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VOL . 21 NO. 24 • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • P.O. BOX 623 • SUGAR LAND, TX 77487 • PERIODICAL PERMIT USPS 017-699 25 Cents

All set for yoga festival on Sunday, Fathers’ Day

INTERNATIONAL YOGA DAY ORGANIZING TEAM. Front, Jenny Buegermeister, left, Smita Mallayya, Daksha Shah, Meera Kapur, Le Pavec Annette , Bhumi Parmar, Bhagwan Bhutada, and Indian Consul Amrit Paul; Rear: Vijay Pallod, left, Jennifer Plessner, Elizabeth ‘Beth’ Reese, Richa Dixit, Achalesh Amar, Meena Kankani, Madhukar Adi, Radhakrishna, Shekhar Agrawal, Manoj Rathi, Sharad Amin and Sanjay Jain.

Metro Board

By SESHADRI KUMAR Already 2,500 people have registered for the first International Yoga Day celebration at George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston on June 21.

Though the event is free, organizers recommend preregistration because walk-in registration will be open only if space is available. Registration closes on June 19.

Adults should bring their registration ticket with a proper ID. This is mandatory for participation. Check-in will begin at 8.30.

The program schedule is as follows: Registration from 8:30 –9.30 a.m; Opening Remarks, Felicitations and Invocation Prayers 9.30-10 a.m; Collective

Yoga Session for Harmony and Peace (Introduction to postures, relaxations, breathing and meditation) 10 a.m.-12 p.m; Interactive Yoga Sessions / Yoga Fair / Food Booths 12-4 p.m.

The yoga day demonstrations will include a special session devoted to children, while another demonstration will show how to do yoga while sleeping.

Also, 15 yoga teachers who exhibited exceptional service in the field of yoga over an extended period of time in Greater Houston and the surrounding areas will be recognized with service award.

Yoga means “union.” In the true spirit of “Yoga,” the See YOGA, Page 4

Gujarati Samaj breaks ground for community center

Houston Mayor Annise Parker has appointed Sanjay Ramabhadran to the board of Houston Metropolitan Transport Authority.

See Page 5.

H.D. Patel, second from right, chairman of Gujarati Samaj board of directors, Consul general Parvathaneni Harish, major donor Arvind Bhandari, Sugar Land city councilmen Himesh Gandhi and Harish Jajoo, and Stafford Councilman Ken Mathew were among the dignitaries who broke ground for the new community center planned by Gujarati Samaj of Houston at 9550 West Bellfort Avenue. Story on Page 3.

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INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 3

COMMUNITY NEWS Gujarati Samaj begins work on Community Center Gujarati Samaj of Houston conducted Bhoomi Puja and ground breaking for its proposed community center located at 9550 West Bellfort Ave (at Sam Houston Parkway). Thanks to a generous donation of the plot of land by Amit and Arpita Bhadari and Mukesh and Nimmi Turakhia four years ago, the plans to build a community center got an added urgency and encouragement. Dr Harshad D Patel, chairman of the board of directors of Gujarati Samaj, told a gathering of about 125 people at the ground breaking on Saturday, June 13, that the new center will be a state of the art facility for holding events big and small and would be completed by December 2016.

He said though there are many temples with their own banquet facilities, organizations like Pratham, Ekal Vidyalaya and Magic Bus had to rent expensive hotels to hold their programs. He said cleraly there was a need for the community to have a large enough facility that would accommodate a large gathering for big weddings and galas and fund-raisers.

Dr Patel said he surveyed the opinions of youngsters and seniors on the need for the Samaj to have its own facility. All of them, unanimously, endorsed the idea of a modern community center that would serve the needs of all Indians for a long time.

He said his biggest support came from the Indian community in Clear Lake and mentioned the name of Nasa scientist Kamlesh Lulla as a leader of that group. He thanked Southwestern National Bank that provided loan facilities through the good offices of Hasu Patel, one of the bank’s directors. He also lauded Ramesh P. Shah of Ekal Vidyalaya for his promise to go door to door to raise a million dollars for the new center.

Consul General Parvathaneni Harish said he was pleased that the Gujarati Samaj center will be a social and cultural hub for all Indians. He urged the members to make the facility an intellectual hub like in other Indian communities which have strong think tanks to debate and seek solutions for common issues. “You have big hearts and beautiful minds,” he said as he hailed the Gujarati Samaj. Amit Bhandari, who with Mukesh Turakhia donated the 5-1/2 acre plot of land, praised the commitment of Dr. Patel who has given a personal guarantee for the bank loan.

Sugar Land city councilman Himesh Gandhi said he grew up with the Samaj (his father Mukund Gandhi is a former president of the Samaj). “It was a great place to socialize and I have gained lifelong friends from those days,” he said. He also presented a certificate from the mayor of Sugar Land acknowledging the crucial role of Gujarati Samaj in community development.

Suresh V. Patel recognized the VIPs present who were given a bouquet of flowers.

The new center will have a two-story building with 37,000 sq ft on the first floor and 22,500 sq ft on the second floor. It will have two banquet halls, each with a capacity to seat 500 guests and one will have a full stage for performances. The two halls can be combined to seat 1000 guests. There will be two separate pre-function lobbies and two separat, modern kitchens.

The second floor will have meeting and activity rooms, a library, office area and storage facilities. There will be plenty of parking for the huge center.

Dinesh R. Shah will lead the team of architects.

The project is estimated to cost $6 million, including cost of site development. Dr Patel promised to work very hard to find donors. “If you have the heart, I will find the money.” he said. He also pledged to run the center with modern, professional and responsive management.

Over 25 years ago, Gujarati Samaj was only the second community organization to have its own house, called the Mahatma Gandhi Community Center. It was quite a large facility which served as a hub for many Samaj and other Indian community activities. All the Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations were held at the center. The Cricket World Cup of 1997 was televised there; even India’s 50th anniversa-

ry of Independence in 1997 was celebrated over several days at the Mahatma Gandhi center.

But the area around the Center on Elm Street (near Hillcroft and Hwy 59) started to deteriorate and became unsafe over the years and Gujarati Samaj sold the property in 2005.

The quest and desire for a new center has always been there and with growing numbers of Indians in the Houston area, the idea has gained strong encouragement and support. — Rajeev Gadgil

Southwestern National Bank director Hasu Patel, left, with Gujarati Samaj chairman H.D. Patel and bank president Gary Owen, right.

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PAGE 4 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

COMMUNITY NEWS Yoga From Page 1

CHINMAYA MISSION HOUSTON Invites one & all for Jnana Yajna on

BHAGAVAD GITA CHAPTER-18 "The Yoga of Liberation Through Renunciation"

Discourse Schedule

July 6 to July 13 7:30pm - 9:00pm July 12 10:30am - Noon Venue Chinmaya Mission Houston Chinmaya Prabha 10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX 77478 Tel: 281-568-9520

Open to All (Adults Only) Admission Free

Talks by HIS HOLINESS PUJYA SWAMI TEJOMAYANANDA (Spiritual Head of Chinmaya Mission worldwide)

For more information visit: www.chinmayahouston.org Or Contact: Bharati Sutaria 281-933-0233 Jay Deshmukh 832-541-0059

union, 177 countries co-sponsored the United Nations resolution to declare International Day of Yoga on 21st June every year.

Harish Parvathaneni, Consul General of India, Houston, main sponsor of the event, says, “It is our pleasure to bring together a large number of diverse Houstonians and institutions for celebrating the first International Day of Yoga in a befitting manner. My sincere thanks to all organizers, supporters and sponsors of this event for their contribution towards the IDY. I encourage all Houstonians to perform Yoga and actively participate in this free event with interactive Yoga sessions and ‘Yoga fair’ at George R. Brown Convention Center to spread the message of Yoga for peace and harmony.”

“Houston has a vibrant yoga family and there are many yoga centers from different parts of the world. It is an opportunity to remove the duality and promote the spirit of oneness between mind and body, thought and action and man nature. Yoga is good for all of us. Yoga brings us together,” the consul-general says.

Jenny Buergermeister of Texas Yoga Conference, who is working with the Indian consulate in organizing the Yoga Day, says “By joining us at George R Brown this Sunday, it shows we can truly look toward a greater future where community is one. We support the vision that many can and will come together to support unity, service to humanity, and wellness practices to enhance our daily lives as one human race. I am so excited to see old friends and to meet new friends on a celebratory day supporting our CG’s initiative to promote yoga as a way of life.

My motto is: Live. Breathe. Do Yoga.”

Lest one should think that yoga is a Hindu religious ritual, the organizers of Yoga Day both in India and elsewhere have taken pains to make it a non-religious, non-denominational event and Muslims and Christians are participating in the Yoga Day as well.

Visit iyogadayhouston.org for more information.

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 5

COMMUNITY NEWS

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Sanjay Ramabhadran named on METRO Board

Houston Mayor Annise Parker has appointed Sanjay PROFESSIONAL EXAM PREPARATION Ramabhadran to the Metropolitan Houston • Dallas • Corpus • Austin • San Antonio Transit Authority (METRO) and the appointment was confirmed by GUARANTEE Houston City Council on May 27, OF 2015. He becomes the first IndianPASSING American to serve on the Exams for Prof. Engineering Licensing METRO Board. METRO operates a regional multimodal trans300 POINT portation system across 1,300 SCORE square miles with 2,663 route INCREASE miles, a 22.7 mile light rail system, GUARANTEE Exams for College Admissions 20 Transit Centers, 29 Park & Ride Facilities, HOV/HOT lanes and the complementary paratransit Sanjay Ramabhadran, right, takes oath as METRO board member.

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BACK Sanjay Ramabhadran, a regis- The Red Line is a 13-mile line that originally opened in 2004 as the GUARANTEE tered Professional Engineer, has Main Street Line. The Green Line runs through the historic East End Exams for Grad School Admissions provided engineering and master with seven stations, including Magnolia Park Transit Center, BBVA planning services to the Industrial Stadium and the Theater District. The Purple Line runs through SouthPhone: 281-564-7700 (Houston) Phone: (Houston)281-276-7777 and Governmental market seg- east Houston with 11 stops that include the University of Houston, 972-931-1600 (Dallas) Third Ward, the Convention District and Theater District. ments for 20 years.

METRO has 1,230 buses and is paving the way for a cleaner HousToll 1-800-910-EXAM Free - 1-800-910-3926 As Vice President at CP&Y, (3926) he directed a Corporate Practice ton with 443 transit diesel-hybrid buses in operation. METROLift is a Visit us online at www.testmasters.com focused on water and infrastruc- complementary paratransit service offered by the Metropolitan Tranture across the firm’s offices. Pre- sit Authority of Harris County in accordance with the 1990 Americans viously, he was Principal-In- with Disabilities Act (ADA). High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes Charge of a $1 billion global con- operate on the Southwest, Gulf, North, Eastex and Northwest freesulting firm, where he managed a ways. Since 2001, METRO also has been operating concurrent-flow Business Practice for Texas, Kan- Diamond HOV lanes, located on the Katy Freeway between HighFamily Services Hotline 832-900-9354 sas and Oklahoma. He has been way 6 and Highway 99 (Grand Parkway) in Katy. an invited speaker at the US-India Infrastructure Summit in New Delhi.

His civic involvement has included serving as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Leadership Houston; Director in the Texas Lyceum – a state-wide leadership group focused on public policy issues impacting Texas;

Steering Committee Member – Houston General Plan;

Senior Fellow – American Leadership Forum; President of the HESS Club (Houston’s oldest engineering organization); President of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston; Chairperson of the Houston Mayor’s International Trade & Development Council (South Asia); City of Houston – Building & Standards

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PAGE 6 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

COMMUNITY NEWS iEducate USA holds 3-day science workshop at Crockett elementary school

Dr. Veeraraghavan, a Behavioral Neuroscientist from Baylor College of Medicine, speaks to the students about the importance of DNA.

From June 1-3, iEducateUSA, a 501c3 nonprofit focused on laying the foundation in science and math education at elementary schools, celebrated its third annual Explore! Science Workshop at Crockett Elementary School. This year’s workshop saw record attendance, with almost 75 kids in participation (double that of last year).

The three-day workshop was designed to get elementary school students of all ages excited about science, and science-related majors and careers. Each day of the workshop focused on a different topic, which began with in-class lessons with subject matter experts, and ended with group hands-on activities.

This year’s workshop again focused on Earth & Space Science, Physical Science and Life Science, allowing students to explore topics ranging from genetics in space, to electrical circuits, to civil engineering. The workshop was led by John Aquino and Joan Valladares of iEducateUSA. It was supported by high school volunteers from the HISD Student Congress, as well as under graduate students from Texas Southern University and the University of Houston and University of Houston Downtown.

Professionals from Baylor College of Science, Schlumberger and NASA led discussions and hands-on projects. Schlumberger once again exhibited their impressive science demo unit and donated books on engineering to each of the participating students.

Dr. Surabi Veeraraghavan, a Behavioral Neuroscientist from Baylor

College of Medicine, spoke to the students about the genetic bases of heredity and how the DNA is a critical determinant of inheritance.

The students were fascinated by human genetics and the DNA molecule, and they had something else coming their way: the students made models of double-stranded DNA molecules using gummy bears and marshmallows, and had a blast while constructing the yummy models.

Dr. Alamelu Sundaresan and her Osteoimmunology Laboratory members from Texas Southern University (TSU) and NASA explained the excitement of the USE of NASA technology on earth from “Velcro to therapeutics” and the effects of weightless in space or microgravity on human health.

She also spoke about the benefits of NASA-related research for life here on Earth, especially on the immune system and bone loss which are her areas of expertise. The importance of strong science and math in these innovations was expounded upon. Since students are the best visual role models for younger children, Olivia Madison, a Chemistry major at TSU, also made several presentations. The second graders were very interactive and asked a lot of questions about bacteria in space, and how the astronauts performed their daily activities.

The response to TSU/NASA related STEM from HISD elementary school kids has always been tremendous and reciprocal. TSU

Dr Kamala Raghavan, President of Indo-American Charity Foundation (center), presented a $10,000 check to Roopa Gir, President of iEducate USA (left). At right is Summer Workshop Coordinator Joan Valladares.

Osteoimmunology lab members Loretta, Ivory, elvis, Elvedina and Olivia also worked with the children on making DNA molecules with Twizzlers and marshmallows, sponsored by Baylor College of Medicine.

On June 3, the program concluded in a ceremony with students and their parents. Teams from each grade presented summaries of what they had learned over the 3-day workshop.

The students were awarded prizes for correctly answering questions regarding what they had learned that week. During the closing ceremony, Dr. Kamala Raghavan, President of Indo-American Charity Foundation, presented a generous check of $10,000 to Dr Roopa Gir, President of iEducateUSA. “We look forward to the next year’s activity, and this donation will help us in expanding our program and touching the lives of more children,” Dr Gir said. iEducateUSA is a charity which strives to inspire the next generation to pursue careers in Math and Science through improved elementary school education. The program identifies motivated undergraduate students to work alongside HISD teachers as in-class tutors providing one-on-one support to struggling students. Founded by the late David Raj, iEducateUSA has been actively engaged in community outreach programs at Crockett Elementary school in Houston, Texas for a number of years and plans to expand to addition HISD schools for the 2014-2015 academic year.

For more information about volunteering or donations, visit www.iEducateUSA.org or email Roopa@ieducateusa.org or call 713-504-1827.

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INDIA HERALD â&#x20AC;˘ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 â&#x20AC;˘ PAGE 7

OBITUARY Sharad Kulkarni Sharad Kulkarni left this life on Monday, June 8, 2015 after living for many years with Dementia with Lewy Bodies. His body has been privately cremated. Friends are invited to a celebration of his life to be held on Thursday, June 25, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the South County Community Center at 2235 Lake Robbins Drive, Spring (The Woodlands), TX 77380.

Sharad Ramchandra Kulkarni was born June 1, 1931, to Ramchandra V. and Sundrabhai Adarkar Kulkarni, the fourth of seven children, in Vengurla, Ratnagiri district of what was then Bombay State.

He spent his first years in Vengurla until his family moved to Bombay where his father was a spinning master.

Although Sharad loved to play cricket with the boys in his neighborhood, he soon realized that he needed to concentrate on his studies. He was a good student, continuing his education at Ruia College of the University of Bombay, receiving his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Chemistry.

Soon afterward, he came to the U.S. by a Norwegian cargo ship.

After a brief visit with his maternal uncle and family in Washington, DC, he traveled to Texas to

HAF hosts briefing for lawmakers Washington, D.C: Against a backdrop of escalating religious violence and extremism, the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) hosted a Congressional Briefing on Bangladesh last week, following its 12th annual DC Advocacy Day and reception on Capitol Hill.

The Briefing, facilitated with the assistance of ranking House Foreign Affairs Committee member Representative Brad Sherman (D-CA), brought together a panel of human rights and policy experts to explore the ongoing threats to secular democracy, freedom of speech, womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rights, and pluralism in Bangladesh.

Noted Bangladeshi American author and human rights activist, Rukhsana Hasib, began the panel discussion by providing historical context to the current crisis in Bangladesh and recounted her own familyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s personal experience during the countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s struggle for independence from Pakistan in 1971 and the genocide that ensued.

Hasib further described the growing climate of extremism and intolerance in Bangladesh in the post-independence period and its slide away from traditional, secular Bengali culture.

Jay Kansara, HAFâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Director of Government Relations, who earlier this year went on a factfinding mission to the region, rounded out the panel by highlighting recent violence against Hindus and other vulnerable religious minorities by JeI and its coalition partner, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.

Kansara stated that violence peaked in January 2013 and continued during the election in November 2013 to January 2014.

continue his studies. He received an M.S. in Chemistry from Texas A & M and followed his professor to California where he completed his Ph.D. in Chemistry at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California.

It was there that he met his wife-to-be, Beth Beckwith, who was then an undergraduate student majoring in Physics. They were married soon after he completed his doctorate.

Sharad and Beth then moved to Durham, NC, where he did post-doctoral work in the Biochemistry Department of Duke Medical School. Their daughter, Shanti, was born while they were in Durham. The young family then moved to Pennsylvania where Sharad taught at a Penn State campus and son David was born.

Sharad taught a total of 13 years in Pennsylvania before the

family moved to Houston in 1979.

Sharad worked as a chemist for the City of Houston for nearly two decades before retiring in 1999.

Sharad and Beth have lived in The Woodlands since 2004, choosing to live near Bethâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s sister, Janet Stewart, and her husband Don Stewart.

Janet and Donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s help as well as that of Bethâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s and Sharadâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s friends in The Woodlands and the Greater Houston Area has been much appreciated.

Sharad will be remembered as a kind man and loving father, grandfather, and husband. His smile was joyful and contagious.

He enjoyed doing volunteer work which was always done in the background with no expectation of recognition or reward. But he took pleasure in seeing the volunteer work done in the community by his wife and was always supportive of her. He was also very proud of his children and grandchildren.

Sharad will be greatly missed by wife Beth, daughter Shanti, son David and his wife Melissa, grandchildren Meera, Matthew, and Sofia, and other relatives and friends.

He felt strong connections to his family who remained in India, including his two living sisters, Shailaja Prabhu and Meena Pandit and their families, his brothers (Waman and Shyam Kulkarniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children and grandchildren, and his cousins.

The family is grateful for the support of the many friends who visited him during his illness. We are also eternally gratefully for the care and love provided by Autumn Leaves and the LifePointe Hospice. In lieu of flowers, the family requests you make memorial contributions to the Alzheimerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Association or a charity of your choice.

Condolences may be sent to the family at 87 S Warbler Bend Circle, The Woodlands, TX 77382.

TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN I welcome the opportunity to learn about your unique goals and needs. Together we can create a strategy designed to help guide you along the path to ďŹ nancial well-being.

Call to schedule a consultation today.

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PAGE 8 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

COMMUNITYCALENDAR CALENDAR COMMUNITY Arya Samaj Satsang Weekly Havan Satsang every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

DAV Sanskriti School Sundays 10 a.m. to 12 noon. - Havan, Hindi and Naitik Shiksha classes. DAV Montessori School for ages 2 to 7 years. Call Arti Khanna 281-759-3286. Free Yoga classes on Sat. Sanskrit & Upanishad classes Tue. 6-8 p.m. At 14375 Schiller Rd. (bet Westpark & Bellaire off Hwy 6). 281-752-0100.

Chinmaya Mission Sunday satsangs for adults, youth, and children. There are no weekly Balavihar classes and Sunday satsang for children during the summer. Regular weekly classes will resume on Sept. 13. Located at Chinmaya Prabha, 10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX 77498. New members may visit the welcome desk between 8 a.m. - 8:45 a.m. or 10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m. Visit www.chin mayahouston.org or call Bharati Sutaria 281.933.0233.

Vedanta Society Vedanta Society of Greater Houston, 14809 Lindita Drive (77083) has classes every Sunday from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, 1st & 3rd Sunday; Bhagavad Gita, 2nd Sunday; on works of Swami Vivekananda, 4th Sunday; Holy Mother Sarada’s Gospel, 5th Sunday. Swamis of Ramakrishna Order visit to conduct retreats and lectures. www.houstonvedanta. org or 281-584-0488.

Durga Bari Temple Durga Bari temple is open from 9 to 11 a.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. Mon. thru Sat. Sandhya aarti at 6:30 p.m. Temple closes at 7 p.m. Sunday special from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Puja services - Priest Bishnupada Goswami 281-597-8100 Temple is located at 13944 Schiller Rd (off Hwy 6 bet. Bellaire & Westpark). Call Ganesh Mandal at 713-7979057 / 832-423-8541.

Shiv Shakti Mandir Sanatan Shiv Shakti Mandir, 6640 Harwin. Open daily 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. All major festivals, as well as birthdays, naam karan, engagement and other ceremonies. Call Pandit Virat Mehta 713-278-9099 or Hardik Raval 361-243-6539 for puja or other ceremonies.

‘The Universe Within’ Sahaj Marg is a natural and simple system of heart-centered meditation and spiritual practice that helps one realize the utimate potential within oneself. The meditation is available to anyone who wishes to practice. Weekly meditation sessions held throughout the Houston area. www.sahajmarg.org Email: meditate_ houston@yahoo.com.

Heritage Classes Ashirwad’s Heritage Classes in Katy, Cypress and Sugar Land for

Property for Sale Lot for Sale off of Kalyani Hwy in Sodhpur, West Bengal. 1 bhiga or 20 Kathas with 2300 Sq. ft. bungalow half built. Architectural plans available. Rs. 90 lakhs.

Please contact Shilpi Saha at Shilpi@yourblvd.com or 832-647-9433

Open Forum Radio Program Where Your Opinion Counts

KGOL 1480 AM • Saturdays 4 to 6 p.m.

Informative programs with doctors, lawyers, politicians and other newsmakers.

Call 713-784-1480 Hosts: Dinkar Chheda, Jagat Kamdar & Subodh Bhuchar

Chandra & David Courtney Tabla and Vocal

Classes now ongoing Visit www.chandrakantha.com

or call for info.

(713) 665-4665

Classes in Houston, Mission Bend, & Sugar Land

kids 4 to 18 yrs - meditation, Yoga, slokas, stories from scriptures, Vishnu Sahasranam, bhajans, competitions and fun activities. Adult meditation classes. Register at www.ashirwada-blessing.org or Sri Ravula 281-995-0930.

Hare Krishna Dham

Sri Guruvayurappan Temple Hours: Mon to Fri 6 a.m. -8 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Weekends & Holidays: 6 a.m. to noon and 5:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Bhajans Saturdays 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.; Sundays 9 a.m. to 1 a.m. Special poojas (weekends and holidays) Choroon (Annaprasam) for kids, Thulabharam, Vahana Pooja, Nirapara. Temple is located at 11620 Ormandy St (77035) Tel: 713-729-8994 email: temple@ guruvayur.us

Houston’s original Vedic temple, Preksha Meditation ISKCON of Houston. At 1320 W New facilities of JVB Preksha Meditation Center. Classes for Yoga 34th St. (77018). Daily Darshan and Meditation under guidance by Samani jis and discourses. At 14102 & Arati Times: 4.30am, 7am, Schiller Road (off Hwy 6 bet Bellaire and Westpark - 77082). Tel 8.30am, 12noon, 4.30pm, 7pm, 281-596-9642.

9pm. Sunday Festival: 5.30 pm to 7.30 pm. Weekly Gita classes for Patanjali Yogpeeth adults; call 281-433-1635 or Free Yoga Classes every Sat/Sun at Arya Samaj from 8 am to 9:30 harekrishnadham @gmail.com a.m. Call Anil 281-579-9433. For other free classes, call Indra 281537-0018. For Yoga/Herbal products, call Shekhar 281-242-5000. Web: Houston Namadwaar www.pyptusa.org and www.DivyaProducts.com.

A prayer house where the Hare Rama Hare Krishna Maha-manSathya Sai centers tra is continuously chanted. WeekSunday program held at two locations (North Houston: 12127 ends: 8-11 AM & 4-7 PM, Week- Louetta Rd, Houston; South Houston: 246 Fluor Daniel Dr, Sugarland, days: 7-8 AM & 6-7 PM. Weekly TX, 77479) from 3:00 pm to 5:30 pm. Sai Spiritual Education classes “Gopa Kuteeram” children’s heri- for children; study circle for adults. Service programs - food distributage classes and Srimad tion & food drives; nursing home visits, tutoring at schools etc. ConBhagavatam classes. Call 281- tact Sanjay Gupta (North) 832-687-6766 or Sondip Mathur (South) 402-6585; visit www.godivinity.org 832-215-8675 www.sairegion10.org.

(Global Organization for Divinity).

Sadhu Vaswani Center Sadhu Vaswani Center of Houston holds regular Satsang on 3rd Saumyakasi Sivalaya Thursday of the month and daily Arti at 7.30 p.m. Call 281-463-0379 Sri Saumyakasi Sivalaya is lo- or e.mail ramolaj@aol.com cated at Chinmaya Prabha, 10353 Synott Road, Sugar Land, TX Gaudiya Math 77478. Temple timings: Monday to Sri Govindaji Gaudiya Matha at 16628 Kieth Harrow Blvd., HousFriday: 9:00 AM - 12:00 Noon and 5:00 - 8:00 PM Saturday and Sun- ton 77084. Satsang Sundays 5 to 7 pm. Mantra meditation, kirtan, day: 8:30-2:00 PM and 5:00 - 8:00 Sanatan Dharma classes. Vedic Education and Hindi classes for kids.

PM. Call Bharti Sutaria 281-568- Gita classes noon - 1:30 pm Wed. Hanuman Chalisa and Ramcharit 1690 or Jay Deshmukh 832-541- Manas on Tue. 7:30–8:30 p.m. info@sggm.org or 281-499-3347.

0059 or visit www.saum Telugu Fellowship yakasi.org.

Telugu Christian Fellowship meets every third Saturday of the month at Triumph Church, 10555 W. Airport Blvd., Stafford TX 77477 at Gandhi Library 6:30 p.m. Join us for a time of praise, worship and fellowship. Worship Mahatma Gandhi Library Book is in English. Call Chris Gantela 281-344-0707, or Rev. V. Gurrala Club: Meets 2nd Sunday of each 281-997-0757. month; 12:30 PM at Arya Samaj Greater Houston, 13475 Schiller Rd. Join the discussion of the great man’s autobiography – The Story of My Experiments with Truth.

Board Certified in Internal Medicine Call Manish Wani 713-829-6979.

HEMALATHA VIJAYAN, M.D.

Veerashaiva Samaja VSNA Houston is a group of families who believe in Veerashaiva dharma (Basava dharma). Monthly Mahamane program for prayer and discussion on Vachana Sahitya followed by Prasada. Contact: vsnahous ton@gmail.com or Jagadeesh Halyal 832-744-4166.

Gauri Siddhivinayak Temple Darshan from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. All major festivals as well as birthdays, naam karan, engagement and other ceremonies. Call Pandit Pradip Pandya 832-4669868 for puja and other ceremonies. At 5645 Hillcroft Ste 701, Houston, TX 77036.

Mar Thoma Church Trinity Mar Thoma Church every Sunday at 5810 Almeda Genoa Rd. Sunday School at 9:15 a.m.

Malayalam service at 9:30 a.m. on 1st & 3rd Sunday. Adult Bible class at 9:30 a.m. English service at 10:30 a.m. on 2nd & 4th Sunday.

Call 713-991-1557 or 281-2614603.

We Specialize in Treating:

Diabetes Mellitus • Hypertension • Asthma • Arthritis • Heart Lung & Liver Problems • Womens Problems - Pap Smear, Well-Women Exam • Cuts & Injuries, Job & School Physicals • Travel Immunizations

713-778-0692 • We Accept All Insurances: PPO, HMO, Medicare, Medicaid, Cash, Credit Cards

Walk-ins Welcome

Clinic Hours:

Mon-Fri: 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Sat: 9 am to 2 p.m.

8191 SW Frwy • Ste 118 • Houston, TX 77074 Between Channel 2 TV and Denny’s @ Beechnut/S. Gessner Exit

Free Listing

Send brief details of your program for free publication in India Herald.

Email to editor@ india-herald.com

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 9

COMMUNITY NEWS SAMSKRITI to present award-winning documentary, Cosmic Connection Cosmic Connection is not just a run-of-the-mill documentary, but a labor of love, conceived and directed with meticulous care by Seetha Ratnakar, a freelance film director and artistic consultant for dance productions, and former Assistant Station Director, Doordarshan (Indian Television Network).

Cosmic Connection won a Golden Remi (Ethnic/Culture) Award at the 2014 WorldFest International Film Festival, Houston.

Cosmic Connection explores the correlation between the Cosmos, the Cosmic Dancer, and the Dance. Shiva is Nataraja, the Supreme Dancer, whose dance symbolizes the eternal cycles of life and death.

The exquisite postures of His elegant dance have been immortalized in the stone sculptures of Sri Sabanayagar temple at Chidambaram. The divine art of dance offered in temples as one of the sixteen rituals of worship was abolished in the early twentieth century.

In 1981 a group of visionaries started the first Natyanjali Dance Festival in Chidambaram, to bring

back dance to the temples where it belonged. This has evolved into a five day annual event commencing on the auspicious day of Mahasivaratri.

Drawing from this example, many other Shiva temples in Tamil Nadu have started conducting similar dance festivals, making Natyanjali a glorious paean to the Lord of the Dance by dancers who come from all over the world to make their humble offerings (anjali) to Nataraja through their dance (natya). Cosmic Connection captures the vibrant ambiance of the temple dance festivals and the spiritual experience of the dancers.

Seetha Ratnakar has over 40 years of experience in media, starting her career as a copywriter in an advertising agency before moving on to directing programs for Doordarshan, from 1975.

Seetha is a trained classical dancer, having studied Bharatanatyam under Guru “Kalaimamani” K. J. Sarasa and Kuchipudi from Padma Bhushan Dr. Vempati Chinna Satyam, and had performed all over India and abroad for over a decade, before

K. Shanmugam

Sharma Tilal Senanayake, CPA Certified Public Accountant

Off: 713-984-4852 • Cell: 832-283-1677 • Fax: 713-278-1656 Email: sharmasenanayake@yahoo.com Email: sharma@sharma-cpa.com

Web: sharma-cpa.com 7100 Regency Square Blvd Ste 230-7 • Houston, TX 77036

Seetha Ratnakar

Sharma Tilal Senanayake CPA, MA, FCA

* Business & Personal Tax Preparation * Maintain Books of Accounts for Businesses * Project Evaluations and Feasibility Studies * Payroll, Payroll Taxes and Statutory Filing

switching gears and transitioning into dance programming.

At Doordarshan, she had the privilege of directing the performances of almost all the leading dancers of India and these recordings have been preserved in the Doordarshan Archives.

She has also directed several dance ballets for Television, notable among them being “Rasavrishti”, a thematic dance picturisation on the many facets of Lord Krishna, which was India’s official entry at the Golden Prague Festival in 1985.

A true testament to her artistic vision is the documentary “A Tryst with Tradition”, about the iconic founder-director of Kalakshetra, the legendary dancer Rukmini Arundale.

During her career span at the Doordarshan, Seetha has contributed greatly to the development and preservation of dance through aesthetically designed recordings and in-depth coverage of dance festivals, among them the famed Natyanjali Festival of Chidambaram, which she covered for twenty-five years.

Her most memorable experience was the millennium celebration of the Brahadeeswara temple in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu in 2011, where over a thousand dancers performed together in glorious harmony.

Spending long hours admiring the majestic architecture of the temple and watching dancers perform with single minded devotion had a profound influence on her.

Cosmic Connection is her homage to Lord Nataraja, for being her guiding force as a dancer and director and keeping her connected with amazing art and culture all these years.

Following the screening of the documentary, there will be a short Bharatanatyam performance by visiting artist K. Shanmugam, Director, Sarasalaya, Chennai, and a featured performer in the film.

Shanmugam, originally from Malaysia, moved to Chennai to study Bharatanatyam in the graceful and dynamic Vazhuvoor baani under one of its most famous teachers, Kalaimamani K. J. Sarasa. A brilliant and insightful dancer with a tremendous flair for rhythm as well as expression, Shanmugam has made a name for himself as one of the leading male dancers in India.

Teaming with Odissi dancer Ramli Ibrahim, Artistic Director of Sutra Dance Theatre, Malaysia, Shanmugam has conducted the much touted “Narthaka Festival”, specially geared towards male dancers practicing different forms of Indian classical dance. Shanmugam has performed all over the world, at prestigious dance festivals and venues, and regularly conducts workshops in Bharatanatyam in Germany, San Francisco and Houston. He is currently the Director of his Guru’s dance institute, Sarasalaya, in Chennai.

This event is free to the public and will take place from 4 – 6 pm, Sunday, June 28, at the Kaplan Theater, Evelyn Rubinstein Jewish Community Center, 5601 S. Braeswood Blvd, Houston, TX 77096.

For further information, please call 832 275 9658.

This program is funded in part by grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance and through a generous donation from Schlumberger.

Sewa International welcomes ‘Get Inspired Houston’ interns 2015

IMMIGRATION LAW OFFICES OF

DAKSHINI R. SEN, P.C. Attorneys at Law 7100 Regency Square Blvd., Ste. #190 Houston, TX 77036

Tel: 713-278-1677 Fax: 713-278-1656 New York Office: 1123 Broadway, Ste. # 509 New York, NY 10010 Tel/Fax: (212) 242-1677

Dakshini R. Senanayake, B.S., LL.M. Licensed by the Supreme Court of New York Not Licensed in Texas nor certified by any Board of Legal Specialization

H-1B, L1, P3, TN, O1, R1 and other non immigrant visas Green Card thru Employment: PERM / I-140 Green Card thru Family: I-130/I-485 Citizenship Web: www.dakshinisen.com • Email: dakshini@dakshinisen.com

The Get Inspired Houston internship, comprised of fresh faces eager to start, involves college students hailing from schools all over the country yet call Houston home. This year’s group of ten interns is divided into three groups based on their interests: Public Health, Children’s Activities, and Public Relations & Grant Writing. The Public Health interns are working on organizing and hosting three immunization drives, both in the Alief Independent School District and the Los Arcos Apartments. The Children’s Activities interns are busy working on the ASPIRE tutorials program, a tutoring program that is aimed towards elementary aged refugees. They are also hard at work at opening a new school in the San Marcos Apartment Complex. We are all hoping for it to open July 1! The Public Relationships and Grant Writing interns are working on finding grants and putting together all the necessary information to apply for grants. So far, all the interns have been having a great time working together and furthering the Sewa message.

One of the biggest events the interns have had the pleasure of working on was Chai Pe Charcha on June 6th at the Los Arcos Apartments from 3:30 - 5:30. There was a great turnout of about 45 families from the apartment complex. The children were able to participate in finger painting, face painting, and crafts. As for the services offered, a toy drive that was previously held was put to good use as Sewa volunteers helped distribute the donated toys to the children in attendance. Also, an early dinner was provided for those families that came.

The event was originally put together to unite the refugee community for everyone to have a good time while participating in fun events and receiving toys and clothing.

PAGE 10 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

INDIA Sushma, Raje in Lalit Modi passport row

Sushma Swaraj (left) and Vasundhara Raje said they helped Lalit Modi (center) get his travel papers to the U.K. and Portugal

JAIPUR: The raging controversy over External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s links to former IPL chief Lalit Modi took a new direction Tuesday, July 16, with the release of documents that purportedly show Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje secretly supporting his bid to obtain UK immigration papers in 2011.

Documents released by a PR firm, acting on behalf of Modi’s lawyer Mehmood Abdi, suggest that Raje, who was then the state opposition leader, specified that she supported “any immigration application that Lalit Modi makes, but (I) do so on the strict condition that my assistance will not become known to the Indian authorities”.

“This witness statement is provided on the strict understanding that its contents and the identity of its maker are treated confidentially and that it is used only for

the purposes stated in it,” stated the unsigned three-page note, dated August 18, 2011.

It also contains a lengthy description of Raje’s identity, credentials and career, starting with the fact that her father, the last Maharaja of Gwalior, Jivajirao Scindia, was “a prominent Indian politician, having been elected to the Lok Sabha in 1962 as a member of the Indian National Congress”.

Reacting to the release of the documents, Raje said in Jaipur: “Of course, I know the (Modi) family. I have always known them… (But) I do not know what documents they are talking about,” she said.

The documents released by Abdi’s team also contain purported statements from the lawyer himself and Robert Nicholls, founding partner of a South Africa-based security firm con-

tracted by IPL, in support of Modi’s application to the UK Border Agency to allow him to remain in the UK as the representative of an overseas business — Indofil Industries Ltd. Modi moved to London in 2010 after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) launched a number of investigations against him, including on charges of alleged moneylaundering involving crores of rupees.

He subsequently failed to appear before the ED, despite repeated summons, prompting the agency to approach the Ministry of External Affairs seeking the withdrawal of his passport. Modi’s passport was revoked by the Regional Passport Officer in Mumbai on March 3, 2011 — it was restored by the Delhi High Court on August 27, 2014.

Swaraj had admitted on Sunday that she had helped Modi obtain British travel papers last August on “humanitarian grounds” so that he could be with his wife who was undergoing treatment for cancer in Portugal.

The main Opposition party, the Congress, had demanded the resignation of Swaraj for helping Modi and sought an explanation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming that the minister wouldn’t have acted without his “express approval”.

The controversy rose on Sun-

RATHNA KUMAR – ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

www.samskritihouston.org / 832 75 9658

Extends a warm invitation to its Members, Patrons, and all the art lovers of Houston To a screening of the documentary

(Winner of the 2014 Golden Remi Award, Houston International Film Festival)

Concept & Direction

SEETHA RATNAKAR (Former Asst. Station Director, Doordarshan - Indian National Television Network)

Followed by a Bharatanatyam performance by

K. SHANMUGHASUNDARAM (Director, SARASALAYA, Chennai)

SUNDAY, JUNE 28, 4.00 PM – KAPLAN THEATER, JCC (5601 S. Braeswood Blvd, Houston, TX 77096)

FREE PROGRAM – DONATIONS/MEMBERSHIPS WELCOME!!!

This program is part funded by grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts & City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, & through a generous donation from SCHLUMBERGER

day after the UK-based Sunday Times reported that “leaked correspondence” between influential Labour MP Keith Vaz and head of UK Visas and Immigration Sarah Rapson show that Swaraj helped facilitate travel documents for Modi.

The newspaper reported that on July 31, Vaz wrote to Rapson, questioning the initial decision to deny Modi’s plea for travel papers.

According to the paper, Vaz wrote: “The foreign minister of India (Sushma Swaraj) has spoken to me, making it very clear that the Indian government have no objection to the travel document being granted. Mrs Swaraj has also spoken to Sir James Bevan who, even though he was on leave, said he would speak to the relevant person in the Home Office. Frankly, everyone has been involved in this apart from Ban Ki-moon (the UN secretary-general).”

Bevan is the British High Commissioner to India. Less than 24 hours later, says the paper, Modi was granted his travel documents.

CONGRESS ON ATTACK Congress Party leader Anand Sharma said the government’s top leadership was involved in helping Lalit Modi and asked “who decided not to appeal” in his passport case.

The party on Tuesday demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to unearth the “nexus” involving the “senior leadership” of the government which is “protecting and helping” Modi. The party brought the Finance and Home Ministries in its line of attack saying the decision not to appeal in the passport case could not have been taken without their knowledge.

The Congress continued to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming Lalit Modi is personally known to the PM and BJP president Amit Shah. It claimed that Lalit Modi, who secured travel documents from British authorities apparently to go to Portugal to sign consent papers for his wife’s surgery, was holidaying three days after his arrival there. Modi reached Portugal on August 5, 2014, said Congress.

“From 8th onwards, Modi along with wife and another first family member were holidaying at a place called Ibiza, a resort town,” Congress leader Anand Sharma said, calling the government’s “humanitarian angle” position a “facade”.

He added that Swaraj kept the then foreign secretary and senior MEA officials in the dark when she helped Lalit Modi secure travel documents. “ Friends of Modi are protecting him and helping him and the big Modi, PM Narendra Modi, must answer.” He said Lalit Modi had declared bankruptcy in 2012… and was travelling in a private jet and staying in an exotic resort.

“Why is the PM silent? Should we then believe that there is a larger nexus of those who were managing or mismanaging the affairs of the Indian cricket which led to corruption, sleaze, match-fixing and money laundering? After all, Lalit Modi is a friend, he is personally known to the highest leader in the BJP — former president of Gujarat Cricket Association and now PM — president of BJP and president of Gujarat cricket association,” said Sharma. He said a considered decision was taken to not appeal against the High Court order. “It had the endorsement at the highest level of the government.”

14% of urban Indians are constipated NEW DELHI: Piku's father Bhaskor Banerjee, in the latest Shoojit Sircar flick, suffers from severe constipation. As it turns out Mr Banerjee's problem is representative of a disturbing trend. 14% of India's urban population suffers from chronic bowel movement, an inability to pass stools for more than three times in a week and for more than three months at a stretch, a latest study has claimed.

While piles or haemorrhoids, ulcers, abdominal pain, anal fissures and fistula are some of the known medical conditions spawned by constipation, experts say heart attacks and strokes are also common among sufferers.

"Constipation requires straining to pass motions which may cause slower blood circulation resulting in clotting of blood. This in some cases may be a vital cause for heart attacks and strokes," says Dr Brij B Agarwal, vice chairman of the department of laparoscopic and general surgery at Ganga Ram Hospital.

Agarwal said heart attacks, which often occur during morning hours (usually the time to pass stools), are common among constipated patients. Globally, 10% people suffer from the disease.

In India, the incidence is high in Mumbai and Coimbatore, where almost every two out 10 people suffer from chronic constipation. In Delhi and Kolkata, the incidence is 13%. While the incidence is comparatively low in Hyderabad and Lucknow, data indicates suffering is higher in these cities. Around 81% people in Hyderabad and 85% in Lucknow with constipation do not pass motion for three or more consecutive days. Though incidence of chronic constipation increases with age, experts say it has strong links with food habits and lifestyle.

Around 20% of people in the age group of 45 to 65 years were found suffering from chronic constipation, against an overall average of 14%.

20th Anniversary Special Web: www.india-herald.com

Times have changed, but the theme remains the same — community of people of Indian origin in the U.S. Twenty years ago, three of us (Salim Sindhi, Seshadri Kumar and Rajeev Gadgil) took a small, momentous step in our lives.

Rajeev Gadgil and Seshadri Kumar, former colleagues in the Times of India, Bombay, and Salim Sindhi, a self-made desktop publishing and digital wizard, decided to start a new community newspaper in 1995.

We felt our professional skills could be better utilized in the new publication.

(Sindhi has since become a king of web publishing and operates his own business Bulletlink. com from India.)

We distinctly remember Suresh Shenoy of Kirti Jewelers writing the first check for advertising in India Herald and he has continued his support.

Businesses have come and gone. Some have changed their products and services. Some have expanded and grown big in new premises.

Kirti Jewelers, with two others, Aku Patel’s Karat 22 and Gobind and Narain Kamnani’s India Jewelers, Kanwal Oberoi’s Dishaka Imports are examples of success stories as they flourished, moved

1995

• Email: editor@india-herald.com • Tel: 281-980-6746

2015

Web: www.india-herald.com • Editor@india-herald.com; Sales@india-herald.com • Tel: 281-980-6746

India Herald

VOL . 21 NO. 21 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 27, 2015 • P.O. BOX 623 • SUGAR LAND, TX 77487 • PERIODICAL PERMIT USPS 017-699 25 Cents

Mahajans honored by Interfaith Ministries

Devinder and Sushma Mahajan, left, recipients of the Tapestry Gala award presented by the Interfaith Ministries of Greater Houston with singer Kenneth Gayle and India’s Consul-General P. Harish, right, on May 21 at Hilton Americas. Photo AlexanderPortraits.

By SESHADRI KUMAR Interfaith Ministries for Greater Houston held its seventh annual Tapestry Gala on May 21 at the Hilton Americas Houston and raised $950,000.

The event celebrated Houston’s great diversity in cultures, ethnicities and faith traditions with guests of different religions, many wearing traditional ethnic clothing.

The evening raised funds for the organization’s many services with Shell Oil Company and Motiva Enterprises LLC leading the way as Presenting Sponsor.

The Tapestry Gala was chaired by Paula Sutton and Bill

Gross, Karen and Jay Harberg and Leena and Ash Shah with honorary chairs Anne and John Mendelsohn, M.D. The evening honored Dr. Sushma and Devinder Mahajan with the Tapestry Award, which recognizes community leaders who have shown remarkable dignity through tangible work for the betterment of Houston and the world.

Sushma and Devinder Mahajan are the founding members of Arya Samaj of Greater Houston and the Vedic Culture Center. Arya Samaj manages two schools, DAV Montessoi School, and DAV Sanskriti Sunday School.

Under the leadership of See MAHAJANS Page 12

George Washington University rescinds decision in Hindu Swastika case The Hindu American Foundation (HAF) applauded the George Washington University’s (GW) decision to rescind its interim suspension issued against a student who displayed a Hindu swastika in his fraternity house, and to allow the student to return to campus. Previously, HAF directed an open letter to GW’s President Steven Knapp, asking the University not to expel the student.

“The University’s actions reflect the facts of this case and the efforts by Hindu organizations to educate campus officials about the sacredness of the Hindu swastika,” said

Harsh Voruganti, Esq., HAF Associate Director of Public Policy, also an alumnus of the GW law school, who testified on behalf of the student at the disciplinary hearing. “We hope to continue to work with the University and student groups to provide resources on the swastika and to further the dialogue.”

The Hindu swastika was displayed by the student on March 16, and mistaken by another student for a Nazi swastika, a distinct symbol used by the German Nazi party and other hate groups. Although the student withdrew his complaint See SWASTIKA, Page 10

ABLE MORTGAGE Amiralli Dodhiya (AMIR) Agent New York Life Insurance Company

13135 Dairy Ashford Rd, Ste 550, Sugar Land, TX 77478

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Nandita Harish and Consul-general P. Harish present a plaque to Raj and Jugal Malani and (Kiran and Ramesh Bhutada, rear,) for their outstanding contributions to Ekal Vidyalaya. Ekal Houston chapter held a fundraiser at Stafford center on May 22.

Story on Page 6.

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into expanded premises and have continued to advertise in India Herald even today.

Insurance professional Ronnie Patel, husband and wife team of dentists Darshani Patel and Sanjeev Khosla and Roger Israni of Testmasters were early supporters and have continued with us without a break. George Willy, F.S. Halim and K. Walji were among the first immigration attorneys who used to advertise in the beginning. Willy continues his support even today, and many others have joined since.

The very first issue of India Herald carried a story on the number of South Asians in Houston. Noted demographer Bala Balachandran wrote the article.

Not many of us could have foreseen the rapid growth in numbers of the Indian community in Houston which has more than tripled in the last 20 years. It was prescient.

Indian businesses like grocery stores, restaurants, travel agencies, electronics stores and saree stores used to be concentrated in the Hillcroft area, now named Mahatma Gandhi Business District.

Today the Indian community has grown and spread all around the Greater Houston area in Sugar Land, Katy, Spring, Clear Lake, Pearland and so on. Consequent-

ly, there is a mini-Indian business district in all these areas. Indian grocery stores and restaurants, a handful in 1990s, have now grown into dozens.

The most remarkable change in landscape is noticeable in the number of temples, religious organizations and social and cultural organizations. All of them put together are close to 100.

In 1995, Sri Meenakshi Temple in Pearland, after 11 years of its existence, built its authentic temple tower and held its consecration ceremony. The temple expansion continues even today.

Organizations like the Arya Samaj of Greater Houston and Chinmaya Mission Houston have now their own premises.

India House is a major addition to the community. Gujarati Samaj of Houston has embarked on building its new community center, juts to name a few. Also, major charity organizations like Pratham and Ekal Vidyalaya were started in Houston.

Technology, as a double-edged sword, has helped us produce the newspaper much more easily and quickly than in the past. Yet, the advent of the Internet has cut into the print newspaper industry.

This is generally true of major newspapers, but community newspapers have still some life

left. Television did not kill the newspapers. The internet too may not kill the community newspaper for some more years.

Even later, there will be a need for community news, maybe in digital form, if not in print.

The newspaper content has also changed. Two decades ago, with the nascent arrival of the Internet, news from India was obtained from traditional sources.

Consequently, community newspapers like ours picked up information from Indian media and informed the Indian American community.

Today, news is instantly available on smartphones. So the need for bringing news from India is minimal.

At the same time, information concerning Indian Americans here locally in Houston and in the U.S. has become abundant to justify an ethnic newspaper devoted to covering the Indian community here. From the very beginning, our focus has been on Indians living here and their success stories to nourish our news pages. There are plenty of stories every month of the academic success of our children, of our young professionals climbing the corporate ladder and getting appointed to key posts in local, state and federal governments.

Nothing succeeds like success, it is said. Did we succeed as a newspaper? Yes. Survival for 20 years is a testament.

India Herald’s goal has been shaped more by its emphasis on publishing and professional journalism than building a publishing empire.

The prime motivation was to make use of our own skills to earn a decent livelihood. Consequently, the business side took a back seat. But, we consider our business a success as we define success as satisfaction.

We could not have dreamt of publishing a newspaper, in fact two, including Seshadri Kumar’s other venture, the Fort Bend Independent, if we were still in India or in Dubai.

We have profited immensely from the good will of the community we have earned over the years and the support of our spouses.

We have profited by establishing a stable community newspaper and giving the Indian community its ethnic voice through India Herald. Blending our experience with ability to adapt to the future, we will continue the calling of journalism, with a great sense of satisfaction.

—SESHADRI KUMAR RAJEEV GADGIL

PAGE 2 • INDIA HERALD 20TH ANNIVERSARY • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

Ekal Vidyalaya

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National Office: 1712 Hwy. 6 South, Suite A, Houston, TX 77077 Phone: 1-855-EKAL-USA Fax: (281) 668-5251 Ekal Vidyalaya Foundation of USA is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization - Tax ID 77-0554248

The mission of Ekal Vidyalaya is to eradicate illiteracy from rural and tribal India.

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INDIA HERALD 20TH ANNIVERSARY• WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 3

Importance of cultural self identity and the role of Hindu Youth

Namaste, Everyone!

Today, I would like to define “Cultural Self Identity” as I understand it, its importance and then try to elaborate on what can be done by us, Hindu Youth, in this regard to strengthen it!

Cultural identity... is a feeling of belonging to any kind of social group that has its own distinct culture… Culture in terms of location, race, history, language, religious beliefs, ethnicity, aesthetics, and even food.

America is a nation of hyphenated identities: MuslimAmericans, Hindu-Americans, Japanese-Americans, IndianAmericans … we hear these words all the time. So the cultural identity that frames us is “Hindu/Indian-American”.

And this identity has proudly steeped into a “historical reservoir” of at least 10,000 years.

What is its Importance? * Knowing about it makes one comfortable about why we do what we do; not being mute when questioned. * Ours is the World’s oldest continuous civilization… that has survived through ma-

jor periods of historical strife, numerous invasions, colonization, partitions, internal divisions, and even the onslaught of westernization in recent times! We should ensure it not just survives but also thrives! * Hindu culture is a force for Good! … Its preservation is paramount! “Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitaha”… Dharma protects those who protect it!

Sanatana Dharma with its inherently superior value system - Inclusiveness, Non-Violence, Celebration of Truth, Diversity, Pluralism, Mutual Respect, Free Thinking, and Respect to the Nature and Environment - is the way forward for humanity! … For everlasting Peace and Prosperity! It needs to protected and nurtured.

What can Hindu Youth do to strengthen it? * Projecting Hindu Culture and Values when there is an opportunity, is an excellent way. So, here are some things we did at school... a) Biography Day - My brother dressed up as a famous personality: Swami Vivekananda.

b) Pi Day - I highlighted Ramanujan’s famous formulas and his contributions. c) Multi-Cultural Day - I sang Santatam Pahimam and explained how Muthuswami Dikshitar’s famous song is linked to My Country, ‘Tis of Thee and the British National Anthem, God Save the Queen.

I also sang to indicate that the exact tune was copied. d) DeepavaLi - I gave teachers gifts on the occasion of the festival and explained the importance of lighting clay Diyas and their significance. e) Parent Story Telling – I told my mom about it and she read Indian based stories such as Panchatantra and Jaataka tales. f) Career Day – I told my mom and she came with her Carnatic music set and explained to the kids how Music could be hobby or career.

IN GENERAL * Attending Sunday schools conducted by Dharmic organization and being part of new initiatives that continuously expand your horizon. * Connecting and associating with other Hindus, like in

Hindu camps, further immersing yourself in this identity thus enriching your experiences. * Connecting with non-Hindus, celebrating Dharma and its values - GuruVandana is an example where we explained the importance of the GuRu, Goddess Saraswati and emphasis on Knowledge. * As you may already know, the upcoming International Yoga Day on June 21st is an excellent time to ask your friends everywhere to join the cause for better health, harmony, & peace. * Identifying White-Washed History and rediscovering truths about your culture and yourself … thus contributing to text book correction as nationwide textbooks misinterpret Hinduism and Indian culture. * Developing leadership skills to become articulate and well versed to maneuver through American dynamics to counter and campaign against violations against our people, traditions, and culture.

All said, but hardly done, preserving and propagating Hindu Cultural Self Identity is a responsibility for all of us, young or old! I hope that to-

gether we can do more! Thank you, and Namaste!

Adarsha Prahalad is grade 8 student in Quail Valley Middle School. He delivered the above speech at a book launch organized by the Indian History & Awareness Project.

Indian History Awareness & Research, a research arm of Arsha Vidya Satsanga hosted a book release ceremony to celebrate the Houston launch of Rearming Hinduism — Nature Hinduphobia and the Return of Indian Intelligence

by Vamsee K. Juluri on June 7.

PAGE 2 • INDIA HERALD 20TH ANNIVERSARY • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

Congratulations to

,QGLD +HUDOG On Serving the community with fair and balanced reporting for 20 years.

As a community, let us accept collective responsibility to discharge the debt we owe to those of high and low estate, who have served and sacrificed so that the heritage of American spirit and citizenship is ours. Commit to serve in unity with those seeking betterment for all.

Naren & Hansa Patel

Congratulations to

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PAGE 6 • INDIA HERALD 20TH ANNIVERSARY • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

Abhinaya School of Dance congratulates India Herald on its 20th anniversary Rasaanubhava’15 – Abhinaya School Student showcase

Colors, patterns and the joy for dancing was evident of Rasaanubhava’15, the annual student showcase of Abhinaya School of Performing Arts, at the Kaplan Theater,JCC Houston on May 17, 2015 The artistic director & teacher Indrani Parthasarathy, is well versed in the Pandanallur style of Bharathanatyam and also trained in Kuchipudi style of dancing.

She is the daughter of the dance Guru Karnataka Kalathilaka Smt.Radha Sridhar of Bangalore.

Indrani has to her credit more than 150 solo performances and has been a performer in India, UAE and USA and has been a part of her mother’s dance drama productions.

Indrani established the Abhinaya School of Performing Arts in 2001 which is originally based in Katy has now has grown and has branches in Cypress and Pearland.

The annual recital began part one featuring with the junior student performances – Nrithya Namaskaram. Anupama Nagasimha, teacher, welcomed the guests and introduced the dances.

The junior students then presented a neatly synchronized performance maintaining their lines and formations.

Besides performing classical portions dances they had learnt over the year they also performed dances specially choreographed to popular folk and fusion numbers. The students performed with fervor and confidence in their coordinated costumes.

The senior segment Nrithya Nivedanam - a tribute to deities began 4:30 pm. Emceed by B.Sheshadrivasan from Bangalore, India, the senior recital had an array of beautifully choreographed traditional classical dances like Mallari, Shabdam, Varnam, Jathiswaram,Bhajan Keerthanams, Devaranama, Abhang and Thillana.

This was followed by dances choreographed to Indian contemporary musical pieces like Malhar, Dhirana, A piece for peace and Amruthavarshini.

The finale was a presentation called Rangoli which featured dances choreographed to popular semi-classical and folk movie songs carefully selected to suit the classical

theme of the performance.

The joy for dancing was evident on the faces of the students as they performed.

The recital ended with a happy note about the student performances by Artistic director Indrani Parthasarathy.

Website: www.abhinayaschool.org Photo Credits: Murali Santana

Sri Meenakshi Temple Society 17130 McLean Road, Pearland, TX-77584 Tel: (281)-489-0358 Ext. 100/110

www.eMeenakshi.org

Sri Meenakshi Temple Congratulates India Herald on celebrating twenty years of serving Houston

Best Wishes to India Herald readers as we look forward to celebrating the Maha Kumbhabhishekam in November 2015 with the completion of the Main Temple Renovation Project

INDIA HERALD 20TH ANNIVERSARY• WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 7

20

Beautiful and Informative Years of India Herald.

We congratulate India Herald for their continuous commitment to journalism, creating awareness and bringing the community together here in Houston.

Trustees | Board of Directors | Council Members

Your House… My House… Our House

India House invites you to a cultural evening with Naach Houston.

An exciting Bollywood show at Houston’s iconic and premier performance venue, the Miller Outdoor Theatre, 6000 Hermann Park Drive, Houston 77030, Saturday, June 28th, 8:30 pm.

India House Programs WELLNESS CENTER India House Charity Volunteer Clinic Saturday 9:00 am - 12:30 pm By appointments only Free Yoga Classes Tuesday & Thursday 11:00 am - 12:00 pm Saturday 10:00 am - 11:00 am Free Meditation Classes Saturday 11:00 am - 11:30 am

LEGAL CENTER Free legal consultation by volunteer attorneys. By appointments only Family Law Tuesday 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm Probate Law & Health Directives Wednesday 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm Immigration Saturday 1:00 pm - 3:00pm

URBAN YOUTH PROGRAM Summer Enrichment Camp June 1 - August 14 Monday - Friday 7:30 am - 6:00 pm After-School Tutorial Program Starting August Monday - Friday 3:00 pm - 6:00 pm

EVENT RENTALS Ballroom (capacity 563), ConferenceRoom and Classrooms are available for rentals, for Weddings, Receptions, Conferences, Meetings, Graduations, Birthday Parties and more.

Bollywood & Classical Dance Classes Saturday & Sunday Tapped Ball Cricket Saturday & Sunday Free Kidney Smart Classes 4th Thursday of each month 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm Sareen Clinic (Harris Health System) Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:00 pm Saturday 9:00 am - 11:00 am For more information and appointments contact: 713-929-1900 • 8888 West Bellfort Ave., Houston, TX 77031 • Vipin@indiahouseinc.org • www.indiahouseinc.org

PAGE 8 • INDIA HERALD 20TH ANNIVERSARY • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 19

INDIA MP ‘threatens’ airhostess

Pappu Yadav

NEW DELHI: Bihar Member of Parliament Pappu Yadav’s allegedly unruly behaviour with an airhostess on a Patna-Delhi Jet Airways flight on Tuesday forced the captain to seek priority landing in the capital and ask for security presence at the arrival gate.

Yadav's ire was directed at a senior airhostess who tried to enforce safety rules, and the lawmaker reportedly threatened to beat her with his 'chappal'. The airhostess has complained in writing to the airline, certified as "true and authentic" by the captain.

The Lok Sabha member, recently expelled from Lalu Yadav's RJD, denied the incident. "Complaint thane mein kyon nahin ki?

Hamara koi matter nahi hai. The crew had an issue with four other business class passengers. Un chaaron se baat kariye aap," Pappu Yadav (real name Rajesh Ranjan) told the Times of India The crew's troubles with Yadav and his aide, the complaint says, began at boarding time. Yadav was the last to enter the plane with his assistant and they refused to put their seats in upright position and switch off their cell phones despite being told to do so repeatedly.

"While having lunch on the

flight, 1A (Pappu's seat number) dropped the dessert on his bag kept near his feet and asked the crew to clean it. (He) told the crew MPs don't do this work. 1A took off his chappal and showed it (to) the crew. Told the crew he would hit them with it if the crew told him anything," the written complaint says.

The harried senior inflight supervisor informed flight Captain Rajesh Singh Sehgal about Yadav's behaviour. Captain Sehgal alerted Delhi air traffic control that an unruly passenger was on board and sought "immediate vector" (to be put ahead of other planes) for landing. Security personnel were present at the arrival gate when the plane landed.

"For landing, 1A refused to upright his seat and unfastened his seat belt... After opening doors, 1A manhandled me and pushed me aside with force to get out of the aircraft.... I went to the cockpit to inform the captain. I was in tears and physically hurt," the complaint says. "The captain immediately came out of the cockpit and instructed passengers to return to their seats as Mr Rajesh Ranjan was shouting — 'I'm an MP and you can't do anything to me'," it adds.

A Jet Airways spokesman confirmed the incident. However, no action may be taken against Yadav as the crew did not file a police complaint. Sources said the crew want Jet Airways, with whom they have lodged their complaint, to take further action.

Jet sources, however, the crew has to file complaint and the airline will back them up. But given Pappu's political clout airline sources say the crew may not muster courage to do so.

Police kill Akali Dal leader by ‘mistake’ AMRITSAR: An Akali Dal leader was shot dead in his car on Tuesday evening, June 16, by an Amritsar police party in civil clothes, who reportedly intercepted his car and fired indiscriminately at him, killing him on the spot. The incident triggered strong protests by district Akali leaders, led by Shiromani Akali Dal’s Amritsar (Urban) president, Upkar Singh Sandhu.

Amritsar Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh, said Mukhjeet Singh Mukha, the Youth Akali Dal leader in charge of ward number 16 in Amritsar Municipal Corporation, was killed after police opened retaliatory fire, while suspecting him to be the notorious gangster, Jagdeep Singh Jaggu, who is wanted in several criminal cases.

“We had information that Jaggu was in the area, travelling in a car without a number plate. A police party tried to stop the car, but it sped away. When police chased and intercepted his car, the person opened fire, injuring head constable Rajesh Kumar. The police party fired in retaliation,” said Aulakh.

But, Mukhjeet’s family and SAD leadership blamed the police for killing Mukhjeet in a “planned manner”.

Mukhjeet’s nephew, Prince, while standing next to the car involved in the incident and with Mukhjeet’s blood-soaked body still inside it, alleged that “number plates of the car were removed” after his uncle was shot dead. He claimed that his uncle did not open fire and the police kept his licensed weapon on the seat after the incident.

Prince also spoke about his uncle’s dispute with a rival group over an “objectionable status” that was posted on internet. He added that after a complaint was lodged against them, the group had come to their locality looking for his uncle last month and, during a heated argument, allegedly shot at a neighbor — Gurdev Singh — who had told them to behave. Gurdev Singh later succumbed to his injuries.

Speaking about the case, SAD leader, Sandhu said: “Today, Mukhjeet had met senior police officials to seek the arrest of the accused in the Gurdev murder case.”

Calling the incident a “supari killing”, he also demanded a case of murder against the policemen. “Mukhjeet was carrying out a membership drive for the Youth Akali Dal. The list of members is inside the car. Police are wrong in claiming that he opened fire,” Sandhu said.

Yoga lessons from Muslim teacher PATNA: BJP President Amit Shah will take lessons from a Muslim yoga teacher at a special camp in Patna on June 21 – International Yoga Day. “Yoga experts Mohd Tamanna and Ashok Sarkar will teach yoga to Shah at Moinul Haque stadium here,” Ajit Kumar, in-charge of Bihar-Jharkhand Patanjali Yogpeeth, said on Tuesday.

He said Tamanna will give tips on yoga to Shah.

BJP: Nitish Kumar’s attack on Amit Shah sign of desperation NDA to campaign jointly in Bihar, Amit Shah meets Ram Vilas Paswan Bharatiya Janata Party chief Amit Shah chalks out Bihar strategy with leaders At least half a dozen union ministers from Bihar, including Ravi Shankar Prasad, Rajeev Pratap Rudy, Radha Mohan Singh and Ram Kirpal Yadav, will also attend the yoga camp in Patna.

Shah’s plans to attend the yoga camp here has become a political issue.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and said they had made yoga a matter of “show-off and publicity”.

He termed BJP’s move to hold a yoga camp on June 21 a “drama”, following which Telecommunications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad advised Nitish Kumar to practice ‘pranayam’ for peace of mind.

‘Empty promises’ by Modi, Kejriwal NEW DELHI: Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, saying change cannot be brought by merely making promises and alleged that poor were being deprived of their rights in the name of development.

Putting his weight behind sanitation workers from civic bodies agitating for payment of salary dues at Jantar Mantar here, the Congress Vice President sought to link their demands with the “honour” of the poor and said he would stand by them for any cause to put up a united fight.

“This is not a fight for Delhi’s cleanliness, a fight for the country’s cleanliness. This is a fight for your honor. I wanted to bring some of my strength to you.

Together we will show what your strength is,” he said.

“Modiji and Kejriwal think that after merely making promises they can bring about a change. No change can be brought by making promises. A change can be brought only after standing here and exerting pressure” he said.

Talking the safai karamcharis for the second time in six days, he said, “You may think I have come to speak for safai karamcharis.

These speeches are for the poor farmers, laborers, safai karamcharis and all weak and oppressed of the entire country.”

Spit on street - pay fine, do community service MUMBAI: Spitting on streets could cost people dear as the state cabinet on Tuesday, June 16, approved an innovative anti-spitting law that combines a fine with mandatory community service.

The first time a citizen is caught spitting, he or she will have to shell out Rs 1,000 as fine and take a day out to do social work at a public hospital or a government office. Second-time offenders will have to pay Rs 3,000 plus three-day community service, and repeat offenders Rs 5,000 plus five-day service, respectively. The amount collected in fines will be used only for healthcare services.

"We have discussed the issue in the cabinet meeting and decided to form a committee led by health minister Dr Deepak Sawant. Their report will be submitted within a month," said chief minister Devendra Fadnavis at a press conference after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.

Dr Sawant, who has been working on the draft for months, said the law will be in place within the next six months. The anti-spitting bill will now have to cleared in both the state legislature houses. "The offender should do community service in a government hospital or office, like take on sweeping for a day or more. Designated officers will be appointed in every establishment," added Dr Sawant.

The law is likely to act as a precursor to banning chewing tobacco in public. People who chew tobacco cannot avoid spitting because tobacco stimulates the salivary glands to produce more saliva. "The harms of passive smoking led to the ban on smoking in public places.

Now, the recognition about how spitting can spread infectious diseases will lead to a ban on chewing tobacco at public places,'' said cancer specialist and anti-tobacco activist Dr Pankaj Chaturvedi from Tata Memorial Hospital.

Dr A Bamne, executive health officer of BMC, said an anti-spitting law would bring down transmission of all airborne diseases. "It will also affect tobacco-chewers as they will be restrained from spitting out tobacco. This is a move towards a healthy lifestyle," said Dr Bamne.

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PAGE 20 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

INDIA

Haryana men go south in search of brides

File photo of a Khap panchayat

By Sharada Srinivasan & S. Irudaya Rajan The Hindu Some trends seem astonishing at first, but begin to make sense when closely examined. The case of Kerala women marrying Haryanvi men is one such example. Why would women from a State known for its excellent social and human development indicators, particularly its treatment of women, marry men from a State infamous for its skewed sex ratio?

Recent newspaper reports show that in the context of a huge sex ratio imbalance and an imminent shortage of brides, several Haryanvi men are heading to Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala in search of brides.

In order to understand the nature of these marriages and the motivations of these women, we visited Kerala recently.

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Family Law Tuesday 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Probate Law & Health Directives Wednesday 6:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Immigration Saturday 1:00 pm - 3:00pm

EVENT RENTALS Ballroom (capacity 563), Conference-Room and Classrooms are available for rentals for Weddings, Receptions, Conferences, Meetings, Graduations, Birthday Parties…

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In a hegemonic and heteronormative society, not being married carries a huge cost, as desperate Haryanvi men seeking wives know only too well.

In our study, we found that several men who may not have been seen as marriageable in the local context have made their way to Kerala with no expectation except that of getting a wife.

Typically, the brides came from very poor families with more than one daughter.

And when the women are above a certain ‘marriageable’ age, it is considered better for them to be married than remain single. It is these women, priced out of marriage in Kerala, who marry Haryanvi men. As the father of a recent such bride put it, “If the family was well off, the girl would not be married away in Haryana”.

The case of Rani (name changed) points to the troubling aspect of this arrangement: how marriage is regarded as indispensable, and how women, in particular, incur the greater costs in the process.

Rani, about 32 years old, has studied up to Class 8. About eight or nine years ago, she married a man from Haryana and now has two children.

She was introduced to her husband through a relative (also married in Haryana to a Haryanvi but returned to Kerala to marry a Malayali).

But Rani did not see her fiancé or even his photo until the day of the wedding. “He was quite old,” she recalls. Rani’s wedding was not registered in the temple or in the Panchayat, as is the norm, as it took place on a holiday.

She and her husband left for Haryana in a hurry and she does not have a photo of her wedding or even one of her husband and her together. Upon her arrival in Haryana, she discovered that her husband was an alcoholic, and he would regularly abuse her.

Thankfully, with the support of her two brothers and her mother, who paid her train fare, Rani was able to keep coming home.

Finally, last year, Rani decided that she had had enough. She fought with her husband and returned to Kerala permanently.

Soon after, her husband fell sick and died.

When she went back to Haryana and asked for his death certificate, his elder brother convinced her to sign a blank sheet of paper and gave her a photocopy of the death certificate. She realised that the document would be used to cut her off from any claim to her late husband’s house and the little property his family owned, but signed it anyway. True to her fears, she has not heard from them since.

Several other cases show a pattern in the treatment of women in such marriages.

In one, a woman tried contacting her Haryana husband’s family after his death, but she was told there was no one by that name.

In another, a woman suffering from cancer died in Kerala, but

her Haryana husband did not come to see her, either during treatment or after her death.

Her mother told us, “We spent on her treatment because she is our daughter. Who else will do it?”

All the families we spoke to said the same thing: that they had agreed to their daughters’ marriage to complete strangers and going away to a distant place so that they would have someone to take care of them in future.

This underlined a bitter fact: that marriage in India is still believed to be the only route to a good future for a woman. If the marriage goes well, this wish is fulfilled; if not, she bears the consequences. Many families rush into such marriages with little knowledge about the groom or his circumstances.

Some family members rationalised these marriages away as the woman’s ‘destiny’ —“whatever is written in one’s fate is what one gets” said a maternal uncle, whose niece married a Haryana man who turned out to be a different person from the man they saw in the photograph.

In all these marriages, both the family and the woman agree reluctantly to the marriage because the woman is desperate to reduce the “burden” on her family and the family is desperate to find her a good life in the form of a happy marriage.

It was distressing to listen to how these women agreed to venture into the unknown, to settle in places where they didn’t speak the local language, where the food was unfamiliar, social norms restrictive, and where discrimination based on skin colour are prevalent. At the same time, their courage is equally startling.

The only silver lining was that in some cases, the women managed to come back to Kerala along with their husbands, and both settled down there.

Recent research pointed out that development may have contributed to a rise in the age of marriage in India, but the institution remains strong and is unlikely to break down in the near future. Our study just reinforced this point.

(Sharada Srinivasan is Canada Research Chair in Gender, Justice and Development at the University of Guelph, Canada.

Email: sharada@uoguelph.ca. S.Irudaya Rajan is Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Kerala. Email: rajancds@gmail.com.)

Worst year for heat-related deaths Summer 2015 could be the most lethal year for heatstroke in India’s history. With 1,345 deaths from heatstroke reported in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana alone so far this year, the death toll in those two states alone has already surpassed that of India last year.

Every year, somewhere in the region of 1,000 people die of heatstroke, largely during the month of May, according to National Crime Records Bureau data.

Since 1990, nearly 20,000 people have died of heatstroke across the country, 1995 being the previous worst year with 1677 deaths.Most years, the heat kills more people in India than the cold. Of all natural event-related accidental deaths, only lightning kills more people than the heat in India.

By official statistics, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana (referred to as Andhra Pradesh only in statistics prior to 2014) have always been the epicentre of the May-June spike in temperatures in India.

As with most deaths from natural events in India, deaths from heatstroke is a gendered phenomenon - far more men, who are more likely to be working outdoors, die of heat than women.

The major caveat to all of this is that these are police statistics.

Official data only counts deaths in which heatstroke is established to be the cause in police records, usually through a post-mortem. This means that official data is likely to be vastly underestimated, especially among the poor who are less likely to die in hospitals.

A better way to arrive at a realistic number is to study the “excess mortality” in a given area during a heat wave, after accounting for the usual mortality patterns for that city or village for that time of year.

Using this method, a study found, for instance, that 1,300 people likely died of the heat in the 2010 Ahmedabad heat wave.

VHP collects stones for Ram temple Asserting its resolve to build the Ram temple, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Wednesday said it would launch a nationwide drive to collect stones for construction of the temple here and asked the Muslim community not to pose any hindrance.

“About 2.25 lakhs cubic ft of stones are required for the construction of the Ram temple and about 1.25 lakh cubic ft of stones are ready at the VHP’s headquarter in Ayodhya. The rest one lakh cubic ft stones would be collected nationwide from Hindu devotees,” VHP leader Ashok Singhal said.

Singhal said that within one year, these stones would be collected and gathered in Ayodhya.

Stone-carving for the construction of the Ram temple would be speeded up so that within a year all stones were ready for the construction, Mr. Singhal said addressing a press conference here after the executive body meeting of the Ram Janma Bhoomi Nyas trust, which is the VHP’s supreme body empowered to take decisions on the temple construction issue.

“The Muslim community should leave their claim over Ayodhya, Mathura and Kashi,” the VHP leader said.

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 21

PAKISTAN Pakistan hosts 2nd highest refugee population government to expedite the return of refugees. “We want Pakistan’s support till all the refugees return to Afghanistan,” he remarked.

Karachi Commissioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui supported safeguarding of the rights of refugees.

“It is essential to think of the refugees because they are part of the world orKARACHI: Pakistan hosts as many as 1.5 million refugees, which is the second largest number in the world after Turkey, which is home to 1.59 million Syrian refugees, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“It is alarming to see the rise of violence and emergence of new conflicts, forcing populations to flee their homes and end up as refugees in other countries. This is an international catastrophe which needs global attention,” said Shah Ahmed Saeed, consul general of Afghanistan at an event held here on World Refugee Day, June 13.

It was also stated that globally the ongoing conflict in Syria was producing the highest number of refugees, while the Afghan refugees in south-west Asia remained the world’s most protracted refugee population, with 95 per cent of this population being in Pakistan and Iran.

Saeed added that it was the top priority of the Afghanistan government to encourage, assist and support the repatriation of refugees and their resumption of normal life, both socially and economically. However, the Afghan diplomat admitted that it could not alone stand up to the task.

“We have been asking donors to divert their attention to assisting in reintegration; we have to ensure for them shelter, jobs, clean drinking water and a peaceful and secure environment to live.”

Problems faced by the Afghan refugees in Pakistan were also highlighted, with the consul general mentioning the issue of the Proof of Registration (PoR) cards.

“While some of the refugees do have PoR cards, others have not yet obtained them. We had a successful talk between Minister of States of Frontier Regions general Abdul Qadir Baloch and Afghan Minister for Refugees and Repatriation Said Hussain Alimi Balkhi, and Mr Baloch said PoR cards would be given to the refugees so that they could enjoy their benefits.”

The bulk of Afghan refugees is still concentrated in Pakistan and Iran, but many have repatriated in the last decade because of the establishment of an interim government in Afghanistan.

Saeed said the Afghan government was working with the Pakistan

Modi calls Sharif in move to ease tension ISLAMABAD: The prime ministers of Pakistan and India stressed the need for peaceful and friendly bilateral ties on Tuesday after Narendra Modi called Nawaz Sharif to extend Ramazan greetings. The conversation took place against the backdrop of hostile statements made by the Indian leader and some of his cabinet’s members against Pakistan.

“He reiterated to Prime Minister Sharif his message of peaceful, friendly and cooperative relations between the two countries,” the Indian ministry of external affairs said.

According to Prime Minister Sharif’s office, the conversation lasted five minutes.

Sharif told his Indian counterpart that the two countries should put aside their differences and move towards peace for the sake of their people.

“Our bilateral differences should not be allowed to become obstacle in the way of normal relations,” he was quoted as having said.

Sharif had last week, at a conference of envoys posted in countries in the region, criticised India for not reciprocating his peace gestures, but added: “We will continue our quest for a peaceful neighbourhood.”

Modi also called Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Afghan President Dr Ashraf Ghani to greet them on the occasion.

As a goodwill gesture, the Indian premier also announced the release of Pakistani fishermen detained in India. “Also conveyed to PM Sharif our decision to release detained Pakistani fishermen on this pious occasion. The fishermen released will be able to be with their families to observe this blessed month,” Modi tweeted.

Sharif also ordered the rel-ase of Indian fishermen languishing in Pakistani jails. US Secretary of State John Kerry also phoned Prime Minister Sharif and lauded his commitment to establishing a peaceful South Asia.

According to a statement issued by PM Office, Kerry praised the prime minister’s counter-terrorism policy.Nawaz Sharif said Islama-bad was keen to expand ties with Washington. He referred to a national consensus in Pakistan against terrorism.

der and world peace. If they are neglected, we will be giving rise to frustration which will be a threat to law and order,” he said.

Sahibzada Younas of the UNHCR Karachi said there was a need to bridge the gap between the privileged and the under-privileged in society, which includes the refugees. This he said could only be done if one the commonality between the two segments is highlighted.

The stories of two of the Afghan refugees were also shared with the audience. Khair Muhammad, hailing from Kunduz province of Afghanistan, spoke about his forcible recruitment by the Afghan government to fight against the Taliban, when he was only in grade nine.

“We were pushed into a bloody war without our free will. We were not allowed to travel through roads or highways, so we had to walk our way out of the country.

Many died on the way and were buried there. It seemed like we had no destination and no purpose,” said Khair Muhammad describing his arduous journey to Pakistan.

In 1997, he and his family settled in Gadap Town, Karachi, where he completed his education and learnt speaking English.

He is now working as an interpreter at the Society for Human Rights and Prisoners Aid, which is one of the UNHCR’s main implementing partners, and is also studying human resource at the Institute of Business and Technology.

“I believe that a single man can change the circumstance of his life,” said Khair Muhammad.

After Zardari tirade, Sharif stands by military ISLAMABAD: A day after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) cochairperson and former president Asif Ali Zardari unleashed his tirade against the military leadership, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday, June 17, stepped in to defend the armed forces.

The statement from PM House quoted Nawaz as saying during a meeting on political consultations that criticism of the armed forces encourages destabilising factors in the country, adding that under the current circumstances criticising the armed forces was not an appropriate step.

He further said that the operation against terrorism is in its critical stages, adding that national unity was the need of hour.

"Coordination between the civilian and military leadership has strengthened democracy. This harmony is evident in the decisions taken by the All Parties Conferences (APC) during which the civilian and military leadership set joint national targets," the statement said.

Nawaz also underscored that the process should continue with the same passion.

In an uncharacteristically aggressive speech, Zardari on Tuesday lashed out against what he called “the character assassination of his party” and warned the military leadership that if they did not stop, he would expose the misdeeds of many generals.

The former president said army chiefs come and go every three years but the political leadership was here to stay. “We know the country better and we know how to run its affairs," he stressed.

The federal government assured the Senate that there is no plan to dislodge the Sindh government.

"The government could have dislodged the Sindh government when there were daily target killings," State Minister for Interior Baligur Rehman told Senate in response to a call attention notice moved by PPP over the raid conducted by Sindh Rangers on Karachi Building Control Authority.

The notice, which was moved by PPP senator Farhatullah Babar, said that the Rangers' raid on the Karachi Building Control Authority and other offices on Monday amounted to taking over the functions of the provincial government, and questioned the motives of the paramilitary force behind its overzealous but illegal drive.

He said that the Rangers had been requisitioned in Karachi under Article 147 of the Constitution and under Section 4 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) specifically to prevent the commission of terrorist acts and other scheduled offences in notified areas. "Issues in corruption and governance must be addressed resolutely without fear or favour through legal institutions like NAB, PAC, anti-corruption departments and courts and not by resorting to illegality," he said.

He said under its mandate duly notified, the Rangers have no business to take cognisance of offences like violation of building codes, developmental projects and issues in governance as these were neither acts of terrorism nor included in the scheduled offences.

It also needs to be investigated as to whether there was a method in what appears to be madness, he said.

He said that the raids by masked Rangers personnel on government offices and an earlier public rebuke of the political set-up by the corps commander indicated a pattern and a method.

A plan seems afoot to dislodge the provincial government and let the security dominated apex committee and Rangers take over its functions, he said.

As per reports, he said, recently some agencies had demanded thousands of acres of land from the provincial government which the latter declined and wondered if this too was a factor in the building of the present hype.

Babar said that everyone salutes the sacrifices of Rangers jawans, but that it could not be permitted to do politics using sacrifices of jawans as the basis. Babar said that Zardari is expected to meet PM Nawaz to discuss the overall situation of Sindh. Later, PPP sources told Dawn.com that the meeting would not take place due to personal engagements of the two leaders.

PAGE 22 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

SRI LANKA - BANGLADESH Can reconciliation heal Lanka’s war wounds?

PALAI VEEMANKAMAN, Sri Lanka — When Parameswari Uthayakumaran saw her house last month for the first time in 25 years, she stood in the rubble and wept.

All her belongings, the doors, even the tiled roof had been stripped away. She had last seen the house in November 1990, when her family fled from Sri Lankan gunships bearing down on her neighborhood, firing from the sky and littering the grass with leaflets telling Tamil families to leave the area. She had time to grab only a bit of sugar and tea.

The Sri Lankan army declared the area a high-security zone, and the government only allowed families to return in April, six years after the end of the civil war that claimed more than 80,000 lives.

“The moment I saw this I couldn’t control myself,” Uthayakumaran said on a recent hot day, weeping anew. “The whole area had grown up, just like a forest.”

Since taking office in January, Sri Lanka’s new president, Maithripala Sirisena, said that although the damaged buildings and destroyed roads have been rebuilt, there has been no reconciliation process to “rebuild broken hearts and minds.”

Sirisena’s government has begun returning land to families whose property is still being used by the military, as well as resettling those remaining in displacement camps or living with relatives — officially about 13,000 families, although civil society activists say

the number is higher.

But Tamil leaders are not convinced that these efforts will be enough to unify the Tamil and Hindu north and east with the majority Sinhalese Buddhist south.

They say that they are concerned that Sirisena’s moves are symbolic and don’t address issues such as the Tamils’ desire for greater autonomy and the withdrawal of troops.

“It’s too early,” said Kumaravadivel Guruparan, a law lecturer at the University of Jaffna and a spokesman for the Tamil Civil Society Forum. “Unless you address these issues head-on, you’re not going to see any true progress.”

New bricks have patched up the walls of the historic fort in Jaffna, the largest city in the island nation’s north, where the civil conflict was centered. But the darker outlines of the original bombed-out structure remain. In the six years since the Sri Lankan army defeated the rebels on a beach in Mullaitivu 70 miles away, a measure of stability has returned.

The “war tourists” who used to arrive by busloads have been shooed out of the railway station, where they once spent the night.

The station has a fresh coat of paint and receives the region’s new north-south train, the Queen of Jaffna, which made its inaugural run in the fall on tracks that had been closed since 1990.

The country’s previous president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, poured millions into reconstruction and allowed provincial council elec-

tions for the first time in years in 2013. But critics say Rajapaksa — an autocrat in power for nearly a decade — did little else to salve the deep wounds.

The Sirisena government pledged to set up a “domestic mechanism” to investigate these alleged abuses and said it will accept “technical assistance” from the United Nations.

But the Tamil minority is skeptical because earlier panels have borne scant fruit and the victims have not been consulted on the process, Guruparan said.

Meanwhile, an investigation into the thousands who disappeared during the fighting is continuing. And the government is trying to find ways of helping the large number of war widows — among 31,000 female heads of household in the Jaffna district alone, according to Navaratnam Udhayani, Jaffna’s district coordinator for women. Many of them can’t find suitable jobs to support their families and must deal with cultural norms that frown upon remarriage.

The government’s process of returning land has been complicated, with only about 1,000 acres returned so far.

That’s a small fraction of the nearly 10,000 acres of private land the government estimates is still in the hands of the military, according to Ranjini Nadarajapillai, the secretary for the country’s Ministry of Resettlement. Activists think this number is higher.

The process has been complicated by the fact that the

Bangladesh needs political peace for higher growth - central bank governor DHAKA: Bangladesh's feuding politicians must put aside their differences and focus on lifting economic growth in the new fiscal year, the central bank chief said, as the country tries to rebuild its investment profile.

Bangladeshi politics have been mired for years by bitter rivalry between Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and opposition leader Khaleda Zia. Both women are related to former national leaders, and they have alternated as prime minister for most of the past two decades.

Hasina's government is aiming for 7 percent annual growth in the fiscal year that begins in July compared with 6.5 percent estimated for the current year. Average growth has been around 6 percent over the past 12 years. Atiur Rahman, governor of the Bangladesh Bank, told Reuters policymakers were determined to break the country out of the "6+ syndrome" to transform it into a middle income economy over the next six years. "If peace really prevails and 92 days are not lost, definitely, we will be very near to (the) target," Rahman said.

The 92 days of political unrest this year have paralysed the economy.

The garment industry, which accounts for 80 percent of Bangladesh's exports, has lost orders to factories in Cambodia and Vietnam, while the agriculture and tourism industries have also been badly affected.

A World Bank report released in April showed that the economy lost about $2.2 billion, or around 1 percent of gross domestic product, due to the unrest. The report said the "on-again-off-again" political instability could shave as much as 1.6 percentage points off growth over the next two years.

The 61-year-old central banker said political calm would also help the local taka currency that is facing appreciation pressure on strong capital inflows. The Bangladesh Bank has been buying dollars to ease the pressure, he said.

Still, further appreciation of the currency has a potential of building up balance of payment pressures as it would make the country's exports uncompetitive and hurt remittances.

Atiur said the inflows can be mopped up to fund fresh investments.

"With restoration of political normalcy, pick-up in investment activities, this (appreciation) pressure should be relieved."

Rajapaksa-era military went on its own building spree after the war’s end, erecting new camps, beachfront hotels and even golf courses for its own use.

The government is supposed to have given these returnees about $280, but so far they say they have received only $100 to clear their own land. Uthayakumaran said she is hopeful that her neighbors will also return to the once-prosperous community of cement factory workers, teachers and other middle-class residents. — Washington Post

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INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 23

SPORT Fresh start for India in ODIs against Bangladesh

Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, Stuart Binny, Dhawal Kulkarni.

Bangladesh (from): Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Soumya Sarkar, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim, Shakib Al Hasan, Sabbir Rahman, Nasir Hossain, Arafat Sunny, Taskin Ahmed, Rubel Hossain, Rony Talukdar, Mustafizur Rahman, Litton Das.

India loses to Guam in 2018 World Cup qualifier

It will be a fresh beginning for a full-strength India in limited overs cricket after the World Cup semifinal exit as they face a buoyant Bangladesh, who have more to gain then their famed neighbours, in the three-match ODI series starting in Mirpur on June 18.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is back at the helm, along with six other ODI specialists to take on a side that made the cricket world sit up and take notice by reaching the 2015 World Cup quarterfinals, where they were knocked out by an in-form Indian side.

The series is a platform for the hosts to exact revenge for the World Cup defeat, which had turned ugly after the then ICC president Mustafa Kamal of Bangladesh accused the umpires of favouring India.

As far as the Indian team is concerned, even a 3-0 result against the hosts will not be enough for the second-placed side to claim the number one spot in the ICC rankings, while a favourable outcome for the home team will boost its qualifying chances for the 2017 Champions Trophy.

Besides an opportunity to erase the memories of the World quarterfinal debacle Down Under, the prospect of earning a Champions Trophy berth will be motivation enough for the Tigers to roar.

Arriving here with their main team, India has given enough indication of, in Suresh Raina’s words, “how important a series this is for us”.

From the Indian squad’s point of view, this series is a far cry from the one that played against the same opponents in June last year. Back then, eight first-choice players were rested for a three-ODI tour and seven of them are part of this one.

The seven players — Dhoni, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Bhuvneshwar Kumar — were seen in the nets at the academy ground of the Shere Bangla National Stadium ahead of the first game.

Asked if the series holds significance, Raina said, “Yes definitely.

You saw that after the IPL, the full Test team came and now the full ODI team has come.

“Bangladesh has done well in ODIs recently, and this shows how important a series this is for us. We have done well in ODIs recently, and we are looking forward to it.”

The Uttar Pradesh left-hander will be one of the mainstays of Indian batting’s middle-order alongside his captain Dhoni and Kohli.

Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma automatically fill in the openers’ slot with the consistent Ajinkya Rahane beefing up the top-order.

The all-rounder’s slot could go to Ravindra Jadeja while Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ashwin and Mohit Sharma are expected to form the bowling attack.

The team management might also explore the options of trying out Stuart Binny or Dhawal Kulkarni in at least one of the games.

While the numero uno spot is beyond reach, Dhoni’s side can re-

duce leader Australia’s advantage to 10 points should it sweep the series three-nil. In that scenario, Bangladesh will slip to ninth position on 96 points. If India win the series 2-1, they will remain on 117 points, while a 2-1 loss will place them along side New Zealand on 115 points.

Considering the improvements Bangladesh made in ODIs in recent times, India cannot afford to take their opponents for granted.

The Tigers have whitewashed Zimbabwe and Pakistan and appear a very settled unit in 50-over format.

Fast bowler Taskin Ahmed, who celebrated his ODI debut by running through India’s batting order with figures of five for 28, will be keep to produce a similar effort. He took three for 69 in that World Cup quarterfinal defeat.

Besides, they have the likes of Mashrafe Mortaza and Tamim Iqbal, who have been consistent performers for the side, and allrounder Shakib Al Hasan.

Mushfiqur Rahim is Bangladesh’s highest-ranked batsman in the ICC rankings at 18th position, and he will also look to shoulder some of the batting responsibility, provided he recovers from his finger injury. Otherwise, it will be the uncapped Litton Das, who will be asked to keep wickets.

The 25-year-old Rubel Hossain, who was the star performer in the team’s famous World Cup win over England with a two-wicket burst, is also in the fray.

INDIA (from): MS Dhoni (captain), Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya

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TAMUNING, GUAM: India suffered an embarrassing 1-2 defeat to tiny pacific island side Guam, ranked 33 places below them in the FIFA rankings, in their 2018 football World Cup qualifying group match in Tamuning on Tuesday.

India captain Sunil Chhetri managed a consolation goal in the last minute of the game after Brandon McDonald put the hosts ahead in the 38th minute and Travis Nicklaw doubled the advantage in the 62nd minute at the GFA National Training Centre.

This was only their second World Cup qualifying win, the result coming less than a week after their upset 1-0 verdict over Turkmenistan in Group D. Guam went ahead after 38 minutes when McDonald headed in Ryan Guy’s long throw-in and Nicklaw extended the lead 24 minutes later when he received a long pass from his elder brother Shawn and fired home on the turn.

Ace India striker Chhetri, who was leading the side on Tuesday, got his name on the score sheet one more time for the national side, but his effort in the dying moment was not enough, as Guam moved to the top of Group D with six points from two games.

While Guam recorded their second win as many games in their qualifying campaign, 141-ranked India suffered their second straight defeat, the first being the 1-2 defeat to Oman at home last week.

The latest reverse puts India’s chances of a third-placed finish in the 2018 World Cup qualifying in jeopardy, which in turn could affect the country’s prospect of earning a direct entry into the 2019 Asian Cup. With Oman, who beat India 2-1 last week, not in action on Tuesday and Iran playing their first group game in Turkmenistan, Guam are assured of remaining at the top of their group in the second round of Asian qualifying until the next round of games in September.

Guam, a United States island territory in the Western Pacific with a population of less than 200,000, are competing in the World Cup qualifiers for the first time since 2000 when they were beaten 19-0 by Iran and 16-0 by Tajikistan.A total of 15 matches are being played throughout Asia on Tuesday that serve as qualifiers for both the 2018 World Cup and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. India coach Stephen Constantine did not make any changes to the side that played in the previous game, while Guam’s line-up saw young Nicklaw being incorporated into the set-up in place of Ian Mariano.

Turning out against a side that included a couple of players with Major League Soccer experience in the U.S., India skipper Chhetri had a personal milestone to savour, reaching his 50th international goal by heading in a cross from the right.

Former captain Bhaichung Bhutia stays at the second spot with 42 goals in 107 matches while IM Vijayan has 40 from 79 games. This was Chhetri’s 87th match.

The feat, however, came for a losing cause. Even double substitutions by Constantine in the 46th minute and the other in the 65th minute, couldn’t change the fortunes.

The second half saw Constantine make two changes as Sehnaj Singh was replaced by Dhanpal Ganesh while Cavin Lobo was brought in place of Eugeneson.

Apart from Chhetri’s header, substitute Jeje Lalpakhlua’s free header in the 88th minute, which went straight to rival goalkeeper Douglas Herrick, was another of India’s best chance.

The match started on a bad note for India as Eugeneson Lyngdoh was booked for a silly foul on Jason Cunliffe, the Guamanian skipper, as early as the seventh minute. It was the hosts who were enjoying more ball possession and seemed to be on the lookout for goals.

With the hosts opting to attack, the warning signs were ominous for the Indian team.

“We are disappointed. Today the difference was very much visible between a group of players who have the best football education and the rest. 75 per cent of the players who represented Guam have been born and brought up in the U.S. and that made a huge difference,” Constantine said at the post-match press conference.

Constantine’s counterpart Gary White sounded happy with the six points on board.

“From the very outset, we knew that this would be a difficult place for anybody to come. It was a tough and competitive game and it feels nice to be at the top of the Group. This is not the same Guam who used to play some 15-16 years back.”

This is India’s second match in the second round of qualifiers. India and Guam are in Group D along with Oman, Iran and Turkmenistan for the preliminary league with the top two finishers progressing to the next phase of the competition.

India lost its first match 1-2 against Oman while Guam defeated Turkmenistan 1-0.

PAGE 24 • INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

SPIRITUALITY Contentment, happiness & bliss Dr Deepak M Ranade Satisfaction and contentment are the cornerstones of happiness.

Modern day lifestyles have assigned to consumption and indulgence, cult status. Hedonism seems to be the order of the day with abject materialism now the yardstick to measure success and achievement.

The need for more is relentless and unending. It almost has become the pivot around which life revolves. It brings along its siblings of thirst for power and fame. Are we on a wrong trajectory? Is ambition the nemesis of contentment? The greed for more does propel one to work harder, better and stimulates innovation and creativity but do we know where and when to say, ‘That’s enough’?

Renunciation is an aspect of the path to spirituality. But if renunciation is misinterpreted, it could lead to depravity that would only bury the seeds of desire deep into the subconscious. These could germinate over time to burst forth as unbridled lust and insatiable hunger.

Is contentment merely a virtue? Is it a neuro-hormonal complex that is part of one's personality? Why are some individuals more ambitious, or have greater appetites or for that matter, a higher libido?

There is a neurological basis, a centre that had been identified to regulate these primal desires. It is located in groups of neurons located in the ventral portion of the hypothalamus, a small area in the vicinity of the pituitary gland. These neurons set the programme that determines the quantum for gratification. Are we merely victims of these set points?

Can we break the shackles of this grey matter that makes us lust for material things?

Whether renunciation is the path we should embark upon, is a moot point. The human brain has an inbuilt programme or software that can reformat the operating system. The operating system is a programme with inputs from the database of all memories, maybe of past births as well, that determines the set point of each individual in accordance to his unfulfilled desires.

The human brain is equipped with a frontal lobe that sits above the hypothalamus. Our free will is the ability to transcend this inbuilt programme and function autonomously. This free will or the programme to rewrite the operating system is called as vivekabuddhi or the power of discrimination. The power of discretion is the wisdom that can make oneself unravel the operating programme. It gives one insight and awareness of one's own predispositions, tendencies and weaknesses, the highest form of intelligence that can reprogramme. It is intelligence that not only reprogrammes but also has the ability to realise its true nature as being the witness of the program that is unfolding.

The perceiver is also the perceived. The subject and object are mere projections of the Self on itself. The sublimation of intellect lies in its ability to efface itself and analyse itself, analogous to the eye turning on itself to be able to see itself. The human brain is equipped with the capability of realising that it is part of the whole and also the whole, simultaneously.

A shloka from the Upanishads says: ‘Aum poornamadah poornamidam poornaat poornamudachyate’ -- ‘Aum, That is complete, This is complete, From completeness comes completeness.’And, ‘Poornasya poornamaadaaya poornamevaavashish?yate’ – ‘If completeness is taken away from completeness, Only completeness remains’.

Happiness or contentment is the interaction between subject and object. Bliss is realisation of the underlying unity of subject and object.

At the moment of this exultation, there remains no object that can ever satiate the subject. All that remains is a state of unified bliss that transcends any dichotomy.

Words of Wisdom — In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. – Martin Luther King Jr — Revenge is a Poison meant for others, which we end up swallowing ourselves.

— Vengence is a Dark Light that blinds all who seek it.

— Don’t argue with Idiots. They will bring you down to their level and beat you with experience.

— If you argue with an idiot, after a while it is hard to tell who the real idiot is.

— Sorrow looks back, Worry looks around, Faith looks up!!

— When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.

STORY OF MAHATMA GANDHI - IV Gandhi goes to India, meets Tilak, Gokhale Over the next several weeks, India Herald will bring the story of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of peace, who is still an inspiration to millions of oppressed people around the world.

In South Africa, Gandhi got the support of the community to oppose the Franchise Bill pending before the Natal Legislative Assembly which would deprive Indians of their right to elect members to the Assembly. “This bill, if it passes into law, will make our lot extremely difficult,” Gandhi said gravely. “It is the first nail in our coffin. It strikes at the very root of our self-respect.” Now read on: The Natal Indians pressed Gandhi to remain and guide them for a little longer. Gandhi told them that he was prepared to stay on if the Indian community would provide him with sufficient legal work.

They gladly agreed to do this.

Twenty merchants turned over all their legal business to him. When Gandhi applied for enrollment as an attorney to argue cases in court, the entire bar, composed of white lawyers, strongly opposed him. The Supreme Court of Natal overruled the objection, however, and he was allowed to practise.

Soon Gandhi became one of the busiest lawyers in Durban; but to him law was a subordinate occupation. His main interest was his public work. He felt that merely sending in petitions and protests would not help the Indians much.

A sustained agitation was necessary. So he proposed the formation of a permanent organization to safeguard the interests of Indians. A meeting was called to discuss this matter. The spacious hall in Dada Abdulla’s house was packed to the full. It was there, on that occasion, that the Natal Indian Congress was formed. In 1894 the Natal Government sought to impose an annual polltax on the indentured Indians.

These were laborers who had been recruited from India on a five-year contract, but on starvation wages.

Under the contract they could not leave their employer. They were treated practically as slaves.

These men had been taken to South Africa to help the white colonizers in agricultural work.

The Indians did more than had been expected of them. They worked hard, purchased land, and started cultivating their own fields.

Their enterprise did not end there.

They soon built houses and raised themselves far above the status

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Gandhi met with Bal Gangadhar Tilak (right) and Gopal Krishna Gokhale and apprised them of the plight of Indians in South Africa.

of laborers. The white people did not like this. They wanted the Indian workers to return to India at the end of the contract period. To make things much harder for them, the Government now imposed an annual poll tax of £25.

The Natal Indian Congress started

per reports and comments reached South Africa long before Gandhi returned there. Meanwhile, plague broke out in Bombay and threatened to spread to neighboring areas. In Rajkot, Gandhi volunteered to join a group who tried to educate the people about

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These contests are being organized to create higher awareness of the inspiring life and work of Mahatma Gandhi to promote universal values of Truth, Non-Violence, Love and Service. a strong agitation against this.

Later, at the intervention of Lord Elgin, then Viceroy of India, the tax was reduced to £3. Still Gandhi considered it an atrocious tax, unknown anywhere else in the world. The Natal Indian Congress continued its agitation, but it was 20 years before the poll-tax was finally withdrawn.

In three years in South Africa, Gandhi had become a well-known figure. And his practice was well established. He realized that he was in for a long stay. He knew that the people there wanted him with them, so in 1896 he asked their permission to go home and bring his wife and children to South Africa. Besides, a visit to India would be useful in gaining more support for the Indians in South Africa.

He had arranged his work so well that he could look forward to six months’ leave. In the middle of 1896 Gandhi sailed for India, and after 24 days landed at Calcutta. From there he went to Rajkot. It was a happy family reunion when Kasturbai welcomed him with their two sons. But the plight of the Indians in South Africa was so much on his mind that he could not be content to enjoy domestic bliss in peace. He therefore launched a campaign to acquaint the people of India with the real condition of the Indians in South Africa.

He met the editors of influential newspapers and important Indian leaders, including Lokamanya B. G. Tilak, the hero of Maharashtra, and Gopal Krishna Gokhale who, like Gandhi, was already famous at the age of 27.

Wherever Gandhi went, he tried to make the people aware of the lot of their compatriots in South Africa. Many newspapers published his views and strongly supported his case.

Summaries of these newspa-

the need for sanitation and other measures to prevent the spread of the disease.

At the end of November, however, Gandhi received an urgent message from Natal asking him to return immediately. There were some developments which required his presence there. So Gandhi set sail for South Africa once more, taking with him Kasturbai and their two sons and also the only son of his widowed sister. However, a message reached Gandhi advising him not to land with the others but to wait until evening, as there was an angry mob of whites at the dock.

Kasturbai and the children were sent to the house of Gandhi’s Parsee friend, Rustomji.

Later, accompanied by Jason Laughton, the legal adviser of Dada, Abdulla & Co., Gandhi went ashore. The scene looked peaceful, but some youths recognized him and shouted, “Look, there goes Gandhi.”

Soon there was a rush and much shouting. As Gandhi and his friends proceeded, the crowd began to swell until it was impossible to go any further. Suddenly Laughton was pushed aside andthe mob set upon Gandhi.

They pelted him with stones, sticks, bricks, and rotten eggs.

Someone snatched away his turban, others kicked him until the frail figure collapsed.

He clung to the railing of a house. The fury of the white mob was unabated and they continued to beat him and kick him. “Stop, you cowards,” cried a feminine voice. “Stop attacking the poor man.”

It was the wife of the Superintendent of police. She came up and opened her parasol and held it between Gandhi and the crowd.

This checked the mob. Soon the police arrived and dispersed the crowd. — To be Continued

INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015 • PAGE 25

BOLLYWOOD Hamari Adhuri Kahaani: Dull and regressive

HARDIK VYAS Youngest Astrologer in North America Vaastu & Gem Stone Consultant; Hindu Priest for all Pujas & Marriages Languages spoken: English, Hindi, Gujarati & Marathi

Cast: Vidya Balan, Emraan Hashmi, Rajkumar Rao Midway through the film, you might wonder if you’re watching an ‘80s drama. For this is a film where the heroine clutches on to her mangalsutra and sermonizes about traditional Indian values.

Where she is referred to as a ‘devi’ by a character, and at one point has the idol of Goddess Durga right behind her. Where the heroine is made to dress in unforgivably dowdy outfits to prove her “simple and traditional” values. Where she is made to touch the feet of her lover, ‘cause he’s helping her out.

Also, last but not the least…the film uses someone’s diary, yes a personal diary, to take us into flashback, which comprises most of the film.

So in flashback mode, the story unfolds. We meet Vasudha (Vidya Balan) whose bullying husband (Rajkummar Rao) is absconding. A hotel florist, she meets Aarav (Emraan Hashmi in sharp suits) who owns, we’re told, 108 hotels. Ok. He’s impressed with her floral arrangements, and then, progressively with her. That their romance is highly superficially presented, and the two central actors share zero chemistry makes the film a drag. Add to that the tired angle of Vasudha’s law-breaking (don’t ask) husband making a comeback, which has the police involved.

To show that Aarav lives a jet-setting life, the makers have inserted a loyal friend/manager who says, “flight miss ho jayegi” with such regularity, it had the audience guffaw. This character (no fault of the actor, who is adequately earnest), provides further unintentional comical relief when he dissuades Aarav from going to a very dangerous place that’s ridden with bombs, and when Aarav persists, says that he’s coming along anyway as if they were going river-rafting.

A word about the styling. While one is still grappling with what made Vidya Balan— she of ‘The Dirty Picture’ and ‘Kahaani’ legacy— accept this role, one also wonders why she’s styled so awfully. Does a character that is simple and conventional have to be dressed dowdily? It’s tragic, really.

Among the only couple of redeeming moments in the film is Vasudha talking about the soulfulness of regular gardens rather than over-maintained, manicured ones. Again, the dialogue that says, ‘Jo Baandhta hai, who bandhta bhi hai’ (those who try to cage, are also caged themselves) has an interesting thought, that’s not explored.

The performances are below-par, if you take the actors’ best work into consideration. Vidya Balan is capable of so much more.

Here she tries convincing us of her spineless character that simply does not connect. Balan’s eyes are still beautifully evocative, but how much life can you breathe into an unconvincing character?

Emraan Hashmi looks dazed and jaded through the film, which is probably due to the strait-jacketed characterization. Rajkummar Rao, again a superb actor, is let down by an incomplete, simplistic characterization.

One hears the film crew flew to a scenic location to shoot lilies for one single scene. If that’s true, it’s odd indeed. For one wishes such efforts were instead directed towards building the story and its characters.

Mohit Suri is a fine director, but has often displayed a misogynistic core in some of his films. That continues here, as the story takes one shockingly regressive turn after the other. It’s difficult to process that Mahesh Bhatt has penned this story.

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INDIA HERALD • WEDNESDAY, PAGE 17, 2015 • PAGE 27

COMING UP IACCGH DISTINGUISHED LECTURE “Current Nature of Indo-U.S. Relationship” KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Dr. Mukesh Aghi President, U.S.-India Business Council

INDO-AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF GREATER HOUSTON

Visit iaccgh.com for a list of all upcoming events or to register.

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YEAR IN REVIEW

JANUARY 6—IACCGH Inaugural “Networking Works” honoring Manuel Gonzalez, former District Director of the SBA, and Nya Igambi, US Department of Commerce District Export Center

JANUARY 25—American Tax Laws Seminar

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PAGE 28 â&#x20AC;¢ INDIA HERALD â&#x20AC;¢ WEDNESDAY, JUNE 17, 2015

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