Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
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Friday, February 04 2011 | Vol. 30, No. 5
Indo American News
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Pretty girl Minissha Lamba is the newest addition to the cast of Joker. With her inclusion, the principal star cast of this Shirish Kunder directed film is complete.
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Parade, stage show, Booths Unite Icc’s republic day
This Week Inside:
STAFFORD: The India Culture Center of Houston commemorated the 62nd Republic Day of India on Saturday, January 29 at the New Stafford Center with celebrated one of its signature events, India Fair 2011, this year themed on India- Peace, Progress, Prosperity. Celebrations began with a parade from all the regions of India with over 225 participants in regional costumes and led by the Indian Senior Citizen’s Association. The Masala Radio Hummer followed along with kids sitting on top. The parade ended at the flag posts where the Harris County Guard of Honor saluted the Indian and American flags after their National Anthems were sung. Inside, the hall there was a stage with seating area to one side and 55 business and organization booths on the other and also in the main lobby. The Chief Guest for the event was Indian Consul General Sanjiv Arora who acknowledged the association with ICC and appreciated the theme chosen for the event and also delivered excerpts from the President of India’s address to the nation. The Event Chair and ICC Treasurer Hemant Patel welcomed the audience and spoke about the spirit of Republic Day. Outgoing President Swapan Dhairyawan in his message thanked all the organizations with whom ICC has collaborated in 2010. Per the ICC tradition of honoring and recognizing Indo Americans; this year awards were earmarked to Medical Professionals in Community Service and awarded to Dr Jay Chavda, Dr K T Shah, Dr Rakesh Mangal and Dr Sudha Rajan and were handed out by Arora. The incoming ICC President Col Raj
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er k o j ns i o j ba M a L a h s s i Min
Bhalla connected with the gathering instantly with his and humor. He spoke about the membership cards to ICC members, Memorandum of Understanding with India House and continuing the trend of improving and bettering Signature events of 2011. The formal program was emceed by Charlie Patel and Nisha Mirani (chair for the event and VP of Gujarati Samaj).
The cultural program was coordinated by ICC Vice President Surender Talwar and ICC Secretary Jasmeeta Singh who choreographed the ICC Idol and ICC Boogie Boogie Show. The cultural program had fillers from local dance schools, music schools and one of the highlights was playing an episode from Nal Damyanti, the play produced by JVB Preksha Center last year. The ICC Idol was broken into Solo Dancing, Solo Singing and Instrumental categories. The ICC Boogie Boogie was categorized by Group Singing and Group Dancing. There were 142 participants in dancing and 34 participants in singing. The talent displayed from ages 6 to 20 in various categories was tremendous. The ICC Idol solo singing winners were Hardik Jani (First), Raghavendra Prabhakar (Second) & Saloni Salvi (Third). The ICC solo dance winners were Hasina Sadiwala (First), Geetika Sinha (Second) and
Art Car in India Page 20
Amita Batra (Third). The ICC Boogie Boogie Group competition winners were Desi Madrasi (First), Desi Kalakar (Second) and Chamakte Sitare (Third). By ICC estimates, over 2400 people attended the event. The sponsors for the event were Texas Jasmine, New York Life, Hindus of Greater Houston, MD & Associates LLP, United Central Bank, Medinet, Air n U Cool and various ICC Directors.
It Hurts so Good !!
For more details visit www. icchouston.org more photos in collage on pages 12 & 13
US Justifies Radio Trackers Page 5
Suresh Shah pushes his way to the finish line of the Houston Marathon on Sunday, Jan. 30, in a time of 3:30:21 better than many younger than him. Approximately 22,000 runners participated this year. Photo: Houston Chronicle, James Nielsen
Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, Ay, FeBrUAry 04 , 2011 • Online editiOn: A On: www.indOamerican-news.cOm O
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Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
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icc india fest 2011
Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
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Parade, stage show and Booths Unite Icc’s republic day
Rows from left: TOP: Indian CG Sanjiv Arora, Chayya Arora, Col Raj Bhalla, Stafford Mayor Scarcella, Swapan Dhairyawan & Judge Ed Emmett; the audience with some Award winners; Harris County Guard of Honor with cross section of Parade audience; MIDDLE: Awardees Pallavi Dhairyawan, Surender Talwar, Geeta Mathur, Veena Kaul, ICC Solo winner Hardik Jani, Uma Mantravadi, Vinita Arora, Salil Bhadekar, Shyamal Bhattacharya and Nirmala Patel; ICC Boogie Boogie 2nd place winners Desi Kalakar, Swapan Dhairyawan, Col Raj Bhalla, Sangita Dua, Nirmala Patel, Pallavi Dhairyawan & Jasmeeta Singh; BOTTOM: ICC Directors & Trustees; Event Chair Hemant Patel with Protem Mayor of Sugar Land Tom Abraham; Community Service Award winners: Hemant Patel, Falguni Gandhi, Veena Ponnaganti, Atul Vir, Mrs K T Shah, Dr Rakesh Mangal, CG Sanjiv Arora, Dr Jay Chavda, Dr Sudha Rajan, Vale Subramaniam and Ramesh Cherivirala
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Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
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Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
Us Justifies r Us radio Trackers, says s s standard Procedure
By Chidanand Rajghatta WASHINGTON (ET): The United States on Monday rejected New Delhi’s complaints about radio-tagging of some Indian students caught up in a visa and immigration scam and defended the practice saying it is “standard procedure for a variety of investigations, and does not necessarily imply guilt or suspicion of criminal activity.” Amid outrage in some quarters in India about the electronic monitoring of 18 students from among nearly 1500 caught up in the incident, the State Department issued a lengthy statement explaining that the use of ankle monitor “is a positive alternative to confinement during a pending investigation.” It appears that students were offered a choice between immediate legal procedure -- which would have involved temporary incarceration, hiring legal counsels, posting bond etc – and electronic monitoring, and many of them opted for the latter. In fact, there appears to be a cultural gap is understanding radio tagging, with many in India believing it to imply criminality, whereas in the U.S, it is used to offer freedom of move in place of confinement during investigation. Many celebrities and public figures in the U.S have been radio tagged pending investigations. “(It) does not necessarily imply guilt or suspicion of criminal activity. An ankle
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sequently) had tions of immigration and visa fraud very setaken up the is- riously, and the “ Tri-Valley University fraud sue of tagging allegations are an excellent example of the after initial re- universally damaging effects of visa fraud.” ports suggested Such visa fraud “hinders genuine students Indian students from studying in the US and causes oppormay have been tunities and resources to be taken away from victims of a legitimate applicants,” it cautioned. “Visa fraud is not a victimless crime, and visa fraud ring. But subse- fraud agents and fake document vendors quently inqui- target some of the most vulnerable and imries have indi- poverished members of Indian society,” the cated some of statement added. Reassuringly for genuine victims of the them may have been aware of Tri-Valley incident, the statement said a the situation legitimate student who is a fraud victim while exploit- “should have little trouble re-applying and ing loopholes enrolling in a different, fully-accredited Foreign minister SM Krishna promised all help to students who in the process educational organization.” If fraud victims had been caught in the Tri Valley fake university matter. to emigrate to choose to return to India first and apply for a new student visa, they will be treated the the US. monitor sends a radio frequency signal conCountering the Indian complaint, the US same as any other applicant, it added. taining location and other information to a said the Department of State takes allegareceiver. It allows for freedom of movement and is a positive alternative to confinement Purchase Discount Zoo during a pending investigation,” the State Tickets at any of the 33 Department explained in a statement after Fiesta Mart stores. Visit New Delhi expressed strong concern about the courtesy booth of Any students being treated like criminals. Fiesta Mart to purchase External affairs minister S M Krishna , an adult zoo admission himself an exchange student who studied for $9 and a child zoo adin the United States in the 1960s (and have mission for $6. - IA News many in the union council of ministers subVISIT THE HOUSTON ZOO THIS WEEK
Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, Ay, FeBrUAry 04 , 2011 • Online editiOn: A On: www.indOamerican-news.cOm O
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Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
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Houston’s Zoroastrians c celebrate elebrate JashnJashn-e e-s -sadeh sadeh
Zoroastrian priests commencing the ceremony with prayer
HOUSTON: Zoroastrians in Houston gathered at the Zoroastrian Association of Houston community center on Saturday, January 29 to celebrate and observe the Jashn-e Sadeh , a mid-winter festival celebrated with grandeur and magnificence by Zoroastrians since ancient times. The evening commenced with a short prayer by 4 Zoroastrian priests followed by the lighting of the bonfire which symbolizes the human yearning for the higher life. Zoroastrians believe that Jashn-e-Sadeh recalls the importance of fire, energy and light -the light that comes from God and is found in the hearts of all creatures. Jashn-e (Festival of) Sadeh (hundred), considered as one of the biggest Persian festivities since ancient times, actually refers to one hundred days and nights to the coming New Year. The festival is celebrated 50 days before Nowruz (New Year), which falls on 20th or 21st of March depending on the vernal equinox. The highlight of the evening was a recitation by Dr Sadeghi, a scholar from Iran from the epic, Shahnameh (The Book of Kings), written by the Persian poet Firdausi, a work of prime importance in Persian culture and regarded as a literary masterpiece.
JOB OPENING Looking for Graphic Designers and Reporters ( part time and full time) Send your resume to indoamericannews@yahoo.com
Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, Ay, FeBrUAry 04 , 2011 • Online editiOn: A On: www.indOamerican-news.cOm O
Above: Scholar Dr Sadeghi reciting from the Shahnameh Left: The bonfire symbolizing the human yearning for the higher life. Photos: Aria Vafadari
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Shlok Competition Held at Shri Kripalu Kunj Ashram
HOUSTON: In an attempt to educate children and to promote deeper understanding of God, a Shlok Competition for children was held in Shri Kripalu Kunj Ashram in Houston on January 30. Several children enthusiastically participated in the event. There were some participants all the way from San Antoni. They recited shlok with closed eyes and folded hands along with the meanings on those Sanskrit verses. There was a 5 year old girl whose performance was absolutely stunning. Prior to the competition the resident Sanyasisni Didi Braj Banchary Ji also gave a short lecture on why earnest devotion is essential along with the recitation of verses, hymns and songs etc. In lack of deep devotion, mere knowledge of verses would result only in augmentation of ego, she said. There was a question answer session as well in which one of the devotees asked, why after spending several hours every day in spiritual arena, one does not see any progress? Didi ji gave a very simple answer to the question saying, it is because one does not know “who should worship” and “who should be worshiped”. Due to ignorance one engages the physical body in the acts of worship (singing bhajans, performing arti etc) while the mind is indulged in worldly people and things. Doing stark opposite of that will ensure progress in the divine arena, that is engaging the physical body in world-
Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
ly activities and indulging the mind in God. And one should worship God, not the celestial gods and goddesses for they are also under the control of Maya. They can not bestow us unlimited peace and divine bliss. The event not only prompted children to learn some of the Shlokas, it also enlightened the parents on how to imbibe devotion in children. The winners of the competition were Age 9 - 15 years: Winner: Meghna, 1st runners-up: Saurendro Gosh and Shravya Sankaran Below 8 years Sharanya,(age 5), Vikkram Sankaran (7), and Mohan (4) did so well that all of them were given equal prizes. The next event at Shri Kripalu Kunj Ashram is the Bhajan Competition for Children which will be held on Saturday, February 12 from 3-5pm. There are 2 age groups below 8 years and 9-15 years. Free Registration!! Please register before 9th Feb 2011. The participants will lead the bhajan. Their performance will be assessed on the presentation and accuracy of rhythm and notes. Winner and runners up will be given prizes. Also, their names will be published in the http:// www.indoamerican-news.com/ For more information call Lisa Gosh at 713-775-6588 or Neeharika Peter at 817528-5027 or visit http://shrikripalukunj.org/ events.htm
Good Luck, Hussain!!
January 26 was the last day for Hussain Madviwala’s tenure at Indo American News as he left for other opportunities out of the state. As a part of the organization, Hussain contributed immensely towards its growth and progress. His creativity and vision earned him a lot of respect among his peers and people of the community. Although his presence will be sorely missed by all of us here at IAN, we wish him all the very best in all his future endeavors and in life. Seen from left are Kalyani Giri, Krishna Giri, Vanshika Vipin, Hussain Mandviwala, Jawahar Malhotra, Jacob David and Manasi Gokhale at the farewell lunch at Bombay Garden Restaurant on Hillcroft.
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U of H Presents nasha 2011
HOUSTON: Houston is a pot of different cultures, and so we are very fortunate, that we get an opportunity to enrich our minds and spirit with this variety. A French philosopher has said that, “As the soil, however rich it may be, cannot be productive without cultivation, so the mind without culture can never produce good fruit” Here, at the University of Houston, while we enjoy the cultures of all the different countries, we feel it is our duty as Indo Americans, to share the profoundness of the rich Culture and Heritage of India with our fellow students. ISA - the Indian Student Association at the University of Houston works hard to spread the joy of this rich cultural Indian Heritage. Last year the prestigious Cullen Performance Hall was sold out with an enthusiastic audience. Dan Nainan had the crowd giggling, laughing and even crying. To say the performances were breathtaking would be an understatement. This year we would like to make sure no one misses the opportunity to be a part
of this rich cultural show. Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 2, 2011, and be at the Cullen Per-
ral Patel at 818-468-9797. This is a great opportunity for models, photographers, dancers, musicians,
formance Hall no later than 6 pm. Find out who wins this year’s cash prizes of $2000. To register to perform or advertise at Nasha 2011, visit www.uh.edu/india or call Hi-
singers, hairstylists, and makeup artists to showcase their talents, and for businesses to reach out to an audience of over 1000 people!
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Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
Indians Buying Homes in Pricey London
Market analysts estimate that in their own countries. Hong Kong, CENTRAL LONDON (FE): Indians are now among the top 10 over the past 12 months, the total for example, saw an increase of 50 residential real estate buyers in the volume of Asian investment in the per cent in its prices in one year till UK’s high-end Central London. A Central London housing market April 2010. The weaker pound is also drawrecent research and study by real has totalled £761million. “While estate analysts Knight Frank In- the Asian investors’ share of all ing Asian investors, as is the low ternational has found that while new sales is only 21 per cent, they cost of mortgage finance. All this resident Britons have increasingly have undoubtedly impacted mar- has led Asian investors to shift foreduced investing in property over ket performance and have helped cus from small, affordable units, the past two odd years due to the developers push prices higher,” to two- or three-bedroom aparteconomic slowdown in England, says the report by head of Resi- ments, taking them into an average the UK residential property mar- dential Research at Knight Franks £400,000-£800,000 price bracket. The report also estimates that ket is attracting Asians, who are London office Liam Bailey. The Asian interest in the Lon- many of the properties being battling stiffer property rates back don market is likely to continue bought are by guardians for their home. According to the analysis, through 2011, it adds, noting that wards studying in British institutes. Asians comprise 49 per cent of all investors in London’s residential property market. While the Chinese, Singaporeans and Malaysians hold the three spots af after local Britons (who still comprise 36.9 per cent of all investments), Indians have made their way into the top 10. The Russians have traditionally been some of the highest international investors in the global capital going by the money they put in, and according This splendid residence located on a street dubbed Billionaires’ Row, is owned by the richest Indian Brit, steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal. to Knight Frank, “China and India amongst other Over the past decade, the number are still buying up most of the exclusive proper- countries did not even experience of Asian students studying at UK a significant economic slowdown, universities has risen by 175 per ties there. “There has been a distinct shift let alone an actual recession, and cent — with most of the growth in the kind of Indians buying prop- wealth creation is continuing taking place among Chinese, Inerties in Central London,” head of apace”. “While the market has re- dian and Pakistani students. “Many of the Indians who buy the India Desk at Knight Frank’s turned to life, after its almost total in Central London are people who closure in 2008, current demand London office Jaideep Singh says. “While it was the Indian tycoon is almost totally concentrated on are conducting business in Lonwho was buying in this area be- London, and the demand is pri- don or have business ties with the fore, now many upper-middle class marily coming from Asia,” says city. Many others are those who have children studying in the city, Indians have also started investing the report. There were 7,579 new comple- so they buy flats where their chilhere. The Russians remain the highest investors though, spend- tions in the 12 months to March dren can stay and where they can ing between £20-30 million per 2010 in the 11 boroughs making go visit them,” says Singh. One of the demands of the invesproperty. The Indian expenditure up the Central London market. Of remains between £1-3 million.” these, 41 per cent were bought by tors is that properties be located He says most of the Indian inves- investors rather than by owner- close to a public transport system. They are also interested in obtors are from Delhi and Mumbai, occupiers. taining a detailed insight into the The report attributes part of the although those from Ludhiana and Jalandhar too comprise a consider- rising international investor inter- market and locality in which their est to the spike in property prices target development is located. able section.
Indo AmerIcAn news • FrIdAy, Ay, FeBrUAry 04 , 2011 • Online editiOn: A On: www.indOamerican-news.cOm O
Babulbhai
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IIFA Brings Indian Cinema to the International Level: Anil Kapoor By Rachana Srivastava TORONTO: For the very first time , the 12th IIFA Awards 2011 weekend will be organized in North America from June 2325. To announce it officially, a Press Conference was held in Toronto on January 19, which was attended by some very renowned and distinguished personalities including Anil Kapoor, Preity Zinta, Ontario’s Premiere Delton Mackgunti, Consul General of India Preeti Saran, the founder-directors of Wizcraft International, Andre Timini, Sabbas Josef, Viraf Sarkari, members of Toronto tourism. One of the attendees was Rajender Singh of Star Promotions Inc. of Houston. Nearly 100 media personalities and representatives were part of the press conference. During various events on the January 19, Rachana Srivastava got an opportunity to talk to Anil Kapoor. Following are the excerpts of the interview: You and Preity came over to officially announce the IIFA Awards 2011 in Canada. How was the experience? Yes, the experience was very nice. The IIFA events are going to take place in four of the cities here in Canada. I met with the Ontario Premier, Dalton Mcgunti and it was an absolute pleasure conversing with him. He showed me the different places to visit. He knew about my background and work, also the fact that I’m working in Mission Impossible IV and he knew about the series 24 as well. I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that he knew so much about me. Thereafter, we went to all the four cities where the IIFA events are going to take place. We met the Mayor there and also met the Consul General of India, Preeti Saran.
Whats new and unique abut IIFA this year? Its going to take place in North America for the very first time, which has such a large number of South Asian population. All the celebrities, stars, together on the same platform, that itself is very special and then, this occassion does not have just one show, it has a fashion show, a Seminar, charity events, premier of a film and much more to watch out for. I am sure all the fans who will come to watch this year’s event will enjoy it. How has IIFA contributed in bringing the Indian cinema to the international platform? I think the contribution is huge..those who never watched cinema have started watching it. There is a markable increase in the number of viewers across the world. How did you like the people over here? Absolutely fantastic.. from the airport to the hotel, such a warm welcome and immense love. You are such a versatile actor, yo have done almost all the roles in your career. Any specific role which you still desire to do? Acting is a never ending process. It’s as deep and wide as an ocean, so I don’t think that one life is enough to play all the desired roles. There are many of them which I have not played as yet and would like to play them all in my acting career. You still look so young and fresh. What’s the secret behind it? It’s so nice of you to say that, I really appreciate it. It’s just that I take good care of myself, I eat well, workout everyday and
Anil Kapoor with Rajender Singh of Star Promotions at the Press Conference held in Toronto
enjoy every bit of life to the fullest. I neither drink nor smoke. Which is your forthcoming film? I am doing a film named TEZZ, directed by Priyadarshan. The film will be completed by the end of Ma this year. What is your role in the film? I am an anti-terrorist officer in the movie. The officer works in London and wishes to go to India after his retirement but he is asked to stay back for the one last mission. After that, he wishes to go back to India with his wife and daughter . Have you taught Sonam something being as a father or as an actor? Actually the thing is that, in recent times you do not need to tell or teach anything to your young children, today the youth is very independent. In fact, I myself learn a lot from her. Is there any film which you thought would be a success but it turned the other way round? I do not count on the failures, I do my work and move ahead. Yes, but when the film is a hit, it gives me a lot of pleasure but if it does not do well, I get disappointed as well. But then soon I forget about it and move ahead. You have done so many films so far. Which is your most favourite one? I enjoyed my role in Mr India, Woh Saat Din, Viraasat, Lamhe, No Entry, Slumdog
and Series 24. You have worked both in Indian cinema and Hollywood, is there anything you would like them to exchange? In India, the love and brotherhood we have is impeccable , if this is applied here then it would be very good. Here if you have to see somebody you have to send the mail well in advance. Life is pretty mechanical over here..everything is law binded so this leaves little place for emotions. Emotions are very much required here. I really appreciate the professional attitude they have in Hollywood, this is very much required in Indian Cinema. Hollywood has a global attitude while we have a local attitude so the global attitude in Indian cinema would take them far more ahead. Today, you are a well known person, poeple love you all over the world, does it make a difference in your life? I think I still have to make my mark. It feels as if it’s just the beginning. I will work even harder to make my country proud because the actors in India are no less than any other actors in the world, What do you do in your leisure hour? I watch the News, love watching Matches, but most of all I love spending quality time with my family. Who is your favorite music director? Rehmaan Saab is famous all over the world. Who else could be better than him?
Indo American News • Friday, FEBRUARY 04 , 2011 • Online Edition: www.indoamerican-news.com
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Hindi Lovers club Inaugurated in chicago
said that the club CHICAGO: Hindi lovers is a part of Indian have a lot to look forward culture and is part with opening of Hindi Lovers of Indian identity Club, in Chicago.Brainchild in Chicago. This of Gurbachan Kaur Sheclub has created wakramani and Usha Kamahistory in itself, ria, club got the new meanhe added. ing as Hindi fans thronged “Hindi is one Northshore Banquet, at Deof the ancient von Ave to attain its inauguand richest lanral on January 18. guages of the Speaking on this occasion world. The purKamaria said that India has pose of forming a vibrant culture and this in- From left: Gurbachan Kaur Shewakramani, Sohan this club is that auguration truly reflects that. Joshi, Muktta Tomar Dutta, Nand Kapoor and Usha Kamaria Indian- AmeriOpening of club for Hindi lovers is a continuation of our ef ef- old language, said, Kamal Gupta, can youth are getting detached fort to promote Indian art and cul- President of Chicago Chapter of with Indian culture and language ture in USA and encourage greater World Hindi Organization. He and this club provide platform to cultural between older and new further informed that government all” , said Gurbachan. The ceremony started with the generation. allotted 12 million dollars to introHindi Lover’s Club, is the first duce Hindi in schools and colleges lightening of lamp by Muktta Tomar Dutta,Consul General of club of its kind for American In- in Chicago. dian and will showcase the true Nand Kapoor, Vice Presidentof India and was followed by ribbon potential and versatility of age- Association of Indians in America cutting.
Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
Did you Know? why do we chant om?
Om is one of the most chanted sound symbols in India. It has a profound effect on the body and mind of the one who chants and also on the surroundings. Most mantras and vedic prayers start with Om. All auspicious actions begin with Om. It is even used as a greeting - Om, Hari Om etc. It is repeated as a mantra or meditated upon. Its form is worshipped, contemplated upon or used as an auspicious sign. Om is the universal name of the Lord. It is made up of the letters A (phonetically as in “around”), U (phonetically as in “put”) and M (phonetically as in “mum”). The sound emerging from the vocal chords starts from the base of the throat as “A”. With the coming together of the lips, “U” is formed and when the lips are closed, all sounds end in “M”.
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The three letters symbolize the three states (waking, dream and deep sleep), the three deities (Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva), the three Vedas (Rig, Yajur and Sama) the three worlds (Bhuh, Bhuvah, Suvah) etc. The Lord is all these and beyond. The formless, attributeless Lord (Brahman) is represented by the silence between two Om Chants. Om is also called pranava that means, “that (symbol or sound) by which the Lord is praised”. The entire essence of the Vedas is enshrined in the word Om. It is said that the Lord started creating the world after chanting Om and atha. Hence its sound is considered to create an auspicious beginning for any task that we undertake. The Om chant should have the resounding sound of a bell (aaooommm).
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A Fashionable India Fair 2011 - Enthusiastic Crowd Turnout “Thanks to everyone for putting together such a wonderful event for everyone to enjoy”
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A Fashionable India Fair 2011 - Enthusiastic Crowd Turnout “Congratulations to the entire community for an excellent event !”
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Now UK Company Sells Samosas to Indians
LONDON (IE): Call it food colonialism in reverse, but a British food manufacturer has started selling samosas in India, from where the delights of spicy dishes caught the imagination of the British palate 200 years ago. Farsan, an Indian food company based in the east Midlands town of
Leicester, has opened a new factory in Gujarat to produce snacks such as samosas and bhajis. Leicester offers many delights of Indian vegetarian cuisine. The first Indian restaurant in Britain was opened by a Patna resident Sake Dean Mohammad in London in 1810. He established the Hindoostan Coffee House at 34 George Street, Portman Square. Farsan managing director Nainesh Patel is in India on a twoweek tour to promote the new factory and market his products to supermarket chains. He said: “There’s huge potential
for UK companies in India. Although we are a UK company selling snack foods such as samosas to an Indian market, we give the product a British twist so it has a unique taste for Indian customers. Farsan is one of several firms which have strengthened ties with India with support from UK Trade and Investment (UKTI), and the move comes as Business Secretary Vince Cable leads a major business delegation to India. Patel’s export ambitions ties in with growing evidence that despite recession and immigration, the £3 billion Indian restaurant industry continues to grow. Britons’ continuing love affair with spicy curry has ensured that restaurants expand and ready-made Indian meals fly off the shelves in supermarkets. The overall number of people visiting Indian restaurants is down, but industry figures show that entrepreneurs who have switched to supplying ready-made Indian meals have seen their business soar and some are struggling to meet supermarket demands. Leicester-based Sanjay Foods has seen its turnover soar by 50 per cent to £1.5 million and has now formed a partnership with a London-based caterer Chak 89 after winning several prestigious contracts.
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America’s Herd Mentality
Even before we could relegate the attacks on Indian students in Australia to the dustbin of history, Indians are once again facing humiliation - this time in the United States. According to reports, authorities in the US have confiscated the passports of students enrolled in the California-based and radio-tagged some of them to track their movement after they exposed the educational institution to be a fake one. Although New Delhi has condemned the appalling treatment of Indian citizens being radio-tagged and has asked for stern action against the erring officers, a serious damage in the way Indians are treated in the US has been committed. It’s true that once the institution was found to be a dud, the status of the ‘students’- for that is what they were for American immigration officials as well as the Indians themselves when they entered the US - was that of illegal visitors. But considering that the fault for this mess lies within the US and because the racket was conducted by Americans, it seems mighty suspicious that the duped Indians are being made to take the rap. On top of it is the treatment meted out to them as criminals with tags. Switch positions and have a bunch of Americans found to be duped by a nonexistent yoga instruction centre here and you know what the consequences would have been if Indian authorities had cuffed radio-tags around their limbs. Immigration and visa laws must be allowed to take their own course. We understand that. But radio-tagging? It would have been suffice to send the duped Indians back to our shores considering that their passports had been impounded by the immigration authorities. Union minister of overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi, after making the usual noises, said the US officials “should not tie any radio tag on their body... [as it is] very heavy and it is impossible to carry”. As usual, our authorities are barking up the wrong tree. These devices are used in cases of criminals on parole. So the tags, whether ‘heavy’ and ‘impossible to carry’ or not, are not for use on people from other countries who have been enticed into entering America and then left to fend on their own. It becomes very, very difficult in such a scenario not to think of ‘racial tagging’ being imposed in ‘the land of the free and the home of the brave’. The Indian government, on its part, should stop waffling and tell its counterpart to stop its freakshow with Indian cast members. The US needs to acknowledge that it has got things wrong when it let these ‘unauthorised’ foreigners from India into its borders. It would help matters tremendously if authorities here in India could provide a one-stop window where prospective students can ascertain whether the institutions in which they plan to enroll are kosher or not before they leave the country. But before that, we await an apology to those unfortunate Indians from the authorities who think they’re dealing with illegal migrants who’ve crossed over the Mexican border. - Hindustan Times
An Aam Aadmi Sarkar Fights the Poor
It is tragic that the same government that gives huge corporate concessions and loses money in corruption is fighting over minimum wages. As India’s — and by some reckoning the world’s — largest rights-based rural safety net program completes five years, here is a reality check. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has become the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). But in a monumental affront to the father of the nation, the UPA government has confirmed that it will not be paying minimum wages to MGNREGS workers. On January 1, 2009, the government froze the (then) NREGS daily wages at Rs.100 and delinked it from the sacrosanct Minimum Wages Act, 1948. The poor had always been underpaid in the Indian labor market. But now, by a single diktat, they were officially condemned to subhuman status, fit not even to earn subsistence-level wages. Had the Mahatma been living today, he would have been infinitely saddened by the use of his name to sanctify this blatant illegality. In the event, the greatest ever champion of justice for the poor is now the brand name for a program that denies the lowest legally permissible wages to this section. But such is life and such are governments . - Vidya Subrahmaniam, The Hindu
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A Different Politics...... By Anuradha Roy The Swedish writer, Henning Mankell, was in Delhi this January, doing what he does very well, telling stories. One of the stories he told was of a morning years ago, during the civil war in Mozambique, when he was walking on a dirt path in the hinterland. Everything there had been burnt and destroyed in the fighting and, as he walked through that scorched wasteland, he saw a man approach from the other side. The man was starvation-thin. Most poverty-stricken people Mankell had seen were unshod and in rags, yet this man was wearing shoes. It was only when the man came much closer that the writer realized those were not shoes at all. The man was barefoot. To conceal his wretchedness he had painted the shape of shoes onto his feet. Writers write the stories they want to read, said Mankell, and he is one with all writers in this. At the same time, whatever he is writing — theatre or fiction — the singular image inspiring him on is those painted shoes, the human need for dignity in the worst deprivation. Writers who situate their work in war zones like 9/11 or the Holocaust are revered as “political”. Mankell writes crime fiction and his novels are not concerned with apocalyptic, epochal violence. Because people think in genres, he is not generally seen as a political writer. But his books are deeply concerned with the role of society in crime, about the violence people do to each other, the violence in the home, the violence caused by bigotry or poverty. Others who write of the violence of the everyday — the small, individual acts that corrode our daily lives — are also seen as unpolitical; quiet, domestic, feminine, and Jane Austenish are the usual labels with which to pat down writings on the subdued savagery of mundane experience. Best known as the writer of the Kurt Wallander series of Swedish detective novels that are translated into 32 languages and sell millions, Mankell could live on an island of his own. Instead, he gives away half his income to charitable causes and spends half of each year in Maputo,
Mozambique, where he is artistic director of the Teatro Avenida. His theatre, like his life, is immersed in social and political issues; he was recently part of the Gaza flotilla attacked by the Israeli army. In my small Uttarakhand town there are also, surprisingly, several Scandinavians — not of Mankell’s eloquence or fame, but equally at home in an alien culture. It began with one couple, who came many years ago to set up a trekking company. (I will call them Eva and Tor.) Now there are several from Norway and Denmark too. I first encountered these Scandinavians when I was invited by Eva to ‘open house’ for Christmas. It was a brightly lit, cosy home, and was quite literally open: for the first time I met — socially — the neighbouring dhobi, the town’s main electrician, and our plumber. There was also a school principal, a retired civil servant, and a doctor. We ate home-baked cookies and rice pudding and chatted. It felt novel. It is almost inconceivable, given the extreme hierarchies in our society, for middle-class Indians to spend an evening with their plumber, however nice the plumber. The unselfconscious egalitarianism of that evening seems evident in everything the Scandinavians do. They are religious, and I went once to a sort of bhajan-sandhya they organized in a hall where hymns to Jesus were sung in Hindi to the twanging
of a sitar. Again, they invited the whole town, disregarding disparities in social status. They live in humble houses in working-class neighbourhoods when they can afford bungalows. Eva’s children run wild with the local children, always in and out of the home of the electrician who is their next-door neighbour. Eva is a Viking-blonde woman who could be singing German in Wagner’s Rheingold but speaks a Hindi that is fluent, even slangy. Her friends wear desi clothes, their daily food is daal-bhaat. At Diwali time, they are enthusiastic and noisy with the fireworks. Apart from the trekking, which provides their livelihood, the Scandinavians run two small NGOs. One of these teaches rural youth spoken English — the course is structured so they learn to cope with social situations and handle job interviews. It is such a success they hardly have enough room. Their other NGO makes greeting cards. I visited their workshop one afternoon, at the start of winter: three rented rooms in a ramshackle building. The walls were painted a sparkling lemon and covered end to end with durries and big heaters. The workers — all destitute or widowed village women — sat cross-legged on mattresses, surrounded by paper, beads, other tools of trade. There was an atmosphere of camaraderie and hard work. They were being supervised both by the Scandinavians and by Indian volunteers responsible for buying the material to make the cards with, and for quality control. The cards are eventually sold in Norway for a profit that is put back into the NGO. The NGO started small, just two women in Eva’s living room. Now, in an odd paradox, much as Gujjars agitate for low-caste status to be able to get the benefit of reservations, women in our town clamour to be seen as more deservingly wretched than the neighbour who has been given a job by the NGO. The competition to outwail the employed is serious, because it is not only the job. The NGO also pays for the education of the women’s children. Once a year, they take their workers out of town for
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editorial
Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
.....Indian Society can Barely Stand Equality continued from page
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a day of pleasure — lunch at a fancy restaurant, boat rides on the lake. One of the old workers said to me, “This is the difference between foreigners and Indians. If I was working for an Indian sanstha, they would not heat the room, they would not cover the floors to make it comfortable for us. They would never take us on an outing. Indian NGOs would eat up all the extra money to buy themselves cars and new buildings.” Of course this is not true, but it is the perception all the same. There are many Indian NGOs equally committed, perhaps as egalitarian. But Indian society is not. I have no way of knowing what society is like in Scandinavia, but in our town Eva and Tor’s lack of hierarchy does not go down well with some of the middle class. There are whisperings that it is not innocuous, their way of life; it is
a devious way of converting illiterate people to Christianity, by giving them “ideas”, by showing them a different way of life. The disaffected women who are not given jobs at the NGOs add to the whisperings with innuendoes about why some women get jobs and some don’t. It has never gone beyond speculation, though, in our town. Another foreigner in a different part of the country was not so lucky. Graham Staines in Orissa had done social work among its poor for 30 years. Everyone knows what happened one day in 1999, while he slept in his van with his two sons, aged six and ten. In one of Mankell’s novels, there is a vivid description of a woman set alight in a rapeseed field. If Mankell’s hands were not already full with Mozambique, he would have felt at home in India. Unlike our Scandinavians, Staines
did missionary work too. Missionary work is not illegal, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad makes determined efforts to convert adivasis to Hinduism. But Staines’s killer Dara Singh, says our Supreme Court, was only trying to “teach Staines a lesson about his religious activities, namely, converting poor tribals to Christianity”. Inequality is woven into our social fabric. Khap panchayats encourage the killing of people who marry out of caste. Missionaries are killed for showing marginalized people a different life. The man in whose honour Mankell was delivering his Delhi lecture was Safdar Hashmi, killed exactly 10 years before Staines, on January 1, 1989, for acting in a play that demanded rights for workers. Everything said, Henning Mankell is safer and better off doing his political theatre in Mozambique. - The Telegraph
AI Flight Brought Back Indians from Egypt MUMBAI: Another 280 Indians stranded in strife-torn Egypt reached Mumbai early Tuesday on a special flight. This is the second flight to Mumbai in Air India’s efforts to bring back the Indians stuck in different Egyptian cities. Earlier, a planeload of 320 harried Indians were evacuated from the Egyptian capital on Monday and flown to Mumbai. Soon after the Air India special Boeing-737 landed in Mumbai, vacationers, business travelers and even NRIs settled in Egypt poured out to meet anxious friends and relatives and share stories of horror from the last week. ``The fear spread once violence began. There was the army on the streets. People in buildings had also come out with baseball bats. News of looting spread but there was no police to be seen,`` said Duhita Samaiyar, a designer and social worker settled in Cairo for seven years. ( Read: No cops in sight, Indians in Cairo fight looters with bats ) ``Ours is a peaceful neighbourhood. However, since Friday, there were a lot of people taking to the streets. We could hear gunshots from our house and our family in Mumbai advised us to come and stay here until the situation improved,`` said Duhita, who travelled back with her two daughters. Many who were there to receive the evacuees said the last three days were
was in Cairo for the past month on business. “I spent a very tense time here. For two days, I could not reach him as no mobile or internet connection was available. Even after that, I would keep calling but the phone kept getting cut every minute,” she said before bolting to receive her husband, the first to walk out of the arrival gate. “Even after I reached the airport, I didn`t know if I would make it to India. There was utter chaos. Protesters throw firebombs at riot police after police shot at protesters accompa- Lots of people had gathnying the funeral procession of an anti- ered at the airport and government protester in a street near were trying to find a way out,`` said the MumbaiTahrir square in downtown Cairo. based businessman who the most anxious ones of their lives spent a night at Cairo airport. as communications with stranded The 320 passengers who came relatives were snapped with authori- in on Monday were lucky to have ties briefly blocking net access and made it as many others were stuck mobile phones. Since most were and struggling to get a ticket back. tracking events on television, the Abhishek Jhawar, a 23-year-old flyrelief of seeing loved ones safe was ing from Lagos to Mumbai via Cairo, hard to contain with much hugging was among them. ``He reached Cairo and weeping seen at the arrival termi- on January 29, but has been confined nal. ( Read: Egypt ordered cell phone to the airport since then,” said his service stopped ) brother Avinash. He said his brother Sangeeta Desai was standing on her wasn`t allowed to transfer to another toes to see if her husband had come terminal because he didn`t have an out of the arrival gate. Ashish Desai Egypt visa.
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Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
Letters to the Editor Knowledge is Power
A school district is the hub of a community because from within its walls, emanates knowledge, creativity, excellence, hard work, commitment and dedication, all of which is focused on our most valued possession - our children. When the district succeeds, as Fort Bend ISD has, in becoming a Recognized district, then we as a community have succeeded and should stand tall and proud. Over the last five years, we have faced many challenges, in terms of growth, both exponential and slowed, public education funding, academic challenges and national economic crises. Despite the continued financial challenges we have faced and will continue to face in Fort Bend ISD, we can all be proud of our students and staff, and the support of our community for the remarkable gains in student achievement our district has made in recent years. We are one of the largest Recognized school districts in the state, and each year more and more of our campuses achieve an Exemplary or Recognized rating. We have done this through hard work, operating as a team, and keeping a positive focus on doing the best for our students. We managed our challenges by optimizing available resources and proactively engaging our legislators in continued dialogue to support fair and adequate funding for public education. Declaring a state of financial
exigency last year, with an associated reduction in workforce, was a very difficult but objective process. The Board made a commitment to rehire as many staff members as possible as other positions became available through attrition or retirement. We are pleased that we were able to rehire about 75 percent of those staff members whose positions were eliminated. Today, with a looming budget cut from the state that could be as much as $74 million a year this biennium, we will face even tougher challenges and make even harder decisions. Coupled with that, there will be the introduction of the new state assessment system, STAAR, which will require focused academic effort in terms of new curricula, teaching methods and professional development. It will become incumbent upon all the stakeholders to take time to learn the facts and understand the processes that will be put into place to ensure our continued academic success in spite of
draconian cuts and new mandates. The Board of Trustees will take a leadership role in providing as much information as possible. Just as elected Board members are the voice OF the community, they are also responsible for being the voice TO the community, by disseminating correct and factual information. I encourage you to access this reliable and constantly updated information on the district website at fortbendisd.com and other methods of outreach in the form of e-news, and newsletters. Efforts to undermine the hard work being done, will always coexist and I urge you to seek us out for any clarification or concerns you might have. As President of the FBISD Board, I call upon the community to support us in our common goal to make Education A Priority and provide the best opportunities possible for our children. After all, we are your school district. - Sonal Bhuchar, FBISD President
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Magic Pen Makes Loans Vanish!
NEW DELHI (Mid Day) : Many B-schools these days encourage their students to become entrepreneurs rather than taking up cushy jobs with multinational companies. These three management graduates, however, took things a bit too far. Delhi police have arrested Pramod Kumar Sharma, 29, Rajbir Singh, 26, and Mandhir Singh, 24 after they received a complaint from a businessman of Palwal. The accused allegedly duped hapless people into parting with their hardearned money using the inducement of easy loans. “We received a complaint about the frauds on the 19th of January. The victim told us that he saw an advertisement in a newspaper and contacted the company. Three persons met him and promised that they will provide loans at cheap rates. The accused posed as thorough professionals and told the victim that they will provide the loan only after proper verification. They asked for various documents from the victim. Arif gave them all papers along with two cheques,” said a police officer. One of the accused gave him his own pen and asked the complainant to fill in the amount in the cheques with the same. Arif signed two cheques worth Rs 200 and Rs 450. The culprits assured him that the verification would be completed in a week’s time and the loan would be approved after that. “The verification process was conducted by the accused persons themselves. After a week, Arif con-
MBA students allegedly involved in cheating people with a ‘magic’ pen,
tacted the accused, enquiring about his loan, but they kept on delaying the issue. Meanwhile, the cheats checked Arif’s bank statement and withdrew amounts of Rs 98000 and Rs 7000 from his bank using the same cheques which were given to them by Arif. The complainant came to know about the withdrawal through an SMS from the bank. He immediately tried to contact the trio but their mobile phones were found to be switched off. In the investigation we an organised gang of three well-educated persons was running a beauty parlour and men’s saloon in Vivek Vihar area, and they were involved in the crime. The saloon was a cover to avoid detection,” the officer added. The cops have recovered a ‘magic pen’, 10 mobile phones, 23 SIM cards, four different PAN cards carrying photographs of accused Pramod Kumar Sharma with different identities. Apart from that, cops have also recovered credit and debit cards of different banks like SBI, ING Vysya, Canara Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank etc with varioust particulars.
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business india
Indo American News • Friday, February 04, 2011
Mahesh Madhavan: The Many Messages in a Bottle
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A deep understanding of the spirits industry drives Bacardi India’s CEO to bigger things -- including taking on Old Monk By Krish rAghA ghAv Av (Mint) Mahesh Madhavan, 48, is the man partly responsible for two of the most iconic advertisements in India of the 1990s. In 1994, when he was product manager at spirits firm Diageo (then called IDV), the company aired the famous “looking through the bottle” Smirnoff vodka advertisement. In it, a bored wedding guest sees the world in a new light after peering through a bottle of Smirnoff. Sequins on a woman’s dress come alive and crawl all over. A boisterous and fiercely moustachioed man turns into a walrus. For a country used to alcohol being peddled by dart-throwing men attributing their prowess to Haywards 5000, this was a refreshing revelation. Four years later, as marketing head of rival spirits brand Bacardi, his team announced their entry into India with a message of “sun and sunshine”. “Nothing is as nice/as finding paradise/and sipping on Bacardi rum,” went the ad’s supremely catchy jingle. Madhavan is a 17-year veteran of the spirits industry. We meet in the afternoon in the lobby of The Taj Mahal Hotel on Mansingh Road in Delhi. Dressed in a crisp suit and looking younger than his age, he ar arrives right on time. “Shall we order some lunch first and then talk?” he asks, and we adjourn to the nearby Wasabi restaurant. Madhavan is in the mood for food—he’s judging a cocktail competition later in the evening, and is required to down more than 20 drinks one after the other. An eminently suitable end-of-day itiner itinerary item for the CEO of Bacardi in South Asia. Madhavan speaks in a calm, quiet, deadpan manner, dictating the pace of conversation. He also listens intensely. “I try to take away something from every interaction I have,” he says. He started his career as an engineer. His first job in 1985 was at the Mazagon Dock Ltd in Mumbai, where he was part of a team that built offshore oil rigs for Oil and Natural Gas Corp. (ONGC). He was paid Rs700 a month. “I did that for about a year, didn’t like it. So I moved to Tata Electric—working at Trombay.” This was a trying period for Madhavan. His father died in November 1985 and as the eldest son, he had to take important decisions on behalf of the family. “On top of this, I had to work variable shifts—one week it was 6pm-2am, the next it was 10am6pm.” He remembers having to leave his house in Colaba at 3.30 in the morning to make it to work by 6. “I decided to take the plunge and go back to studying. I was the only earning member of the family, so this was a tough decision,” he says. He ploughed in the family savings and applied for an MBA at the SP Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai. Two years and a degree later, he joined Wipro Consumer Care as a management trainee. His first boss was a “tough, hard-nosed” area man-
anything that is not “sushi or sashimi”. I ask him why. “I’ve had a lot (maybe too much) of Japanese cuisine—it was one of my favourites.” During his sevenyear stint at Bacardi in Thailand, his residence was next to a Japanese community. “Food is never a problem for me, really. Anything other than a burger is fine.” This distaste for one of globalization’s biggest imports is a consequence of his son (who is now 18) insisting on eating at McDonald’s at every opportunity when he was young. “It’s one food I can never enjoy. It’s not nourishing,” Madhavan says. The shift to Thailand occurred in 2001 because of an “itch I get every three years”, he says. “Once you’ve done a particular job and finished what you set out to accomplish, you get this thing of ‘what shall I do next?’” After bothering the boss for something “new and challenging”, he was asked if he wanted to go to Thailand. He said “no problem”. He and his family packed their bags and moved, and Madhavan found himself the only Indian among 70 employees, all thinking “who is this Indian who comes here and tells us how to run our business in a market that we understand Spirited: Madhavan’s five-year better? plan focuses on two key areas “It took me two years to get -- making the business self-sus- their respect. First, I had to unlearn taining and shifting Bacardi’s all the Delhi aggression that was communication strategy away coming out, including thumping from ‘traditional’ media. Jayon tables during meetings,” he achandran/Mint says. ager called Hemu Javeri. “He took Madhavan returned as the CEO me on as a salesman, and my beat of Bacardi India in 2007, and is now was Kurar village near Malad East,” the president and CEO for South Asia he says. “Here I was, after years of operations, based out of Gurgaon. engineering and management educaIndia is a complex beast. The tax tion, selling Santoor soap to kirana and duty structure is a byzantine mess shops.” After six months, he was sent and levies are much higher than other into interior Maharashtra, travelling SouthAsian countries. “Sixty per cent on rickety buses to stay in decrepit of the market in India is whisky,” he hotels. “Looking back, this was some says. “There are pockets of brandy, of the best experience I could have like Tamil Nadu, and pockets of dark got,” he says. “Most business gradu- rum, like Kerala and West Bengal.” ates today want to be CEOs in five Madhavan’s five-year plan focuses years and sit in plush cabins right out on work in two key areas—the first is of college.” He owes a significant part making the business self-sustaining of his understanding of relationships by building both local and imported and the value of money to his time brands. “We’re growing fast and at Wipro. we’d like to keep that momentum Madhavan moved to Ulka Adver Adver- going,” he says. Bacardi is promoting tising in 1992 in Mumbai, where he Eristoff, its local vodka brand, heavserviced clients such as ITC Sundrop. ily and is launching Bacardi Black, a He describes his time there as “great dark rum, to take on the dominant Old fun”. He moved to Diageo in 1994 to Monk and Celebrations brands. The head their entire white spirit portfolio company is also building a line-up of in India, which included brands such imported brands, from Asti sparkling as Smirnoff, Malibu and Kelly’s (a wine (“it’s nice and sweet and bubvariant of Baileys Irish Cream). bly”) to Otard Cognac (“there’s not In 1997, he moved to Bacardi as much pull for cognac in India yet, but head of marketing in Gurgaon, hav- it’s a fine drink”). ing been hand-picked by the then The second is to shift Bacardi’s managing director Jayant Kapur. He communication strategy away from was one of the company’s first em- “traditional” media. Part of this is conployees in India. “I haven’t looked tinuing their association with elecback since,” he says. tronic music and nightlife parties. At this point, the restaurant manJust last week, Eristoff sponsored ager takes advantage of a split-second the Invasion Music Festival that saw silence in our conversation to insist electronica giants The Prodigy play we order food. I ask for a Ramen to audiences of over 6,000 people in lunch set. Madhavan is fine with Delhi and Bangalore. In December,
Bacardi was the lead sponsor for the NH7 Weekender music festival in Pune, where close to 5,000 people listened to concerts and consumed copious quantities of Bacardi alcohol over three days. The company has launched an online music store called MixBacardi, and efforts are under way to increase the number of Facebook fans to 100,000. “The future of communication is online and interactive. There’s only so much a TV ad can do these days,” he says. As we settle the bill and dessert ar arrives, I ask him his drink of choice.
“Vodka and tonic. I like Eristoff vodka—it has a nice bite to it. I also like Bacardi Mojitos. What about you?” I spout my usual propaganda about the virtues of Sikkim dark rum. Madhavan hasn’t heard of it. “Is it a bit like the Khukri rum you get in Nepal?” he asks. “Better,” I reply with misplaced confidence. “Interesting,” he says. “I will try this out.” I nod in agreement. I may have just given Madhavan his significant “takeaway” from this interaction.
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The Art India Summit in New Delhi attracts the masses
Pop Goes the Easel: Art Acquires an Inclusive, Inquisitive Status
By ArpitA rpit BAsu NEW DELHI (Outlook): With 8,500 square feet of maze-like aisles and cubicles, the India Art Summit at New Delhi’s Pragati Maidan was a formidable place to locate a lost friend. But it had its advantages too, as a young visitor quickly figured out, shouting out directions into his phone: “ArreAnish Kapoor ke saamne aaja.” The parted friends soon reunited in front of a large circular sculpture—a mirror of stainless steel and resin created by the India-born British artist—and promptly deployed two humble cellphone cameras to capture their fractured reflections. The spirit of the summit (Jan 2023), which turned a proud three this year, was perfectly captured by the scene: it had brought art to the people. For many of the 1,28,000 visitors (four times last year’s turnout), it was a maiden brush with art—and Pragati Maidan was the perfect venue for that first encounter. As Kishore Singh of Delhi Art Gallery, which famously exhibited Husain at the summit, put it: “Galleries are intimidating spaces. People don’t walk in, thinking they wouldn’t want to buy something for Rs 50,000 or Rs 50 lakh. And then, here’s the summit, a place where they can look around, ask questions and see more people like themselves; become part of a universe they have always admired, without feeling shy.” To illustrate his point, there was Simi, a Class XII commerce student, who has never stepped into a gallery but queued up on consecutive days to get into the summit. “The energy here is amazing,” she exclaimed, flaunting a bag from the fair’s first-ever Art Store. Sitting amidst his bronze creations at the Energenesi Art Gallery stall from Venice, sculptor Gianfranco Meggiato would vouch for that. “People keep asking me to explain the symbolism of my work and my technique,” he said, in a flurry of animated Italian, translated by an interpreter. At the Art Alive Gallery booth, the iconic Progressive artist S.H. Raza, back from France after six decades, patiently obliged autograph hunters, mobile phone recorders and cameras. And if some of his listeners couldn’t be sure if he had been away from India for 40 years or 60, at that moment, it didn’t really matter.
Visitors capture their reflections on an Anish Kapoor work in stainless steel and resin.
Aisles away, Willem Baars, owner of an eponymous gallery in Holland, confessed to being quizzed “all the time”. Exasperating? Not at all, said the first-time exhibitor, whose stall had several red dots (for sold items) on its Picassos and Anish Kapoors. “In Europe, visitors are reserved—they’ve done too many art fairs already. Here, people are new to such events and come with an open mind.” For gallery staff, the newness had unnerving side-effects; visitors were eager to touch artworks, despite repeated entreaties to desist. One such encounter sent steel utensils from a Subodh Gupta installation clanking to the floor. The open-mindedness manifested itself in more positive ways too, with buyers snapping up experimental art and new media. Neha Kirpal, the summit’s 31-yearold director, reveals that a cool Rs 5 crore was earned from video art (clearly the flavour of the season) and new media alone. “There was a lot of dimensional art—installations, sculptures and video art—and many items were priced below Rs 1 lakh,” she says. The event had something for everyone, and most visitors didn’t balk at the Rs 200 tickets (Rs 100 for students, and free for some groups). So, from the art student taking mental notes on a Sakti Burman, the young mom manoeuvring her baby-stroller past Dayanita Singh photographs to the fiftysomething professional won-
Shiv Sagar
dering aloud how “obsolete typewriters” could be art, the summit, with its varied dramatis personae, cheerfully expanded into an art mela of sorts. “We had pilots in uniform coming in to buy artworks before taking a flight!” says Kirpal. But there was also Union culture minister Kumari Selja (who too bought an artwork), Sonia Gandhi and page-3 regulars (some on their way to, or back from, the lit fest in Jaipur, the other high-voltage cultural event of the week), besides well-heeled private collectors, industrialists and a host of international travellers. For Neha Kripal, the high point was that this was the first summit where art had “gone mainstream”. She says: “It’s not an insular, niche event any more.” This showed in the sales too—the numbers, she indicated, were almost three times higher than 2009’s Rs 26-crore mark. Significantly, 80 per cent of buyers were first-timers, picking up art for prices ranging from several thousand rupees to a few crores. More than a dozen Souzas were snapped up, and six Picassos too. Several buyers had art advi-
sors in tow, indicating a new professionalism in the way art was being approached. But even those unable to hire their own specialists had the benefit of some expertise this year. Art students took visitors on free curated walks, interpreting key pieces for anyone who signed up. For some, the walks led straight to famous artists. Like Arpana Caur, who stopped a group in its tracks with a playful request: “Explain mine also!” Visibly impressed by the level of energy at the summit, she told Outlook: “I started off in 1975 and did my second solo show in 1979. There used to be a visitor a day, literally. In the last 10 years, interest in art has really grown. Look at the turnout now!” Art historian and independent curator Alka Pande also found much to be impressed with, both at the summit, and the lit fest, which also drew huge, and varied, crowds. Speaking from Jaipur, she said: “Many people turn up their noses at the swelling crowds at the lit fest, but the inclusiveness helps to sensitise people.” Part of the growing appeal of the summit, she pointed out, is that: “People want to have original artworks in their home; it’s aspirational.” Not just Indian galleries, international ones too are thronging here to service those aspirations—their participation doubled to 34 this year. But it wasn’t just the summit’s ‘everyone’s invited’ approach that democratised art, so to speak; it was also its dizzy juxtaposition of interna-
tional icons and emerging artists, of young galleries and established ones. But some participants, like Peter Femfert, owner of Die Galerie with galleries in Germany and Korea, did wish for a finer sieve for art shown at the fair. “It needs a little cleaning up,” he said. “There are galleries here which would never be admitted to any fair elsewhere.” The selection also left mega-artist Subodh Gupta a tad unhappy. “The last edition of the summit had better quality,” he said. While the organisation of the fair got a unanimous thumbs-up, some hitches remained. A UK gallery’s rep was unnerved by the pigeons fluttering about the high domed ceilings: “I wish we had laser devices to scare the birds off. We have to keep the artworks covered at night.” But Ketna Patel, a Singapore-based artist who sold 30 pieces of Asian pop art that she brought along, had a differ different take: “What the summit lacks in infrastructure, like leaking toilets, it compensates for in the high quality of speakers at the forum, the art and the warmth of the people.” It was the last, she said, that touched her the most, recounting an encounter: “A Gujarati guy, who bought my work, took me to a corner to tell me in Gujju, ‘Don’t mind, but do you think you’ll become a big artist later on? I’m spending a lot of money’. I thought that was sweet!” Call it honest, or call it brazen, but in this effervescent confluence of artist and audience, art sure had its heart in the right place.
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Census 2011: Transgenders Prepare to be Counted for First Time NEW DELHI (PTI): When census officials hit the road for the mammoth task of counting the billion plus people, transgenders will ensure they are counted for the first time ever, after the government decided on their inclusion in the 2011 population count as a separate category. Transgenders’ addition in the census process in the ’others’ category is hailed by the community members and activists as a recognition which, they hope, will inch the “faceless people” closer to other basic rights like voting and crimes against them being registered. “This is a leap forward for us. Till now we were unknown people...
‘males’ The government’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) had proposed that during the 2011 Census, males will be given code one, females two and for transgenders it will be ‘code three’, which was accepted. Anjali of Naz foundation, an NGO that works for transgenders’ issues welcomed the government’s move saying, “the benefit is that you are acknowledged... from being unknown, you are seen as a part of citizenry“. Though, roughly, there are about 500,000 transgendered people across India, she said the biggest advantage of including transgenders in the Census is that the government will, for the first time, have an actual head count
to ensure that maximum number of people of the community are part of the Census process,” Laxmi said. Soni Haji, president, Transgender Association of India, underscored the importance of being part of the Census by saying that it has injected a feeling of empowerment. “It is an empowering feeling to be included in the Census process. It also means the power of getting an identity. But, much more needs to be done,” said Haji. Soni and others of the community are filled with glee as their long-pending demands for ration cards, health benefits is likely to become a reality
soon. Transgenders are hopeful that being part of the Census will also get the law to recognise and register the various crimes against the community, which was not the case till now. Magsaysay award-winning retired IPS officer/activist Kiran Bedi hailed the decision and said this should have a cascading effect on various related issues like the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) registering offences against transgenders. “At the moment, they are a lost group. Once they become a specific, special group they will be part of the society.
Once they are part of the Census it should be just a matter of time before the NCRB also recognises them,” Bedi said. So, how do members of one the most marginalised community in the country plan to handle a cautious Census official who will enter their lane? “Oh ! in the typical way Indians celebrate... there will be dance and music and we will do all we can to make the official comfortable. We will keep all required documents ready and finally announce to the world that India has opened up,” said Soni.
Transgenders at a job fair in Chennai. File Photo
now, we will have some status in our own country,” said Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, an activist of international repute who works for the community through her campaign group ‘Astitva’ The 32-year-old transgender, who holds the credit of being the only eunuch in the UN’s Civil Society Task Force on HIV/AIDS, said they have been yearning for this recognition for many years and that the move will give them their basic rights and respect as a human being. In the current practice, the community is included in the Census as
of the shunned community. “Ask any NGO in the country, any state government if they have the population of transgenders and they will only deny it. This census will change all of that,” Anjali said. After the government’s announcement, activists have been busy sensitising about it by holding camps and spreading the word through other means of communication. “It is important that each transgender person is made aware of this crucial development and is not left out. NGOs and activists are networking
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Secret of Success: Get the Mind-Set of an Ant! Sometimes the biggest lessons in life come from the smallest folks around us
By Prakash Iyer All of us tend to look up to big people for lessons on how to get better. We are keen to learn the secrets of their success. But we forget that sometimes the biggest lessons in life come from the smallest folks around us. Now that’s a good lesson to remember! Take ants for instance. Would you believe those small creatures can teach us how to live a better life? Jim Rohn - the great motivational guru – developed what he called the ‘Ants Philosophy’. He identified four key lessons from the behaviour of ants that can help us lead better lives. Jim Rohn is no more – but his messages continue to inspire. Here then, are the four lessons from Rohn’s ‘Ants Philosophy’. 1. Ants never quit. Have you noticed how ants always look for a way around an obstacle? Put your finger in an ant’s path and it will try and go around it, or over it. It will keep looking for a way out. It won’t just stand there and stare. It won’t give up and go back. We should all learn to be like that. There will always be obstacles in our lives. The challenge is to keep
trying, keep looking for alternative routes to get to our goals. Winston Churchill probably paraphrased the ant’s mindset when he offered this priceless advice: “Never give up. Never, never give up!” 2. Ants think winter all summer. Remember the old story of the ant and the grasshopper? In the middle of summer, the ant was busy gathering food for the winter ahead – while the grasshopper was out having a good time. Ants know that summer - the good times – won’t last forever. Winters will come. That’s a good lesson to remember. When the going is good, don’t be so arrogant as to believe that a crisis or a setback cannot happen to you. Be good to other people. Save for a rainy day. Look ahead. And remember, good times may not last, but good people do. 3. Ants think summer all winter. As they suffer through the unbearable cold of the winter, ants keep reminding themselves that it won’t last forever, and that summer will soon be here. And with the first rays of the summer sun, the ants come out – ready to work, ready to play. When we are down and seemingly out, when we go through what looks like a neverending crisis, it’s good to remind ourselves that this too shall pass. Good times will come. It’s important to retain a positive attitude, an attitude that says things will get better. As the old saying goes, tough times don’t last. Tough people do. 4. Ants do all they possibly can. How much food does an ant gather in summer? All that it possibly can! Now that’s a great work ethic to have. Do all you can! One ant doesn’t worry about how much food another ant is collecting.
It does not sit back and wonder why it should have to work so hard. Nor does it complain about the poor pay! Ants just do their bit. They gather all the food they can. Success and happiness are usually the result of giving 100% doing all you possibly can. If you look around
you, you’ll find that successful people are those who just do all they possibly can. Follow the four simple steps of Jim Rohn’s ‘Ant Philosophy’ – and you’ll see the difference. Don’t quit. Look ahead. Stay positive. And do all you can. And there’s just one more lesson to learn from ants. Did you know that an ant can carry objects up to 20 times their own weight? Maybe we are like that too. We can carry burdens on our shoulders and manage workloads that are far, far heavier than we’d imagine. Next time something’s bothering you and weighing you down, and you feel you just can’t carry on, don’t fret. Think of the little ant. And remember, you too can carry a lot more on your shoulders!
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