usman to feed the dog before going to market a few days ago, an investigator said. She was arrested after Usman's relatives filed a complaint.

Strike grinds Karachi city to a halt Karachi: Pakistan's largest city ground to a halt on Tuesday, with most residents staying off the streets after a political party called a strike to protest the deaths of at least 96 people killed in Karachi in the past week. Businesses, schools and government offices were closed, while public buses and taxis stayed off the road.

The strike, called by the city's most powerful political party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, came as police found the bodies of 10 more people. Karachi, a teeming southern city of some 18 million people, has a long history of political, ethnic and sectarian violence, and much of the violence is blamed on gangs allegedly linked to the main political parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Terrorist tag for Haqqani kingpin Washington: The US last week slapped sanctions on Sangeen Zadran, a commander of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network and designated him as a foreign terrorist. The Haqqani Network, a Taliban-affiliated group of militants that operates from Pakistan's restive North Waziristan Agency in the federally administered tribal areas, has been at the forefront of insurgent activities in Afghanistan. US secretary of state Hillary Clinton designated Zadran, the shadow governor of Afghanistan's Paktika province and a commander of Haqqani network, a foreign terrorist and slapped sanctions on him.

Zardari seeks probe into attack on journalist Islamabad: Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari has sought an inquiry report on the attack on a journalist in Peshawar. Hazrat Khan, bureau chief of Pashtochannel AVT Khyber, was attacked by unknown assailants when he was returning from hospital on Monday after inquiring about the health of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister Sardar Hussain Babak who was hurt in an ambush. The assailants first manhandled and then threw stones and bricks at him Zardari condemned the attack and sought an inquiry report from the authorities concerned, reported Associated Press of Pakistan.

Sri Lanka introduces mumps vaccine Colombo: Sri Lanka Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry said the national immunization program and the immunization schedule will be changed from October 1. The Epidemiology Unit for the first time will include mumps vaccine in the immunization program and introduce the Measles, Mumps, Rubella Vaccine (MMRV) into the program. Earlier immunization against only measles and rubella was provided with the MR vaccine.

Dhaka to hand over Ulfa leader Chetia to India Dhaka: “The government wants to bring him back, the people of Assam also want it that way. So definitely, the prospects of the peace process have brightened.”

Gogoi was reacting to media reports quoting Bangladesh home minister Sahara Khatun as saying that the legal process has already been initiated to hand Chetia over to India. India is understood to have handed over a list of 50 Indians who are believed to be in hiding or in detention in Bangladesh.

Sri Lanka ruling party to file nominations for LG polls

Colombo: Sri Lanka's ruling party United People's freedom Alliance (UPFA) has made all necessary arrangements to hand in the nominations for upcoming elections of 23 local government bodies, party's General Secretary Minister Susil Premajayantha said. Minister Premajayantha has said that the inking of nominations commenced on Sunday and many of them have been completed already.Arrangements have been made to file the nominations at the respective places from Tuesday, he has said adding that signing of nominations for the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC) will also take place.

world

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Guruji's visit to my grandpa’s house

Global youth conference tackles world issues

ed simulations in the form of UN Security Council meeting, an international criminal court pre-trial, European parliament session and foreign embassy visits.

The UN Security Council enabled group members to debate and articulate their views against each other over growing concerns regarding energy security which has been at the forefront of world issues since the Fukushima disaster. The International Criminal Court simulation showcased the pre-trial of Muammar Gaddafi, where the accused stood trial for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

The skills of young legal thinkers came to the fore at the conference.

The American embassy set the stage for the long awaited panel discussion based on the topic of global challenges faced by

Vishal Ladwa (delegate and past president of NHSF, Manchester University) was selected to represent UK and to attend the 22nd International Youth Leadership Conference (IYLC) in Prague. The annual conference, tailored specifically for students, focused on the cross-cultural exchange of ideas, fostering international relationships among young people, with the aim of nurturing future world leaders to discuss and collaborate on world politics. It brings together a select group of young people from all over the world to learn and challenge ideas of justice, culture, international decorum and leadership. A group of 80 students came together for 5 days in the last week of July from over 32 countries to attend the conference.

The conference includ-

future leaders. Other countries included Israel, Egypt, Indonesia and Australia highlighting the diverse spectrum of political to economic challenges faced by countries. The most fascinating aspect was to hear a first-hand account from a young Egyptian woman of the revolutionary moments that unfolded during the Arab Spring.

Students Challenged and Tested Throughout the week, delegates were pushed out of their comfort zones to challenge and test themselves through the medium of simulations and workshops. This conference allowed delegates to experience the wealth of beauty that various cultures have to offer that will allow future leaders to approach world affairs through a responsible, ethical and caring manner, highlighting the Hindu notion of “the whole world is one family”.

The conference left a lasting impression on the delegates. They understood that while political bodies will be set up and broken down, legal systems will evolve, new rules will emerge; the only factor which will stay the same is people’s desire to make a positive social change.

– Vishal Ladwa

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Swami Shri Satyamitranandji

petals at his feet. Guruji sat down on a sofa which was decorated with a gold fabric. There was also a cushion under his feet made from the same fabric. My Nani asked him ‘’are you comfortable?’’ to which he replied ‘’yes’’, very calmly. I could see that my Nana and Nani were feeling very joyful and lucky to have such an opportunity.

The next steps involved some puja and washing of Guruji’s feet with milk and water, putting chandan (a yellow paste) on them, followed by Aarti. Everyone was given the chance to do the Aarti.

Last year I went through the ceremony of Janoi. This involved a sacred thread which I wear every day across my left shoulder and under my right arm. This is supposed to be changed every year. My Nani had kept a new Janoi ready for me and asked Guruji to put it on for me. Having the Janoi ceremony was very special to me, but this

made it feel even nicer.

When it was time for Guruji to leave, my Daddy was given the opportunity to take Guruji back to Lalitnana’s house in our car. I asked my Daddy afterwards if they chatted much along the way, but he said Guruji seemed rather tired. I learned that Guruji wakes up at 4am and goes to sleep at 9pm. I thought that was strange as I go to bed at the same time but I don’t wake up till 7am and I still feel tired!. My Nana told me that Guruji’s sleep is very sound because of all the meditation he does. This makes his mind very content and still.

I now could see that Guruji is truly very special and that being in his presence makes people feel spiritually elated and worry free. I could see the very positive impact his visit had on my Nana and Nani. Though I have heard some stories I would like to understand more about Guruji’s achievements on his journey to becoming this very important person.

When I learn what great things he has done, I think I will be inspired by them and would like to incorporate some of those values and deeds in to my own life. I think this would improve the effect I have on others around me and also the rest of the world.

– Ishan Datta

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I had heard stories of Guruji Swami Shri Satyamitranandji and his visits but I had not had the privilege of meeting him face to face. Apparently I had been blessed by him when I was just a few weeks old, but obviously I do not remember that. I knew he was very important and special to my Nana and Nani and today I was going to be able to meet him.

Well firstly I had to wake up early even though it was a Sunday (8 am), have a shower and be ready. At 10 am my Daddy, my little brother and I went to the caterers to pick up the food for all the guests and then on to my Nana’s house. When we arrived there I looked around and I was amazed to see so many people there, just to see Guruji Swami Shri Satyamitranandji.

I thought “he must be famous!” Later I found out he really was very famous.

We unloaded and set up the food, with lots of help from the guests. We stood firmly and excitedly waiting for the special person to arrive. Soon enough, Guruji arrived and when he got out of the car we all shouted a big cheer to welcome him. All the people started singing a mantra as he was walking into the house. He walked on a lovely clean mat, sprinkled with flower

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24

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

In divine light

Any quest ions writ e to m amta @thinkspalon

By Mamta Saha don.com

Psychologist

Control your mind and create your life Do not for one-second underestimate the power of your thoughts and the strength of your emotions for they create the world you live in today. Look at the world around you and ask yourself if you are satisfied and grateful for what you have? Deep down, however what you are feeling will be reflected in your life, outwardly, by giving you more of what you are focusing on. For example: if you exude lots of energy focusing on how dissatisfied you are with life - life becomes even more dissatisfying. Think about it. How many of you have – with your own eyes seen dissatisfying situations in your life go from bad to worse? The opposite is also true for events and situations that we are grateful and happy for. For example: when you have been genuinely

passionate and positive about something and have truly focused on this, what has resulted? I am sure if you look around you – you will notice the same patterns of highs and lows in other people’s life (relationships, work, health, daily struggles).

Napoleon Hill studied the greatest achievers and leaders in the world, he noticed that ‘Control of the mind, through the power of will, is not difficult. Control comes from persistence, and habit.

When any negative emotions presents itself in one’s mind, it can be transmuted into a positive, or constructive emotion, by the simple procedure of changing one’s thoughts.’

You maybe thinking this is easier said then done.

Hill also reminded us that there is no such thing as some-

thing for nothing and that, ‘there is no other road to genius than through voluntary self effort!’

Therefore, not only should you be feeling responsible, you should also be feeling liberated, empowered and Due to the success of the Impact Boot Camp I am running an event on September 17th in London. To register your interest email: mamta@thinkspalondon.c om. Keep up to date by ‘liking’ the Think Spa London page on Facebook and following us on Twitter. Lastly, if you feel coaching would benefit you or someone you know do get in touch with me.

Remember you have all it takes to live happily and peacefully – so think twice before you allow anything negative to get the better of you. I send you all peace and energy.

Better late than never; 81- year- old gets married in Gujarat AV Correspondent Age is not a problem for 81-year-old Bhramarlal Joshi to exchange marriage vows for the second time. If the match makers are to be believed this would make him perhaps, the oldest man in Gujarat to tie the knot.

It was a very happy moment for Ahmedabad - based Bhramarlal Joshi when he got married to 61-yearold Pramodini Paranjape in a special ceremony in Ahmedabad in the presence of his half-a-dozen grandchildren and grown-

up sons, daughter-in-laws and daughters.

Wearing an ornamental turban, Joshi went

through a traditional marriage ceremony and said, "In my mind I am 28 years old. People ask me why I got married at this age and I tell them without any

I study only when my parents bribe me! want a Student Lokpal.

At the time of Anna Lokpal movement in India (Courtesy: The Times of India)

hang-ups that I was missing the presence of a woman in my life. I asked my sons if I could remarry and they told me they had no problems."

Joshi’ s first wife died of an ailment at an age of 75. After her death, he realized he needed a companion.

So three months ago, he sent his CV to a marriage bureau.

Like many other seniors he also prepared himself to get married again and get a companion. And luckily he found someone who can fit the bill.

After talking to some eligible women Joshi finally settled down for 62year-old spinster who lives in Vadodara with her nephew and his wife and herself a retired teacher.

Joshi’s son and daughterin-law support his decision and they have submitted a no objection certificate at the marriage bureau to pledge their acceptance for the new relation.

Pramodini, who is a class X pass out, was single and had dedicated her life to raising her nephew Jayant who was orphaned at the age of two.

Pramodini, who met Joshi several times before deciding to tie the knot, too is looking forward to marital bliss. The couple will stay in the ground floor of the bungalow with their elder son living on the first floor.

They are planning a honeymoon in north India where they will first pay obeisance to Vaishno Devi.

By Rajen Vakil

The story of Rishyashringa The rishi Vibhandak was performing tapas near a waterfall. One day while bathing in the river he saw the beautiful celestial nymph Urvashi having a bath. This excited the rishi and he lost his semen in the water.

This was immediately drunk by a doe that had come to the river to drink water.

The female deer was actually a celestial being that lord Brahma had sent to the earth as a deer to give birth to a rishi’s son. She gave birth to a boy with an antler on his head and thus he was named Rishyashringa.

The deer left the child on the bank of the river and his father the rishi Vibhandak brought him up in his ashram. As a young child Rishyashringa engaged himself in deep tapas and acquired great yogic powers. As he had never seen any other human except his father he remained a celibate.

The king of the kingdom of Anga was Lomapada. This king did not fulfil a promise he had given to help some Brahmins. The Brahmins then refused to take part in the

king’s yagnas.

Lomapada then put some allegations on the leaders of the Brahmins. All this displeased Lord Indra who refused to send rain to Lomapada’s kingdom.

When it had not rained for three years a terrible famine struck the kingdom. The king called a group of learned Brahmins to get counsel on the remedy. One of the senior Brahmins suggested that if the great rishi Rishyashringa was brought to his kingdom then Indra would be compelled to send rain.

The king called some of his clever ministers and asked them to devise a plan to bring Rishyashringa to his kingdom. One of the ministers told the king to call a group of cour-

tesans who were very well versed in their art and give them the task of enticing Rishyashringa and bringing him to their kingdom. As the young rishi did not k now what a woman was; it would be very easy to seduce and hypnotise him. The courtesans were summoned and given the brief. All the courtesans started trembling in fear. On the one side was the king’s command and on the other the possibility of a powerful celibate rishi cursing them. So the courtesans told the king that it would not be possible to carry out his orders.

Then one old courtesan said she would work her charms on the rishi but the king had to first fulfil all that she needed to do her job.

All past articles on the Mahabharata can be accessed from http://epaper.asianvoice.com or from http://www.3stepbreath.com/mahabharata.html

By Premen Addy

Sagar Pare Sathe Shother (Across the Seas: People and Experiences) by Sanchita 'Sagar Pare' is best likened to a string of pearls.

Sanchita, a Dhaka-based journalist from Bangladesh, writes of her experiences of England (mostly in the environs of London) in limpid Bangla. This being her first visit to the UK (and the West), she casts a roving eye on the capital's landmarks, not simply as a tourist but as insightful traveller keen to take in and relish the cultural gifts Britain has offered the world down the centuries - which includes her native Bengal, the overarching entity encompassing Bangladesh and Indian West Bengal, divided by a political border, yet tenaciously united in their devotion to a common tongue and a richly endowed cultural heritage that transcends faith and ethnicity.

If we take the early 19th century as the begin-

ning of a modern Bengali sensibility, its literary and intellectual life was fertilized by English influences, these being Bengal's (and the Subcontinent's) window to the wider West.

Sanchita is deeply conscious of this English presence, hence her visits to the British Museum, Trafalgar Square, St Paul's Cathedral, the Courts of Law, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Science Museum, the Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Hampton Court and the rest. The author paid silent homage to the memory of Emmeline Pankhurst, whose statue stands outside Parliament.

Mrs Pankhurst's suffragette movement defined British womanhood and inspired (and inspires) women in every clime and corner of our globe.

Charles Dickens,

Thomas Carlyle and Samuel Johnson receive respectful mention in a roll call of honour which takes in other personalities as well. These vignettes are interleaved with encounters with notable members of the Bangladeshi diaspora such as the journalist Ameer Ali and the late Kolkata-born Hiranmoy Bhattacharjee et al.

Sanchita records her gratitude to those who extended their hospitality to her with board and lodging and others who gave freely of their time to enable her to take in the sights.

Conversations include reflections on the past and present in her homeland and kindred places, all exquisitely etched: dialogues of sensitive souls engaged with the future of the human race as citizens of the world.

This is a delightful read.

INDIA

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

25

26 MLAs loyal to Jagan Modi is BJP's hot favourite for PM post would shrink in the light of labour is holding and is Despite the controversies submit resignations of Modi's Gujarat riots not likely to be revised shadowing him, Gujarat

Twenty six MLAs - 24 of the Congress and two from the Telugu Desam - loyal to YSR Congress Party president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy submitted their letters of resignation here.

Three more Congress MLAs, Konda Surekha, Jayasudha Kapoor and Kunja Satyavathi, who had submitted their resignations in support of separate Telangana earlier, expressed solidarity with them. They did submit letters afresh as they had approached the court against the Speaker’s decision to reject them, they said.

The MLAs came in a procession from the party office, paid tributes to the statues of YSR and Ambedkar enroute before proceeding together to the Assembly in a bus. They tendered their resignations in the prescribed format to Legislature Secretary S. Raja Sadaram as Speaker Nadendla Manohar was not present.

Speaking to reporters,

former Minister P. Subash Chandra Bose said the resignations were tendered in protest against attempts to malign the image of former Chief Minister late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy who brought the Congress party in Andhra Pradesh to power twice. The late leader instilled confidence among the people through his 1,470-km padayatra and continued it with a series of welfare programmes covering all sections.

The Congress leaders, however, launched a vilification campaign after his untimely death and conspiracy was hatched to erase his memories from public life. The ruling party explored legal options and used the CBI to project YSR as the main accused.

“We cannot continue any longer in the face of these attempts to denigrate the late leader in spite of his contributions to the party and people,” Mr. Bose said.

Rajya Sabha passes motion to remove Justice Sen The Rajya Sabha created history when the House passed a motion to remove a judge. The House passed the motion to remove Justice Soumitra Sen, a judge of the Calcutta High Court, who is accused of fund misappropriation when he was a lawyer.

The motion to remove Justice Sen, moved by CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury was passed with 189 MPs voting in favour and 17 against it.

The motion will now move to the Lok Sabha and the same process will be repeated on August 26 and 27. If the motion is also adopted in the Lok Sabha, a recommendation will be sent to President Pratibha Patil that the judge be removed.

Earlier Arun Jaitley led

the BJP charge in the Rajya Sabha, against Justice Sen and called it a 'fit case of misconduct' by a judge.

Jaitley called for a national judicial commission to be set up to check errant judges, and objective criterion be followed for selecting judges.

While defending himself, Justice Sen had argued that he hadn't misappropriated funds as a court receiver and even gave details of cheques that he had used to return the money.

Sen had got 90 minutes to defend himself against charges of misappropriating funds by claiming he had been victimised. Sen repeatedly blamed former Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan for his predicament.

chief minister Narendra Modi is seen as the tallest of BJP's 'gennext' leaders and a strong showing by BJP in the next Lok Sabha election can make him a formidable contender for Prime Minister.

The BJP pecking order is unclear with an RSSimposed arrangement that places party president Nitin Gadkari, the two leaders of opposition Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj and a couple of other senior leaders on roughly equal footing. But the party sees Modi as an inhouse favourite.

Although the division

before the next election, Modi's appeal within the party and the larger parivar is seen to be undeniable. He has the support of the cadre and is seen as a polarizing but charismatic campaigner capable of bringing BJP's core vote to the polling booths.

"The choice or options on Prime Minister depend on the numbers BJP gets.

If the party crosses the 180 mark in Lok Sabha, Modi can be seen as a natural choice. It depends on BJP clearly being in a position to lead a coalition," said well-placed party sources.

There can be no decision

Narendra Modi

on Modi ahead of elections as such a move will immediate lead to the exit of partners like Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and even allies like Shiromani Akali Dal could have second thoughts. Rather than the National Democratic Alliance expanding, it

Jaya converts new assembly building into hospital Shattering the dream project of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, the Tamil Nadu government last week decided to convert the new assembly-cum-secretariat complex into a multi-superspeciality hospital and a new medical college.

Making a suo-motu statement in the Assembly, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said the government will utilise a section of the complex for setting up the hospital on the pattern of prestigious All India Institute of Medical Sciences(AIIMS) at Delhi, to provide medicare services to the people, particularly the poor.

The hospital will be established in Block A of the complex, Jayalalithaa said announcing a dramatic overturning of a major project of the previous DMK government, which was considered as being close to Mr. Karunanidhi’s heart.

The Chief Minister said that a new govern-

Jayalalithaa

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Ms. Jayalalithaa, who had criticised the project as a “wasteful expenditure” and described the structure as a “circus tent”, for lack of aesthetic appeal, had announced a probe into the

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baggage.

BJP leaders concede Modi's candidature will face hurdles even if the party does well electorally on counts like the need for a unifying leader rather than one who can embroil the NDA into relentless firefighting. Domestic and international ramifications of such a choice would need careful thought. With BJP gaining over Congress for the first time in years, the mood in the main opposition is upbeat.

Having failed to make an impact despite terrorism and price rise, BJP sees a chance to forge ahead.

Ganesh festival to have 280 girl purohits

alleged irregularities in the construction.

The Chief Minister continued to function from Fort St George, which was the seat of power before the new complex came up, asserting that her move was not prompted by political consideration but determined by administrative reasons.

The new assembly complex was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on March 13, last year, much before the construction of the building was fully completed.

The 10-day Ganesh festival will, for the first time, have 280 girls from Stds VIII and IX serving as purohits. The girls, along with 70 boys, are being groomed in performing puja to install the idol of Lord Ganesha in homes across Mumbai Central.

The 350 children from Abhyudaya Nagar, Kalachowkie, for the past month have been practising the mantras and rituals for the big day. The idea was the brainchild of Naresh Dahibawkar, the president of the Brihanmumbai Ganesh Utsav Samanvay Samiti (BGUSS).

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Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Indo-Pak parliamentarians call for liberal visa regime

A multi-party parliamentary delegation from Pakistan interacted with their Indian counterparts during the second round of the Indo-Pak Parliamentarians' Dialogue, where both sides reviewed the relations between the two neighbours and stressed on the need for a liberal visa regime.

The Pakistan delegation, which left for India on August 17, was co-led by Senate Deputy Chairman Senator Jan

Muhammad Khan Jamali and National Assembly Deputy Speaker and MNA Faisal Karim Kundi.

People to people contacts were recognised as the single most important confidence building measure. Both sides agreed that easing travel restrictions is of the utmost importance, and recommended visa regimes to be implemented keeping in perspective those extended to friendly countries.

Other issues that were

also deliberated upon during the first day of the dialogue, included terrorism, Jammu and Kashmir, water, the role of media, removal of the trust deficit and developing a future mechanism to carry forward the parliamentary dialogue process, the Daily Times reports.

According to a joint statement, both sides were in complete agreement that it is in the joint and respective interest of India and Pakistan that peace, security and stabil-

ity be established between the two countries. The parliamentarians said it is of the highest importance that the progress made so far by the resumption of Indo-Pak bilateral talks be "consolidated by urgently addressing, through the dialogue, all outstanding issues including Jammu and Kashmir, Siachen and Sir Creek, as also the challenge of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations including the follow-up of 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks."

The Narendra Modi government appointed a commission headed by retired Supreme Court judge M B Shah to probe allegations of corruption against the state government over the last few years.

The commission will probe the 17 allegations, barring two which are subjudice, which the Congress levelled against the Modi government in a memorandum submitted recently to President Pratibha Patil.

The announcement came at a time when the state government is being criticized for not appointing a Lokayukta for the

last six years, and there is support for Hazare’s anticorruption crusade across the country.

G o v e r n m e n t spokesperson Jay Narayan Vyas said the decision was in keeping with “importance of transparency in public life”. The commission is expected to submit its report by March 31, 2012. The scope of the inquiry will also cover role of state governments in giving relaxations to industrial houses post1980. These were years of the Congress rule in Gujarat.

The probe will also

cover if concessions were given to the Nano project in Sanand, if land was given at concessional rate to the Adani group at Mundra, if Essar group was handed over forest land in Hazira, if a company owned by BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu has been given land at a negligible rate near the Pakistani border, and so on.

It includes the Sujalam Sufalam scam, whose inquiry report the government has kept under wraps for the last six months. The panel will study and compare with other states the land allo-

cation, analyse sales tax/ commercial taxes, stamp duty and all tax concessions and deferment of taxes.

Vyas blamed the Congress’s negative attitude for the non-appointment of Lokayukta and said the opposition leader refused to co-operate with the CM over the appointment.

Aretired judge of the SC and former chief justice of Bombay high court, Justice Shah is also vicechairman of the Special Investigations Team (SIT) constituted to monitor the probe into black money stashed abroad.

Modi appoints panel to probe graft charges

Visa misery leads to curry crisis Continued from page 1 In Tuesday's Daily Telegraph it has been reported that Curry entrepreneurs have confirmed that tough new immigration laws on non-EU workers mean they can’t hire the skilled workers from South Asia they rely on. A number of jobs sit vacant in the industry – which is worth an estimated ￡3.5bn – with too few skilled workers available in Europe and willing apprentices hard to come by. The Home Office currently requires that all Indian immigrants working as chefs must be able to speak English, be educated to NVQ level four with five years’ experience at a postgraduate level, and be paid a minimum

salary of ￡28,260.

The closure of Tier 1 to general applicants has been the nail on the coffin.

Sanjay Anand of Madhu's says that many of the best chefs don’t have any formal education. “Some of the very skilled people don’t even speak English.

Are we saying we can’t bring in top skills?”

He also complains that some of the details in the new rules are “beyond a joke”. “Any restaurant that does takeaways isn’t eligible for getting chefs in from outside. Tell me a restaurant that doesn’t do takeaways, unless they’re in Mayfair or Park Lane?

So only 20 or 30 restaurants out of 8,000 are eligible? Whoever made that decision needs to put himself in our shoes.”

“I won’t even bother making an application for the next chef we need.

This will stop growth in my business. I won’t open a restaurant in central London and I won’t encourage my son to go into more work and worry about how we service it,” he says.

The company is considering establishing a training and apprenticeship programme that will see his existing skilled chefs train willing workers in the skills he demands, but this will be done “at the cost of something else” and Anand is also concerned he won’t be able to find willing trainees.

Smaller restaurants who can’t afford their own training schemes, meanwhile, will simply go out of

business, he fears. His preference would be to lobby the Government for special dispensation, but he suspects part of the problem is that the industry lacks representation.

Perhaps it will fall to Anand to organise a rallying call. “It’s a huge industry and we need a voice.”

Kapil Singh who runs a small restaurant in a London suburb says, "This whole system of not letting skilled chefs to come from abroad is a very silly method. Why can't the government have a separate rule for those willing restaurants to get chefs on a special work permit? Expecting smaller restaurants like us sponsor and then have a disappointing result- is a complete disaster."

Anna Hazare sticks to Aug 30 deadline for Jan Lokpal Bill Continued from page 1 Let the government mandate somebody officially.

We are waiting for a political dialogue. Today there is need for a political dialogue. It is not a technical issue. It is not a bureaucratic issue. It is a political problem," Anna's close aide, Arvind Kejriwal said.

"There has to be a political solution rather than saying go and make your case to the Standing Committee. That is not the way," he said.

He said officially they have not got any proposal

from the government.

Asked about various proposals being talked about, Kejriwal said, "There are two options. The government can withdraw its bill and introduce the Jan Lokpal Bill or the government can bring amendments to the existing bill.

The government should make a list on the points it agrees or disagrees on".

However, Kejriwal said Anna has not insisted that he will talk only with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi.

Team Anna is maintaining that no formal talks have begun even as close aides of spiritual leader Bhayyuji Maharaj handed over a fresh 11point proposal to Hazare late in the night. However, they could not meet the Gandhian as he was sleeping.

Kejriwal said government should look into the 22 points on which there are disagreements and say which ones are acceptable.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called an allparty meeting on

Wednesday to seek an end to nationwide protests by Anna whose health is a growing concern. Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee has been appointed as government mediator with Team Anna.

Anna supporters on Tuesday held a protest outside the private residence of Manmohan Singh in Chandigarh. Another set of protesters laid siege near the residence of union parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Bansal, who is also the Chandigarh MP.

In focus Sonia to returns from US this week

UPA chief Sonia Gandhi is expected to return to Delhi on August 30, Congress sources said. She has been in the US, where her party said she was recovering from surgery. The Congress said it would not confirm the nature of her medical problem. Different media reports said Mrs Gandhi was at the Sloane-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York, though this was not confirmed by Congress spokespersons. Mrs Gandhi's return, her party says, has not been hastened by the crisis that has engulfed the government over Anna Hazare's hunger strike.

10 passengers burnt alive in bus At least 10 passengers were burnt alive and 22 others injured when the bus in which they were travelling in was torched during a clash between two transporters in Badwani district of Madhya Pradesh on Sunday, police said. Police said that the bus, belonging to Ashok Travels, was set on fire at Sedhav Balmukund area, over 300 km from state capital Bhopal. “There was a fight among two bus operators and one operator's people torched Ashok Travels' bus in which at least 10 people were killed,” police added.

40 pilgrims die in mishap A flatbed trailer carrying pilgrims to a Hindu temple overturned and fell into a roadside pond in northern India, killing at least 40 people Monday, police said. At least 12 people were injured in the accident in Ballia district in Uttar Pradesh state, police official Brij Lal said.

The pilgrims were riding on the flatbed trailer pulled by a farm tractor on their way to a temple to mark the Hindu festival of Janashtami, the traditional anniversary of Lord Krishna's birth, Lal said. The vehicle was carrying more than 60 passengers, most of them women and children, he said. Most of the victims drowned.

West Bengal to be renamed Paschim Banga The West Bengal government and the opposition parties unanimously decided to rename the state Paschim Banga, state Industries Minister Partha Chatterjee announced. "It has been unanimously decided by all the parties under the leadership of our Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee that from now onwards West Bengal will be called Paschim Banga. From now onwards, in English also, the name of our state will be written as Paschim Banga," Chatterjee said while addressing a media conference here.

More Congress ministers join Mamata Govt Five Congress MLAs were sworn-in as Ministers of State in Mamata Banerjee's government on Friday, taking the strength of the government to 43, one short of the sanctioned strength of 44. The five, sworn-in by Governor M K Narayanan, were Pramathanath Roy, Manoj Chakraborti, Abu Naser Khan Chowdhury, Sunil Chandra Tirkey and Sabina Yasmin. The Congress already has two Cabinet ministers - Manas Bhunia and Abu Hena.

Kerala CM, ministers at IIM to learn management mantra It was back to the classroom for Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and his 19 cabinet colleagues as they gathered at the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)Kozhikode to learn the nuances of management and explore how to enhance the state's potential in various areas. 'Our state has a lot of strengths and also weaknesses. Only after we recognise these can we act accordingly,' Chandy told students during an interaction ahead of the 'lesson'. Chandy and his cabinet colleagues arrived in the classroom before 9 a.m. He even instructed his ministers to switch off their mobiles.

Chiranjeevi formally joins Congress Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi, who had merged his Praja Rajyam Party with the Congress sometime back, formally joined the party and hailed Rahul Gandhi as the country's 'ray of hope' and future prime minister. Chiranjeevi, who led the PRP in Andhra Pradesh, filled up a form seeking primary membership of the Congress at a function at the AICC headquarters in the presence of Rahul Gandhi and senior leaders. "I will remain in the Congress for the rest of my life. I will be a loyal worker," the actor said.

4 top Hizbul militants surrender in J&K Four top militants of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, including a self divisional commander, surrendered before police in Kulgam district of south Kashmir last week.

"Police achieved a major success by forcing the surrender of longest surviving and only active militant group of Hizbul Mujahideen Pir Panchal Regiment (HMPPR) in the state at Kulgam," a police spokesman said. He said the surrender of the militants came after joint operations conducted by police, army and CRPF in Kulgam and Reasi districts on either side of Pir Panjal Mountain Range. The surrendered militants have been identified as Mohammad Rafiq Sheikh alias Basharat, Bashir Ahmad alias Rashid, Mohammad Maqbool alias Majid and Mohammad Shafi alias Haroon Rashid.

festival

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

27

Ganesh Chaturthi: one of the most popular festivals of India Ganesh Chaturthi or Vinayak Chathurthi, which falls on 1st of September this year, is celebrated by Hindus around the world as the birthday of Lord Ganesha. It is observed during the Hindu month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September).

The grandest and most elaborate of them is celebrated in Maharashtra, lasts for 10 days, ending on the day of 'Ananta Chaturdashi'.

People bring home murtis of Lord Ganesha and worship him in a special way for a day and a half, 5 days, 7 days or 11 days depending on the family tradition and commitment of each individual. On the last day of worship the idol is taken out in a colourful procession to be immersed in water.

This is one of the most popular festivals of India. There are several reasons for this. Lord Ganesha is a popular God. His blessings are invoked at most religious ceremonies as He is the one who can remove all obstacles to success. He is the giver of fortune and can help to avoid natural calamities.

The Grand Celebration On the day of the festival, idol of Ganesh is placed on raised platforms in homes or in elaborately decorated outdoor tents for people to view and pay their homage. The priest then invokes life into the idol amidst the chanting of mantras.

This ritual is called 'pranapratishhtha'. After this, the 'shhodashopachara' (16 ways of paying tribute)

follows. Coconut, jaggery, 21 'modakas' (rice flour preparation), 21 'durva' (trefoil) blades and red flowers are offered. The idol is anointed with red unguent or sandal paste (rakta chandan).

Throughout the ceremony, Vedic hymns from the Rig Veda and Ganapati Atharva Shirsha Upanishad, and Ganesha stotra from the N a r a d a Purana are chanted.

For 10 days, from Bhadrapad Shudh Chaturthi to the Ananta Chaturdashi, Ganesha is worshipped. On the 11th day, the image is taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing, singing, to be immersed in a river or the sea symbolizing a ritual seeoff of the Lord in his journey towards his

abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of all men.

All join in this final procession shouting "Ganapathi B a p p a M o r y a , Purchya Varshi Laukariya" (O father Ganesha, come again early next year). After the final offering of coconuts, flowers and camphor is made, people carry the idol to the river to immerse it.

Thousands of processions converge on the beaches to immerse the holy idols in the sea. This procession and immersion is accompanied by drum- beats, devotional songs and dancing. It is forbidden to look at the moon on that day as the moon had laughed at Ganesha when he fell from his vehicle, the rat. With the

immersion of the idol amidst the chanting of "Ganesh Maharaj Ki Jai!," the festival ends with pleas to Ganesha to return the next year with chants of "Ganpati bappa morya, pudcha varshi laukar ya" (Hail Lord Ganesh, return again soon next year.)

Ganesha is the god of wisdom and prosperity and is invoked before the beginning of any auspicious work by the Hindus. It is believed that for the fulfillment of one's desires, his blessing is absolutely necessary. According to the mythology, he is the son of Shiva and Parvati, brother of Kartikeya - the general of the gods, Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth and Saraswati-the goddess of learning. There are numerous stories in Hindu mythology, associated with the birth of this elephant-headed god, whose vehicle is the Mooshak or rat and who loves Modaks (droplet shaped Indian sweet).

Legend has it that Parvati created Ganesha out of the sandalwood dough that she used for her bath and breathed life into him. Letting him stand guard at the door she went to have her bath. When her husband, Shiva returned, the child who had never seen him stopped him.

Shiva severed the head of the child and entered his house. Parvati, learning that her son was dead, was distraught and asked Shiva to revive him. Shiva cut off the head of an elephant and fixed it on the body of Ganesha.

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CommuniTy / TRAVEL

asian voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Purvi’s travel bag

By Purvi Apurva Shah

Eid – a festival of love, peace and brotherhood

Eid-Ul-Fitr, commonly known as Eid, is the most important festival of Muslims. Muslims all over the world celebrate this occasion with great devotion and joviality. It denotes the end of 'Ramadan', the month of fasting and beginning of the new month called 'Shawwal'. On this festive occasion, devotees break their fast with special prayers and merriment.

Special foods and delicacies are prepared and distributed to neighbours and friends. The festival of Eid is devoted to the spirit of love, sharing, peace and brotherhood.

This year Eid will be celebrated on August 31st, 2011 (depending on new moon). It is a ‘festival of breaking the fast' and celebrating the first day after sighting the moon of 'Shawaal' (tenth month of Islamic calendar).

Fasting during the day During the month, Muslims observe daylong fast and offer special prayers to almighty.

During the fast they don’t even drink water. They eat only at night.

Pious men spend the day in prayer and reading their holy book 'Quran'.

Some spend the 21st and 22nd days of this month

mourning in memory of Ali, the Prophet's son-inlaw, who died in the cause of their religion. It was during this month that the holy Quran was revealed.

Eid means recurring happiness or festivity.

Speciality: The most common food item is Sevyani, also called kheer made of vermicelli cooked in sweetened milk. One with milk and dates, called "Shir Khurma" is also a speciality. Badam Phirni is another sweet dish which is a creamy milk desert.

Sufi Malpua is a sweet dish made from milk, maida (flour) and sooji (rava). Haleem is a starter dish that is very popular amongst the Muslim community of North India, Pakistan and Persia.

Mutton Korma, which is a rich and spicy meat curry or Nawabi Biryani is also served.

Legend: Muslims say their holy book came down from heaven to the

earth one night during the last ten days of this month. When it came, the whole of creation praised Allah or God. It is also believed that Prophet Muhammad announced a day for celebrations to reaffirm the feeling of brotherhood.

The Festivity: In the morning everyone visit the mosque for Eid prayers. Men wear white clothes because white symbolises purity and austerity. After the prayer they exchange greetings.

Prayers, family gettogethers and feasts are the major highlights of the celebrations. The family elders, conveying their blessings give 'Idi' or presents of money to the youngsters.

They believe that those who do not give alms on this day will not go to heaven after death.

After offering alms, they go to the house of the 'Qazi' or the chief priest to request him to conduct the prayers. Then they all go together in procession to the chosen spot, and offer their prayers. After the congregational prayer, the Qazi speaks on religion, and finally prays to God to forgive them of their sins and bless them with health, wealth and prosperity.

Kashmir: The Heaven on Earth

Kashmir, the Venice of Asia, is known as the paradise on earth. The snow covered valleys and the blossoming flowers would make you feel as if heaven has a close resemblance to this beautiful corner of the earth. The beauty of Kashmir lures tourists

Pahalgam and other places around. There simply is no better way to experience Kashmir than by staying on an authentic houseboat in Srinagar. A float in Dal Lake while living in a houseboat is an amazing experience.

Fidous are the largest

from every nook and corner of the world. This region has many attractive destinations like Srinagar, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Leh, Zanskar, Kargil, Patnitop, etc. One has to spare at least one day in each destination as they will take 2-3 hours from Srinagar.

Who says snow sports cannot be enjoyed in India? Kashmir winter is full of winter sports. Even for those who just want to enjoy a bit of cold and snow and lot of flowers, early March and late November are must visit months.

It’s just an hour and 15 min flight from Delhi to Srinagar and takes approx 14 hours by road. (873 km).

While travelling one can come across some interesting signboards on the road such as “Be gentle on my curves,” “If you

house boats, they are very upscale and lush. They are considered floating palaces while Khushal houseboats are like 3-star hotel. Nishat are the most intimate of the house-

are married, divorce speed” and “Mountains are a pleasure if you drive with leisure.”

Kashmir on boat First go to Srinagar and later from there, you can visit Gulmarg,

are almost 1,200 houseboats. The interiors are typically Persian with intricate craftsmanship. The furniture was heavy and ornate, upholstery rich.

With woven Kashmiri carpets lined the floor lending

boats, popular for honeymooners. Years ago, the British redesigned the boats to suit their requirements, marking the beginning of the houseboat industry. Right now, there

Asian Voice and Gujarat Samachar are renowned for organising community events and seminars. Please note our forthcoming events till September 2011.

Date 28th August 2011

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it a royal look.

Shikara, the real feel of Kashmir Shikara is worth going for, when you can pamper yourself lying comfortably in the boat that is floating in beautiful waters. You will touch the glowing rays of the sun and see the beautiful landscape with Kashmiri culture buzzing around. You will see how the Dal Lake residents have lived since many centuries ago: growing vegetables on the plots of land on the lake, running errands on boats, going to school by boats, buying and selling from boats, even a tiny boy can easily do boating, that is the way of their routine transportation.

Few things must: • Sip the popular Kawa-Kashmiri green tea with cinnamon • Window shop at a floating market on Dal lake- bargain heavily!

• Buy dry fruits and kesar from Noor Mohammed (en route to

Srinagar from Pehelgam) • Buy Kashmiri willow cricket bats for yourself or the cricket fans back home • Dress up in traditional Kashmiri attire and get a picture clicked • Visit the Mughal Gardens and identify scenes from Bollywood movies shot there • Drink cold, fresh water from the spring at Chashma Shahi and find yourself burping later on • Indulge yourself with Rajma Chawal with ghee at a local dhaba • Visit Hazratbal Shrine wearing a burkha- it is compulsory.

• Go through threefour layers of security checks at the Srinagar Airport while departing The most memorable building in Srinagar is a wooden mosque decorated, inside and outside, with papier-mache.

HealtH Watch

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

29

Ginger can help reduce side-effects of chemotherapy Doctors at All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, are now working on a herbal way to help cancer patients cope with the side-effects of chemotherapy.

Oncologists at the hospital have been experimenting with ginger root powder in order to reduce the severity of the chemotherapy induced nausea vomiting (CINV).

Nausea and vomiting are the major side effects that a cancer patient encounters after chemotherapy treatment.

“The severity of chemotherapy induced nausea vomiting was reduced by ginger, our experiments showed. After

the success of the study, we can say that there is a need to have ginger root powder available as capsules in varied dosages in order to use it as an add-on therapy in patients receiving chemotherapy with high vomiting potential,” said an AIIMS doctor.

He said that dosages were administered according to the weight of the person. While those who weighed between 20 kg to 40 kg were given 167 mg of ginger root powder capsules, those in the weight category of 40 kg to 60 kg were given 400 mg. Six capsules were given at different time intervals after start of chemotherpy infusion.

“Even though ginger root powder was effective in reducing the severity of acute and delayed CINV, it did not eliminate them completely. The capsules were well tolerated by the children and young adults in our study and there was no side effect,” he said.

Run a mile to predict heart attack, stroke risk Researchers have found that a simple fitness test can predict long-term risk for heart attack, stroke in middle-aged people.

In two separate studies, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers found that how fast a middle-age person can run a mile can help predict the risk of dying of heart attack or stroke decades later for men and could be an early indicator of cardiovascular disease for women.

“Heart disease tends to cluster at older ages, but if you want to prevent it, our research suggests that the prescription for prevention needs to occur earlier – when a person is in his 40s and 50s,” said Dr. Jarett Berry, assistant professor of internal medicine and a corresponding author on both studies.

Researchers in this study found that a higher fitness level lowered the lifetime risk of heart dis-

ease even in people with other risk factors.

The researchers also found that the same treadmill test predicts how likely a person is to die of heart disease or stroke more accurately than assessing the risk using only typical prediction tools such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

“Nearly all women under 50 years of age are at low risk for heart disease,” said Berry.

“However, as women get older, their risk increases dramatically. In our study, we found that low levels of fitness were particularly helpful in identifying women at risk for heart disease over the long term,” added Berry.

Relieve Daily Muscular Pain Naturally

The indication of pain is the body’s way of telling us that there is something wrong and needs ‘fixing’.

Injury or infection may lead to inflammation and become chronic due to factors like poor diet, stress, lack of exercise, and exposure to the environment.

The uses of herbal extracts and oils have traditionally been used in Ayurvedic preparations for treating the underlying causes of pain and modern research and studies have documented the therapeutic effects to ease pain caused by muscle tension, neuropathy, migraine, and inflammation. Some common herbs like ginger and turmeric are known for anti-inflammatory properties; where-

as rosemary, pine, and valerian for headaches and muscle spasms; other herbs have anti-viral, antibacterial or pain inhibitors to treat almost any type of pain.

Topical pain solutions penetrate through skin and deep into the muscles and tissues of the body.

The effects of some combinations increase blood and lymph flow through vasodilatation where as other components have anti-inflammatory, pain inhibitory, muscle relaxant and detoxification effects.

Some micro-molecules soothe, calm and relax by interacting with the nervous system.

Treating the cause of pain with natural products allows the body to repair itself for a long-term

effect, without disrupting normal body functions.

Although there are many products on the market, almost all of them do not comply with toxicology testing or with the high UK manufacturing standards. It is wise to avoid these types of products.

However, there are companies like Veda Aid that combine traditional knowledge with modern research to discover new formulations based on natural micro-molecules.

Veda Aid manufacture in the UK to GMP style pharmaceutical processes producing solutions for the relief of 'Daily Muscular Aches and Pain’.

For additional information contact Veda Aid Ltd on 020 8977 3737 or visit www.veda-aid.com

By Radhika Madlani

Rotten Rioters

Many parents refer to their children as little ‘riots’ when they go through their naughty phases in childhood but no parent would ever imagine raising a child that grabs the opportunity to loot businesses, attack strangers and steal their property to ‘make a stand’.

Recent press coverage of the events in London and elsewhere has been shocking and heartwrenching. As a parent, what I found the most depressing is that many of the ‘rioters’ were young children, teenagers and of course some older ‘opportunists’ who joined in to the mayhem on our streets. Of course, a lot of the rioters were from areas of unemployment and underprivileged upbringing but does that excuse their behavior?

Where were the parents of those causing such mayhem in their local communities?

Where was the ‘moral scale’ amongst those that took advantage of shop floors open to theft? I saw a photo in the local press of a few ‘hoodies’ gathered around their ‘loot’, their face full of pride. Where is the selfconsciousness of right and wrong in these

teenagers?

I am not sure if you noticed but these ‘underprivileged’ and ‘unemployed’ youth still had enough money to be dressed in Nike trainers and designer hoodies. Of course, electronics shops and designer clothes shops were reason enough to be broken into but of course the bookshops remain untouched.

Oh yes, the rioters of today only make their ‘point’ by looting shops that they can benefit from.

After all, who needs books?

I followed the trail of some of the teenagers arrested post all the mayhem only to be released on ‘caution’ due to their age and/or severity of the crime. What lesson does this teach these children?

When they are old enough to commit a crime, they should be old enough to take the punishment. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t wish to see a young adult go to prison but at the very least, I would have expected them to do some community service to clear up the graffiti in their local areas or clear up after the mess of their so called friends.

I know some have

mocked the events of the past few weeks. One young adult actually confessed to me (jokingly) that she was offended she hadn’t received a BBM message asking her to join in. Since when is it funny to joke about an old pensioners house being burnt? Since when is it funny to see a small business that feeds an entire family destroyed?

Since when is it funny to see our much needed public funding ‘wasted’ on police protection for unjustified riots? Since when is it funny to witness our youth behaving in a way that hangs our heads in shame?

I often write about positive parenting and the role of a parent in a childs upbringing.

Perhaps parents of the rioters can hold a mirror up to their face and ask themselves whether they are proud to be parents to these thugs? For now, I hope the tough sentencing being issued by the judges will teach these ‘children’ a lesson they won’t forget in a hurry!

Quote: “There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed” – Frank Buchman

Should you have any comments or want to get in touch with me you can email on avmamaria@gmail.com

Pomegranate juice can ease workplace stress Drinking pomegranate juice daily could ease one's stress at the workplace by reducing blood pressure and lowering stress hormone levels. Researchers at Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, in Britain, studied the physiological effect of daily consumption of half litre of pomegranate juice over a two-week period.

They found that all 60 volunteers, from a range of

working environments, reported being more enthusiastic and less distressed after having the drink.

Emad Al-Dujaili, who led the study, said 'on the basis of these findings

there is a justified argument for busy workers to drink pomegranate juice to help alleviate chronic stress and maintain good health.'

'There is a growing body of evidence that pomegranate juice delivers wideranging health benefits that merit further research. It is very rare indeed for an allnatural juice to offer the range of health benefits that we are seeing in pomegranate juice.'

30

UK

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

CB Live is only a Gujarati programme in UK on MATV SKY 793 Anna Hazare's campaign spread all over India as a peaceful yet radical revolution. Last week India celebrated its 65th Independence day. Amit Kantilal Shah from Vadodara will present some patriotic songs as well Jhaverchand Meghani's "Koino ladak vayo". Amit will also present 'stavan' to commemorate the holy period of Parusuyan for our Jain fraternity.

The CB Live telephone lines will be open for viewers comments and questions.

If you do not have a SKY, go to www.tvunetworks.com and watch CB Live on TVU Player Channel 75203

For more information e-mail: cblive_matv@yahoo.co.uk

Sneh Joshi - 020 8518 5500 The Sun moves into your solar sixth house, the accent shifts to your job interests and physical welfare.

Do not try to rush projects to completion - pace yourself sensibly. At the moment, relationships are experiencing major transformations - those with shaky foundations should be extra careful.

ARIES Mar 21 - Apr 20

7pm to 8pm

Coming Events l Following the launch of a new Time to Change antistigma campaign in Harrow in June, there is a hive of activity going on over the next few weeks encouraging people to be open and honest about mental health.

27th August (11am-4pm) Time to Change will take over St George's shopping centre, bringing together a collection of artists performing to support the end of stigma around mental health. l Jain Vishva Bharati London is celebrating Paryushan in the auspicious presence of Samani Prasanna Pragyaji & Samani Vikas Pragyaji from 26 August - 2 September 2011 from 7:30pm to 9:30pm at London Academy (Plaza 4 Rooms), Spur Road, Edgware, Middx HA8 8DE Everyday there will be English and Hindi Pratikraman followed by separate sessions for Adults & Children in English. All welcome

l Shree Jalaram Mandir Greenford and The Board of Trustees welcome you all for Darsha.

Forthcoming events: - Navratri Festival: Wednesday 28th September to Thursday 6th October 2011 from 8pm to 10pm - Durga ashtami havan: Tuesday 4th October 2011 from 11am to 4pm Contact: 0208 578 8088, Shree Jalaram Mandir, 39-45 Oldfield Lane South, Greenford, Middlesex UB6 9LB l Shree 108 Hanuman Chalisa Sindhi Mandir, Sindhi Community Centre, 318 Cricklewood Broadway, London NW2 6QD, Opposite Wickes and Matalan, 11am-5pm, 020 8459 5758/ 07973 550310 l Bhajans - on Sunday 28th Aug - 3.00pm to 5.30pm

by Shree Budhdevbhai Kansara, Shree Manubhai Kotak, Shree Subashbhai Sharma and Various Artists followed by Arti and Maha Prasad for all.

l Shravan Maas Satsang at Shree Aden, 67A Church Lane, London N2 8DR at 7:30-10:30pm from 1st-29th August. Contact: 020 8346 6686

l Shravan Mas Shiv Puja: Monday 29th August, for all visitors every 15 minutes. 5.00pm

l Open Forum and discussion: What is Hinduism Saturday 20th, 27th August & 3rd, 10th September 2011 from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, Shree Jalaram Mandir Greenford on 0208 578 8088 / 9285

l Ganesh Chaturthi - Thursday 1st Sept, Puja for all from 11.00 am Adhya Shakti Mataji TempleA, 55 High Street, Cowley, Middlesex UB8 2DX. Tel: 07882 253 540

l Lions King of Kingsbury are holding a Mukesh & Rafi Night music by Muktar Shah on 16th Sept 2011 at Harrow Leisure Centre from 7.30pm to late night dinner provided. All proceeds from the event will go to buliding class rooms in Kakamegha School in Kenya.

For further details and tickets call Dinesh on 0208 424 8686 or 07956810647.

COMPETITION- Correct answer Who is the Music Director of Aarakshan? a. Shankar Ehsaan Loy Winners are:Surekha Chauhan, Bhavesha Mehta, Harman Unadkat

Asian Voice is sorry to announce that the networking lunch with Mihir Bose on 25th August is cancelled for unavoidable circumstances.

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Your horizons are most certainly expanding. Your philosophical thoughts will make your mind run wild.

With Jupiter transiting your house of gains, there will be many opportunities. Your financial affairs are looking up. Do not miss out on ways to better yourself in the coming weeks.

TAURUS Apr 21 - May 21

GEMINI May 22 - June 22 Keep your assertive inclination under control as conflict and disagreement could be sparked off by your short-sightedness. Think carefully about the implications of your actions.

Financially, expect things to run a relatively steady course - it is a time for consolidation rather than speculation.

You can expect everything to run smoothly and luck to attend your efforts. However, underneath this positive surface you may be plagued by a feeling of restlessness, an uneasy feeling that something is not quite right. Try to srike a balance between material and emotional affairs !

CANCER Jun 22 - Jul 22

LEO Jul 23 - Aug 23 You will have the distinct feeling that everything is moving ahead at a very satisfying pace. Indeed, you will be in a forward-looking mood, more inclined to reflect on the future and its potentials. The power of destiny is very much in your own hand and any major decision you make will have a profound effect on your future.

Venus, the planet of love and beauty, is transiting your solar 1st house. You have plenty of romantic options. Financially you are still not out of the woods, so do not be hasty when buying At work you will experience a relaxed atmosphere and this will help you to get on with everyone around you.

VIRGO Aug 24 - Sep 23

LIBRA Sep 24 - Oct 23 You will be pleased to see that your social life livens up during this week. It is as if a lucky twist of events and something unexpected that will provide you with a key to your heart's desire. There is a definite expansive trend where money is concerned, so do not be surprised if this turns out be a time of fortunate opportunities and lucky breaks.

SCORPIO Oct 24- Nov 22 With Venus riding high in your 11th house leisure and creativity, you should enjoy a very popular phase in your life where everyone wants to invite you to parties. This will give you a chance to meet people of your own calibre and pursue any romantic liaisons that might present themselves.

207 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad Tel/Fax: +91 79 2646 6061 Chief Executive Director: Kamlesh Amin Tel: +91 922 710 4308 Email: kamleshamin123@yahoo.co.in Editorial Co-Ordinator (BPO): Nilesh Parmar (M) +919426636912 Consulting Editor (BPO): Bhupatbhai Parekh, Ahmedabad, Gujarat Tel: +91 79 2630 4142 Mumbai: Kanti Bhatt, Hemraj Shah (Jumbo Advertiser) Horizon Advertising & Marketing: 205 Shalibhadra Complex, Opp. Jain Derasar, Nr. Nehru Nagar Circle, Ambawadi, Ahmedabad Tel / Fax: +91 79 2646 5960 (M) +91 9913346487 Email: horizonadvt2009@yahoo.in Neeta Patel, (Advertising Manager) (M) +91 98255 11702 International Advertisement Representative: Jain Group(South India) Tel: +91 44 42041122/3/4 Fax: +91 44 25362973 Mumbai: +91 222471 4122 Email: jainmedia@eth.net

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Much enthusiasm goes into professional ambitions right now, but you need to be your own boss in many ways. Circumstances will make you more determined to place your lifestyle on a foundation of greater security. Far-reaching change begins to gather momentum.

SAGITTARIUS Nov 23 - Dec 21

At home, be at your diplomatic best and try not to tread on anyone's toes. Passions will run from hot to cold, and relationships may suffer. Even the most strong-willed Capricornians will be more open to compromise to keep the peace. Plan your spending and set sensible budgets to reach your financial goals.

CAPRICORN Dec 22 - Jan 20

The need to push ahead with personal interests and to assert yourself with added force will take precedence over everything else for some time to come. Mentally you will be in top form, perhaps feeling quite passionate about expressing your ideas and views. This is also a time when you will develop fresh insights into other people.

AQUARIUS Jan 21 - Feb 19

PISCES Feb 20 - Mar 20 Long-term partnerships are reinvigorated. Whether you’re single or attached you’ll have a busy time ahead of you. Business partnerships are tested and the more you live up to your own set of principles the more cash you’ll pull in. At work you will experience a relaxed atmosphere and this will promote unity.

Sport wOrlD

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Murray wins Cincinnati Masters as Djokovic retires World number four Andy Murray won the ATP's Cincinnati Masters title for the second time as world number one Novak Djokovic retired injured while trailing 6-4, 3-0.

Djokovic conceded just his second defeat of a season against 57 victories.

He was hindered during the match by a sore right shoulder, a problem Djokovic had alluded to after his abbreviated victory over similarly ailing Tomas Berdych in the semifinals on Saturday.

"Obviously when he started to slow down his serve toward the end of the first set it was going to be tough for him," said Murray, who also won in Cincinnati in 2008.

"Sometimes things can warm up when you play, sometimes they get worse. I just tried to stay focused."

Djokovic, who said wear and tear was to be expected for a player going deep into tournaments week after week, admitted that his shoulder felt

Andy Murray

worse than it had earlier in the week.

But he insisted he would be ready for the start of the US Open on August 29.

"The good thing is that there is a week, eight days to the start of the US Open. So I think that's enough time for me to get ready."

Murray made the most of Djokovic's sluggish start to open the

Messi to lead Argentina in Kolkata friendly, Tevez left out

Lionel Messi

Striker Carlos Tevez has been left out of the star-studded Argentina football squad led by Barcelona supertstar Lionel Messi for a friendly match against Venezuela, which would be held at the Salt Lake stadium on September 2.

The Manchester City forward has also been ignored for another friendly match, against Nigeria, on September 6 in Bangladesh.

Newly-appointed Argentina coach Alejandro Sabella included mostly players plying their trade in European leagues for the games against Venezuela and Nigeria.

Tevez might have been overlooked but his Manchester City teammate Sergio Aguero has found a place in the 26-member side that also has players like Angel Di Maria and Gonzalo Higuain (both Real Madrid), Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), Martin Demichelis (Mallaga) and Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle United).

Squad : Lionel Messi (c), Angel Di Maria, Gonzalo Higuain, Javier Mascherano, Ever Banega, Eduardo Salvio, Martin Demichelis, Federico Fernandez, Ricardo Alvarez, Nicolas Burdisso, Mariano Andujar, Sergio Romero, Ezequiel Garay, Fabian Rinaudo, Nicolas Otamendi, Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, Jonas Gutierrez, Javier Pastore, Luis Gonzalez, Lisandro Lopez, Cristian Ansaldi, Nicolas Pareja, Red Marcos Jose Sosa, Stephen Andrada.

Messi mania grips Kolkata Meanwhile, more than 15,000 tickets have already been sold online for the FIFA-sanctioned Sept. 2 match at the 100,000-capacity Salt Lake Stadium, but organizers are predicting a surge of sales in coming days when the squads are announced.

Football frenzies have struck in Kolkata before, most notably when Brazilian great Pele turned out for the US club Cosmos in a friendly against local club Mohan Bagan in 1977 and when German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn played for Bayern Munich against Bagan in 2008.

Local football administrator Utpal Ganguly says this game is more important than those featuring Pele and Kahn.

"Messi is in the prime of his career whereas Pele and Kahn played here during their twilight years," Ganguly said. "I'm sure the crowd response will pick up once the list of players is announced."

match with a service break.

Djokovic, who claimed a record fifth Masters title of the season last week in Montreal, managed to break back to knot the set at 3-3.

Murray broke back immediately, punctuating a baseline rally with a volley winner that left Djokovic looking baffled.

Djokovic's serve continued to slow and after he pitched a forehand into the net on set point he called for medical treatment, grimacing as the trainer manipulated his shoulder.

It wasn't enough, and Djokovic, barely able to reach for an overhead, called it a day shortly before a summer rainstorm swept across the court.

"I really tried," said Djokovic, who offered apologies to the fans and tournament officials for failing to finish the match. "Didn't make sense for me to continue."

"Not the way I wanted it to happen," Murray said of becoming just the second man to beat Djokovic in 2011.

Sharapova wins title

Fourth-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova survived an erratic performance to win the Cincinnati WTA title, prevailing 4-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 over Serbia's Jelena Jankovic. Sharapova, 24, earned her second title of the season after a triumph in Rome. She improved on her runner-up finish to Kim Clijsters here last year and gave herself a momentum boost prior to the US Open, the final Grand Slam of the season that starts on August 29 in New York. But it was no easy matter.

After an aggressive start saw Sharapova take a 4-1 lead, Jankovic went on a roll, breaking the Russian three times in a row and taking the opening set when Sharapova doublefaulted. The shift recalled last year's final, when Sharapova failed to convert three match points against Clijsters and ended up losing 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2.

Despite a stream of unforced errors -including a total of 11 double faults -Sharapova finally took the second set, winning the last five points of the tiebreaker. The third set started with six straight breaks of serve before Sharapova held for a 4-3 lead. Jankovic double-faulted twice to surrender the next game, leaving Sharapova to serve out the match after two hours and 49 minutes.

Ken Barrington inducted into ICC Cricket Hall of Fame Former England batsman Ken Barrington was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame during the tea interval of the fourth and final Test between England and India at The Oval.

The late Barrington's commemorative cap was received by two of his former England and Surrey teammates John Edrich and Micky Stewart from ICC director and the England and Wales Cricket Board Chairman Giles Clarke for his induction into the Hall of Fame, a joint initiative between the ICC and the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations (FICA).

Barrington was born in 1930 and is regarded as one of England's most stylish

Former England batsman Ken Barrington

batsmen, in addition to being an occasional and useful leg break bowler. He passed away on 14 March 1981.

Born in Reading, Barrington played for Surrey throughout his career as well as representing England 82 times in Test matches accu-

mulating an average of 58.67, scoring 20 Test centuries in the process.

Barrington amassed 6,806 Test runs and in English Test batting circles his career Test average is only surpassed by Eddie Paynter and another ICC Cricket Hall of Famer,

Herbert Sutcliffe.

Barrington's 256 in the fourth Test at Old Trafford in 1964 is the highest postWorld War II century for England against Australia and he twice made centuries in four successive Tests.

He was the first England batsman to make a hundred on all six of England's then traditional Test grounds Old Trafford, Edgbaston, Headingley, Lord's, Trent Bridge and his home ground of The Oval.

"It is a great honour to be receiving Ken's cap on his behalf. He was a fantastic teammate and a great man and is thoroughly deserving of this award and recognition he is receiving today from the ICC and FICA," Edrich said.

31

Paes-Bhupathi win Masters after 10 years

Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi won their third title of the season and first at Cincinnati after 10 years, following a hard-fought win over Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic in the summit clash of the Western and Southern Open. The third seeds edged past the fourth seeded French-Serbian combination 7-6(4), 76(2) after battling for one hour and 41 minutes.

"If you had asked me 10 years ago if we would win here again 10 years later, I would have started laughing that we'd still be playing," Paes said after the win. "It's a great feeling to come back and win in the summer. We didn't have so much rhythm in Europe, but we managed to put it together this week. We've beaten some really big teams and are playing well. For us, it's a big confidence booster for the US Open, but we still have a lot of work to do there."

This is the third title of the season for the Indian Express as they had triumphed at the Sony Ericsson Open and Chennai Open.

Neither team dropped serve in the match.

"They are the hottest team and we had to play our best match of the year to beat them. We served and volleyed great, and played an error free match. When we had chances, we took them," Bhupathi said. The French-Serbian duo was looking to win their third straight title, having won the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington DC and the Rogers Cup in Montreal last week. The defeat snapped their superb 11-match win streak.

Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma out of England ODI series

The injury-ravaged Indian cricket team’s wretched tour of England just got worse with opener Virender Sehwag and pacer Ishant Sharma ruled out of the lone Twenty20 and fivematch one-day series, starting August 31.

“Mr. Virender Sehwag and Mr. Ishant Sharma have been ruled out of the forthcoming ODI series against England,” the BCCI secretary N. Srinivasan said in a statement.

On Ishant, the BCCI said that he “sustained a ligament injury in his left ankle during the Birmingham Test of the ongoing series. He has responded well to treatment, but will need to undergo a course of intensive rehabilitation and training to prevent recurrence of the pain in his left ankle“.

Rookie 23-year-old opener Ajinkya Rahane has been drafted into the squad to replace Sehwag, while Ishant’s place has been taken the 21-year-old Varun Aaron, who did well in the Emerging Players’ Tournament in Australia.

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Ajinkya Rahane and Varun Aaron as the replacements of the two players in the team for the T20 International and ODI series.

Both players will join the squad at the earliest,” the BCCI said. Rahane has played 48 firstclass matches, scoring 4673 runs at an impressive average of 67.72. Aaron has 25 wickets from 11 first-class matches.

India is already without key players such as pace spearhead Zaheer Khan, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and batsman Yuvraj Singh in what is turning out to be a disaster of a tour.

The one-off Twenty20 International will be played on August 31 and the first of five ODIs is scheduled on September 3.

32

Andy Flower committed to England, says ECB chief

Asian Voice - Saturday 27th August 2011

Humiliated India flatter to deceive

By Premen Addy

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) Chief Executive David Collier is confident that coach Andy Flower is committed to England and would not leave his job anytime soon.

"I think Andy made his position very clear when the Indian situation happened.

I think he is very settled in England and that he may continue. I think the whole of the backroom team is very important," Sky Sports quoted Collier, as saying.

"We've developed a structure over five to 10 years now that has not only delivered plans, but has leapfrogged countries in the world and we want to keep that team together," he added.

Flower, who has helped take England to the top of the Test rankings, had turned down an approach to take over as India coach before they appointed Duncan Fletcher.

Collier also confirmed that the board is set to sign a new sponsorship deal.

"We're in final discussions regarding a long-term relationship with new sponsors.

We will be making an announcement in the not too distant future," he said.

Pakistan coach Waqar Younis resigns

Pakistan cricket coach Waqar Younis resigned, citing personal reasons, but said he would continue in his job through this month's tour of Zimbabwe.

"I have tendered my resignation to the Board last week and the tour to Zimbabwe will be my last," Waqar Younis told a press conference, just over a week before the national team's departure for the African country.

The 39-year-old former fast bowler took over as coach in March 2010, but has since faced controversies including the spot-fixing scandal that led to lengthy bans for three cricketers, dissent from players and differences with former oneday captain Shahid Afridi.

"I have taken this decision on personal grounds, including medical grounds, and have no differences with anyone and my resignation has been accepted by the (Pakistan Cricket) Board," said Waqar.

Pakistan plays one practice game, one Test, three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 matches on the tour of Zimbabwe which starts on August 28.

At lunch on the final afternoon of the Oval Test, there was a glimmer of hope that India might salvage a modicum of pride with a draw. Sachin Tendulkar and Amit Mishra, coming together at 118 the previous evening, had held firm through the morning's play. A fifth-day wicket gave sufficient help to the bowlers, seam and spin, and it is needed sturdy defence and good shot selection to keep them out. But half an hour into the sun-baked post-lunch session, the pendulum swung England's way. First, went the gallant Mishra, bowled by Graeme Swann for a brave 84. He had come in as night watchman and hadn't put a foot wrong until then. In the very next over Tim Bresnan trapped Tendulkar lbw for 91, his rearguard action ending in heartbreak for the millions back home and the thousands on the ground and outside who were willing on the Little Master to his elusive 100th century in international cricket.

Alas, it was not to be. He and we will have to await another day.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Suresh Raina bagged his second duck of the match. Much was expected of him and once again he failed to deliver.

Neither did captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Gautam Gambhir. It was another heavy defeat, this time by an innings and 8 runs. Only Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the chairman of the selectors and unlicensed jester of Indian cricket, can take comfort from this savage 4 - nil mauling. He is not to blame; indeed,

The World No. 1 Test team strikes a happy pose.

nobody is, he says unblushingly. Nobody can be blamed for a bank heist, didn't you know? Mr Srikkanth should be cast adrift on the high seas or marooned on some uninhabited island in some far corner of the world, with ravenous sharks in the surrounding waters to guarantee his enforced exile from cricket and civilisation. He predicts India will be back at the top of the Test league within a year or so.

He has clearly lost his mind, assuming he had a mind at all.

Meanwhile, Andrew Hilditch, the chairman of the Australian selectors, who found a string of positives from England's whitewash of his team in last winter's Ashes contest, has just been sacked. So should Mr Srikkanth be, together with his co-selectors and others responsible

heads in the Indian game. They are a thundering disgrace, one and all. Begone!

To return, however, to the shambolic Indian performance. They were on the ropes from day one. England declared at 591 for 6, with Ian Bell cracking an imperious 235 and Kevin Pietersen an equally majestic 175. In reply, India reached 300, the first time they had done so this series, thanks to Rahul Dravid's peerless, unbeaten 146. Having opened with Virender Sehwag, he remained unconquered, the third Indian batsman to have batted through a Test innings after Sunil Gavaskar and Sehwag. His heroics were to no avail. Remarkably, it was Dravid's third hundred in a rubber in which India were pulped. He was the lone beacon on the hill.

India to implement DRS for internationals matches at home

Shakib leads Bangladesh to face-saving win

India will be using the Decision Review System (DRS), comprising the audio tracker and Hot Spot infrared cameras, for the first time in all the 13 home international games later this year.

India have always been very vocal in its criticism of the DRS but it seems the BCCI is warming up for the technology as it will use the DRS for the first time when it hosts England in a bilateral series in October.

The ICC's new guidelines makes it mandatory to use DRS in Tests and ODIs and Warren Brennan, CEO of BBG Sports, which owns the Hot Spot camera technology, said BCCI has asked for the cameras for India's home season.

Brennan said that four Hot Spot cameras would be in use for the five ODIs against England and three Tests against the West Indies, while two cameras would be in place during the fivematch ODI series against the West Indies.

The BCCI doesn't have faith and reliability on the ball-tracker technology

Skipper Shakib Al Hasan led from the front with a fighting innings of 79 before picking up two wickets as Bangladesh defeated Zimbabwe by 93 runs to win the fifth and final ODI at Queens Sports Club.

It was Bangladesh's second successive win, but Zimbabwe still claimed the series 3-2 to add to their victory in the one-off Test between the two nations.

After being put in to bat, Bangladesh made 253 for six in their 50 overs before Zimbabwe, who lost captain Brendan Taylor for a duck in the second over, were skittled out for 160 with more than 11 overs to spare.

Bangladesh had been 125 for five at one stage before Shakib, whose 79 came off 71 balls and featured five boundaries and a six, put on 109 for the sixth wicket with Mahmudullah who made 60.

It was Shakib's 21st oneday century. Mahmudullah was undefeated at the end of the 50 overs with his runs coming off 67 deliveries with five boundaries and a six to match his captain in the big hitting.

which is being used in the DRS. It was also not convinced of the system as it is very expensive.

In fact, senior batsman Sachin Tendulkar and India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni also share apprehensions about the accuracy of the technology.

Previously "clear stump mikes", a Super Slo-Mo camera and ball-tracking technology were used in the DRS but

under the new regulations, infra-red cameras will replace the ball-tracker system.

Under the mandatory use of DRS, teams can make two unsuccessful appeals against an umpire's decision per innings, in all formats of the game.

Earlier this year, the DRS, without out the Hot Spot cameras, was used during the 50-over World Cup in the sub-continent.