India in New York - November 28, 2014

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VOL. XVIII NO. 23

India in New York A GUIDE TO EVENTS AND ENTERTAINMENT FROM INDIA ABROAD FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2014

HOPE, AND DESPAIR

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

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The write stuff

Rajeev Bhambri Chief Operating Officer-US Media THE EDITORIAL TEAM NEW YORK Aziz Haniffa, Editor, News Arthur J Pais, Editor, Features Suman Guha Mozumder, Associate Managing Editor George Joseph, P Rajendran, Deputy Managing Editors Paresh Gandhi, Chief Photographer Ritu Jha, Special Correspondent Parimal Mehta, System Manager Production: Dharmesh Chotalia, Production Supervisor.

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Five children of Indian origin honored with KidSpirit awards

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The winners with Paul Raushenbush, back row center.

SUMAN GUHA MOZUMDER

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kash Mehta, Vidushi Sharma, Sunwrita Dastidar, Nimai Agarwal, and Swastika Jadjoo were among 20 children, from 10th graders to college sophomores, honored by KidSpirit, a free magazine and Web site, November 9.

They were awarded at a New York event, which also marked seven years of KidSpirit. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, executive religion editor, The Huffington Post, was the guest of honor.

The award ceremony opened with the Manhattan String Orchestra, comprising young musicians, playing Vivaldi and Bach. Readings of the works by the 15 award-winners followed.

The winning pieces included a feature written by a Muslim-American girl about why she wears the hijab; an essay — coauthored by both a boy and girl — about whether gender is central to a sense of self; a California teenager’s memoir about a service trip to Kenya; and a trio of essays from KidSpirit’s Interfaith Connections department, in which a Catholic and a Pakistani Muslim explore the question of whether searching for the truth is an important part of their spiritual tradition.

I’m extremely honored to have won this award,” Akash Mehta, a Akash Mehta

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Bhopal gas disaster, and homeless chilhigh school junior from New York, told dren in New York City.

India in New York. “For the past half“We’ve raised over $70,000 for kids decade as an editor of the magazine, I around the world,” Akash said. have seen so many unbelievable, eyeopening, profound articles from so many llahabad-born, United Statesdifferent perspectives. I am thankful for raised Vidhushi Sharma, who is the opportunity to participate in the wonstudying philosophy and neuroderfully ambitious and beautiful project science at Princeton University, wrote an that is KidSpirit.” essay, The Soul of Gender, that made her Akash, who was awarded in the a co-winner of the media category for a critique of Big Question cateStephen Bayley’s book Ugly: The gory award.

Aesthetics of Everything, wants to Her piece is about become a journalist. her becoming com“I’m also very interested in polifortable with her tics,” he added. own identity.

Akash wrote a memoir on his “I was a tomboy, parents’ divorce that was selected with many friends as a featured article on Stone who were boys, and Soup magazine. during my adolesHe also runs a children-only cence felt frustration nonprofit, called Kids for a that my friends were Better Future. growing taller and “Each year, we faster than me,” choose a different Vidushi, 19, said. “I group of children came to realize that somewhere in the Vidushi Sharma I valued the differworld to support, ent aspects of my both by raising money masculinity and femininity equally.” for them and by advocatShe has been published in the book ing in whatever way we Defiant Daughters: 21 Women on Art, can for their cause,” Activism, Animals, and The Sexual Akash explained.

Politics of Meat, (Lantern Books). She has The nonprofit has supalso been featured on Huffington Post ported a girls’ school in through KidSpirit, in local newspapers, Afghanistan, former and literary magazines like the Mad child soldiers in the Hatter and TeenInk. Congo, children who still face severe health issues as a result of the 1984

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

ARTHUR J PAIS

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imran Jeet Singh, a PhD student at Columbia University in religion, is so happy with the five educational programs the Sikh Coalition and he organized in partnership with the Presbyterian Church in New York that he would like to have similar dialogue with other churches in other cities.

“We will continue to make new partners from other faiths who are genuinely interested in learning and teaching Sikhi to their denominations in a holistic way,” said Singh, a second-generation American.

He said Reverend Christine Hong, a Presbyterian minister, introduced him to others in her church who were interested in joining the Sikhs in their interfaith missions.

“I am a minority, and Christine, being a woman who had become a priest in her church and who is from Asia, had something common with me,” Singh said.

Hong recalled Singh being an interfaith guest at her church’s consultation on developing an overarching interreligious stance.

“He shared with us that what he wanted to see in the document above else was a commitment to love,” Hong wrote in an email to India Abroad. “This struck a cord with me. Shortly after Simran Jeet shared with me that his friend Dr Prabhjot Singh had been assaulted near his home in a religious hate crime. For Mark Koenig (another Presbyterian priest) and I, this hit very close to home and we felt helpless and unprepared to assist… Mark and I reached out to Simran Jeet and suggested dialogues in local congregations. What seemed necessary at that moment were building up

f PAGE 2 She is also co-founder of thehobmob.com, a Web site meant to promote interestbased discussion. unwrita Dastidar, a high school sophomore from Kolkata, was awarded for her poem, Parallel Perceptions.

“I believe that there are countless ways of describing or accounting for the same thing,” she explained about her poem.

“Therefore, there are myriad truths that can co-exist at the same time in the same world.

There is no one single irrevocable truth. It all depends on how one looks at it.”

She has been writing poetry Sunwrita Dastidar since she was 9.

She writes whenever she feels disturbed, or emotional about something. “Writing lets me vent my feelings in a way nothing

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Simran Jeet Singh, left, and Reverend Christine Hong.

How a Sikh student at Columbia reached out to the Presbyterian community strong networks of people in our communities who could support one another and in that act of supporting, promote understanding and through that understanding reduce acts of religion-based hate crimes.”

The three came up with ‘Neighbor and Neighborhood: Sikh and Presbyterian Dialogues.’

“Simran Jeet shared what it was like to live in the United States as a Sikh

American,” Hong wrote, “and I talked about what it felt like to live as a KoreanAmerican woman who also faces many forms of discrimination. We could tell some congregations and people resonated with our stories, they too had experienced similar things based on their race or ethnicity. We could also tell that for some these were new narratives but compelling ones the church members were ready to

The write stuff else can,” she said. “Writing is the most important thing in my life, and I will never give it up.” imai Agarwal, a high school junior from Maryland and another winner in the poetry category, almost echoed Sunwrita.

“Writing is something that I want to do forever, even if I don’t pursue it as my career,” Nimai said.

His poem What Is a Hero tries to explore the qualities a real hero should have.

“It’s not physical strength and power Nimai Agarwal that make a hero, but control over oneself,” said Nimai.

He said he fell in love with poetry after reading Emily Dickinson and Walt

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hear. Our intimate conversation which at first focused on two people’s lives expanded to include the stories of the congregations we visited as people began jumping in and telling their own stories, sharing their questions, and offering their support to one another and to us. It was a powerful testament to how storytelling and faceto-face encounters can cultivate ally relationships in communities that seem so different from another.”

The church also invited Sapreet Kaur, executive director, The Sikh Coalition, as one three interfaith guests to its bi-annual general assembly gathering. Kaur addressed the Presbyterian Church’s national body to “overwhelming interest,” Hong added.

The Rev Koenig said the attack on Prabhjot Singh “was rooted in misperceptions and bias as an unknown suspect or suspects shouted anti-Muslim statements during the attack.”

The potential hate crime offended him for many reasons.

“We are all God’s children and none of us should be attacked,” Koenig continued.

“It occurred near Central Park, one of my favorite places in New York. The attack occurred on the International Day of Peace.”

Working with the Rev Hong, he selected World Interfaith Harmony Week, the first week in February, as the time to hold the first Sikh-Presbyterian dialogues.

Apart from learning about Sikhism, he said, he also found opportunities to “advocate for religious freedom for Sikhs and people of all faiths.”

“The experience has affirmed my beliefs,” Koenig added, “that God creates wondrous diversity within the human family.”

joining college about five months ago.

“Poetry has become my window to the world and I write about everything, from my morning breakfast to my recent starry-eyed experience in Times Square in New York,” she said. “Everything has a Whitman in his English class, and that story and this story is best highlighted by What is a Hero is his first poem. poetry. Pain. Pleasure. Poetry is allHe has been working on a fiction-fantasy encompassing.” novel for the past three years.

She wants to open a bakery called ‘Of “It has been a long journey full of blunPoems and Pancakes’. ders and learning, but I “Receiving this award hope to get it published also enabled me to visit sometime soon,” he said.

New York City, even if it “Like most kids, I’ve been was for the shortest perigreatly inspired by od of time,” she said. “I Rowling’s Harry Potter.” find a certain liveliness running through the city wastika Jajoo, who that I haven’t quite seen won an award for her in many places.” poem True...or Not? is Elizabeth Dabney a freshman at Lady Shri Hochman, founding ediRam College, New Delhi, tor, KidSpirit, said the majoring in English idea behind the magaLiterature. zine was “to create an “I have always been avenue or a forum for allured by poetry for the kids all around the simple reason that it has Swastika Jajoo world so they can express the power to convey so much through so little, with an almost surreal lilt themselves about issues of substance, and towards that end, I think we have and grace,” she said. been pretty successful.”

She has written over 150 poems since

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Special

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

The night of debutants Arthur J Pais attends the South Asian International Film Festival awards ceremony

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ver 15 years ago, Afia Nathaniel had heard a story which would haunt her. A young mother in a remote part of Pakistan had ‘kidnapped’ her 10year-old daughter who was to be married to a tribal leader. The woman had also run away from her husband and was pursued with vengeance by her family for she had marred the perceived family honor.

November 23, Dukhtar, which was Pakistan’s Oscar entry, and an audience favorite at the Toronto International Film Festival, won more laurels at the South Asian International Film Festival in New York. It won the best audience film and the best director nods at the 11th edition of the festival.

“From a festival attendance standpoint, Afia Nathaniel’s Dukhtar was the clear winner,” said Joya Dass, executive director, SAIFF. “We had a sold out house and a roaring response to her directorial debut (in features).”

Nathaniel was born in Quetta, grew up in Lahore, and is now based in Brooklyn. She graduated from Columbia University’s Film Directing program and has made three well regarded short films, including Toba Tek Singh, based on a story by Saadat Hasan Manto.

She has been telling the audiences in sessions following the screening of her film at different places about how she endured threats and sexism to bring the project to the screen, fighting hard to raise funds and then make arrangements to shoot it in remote areas of Pakistan’s side of Kashmir.

The SAIFF Awards gala was held at Manhattan’s Carlton Hotel Sunday evening, bringing to a conclusion this boutique festival which stands apart from big names like TIFF or Cannes by letting you watch eclectic films without being distracted by movie stars.

As Shilen Amin, founder and president, SAIFF, had once said, “Our stars are our films.”

This year, Amin and Dass lined up one of the best collection of films and shorts in SAIFF history — films like Titli, Killa, Jigarthanda, and Ek Hazarchi Note to name just a few.

Amin said SAIFF was founded due to the lack of support for many emerging filmmakers and the overall under representation of Indian cinema “in a capital that is recognized by the world as the birthplace of independent filmmaking.”

Dukhtar

PARESH GANDHI

The jury and the winners.

The winners included Afia Serena Nathaniel, second row left; Sreemoyee Bhattacharya, second row second from right; and Kanu Behl, third row left.

The jury included Isil Bagdadi, front row right; Kelly Edwards, second row second from leftt; David Wilentz, third row center; Bill Straus, third row right; and Richard Lorber, back.

Also in the picture are SAIFF’s Joya Dass, front row left; and Shilen Amin, second row right.

The festival not only offered opportunities for emerging filmmakers to network, but also gave film students a platform.

The big winners this year included Kanu Behl’s Titli, a tale of a young man desperate to escape a brotherhood of carjackers. It won the festival’s Grand Jury Prize for Best Feature, presented to it by jurors Richard Lorber (a big name in independent cinema distribution), Bill Straus, David Wilentz, Isil Bagdadi, and Kelly Edwards.

The Jury’s acclaimed Runner-Up was Avinash Arun’s Killa, a winner of the Crystal Bear at Berlinale. It is the story of a boy, already coping with his father’s death, being

Titli

moved from a big city to a small town and his struggles to find his place.

“Killa is beautifully cast, right down to the teacher who lords over the children in the classroom,” said Dass. “It’s a gem of a film.”

The short film winner was Gitanjali Rao’s True Love Story, which tells the story of a 17-year-old orphan who uses his passion for Bollywood to woo the girl of his dreams.

Veil, a film by Sreemoyee Bhattacharya about ‘a young man’s journey through the pangs of social conformation, lusts, fantasies and everything in between,’ won an audience award.

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS

THE SHADOWS T

he nearly 40 activists who sat glued to the television set at the office of the community organization Desis Rising Up and Moving in New York, listening to President Barack Obama offer a new deal for millions of undocumented people, had a mixed reaction.

Many who had hoped to benefit from immigration reform were utterly disappointed, especially those who came to America a few years ago.

“There was this waiter who has been very active in our organization and at various demonstrations demanding a new deal to all undocumented immigrants,” said Rishi Singh, a DRUM organizer, “but on Thursday he knew he was not going to benefit. He had been in America not for many years.”

Still he was happy many others were going to benefit.

People who had worked as cab drivers at the graveyard shifts in some of the most dangerous localities across the city could think of looking for safer professions or drive in the safer pockets in Manhattan, though like other undocumented they too might have to wait for a year till the new order kicks off. Waiters at many Indian and Pakistani restaurants where the owners routinely pocket the tips could now think of more secure and paying jobs. People who had worked as nannies for as low as $1 per hour could now hope to get better jobs — about $6 an hour.

And hundreds could get Social Security numbers and driving licenses throughout the East Coast and many other states in the country.

An immigrant from Mexico walks across an intersection dressed as the Sesame Street character Elmo, in Times Square, New York, July 30.

Hope and despair after President Obama announces executive action for undocumented immigrants. Arthur J Pais reports “I believe the police are no more expected to routinely check our status,” said a worker at a grocery market in Edison, New Jersey. “Let them do something better. Spend more time protecting our houses from these people who have been robbing us,” He was referring to home invasions targeting Indians in Edison and other nearby towns.

There are at least 195,000 undocumented South Asians in New York State. It trails California, which has 420,000 such immigrants and New Jersey, which has 102,000. According to the Department of Homeland Security in the year 2011 out of some 11 million undocumented people in the country, there were 1.5 million Asian Americans, with undocumented Indians leading in the growth in the previous decade.

Indians doubled the count to 240,000 in 2011 alone, making India the seventh-highest country of origin for undocumented individuals in the United States. For the same period, the Chinese undocumented people’s number rose from 190,000 to 280,000, followed by migrants from the Philippines.

According to a report by the Washington, DC-based Pew

Research Center, in 2012 the number of undocumented Indians stood at 450,000, and India was in fourth place in the list of countries of origin for most undocumented.

While the numbers may vary, what is certain is whether you are a domestic worker, or a construction site employee, or a waiter, as long as you are undocumented you get paid less than half the minimum wage.

Restaurant owners, be it in Jackson Heights or Jersey City or in Edison Indian shopping pockets do not hesitate to admit that they were only doing the undocumented a favor.

Most use the world ‘illegal’ to describe the undocumented.

“However good you, never mind how hard you work,” said a young waiter at an Indian restaurant, “you get about $2.50 per hour.”

“Some people know our situation and leave the tip in cash. But the managers often notice this and get angry,” the waiter added.

Mental pressure at the workplace is killing.

‘When you’re late, they fire you. When you’re sick, they fire you … When you complain (about) anything, they can fire you,’ an Indian waiter told DRUM, which has been gathering data on workplace conditions.

According to former DRUM leader Monami Maulik, employers often do not pay workers for a week or months.

‘There has been a case of a year at a time,’ Maulik was quoted as saying. ‘They’ll do things like hold people’s pass-

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

President Barack Obama signs two presidential memoranda associated with his executive actions on immigration from his office on Air Force One upon his arrival in Las Vegas, Nevada, November 21.

Obama imposed the most sweeping immigration reform in a generation, easing the threat of deportation for about 4.7 million undocumented immigrants, and setting up a clash with Republicans.

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Gingerly steps out of the shadows drove the checkered cabs in the Bronx and Brooklyn.

“Getting robbed three times a month was nothing unusual,” he said. “But getting beaten up and then robbed was worse. Often they would ask me go back to my country. Then they wanted to know what was under my turban.

ports, threaten to call immigration if they ask for the wages that they earned.’

There are thousands of South Asians who have reasons to be happy with the Obama executive order.

“We want to come out of shadows,” said a corner store worker who has a degree in India in pharmaceuticals but has been working 15 hour days in the numbing cold since his asylum request was turned down ommunity organizations such as and he became undocumented.

DRUM cautioned the undocu“I pay taxes,” the worker added. “I admit mented last week to beware of for some time I was afraid to pay them but immigration scams, reminding them my new lawyer advised me, telling me that that the changes in the law could take as long as I have paid my taxes and have as long as one year. They also warned no criminal record, I can appeal any against lawyers offering quick-fix soludeportation action.” tions.

Like many undocumented, the worker New York has many organizations wanted to remain unidentified. that could help locate attorneys at rea“In our own community there are people sonable fees. Here are some: who think we (the undocumented) bring Asian American Legal Defense and bad name to the community,” he added.

Education Fund Others have hidden from their families 99 Hudson St, 12th Floor in India they are undocumented and are New York, NY 10013 susceptible to be sent back. Among them is Tel: (212) 966 5932 a man whose friends call him Limo Singh.

Fax: (212) 966 4303 He has told his family in India he is in E-mail: info@aaldef.org the limo business. He has been driving a limousine, earning a very small amount Chhaya Community Development per day, except when some people occaCorporation sionally hand over a $20 bill for an hour37-43 77th Street, 2nd Floor long ride to the airport.

Jackson Heights, NY 11372 Unlike many cab drivers who hack for Tel: (718) 478-3848 low wages, Limo Singh has seen upward Fax: (718) 651-1004 mobility. For years, he admitted once, he

This happened, mind you, before 9/11. After that people like me very often called bin Laden.”

“I am all-American citizen,” he said. “Except that I do not have work permit.”

People in humbler circumstances have also started organizing in the New York tristate area.

Kazi Fouzia, a Bangladeshi community organizer, tells other migrant workers to encourage them to speak up.

She shared her story with the New York leftwing publication Guardian.

Fouzia used to work in a sari shop in Jackson Heights. Her employer, who E-mail: info@chhayacdc.org owned three stores, asked her to collect clothes from a shop across the street. She DRUM South Asian Organizing was hit by a car and was injured.

Center Her employer, who had hired her for DRUM NYC many months, did not allow her to call the 72-18 Roosevelt Avenue emergency services because she was not Jackson Heights, NY 11372 authorized to work. She said she had fracTel: (718) 205-3036 tures in her shoulder, but she did not have Fax: (718) 205-3037 insurance so the only medical care she received was painkillers. The next day she Manavi (women’s organization) was asked not to come for work.

PO Box 3103 New Brunswick, NJ ‘This is not only a personal story,’ she 08903 said. ‘This is every undocumented worker’s Tel: (732) 435-1414 story, every one.’

Fax: (732) 435-1411 Limo Singh says he has gone through E-mail: manavi@manavi.org many such experiences. He was beaten up badly by a gang of drunken men, and Sakhi for South Asian Women when he called the owner of the cab PO Box 20208 company after the men had robbed him Greeley Square Station and run away, he was told to go home New York, NY 10001 and rest.

Helpline: (212) 868-6741 “I did not know,” Singh said, “that even Office Number: (212) 714-9153 as an undocumented person, I had the Fax: (646) 398-8498 right to call the police and go to a hospital E-mail: contactus@sakhi.org for treatment.”

Help for the undocumented C

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Rishi Singh at a DRUM rally

For Rishi SinghÊs family, the struggle is far from over ARTHUR J PAIS

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ith both her parents dying in Trinidad, Mrs Singh listened on the phone — in her little home in Richmond Hill, Queens — to a priest conduct the ceremony and recite the last prayers.

Even with her scant savings, she was prepared to go to Trinidad for the last rites.

Even if it meant the home situation, with her husband’s meager income, could make things worse. And her children would be deprived of many things.

But Mrs Singh could not go. She was afraid she would not be allowed to come back, given her undocumented status. The family had been deported once, from Canada, and they had come to America, hoping to find someone who would sponsor them for a work permit, then a Green Card and eventually hoping to become American citizens.

Her decision mirrors those by many undocumented immigrants who had to make the hard choice not to be with their dearest ones in the last moments of their lives or at their last services.

Her husband took up many low-paying jobs.

‘He was in constant fear of his immigration status being discovered,’ Rishi Singh, his eldest son, who is now a youth leader,

said at a public rally, ‘losing his job, and or facing deportation again. There were times when he was afraid to go to work when worker verification policies were being talked about as part of federal legislation.

Policies that deter, prevent and or criminalize workers for trying to support their families have no place in immigration policies.’The Singh family came to America over 19 years ago and could never go to Trinidad, where most of their family still lives. The senior Singh died about five years ago.

Rishi Singh has become a community activist and is being profiled in magazines and newspapers as DREAMer, a recipient of Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program which allowed thousands of undocumented young men and women to stay temporarily in America.

DACA, which has not been affected by President Barack Obama’s new executive order, is valid for two years and is renewable. It has allowed many undocumented children to work, get driver’s licenses, apply for credit cards, and avail of many more opportunities that were not available to them previously.

Like his parents, Rishi too has toiled at underpaid jobs, worked at construction sites and at times helped his mother, who runs a small catering business and babysits.

‘As a senior in high school, I began the college application process, just like my classmates,’ Rishi told South Asian Americans Leading Together. ‘Most applications, including scholarships, required a Social Security number. When I asked my mother what my Social Security number was, she told me that I did not have one.

Even though I always knew that we struggled, I did not realize until then the full extent of our struggle or what it would mean for my future. I would not be able to apply for financial aid or other benefits. I would not be able to do so many of the things I had planned. College applications were just the first of many limitations that I would face because I was undocumented.’

Suddenly, he ‘felt isolated, helpless, and depressed. I had worked so hard to do well in school; yet without knowing it, I had set myself up for disappointment… Regardless of my academic excellence and drive, I faced barriers beyond my control that would not allow me to succeed in the ways I wanted. ‘ He graduated from Hunter College of the City University of New York with a degree in psychology and accounting. He took up an advocacy and mobilization job with Desis Rising Up and Moving, which helps low-income families from all over South Asia and Trinidad..

In 2009, Singh was honored with the

SAALT’s National Leadership Award. In 2013, he became the NYC Peoples Global Action on Migration Development & Human Rights coordinator. He has been a leader for DRUM’s immigrant rights work as an undocumented youth since 2003.

“It is ironical isn’t it that the parents of DREAMers could not get anything from the new executive order from the President,” Rishi said. “The DREAMers have been over the last many years most demanding of the advocates, meeting congressional representatives, policy advocates and even following the President demanding a broader immigration reform. There are times some of them even heckled the President at public engagement, demanding speedy action.”

Now, people like Mrs Singh have to see if can escape deportation through other legal paths. She can still get her status legalized, since Rishi’s younger brother is an American citizen by marriage.

Like other advocates for undocumented immigrants, Rishi Singh says while DACA was a commendable first step and last week’s executive order was another welcome decision, much more needs to be done.

“The struggle and the fight to have the Congress give amnesty to over 12 million undocumented people is very much alive,” he said.

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Bollywood INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Starring: India’s mega stars

of the year

TWITTER.COM/KABIRKHANKK

PRADEEP BANDEKAR

The Khan clan comes together for a party at the wedding of their youngest sibling, Arpita.

Front row from left, Sohail Khan with the next generation.

Second row from left, Arbaaz, Malaika Arora, Seema, Atul Agnihotri, Alvira, Salman, family patriarch Salim Khan, the bride Arpita with groom Ayush Sharma, the groom’s father Anil Sharma, mother and younger brother.

Priyanka Chopra flanked by her mother Madhu, left; filmmaker David Dhawan, right; Sajid Nadiadwala, extreme right; and his wife Wardha, extreme left.

SNAPSINDIA

Ram Charan Teja with wife Upasna, left; sister Srija, right; and tennis star Sania Mirza, second from right.

Aamir Khan, third from left, and singer Mika Singh, third from right, join Arpita’s brothers and father in a song at the wedding.

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While the pre-wedding events in Mumbai saw the famous Shah Rukh KhanSalman Khan patch-up (India in New York, November 21), the other big Khan of Bollywood, Aamir Khan, first row right, was at the wedding events in Hyderabad with his wife Kiran Rao, center.

Also on the guest list were Salman’s ex-girlfriend Katrina Kaif, back row right; filmmaker Karan Johar, back row second from right; filmmaker Kabir Khan, back row third from right, and his wife Mini Mathur, back row left.

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

f PAGE 8

The Khans welcome industry veteran Dilip Kumar, second from left, and his wife Saira Bano, right.

BOLLYWOODÊS

Actresses Asha Parekh and Helen, contemporaries and friends, at Arpita’s wedding reception in Mumbai.

WEDDING of the year

Salman Khan with Vinod Khanna, his onscreen father in the hit Dabangg franchise.

Sonakshi Sinha attended with her father Shatrughan Sinha, left, and brother Luv.

Karisma Kapoor attended with her father Randhir Kapoor.

Salman’s former girlfried Sangeeta Bijlani attended the event too.

Below, Shraddha Kapoor.

Below left, Govinda.

PHOTOGRAPHS: PRADEEP BANDEKAR

Salman Khan welcomes industrialist Adi Godrej and his wife Parmeshwar Godrej.

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

‘There is never a happy ending in life’ Director duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D K in conversation with Patcy N

D

irector duo Raj Nidimoru and Krishna D K have made quite a few comedies — a crime-comedy, dark-comedy and zombie-comedy (Shor In The City, 99, Go Goa Gone). The time, they say, had come to try their hand at a romantic comedy. Only their film would have to have an edge.

“Romantic comedy is such an exploited genre that it is hard to infuse something fresh and new,” Raj says. “We decided to find an edge to it. It’s not a spoof; it’s a bona fide romantic comedy.

There is a boy meeting girl, there is boy screwing up with girl, girl leaving the boy and boy getting the girl back. We thought of embracing this structure.”

The result is the recently released Happy Ending, starring Saif Ali Khan, Govinda and Ileana D’Cruz.

Raj and D K tell Patcy N how they make their movies.

How did you get Saif to produce a film a second time? Was it difficult the first time or second time?

DK: Second time came naturally. All these discussions started when we were doing Go Goa Gone. At that time, Saif had just come out of Cocktail and he had a couple of other films on his plate.

But he had said he would like to do a romantic comedy. We started discussing ideas, and this whole thing fell in place.

Saif has done many rom-coms in his life and so he was the perfect guy to do ABHIJIT MHAMUNKAR this definitive rom-com, which has a From left, Krishna D K, Ileana D’Cruz, Govinda, Saif Ali Khan, Kalki Koechlin and Raj Nidimoru. take on all the other rom-coms that he I am going to say.’ He was very excited. problem was the dates. has made.

Finally, he agreed to do every single thing that was in the D K: On the sets of Go Goa Gone he saw how everything In fact, there is a line in the movie where Saif says, ‘I script. Even we were surprised. We thought we would was working and he liked the humor and sensibility. He have had many love stories; now it’s time for a happy have to convince him to do things and he would ask us to said why don’t we use this humor in a more mainstream ending.’ drop certain scenes. But he agreed to do everything. genre and we started finding an angle to it.

It has a dual meaning; it talks about the character as Was it difficult to get a censor certificate for the film?

How did you convince Govinda to do a cameo in Saif ’s well as the actor.

Were you asked to make cuts? film? In the past, he has refused second leads and this was How did you get him on board for the first time for Go D K: No. It was fairly easy. We had to change a few a long cameo.

Goa Gone? words.

D K: It wasn’t hard to convince Govinda, but we did Raj: I got a call out of the blue from Saif. He said, There is a lot of stuff the censor could have objected to have a lot of apprehensions.

‘Listen, I really like your 99. Why don’t you come over to but they did not and they also gave us U/A certificate.

Raj: Everybody said that he was out of it; he hasn’t the office and we will discuss some ideas.’

There are references to sex but in a very contemporary, done a film in three years; it’s very hard to work with We went and spoke to him about a story that we hadn’t normal day-to-day life way. him; he will not accept easily; he will have lots of rules, shot yet, and Saif said, ‘This is nice but this is going to Raj: Even Go Goa Gone was not explicit. It was gory here you will go crazy... take months to make. Do you have something that is and there, and there were scenes that were awkward to We didn’t know him. We didn’t know his sensibilities at quicker?’ watch with a family. This one is a tad easier. all. We had just seen him on the screen.

I told him, ‘I have a story idea but I don’t know whether When a producer like Saif Ali Khan is acting in the film Plus, his type of comedy is different. you will dig it at all.’ how difficult is it directing it?

We thought, gaaliyaan padegi, if we just land up at his We had a little trailer presentation with music and text D K: Saif is very passionate as an actor. He is always house. We still decided to try it. and stuff. We had that ready because we wanted to make thinking way ahead. He wants to make movies for the It was a strange meeting because we couldn’t underthis film at some point. We showed it to Saif and he said future. He doesn’t necessarily stick to the current stand what he was thinking while we were narrating the he wanted to do it. story to him. He was polite. He was sweet. He just listened trends. But yes, there is a producer in him which gives D K: By the end of the presentation, he had already him a little word of caution here and there. to us with a grin. started imagining himself as the character Boris that he After some time, he started laughing. He was like ‘Oh played in Go Goa Gone. He was very excited about playing God, toh yeh karna hain (so, this is what I have to do?)’ a fake Russian.

He called out to someone and said, ‘This is the dialogue Raj: It was quite easy getting him on board. The only

PAGE 11 g

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‘There is never a happy ending in life’ f PAGE 10 Having said that, our wavelengths matched; what we wanted to do a lot of the time is what Saif also wanted to do.

He being the producer helped a lot because there was no third power to stop us or hold us back.

Raj: There were no restrictions per se; it was just having faith in each other.

Saif can go all out but he needs to control himself a bit. For example, he would watch an edit and love it and the way he is acting in it. Then he will think of another idea and he will ask why don’t we shoot it the other way and see what is best.

But taking the second kind of shot may require a techno crane, which would be a very costly affair. He would say, ‘So what man, let’s do it na?’ He is an extravagant producer.

More than Saif, Dinu (Dinesh Vijan), who is a hands-on producer, allows us to do everything. It’s never been a compromise.

What is a happy ending for you in your lives?

Raj: There is never a happy ending in life.

Endings are sad no matter what it is.

Happy ending is the concept that you feel at the moment.

When the movie releases and it is doing good, it’s a happy ending. But the next day, if the box office is not so good, then it is not a happy ending.

D K: Every film in itself could be a happy ending. It’s a journey, you make it, you finish it, you put it out in the theatre and if it is received well that is the happy ending of that journey or that story.

What would be a happy ending for Saif Ali Khan?

Raj: Saif is living his happy ending. He has got a lot of money. He has got a great family. He has got great films to be proud of. He is a good actor and in good health.

What about Govinda?

Raj: Govinda’s happy ending starts now, with his second innings. He has had many happy endings before but his second phase starts now.

And Ileana D’Cruz?

Raj: We don’t know much about Ileana but I think she is heading towards a happy ending.

How do you work together? Are there arguments and disagreements? Your third partner is Sita Menon, who helps in writing.

D K: Arguments, disagreements are part of any process. There is always some debate.

Sita is more part of the writing process

so when at some point the script is locked, we go on the shoot. We do a lot of homework upfront so we pretty much know what we are shooting.

We don’t necessarily fight on the sets or argue. The major parts are already planned and discussed before the shooting.

Basically, we agree with each other on most things.

I can see from the way you are answering that you don’t cut each other’s lines. You take turns to answer.

D K: Is that good or bad?

It’s good…

DK: We’ve got into this habit over a period of time. May be initially we were cutting off each other’s lines and sentences. (laughs). Actually we never did; we are not even conscious about this.

Raj: I always thought that filmmaking is a team effort, there are 15-20 minds that come together and contribute their efforts and make a film.

When we met each other to make a film, and discuss a film there was a team right there. So we were a small team of two, and three now (with Sita).

D K: When we made our first film it was me, him and another guy, who was shooting the film. The entire cast and crew was three people.

Now it’s grown, it’s a collaborative effort.

There are many more people now — cameraman, editor, music composer....

You always see one person captaining the ship, but one person cannot take the ship anywhere, you need a crew.

Abbas-Mustan also work together but they are brothers, they can understand each other better. You are friends. It must be more difficult…

Snapshots from Happy Ending.

Raj: Very true. Actually, all the duo directors I know are brothers like AbbasMustan, Cohen brothers, Farrelly brothers, the Wachowskis.

You can’t ask Imtiaz Ali and Anurag Kashyap to direct a film together. I am not sure it will work because their creative minds will collide.

But in our case, we started as an entity.

We were two individuals who came together and we later became filmmakers. We only know one way of making films, we discuss and make it.

So what is your story, how did you meet?

D K: We studied at the same engineering college. I am a computer science engineer and Raj is a mechanical engineer. We were quiz partners and part of all the cultural activities.

We started work in different parts of the United States, and we thought it was very boring. We would coordinate over the phone and meet on weekends to make films. We shot our first short film over

eight weekends. That gave us a lot of hands-on experience.

Raj: Every Indian is a filmmaker at heart. Cinema is huge and everybody knows everything.

When you watch a film you say, it’s not good, I would have made it differently, I would have done this or that. Everyone is a director slash critic.

Are you funny in real life?

Raj: We are not funny at all. Our films are observational comedy. Nobody has a flair for one-liners or gags.

In real life also it is observational comedy. Lots of things are funny to us. We are usually laughing. But we are not flamboyant.

D K: I don’t think either of us can charm people but we have fun with ourselves.

Both of you went to USA but only DK has an accent.

D K: I got an accent? I don’t know.

Raj: May be he is talking a lot to Ileana.

D K: That was a mean joke.

Raj: That was a practical line. She has been talking a lot of Australian (Ileana is reportedly dating Australian photographer Andrew Kneebone, who makes a cameo in Happy Ending).

There are a lot of cameos in your film — Kareena Kapoor, Preity Zinta. Saif is also doing a cameo as Yogi. Even you do, Raj. Raj: Ileana’s boyfriend’s cameo is practically blink-and-miss. This is all insider stuff. It doesn’t matter if somebody knows about it or not, even my role.

For the public, there are two big cameos: Kareena Kapoor and Preity Zinta and Govinda with his extended appearance.

If you were there on the sets and if you had fitted a scene, I would have asked you if you wanted to be the part of that shot.

Your next film is a Telugu film?

Raj: We are supposed to make one. We spoke to Mahesh Babu a year ago and he said yes. But nothing has been finalized.

D K: We are making Farzi next with Shahid. It’s a crime drama.

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ALL THAT GLITTERS

A PEEK INTO THE WEEK’S GLITZIEST TINSEL TOWN EVENTS

From left, Kareena Kapoor, Hrithik Roshan, Karan Johar, Farhan Akhtar and his wife Adhuna at Grey Goose India’s Fly Beyond Awards ceremony in Mumbai.

Rajinikanth with his heroines Anushka Shetty, left, and Sonakshi Sinha, right at the music launch of their upcoming film Lingaa in Chennai.

From left, actresses Simi Garewal and Hema Malini with Pamela Chopra, wife of the late Yash Chopra, at a press meet to announce the 2nd Yash Chopra Memorial Award, in Mumbai.

In it’s inaugural year, the award had felicitated singer Lata Mangeshkar. This year it will go to actor Amitabh Bachchan.

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Virat Kohli, center, at the launch of WROGN.

‘Anushka and I are not hiding anything’

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma in a television commercial.

T

hey have reportedly been seeing each other, but India’s star batsman Virat Kohli and actress Anuskha Sharma have attempted to keep their relationship under wraps, albeit unsuccessfully. Now, it seems, have decided to come out in the open.

When Kohli was asked for his views on Anushka’s recent comments that everything about their relationship was visible, he replied, “Jo hai sabke saamne hai (whatever is there, it is in front of everyone). We are not hiding anything, we are not trying to hide anything; I don’t want to hide anything. But if you keep asking about

the same thing again and again, and it becomes a matter of debate, then it does not feel right for both the individuals concerned.”

Kohli was at the launch of his fashion brand WROGN in Mumbai November 19.

He added, “Even if you are seen together and you are asked to confirm (the relationship). I think it is a commonsense thing. Obviously, if you know then why ask the same question? There is basic logic behind it. It is not something that is wrong.

There is nothing to hide. We would not like to personally speak about it because it is something very personal for us and that should be respected.”

Asked if he would ever make a foray into Bollywood, he declared, “You will never see me in movies. Never!”

The 26-year-old said his youth fashion label WROGN was inspired by his own life in many ways: “We were thinking of names. One thing people associate with me in first look or first instance is being wrong. They picture me as someone who is wrong and eventually becomes right after a certain point of time. That was the whole plan. Then we decided to spell ‘Wrong’ in a wrong way.”

Kohli said his fashion style was inspired by Justin Timberlake’s unconventional style. “He will come wearing white sneakers on proper dapper suit. I think that is kind of cool; that sort of inspired me in my fashion line.”

He also gave a nod to soccer stars Cristiano Ronaldo and David Beckham, for sticking to styles that feels right for them.

— Harish Kotian

Farhan’s goodwill

Vir Das weds

ctor-comedian Vir Das chose privacy and scenic locales of A Sri Lanka to get hitched. The Go

Vir Das and Shivani Mathur.

Goa Gone actor married his longtime girlfriend Shivani Mathur in a low-key ceremony October 19.

Das said in a press statement, ‘We wanted to have a small ceremony for our wedding. There were only about 100 people, comprised of family and close friends. I wanted my wedding to be a quiet affair.’

No special KimK appearance

ast week, we revealed that Kim Kardashian was headed to Bigg Boss L 8 house in India November 22. The

hype, as you can imagine, was right up there with the hype generated when Pamela Anderson and Sunny Leone made their appearances on the Indian version of Big Brother.

But this time the end was anticlimactic.

Just a couple of days before the appearance the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star ran into, as per newspaper reports, a visa snag and was unable to stop in India on her way from Australia to Dubai.

We can’t imagine who would be mourning that other than the channel.

Kim Kardashian promotes her new fragrance Fleur Fatale in Melbourne November 19.

SCOTT BARBOUR/GETTY IMAGES

HITESH HARISINGHANI

United Nations Women named actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar as its first male goodwill ambassador to help advance empowerment of women and girls. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director, UN Women, pins a HeForShe badge on him.

Akhtar is a vocal advocate for gender equality and has founded the Men Against Rape and Discrimination campaign.

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Like son, like father fter his son Arya Babbar transitioned to television with Bigg Boss A 8, Bollywood actor Raj Babbar is

returning to television November 24 with Pukaar: Call For The Hero on Life OK. “As an actor, I have got an opportunity to work in different mediums,” Raj Babbar, who has been seen in TV shows earlier, tells India in New York.

“I started with theatre, then did television and later, I joined cinema. I am not done yet. I still feel I have not worked enough. I still want to work more.”

Pukaar is produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who had earlier made long running soaps like Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka and films like Waqt: The Race Against Time and Namastey London.

Raj Babbar says, “I have started watching television shows now; I used to watch only news before. I found Satyameva Jayate interesting and also some shows on Sony Entertainment Television.”

He said he had caught a few episodes of Bigg Boss 8 as well: “I hardly get time to watch Bigg Boss due to my shooting schedule but I get the story updates from my family when I go back home.”

Arya was eliminated last week, and asked if Bigg Boss would lead his son to more work in Bollywood, the senior Babbar said, “There is visibility if you do television, but that doesn’t make a difference to films. Your work and hard work can get you films.”

He also discussed the work his other son, Prateik, does: “He has come back from Australia. Recently he told me about a Bengali film that he is doing. He is passionate about his acting career.”

He confessed that he was working on a project that could involve both his sons, but added, “I will talk about it when I have something concrete.”

— Rajul Hegde

Double the Fun: Kangna Ranaut in the sequel to Tanu Weds Manu.

COURTESY: TWITTER.COM/AANAND L RAI

Tanu Weds Manu, again

COURTESY: TWITTER.COM/ACTORMADHAVAN

Raj Babbar

angna Ranaut and R Madhavan have begun working on the sequel to their hit Tanu Weds K Manu.

Madhavan wrapped up the shooting for Saala Khadoos — being made simultaneously in Tamil (titled Irrudhi Suttru) and Hindi, by Sudha Kongara, a former associate of filmmaker Mani Ratnam — November 15 before heading to Delhi for TWM. Kangna will be seen in a double role in the film, which also stars Jimmy Shergill, Deepak Dobriyal, and Swara Bhaskar.

Madhavan tweeted this picture saying, ‘Tanu weds Manu look test.’

Javed Akhtar, in French poet-lyricist Javed Akhtar unveiled a French translation of his poems in Paris November 12.

NHeoted told the Deccan Chronicle, ‘There was my poetry recital at the

Nehru Centre (in Mumbai). As luck would have it, Vidya Venkatesh the head of the department of French from Bombay University, lived across the road. All she had to do was cross the road, come to my poetry recital and propose a French translation of my poetry. She was keen that my poems be translated into French, because she felt there was a certain commonality between Javed Akhtar some French poets and me. She felt my poetry was by temperament universal.’

He added, ‘In Paris I met Marcel Benabou who is some kind of sage of contemporary French poem and novels. On my insistence Vidya Venkatesh gave the translation of my French poems to Benabou for his approval. He approved of the French translation and recommended a proper publishing house. Benabou has also been kind enough to write the preface to my French translation. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t know what kind of translation has been done. He has been very collaborative.’

While in Paris, Akhtar also participated in a discussion at the University Of Paris November 13.

A Madhuri production? adhuri Dixit-Nene has reportedly taken a cue from her younger colleagues and decided to dabble in production.

M The actress, who recently revamped her online dance academy,

Madhuri Dixit-Nene

told Hindustan Times, ‘I am already involved in some digital production for the academy, so I have an idea about it. Once this is established, I will get into film production.’

She refused to comment on her vision on production, but did say that acting remained on the agenda: ‘Scripts keep coming to me regularly, so I will act again; all I need now is the right script.’

When two icons meet

Actor Amitabh Bachchan, left, who is shooting in Kolkata for Shoojit Sircar's Piku, met some special guests on the sets recently. Former Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly and his wife Dona, right, a danseuse, dropped by.

COURTESY: FACEBOOK.COM/AMITABHBACHCHAN

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Hrithik tweets for Sussanne

PRADEEP BANDEKAR

Sussanne Khan, center, with her mother Zarine Khan, left, and sister Farah Ali Khan at the launch of the latter’s jewelry collection for an Indian brand.

Inset, Hrithik Roshan turned up to support Farah, his former sister-in-law.

Arnie, Aamir & some mutual admiration Khan, who was in Delhi recently, had a chance meeting with Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

ATheamir PK actor shared a picture, tweeting: ‘I told the HT

(Hindustan Times, which organized the event Aamir was attending) staff I wish I could meet him. So they told him. And he just walked in to my room!!!’

‘He’s really cool. Very warm and friendly.’

‘It was a bizzare (sic) feeling! I looked up when the door opened and I see THE TERMINATOR walking into my room!’

Schwarzenegger tweeted, ‘It was fantastic to meet you! You’re a real star, w/ success at the box office and all the awards.’

Esha makes TV debut E

sha Deol is set to make her small screen debut as a judge on MTV’s popular reality show Roadies.

The actress will be joined by Olympic medalist Vijender Singh and actor Karan Kundra in the 12th season.

Esha ‘Esha Deol had been looking Deol forward to make her TV debut for a while now but wanted to be a part of a show that was popular with the youth. Esha’s no–nonsense persona combined with her ability to disengage herself from emotional entanglements makes her the perfect fit for the show,’ the makers said in a statement.

Rannvijay Singh will be back as the host of the show.

Come May? e finally have a date — fingers crossed — for W Anurag Kashyap’s next direc-

torial venture. Bombay Velvet is set to hit the theatres May 15, 2015.

The romantic thriller features Ranbir Kapoor, Anushka Sharma and Karan Johar in lead roles was initially slated for a December release, but the date was changed to November 28 to avoid a clash with Aamir Khan’s PK. But, Kashyap said in a statement, ‘The film needed time to complete given the work that was pending and now we From right, Bombay Velvet director Anurag Kashyap, actor Ranbir Kapoor, filmmkaerhave locked a release date. An actor Karan Johar, Vijay Singh of Fox Star Studios, and co-producers Vikas Bahl and exciting marketing plan is Vikramaditya Motwane at the film’s wrap-up party. being crafted as we speak to promote the movie in a way films have not been presented before.’ being edited in LA by Oscar-winning film editor, Meanwhile, Mumbai Mirror revealed, ‘Bombay Thelma Colbert Schoonmaker.’

Velvet — like the recent Finding Fanny — will have Schoonmaker is a longtime collaborator of Oscartwo versions, one for the Indian audience and the winner Martin Scorsese, a filmmaker Kashyap hugely other for a global release. The international cut is admires.

PRADEEP BANDEKAR

TWITTER.COM/AAMIR_KHAN

hough divorced, Sussanne Khan and Hrithik Roshan have maintained an admirably united front when it comes to each other and their families.

Hrithik has not only turned up for events to support his former brother-in-law Zayed Khan and former sister-in-law Farah Ali Khan, but has also spoken up in Sussanne’s support when needed.

The latest came when Bombay Times, the media outlet now infamous for talking about Deepika Padukone’s cleavage, carried an article titled ‘Is Arjun to blame for the Mehr-Sussanne friendship taking a severe beating?’

Sussanne issued a press statement saying, ‘Arjun and Mehr are friends and have been for years. To poison a relationship such as this is malicious behavior. I have, with Mehr, earlier stated in the same paper that there is no truth to the claim that Arjun and I are anything more than friends.’

Hrithik tweeted, ‘If u people knew hw much false news is printed, d papers wud actually stop selling. I am disgusted 2day.’

‘But powerful good people know how 2walk their truth no matter what...’

PRADEEP BANDEKAR

T

18

Aseem in Goa INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Gulzar, left, and Vishal Bhardwaj

From left, Rajeev Masand, Aseem Chhabra, and Karan Johar.

Stardust and Tinsel on the Beach T

there were cocktail receptions right by the hursday afternoon, as I stood in beach. And every night there were major the lobby of the Goa Marriott and celebrity sightings.

Resort Spa, I had a rare sighting.

When the party started the first night, I Two of the gods of Hindi cinema were saw Rajat Kapoor and Sudhir Mishra talkstanding next to each other, talking and ing to a group of young fans. Other Hindi waiting for a car to take them for the film personalities I saw included Anurag opening of the International Film Kashyap, Umesh Kulkarni, Dibakar Festival of India.

Gulzar, poet, lyricist and filmmaker, was standing next to his protégé and one of Mumbai’s best directors — Vishal Bhardwaj. I have known Bhardwaj and his singer wife Rekha for a number of years. That afternoon I could not resist saying hello to Bhardwaj, more so because I wanted to be introduced to Gulzar.

And the fan in me asked the duo if they would oblige me for a photograph. I caught them in their crisp white kurtas smiling, looking relaxed despite Goa’s humid weather.

I arrived in Goa from Delhi on Thursday to attend the Film Bazaar organized by India’s National Film Development Corporation. Across town in Panjim invited guests were gathering for IFFI’s opening night with two pillars of the Indian film industry —Amitabh Bachchan and Rajnikanth.

I decided instead to stay back at the Film Bazaar, where that A young Rajesh Khanna, evening and the next three nights at an IFFI venue

Banerjee and Vidhu Vinod Chopra with his journalist wife Anupama.

One evening I saw young producer Guneet Monga chatting with filmmaker Subhash Ghai. Given the very different cinemas the two represent I wondered what they must have been discussing.

The Film Bazaar lasted four days. And it

was packed with script writing workshops, production meetings, and industry screenings where filmmakers introduced new films for potential distributors and film festival programmers.

One afternoon Nina Gupta, the head of NFDC, spoke to Kashyap about independent cinema and journalist Rajeev Masand interviewed Karan Johar about the future of Hindi films.

Later Johar and Masand were having tea with Gupta, when I barged into their meeting. Johar has known my work for a while, but we had never met. We joked about that and commemorated the moment by getting a picture taken.

A few miles down from the Marriott, at the other end of Panjim, IFFI was on in a big way with screenings at several venues — the INOX multiplex, which is located right next to the offices of the Entertainment Society of Goa. Across the street is one of the bigger venues in Goa — the Kala Mandir, which is dedicated to Lata Mangeshkar’s father Dinanath Mangeshkar.

On Saturday I was at the Kala Mandir theater to moderate a conversation with actor and director Satish Kaushik. Director of 14 films, Kaushik has also acted in over 100 movies. The subject of the master class conversation was Kaushik’s life as actor, starting from his moderate upbringing in Delhi’s Karol Bagh to training at the National School of Drama, acting on stage and then in films.

Kaushik is a good talker and that made my task easier. And his ragsto-riches story was quite inspiring for the audience. They kept applauding through the session.

And then there were the films.

On the second day at IFFI, I saw Shabnam Sukhdev’s documentary, The Last Adieu, her attempt to discover her nearly absent filmmaker father Sukhdev through his documentaries. Sukhdev was one of the leading documentary filmmakers in post-Independence India. The film captures his life through the eyes of his friends including Shashi Kapoor and Shaukat Azmi.

One of the best films I saw at IFFI was The Theory of Everything, director James Marsh’s exploration of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking’s life. It is a gripping look at Hawking’s life and his struggle with ALS also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Eddie Redmayne plays Hawking with such brilliance that he is among the front-runners for next year’s best actor Oscar race.

HITESH HARISINGHANI

Special

19

INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

F

or a good part of the hour during which Dan Brown addressed a gathering in Mumbai, I could not get over the somewhat striking resemblance Brown’s profile had with Liam Neeson’s.

Neeson, as Internet memes have informed us, is the guy who trained Batman, Obi-Wan, led the A-Team and was the Greek God Zeus.

Dan Brown, on the other hand, is that bestselling author who made bible study popular. Now before you get all worked up, this last bit is Brown’s own admission.

Speaking at the Mumbai edition of the Penguin Annual Lecture, Dan Brown recounted the time when, not very long after the publication of The Da Vinci Code, a priest approached him on the streets of Boston and told him that he didn’t care much for his book.

But, he added with a smile before Brown could respond, he was glad that the headcount at his weekly bible study class went from eight to a few hundred on the day he selected the book as the topic of discussion.

In Mumbai, Brown was in conversation with author Ashwin Sanghi, who has been hailed by many as ‘India’s answer to Dan Brown.’

Sanghi, whose books are similar to Brown’s in their overarching themes, has little else in common with the American author though. Chetan Bhagat, on the other hand, shares a lot more with him when you

Love him,

hate him,

Dan Brown is a rockstar The bestselling author spoke at the Penguin Annual Lecture in Mumbai. Abhishek Mande Bhot brings you snapshots from the evening think of it.

Brown, like Bhagat, has written six bestselling books (Bhagat prefers to call his books ‘blockbusters’).

Brown’s books have been made into successful movies as have Bhagat’s.

Time magazine has named both of them among the most influential people in the world (Brown in 2005, Bhagat in 2010).

The same magazine has credited Brown with ‘keeping the publishing industry afloat’. Bhagat’s

Dan Brown in Mumbai.

books (and even his fiercest critics will admit this) have changed the way the Indian publishing industry, which until his arrival was perfectly happy with a print run of 5,000 to 10,000 books, works.

Both have drawn new readers to the book business and have also been at the receiving end of the severest criticism about the quality of their work Salman Rushdie called The Da Vinci Code ‘a novel so bad that it gives bad novels a bad name.’

Worse things have been said about Bhagat’s works.

Bhagat’s loud mouth has also earned him Rushdie’s ire when he spoke out against The Satanic Verses some years ago.

In return Rushdie, the eloquent wordsmith, hit two birds with one stone when he tweeted: ‘... I am being Bhaggered. It is like being molested by Dan Brown!’

Back then, Bhagat responded with his trademark verbal diarrhoea.

Brown, when asked recently what he thought of Rushdie’s opinion of him reportedly said: ‘He is a nice man.’

Both in New Delhi

and Mumbai, Brown basked in the warm adulation of his fans, not very differently from the way Bhagat does each time he speaks in public.

The most surreal moment of the evening was Brown’s entry itself.

Soon after the mild-mannered bankerauthor Ravi Subramanian completed his introduction, the spotlight shifted to the wings where you imagine Brown would have been bouncing like a boxer before a bout.

Amidst thunderous applause and screams, Brown made his entry not unlike a boxer. He was dwarfed by beefy bodyguards who, out of habit had, somewhat comically, outstretched their hands to protect him... seemingly from thin air!

A skinny guard in a safari suit, who seemed to be their boss, ordered his muscular minions to take positions to protect their ‘target’ from an invisible enemy.

No one, of course, wanted to attack Brown.

The auditorium though had gone berserk; everyone was on their feet.

People were screaming for attention.

For a good minute or so, that was all you could hear. This was possibly the closest Mumbai’s Tata Theatre may have come to a rock concert.

And there he was, at the centre of attention, in a sharp black suit and tie, smiling and waving.

Platitudes and critics notwithstanding, Brown is a rockstar. You didn’t need to be a code breaker to figure that one out.

His fans showered their love on their favorite author, laughing and clapping and cheering at practically everything he said.

For approximately 30 minutes, Brown, who was supposed to speak on ‘codes, science and religion’ spoke largely about the blurred lines between science and religion instead.

Holding up his mother’s car registration plate that read ‘Kyrie’, the Greek word for ‘Lord’ and his father’s car registration plate that read ‘Metric’, Brown spoke of how the diverse influences of his religious mother and mathematician father shaped his worldview.

But for the most part, Brown dished out platitudes. And the audiences lapped them up: “When science starts tackling the tough questions it starts using phrases like ‘uncertainty principle’ (laughter) ‘margin of error’ (laughter again), ‘theory of relativity’ (more laughter).”

“Slowly physics turns into metaphysics (louder laughter here for some reason).”

“This podium is pure energy (no laughter here).”

I could go on.

At the end of the lecture, a friend mentioned how disappointed she was that he didn’t speak more about codes.

Which is also when I realized the reason for my own disappointment: You see, much like my friend, I was (somewhat unconsciously) hoping to listen to Robert Langdon.

Health

20

INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

REVERSING DIABETES BEFORE IT TAKES HOLD P

riyam (name changed) is a bubbly 29-year-old engineer. Last year she was diagnosed with pre-diabetes.

She was distraught; She knew she was overweight, both her parents were already diabetic, but she never thought it could affect her too!

She was a big foodie and loved indulging her sweet tooth and lived a carefree life.

With this diagnosis coming as a shocker, she decided that she would reverse her pre-diabetes and set things in order. She resolved to follow a better and healthier lifestyle. With rigorous exercise and a balanced, healthy diet she was able to reverse her condition and leads a much better life now.

A 2011 study by the Indian Council of Medical Research estimated that India already had 62.4 million living with diabetes and what was more disturbing was that there were 77.2 million people who were pre-diabetic.

Pre-diabetics are the so-called healthy people who would eventually become diabetics over a period of time adding on to the already exploding numbers in our country.

Pre-diabetes indicates a higher than normal blood sugar level, but not high enough to be classified as Type 2 diabetes.

Pre-diabetes technically is defined as a fasting blood glucose level between 100125mg/dl, or a random blood glucose level between 141-199 mg/dl or an HbA1c between 5.7-6.4 per cent.

Dr Shalini Jaggi gives a simple guide to tackle the spread of this lifestyle disease If not kept in check, pre-diabetes progresses to Type 2 diabetes in less than 10 years. Not just that, the long-term damage to your organs associated with diabetes, especially to your heart and circulatory system may already have started at the level of pre-diabetes itself.

The good news is — it’s still reversible.

Pre-diabetes is a golden ticket for you not only to prevent diabetes but also to improve your overall health and lifestyle. It is your window of opportunity — like an alarm bell warning you that the bomb is ticking — you can diffuse it before it explodes!

How can you reverse pre-diabetes? The condition can be easily reversed with some simple lifestyle changes:

Get active

Move more. While you’re watching TV, keep the remote away so you have to get up to reach for it. Pace around while talking on the phone or do some stretching in between commercials. Try to fit in 30-45 minutes of exercise or walk for at least five days a week; staying active will get rid of lethargy and give you more energy for other activities.

Shed those pounds

If you’re overweight, exercise to lose the

excess weight. Maintaining a healthy weight range or even shedding a few pounds has shown that it can cut your chances of getting diabetes.

Even a 10 percent weight loss from baseline significantly reduces your insulin resistance and improves your blood glucose levels.

If you’re not one for conventional exercises try something offbeat such as aerobics, dancing or swimming. Play a sport like badminton or football or cricket.

Eat clean

Load up on those fruits and vegetables; opt for less-starchy ones like spinach, broccoli, carrots and green beans.

Include a lot of high-fiber foods such as oats and flax seeds.

Go for whole grains instead of processed grains; choose brown rice instead of white.

Change your diet to include low calorie versions of milk, yoghurt, cheese and salad dressing. Avoid heavy snacking between meals. If you do get the hunger pangs, reach for a piece of fresh fruit or whole wheat crackers smeared with some peanut butter or low fat cheese.

Sleep like a baby

Short sleep durations make it difficult for your body to use insulin effectively,

REUTERS

Get active. Even a 10 percent weight loss from baseline significantly reduces your insulin resistance and improves your blood glucose levels.

increasing the likelihood of Type 2 diabetes.

Set your sleep and wake timings and stick to it.

Relax before lights out. Avoid watching TV or browsing the net when you’re trying to fall asleep.

Avoid having caffeine post dinner if you have trouble sleeping.

Enjoy at least 6-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep in the night to keep you fresh and loaded with energy all through the day!

Get support

Getting a support group to help you keep your weight loss goals in mind and motivating you can be very helpful. It helps to be around people who are dealing with the same condition as it opens up avenues for discussion, problem-sharing and exchange of effective strategies.

These steps should be followed not just by those diagnosed with pre-diabetes, but anyone who wants to avoid getting diabetes.

Just by making a few simple changes in your diet and lifestyle you can reverse diabetes and avoid the many problems that come with being diabetic such as neuropathy, retinopathy etc.

Your body is a temple. Treat it well and you’ll reap the benefits.

Dr Shalini Jaggi is senior consultant, diabetology, from the Delhi-based Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute.

21

India in New York November 28, 2014

IMMIGRATION NEWS

SUMMARY OF IMMIGRATION ACCOUNTABILITY EXECUTIVE ACTIONS Prepared by Cyrus D. Mehta* & Associates, PLLC

On November 20, 2014, the President announced a series of executive actions to expand enforcement at the border, prioritize deporting felons not families, and require certain undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes in order to temporarily stay in the U.S. without fear of deportation. Below is a summary of the immigration benefits that would flow from these executive actions: • Expanding the population eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to young people who came to this country before turning 16 years old and have been present since January 1, 2010, and extending the period of DACA and work authorization from two years to three years DACA will be expanded to include a broader class of children. DACA eligibility was limited to those who were under 31 years of age on June 15, 2012, who entered the U.S. before June 15, 2007, and who were under 16 years old when they entered. DACA eligibility will be expanded to cover all undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. before the age of 16, and not just those born after June 15, 1981. The entry date will also be adjusted from June 15, 2007 to January 1, 2010. The relief (including work authorization) will now last for three years rather than two.

• Allowing parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been in the country since January 1, 2010, to request deferred action and employment authorization for three years, in a new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability program, provided they pass required background checks DHS will extend eligibility for deferred action to individuals who (i) are not removal priorities under our new policy, (ii) have been in this country at least 5 years, (iii) have children who on the date of this announcement are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, and (iv) present no other factors that would make a grant of deferred action inappropriate. These individuals will be assessed for eligibility for deferred action on a case-by-case basis, and then be permitted to apply for work authorization, provided they pay a fee. Each individual will undergo a thorough background check of all relevant national security and criminal databases, including DHS and FBI databases. With work-authorization, these individuals will pay taxes and contribute to the economy.

• Expanding the use of provisional waivers of unlawful presence to include the spouses and sons and daughters of lawful permanent residents and the sons and daughters of U.S. citizens The provisional waiver program DHS announced in January 2013 for undocumented spouses and children of U.S. citizens will be expanded to include the spouses and children of lawful permanent residents, as well as the adult children of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents. At the same time, DHS will further clarify the “extreme hardship” standard that must be met to obtain the waiver.

• Modernizing, improving and clarifying immigrant and nonimmigrant programs to grow our economy and create jobs DHS will begin rulemaking to identify the conditions under which talented entrepreneurs should be paroled into the United States, on the ground that their entry would yield a significant public economic benefit.

DHS will also support the military and its recruitment efforts by working with the Department of Defense to address the availability of parole-in-place and deferred action to spouses, parents, and children of U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents who seek to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. DHS will also issue guidance to clarify that when anyone is given “advance parole” to leave the country – including those who obtain deferred action - they will not be considered to have departed. Undocumented aliens generally trigger a 3- or 10-year bar to returning to the United States when they depart.

• Promoting citizenship education and public awareness for lawful permanent residents and providing an option for naturalization applicants to use credit cards to pay the application fee To promote access to U.S. citizenship, DHS will permit the use of credit cards as a payment option for the naturalization fee, and expand citizenship public awareness. It is important to note that the naturalization fee is $680, currently payable only by cash, check or money order. DHS will also explore the feasibility of expanding fee waiver options • Supporting High-skilled Business and Workers DHS will take a number of administrative actions to better enable U.S. businesses to hire and retain highly skilled foreign-born workers and strengthen and expand opportunities for students to gain on-the-job training. For example, because our immigration system suffers from extremely long waits for green cards, DHS will amend current regulations and make other administrative changes to provide needed flexibility to workers with approved employment-based green card petitions. Individuals with an approved employment-based immigrant petition who are caught in the quota backlogs will be able to pre-register for adjustment of status to obtain the benefits of a pending adjustment. This is expected to impact about 410,000 people. The “same or similar” definition will be clarified for adjustment applicants who wish to exercise job portability when their adjustment applications have been pending for more than 180 days. The length of time in Optional Practical Training for STEM graduates will be expanded and the relationship between the student and the school will be strengthened for this period. The regulation that would authorize H-4 spouses to work will get finalized. Other changes, such as allowing STEM OPT post-master’s degree where only the first degree is in a STEM field is under consideration. A full rulemaking will be undertaken to modernize the PERM labor certification program. There will also be greater consistency with the L-1B specialized knowledge program.

• Visa Modernization There is a Presidential Memorandum directing the agencies to look at modernizing the visa system, with a view to making optimal use of the numbers of visa available under law. Issues such as whether derivatives should be counted and whether past unused visa numbers can be recaptured will be included in this effort.

* Cyrus D. Mehta, a graduate of Cambridge University and Columbia Law School, is the Managing Member of Cyrus D. Mehta & Associates, PLLC in New York City. He is the current Chair of AILA’s Ethics Committee and former Chair of AILA’s Pro Bono Committee. He is also the former Chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Immigration Council (2004–06) and Chair of the Committee on Immigration and Nationality Law (2000–03) of the New York City Bar Association. He is a frequent speaker and writer on various immigration-related issues, including on administrative remedies and ethics, and is also an adjunct associate professor of Law at Brooklyn Law School, where he teaches a course entitled “Immigration and Work.” Mr. Mehta received the AILA 2011 Michael Maggio Memorial Award for his outstanding efforts in providing pro bono representation in the immigration field.

The Law Firm of Cyrus D. Mehta & Associates, PLLC

Corporations rely on our expertise in US immigration law to find rapid solutions. Individuals from all over the world come to us to fulfill their dreams.

• Lawful Permanent Residency • H-1B Visas • Intracompany Transferee Visas • J-1 Waivers • Entertainers • Family-Based Immigration • Asylum • Citizenship • Battered Spouse Waivers • Removal and Federal Court Litigation

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22

The Week That Was INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

DANISH ISMAIL/REUTERS

Voters outside a polling station during the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly elections at Dangarpora, north of Srinagar, November 25. The five-phased polls in Jammu and Kashmir will end December 20, and results will be announced December 23.

Obama to be Republic Day chief guest President Barack Obama has agreed to visit India after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last week invited Obama to be the chief guest at the Indian Republic Day celebrations in New Delhi, January 26, 2015.

Modi-Sharif meet likely Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was likely to meet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on the sidelines of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Nepal November 25.

No direct state involvement in Gujarat riots: Commission After 12 years and 25 extensions, the Nanavati-Mehta Commission probing the 2002 Godhra train carnage and subsequent communal riots submitted its final report to Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel November 18.

Reportedly, it absolves the then chief minister Narendra Modi of any direct involvement in the riots. The commission, comprising retired Supreme Court judge G T Nanavati and retired Gujarat high court judge Akshay Mehta, was appointed by the state government in March 2002.

Nanavati had also probed the 1984 anti-Sikh violence.

Cop, who got minister convicted for riots, wants to retire early Rahul Sharma, Indian Institute of Technology alumnus turned police officer who was denied promotion and leave for his son’s studies after his wife died of dengue, has applied for early retirement. In 2002, Sharma was super-

intendent of police in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, and enforced peace. Sharma’s digging out of cellphone records led to the conviction of Maya Kodnani, who was later made minister in then chief minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet, in a riots case. Sharma had earlier accused the Gujarat state government of bias against him.

Supreme Court orders CBI chief off scam probe Twelve days before he was to retire, the Supreme Court removed Central Bureau of Investigation Director Ranjit Sinha from the probe into the 2G spectrum allocation scam case. Sinha had allegedly held private meetings at his home with the accused. The court said the allegations against Sinha — that he had tried to influence the probe and helped some of the accused — appeared ‘credible’.

Musliims, Dalits, tribals make up more than half of prisoners Muslims (20 percent), Dalits (22 percent) and tribals (11 percent) make up 53 percent of India’s prison population (420,000 people in 2013), according to an official report.

The communities make up for 39 percent of India’s total population. Experts said the high share of prisoners is because of economical and social backwardness, and not because these communities are more prone to be criminals.

Bengal Ponzi scheme: Another lawmaker arrested Trinamul Congress Party Member of Parliament Srinjoy Bose was last week arrested in connection with West Bengal’s Saradha Ponzi scam. Bose, who owns a Bengali

daily, was earlier questioned twice by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Meanwhile, state Transport Minister Madan Mitra, who was also asked to appear before the CBI in connection with the scam, was admitted to the state-run SSKM Hospital.

Prime minister’s wife asks: What services am I entitled to?

Jashodaben Modi, wife of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has filed a Right to Information application seeking details of the laws and protocol under which she has been provided security cover. The application asks 12 questions, including ‘I have been given protection as per protocol.

Please do elaborate what other kind of services can I get as per the protocol, and I also appeal for an elaborate definition of this protocol.’

She also asked that when she travels by public transport, why do her security guards travel in government vehicles.

She has sought a reply within 48 hours, with relevant documents, stating that the issues concern her ‘life and death’.

Mangalyaan among Time’s 25 best innovations of 2014 Describing the Mangalyaan as a technological feat that will allow India to flex its ‘interplanetary muscles’ and calling it a ‘supersmart Spacecraft’, Time magazine has named India’s low-cost Mars rover among the ‘25 Best Innovations of 2014’.

‘Nobody gets Mars right on the first try,’ the magazine

PAGE 23

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The Week That Was

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INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

f PAGE 22 said. ‘The United States didn’t, Russia didn’t, the Europeans didn’t. But on September 24, India did.

That’s when the Mangalyaan ...went into orbit around the Red Planet, a technological feat no other Asian nation has yet achieved.’

Delhi: Parents allegedly kill daughter for inter-caste marriage Bhavna Yadav, 21, who married a man from another caste, was allegedly killed by her parents in Dwarka, New Delhi, and secretly cremated in her village in Alwar, Rajasthan. Her parents, who the Dwarka police arrested after her husband filed a complaint, have reportedly confessed. Meanwhile, Bhavna’s husband has been getting threatening calls demanding that he drop the case.

Delhi Imam has no right to pick son as successor: Court Taking into account the contentions of the federal Indian government, the Delhi Wakf Board and other petitioners, the Delhi high court November 21 said the ceremony to anoint Shahi Imam Maulana Syed Bukhari’s son as the Naib Imam of Jama Masjid ‘would not amount to an appointment.’ Under the Wakf Act, 1995, the court noted, the law only provides for a manager and contains no provision for appointment of Imams of wakf (Islamic religious endowments, usually land) even if it is a mosque.

Ebola in Delhi A 26-year-old Indian man returning from Liberia tested positive for Ebola and was quarantined at Delhi airport. He was already treated for the disease in the West African country, the health ministry said.

Adarsh scam: Court retains former chief minister as accused The Bombay high court November 19 rejected the Central Bureau Investigation’s plea to drop former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan’s name from the probe into the Adarsh housing society in Mumbai, where apartments meant for war widows were given to politicians and bureaucrats.

War hero to junk

A worker uses metal cutter as others carry dismantled parts of the INS Vikrant, India’s first aircraft carrier, at a ship-breaking yard in Mumbai, November 24. The ship, originally named HMS Hercules, was bought from Britain in 1957 and rechristened INS Vikrant. It was formally commissioned into the Indian fleet at Bombay on November 3, 1961. The 16,000-ton ship had helped enforce a naval blockade of East Pakistan — now Bangladesh — during the 1971 war with Pakistan. It was decommissioned in 1997, and efforts to save it from the scrapyard failed. In March, the Indian Navy sold Vikrant to a Mumbai-based ship-breaking company for Rs 63 crore.

Not scrapping Article 370: Rajnath Singh Accusing the opposition of trying to mislead the people of Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Home Minister Rajnath Singh November 19 said the Bharatiya Janata Party had not yet decided to scrap Article 370, which grants special status to the state. Five-phase state assembly elections were to begin in the state November 25.

Sri Lanka releases Indians Hate crimes against North Easterners on death row continue After a presidential pardon from Mahinda Rajapaksa,

Zingran Kengoo, a PhD student at the Tata School of Social Sciences in Mumbai, was found dead in his apartment in Delhi, November 20. The body of Kengoo, who was from Manipur, had throat and head injuries, the police said.

The same day, Samuel, 21, also from Manipur, was attacked by three men in Bengaluru when he objected to them harassing a girl.

India tops global slavery index Of the estimated 35.8 million people under bondage across the world, around 14.3 million people are trapped in modern-day slavery in India, which is on the top of the Global Slavery Index 2014 published November 17 by the Walk Free Foundation in Perth, Australia. India and Pakistan (2.05 million) account for 45 percent of the global total, according to the report.

DANISH SIDDIQUI/REUTERS

Sri Lanka November 19 released the five Indian fishermen sentenced to death on drug trafficking charges.

Elite commando suspected in attack on pharma exec The Hyderabad police believe a constable attached to the Greyhound, an elite anti-Maoist outfit of Andhra Pradesh, attacked Nityananda Reddy, managing director, Aurobindo Pharma, in Hyderabad last week. The daylight attack with an AK47 had stunned the city.

MP sterilization horror: Poisonous, substandard meds blamed ‘The medicines which were provided to the affected women at the camps were found to be substandard and traces of poisonous substances were also found in it as per

the medical reports,’ Madhya Pradesh Health Minister Amar Agrawal told journalists last week, nearly two weeks after 13 women died and many others were in critical condition after sterilization surgeries at a government camp in Bilaspur.

After social media outcry, rape accused editor off lit fest The Times of India’s literary festival organizers last week canceled an invitation to Tarun Tejpal, former editor of Tehelka magazine, who is out on bail, accused of sexually assaulting a junior colleague.

A veritable storm on social media forced the cancelation; Tejpal was to speak on his new book, Masques, at a panel on ‘The tyranny of power’ along with journalists Basharat Peer and Manu Joseph, and Congress party politician Mani Shankar Aiyar.

Kathak legend no more Legendary Kathak dancer Sitara Devi, who had impressed Rabindranath Tagore with a solo recital as a child, died in Mumbai November 25. She was 94.

Former minister Murli Deora dies Murli Deora, former Indian petroleum minister and veteran Congress party leader in Mumbai, died of cancer November 24. Deora, a close aide of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, elected to the Lok Sabha four times and was serving his third term in the Rajya Sabha.

24

Sports INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

SUPREME COURT SLAMS CRICKET BOARD CHIEF

N Srinivasan

I

ndia’s Supreme Court November 24 slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India over the spotfixing scandal in the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League, and also questioned the return of Narayanaswami Srinivasan as the BCCI president.

‘BCCI must uphold glory of the game. If you allow these things to happen, then you are killing the game of cricket,’ the court said as it took up the IPL betting report filed by the Justice Mudgal Committee.

The court also came down hard on Srinivasan’s conflict of interest over his return as BCCI president while being the owner of the Chennai Super Kings IPL franchise.

The Mudgal panel found Srinivasan’s son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings official, Gurunath Meiyappan, guilty of betting during the IPL last year.

RUPAK DE CHOWDHURI/REUTERS

‘You have to address question of conflict of interest as head of BCCI and also as owner of IPL team, whose official is found to be involved,’ the court said. ‘The conflict of interest is a serious issue. IPL is a mutually beneficial society between IPL and BCCI. Benefit of doubt should go in favor of game rather than any individual.’

The court reminded the BCCI: ‘You have no option but to act against the guilty. You are not doing a favor by acting against them.’

It is wrong to assume that Srinivasan has been absolved, the court said.

‘Don’t assume that you have been given a clean chit. Don’t go by the Mudgal panel conclusions alone.’

The BCCI requested the Supreme Court not to reveal the identities of the players

PAGE 25

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‘Cricket is a religion in the country and the purest form of the game must be restored’

T

‘Don’t presume anything,’ the bench said, adding, ‘You are contesting the election by saying that you are not involved, but somebody close to you is involved.’

The court said, ‘The BCCI and IPL cannot be separated and is a creature or product or by-product of BCCI. Some people who are in the BCCI now own a team. It has become a mutual benefit society. The ownership of team raises conflict of interests. President of BCCI has to run the show but you have a team which raises questions and it can’t be wished away.’

‘Cricket is a religion in the country and the purest form of the game must be restored,’ the bench said. ‘If you are allowing these things to happen, you are killing the game and nobody will enter the stadium. If the people come to know that matches are fixed then nobody would come to watch the game. Will the people enter the stadium knowing that it is a farce?’

‘By and large people have passion for cricket. Cricket is like a religion in the country and people are passionate about it. People with no stakes are passionate.

There are billions in the country who are passionate without any stakes. You want to sit over the liquidation of the game. Can you afford to do that?’

‘Your duty is to organize a show and keep away all the things which are happening.

As a president what is your duty? All teams should have a levelplaying team and nothing of this sort should happen. The purest form of game is to be played. You have to be RUPAK DE CHOWDHURI/REUTERS above suspicion.’

A protest in Kolkata, demanding then Indian cricket board president N Srinivasan’s resignation, May 26, 2013. he Supreme Court’s strictures have virtually put a spanner in the wheels of Narayanaswami Srinivasan’s bid for reinstatement as president, Board of Control for Cricket in India — the post from which he had to step down in June last year in view of the Indian Premier League-6 betting and spot-fixing scandal.

‘Please do not go by the report that you are not involved in the betting and spot-fixing and scuttling the probe.

Despite all this your official is involved which will affect you,’ the bench, comprising Justices T S Thakur and F M I Kalifulla, told Srinivasan’s counsel Kapil Sibal, who pleaded that the Mudgal Committee report has nothing against his client.

25

Sports INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

Anand loses, Carlsen retains world champion title

M

agnus Carlsen asserted his supremacy over Viswanathan Anand for the second year running, retaining his World Championship title after defeating the Indian Challenger in the 11th game in Sochi.

The Norwegian world champion closed the 12-game match with a 6.5-4.5 scoreline, courtesy his win in the penultimate game.

While this may have been closely fought in the eyes of the experts, the

fact remains that Anand lasted only one extra game compared to the 2013 match at Chennai when it was all over in the tenth game.

For Anand, there were a lot of lessons to be learned and it is clear that the five-time world champion will probably like to get another shy at the title during the next Candidates tournament.

Anand knew that a draw would keep him in the match but expectedly the Indian ace was not hooked to the idea of staying on till the last game of the 12-game match. Anand came up with an exchange sacrifice

f PAGE 24 till the probe is completed. ‘It may jeopardize their careers,’ the board appealed.

Last week Srinivasan was cleared of match-fixing and scuttling the probe into it that followed the episode, but the findings of the Mudgal Committee indicted Meiyappan Raj Kundra of the Rajasthan Royals for illegal betting.

The three-member committee, in its report to the Supreme Court said Srinivasan, who is also Gurunath Meiyappan chairman of the International Cricket Council, did not take action against an unnamed player for violating the Players’ Code of Conduct despite being aware of the violation.

The report, supplied to different parties in the case, only revealed the names of Meiyappan, Kundra, IPL Chief Executive Officer Sundar Raman, and Srinivasan. The names of the other people, including cricketers, were not disclosed as the per the apex court order.

The committee confirmed that Meiyappan was a team official (team principal) of Chennai Super Kings while Rajasthan Royals’ owner Kundra’s ‘infractions violated the BCCI/IPL Anti Corruption Code.’

The two franchises could be in trouble as a provision in the IPL Code of Conduct says a team can be scrapped if any team official is found guilty of ‘bringing the game into disrepute’ by betting or match-fixing.

The committee, headed by

Vishwanathan Anand

when, according to Grandmaster Peter Svidler, ‘he felt he ought to be doing something’.

Anand later regretted his decision to sacrifice a rook for a minor piece.

‘It was a bad gamble, and I got punished,’ he said.

Anand conceded after the match that Carlsen’s nerves held better in this match. But experts felt Anand had his chances but did not capitalize.

‘Taking in to account that all things considered he did better,’ Anand said. ‘I did not something better and some things worse.’

SUPREME COURT SLAMS CRICKET BOARD CHIEF

retired high court chief justice Mukul Mudgal, with Additional Solicitor General L Nageshwar Rao and senior advocate Nilay Dutta as members, held that Meiyappan was involved in betting but not match-fixing.

It also questioned why the Rajasthan police abruptly ended an investigation into Kundra for his betting activities after the case was transferred from the Delhi police.

The committee found that Raman knew about the contact of a bookie and was in touch him eight times in one season.

Indian cricket hit a new low last year after former India pacer Shantakumaran Sreesanth and his two other Rajasthan Royals colleagues — Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila — were found guilty of spot-fixing in IPL 6.

The Supreme Court appointed a three-member probe panel, led by retired Justice Mudgal, to investigate the betting and spot-fixing saga. The apex court-appointed panel replaced the BCCI’s own two-man probe panel, which had exonerated Meiyappan of any wrongdoing following which its verdict was challenged in the courts.

The BCCI disciplinary committee banned Sreesanth and Chavan for life, while another Rajasthan player, Siddharth Trivedi, was barred for 12 months and his teammate Amit Singh for five years.

Chandila is the only one who has not received a sanction yet, as he was the last of the players to get bail in the IPL spot-fixing case.

BCCI

26

Sports INDIA IN NEW YORK NOVEMBER 28, 2014

TOASTING A RECORD

After etching his name in the annals of cricket history by becoming the first batsman to score two double centuries in one-day internationals, Rohit Sharma threw a party for his Team India teammates, the Mumbai Ranji Trophy team and other A-listers.

Sharma hit a record 264 runs off 173 balls in the fourth match of the just-concluded series against Sri Lanka.

Cricketers Shikhar Dhawan, left, and Ishant Sharma.

Sachin and Anjali Tendulkar.

A celebration of Rohit Sharma’s scorecard bursting 264 runs

PHOTOGRAPH: ABHIJIT MHAMUNKAR

From left, cricketers Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, and Ashish Nehra.

Nita Ambani, the co-owner of Mumbai Indians, with her son Anant. Sharma plays for her team in the Indian Premier League.

D

No conspiracy in crackdown on bowling actions: ICC

avid Richardson, chief executive officer, International Cricket Council, has lauded Indian offspinner Harbhajan Singh for correcting his bowling action after being called twice in his career.

Pakistan’s Saeed Ajmal, were banned for ‘At one stage his (Singh’s) action came bending their arm more than the preunder a bit of scrutiny,’ Richardson said scribed limit, and many forlast week on the sidelines mer greats believe that ICC’s of an ICC event in New action, which comes just Delhi, where luxury watch ahead of the 50-over showbrand Hublot was named piece event, is ill-timed. the official timekeeper of Richardson insisted there the 2015 World Cup in is no conspiracy in the timAustralia and New ing of the crackdown on illeZealand. ‘He did a fantasgal actions. tic job in adapting his ‘We reached a stage where action to make sure that too many bowlers were starthe was now bowling legaling to bend the rules — ly. And now there is no excuse the pun,’ he said. ‘And question mark about the the cricket committee, way he bowls.’ backed up by the ICC board, In the last three months decided that action needed to three international offbe taken. But having said that spinners, including Harbhajan Singh

I really think that bowlers that have been reported are doing the right thing by working on their actions to come back as legal bowlers. And also the message is out there loud and clear to teams that don’t mess, don’t pick players who have got suspicious actions. Pick people who can bowl legally.’

Singh, who shared the stage with Richardson, was pleased at being cited as a good example.

‘They are not asking anyone to stop playing cricket,’ Singh said, ‘but all they are saying just go to the school and learn to bowl within the limits of ICC… If you bowl within the limit you can still play cricket and enjoy bowling the doosra or whatever delivery you want to bowl. So it’s a great initiative taken by the ICC.’

27

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India in New York November 28, 2014