Indo American News • Friday, April 02 , 2010
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Friday, April 02 , 2010
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Indo-American Association: Mainstreaming Cultural Voices of India By Jacob David It has been a tough climb, metaphorically speaking, but Indo-American Association and its team have finally reached the summit, mainstreaming the cultural voices of India. Founded by Dr. Hari Dayal, a keen and passionate individual with a clear mission to promote Indian Music and Dance, IAA has succeeded. India offers a rich diversity of talent in these fields, there are many more exciting performances to come for a lifetime. Indo-American Association was founded in 1993 as a non-profit organization. For seventeen years it has selectively voiced the resonances that Indian culture has to offer. Faced with opposition and hurdles along the way Indo-American Association has grown steadily promoting famous and even brand new artistes who have the singular vision of uniting India and its harmony of cultures through their music and dance. Indo-American Association has also helped make their presentations commercially viable thereby taking these artistes to the American public. Some of the major artistes who have performed in association with Indo-American Association are: Ali Akbar Khan, Amjad Ali Khan, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain, Rashid Khan, Rais Khan, Vijay Kichlu, Subhara Guha, Nand Kishore Muley, Ramesh Mishra, Ali Ahmed, Moni Lal Nag, Suben Chatterjee, Anand Gopal Bandhopadhay, Samar Saha, KA-TAP troupe, Gypsy Caravan, Bharatratna Ravi Shankar, Padamvibhushan Ali Akbar Khan, Vilayat Khan, Jasraj, Shivkumar Sharma, Amjad Ali Khan, Birju Maharaj, Padambhushan Lalgudi Jayaraman, T.N. Krishnan, Girija Devi, Zakir Hussain, Padamshree Vishwamohan Bhatt among others. Indo-American Association is a financially prudent enterprise handling its finances extremely well. It has seen an increase in patron donations, endowments, corporate giving, and support from volunteers who give 100% of their time to make sure each presentation surpasses the previous one. True, there are hiccups along the way, “bad apples” who try to throw a wrench in the works, but Indo-American Association’s stance has been to take the higher road. Led by Dr. Hari Dayal, executive director, a gentleman and a class act who makes it a point not to stoop to the cheap tricks employed by certain divisive elements. Case in point, a recent event hosted by IAA, the Shreya Ghoshal and Atif Aslam show was rumored to fail - stating that Atif Aslam was having visa problems. “He won’t make it to the show, he is not coming,” spread the rumors. IAA kept silent on the issue. Atif Aslam showed up on the day of the event. The rumor mongers were disgraced and the show went on to a full house. Dr. Hari Dayal (HD) in an exclusive interview with Indo-American News sets the records straight on the Atif Aslam show.
He also talked with us on the contributions house. last day. Indo-American Association has made to JD: Why do you think this rumor about JD: What was your response to the the community. Atif Aslam’s visa was started? show? JD: How does IAA differ from the other HD: There could be two reasons: 1. WhoHD: It went excellently well. It was a presenters? ever started this would like to caution sold out show, we are sorry we had to turn HD: Indo-American Association is a nonIAA that Atif people away, the tickets were oversubprofit 501 (c) Aslam may scribed because the show appealed to most (3) organizanot get a visa, age groups. Of course a few in the crowd tion. We present and 2. they - the students misbehaved, a few entered events based on possibly had the show without tickets, these were bad the merit of the a malicious apples. Also we had commotion backstage events and the agenda that because we had a bunch of students trying value it delivers once spread to enter backstage, thereby preventing arto promoting could affect tistes from coming on to the stage. India’s art and the shows ratJD: What future steps do you envision culture. India ings, ticket that these will not happen? has many sub sales and HD: We are going to be more strict, imcultures and we performance plement more security officers next time try and present overall. Your round, and enforce a backstage pass. these in the best guess is as JD: Do you think hiring an impersonal possible light. good as mine. manager who will report to you make Profit is not the I’ll make this your job easier as director? driving force or clear: Atif HD: That is a good suggestion. I might motivation for Aslam had no look into that. But mainly it was the stuIAA to host the visa issues. dents who made it difficult backstage. shows. We take JD: Why None of my associates or people I know note of various then did IAA act this way. factors while not respond JD: What is your show line up for hosting a show to quell these 2010? - the unique narumors? HD: We have India Jazz Suites on May ture of a show, Dr. Hari Dayal, founding member of Indo-American HD: If IAA 21 - a fusion of Kathak and Tap dancing presenting it Association is now the Executive Director. Indo- responded, it cross over of cultures, dancing Kathak with in high class American Association has been extremely successful would have Jazz music is going to be a treat to watch. venues like in promoting Indian cultural events to mainstream made the On June 6, we have Lamhe, a Bollywood Houston’s The- America. public believe presentation by Kavita Krishnamurthy, ater District, that there Suresh Wadkar and Sanchita contestant of acoustically sound venues, and we try to was some truth to it. IAA did not want to Sa Re Ga Ma Pa. What makes this show bridge the gap between Indians and Ameri- glorify the juvenile behavior of the radio unique is the actual music band of Sa Re cans here through these presentations. Our stations and the commercial promoters or Ga Ma Pa is accompanying this event. On mission is to maintain the quality of each be dragged into the controversy. These ru- July 10, we have a Tour Program with Bade show we host. We had to turn down host- mors were being spread up to March 13th. Ghulam Ali Khan and Patial Gharana - a ing the Asha Bhosle show because we did But we were selling tickets right until the continued on page 36 not want to compromise on the venue for acoustic quality reasons. JD: Tell me what happened with the Atif Aslam visa issues? Did Atif Aslam really not get his visa on time? HD: That’s what certain bad apples would like you to believe. Truth was Atif Aslam stayed back INDIVIDUAL & GROUP an extra day to celebrate his birthday on the reTERM & quest made by his aging WHOLE LIFE mother. She was not sure DENTAL she might be around for DISABILITY another year to celebrate his next birthday. Like all LONG TERM good sons, Atif Aslam CARE made his mother’s request a priority and spent his birthday with her. He joined us for the show on Sam Merchant the day of the event. EvReliance Business Solutions 3300 S.Gessner Rd, Ste 176, Houston, TX-77063 erything went well and we actually had a full www.gorelianceusa.com
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Indo American News • Friday, April 02 , 2010
in d ia
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Why Chetan Bhagat is the Indian English Pioneer of Our Times As a student at IIM Ahmedabad, Chetan Bhagat founded a magazine, Tomato Ketchup. Even at IIM-A, not the most literary of places, Tomato... was reportedly considered lowbrow and died a premature death. Bhagat’s subsequent literary forays have seen more popular success but continue to be considered lowbrow. But Bhagat need not fret. The novel genre itself was considered lowbrow and commercial during its early days. As Daniel Defoe, often considered the first novelist, said, “Writing itself has become a very considerable branch of the English commerce. The booksellers are the master manufacturers, or employers. The several authors, copiers, sub-writers and other operators with Pen and Ink are the workmen employed by the said manufacturer.” Ian Watt, author of the classic The Rise of the Novel, says Defoe’s style was considered to be ‘easy, copious and unpremeditated’ in contrast to the ‘verbal grace, complication of structure...’of the prevalent literary culture. Watt argues that while the early novels may not have been masterfully crafted, they were revolutionary in their movement away from Classical Idealism towards a greater empathy for individual imperfection. They also understood the needs of the rapidly rising, newly literate, industrial revolution-created bourgeoisie. These two seminal course changes, in structure and audience, by the early novelists laid much of the foundation for the development of modern literature. Indian writing in English, from Bankim Chandra to Arundhati Roy, has not had the same middle-class trajectory of the West and has been accused of being elite. While it has successfully answered W.B. Yeats’s admonishment that “no man can think or write with music and vigour except in his mother tongue”, it has not quite
successfully countered U.R. Ananthamurthy’s allegation of “writing for export”. Indian English writing in the late 19th century does seem like a quaint replica of the Victorian novel. Sham Lal, former editor of The Times of India, refers to a British writer calling Indian
writing in English “Matthew Arnold in a sari” with an Indian professor hurrying to correct him with a more appropriate “Shakuntala in skirts”. The second phase of Indian English novels try and move away from, as Gandhi advised Mulk Raj Anand, “meretricious literariness”. The novels of key writers, Mulk Raj Anand, R.K. Narayan and Raja Rao have common themes around a search for an ‘authentic’ India. But with the exception of G.V. Desani’s brilliant All about H. Hatterr, these books tend to romanticise and the quest for the authentic, couched in the idiom of modernism, at times ends up sounding contrived. The last, post-Rushdie phase has been referred to as the coming of age of Indian English literature. Yet, while some of the new authors do write masterfully, they still fall prey to the problems of their predecessors. They continue to write for a western or elite Indian audience, they still struggle with their quest for an ‘authentic’ India and they still give an Indian lick of paint to the current western ‘ism’ in vogue. Like Defoe, IIT-IIM-I banker Bhagat is a tradesman and, like Defoe, he is likely to be blissfully unaware of the literary conventions
of the day. He is also unlikely to care. His recent Two States reportedly sold 10 lakh copies in 10 weeks, a 100 times more than what was considered a hit Indian English novel in the pre-Bhagat era. Early 21st century India is astonishingly similar to mid-18th century England, with the ‘millennium bug’ being India’s ‘spinning jenny’. The IT revolution has created lakhs of English-speaking, under-25-year-olds living in tier-2 towns like Kanpur or Coimbatore. They have a subculture of their own with the key words being IIT, IIM, IT, multiplex, malls, SMS etc. Openly consumerist but not violently so in a Clockwork Orange sort of way; more permissible in matters of sex yet shying away from promiscuity; western in many ways yet conscious of a constructed Indian identity. Bhagat appeals to this group—he does not ignore them, he does not caricature them and he does not ‘anthropologise’ them. He writes, like Defoe, simply and insightfully, about himself and—embodying the ideal so many of them aspire to—captures their imagination. Pioneers are not usually master craftsmen. Bhagat is certainly not. He displays an ignorance of the world beyond his own experience; his characters, real though they are, never really rise above themselves; and the simplicity of his language is probably more inability than profundity. But as the early 19th century English essayist Hestor Chapone said of Samuel Richardson: “It is only from the ignorant that we can now have anything original; every master copies from those that are of established authority....” Chetan Bhagat may not be a master, but he is certainly an original. IIM-A alumnus Sitapati is marketing manager at a leading MNC.
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B U S I N E S S in d ia
India Calling: Many Indian Americans Returning BANGALORE: Since India provides excellent opportunities, younger generation of Indian Americanisnowflying back to the land of their forefathers. The younger generation also wants to keep in touch with their roots and experience India’s multiculturalism. From aspiring actors to professionals armed with Ivy League degrees and entrepreneurs, an increasing number of “returnees” have been making this giant leap over the last few years, at times giving up lucrative careers in the process. “It was the lure of freedom to pursue what you want to pursue on your own terms that brought me here,” said Raj Shroff, a Mumbaibased actor and model. Shroff, who grew up in Texas, said the decision to move was spurred by his interest in Indian culture, literature, philosophy and music. “It was just something I felt like I wanted to do and wanted to see first hand, as opposed to just reading about it or seeing it on TV or through a movie. I wanted to live it.”
The unparalleled growth in the Indian economy and the arrival of multinational corporations has afforded the opportunities to move for many of these “returnees.” The availability of familiar comforts like fast-food outlets such as McDonald’s and Pizza Hut, designer labels like Tommy Hilfiger and Louis Vuitton, and a buzzing nightlife in the country’s major cities are perks that were unavailable a few years ago.
“This is a really fascinating time to be in India, for a unique time in its history,” said Bangalore-based Nandu Madhava. For Madhava, a Harvard Business School graduate who runs a start-up, India offered several advantages - a large family, a sizeable talent pool and a better work-life balance. Often, the parents of the “returnees” were unhappy with their children’s decision to move to the country they had left years earlier. “The first six months I moved here my dad would ask me every time I talked to him: ‘So when are you coming back?’” said Meeta Baphna, who moved to India in 2007. The work environment in India is different-the rigid hierarchy, interactions with co-workers and even the infamous concept of Indian Standard Time. “It’s been interesting to see the difference between work culture here and in the States. Time is a very abstract concept and that took a little bit getting used to,” said Vaman Kamath.-SI
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New Hi-End Mobiles from Sony Ericsson Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Corporate Vice President, Head of Asia pacific, Hirokazu Ishiuzuka (right) with Bollywood actor and company brand ambassador Kareena Kapoor at the launch function in New Delhi on Friday, March 26. Photo: S. Subramanium
NEW DELHI: Sony Ericsson on Friday, March 26, introduced its new range of hi-end mobile phones eyeing bigger market share in the fast growing smartphones market. It launched five mobile phones with the latest multimedia and entertainment features, priced between Rs.25,695 and Rs.35,795. Addressing a press conference here, Sony Ericsson Corporate Vice-President and Head of Asia Pacific Region Hirokazu Ishizuka said, “new phones will take communication entertainment to the next level. The proliferation of social and
digital media is changing the consumer experience with mobile phones.” The company also plans to launch mobile handsets in the low-end segment also, priced below Rs.5,000. Sony Ericsson has also partnered with regional and local content and application providers to deliver the latest in entertainment content for consumers, which include MTV India, UTV, Hungama, Shemaroo, Electronics Art and Disney among others to deliver entertainment content.SI
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B U S I N E S S in d ia
BMW 5 Series and X1 Coming Soon to India
2011 BMW 5 Series Picture: Before the year is out, customers in India will be able to buy BMW’s new 5 Series.
NEW DELHI — BMW has announced that it will launch its latest 5 Series and X1 in India by the second half of 2010. Shipped as completely knocked-down units (CKD), the new BMW 5 Series will go on sale starting in July this year followed by the X1 launch in December. The models were launched in Europe in 2009, and BMW expects them now to drive global revenue growth by doing well in India and elsewhere around the world. The new 5 Series and X1 will be assembled at BMW’s Chennai plant, for which the company will increase its production capacity. The German car manufacturer is expecting to sell around 4,000 units in 2010. BMW is likely to bring in the 535i and the new 520d
to spice up the competition in the premium-luxury-car segment. The X1, which is slated to be the smallest SUV from the BMW stable, will be the cheapest BMW to go on sale in India, with a starting price tag of $55,000. In addition, the company has said that it will start its used-car business, BMW Premium Selection, in the country by April. Its first pre-owned-car showroom will be inaugurated in Chennai on April 1, followed by a second showroom in Gurgaon in the second half of 2010. The company is expecting at least 30 percent of its sales to come from its pre-owned business. BMW India’s expansion plans also involve an increase in the dealership network from the current 17 to 24 dealerships by the end of 2010.- Edmunds Insideline
Vodafone India Launches iPhone 3GS NEW DELHI: Telecom major Vodafone Essar on Friday said it will launch Apple iPhone 3GS in the country beginning today, priced at Rs. 29,500 ($655) onwards. iPhone 3GS is the fastest iPhone yet and is equipped with a three megapixel autofocus camera, video recording and hands free voice control features. The handset also provides access to Apple’s App Store, which has more than 1.5 lakh applications ranging from games to social networking. “We are delighted to offer iPhone 3GS in India. We are confident our customers will enjoy the revolutionary iPhone and the flexibility of our tailored tariff plans,” Vodafone Essar Chief Marketing Officer Kumar Ramanathan said.
Vodafone Essar will offer three plans - a prepaid plan of Rs. 100 and two
post paid plans with Rs. 799 and Rs. 999 as rental respectively. Under the Rs. 799 plan, the customer would get 249 minutes talk
time and 250 MB data usage free, while the 999 plan would offer free talk time of Rs. 299 and data usage of 600 MB without charge. iPhone 3G is available at Rs. 33,500 ($744) (for 8GB version), Rs. 40,500 ($900) (for 16GB) and Rs. 47,500 ($1055) (for 32GB) in Mumbai, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. For other regions, the handset would be available for Rs. 29,500 ($655) (for 8GB version), Rs. 35,500 ($789) (for 16GB) and Rs. 41,500 ($922) (for 32GB). Its competitor, Bharti Airtel, has also announced that it will sell the handset in the country. - Hindu
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Indian Rail Vital to Port Growth By Ruchira Singh NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India’s ambitious, port expansion plans must include better road and rail links if all the new ports are to succeed, a major figure in the strategy said. Paul Jensen, Director of Delhi-
vestments and many ports coming up on the basis, for instance, that a large power plant is being built somewhere along the coast. Then promoters say ‘why don’t we have our own port close by and we are not dependent on the government port’,” he said.
based consultants European Business & Technology Centre, was involved in planning Tuticorin and Cochin ports and took part in the Shipping Ministry’s development of single consolidated roadmap for all the 12 major ports. Some ports in the initiative were ideally located with strong links and others will struggle to move cargoes on, he said. “One cannot look at ports in isolation and that’s one issue that is always critical because the port is only one link in the supply chain,” Jensen said. “There are different kinds of in-
Adani Group’s expanding port and adjacent power plant in Mundra in Gujarat was an example of a port which has planned its logistics fully, he said. “Adani knew they had to connect the port to the markets but there was no rail connection. So out of their own pockets, they paid for 61 kilometres of railway track as part of the port investment,” he said. Rewas port near Mumbai on the west coast also has a lot of potential and the developers were conscious of the need to connect to the hinterland, he said.
No Social Security Benefits for Indian Companies Indian companies operating in the United States make “contributions to social security that they never see at any point,” Sachin Pilot, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, said. Emphasising the contribution of Indian companies to the U.S. economy at a time of serious unemployment, Mr. Pilot said, “It will be the endeavour of Indian companies to have more job opportunities for U.S. citizens here… It will be in both our interests to solve this [unemployment] problem.” Speaking at a gathering of business leaders on Tuesday Mr. Pilot said that many Indian companies, especially in IT, that have “set up shop here, are employing a lot of Americans and are more Ameri-
INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 02 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
can than Indian.” At the event, hosted by the U.S.India Business Council, Mr. Pilot also described the opportunities that India presented in the field of IT not only for both services and manufacturing. He further touched upon the Indian government’s initiatives to provide broadband connectivity to villages in India so as to improve rural populations’ access to healthcare, education and other services. During his visit to the U.S. the Minister also met with senior officials in the White House and in the U.S. Department of Commerce to discuss ways to take the India-U.S. economic and technological collaboration forward. Areas of discussion included healthcare, cyber security and cyber terrorism.
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INDIA
India Launches Campaign in China to Push its IT Sector BEIJING: India on Friday launched an aggressive campaign to showcase its IT prowess in China to woo local companies in order to bridge the trade imbalance between the two nations. Officials of over 300 top-end Chinese companies, including that of government-owned undertakings, today attended the India-China Business Technology Summit in which NASSCOM President, Som Mittal and other officials of top Indian IT firms made presentations Lou Qinjian, Vice-Minister, Chinese Ministry of IT, also attended the meeting. “We are not asking for any favours. We are globally competitive in these sector... we are making an aggressive pitch to woo the Chinese companies telling them if you have ambition of becoming a global Chinese Company, you need get a global IT
solution provider. That is us,” Indian Ambassador S Jaishankar told PTI at the meeting. “We are telling them that we are cost-wise and quality- wise superior to what you get in China. So, why don’t you look at us. This is part of aggressive strategy where we are concerned to try and do something about trade imbalance we have with China,” he said. India’s total trade with China stood at about $42 billion this year with balance of trade tilting massively in favour of China. India imported a whopping $32 billion and exported only $9.5 billion goods, mostly raw materials like iron ore and oil seeds. India has been asking China to address the trade imbalance. The IT summit was part of a strategy to attract local companies as the Chinese government has agreed
to encourage its firms to look at the Indian IT market. “We discussed with the Chinese government to encourage Chinese companies to come and listen to us. Now it is up to the companies,” he said. He said in the next few months, India would make a strong bid to make strong dent in the Chinese market in IT, Pharmaceuticals, Engineering services and Agro products. Summits would be held all over China on all the four areas where India is strong, he said. Jaishankar said for a variety of reasons, Indian companies have made very limited progress in China. “This is a matter of concern not just for us, because Chinese too appreciate that large trade imbalances are not sustainable,” Jaishankar said earlier addressing the meeting.- ET
India to Launch Rocket with Own Engine Technology in a Month BANGALORE:Indiaissettolaunch in a month its powerful rocket with the homemade cryogenic engine to propel a satellite into a geosynchronous orbit and become only the sixth nation to develop this complex engine. The much awaited launch has been billed as a landmark event for the country’s space programme after its maiden unmanned moon mission Chandrayaan-I in 2008. India had been using Russia-made cryogenic engines so far for satellite launchings. A cryogenic engine will be used for the first time in the rocket’s upper stage. Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) is getting ready for the launch of the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) from the spaceport of Sriharikota expected on April 15, an ISRO source said. A geo-stationary orbit is about 36,000 km above the earth. “The launch is likely to be on April 15 or before April 20. Preparations are underway”, the source said, adding “The exact date of the launch will be finalised at the mission readiness review in Sriharikota on Sunday”. With the launch, India would join a select club of five nations--U.S., Russia, China, Japan and Israel--that had mastered the complex cryogenic tech-
nology. The mission would make New Delhi totally self-reliant in all aspects of launch vehicle technology 15 years after work was started on developing the cryogenic technology. It would be the first time that ISRO would launch a GSLV with indigenous cryogenic engine, a programme that was taken up in 1996 following the technology denial regime in the 1990s. The US had then forced Russia to stop giving India the technology. ISRO’s previous GSLV flights carried Russian cryogenic engines procured earlier. Next month’s GSLV would carry GSAT-4, a 2,200 kg technology demonstrator satellite. Also for the first time, ISRO would test the electric propulsion technology -- plasma thrusters -- that Indian space scientists developed, in GSAT-4, in
addition to chemical propulsion that it had been using. According to ISRO officials, the electric propulsion technology is expected to boost the life of geostationary satellites by upto five years. “This is a concept we are going to prove in this (GSAT-4). Once proven, it can be adopted as standard for future geostationary orbits”, an ISRO official said. Technological challenges faced during the development of indigenous cryogenic engine and stage include those relating to new materials, composite thermal insulation, new fabrication techniques, handling of cryogenic fluids at cryogenic temperatures, realisation of facilities for assembly, integration and testing, and associated safety systems, ISRO officials said. - ET
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GM to Launch its Electric Car E-Spark by Year-End MUMBAI: Automobile major, General Motors, on Friday said that it would launch the electric version of its small car ‘Spark’ in the Indian market this year-end. “We are set to launch our electric car, E-Spark, by the end of this year in India,” GM Motors’ Marketing Director, Gaurav Gupta, told PTI. “It will be an electric version of our small car Spark and will be the first four-door passenger car in the world in this segment,” he said. Considering the extra cost incurred on electric engines, Gupta said that the E-Spark’s price may be a little higher
than the Spark. “The acquisition price may be slightly higher. But the operating costs will be very low,” he said. The company is entering into the Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) segment as well this year, he said. The vehicles would be produced by the joint venture formed with a Chinese company, SAIC. When asked if there was any plan to export engines to China, Gupta said that the company would look at all business opportunities allowed by the laws of both countries.- HT
Disney to Offer TV Serials Based on Thirukkural CHENNAI: Disney Channel is all set to reintroduce to the younger generation the ancient Tamil literature Thirukkural with the first ever animated TV serials based on this celebrated text. The series developed as animal fables by Accel Animation Studios, Chennai, is titled ‘Ek Tha Jungle’ and showcases couplets from Thirukkural — one of the most important and celebrated works in Tamil literature written by noted Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar. Each episode has a universal theme presented in modern day, 3D animated format. Set for a premiere on Disney Channel on April 5, every episode will showcase a universal theme and
strong life lessons. The stories are laced around strong ethics and family values with a moral that is applicable to the present and future generations. There is no better way than adapting the evergreen Thirukkural to narrate stories to the young audience. We are delighted to partner Disney Channel to bring this classic work to the Indian audience.” The $5 million Accel Animation Studio was set up in Chennai in July 2006 as a division of Accel Transmatic, an IT services company, as part of its initiative to foray into digital media technologies. It has facilities in Chennai, and Thiruvananthapuram. - Hindu
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Indo American News • Friday, April 02 , 2010
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Terror is An Event, Peace is A Process
Talk with Pak we must—it’s the right, rational choice for a mature power By K.J. Bajpai Pakistan’s greatest advantage over India is, surely, the excited confusion that dealing with it provokes among us. Before attacks against our exploring talks with Pakistan could fade, we’ve started tilting at another imagined windmill—that we have shattered our tradition of bilateralism by invoking Saudi involvement. Of course, we can argue about India’s strategies and tactics regarding this troublesome neighbour, but between the petty confrontationalism of our domestic politics and our baffling refusal to face facts, there is no attempt at a solid national consensus that this crucial relationship requires. Though reputed for hair-splitting skills, we somehow ignore important distinctions. Nobody has asked Saudi Arabia to help us solve Indo-Pak problems. To convey our concern over Pakistan’s prevarications on terrorism to SaudiArabia (adding that its good offices in getting Pakistan to cooperate would be welcome) accords with standard diplomacy and is perfectly consistent with our basic stand that solutions must be worked out directly by India and Pakistan. Certainly, the Saudis would be more than messengers, their closeness to Pakistan gives them influence. (But to fear this submits us to unacceptable pressures, and is to suppose that we would submit.) Similarly, objections to holding the recent foreign secretaries’ talks overlook the distinction between up-
holding basic positions and managing changing circumstances. To seek a rational basis for a constructive relationship is the right approach for a mature, major power like India. We suspended talks because 26/11 was a horrendous new circumstance. Pakistan’s wriggling away from action on terrorism is as material a circumstance as any specific action could be, and demands a response beyond sticking to what we did after 26/11. Our understandably incensed and frustrated public would like some strong response. Why India continues to avoid that will be looked at shortly, but to see New Delhi’s initiative as weakness is a mistake— for Pakistanis and ourselves. It is a move in a process, whose primary importance lies in what it adds to our existing impressions about Pakistan’s attitude towards that process. Will it help? Only what happens next can give an answer, but bickering about holding the meeting is fruitless. The issues involved are too serious to be debased by the partisan polemics that pass as our political debates. Those issues, decisive in determining how we handle Pakistan, are so complex, a short article cannot do them justice. But certain basics stand out starkly. Ever since Partition, Pakistan has consistently chosen animosity against India. Invasion, subversion, terrorism, nuclear theft, any means to pull us down. The excuse that the Kashmir dispute justifies all this is specious—and cannot
extend to Pakistani mischief in our Punjab or other forms of destabilisation. And while depicting us as an existential threat, Pakistan also assumes a really strong response which is beyond India—as much because of our supposed spinelessness as their nuclear deterrent, and because any damage we might inflict would fertilise terrorism. Smugly sure, it suits them whether we are bellicose— which helps unite them and perpetuates authoritarianism—or restrained, which encourages their persistence in destabilisation without fear of retaliation. Pakistan’s rulers see us as damned if we do and damned if we don’t. We do need to ready ourselves for the consequences of doing. Their foreign secretary Salman Bashir’s press briefing sums up what we face. The pleasant manners only emphasised unpleasantly hard attitudes. As if he needed cover against domestic hardliners—an approach that underlines doubts on Pakistan’s interest in a rapprochement. The nearest we ever came to a settlement was with Zulfiqar Bhutto and Pervez Musharraf—both unable to deliver, and both ousted. Are today’s leaders, whoever they are, more likely peacemakers? No, but keep trying. Both parts of that answer shape India’s present approach. To object that ‘no’ obviates ‘trying’ ignores the many good reasons that arise from the distinction mentioned earlier: it’s the right basic position, and it is the right way to deal
with ever-changing circumstances. What the criticism does bring out is the need for greater public realisation of what more we have to do— when it means preparing for talks that may lead nowhere. Let’s start with what Pakistan is clearly telling us: ‘we cannot/will not do what you want on terrorism.’ The claim that they too are terror victims is deliberate obfuscation. Their actions show a clear separation: cracking down on purely domestic groups, going easy on groups used against India. A distinguished Pakistani was recently asked: if the modern-minded, extremist-free Pakistan he and his kind represented has realised that terror had turned against them, was there not now a common cause? Nobody expects Pakistan to admit complicity, but so much could be done quietly. Why was there no sign of that? He admitted frankly he had no answer. Didn’t that force the conclusion that Pakistan would not let go of this successful new weapon against us? The response was that we should allow for Pakistan’s sincere conviction that it wished to dismantle terror. They cite the stormy past and our increasing capabilities to doubt our good intentions. Of course, that past includes some Indian errors which have fed Pakistan’s mistrust (and vice-versa). Pakistanis tend to project 1971 as an Indian design to undo Pakistan, adding wild accusations about interference in Balochistan
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as evidence of continuing malice. That West Pakistan lost East Pakistan through its own follies is conveniently overlooked; in making accusations it knows are false, its own malice goes unstated. Here is a mindset that prevents drawing objective lessons from the record. What is obvious to us—that India has no desire to harm or undo Pakistan—they reject. They demand things which harm, could even undo, India. That leaves little hope of letting trust replace terror, but that little can only be realised through talks. India avoids strong action not because we are afraid. That said, limited retaliation would likely fuel more terrorism. And full retaliation is not our way. But if Pakistan keeps using terror, we could be driven to risk all consequences. Pakistan’s claim that this is the eventuality they are guarding against means they anticipate the terror continuing. The plea that the terrorists’ acts are beyond their control overlooks the trust that could develop through genuine cooperation: if we saw Pakistan doing any of the numerous things that could be done, by and large it would be possible to distinguish between acts perpetrated by terrorists on their own and those with the hallmarks of official connivance—like Mumbai. Will solving all the issues with India solve their terrorist problem as they say it will solve ours? Obviously not—which underlines the falsity of continued on page 31
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Funky Fashion Sprouting
South Asia
A model presents a creation by designer Nida Mahmood at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2010 in New Delhi.
IndoAmerican News news of the south asian diaspora that matters
PM Singh to Address Nation about ‘Right to Education’ Act NEW DELHI: In an unprecedented move, PM Manmohan Singh will address the nation on the historic Right to Education Act on April 1, the day the law comes into effect. It is for the first time in independent India that any PM will address the nation on a specific law. Though it it is also for the first time that a new fundamental right -- Right to Education -- will come into play, the PM’s address takes on significance because it comes against the backdrop of a strong perception that he was more focussed on foreign policy issues and rate of growth. The PM’s preoccupation with big ticket foreign policy issues -- civil nuclear energy cooperation with the US and quest for improvement of ties with neighbours -- has seen Congress chief Sonia Gandhi getting the exclusive political property rights over major social sector initiatives -- from the NREGA to food security bill to women’s quota bill. The confrontation with the opponents with the women’s quota bill
in place all the necessary legal requirements needed under the RTE Act. The model rules have been sent to the state governments while central rules for Union Territories without assemblies -- Chandigarh, Andaman & Nicobar Island, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Lakshwadeep, and Daman & Diu -- will get finalised on Wednesday after being vetted by the law ministry. Many state governments have also begun the process of adapting/adopting model rules as state rules. India’s landmark Right to Education act will go into effect on April 1. The HRD ministry has also notified NCERT as the acastarkly brought out the disconnect Right to education as a fundamental demic authority for the curbetween priorities with Sonia Gandhi right was brought about through the riculum and the National Council staking her political capital to see the 86thAmendment in 2002 by inserting for Teacher Education as the acaBill through in the Rajya Sabha. Article 21A in the Constitution. demic authority that will lay down the Importantly, the Prime Minister’s It is believed that the HRD minister minimum qualification for teachers. decision to speak to a country-wide Kapil Sibal had met the PM and re- National Commission for Protection audience on RTE comes a day after quested him to address the nation on of Child Rights will soon set up a the setting up of the National Advi- the historic law. monitoring cell for the RTE Act. Each sory Council under Sonia Gandhi. Meanwhile, HRD ministry has put state has also been asked to set up a
State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCR). Till this is done the states have been asked to set up Right to Education Protection Authority. Karnataka, Sikkim, Delhi and Maharashtra have already set up their SCPCR. HRD ministry has also zeroed on a host of issues as the next steps for better implementation of RTE. Among them is sharing of funds between the Centre and states. The ministry wants revision in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’s funding pattern of 55:45 between the Centre and states so that it can be aligned with RTE. HRD wants the Centre’s share for RTE to go up. HRD has also decided to ensure that age appropriate admissions are given by schools as well as mapping of neighbourhood schools is done. Reservation of 25% to underprivileged children in the neighbourhood might not be possible this year as school admission in many states had nearly got over by the time notification of RTE and Article 21A was made.
“Terror is an Event, Peace is a Process”
30 their attempt to equate their own victimisation with India’s. It is well within Pakistan’s power to cooperate if indeed it seeks settlements. The prospects of non-cooperation also mean we are going to face more of Pakistan’s PR campaigns. We are not good at this, and they are. They have persuaded much international opinion which goes that we are in the wrong on most differences—from Siachen to Afghanistan. Our most unfortunate disadvantage is the widespread acceptance of their taqiya kalaam that Kashmir is the core issue. Their case seems simple and comprehensible: Partition was based on contiguous Muslim majority areas opting out of India, J&K is a Muslim-majority contiguous area, continued from page
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India is denying it to Pakistan by force. India’s reply is valid but complicated: outsiders get lost in explanations of our pluralism, the comprehensive nature of our independence movement, our secular needs and ideals, the horrors of Pakistan’s invasion—or the Kashmiri’s continuing dislike of domination by Pakistanis. States act according to the situation on the ground, not on right or wrong, so this need not bother us as long as we keep the ground reasonably in order. It’s also true that states believe what suits them, and PR has limited effects, but we underestimate its importance to our detriment. K.S. Bajpai was India’s ambassador to Pakistan, China and the US. He retired as secretary, external affairs ministry. - Outlook
Dhyan/Meditation: 11:00 am Satsang/Spiritual Discourse: 11:30 am Dhyan / Meditation: 10:00 am Question & Answer Session: 12:30 pm Satsang / Spiritual Discourse: 10:30 am Question & Answer Session: 11:30 Contact: am • Satnam or Daya Sharma: 713 261 7212 Contact: • Monesha or Sanjay Malhotra: •Dottie or Greg Williams: 713 686 0642 713 235 0133 • Daya Sharma: 713 261 7212, www.sos.org • Sanjay: 713 235 0133 www.sos.org INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 02 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM
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Asli Indian Standard Time
Time past, time present and possibility fuse at the horologist’s By Gopalkrishna Gandhi Clocks and watches, pocket watches in particular, have gripped me since I can remember. As a child, I was fascinated by a stooping gharisaaz who used to come to our home in Connaught Circus, New Delhi, the magic chabi in his hand, to go straight to the two wall clocks we had, stand up on any chair that could be found, move the hour and minute hands about, ponder the dial, set the time and go away as wordlessly as he came. Some years later, in Chennai, when my nana’s pocket watch, a dainty piece of British make, began to lose time, I offered to take the irregularly pulsating disc to P. Orr & Sons, the hoary horologist on Mount Road, to have it set right. I was shown into a corridor where, to my teenage eyes, several men, each looking as ancient as my nana, or almost, were stooped over some watch or other, peering into its innards through eye-glasses that fitted into the socket of each one’s good eye like a bulb into its holder. The company set the watch right and my nana regained that part of his comfort level with Time. A month ago, with my nana and all the men who worked on those watches in Mount Road and the ghari-saaz of Connaught Circus having moved on to a zone where hours no longer matter, I had the good luck to return to this ticking world. Sixtyfive now, white of head, grappling with the collapse of a table timepiece of the ‘alarum’type, I entered a 10x10 roadside watch-repair shop on Chennai’s Lattice Bridge Road. I was struck by the sight of a man wizened by age bent over a watch in a corner of that tiny establishment. Repair over, I asked him how long he had been setting watches right. “All my working life,” he said. “You must have known people in P. Orr & Sons,” I ventured. “I worked there myself,” he said, “until my retirement.” “Really? I once had my grandfather’s watch repaired there. It has given up working again, of course. Perhaps I should bring it back to you.” He just smiled at this. A young man was waiting for me to settle my bill. “How much?” I asked
him. “Oh, for this job, ten rupees.” I was disbelieving. What does one get for ten rupees these days? I took out a fifty-rupee note, thanking both of them profusely. As the man was getting me my change, he asked me in Tamil, “You look like someone from the north but you are speaking Tamil...so where are you from?” “Oh that...well, you see, my mother was from these parts and my father from Gujarat.” “Say that then, true national integration! You are an asal Indian.” “Why, we all are asal Indians.” “No, not that way, sir! You see, we have all got divided. Take any two men in Andhra. This one, he speaks Telugu. That one, he also speaks Telugu. But one wants Telangana and will give his life for it. The other will give his life to prevent it. So where is the asal Indian?” “I see what you mean....” “By the way, sir, you must be quite old?” “Of course, as you can make out by looking at me.” “Don’t mind, sir, but can I ask what you do for entertainment?” This was an unexpected ques-
tion. Glancing at the watch-repairer, bent again over yet another watch, I said, “Well, I like old Hindi film songs....” “Oh, right, right,” he said, and drumming on his counter, started to hum ‘Baar baar dekho, hazaar baar dekho....’ “Well, that one is an old song, but not old enough for me....” “Oh, right, right. Then you must be very old, sir, very old...you can pay me eight rupees. That will do for the repair.” “No, no, that is not necessary—ten rupees is fine.” “What are you, sir, I mean, what do you do?” “I am, well, a pensioner....” “By the way, do you stay in a house or in a flat?” “In a flat.” “Ayyo. Pity. Open the door and you see your neighbour. Close the door and you hear him cough. If you sing your old Hindi film songs, he will say ‘Don’t Disturb!’” “Quite.” “Come again, sir. Even without repair work.” The wizard-repairer looked up and gave me a wan smile, nodding. “Next time, bring your grandfather’s pocket watch,” he said. “I will see if I can do something with it.” Ten rupees down, a timepiece repaired, and hope held of future Time being set right on old dials, I stepped onto the street outside, humming without realising it, ‘Baar, baar...’ The author was till recently the governor of West Bengal. He’s the grandson of C. Rajagopalachari on the maternal side and of Mahatma Gandhi on the paternal side
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Gates Foundation to Go All Out to Reduce Child Deaths in UP and Bihar Co-chair Melinda Gates speaks about innovation, social and cultural change and the philosophy of giving By N. Ram In a thrust to provide sustained support to life-saving innovations in India and around the world, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is placing new emphasis on innovations that effect social and cultural change to bring down the unacceptably high death rates for children under five years of age in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. “A lot of times,” Melinda French Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and co-founder of the Gates Foundation, told me in an interview given recently in New Delhi, “people think the Foundation is absolutely about innovations in science, in technology and biotechnology. We believe in that innovation but another piece of big innovation is social, cultural change.” She spoke of her visits to villages in Barabanki and Rae Barelli districts to see what could be learnt from the work of the ‘Sure Start’ programme of PATH, a non-profit organisation supported by the Foundation, and a research project called Shivgarh. Asked about her meeting with Chief Minister Mayawati, Ms. Gates said it went very well. They discussed the Foundation’s focus on bringing down the under-5 child death rate in U.P., polio eradication, immunisation coverage, maternal and child issues, and development in the State. The Foundation was committing $55 million in the State over the next three to five years. This would be a new investment that followed up on other and larger investments. It was “really, really key,” she pointed out, to bring down the child death rates in U.P. and Bihar but there would also be a larger benefit: “That’s something we can spread all over India, where it needs to happen. But we can spread that practice around the world.” Emphasising that “cultural change... can bring down this death rate,” Ms. Gates posed
Melinda French Gates, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, speaks on the Foundation’s life-saving mission and other issues. Photo: V. Sudershan
an interesting question: “How do you talk to them [the women] in a way that appreciates their culture but helps them understand what will keep their children alive?” Responding to questions, Melinda Gates explained that while the health picture in India was mixed, her optimism sprang from the fact that “there’s so much to build on in India. You have to understand that in the other places I travel to there isn’t the infrastructure” and also the kind of official commitment to improving rural and
urban health that she found in India. The Gates Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic trusts in the world, with an asset trust endowment of $33.5 billion, grant pay-
ments amounting to $3 billion in 2009, and grant commitments since inception totalling $22.61 billion. The Berkshire Gift, announced by Warren Buffett in June 2006, has dramatically increased the Foundation’s funding, expanded its ambit, and raised the level of the challenge. Asked about her husband’s and her motivation in setting up the Foundation in 2000, Ms. Gates explained that “both Bill and I grew up in families that really believed in giving back. So we came to the marriage knowing that the money that had been amassed from Microsoft would be given back to society.” The motto, “All Lives Have Equal Value,” came to them during the first two to three years of the Foundation. The youngest of the three co-chairs of the Gates Foundation explained, in answer to another question, that Warren Buffett’s enormous Berkshire Gift enabled the Foundation to “start to scale up” the work it had started to do in Global Development – to “help people lift themselves out of poverty.” Towards the end of the interview, Melinda Gates made it clear that “we, like Warren, completely want to take the resources that we have from Microsoft and his Berkshire Gift and spend that basically on the problems of our lifetime.” In fact, Bill and Melinda Gates have “made a commitment that 50 years after the last of the two of us has died…all our money would have been given away.”- The Hindu
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David Headley Reveals Pakistan Army, US Involvement in 26/11 By Saikat Datta
For 10 years, Daood Sayed Gilani existed only in the shadows, quietly travelling between India, Pakistan and the United States, building his links with the terror outfit Lashkare-Toiba. Ideally, Gilani should have shown up on the radar of the Indian or US intelligence communities during his extensive tours in India. That didn’t happen because on February 16, 2006, Gilani virtually ceased to exist. He was now officially David Coleman Headley. Arrested on October 3 last year, Headley’s journey and his central role in the planning of the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai had initially confounded Indian intelligence. But his plea bargain now in the North district court of Illinois and subsequent confessions have helped Indian investigators piece together a key element of the 26/11 puzzle, adding further credence to the suspicion that it was conducted with the help of the Pakistani intelligence establishment. While the broad contours of Headley’s confessions have been made public, US intelligence has also shared some sensitive material with their Indian counterparts through official channels, which has proved to be a breakthrough in the 26/11 probe. Some of the key information the US has shared with India is: Headley has accepted he had four Pakistani handlers. While one has been identified as retired army officer Major Abdul Rahman Hashim Sayeed, the identity of the others had not been disclosed. Indian investigators told Outlook that Headley has confessed that the other three were serving Pakistani army officers. Headley has identified them as Major Iqbal, Major Sameer and Colonel Shah. While the names could be pseudonyms, it has confirmed that the handlers were serving army officials. This is the first evidence of official Pakistani involvement in the 26/11 attacks. In fact, American prosecutors refer to the handlers as “A, B, C and D”. The person identified as ‘A’ is believed to be Colonel Shah of the Pakistan army. Headley has also accepted his role in the 26/11 terror strike and has confirmed that he conducted extensive surveillance of the targets. Having attended three LeT training capsules between 2002-06, Headley used his extensive tactical military knowledge to brief the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai. He had also visited the Taj Mahal and Trident hotels and mapped both of them from a tactical point of view. His maps and videos helped the LeT in training the terrorists who knew precise locations of hotel rooms, possible entry and exit
points that could be used by Indian security forces to launch a counter-offensive and also helped identify the best areas in the hotels where explosives could be detonated to cause maximum casualties and damage. The landing points and the Mumbai coastline was also surveyed by Headley. Armed with a GPS, Headley hired a boat in the summer of 2008 and, after sailing along the Mumbai coast, fed in the coordinates that would help the terrorists to come ashore. Headley ruled out three landing points and finally settled on the area next to Badhwar Park for the terrorists to come into Mumbai and then spread out. The coordinates supplied by Headley helped the terrorists landing from the sea pinpoint the two hotels, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Nariman House where the Jewish organisation, Chabad, had its headquarters. Armed with the coordinates, the terrorists knew exactly where to head for after they landed at Badhwar Park. Headley also worked with two key HuJI and LeT operatives— Ilyas Kashmiri and Zaki-ur-Rahman ‘Lakhvi’, both former Pakistani army commandos. Lakhvi became the chief of operations for the LeT and put the final plan together. He also used the extensive footage and tactical details Headley had provided to train the assault team. After the 26/11 attack, Headley met up with Kashmiri again in the summer of 2009 in Waziristan to plan further attacks. Headley and his handlers were planning another terrorist strike in India, possibly in the latter part of 2009. While popular belief is that the Pune blasts had a Headley hand, Indian investigators have ruled this out. However, the new attack could have been deferred by the LeT in the aftermath of Headley’s arrest. For Indian intelligence, Headley’s revelations are in many ways a gamechanger. This is the first evidence of the spreading global reach of the LeT, which now includes terrorists from western backgrounds using US travel documents. Indian visa rules are very specific that any person of
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Pakistani origin has to be checked out thoroughly before a visa is granted to visit India. In Headley’s case, he managed to hide the fact that his father was a Pakistani in the documents submitted to the Indian consulate in Chicago. No surprise then that Headley was granted a multiple-entry business visa enabling him to travel to India several times between 2006-08. What now worries security officials is the possibility of more Americans or Britishers (with or without Pakistani links) visiting India who could be part of the LeT’s global terror network. However, even with all this shared information, there has been a rift between Indian intelligence and their US counterparts. While India had granted FBI officials full access to Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone terrorist caught alive in the 26/11 attack, no such access was given to an Indian security team that travelled to the US earlier this year. This has raised doubtsonwhether Headley had also been working for the Americans in some covert capacity before he turned rogue. Indian officials feel that Headley’s name-change was facilitated by US intelligence to help him work with the LeT. “The Americans were probably running Headley as their asset to gather more information about the LeT and its
leadership without realising that he had ‘turned’,” a senior Indian security official told Outlook. Intelligence officials also point out that Headley had lied to the authorities that his father’s name was “William Headley”. The son of a Pakistani diplomat, Sayyid Salim Gilani, Headley had wiped clean his Pakistani links which, say Indian intelligence officials, could have only been done with the help of the Americans. The fact that Headley also managed to return to Pakistan after each visit to India to brief his handlers has also caused consternation in Indian security circles. This is another indication of the Americans probably helping Headley in a bid to infiltrate the LeT’s ranks. Five Questions India Wants To Ask Headley
1. Are there more terror accomplices of western origin with American or British passports/travel documents working with the Lashkar-e-Toiba or any other homegrown terror outfit in India? 2. Is the LeT planning another attack against India based on the intelligence gathered by Headley during his trips in India? If so, what are the targets? 3. Who are the serving or retired Pakistani officers that Headley dealt with during his visits to Pakistan? What role do they play within the LeT and are they still active? 4. Did Headley work with terror cells in India during his stay here and if so, where are they located and what was the nature of their interface? 5. What are the names of the LeT members who planned the 26/11 assault on Mumbai, and also details of other actionable intelligence? But the one question which has the Indian security establishment most worried is whether US intelligence knew beforehand about the 26/11 attack. “The Americans did share a few intercepts and intelligence that an attack was coming. But did they know what Headley knew?” an official with the ministry of home affairs asks. Could it be that they had not informed the Indian intelligence agencies in detail so as to save their
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ENTERTAINMENT
Taking a Sip from The Blue Mug Atul Kumar’s The Blue Mug is about memories and what we make of them.
Based on The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat (the book recounts the case histories of patients lost in the bizarre, apparently inescapable world of neurological disorders; patients who have lost their memories) by Oliver Sacks. The Blue Mug play boasts names like Konkona Sen Sharma, Rajat Kapoor, Ranvir Shorey, Vinay Pathak, Sheeba Chadha and Munish Bhardwaj. The talk of the town in Kolkata was the play had a lot of expectations to meet. On D-day, after a wait of 45 minutes, the show finally began and as soon as the actors took to the stage, began the laugh riot. In fact, the introductory session was well in tune with the subject and it didn’t come as a surprise when Rajat said, “I have this stone in my pocket to remind me (hinting at his memory loss) that please switch off your mobile phones and no flash photographies during the show please.” As soon as he said this, Vinay’s phone rang and everyone started snubbing him for this careless act of his. This set the ball rolling for what was to follow soon. All the characters in the play were playing themselves and even their names, except for Ranvir and Konkona, were also the same. What made the play even more interesting was the fact that the characters were directly speaking to the audience. The artists narrated memories from childhood, teenage, adolescent and adulthood,
some blurry, some crystal clear — how Vinay got scared seeing a joker spitting water from his eyes in a circus, how Sheeba hated going to Shaharanpur every year with her family, how Rajat’s wife broke his favourite blue mug once gifted to him, how Munish couldn’t express his love to the girl he loved, but the girl did. They scribbled on blackboards on the stage as they took off on their dream sequences. There was music, maths, equations, algebra and letters. For them, these were memories. The RanvirKonkona part was the favourite with the crowd. They played doctor and patient what with Joginder’s (Ranvir) memory getting stuck in a time warp (the year, 1983). Ranvir’s Jat accent and innocent humour were clearly a hit with the audience. Huge applause followed each time the duo came on stage. Needless to say, there was oozing chemistry. At the end of the play, the characters got back to the present mode and started recollecting what happened with them a few minutes before the show — how they passed the Stephen Court when someone pointed out yahan pe aag lagi thi, how Sheeba fell down outside the auditorium and hurt herself and Konkona passed her school while she was coming to the venue. Besides Kolkata, the shows is scheduled to be performed in Houston on May 2, 5:30pm at Stafford Civic Center
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Indo-American Association: Mainstreaming Cultural Voices Of India Continued from Page 25
light classical Thumri, Dadra and Bengali songs hosted by Ajay Chakrobarty. We do have shows also coming up in September and after, but dates have not been fixed for those yet. JD: As executive director, what role do you play in IAA’s activities? HD: I am honored to be associated with the IAA for seventeen years. I am originally the founding member. I have to give credit to the efficient governance of IAA by its thirteen Board of Directors. The chairperson is Dr. Raj Bhalla. I associate myself with the daily activities. I help choose the events that can be presented by IAA in keeping with our policies. We are approached by several promoters to do shows. My job is to screen these events, we apply several criteria to select them. I also help find the right balance in presenting different cultural programs throughout the year. JD: How is IAA doing financially? HD: Very well. We have over 100 individual patrons of the arts who give us $1000 each. We are thankful to each of these patrons for supporting IAA and all the artistes we represent. I’d like to also thank Vijay Goradia and Gopal Savjani who have been patrons for all the 17 years. JD: How have corporations and other foundations supported IAA? HD: American Corporations and foundations have been extremely supportive with our presentations. The Houston Endowment has given us a good grant, Exxon and other corporations as well. Certain Indian corporations and businesses expect personal on stage recognition time which takes away from the actual event. It is not what we do. We also do not to carry too many logos as sponsors in our advertisements. JD: How has IAA changed or influenced the Indian diaspora view toward art and culture? HD: In the past, and I think even now, people view donations to be given to charity, temples, flood relief, earthquake relief, battered women, political and religious contributions, all of which are great. But now they are also realizing the importance of preserving our cultural heritage by supporting art, music and dance. We as an organization have helped people appreciate our culture. IAA has successfully accom-
plished what it set out to do - bring Indian Arts and Culture to the mainstream stage and present it like the Houston Symphony and Ballet events. Now we are starting to experiment with fusion of Indian and American cultures. This has been well received and will help broaden the understanding of both cultures. JD: How is IAA giving back to the community? HD: We have instituted art scholarships. We encourage people of all ages to take classes appreciating Indian music and dance. We will help pay for half of their tuition. We also encourage exposure of young artistes locally. We are promoting health awareness through a medical network locally - preventing obesity among others. IAA bears the expenses for all these programs that help benefit our community. JD: Has IAA promoted local Houston artistes? HD: We have. Shantilal Shah - a Tabla player who played in tandem with Pt. Jasraj and Shujat Khan, the Sitar Maestro; Pt.Suman Ghosh - the vocalist, and Uma Nagarseth - the Kathak Dance teacher have presented their programs successfully through us. We are on the look out to collaborate with new and experienced artistes locally all the time. JD: Does IAA network with the Indian dance schools here in Houston? HD: Sadly no, we have not been approached by any of these Indian dance schools. We look forward to collaborating with these schools and their students who are dancers and musicians. At the same time we don’t want to impose on these schools. JD: What other social causes has IAA benefitted? HD: We have done many. Two notable ones are we have conducted benefit events for raising funds to help the Tsunami victims, and the 9/11 victims. JD: Thank you Dr. Hari Dayal for sharing your passion and IAA’s vision with us. HD: My pleasure Jacob, It was nice talking with you. For details on IAA e-mail: info@iaahouston.com • www.iaahouston.com • Call 281-648-0422 or 832-758-2844 • 3722 Latma Drive, Houston, TX 77025
Preity Zinta: Star Sets Sights on Business World Preity Zinta is a Bollywood superstar with a string of awards and hit movies to her name. But as co-owner of a major cricket team, and following a course at Harvard Business School, she has started a transition from actress to businesswoman. An English graduate who went on to study criminal psychology, Zinta, 34, told CNN she fell into acting by chance, but had always been interested in business. "It's not that acting was something I'd always wanted to do. I had no formal training; I'd never really imagined I'd be an actress," she said in a telephone interview from India. "Business was something that had always been in my mind, but when I got into acting, I learned everything on set, and for me at that point I wanted to excel at what I did." Zinta had been acting for 11 years when, in 2008, she decided to buy a stake in Kings XI Punjab, one of the eight cricket
teams in the fledgling, multimillion dollar, Indian Premier League (IPL). "I was at the top of my job, doing extremely well, everything was great and then I said 'now what?' There has to be a natural progression," Zinta told CNN. Hugely popular in India, the IPL attracts some of the world's top cricketers and has a sizeable following in cricket-playing countries. No silent partner, Zinta said that when she bought her stake she was determined to be involved in running the team. "I'm pretty hands on. The partners I was working with all come from business families, and they're all running billion-dollar
businesses, so for them, this was too small a business to run day-to-day," she said. "So I decided I would go for it, be hands on, learn the business from the start and see how it goes." Zinta said her experience in promoting her movies helped when it came to being involved in marketing the team. But last November, Zinta decided to add to her business skills with a stint at Harvard Business School, taking a short executive education course in negotiations and deal making. “After the second IPL season I decided I should go in for a short course in busi-
ness to broaden my horizons and actually understand the structure of business,” she told CNN “It’s one thing to be passionate about something, but it’s equally important to understand the way things are done in a particular fashion. “As an actress I never went to film school and I think if I had gone to film school I would have started with a great advantage. If you have a strong intent to do anything in life you can do it, but it always helps to have formal training.” While she was the only movie star on the course, she wasn’t the only high achiever. “I was in very esteemed company,” she said. “There were big CEOs, people who ran multinationals, and bankers. I picked up ideas from them.” “The course taught me how to structure things, which is extremely helpful now. But India operates very differently from the west: When in Rome do as the Romans,” she added.
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in d ia
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India in Pictures
A paramilitary force officer chasing a rioter engaged in stone pelting near Asha talkies after fresh violence broke out between Hindus and Muslima at Shahalibanda in old city of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh. Photo: Mohammed Yousuf
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MOCK DRILL: Civil Defence and CISF personnel carry an injured man during a mock security drill at the Mandi House Metro station in New Delhi. Photo: V.V. Krishnan nts a creation A model prese a Mahmood id by designer N ills Lifestyle W g in at the ongo eek Autumn W n India Fashio New Delhi. Winter 2010 in
PURELY PRAYERS: Offerings to the Sun God in the River Ganges on World Water Day in Allahabad A Hindu devotee walks with steel rods pierced through his body during the Panguni Uthram festival in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
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STRAIGHT UP
Food Talk IndoAmerican News
India Struggles Under Rampant Food Inflation - Farmers Feel the Pinch Fuelled by surging demand for goods, government duties and drought, runaway inflation is rocking India. Rana, an Indian farmer like others is not too happy. The unwelcome trend has forced the wizened sugar-cane farmer to oversee a rudimentary factory that produces jaggery – unrefined sweet patty cakes that are coveted by many for their rich taste and health benefits. Retail sugar prices have surged 55 per cent in India in the past year, but prices paid by sugar mills to Indian farmers for raw sugar cane have increased by only 25 per cent. So instead of selling his sugar cane directly to the mills this year, Mr. Rana is using his crop and those of his fellow farmers in the village of Daha, in the state of Uttar Pradesh, to make jaggery. The sugar mills are promising to raise prices soon but Mr. Rana and the other farmers are making jaggery because they need money now to cover the rising cost of food and other basic necessities. “I have been a farmer for 36 years. I have never seen inflation like this,” he says. The worry is that India’s inflation problem could crop up in the rest of Asia and, subsequently, the global economy, which is struggling to emerge from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. Central banks have responded to the crisis by keeping lending rates artificially low, triggering concern that the excess liquidity will cause rapid price increases and derail the recovery. Soaring prices threaten not only India’s economic comeback but also its position (alongside China) as a world leader in the global financial revival. China and India’s continued strong demand for natural
resources and consumer products helped keep the global economy afloat through the downturn. But in China, worries about rising prices are beginning to take root following more than a year of extremely loose lending policies. Chinese consumer price inflation hit 2.7 per cent in February, a surprise spike from January’s 1.5-per-cent level. Beijing is targeting consumer price inflation at around 3 per cent this year but may be hard-pressed to keep prices in check unless it raises lending rates or allows China’s currency to appreciate. It’s not just sugar prices that are skyrocketing. Prices for rice, wheat, milk, vegetables and pulses are soaring too. India’s overall inflation rate jumped to 9.89 per cent in February as a government decision to raise duties on diesel and gasoline sent fuel prices surging higher. Consumer prices are up more than 16 per cent from a year ago, giving India the world’s second highest inflation rate according to Bloomberg, ahead of only Venezuela on a list of 78 countries. Despite weak loan growth, India’s central bank recently ordered a surprise increase in lending rates in hopes of controlling rising prices. “Because of inflation, my cost of plowing the land has gone up, the cost of planting crops has gone up and the cost of diesel fuel has gone up. What used to cost 150 rupees
[about $3.40CDN] now costs 300 rupees. Water, fuel and electricity. Everything has gone up. It’s
getting very difficult,” Mr. Rana says. To be sure, India’s struggles with rising food costs are more extreme than most. Sugar is a prime example. India has the world’s biggest sweet tooth. It consumes more sugar than any other country on the planet thanks to a healthy appetite for sweets, a widespread use of sugar in mainstay dishes and a taste for cavityinducing chai (tea). Until recently, India
had been largely self-sufficient in sugar, but a poor rainy season or monsoon in July severely hurt cane production. The drought forced India to become a net importer of sugar in 2009 and it is expected to remain so for 2010. As India’s economy and population has grown, demand for food has outstripped supply. While demand has increased by about 7 per cent a year, food production has increased by between 3 and 4 per cent. Unlike North America, Europe and parts of China where large agri-businesses have improved crop yields, agriculture in India remains primarily a small-business enterprise. Even though farming employs more than half the country’s work force, India’s major privatesector firms have largely avoided getting into the agriculture business. In New Delhi, India’s federal
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government has been quick to acknowledge the food inflation crisis, but its annual budget unveiled in late February provided little relief to India’s poor and middle class who are most affected. If anything, the increased levies on fuel and diesel made the situation worse. “It is huge,” says Jayati Ghosh, an economist at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi. Prof. Ghosh noted that 40 per cent of India’s population already spends half its income on food and half the overall population is dependent on basic foods like rice, sugar and grain. The lack of strong public outcry to soaring food prices has surprised the academic. The widespread political unrest that led to the state of emergency declared on the advice of then-prime minister Indira Gandhi in 1975 was due in part to runaway inflation, Prof. Ghosh points out. Now the economic reforms of continued on page 39
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Indo American News • Friday, April 02 , 2010
Hot Cross Buns for Easter By Jacob David Easter is round the corner. I remember celebrating Easter back home vividly. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. People around the world however have different ways and traditions on how they celebrate Easter. Coming from India, my parents who are Malayalees from Kerala State, my mom used to make the Pesaha Pal Appam (Passover Bread) which is unleavened bread which the Jews ate to commemorate the Passover of the death angel in Egypt killing the first born of the Egyptians, the night before their liberation from 400 years of slavery. In India, however, I think they add yeast to make the bread rise, it is fermented batter and sugar and raisins are added to make it sweet. Some go overboard and add golden brown cashews in it as well. What stands out in memory is when we used to eat the Hot Cross Buns for Easter at the St.George’s Home’s School in Ketti, near Ooty. That was quite the treat, buns with raisins and Icing on top of the bun in the form of a cross. That brings back fond memories. I just got homesick and so had stayed in
that British boarding school for just one year. Here’s the recipe for Hot Cross Buns. Hope you make it and enjoy it with your family this Easter season. And do think of us at Indo-American news when you eat those Hot Cross Buns:
Recipe:
5 gms Active dry Yeast 1/2 cup warm Water 1 cup warm milk (doodh)
1/2 cup Sugar (Cheeni) 1/4 cup Butter 1 tsp Vanilla Essence 1 tsp Salt (Namak) 1/2 tsp Nutmeg (Jaiphal) Powder 7 cup Refined Flour (Atta) 4 Eggs 1/2 cup Currants (Kishmish) 1/2 cup Raisins (Kishmish) 2 tblsp Water 1 Egg Yolk 1 recipe Icing
Method:
Heat the milk and water to 110115 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Add the warm milk, sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, nutmeg and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating continuously. Stir in the dried fruit and enough flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic for about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl and turn over to grease the top. Cover with a damp towel and keep aside in a warm place till the dough rises to double its original size (about 1 hour). Punch the dough down and divide into 30 balls. Place on greased baking sheets. Using a sharp knife make a cross mark(x) on each ball. Cover again and let it rise until doubled (30 minutes). Beat the water and egg yolk together and brush over the buns. Bake at 375 degrees f for 10-12 minutes. Cool on wire racks. Drizzle icing over the top of each roll following the lines of the cut cross. Credit: Indian Food Recipes &
India Struggles Under Rampant Food Inflation Continued from Page 38
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are under scrutiny. Prof. Ghosh says that the inflation crisis is highlighting the government’s unwavering focus on strong GDP growth at the expense of true economic development. The Reserve Bank of India has begun raising some lending rates, which should help cool inflation. Food inflation has recently dropped to a 16-per-cent annual rate. Still, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee warns that the country may be saddled with high inflation for some time. Farmers are scrambling to adjust
to rising costs for basic necessities including electricity, food and fuel. The state government has slashed subsidies for manure and fertilizer, which has further hurt crop yields. There has been less electricity and water available to improve production. “The government should motivate the farmers. We don’t get things on time. They should see to it that we get electricity and water and they should return the subsidy on manure.” Rana says. India’s overall annual inflation rate is almost 10 per cent – a price surge that threatens to undermine the country’s strong economic growth.
Prof. Ghosh said the Indian government needs to vastly improve its public distribution system of basic foods that should be expanded to include many people who live above the country’s poverty line. She also blames speculators and food hoarders for the price increases, because they take advantage of a tight food supply to make profits at the expense of others. Prof. Ghosh said the Indian government should provide a parallel food distribution system to prevent such opportunistic activities. “Food is far too crucial a commodity to leave to market forces,” she said. Photo: Wikipedia.org Credit: The Globe and Mail
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Handicapped? Physically Challenged? You’re on Your Own! By Jawahar Malhotra NEW DELHI, 17 March, 2010: My mother enters the Metro car and with her hand taps the arm of the sardar holding on to the armrail, motioning him, also with her eyes and a wiggle of her eyebrows, to move. Startled, the thin faced man with a mini turban wrapped around his head and the crinkled, long hairs of his black beard standing straight out, lets go and moves back. Mama shuffles inward and surveys the crowded area for someplace to sit. Another man standing by mutters to his seated companion, texting on his phone. The man stands up and offers mama the seat, which she takes in relief just as the train begins to lurch forward. People do practice at least this courtesy around town for the old. She has had a tough morning already, going from the apartment down a lift that she views suspiciously as the door that will swallow her. Our neighbor had warned her not to take the lift alone, as it might get stuck, which it has done on rare occasions. That the lift doors open sometimes very slowly but close back quickly only adds to this suspicion. But then there is the long walk to the front gate along the driveway, dodging cars and speedbumps that seem like little hills to her as she takes carefully measured, small steps. A couple of steps later, by the driveway ramp with the steep incline, she reaches the curb and waits for the rickshaw driver to pull up. Decades ago, Indian city and traffic planners were pulling their hair out at not being able to curb the people’s notion that a road is an omniflow pavement that you could willy-nilly navigate, backward and forward. It was very common to drive on the wrong side, cross wherever, even loiter at the many stalls that opened along this conveniently offered public frontage space and traffic lights were an amusing, but annoying oddity. They hit upon the idea of making medians using very high – about 18 inches – curb stones, first crudely handmade with square edges and now milled with rounded topsides, in an alternating black and white or yellow pattern. Now the medians have wrought iron fencing to stop jaywalkers and rickshaw drivers who
Sunny Valley apartments in New Delhi
tainly didn’t make it any easier. One step, a long landing, three steps, a long walk to the security checkpost, step up, step down past the bored police officer in dark khakis and a black beret, through the turnstiles with the autocard reader and a 50 foot walk to the lift. A sign read that the lift was for the physically challenged and elderly, but several able-bodied young people rushed to get in, which hap-
Mama gets off the rickshaw.
would jump their carriages over. So mama waited patiently for the rickshaw driver to pull up to the curb, as the footrest is two inches above curb height, and heaved herself in. We had to negotiate a short, about 1,000 foot section, to the Metro station, along the blacktop road and a couple of rough patches that had still not been repaired, but with her weak legs and heart, it was too long for her. And then there were six curbs in between to cross that might as well have been the Himalayas for my 82year old mother. At the Metro station, they cer-
Shiv Sagar
pens all across the Metro system. How challenging was this for them? The lift opened to the platform, 50 feet from the track’s edge. Up and down, there were many head-height backlit billboards – hoardings they are called here –and only two 4-seat, stainless steel benches about 100 feet apart. Mama looked gingerly for a place to sit and was daunted by the distance to walk. Fortunately, the train came in a minute later. She had startled the Sikh, but the row of seats with the sign above that read “For the physically challenged, elderly and ladies” was already taken.
Mama enters one of the Delhli Metro stations.
Alighting at the other end at Rajouri Garden, the lift was even further, tucked away about 150 feet away, near an alcove where a teenage couple was working out a touchy situation, the boy pouted and lingered feigning a text message as the girl walked away and called him to follow. The lift dropped down near the exit turnstiles, and then another lift 25 yards away dropped down to the ground level. Mama walked across the 25 foot landing to the exit, down two steps and along a 50 foot ramp to another step and …. the formidable curb. We hailed another rickshaw. On the return side at Rajouri Garden, the highest station in the Metro system, the entrance is more of an obstacle course. Curb, landing, ten steps. An escalator up – but no guarantee that it works all the time, the alternative being taking 60 steps up, which mama had done once so she was afraid of this station, and no lift in sight - a 60 foot work round to the next escalator and then another 60 foot workaround to the security check-
point. The final lift went upto the platform and the dearth of benches. Around town, the situation is pathetic for the elderly and physically challenged. Across torn up stony roads, endless traffic and dusty patches that masquerade as sidewalks, the entrance to the banks is up a flight of stairs, some without handrails, and through narrow doors. Restaurants, malls and shops are likewise an ordeal for them to navigate. At the Sahara Mall in Gurgaon, my mother had just trudged 500 feet over broken pavement and a roped off narrow aisle next to the exit drive for cars. When she walked in the Mall, she went to the security guard at one of the stores and asked him, “Bhaiya, yahan baat jayoon thori deyr?” (Brother, can I sit her a bit). He obliged. But the final hurdle is the entrance to the flats in the four-story buildings that make up the townhomes that dot Delhi. They have no lifts. The prospect of going up another three flights of 15 steps each was enough to downhearten mama.
Mama in the Delhi Metro carriage.
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Bollywood Calling Wasim Akram will reportedly make his acting debut in Nikhil Advani’s next film, Patiala House, which also stars Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar. The script of the atiala House is apparently based on cricket and Wasim Akram will be playing the role of a coach for Akshay’s cricket team.
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Dinesh Karthik Lifts Delhi Super Comeback by Chennai Super Kings B K K On a wicket affording substantial Daredevils to Fifth IPL Win CHENNAI: Much of Chennai Super lift, the early overs of the Royal Chaly
Dinesh Karthik blasted a 38-ball 69 as Delhi Daredevils steamrolled Rajasthan Royals by 67 runs.
By Rakesh Rao NEW DELHI: Dinesh Karthik’s exploits lifted Delhi Daredevils from a spot of bother to an overwhelming 67-run victory over Rajasthan Royals at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Wednesday. Daredevils’ fifth win and its third in a row ended Royals’ four-match winning streak. The result raised Daredevils’ tally to 10 points and kept Royals at eight. Karthik produced a priceless 69 and effected three dismissals to walk away with the Man-of-the-Match award. Legspinner Amit Mishra scalped three wickets, while DavidWarner took four catches and pulled off a run-out to make amends for his failure to fire with the bat. Chasing Daredevils’ 188 for six, Royals was never in the chase after losing Michael Lumb and Faiz Fazal in the opening over. In-form Naman Ojha and Yusuf Pathan took turns to re-ignite Royals’hopes but did not last long. Daredevils set up a challenging target after losing early wickets. The last eight overs produced 88 runs, including 20 off the 18th over bowled by Shaun Tait. The Australian speedster, who had Karthik off the last ball of the innings, conceded 53 runs in
four overs — the most by any bowler in a complete spell this season. The innovative Karthik rotated the strike well with Gambhir, who was content on keeping the scoreboard ticking. Once settled, Karthik overtook Gambhir with a flurry of strokes before the skipper became Sumit Narwal’s third victim. Undeterred, Karthik continued the good work with McDonald. Two of his four sixes came in succession off Narwal and three of his six boundaries came off consecutive deliveries of Tait.Earlier, Daredevils ran into a now-familiar situation of losing wickets upfront. Openers Warner and Virender Sehwag fell in the fourth over. When a confident Paul Collingwood was run out and Kedar Jadhav unwisely tried to give Warne the charge, it left Daredevils looking worried at 67 for four in 8.3 overs. After the clinical assault from Gambhir and Karthik produced 79 runs off 8.2 overs, Daredevils never let the advantage slip. Thereafter, Karthik consolidated the gains by adding 42 runs with Andrew McDonald in just 3.1 overs.- The Hindu
arthik
rishnaswamy
Kings’woes in the IPL’s third season have stemmed from a lack of home-grown heroes to complement its foreign stars. At Chepauk on Wednesday, Murali Vijay announced his candidacy for that post with a 39-ball 78 that gave Super Kings its first win in five games, a fivewicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore, which posted 161 for four after opting to bat. Vijay’s knock demonstrated his gift for timing, his strokes on both sides of the wicket a product of a keen eye and fluid bat-swing. The opener was severe on Praveen Kumar, and took 24 off his second over — lucky at first to see a topedged hook carry beyond the long-leg ropes, but imperious thereafter, an effortless six over wide long-on and whips off successive waist-high deliveries for four and six. At that stage, Vijay was on 31 from 16 balls, and Matthew Hayden on zero from one. With Royal Challengers in dire need of a wicket,Anil Kumble brought himself onanddismissedHayden,leavingthelefthander stranded yards down the wicket withagoogly.Vijaycarriedonunaffected, swung Kevin Pietersen’s off-breaks for three sixes in two overs before skying one
Man-of-the-match Murali Vijay’s scintillating knock of 78 took the Chennai Super Kings to a victory over the Royal Challengers, Bangalore.
to Manish Pandey at long-on. That left Super Kings with 58 to get in just over 10 overs, a task tailormade for the finishing skills of Suresh Raina and M.S. Dhoni, who combined for a run-a-ball 34. The wickets of Dhoni, Albie Morkel and S. Badrinath caused a late flutter, but Raina’s composure saw the home team through with an over remaining. Whenever a boundary was needed, the left-hander found one, critically a six over cover off a Vinay Kumar no-ball when 10 was required from seven balls.
lengers innings pitted the batsmen against a ring of five fielders stationed between backward point and mid-off. Thilan Thushara bowled a controlled first spell, straightening the ball from left-arm over and cramping the batsmen for room. In his second over, he dismissed Manish Pandey, forcing him with extra bounce to top-edge a pull to mid-off. Robin Uthappa made the same error in the next over, underestimating Morkel’s bounce, but was dropped for the third time in two games against Super Kings, Manpreet Gony the culprit. Uthappa took 19 off the next over, bowled ironically by Gony, but soon departed for 21, slogging Shadab Jakati to deep midwicket. The left-arm spinner dented Royal Challengers’ progress with his final over, a wicket-maiden that saw Virat Kohli and Jacques Kallis depart at the same score after a 63-run stand, the latter run-out for 52. This, in the end, caused Royal Challengers to finish about 15 runs short, despite Kevin Pietersen and Cameron White’s big hitting late in the innings.
Sania: I Will Support My Country from Dubai HYDERABAD: Tennis star Sania Mirza remarked that her wedding with Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik should be looked at as a simple wedding like that of any other Indian girl and that she is not trying to make any statement on India-Pakistan relations through it. Speaking to the media late on Tuesday evening at her residence, Sania said the wedding would be held in Hyderabad on April 15 and she was delighted at the whole idea. “There is mutual admiration and more importantly the two families are really happy at it,” she added. “The wedding-cum-reception will be in Hyderabad and the venue would be decided later,” Sania revealed. “Essentially, the sporting career will continue for both of us. I hope to play for my country and wish he plays for Pakistan for a long time to come,” Sania said to a query. “I knew him since the last seven years and found him to be very affable and simple,” she said. “I saw him playing and am a big fan of his batting and I remember his stunning knock in
Sania Mirza addressing the media outside her residence in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad.
the Bangladesh Premier League some time back. I wish he keeps playing for the country,” she said. The tennis star from Hyderabad also brushed aside whether she was worried about the controversies surrounding Shoaib Malik (when referred to his reported marriage to a Hyderabad girl some time back). “I want to live in the
present and not look back. I do believe even Shoaib also believes in this,” she replied. Referring to the strained relations between India and Pakistan and asked whether she feels that things would improve, Sania said that she would be lying if she was not aware of this factor. “But, well, if things improve, there is nothing like that,” she remarked. “I cannot say whether I am setting an example [by marrying a Pakistani sportsperson] for others. These things don’t matter to me,” she said. Whom will you support after marriage – India or Pakistan? “My country India and my would-be husband Shoaib Malik,” was the reply in a flash from Sania. Sania said she would be settling down in Dubai after the wedding and despite the fact that she would be away from her family, she still looked at Dubai as her ‘second home’ever since she started playing there. “Yes, Dubai is our favourite place,” Imran Mirza, father of Sania, intervened to say.The Hindu
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community connections
RELIGIOUS SERVICES
Arya Samaj of Greater Houston 281-242-5000
Havan Satsang 10 AM - 12, discourse by Dr. Premchand Shridhar: 281-7520100 DAV Sanskriti school 10 AM - 12 - Havan, Hindi and Naitik Shiksha classes. Shekhar Agrawal: 281-242-5000
BAPS Satsang Assembly accompanied by Santos from 4:30pm - 6:30pm followed by 281-765-BAPS (2277) arati and mahaprasad. 281-765-BAPS (2277)
Durga Bari Society Temple hours: Monday - Saturday: 9am- 11am and 4pm to 7pm; Sandhya Aarti 6.30pm. Sunday 9am- 7 pm. www.houstondurgabari.org, Champak 832-347-4003 Sadhu. • 13944 Schiller Road. Hare Krishna Dham
Daily Darshan & Arati Times: 4.30am, 7am, 8.30am, 12noon, 4.30pm, 7pm, 9pm. See darshan live on www.iskconhouston.org. Sunday Festival: 5.30pm to 7.30pm. Located at 1320 West 34th St, Houston, TX 77018.
Hindu Worship Society Temple
Priest – “Bhibhdutt Mishra Ji”. Open for Darshan all days, except Thursday, from 8am -10am & 5pm - 8pm. Sunday 11:30am to 1:30pm – Regular Puja, Religious discourses and Prasad. Website www.hwst.org
JVB Preksha Center
Regular weekly program of Yoga and meditation Mon-Thu 7.15pm to 8.15pm. On Saturdays from 9.00am to 11.15am. Located at 14102 Schiller Rd.
281-596-9642
Sanatan Shiv Shakti Rudrabhiskek every Monday followed by Aarti and mahaprasad. 5645 HillMandir croft, #701 Houston TX 77036. 713-278-9099
april 2010
2
Fri
Sat
3pm: Jagadguru Srimad Vallabhacharya (Mahaprabhuji) Pragatyotsav, VPSS, VPSS Haveli, 281-5648777, www.vpsshaveli.org
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7pm: Vishu and Tamil New Year, Sri Meenakshi Temple, 281489-0358, www.meenakshi.org
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11.30am: Wells Fargo Lecture Series on South Asia: IndiaU.S. Can they Reinvest Partnership?, Asia Society Texas Center, The Houston Club, fritzl@asiasociety.org , Fritz Lanham: 713.439.0051 x17
16-18
Annual Tyagaraja Utsavam, Sri Meenakshi Temple, 281-4890358, www.meenakshi.org
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8.30pm: Asha Bhosle Live in Concert, Star Promotions Inc., Arena Theatre, Rajender: 281-222-4500
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6pm: Free Seminar on Osteoarthritis, Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, 800-451-2006 Ext. 3335, www.managingosteoarthritis. com
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7.30pm: Vaisakhi Celebration, Punjabi Society of Houston, Cullen Performance Hall, University of Houston, Jasmeeta Singh: 713-858-8229
Wed Thu
Sri Ashtalakshmi Temple 281-498-2344
Daily Schedule: 7:30am – 9:30am -Suprabhatam, Sri Murthy Aaradhana, Tiruppa:vai Sevakalam, Theertha Ghosti, Balabhogam, 9:30am – 11am :Temple is open, 6:30am – 7pm, www.jetusahouston.org
Sat
Shri Kripalu Kunj Ashram 713-344-1321
Satsang & spiritual discourses, Sun: 10.30 am.-12.30pm. with simultaneous prog. of Hindi, Sanskrit and Moral science for kids, dance classes for children and adults every Fri:8 pm, www.shrikripalukunj.org
Vedanta Society
5906 Cypress • Classes Sunday from 10.30am to 12.30pm on Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, 1st &3rd Sunday; Bhagavad-Gita, 2nd Sunday; on works of Swami Vivekananda, More information visit www.houstonvedanta.org
Give Your Religious Services a Facelift
Please note: The above section for Religious Services has been provided as a free service for many years. We are now updating this section to make it informative for our readers. To help provide this service on an ongoing weekly basis, we are making these listings available for a nominal annual charge. Give prominence to your religious services with a special block ad for an annual cost of only $150. That is only $2.88 per week. Paid Service listing starts Feb 2010. Thank you for your ongoing support.
7pm: Nasha 2010, Indian Students Association at the University of Houston, University of Houston, Vaidehi Bhatt: 832-692-8539
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Tue
Temple hours: Mon - Fri: 8.30am-Noon, 5-8pm, Sat & Sun: 8.30am-2pm, 5-8pm, Aarti: Noon and 7.30pm, Chinmaya Prabha, 10353 Synott Rd, Sugar Land, TX 77478. www.saumyakasi.org, Bharati Sutaria: 281-568-1690
Darshan: Daily 7.30am-12.30pm, 4-8.30pm. Aarti: Daily 7.45am & 7pm. Hanumanji Aarti: Sat: 7.15pm. Rajbhog Thaal (No Darshan): 10.30-11am. Dinner Thaal 5.30-6pm. Located at 10080 Synott Rd, Sugar Land TX 77498.
6pm: Annual Family Spiritual Camp, JVB Preksha Houston, Gordon Ranch, Pramod Bengani: 281-596-9642
5.30pm: TiE Social with Kanwal Rekhi, Young TiE Houston, The Flying Saucer, Jyoti Gupta: 713-929-1900 Ext.210
Saumyakasi Sivalaya 281-568-1690
Swaminarayan Mandir (ISSO) 281-530-2565
CURRENT EVENTS
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Fri-Sun
Shri Radha Krishna Four Arti daily: 6:30am , 12 noon, 7pm & 9pm. Tuesday & Saturday 7:10pm. Sunday Bhajan and Kritan at 6pm. Maha Arti 7pm, More information www. Temple srkt.org Located at 11625 Beechnut Houston, TX 77072. 281-933-8100
online edition: www.indoamerican-news.com
Wed
Sat
7.30pm: Rahat Fateh Ali Khan Live in Concert, Rehan Siddiqi, Arena Theatre, 877-786-1180
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Noon-5pm: Bibi Bridal Show, Hilton Americas, 713-992-4085
Sun
mAy 2010
1
Sat
6.30pm: Pratham Houston Gala 2010, Pratham USA, Westin Galleria, 713-774-9599, www.prathamusa.org
2
5.30pm: The Blue Mug- A Comedy Play, Media Circle and Art Promotions, Stafford Civic Center, Surender Talwar: 713-668-2948
Sun
21 Fri
8pm: India Jaz Suites, Indo American Association, Wortham Center, 281-648-0422
Free Citizenship Classes
22 Sat
8pm: Sukhwinder Singh Jai Ho, Hum Tum City, Arena theatre, www.humtumcity.com
February - May 2010
SatSun
8-9.30am: Free Yoga Classes by Patanjali Yogpeeth Center, Arya Samaj, Anil: 281-579-9433
@ Houston Public Library Mondays & Thursdays 5.30-7.30pm Carnegie Neighborhood Library 832-393-1970
Wednesdays 7-8.30pm Henington Regional Library 832-393-1820
Send event information to indoamericannews@yahoo.com Listings should be concise and occur within 15 days of submittal
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Indo American News • Friday, April 02 , 2010
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Indo American News • Friday, April 02 , 2010
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INDO AMERICAN NEWS • FRIDAY, APRIL 02 , 2010 • ONLINE EDITION: WWW.INDOAMERICAN-NEWS.COM